***Ryan*** We have taken the fight out of Erkshire to the neighboring territory of the former Mandel House, Marjory. Marjory was an average territory dealing in a specialty wine they called Marjory. It was a great territory to come to for those who wants to truly enjoy the beverage, unlike when you bought it from one of the merchants or at major cities that sell it. The charm of drinking Marjory in Marjory in a full moon is romantic to wine enthusiasts and average appreciative drinkers as well. A pity that they were sacked by the undead faster than any other territories. The reason being that they had close to no garrisoned army and even the Lord had no more than a handful of personal guards, focusing only on training winemakers and artisans.
That said, this territory was had rich soil and grew all kinds of berries and even wheat. All for the secret of producing Marjory.
If this were under normal circ.u.mstances, we"d really have wanted to take back this territory so that we could produce our own food however, as the sun is not present, and even if it is still out there as father told me, we have no way of actually making it appear again and grow crops to the best of its abilities.
So, we can only train these men and seek out the Grand Liches to kill them and hope for the best that the Sun will return its splendor when they are gone.
Marjory was sacked mostly by a mixed group of skeletons, zombies and ghouls. All low level undead, however, before it was taken, there seem to have been a sighting of a high ranking undead that looked like a ghoul but bigger and stronger, faster and more vicious. And father and I have talked about the possible presence of that Prime Ghoul or so I"d like to call but father disagreed and said, he"d encountered ghouls like this many times already in another life when he was called a Witcher. I did not know that father had been reincarnated as well, but he says those ghouls are called Alghoul in his time as a Witcher. I don"t even understand why they called themselves Witcher, is it because they were only men and women in that profession are called Witches?
Anyhow, father told me its name and it felt better to call it Alghoul than Prime Ghoul, so we named it that.
"Father, are the men ready to face such a monster? If they fall one by one, then this resistance, this cause of ours will end in vain. I need to be a.s.sured that they will at least come back alive in retreat rather than win the battle but lose the soldiers." I voiced my concern to father and as usual, he simply rea.s.sures me in his own way by saying, "Don"t worry son, I won"t let them fall and die. They will fall and they will be hurt, yet they shall not die. Not while I"m here. Not until we"ve fulfilled our commitment and achieved our goals." Father looked cool as he looked at the distance as if he could see through the veil of night in the distance and see the outcome of the battle already.
"Men! Tonight, there will be chances of you dying because of the Alghoul that leads all the other undead in Marjory. However, know that if even one of you fall from tonight"s battle, this resistance that we have mounted shall end in failure. So, pair up and move according to formation. Anyone that steps out of line will be dealt with by the squad leaders. There shall be no one dying tonight! If you die, I will kill you!"
Father"s pep talk was horrible, but at least it invigorated the people to do their best to survive, I guess.
"Son, you have to get ready. You are the most important person out of everyone here and so, you must do your best to fulfill your role. Okay?" Father said. And by that, he probably means I need to sleep now since my baby-body can"t handle stressful situations. It had gotten better but better still isn"t enough. I need to grow up, fast.
"Yes father. I shall leave the people in your capable hands." I said, as my uncontrollable urge to sleep set in.
***Clay***
Well then, Ryan"s sleeping and these men will die by the Alghouls hands if left alone. Although their armors will protect them from one fatal hit, after that, they"re certainly done for if they don"t retreat.
If they fall, then my time here may be extended more than necessary. I need to get to the goal as soon as possible, as I don"t know how time flows here from Alleucanth"s. It may as well be years there already since we disappeared for all I know.
Ryan is a n.o.ble spirit, but well, even though he is a reincarnation of someone from this world, he is still my son. Basically, someone had highjacked my son"s body and put his soul in there. But, Ryan, no matter whose soul is inside is my son. I can"t simply discard him. Especially since UltiCo"s a.n.a.lysis of my body had become more intensive and extensive.
The moment I ordered it to merge some skills into one unified whole skill as a joke, it did and even modified it to fit my needs and goals. When Ryan suggested about me having the Creation Magic, it dawned on me that it was a great idea and jested to UltiCo about it and viola, Creation Magic was developed based from the Elemental Affinities minus the Light, Dark, s.p.a.ce and Null affinities. Although, s.p.a.ce Magic seemed to have disappeared and was merged with s.p.a.ce-Time Magic as UltiCo deemed it as a duplicate skill somewhat. In fact, UltiCo started to a.n.a.lyze my skills and completely developed or enhanced others that could help me achieve my goal.
And a certain possibility exists here in Evernight that I may obtain a skill I would need to further my plans.
Necromancy.
A magic that exists to defile life and is considered evil. However, what is evil really? Because society deemed them evil for "hurting" others? That"s the nature of power I have understood over the years of recognizing mine. At first, I did it only to protect myself however, I started to think, wouldn"t it be better to just gather all the power to me and have me as the container?
Necromancy is in fact a magic developed to tamper the Soul or manipulate it to some extent. And that"s just what I need for my plans. I need it to grow my Soul and stuff all these skills inside it to make it completely mine, separate from any deity or controlling powers. In fact, my first goal is to have UltiCo, become engraved to my soul.
And it"s not like UltiCo has not developed since I acquired it. In fact, when my stats grew over the hundred million already, even Safir"s eyes may not be able to perceive this quant.i.ty in me and only see question marks as well. However, even with UltiCo"s comprehensive abilities, I still have not found a way to ascend into G.o.dhood. That"s why I need to gather more skills and abilities in order to one day, reach a state where I can truly ascend as a being no longer tethered to the mortal realms.
A lofty dream it may be, but a dream I must fulfill. Not only for my sake but for those who I hold dear. Especially my son, my only son.
Going back, I can"t just discard Ryan because UltiCo found out that Ryan was a lucky occurrence. He was improbable to be conceived in the first place, and yet my blood and my flesh dwell in him and he even inherited some of my already acquired abilities. There"s not doubt of him being my flesh and blood. However, as UltiCo"s a.n.a.lysis have yet majorly failed me, I am inclined to believe that I will not be able to have any children again, unless I have children with beings that can harbor my power and energy inside their wombs. That is why, Ryan was a miracle in every sense of the word. I can"t lose him. He"s my legacy.
Mulling over it will not further my plans, I need to move. However, being in haste makes waste. So, I must be prudent in using my power to influence this world"s course. Although I am helping, it should be through their blood and sweat that they take back their world.
"I will make an exit on the fields of Marjory so that you can face the undead in open field. You"ll only be facing ghouls and the high-ranking ghoul called Alghoul. There"s only one of it and 300 of you, however, you are still outnumbered. Use your training to the best of your abilities! None of you shall die if you put your lives on the line for Evernight! You have seen what I can do and am capable of, trust that I will put my efforts in keeping you alive! Go!"
The men wore their serious but tensed expression and charge forwards towards the exit. I"ve already lured the ghouls out through the corpses of some dead monsters from Alleucanth that served as food for these people. For six months, they"d eaten this meat. I don"t know if its because of their training, the meat or even the mana they absorbed from killing the undead, but these people sure have grown st.u.r.dier.
They should be fine.
The moment the last soldier came out of the exit, I destroyed the exit and collapsed the tunnel to prevent some stray ghoul to venture inside and kill the women and children that are staying inside the cave.
The fighting started and steel and flesh collided. The smell of rotten flesh permeated the air as they were cut off from the ghouls" bodies. The men were in formation. They adopted the spartan phalanx formation that I taught them. Although it"s not the most powerful formation offensively, however, in a defensive battle like this, it"s the best there is.
I made these men a sword each and javelins to match while their shield were tower shields that should have weighed more than 60 kilograms, but through the help of some runes, it weighed less than the sword itself. It helped in maintaining the phalanx and well, maintaining their current status, living.
Through the battles that they have fought with the undead previously and the victories it resulted in, their fighting style had already been established and only needed some reminding. Just like actual soldiers that learn on the battlefield how war happens exactly.
They are currently being surrounded by hundreds if not thousands, of ghouls and from a commoner"s perspective, they should look to be being overwhelmed by the horde. However, contrary to that, these men are holding their ground against these monsters. Their stabs are accurate and true, the ghouls stopped moving whenever their heads were pieced through by the javelins. Although they are less ideal for phalanxes, javelins were the most appropriate weapon for them to train in, since mastering the spear would take years. The swords though, they simply had to learn 5 basic strokes of downward diagonal slash away from the right instep and its opposite; horizontal slashes to and from the left and right; and one overhead-all-weight-in slash. And since they can apply these moves to blunt weapons as well, it was good enough. Besides, the tower shield I granted them can be used as blunt instruments already, so they needed no other "crusher" so to speak.
After about an hour of tirelessly moving about to prevent the piling of undead corpses, as they defended themselves, and mostly killing the ghouls, the Prime Ghoul as Ryan called them, and admittedly I actually like this name, but, but… Witchers call them Alghoul, so no need to find it another name. I"m in another world anyway, it should be okay. I feel bad for Ryan, but meh. As I was saying, the Alghoul finally showed itself and man oh man. The men were scared s.h.i.tless because of its sheer size. It was bigger than a SUV, and I know could pack quite a punch as well.
"Men! Do not falter! Maintain your formation and grit your teeth! Let it come to you and stab it to your hearts content! If even one of you falters, you all will die!" I had to encourage them or in this case, discourage them from faltering and dying. Because, truly, one hit from that undead would kill them. I must get busy as well. This coming fight, it"s not theirs alone. If only they were at least on the level of the Night Prowlers, then at least they"d be able to divide and conquer this monster.