Dave had just finished off the giant hedgehog with the company of his undead when the notification of the Age of the Machine Expansion popped in front of him.
Reading through the new Server Announcement Notification, Dave commented to himself, "Huh, so it"s robots and guns now. That"s going to change stuff."
Dave waved away the notification and went to loot the hedgehog.
***
Bone-Leather X 1 (Perfect Condition)
Atelerix spinalapis giganticus Claws X 12
Atelerix spinalapis giganticus Fangs X 5
Thorn-Mail [Armor] Blueprint
***
"Oh, another Blue-Print. I wonder if Lone had finished making the Shadow-Set and the Crystal Set I got from the Underworld." Dave took the blue-print and read through it.
***
To create the [Thorn-mail] armor, you will need
Atelerix spinalapis giganticus Claws X 12
Atelerix spinalapis giganticus Fangs X 5
p.r.o.nged Forest Fiend Horns X1
Man-Eating Spider silk X 20
Adamantine Filament X 10
***
"Hmm, this one is easy to make," Dave said to himself and placed the blueprint in his inventory.
"Alright, let"s keep going," Dave said to his party.
Onixya came out from behind a tree and jumped on Dave"s back then hopped to his head.
"Is it just me, or did Onixya grew heavier." Dave thought to himself as he looked up, the small dragon was looking back at him from on top of his helmet. She was wagging her tail and squeaking jubilantly at Dave.
Dave patted the dragon and moved to revive the hedgehog. Sadly, it failed again.
He ignored the carca.s.s and continued moving deeper into the Wilds.
Singund sniffed at the air with his pig-nose and said, "Commander, I sense a few of my family members nearby. Could we head toward them?"
"Yeah, why not," Dave shrugged. If the orcs acted unrulily, well, there was a lot of spare places in Dave"s army.
The four of them headed to the south. After half an hour walk, they arrived at a small High-Orc Tribe. There were several orc-guards that patrolled the area around the tribe.
When they spotted Dave, they readied up for battle, but after seeing the fully armored Death Knight Singund, the High-Orcs became confused.
"Drop your weapons, you can"t win this fight," Singund spoke.
"That"s the voice of our former leader! The conqueror lives?!" one of the guards spoke unbelieving his own words.
"No, I saw him die at the hands of that human a.s.sa.s.sin, don"t be a fool, this must be some magic to fool us! Call aid!" The second Orc spoke.
The other orc grabbed a horn that was strapped to his waist and blew on it. A few moments later, a few dozen orcs emerged from the forest and surrounded Dave and co.
Dave shook his head, "You said you wanted to see your family. Apparently, they don"t."
"Worry not Commander," Singund said.
He then roared loud enough that it made the orcs surrounding Dave shudder and shake in their boots.
Some of them dropped their weapons, and the rest retreated a few steps away.
"T-that"s the chieftain"s roar! There is no doubt! This is lord Singund!" The orc holding the horn said.
"Yes, yes. Now step aside," Dave gestured the orcs to move away from his path.
"What business do you have here undead?!" an orc, clearly not knowing the hierarchy between Dave and his Death Knights asked in a threatening tone.
"Singund here said he wanted to see his family and see if your current leader is worthy of leading this tribe. I"m here to witness that. Now, you should probably step aside before I get cranky."
The orc was not a smart race, to begin with, so the pig-snouted creature pointed his cleaver at Dave and said, "You"ll die the moment you take a step forward!"
But just as he finished his words, Singund had already moved in-front of Dave and sliced down with his flamberge down the orc"s extended arm. The loud tearing of flesh and bone echoed through the wilds.
Every orc in the vicinity quieted down with the sole exception of the orc that was squealing like a pig from his cut-off arm.
"Don"t you dare point your weapon at the commander!" Singund spoke every word in hatred.
The high-orcs retreated even further. They were at a loss, they as a race never bowed their head to anyone. This was especially so for their former leader, Singund. But now, he was serving an undead? This was too much for their tiny brains to process.
A shaman orc arrived late to the party and asked in a calm tone. "What"s going on here?"
Turning to the shaman, the rest of the orc warriors retreated behind him. The shaman noticed the orc with the missing limb and said, "Lord Singund. I see that you turned against your kin."
"I did not turn against my kin. I only despise weakness and idiocy," Singund replied as he swung his sword down, splattering the orc-blood stuck on the blade onto the ground.
"And how does being weak or an idiot translate into cutting off the arm of one of my warriors?"
"He dared point his weapon at someone that is much stronger than him. Isn"t that weakness and stupidity?"
"How would I know if he is strong if I didn"t fight him," the orc with the missing hand said through grit teeth.
"Simple, you would notice that I respectfully stood behind him this whole time. You know me best, do you think I will bow down to anyone that is weaker than me?!"
"No," no said the orc.
"Then, if you know that fact. Why didn"t you respect the strong and gave him a path? We orcs respect strength! I have led you with one purpose, to thrive and use your might to rule these wilds. But you are throwing your life away by challenging the mighty. That is idiocy I did not encourage!"
"But lord Cagan is urging us to fight the mighty to become stronger and challenge ourselves!"
"Cagan? He still lives?" Singund asked.
"Yes, after the defeat at the hands of the humans, Cagan had challenged all the tribe leaders and emerged victorious. He is now the leader of the high-orcs," the shaman replied.
Singund turned to Dave and said, "Lord commander. Can I please go and meet with Cagan?"
"Suit yourself, I"ll be hunting around these areas," Dave shrugged.
Singuned walked into the tribe, and the rest of the orcs followed after him.
"Warrior of the dead, why did you allow him to leave?" the tengu asked.
"As I said before, everyone has their own free will here. As long as you don"t affect me or the legion, you are allowed to do whatever you wish."
"I see, then can I ask you to leave? I wish to see my students, and perhaps I can calm their rage." The tengu asked.
"As I said, do whatever you want, but if I need you, I"ll summon you."
"As you wish," the tengu said.
"Wait! I would like to come with you. I saw strange magic writings in the Strom Labyrinth. I would like to see it again. Perhaps I can uncover some eldritch truths," Spark said.
"Yeah, yeah, just go." Dave shrugged.
Dave was left alone this time. Just a few hours ago everyone wanted to come with him, and now they all left to do their thing. He didn"t care though. He was the one who told them they were free to do what they wanted.
"Okay, guess it"s you and me Onixya."
Onixya rubbed her head into Dave"s and squeaked in acceptance. Suddenly, Onixya"s stomach began growling.
"Didn"t you just eat?" Dave tilted his head.
The small dragon seemed to have a big appet.i.te.
Dave rubbed Onixya"s head and said, "Let"s find you something to eat then. You can use the meat and the EXP."
Dave turned away from the tribe and began walking in another random direction.
But he soon stopped and sighed, "Show yourself. I know you"re here."
"Impressive! Your instincts are as sharp as always!"
Dave looked up, Leonard was prowling on all four on top of a tree branch.
"Well, I guess its about time we end this. And I had a skill I wanted to use for a while now."
Leonard ignored Dave"s snarky remark and jumped from his perch atop the tree. His gigantic dagger pointed at Dave"s chest.
Dave took a deep breath and muttered, "Final Phantasm…"