Chapter 503 - Back to the Wilds
Dave found himself back with Balaam on Mt. Glory"s top.
"So nothing new of Ashkar?" Dave asked.
"As you have seen, he is somewhere within the box, but as long as he has the box in his hands, I cannot locate him. He is hiding, perhaps preparing for something. Be ready, be prepared, and most of all, be careful."
"Right, thank you. I think it"s time for me to prepare for the upcoming battle. I need everyone ready." Dave said.
"Yes, your undead, and your friends. Everyone should be there when the final battle commences, everyone must give their all, or else this world will no longer be the same as the one you know, young draugr."
Dave climbed down the mountain with more questions than when he first came here. Ashkar"s power grows and his objective unknown. Dave needed to become much stronger to be able to adapt to whatever Ashkar was going to throw in the way of the Conquest world.
"Ralph, where are you?" Dave called his friend from the friends list.
"Here bro, trying to get the Tengu"s quest cleared up. I saw the notification, I guess things are about to change."
"Yeah, and the change is going to be monstrous."
"Some idiots are blaming you for starting the event through."
"They should be thanking me, If I didn"t discover it, it was going to be unleashed on the world without prior notice. They"re still in denial, once they understand that the big hammer is going to drop whether they like it or not, that"s when things will start to move. Anyway, I need you to get your legacy up and running. Let me help you with the remaining tasks."
"Good, I really need the help anyway, let"s meet in your capital, the quest is related to the east anyway."
"Right, I"ll be there asap."
Dave tore a teleportation scroll to the Eastern capital, and found the Undead busy at work there.
The undead King had started mobilizing his troops for his new home. Dave noticed that behind the Royal Qin palace was an enormous clearing, where houses and plazas were setup, it was now clear and void of all people or building. A giant ma.s.s of land was there unoccupied for now.
"What"s going on?" Dave asked, and Demitri was on the response.
He was already back at the Qin capita the moment the game was online.
"Well the Undead King decided to transport the Bone Palace here. He ordered his undead to clear the rubble. I gotta admit, with tens of thousands of workers, the demolition and clearing of the debris didn"t take more than a day."
"Yeah, undead have power in number. But how is he going to get the Bone Palace all the way here?"
"That will be my task."
Dave turned to see a kind looking middle aged man. He had long blue hair and elf ears, and golden pupils for eyes. He wore purple robes and a grisly looking staff, but the serene gaze in his eyes was too enamoring that one would think of this man as nothing but the friendliest person in the neighbor.
"No way, Dagla?!" Dave blurted.
"h.e.l.lo to you too, Kis"Shtiengbrah."
"H-how?"
"It is thanks to you actually, when I gave his majesty the Dragon, he gifted me the Lifeless Drops."
"Yeah I remember you asking the king about them. So, you"re human again? I mean Elf again?"
"No, the Lifeless Drops do not turn one to life, in fact if they did I wouldn"t have accepted them. But they do something closely similar to what your ring does, It gives me the ability to return to my former form, without suffering from the effects of Holy Spells."
"d.a.m.n, that"s neat. So, you said you"ll transport the Bone Palace?"
"Yes, and you"re right in time to see it. Follow me," Dagla said and Dave followed.
Once Dagla was at the front of the clearing, thousands of undead casters surrounded the clearing making a circle.
Dagla raised his staff and spoke words that Dave couldn"t comprehend or understand. Then he slammed the bottom of his staff on the edge of the clearing.
The undead casters followed the same and from the bottom of every staf a blue line of magic spread to connect to another caster"s staff. So many of these lights created a web of bright s.h.i.+ning magic.
Dagla raised his staff once again and slammed it down with more force, creating a shockwave of magic that throbbed through the blue lines and a gigantic portal manifested itself at the bottom of the clearing.
Suddenly, the ethereal form of the Bone Palace began manifesting itself on top of the clearing. It became more realistic the longer Dagla chanted, and the more the lights under the bone palace shone.
Then almost abruptly the Bone Palace was fully manifested, and Dave felt its weight as the moment the Bone Palace was fully present in the Capital of Qin, the earth around it caved a little from its weight.
Dagla took a deep breath and canceled the spell. The palace was here. And above it, Dark clouds began to gather.
Dave looked up and saw the Death Heart rotating slowly above the Bone Palace. Creating dark clouds that slowly covered the capital of Qin.
"Well, I guess the theme is right. Is his majesty inside the palace?"
"No, for the palace to be moved it had to be emptied out of everything. Even furniture, displacing a single ounce of extra weight costs ma.s.sive amounts of mana, especially through such a vast distance."
"Oh, so where is his Majesty?"
"He is going through the belongings of the Ash King. They discovered a great deal of materials and resources that will prove beneficial to our Legion. For now, I need to focus on creating a good environment for our legion here in the land of Qin. Dortha will have a better time here, his sanity will slowly return and be cemented in place when he is free to roam the overworld, unhindered by the atmosphere of the Underworld. Also for the remaining Abyssal Knights, their stay here will be beneficial."
"Good to hear that my friends will be better off in the overworld. Now you must have noticed the upcoming changes."
"Yes, it seems that an ancient evil is bound to come out of its hiding. What do you think of our chances against it?" Dagla asked.
"Right now, with our current firepower…" Dave thought for a second remembering the creatures in the box.
"20%"
Dagla frowned. "That dangerous?"
"Maybe worse. They are numerous, I dare say that they could be a tenth of our numbers with much more individual strength."
"Oh, that"s a worrisome thought."
"Yes, the weakest of the bunch is probably as strong as one of us."
"Now that"s a really worrisome though. I fear that we"re going to be facing a grave foe."
"Not just us, Dagla, otherwise I"d really be worried. These creatures will be unleashed upon the world. We"ll do our share of fighting, I"m sure we can defeat whatever comes our way. But we can"t be the s.h.i.+eld that protects the world, the world has to learn to defend itself. Otherwise there is no need to save what doesn"t offer any value."
"Indeed, you grew wise. We"re undead, not heroes, not benevolent beings. We do not harm who does not harm us, but we will not protect what is not allied to us either."
Dave received a private message.
"Dagla, I"ll have to go now, I need to help a friend get stronger."
"Good, get as many allies as you can, I"ll also have a discussion with the Elf king soon."
"Oh, right that reminds me." Dave said as he looked at Dagla"s eyes, "Elven Royalty all have golden eyes."
Dagla smiled and said, "Before I was sent to learn at the hands of Ashkar the Necromancer. I was the son of Salvhim ErlKing the second. I, Dagla ErlKing was a prince one day, just like you are."
"But the current Elf King is Salvhim ErlKing the fifth. So, you"re basically his great-great grandfather?"
"No, I didn"t have any children of my own, I"m his great-great-great uncle." Dagla proudly claimed.
"d.a.m.n, well, its good to see you your highness," Dave laughed.
"Don"t call me that Kis"Shtiengbrah please, I have given up the t.i.tle seeking the source of the world"s energy. I have little intrest in power to rule man. All I seek is knowledge."
"Sorry, I talked out of boundaries." Dave apologizes. "So, I"ll see you later."
"My the Undead G.o.d be with you." Dagla nodded and left the area.
"Where are you man!" was the message from Ralph.
"Hey, I was chatting with Dagla, he just made the Undead Palace appear in the Capital city."
"Yeah, that spooked the h.e.l.l out of me, the whole d.a.m.ned thing just popped in existence. Anyway, come meet me at the Western Gate. We"ll need to go into the Wilds…again."
"d.a.m.n, it"s been a while since we last went there, I wonder how the field area bosses will treat us once we"re back."
"Yeah, not friendly, I can guarantee that. It seems that the Stench of the Weak debuff didn"t disappear with the Death of the Black dragon. It"s still there."
"Hold up… That debuf was related to the strongest creature in the wilds, if it didn"t go away when the black dragon died that means…"
"Yeah, it originated from something much stronger than the Black Dragon… And it appears that it"s on the move again. I saw one of the field bosses corpse. It was ripped to shreds, the ma.s.sive gorilla guy."
"I"m coming over. I suppose you invited Mercy?" Dave asked.
"No, it a duo mission."
"Aww, and you chose me over your girlfriend." Dave said.
"Bores before… Wait hold up, she is my girlfriend, but still you"re my bro. Boyz first. Anything else comes second. Also I don"t need an a.s.sa.s.sin, I need raw firepower. You"ll see why."
"Good, I"m on my way."