Chapter 104
Raven led us to a small alcove that had no exit, limiting how many wed engage at one time. Maxwell took a position in the rear with his conductor, while I positioned myself between him and the front line. Raven scaled the wall behind us for a vantage point where she could rain down attacks with impunity.
Moving into position had not gone unnoticed, and already several dozen of the savage mermen were snarling and closing on us. Pointing Mercy at them, I released a bolt of lightning that thundered as it leapt from target to target. Six of the mermen fell in screams of pain as the air crackled. Even as my spell faded, Maxwells music was already beginning to build, and soon we had the attention of every merman in the harbor.
War cries sounded out as they began to rush to our position. Dozens if not hundreds of mermen flew out of the water, creating a veritable horde that descended on us. Immediately I tasked my two bone constructs with targeting any mermen that stood out. I didnt want them to waste their ammo on pointless targets.
Already the horror and the two insectoid undead were engaging several of the blood swimmers. The razor-sharp arms of the insects tore apart the mermen while the horror simply crushed the enemy with its immense weight and powerful attacks.
I focused on casting an enhancement to all undead within a certain radius of me. This particular spell would last for a while, which was good because as this battle continued, I had a sense I would get a growing number of minions.
Black lightning crackled down from above as Raven released a spell that exploded into the midst of the onrushing mermen. As soon as my first spell was finished, I was casting a second oneanother area of effect. This one would turn any of the fallen into simple undead. Only the flesh horror had the ability to create the undead naturally, but in order to hold off this many, I would need more.
It didnt take long before the area in front of us was clogged with bodies. I was supporting the front line by darting in and landing critical blows. Mercy had been enchanted with my favorite spell to create undead from those I slayed.
Not all of the mermen were the same, some were clearly stronger and wielded tridents and other spear-like weapons. While others were emaciated, like the one Raven had brought over for me, the stronger mermen likely stayed within the water out of sight.
The mobile cannon fired and there was an explosion behind the front line as it took out those who dared to stand out from the rest. Once the fighting had started in full and there was a supply of bodies, I had given the bow-wielding construct permission to fire at what it saw fit.
Even after the fallen had risen, there were plenty that were too broken to be feasible zombies that I used to replenish my constructs arrows. Also, once a creature had been raised to undead and killed a second time, my spell would no longer resurrect them, it was a pointless waste of power at that point.
The number of zombies under my control multiplied, even if they were cut down often as fast as they were created. The music from Maxwell thundered out, enhancing my attack speed as well as strength.
Thick blood coated the ground as merman after merman died. It wasnt that they were weak, it was more that my own army was powerful. Maybe not as powerful as a player of equivalent level, but they were still mighty.
The bulk of the horror kept pushing aside zombies and I had an epiphany. I ordered the horror to charge out. There was little the mermen could do to harm it, and I now had enough zombies to hold the front line. If the horror was no longer confined by its defensive position, it would be much more effective.
I thought I heard a warbling, excited cry come from the horror as it bowled aside mermen like a ball knocking down pins. The gap left by it was quickly filled by several dozen zombies all stacked up and crammed together, boosted by Maxwels music and my own magic healing them. The real advantage they had was they no longer felt pain.
There was an explosion of black magic as a ball of energy hammered down from Raven. Having blown through most of my mana already, I knew she had to be getting low. And like me, she had more than one way to attack.
With the horror out making chaos amongst the ranks of the mermen, it freed Raven up to strike as she saw fit. A black streak came down and I occasionally caught flickers of her dancing among the rear of the mermen, slicing tendons and severing arteries before rushing past.
There was one group of mermen I caught sight of, now that the horror was out of the way. Immediately I recognized what it was. Whoever the ruler was of this savage group had come to the fray. A merman and merwoman, not to be confused with a mermaid, were at least a head taller than all the merfolk around them. They strode into battle, each wielding large, black tridents.
However, what they did not expect was to face a Lich. I drank a mana potion as I eyed the approaching monarchs. They moved around the horror, sensing that it was not the primary threat. They strode at a measured pace, not rushing in like they should have.
As my mana refilled, I surveyed the fightit was laughably one-sided. My zombie numbers only continued to grow. As my mana pool reached half-full, I pointed Mercy at the approaching figures. My mobile cannon had expended all of its charges, but even with its slow charging rate it was nearly ready for another blast, it was already tracking with the monarchs. I made sure to coordinate its next attack with my own.
I reshaped Mercy into a new configuration, which wasnt quite a new ability for the weapon, but almost felt like it. The skull head that Mercy had been shaped into for the duration of the fight does basically nothing, however this new configuration was different. Instead of a single blade it split into three razor-sharp ribs evenly spaced around the shaft. In between the ribs is a smaller replica of the focus in the eldritch cannon mounted in my mobile cannon. It had been Vitos suggestion to give this a try, and I was more than happy with the results.
I poured power into Mercy, using the focus to cast the spell. Black death magic swirled around it even as crackling purple eldritch magic began to concentrate inside the staff. For good measure, I added a little pure death energy.
With my connection to the mobile cannon, I synchronized our attack. Twin blasts of the two magics hammered across the distance in a blink. Id targeted the merman while the canon targeted the merwoman.
My target had a moment where it raised his hand and tried to stop my attack, but it was a feeble attempt to say the least. The bolt exploded through the flimsy magical barrier it erected and blew a hole the size of a bowling ball through the monarchs chest. Though the focus and my staff was smaller than what was in the cannon, my bolt was by far the more powerful. The queen survived, but the attack had left her wounded and defenseless. Casually, I stretched out my other hand and twin bolts of black and purple lightning erupted from my spell storage rings in quick succession.
The lightning bolts hammered into her and arched out to nearby mermen. The fight was decided when both the king and queen rose to life as zombies. The dock was utterly littered with dead mermen. The hungry horror was happily chewing away on several bodies as we surveyed the wreckage. Not all the mermen were dead, the ones that survived had been smart enough to either retreat into the water or throw up their hands in surrender.
I debated killing them all out right but decided I might have a use for them later. None of the surviving mermen could communicate, though in a society ruled by threats of violence, I think they understood. I left a large horde of zombies there, just in case there was an attempt to retake the docks. I then summoned my porters down and set them to work, I attached a note explaining what had been down there to one of the porters to take to Vito. Im sure he would find a way to use the mermen.
We ventured down six more floors that day, expanding my lair, and none of the fights were overly interesting or challenging. All of the creatures were some variation of some kind of underground creature mixed with blood magic. On the last floor we fought a whole bunch of vicious underground furry animals. Everything from overgrown voles to a badger the size of a SUV that guarded the next stairs. Hed been a royal pain in the ass to kill. But in the end the poison got him.
On the sixth floor we finally found the tunnel that connected the ziggurat to Tehomal and the Altar of Creation Maxwell had used. Listening to Vitos warning, we did not dare push into the underworld. We did secure the connection to the Altar of Creation. There I left a large horde of zombies taken from the previous floor under the control of a zombie controller, the former boss badger. They would guard the pathway in the Altar of Creation just in case Maxwell ever needed it.
The next floor down I finally found what I was looking for. The stairs were long, by far the longest, and they emptied into a larger than normal landing area. A single archway led out of it. The gates were closed. But when I ordered the hungry horror to try and knock them down, they swung open with the sound of old rotten wood breaking.
The hall on the other side was familiar. It reminded me of that ziggurat I had found with Friar Brown. No creatures waited for us, evidently nothing had tried to break down the gates. The ominous presence I felt pressing down on me gave me a good indication as to why that was.
Raven and Maxwell were paleclearly whatever the presence was, it affected them as well. I focused and emitted an aura infused with death energy from my body. It wasnt healthy for them to be in that, but I was able to ward off the presence.
The hungry horror even seemed relieved as I pushed the pressure back. I kept an eye on my death energy, as doing this was eating through it, but not at an alarmingly fast rate. With the number of death cores I had tucked away in my holding bag, I would have no problem maintaining this for quite a long time.
We stepped into the hall and I began to use small bolts of eldritch flame to light the different sconces, illuminating the area in a strange mix of purple and red. To both the left and right of the stairs, another staircase wrapped around and continued deeper. I kind of doubted we would find anything else from here down. I didnt know how deep the ziggurat went, but I was certain I would eventually find out.
The tall pillars on each side of the hall were not made of stone, but a red crystal that glinted in the flickering light. Between the columns was visible, but beyond that my eyes couldnt penetrate the darkness, it wasnt just simple darkness.
The floor was bare, yet the sound of our clicking boots was still somehow muffled as if the air was thick. All of us were on high alert as we moved farther inside.
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