Chapter 83
I cursed myself for not thinking to grab one of the bodies of the black robed priests or whatever they were. Having just one could make a massive difference. Then a thought occurred to me. Some might consider it a terrible thought, but I just saw it as an appropriate use of the resources available.
I had reinforced the door as much as I could have with magic. Maxwell, did you find any stairs leading down? I didnt see any kind of graveyard outside, so there must be a crypt.
Maxwell immediately smiled. Lets go desecrate some corpses! Follow me!
I call it recycling. I followed after Maxwell.
Wont being in a temple mean the bodies are consecrated or something like that, so you cant make them undead? Maxwell asked.
No. We went down a narrow set of stairs tucked behind the central hall. While consecrating bodies can make it problematic to raise them, theres two things why they dont normally do that. One, its not normally done unless there is a true threat of undead, why waste the resources. And secondly, this temple isnt a real temple. Remember in Omark how the temple actually hurt me. This one doesnt, I dont know why, it could be protections from the order, but I kinda doubt it. I would at least feel something.
Well, this does seem too awfully tucked away to be a monastery, or temple, or whatever this is. Maxwell shrugged as we entered the crypt. Maybe it wasnt an official holy site?
The crypt was surprisingly large. As my eyes pierced through the darkness, I guessed the crypt must run under most of the building above us. The hallway we entered into was at the corner of the crypt. In one direction, the hall stretched and both sides of the wall had caskets tightly stacked on shelves. Down the other direction led to more hallways running in parallel to the one with the caskets.
Echoing reverberated from the room above, and the door cracked. A boom signaled itd been burst inward. Maxwell and I leapt into action. Stepping over to the nearest casket, I used my immense strength to haul it out and threw it over in front of the door. The door had been a simple wrought iron gate that filled the entire arch, it looked to be more decorative than anything. Maxwell tried to help, but the weight of the caskets was too much for him. I heard footsteps and yelling from above. I threw another casket on the door, then another.
The sound I was making mustve drawn attention because people were coming down the stairs even as the final casket fell into place.
You better not do it, Zeke, Rheas voice called out muffled behind the caskets.
Or what, youre going to kill me deader than youre already going to? I shouted back.
I rushed down the hall that led to more rows of caskets with Maxwell close behind. When I was about in the middle, I turned.
Even as I spread my senses, I could hear the sound of a heavy weapon pulverizing the caskets. I drew in my magic and tried to blot out the world as I focused. I could sense the bodies and bones in the caskets around me, there were far more than I wouldve expected, the crypt was nearly full. Whatever this place was, it had been here a long time, and the crypt had been constantly expanded.
Many of the caskets contained nothing more than dry bones, but that was okay. Part of me wished I had more time, well-preserved bones of creatures that died in the far past made for powerful ingredients. Even if the person they belonged to hadnt been special, time passing had a weight of its own, magically speaking anyways. But it wouldve taken time to separate the bones and to gather the magic that would be needed.
Once I had a sense for what was available, I formed my spell, powering it with as much magic and death energy as I could muster. The strength of these minions would determine whether or not I survived the next few minutes.
There was a slight resistance, as the holy magic dormant in this place pushed back against me. This must be some kind of real temple after all, it just wasnt a powerful effect, and as my magic overwhelmed it, I could tell the effects of the Order of Equinox was providing more of a buff than I thought.
A cloud of intangible black energy laced with sparks of the purple eldritch fire that burned in my eyes flowed out of me, passing through the walls. I stood with my hands spread and began chanting words of power that would shape the spell even further as I willed the death energy to modify the creations. Not in any one specific way, but to flow in and amplify whatever strength the creations had. It was a gamble to will the magic and energy to work like that, and could have ended up enhancing the wrong thing. Like making the creatures superfast, which would do me no good in these hallways.
There was a rumbling as every casket containing rotted bodies and bones became animated. The magic began to pull the coffins off the shelves and lids burst open, the material gathering together.
I kept my concentration focused. There were too many things happening at once for me to control the individual creation, but my will shaped the over arching effect. I felt the last creature come together as the final dregs of my magic channeled into a skull of grimacing bone, and eyes that burned with light that reflected my own came to life.
I sagged, a splitting headache consuming me. I gave an order to my new minions to guard the door. I rummaged through the bag of holding until I found a mana potion, something Maxwell had made sure we had a lot of.
Stomping footsteps responded to my command, and I looked up to see a figure of bleached white bone stalking down the hallway away from me. From this angle, I could tell it held a shield made of black and bone, in the other it wielded a spiked club of bone. I was able to bring up a description easily since it was my own creation, even as I noted footsteps behind me moving the other direction down the hall.
Bone Knight
Level: 43
Bone knights are powerful foot soldiers for any necromancer. They can be created in a variety of different ways and often make up large contingents of any self-respecting undead army. This particular bone knight was constructed of the bones of long dead priests, giving it an added resistance to magic related to the god the priests served.
The resistance to holy magic was a nice addition. Maxwells song echoed through the crypt as I began to hear the yells and clash of combat.
Still, with a splitting headache I got to my feet and headed back down the way Id come. Maxwell was nowhere to be seen, though his metal music filled the areaI think it was something from Disturbed this time.
The hallway was blocked by the horde of bone knights I created. The screams of men and the crash of weapons bounded through the halls. There was an explosion that caused the room to shake, and the cluster of knights in front of me surged forward. I stepped in behind the last one and was able to see what was going on. The bone knights were still far less bulky than actual knights, so I could almost see through their bodies.
And the sight made me worry. Rhea had really brought the big guns with her. The explosion had left a pair of my bone skeletons broken, and even knocked down sections of the walls around the entrance to the crypt. Which resulted in opening up a larger area for more combatants to cram themselves into.
Rhea stood in the door, holy magic swirling around her, my bone knights pushed in from all sides. Two men in heavy plate mail stood in front, protecting her as she built another spell. I was unable to reach the front, forced to watch as pure white light blossomed out from her in another explosion that blasted bone knights around.
Every knight hit by the spell died, which was a good thing because everyone near the front was hit by the spell. It left them battered. It was not all one-sided though, the bone knights, with little sense of self-preservation, threw themselves at the holy knights. The blunt weapons wielded by my minions were ideal for fighting heavy armor. Spiked bone clubs left divots and holes in the pristine armor worn by the paladins.
My mana had recovered enough I could cast my own spell, and even as Rhea drank a mana potion of her own, death energy was flooding out of me, healing and enhancing the speed of my minions, which was even greater amplified as Maxwells music reached the point where it took effect.
The bone knights surged forward trying to overwhelm and push the paladins back. Splinters of bone flew through the air as devastating blows rained down, the hammers wielded by the paladins taking a heavy toll.
It was clear these two paladins were experienced fighting the undead. They landed their blows with expert precision, often temporarily crippling or outright removing a limb. I used mental commands so I could squeeze past my minions.
Rhea saw me coming. She pointed a staff with a golden loop mounted at the top with three golden rings hanging loosely around the loop at me. Pure white light built even as I raised my hand and activated one of my rings. The two magical attacks met in the air, mine was a bolt of black lightning and hers a missile of white light. The two spells consumed each other in a violent explosion that sent both sides staggering.
Unfortunately for me, the explosion had taken place near one of my minions, bashing them against the wall where they splintered into pieces. I filled the spot left open and struck at the paladin with Mercy before he could fully recover.
Mercy was shaped into a slender blade with a needle-sharp tip. The heavy plate mail of the paladins in these tight spaces would prove difficult to penetrate. Instead, I focused on landing small cuts, relying on the power of Mercy.
The bone knights on either side of me rained blows that distracted the paladins as I darted in leaving shallow cuts at the joints of their armor. The men swore, and when they turned their attention to me, I used Mercys indestructible shaft to turn aside blow after blow.
Now that I was closer, I occasionally got a glance past the paladins to Rhea and beyond. I saw clustered on the stairs more priests, and figures in heavy armor. They were cramped very tightly, but there was nothing I could do to take advantage of the vulnerable position.
A kinetic blast erupted from Rhea that sent me and my minions tumbling back, though very little damage was done. As I scrambled to my feet, I saw that the point was not damage. Theyd stepped fully into the room now and another two paladins and the priest had joined her.
I ground my teeth in frustration, this had been my only hope. Instead of attacking, the paladins formed a defensive concave while two other priests built a spell. I had two options, I could either attack or fall back and regroup.
Sensing their growing power, I elected to fall back. I gave a mental command and sprinted deeper into the crypt. I found Maxwell playing his guitar so quickly his hands looked like a blur even as different sound nodules surrounded him emitting different parts of the song.
We need to fall back now! The glowing light and power of the spell behind me was alarming.
Before I took another step, there was a flash of the purest white light Id ever seen, followed by a concussive boom. A moment later, a wall of destructive white energy appeared behind me and began to move forward. The walls themselves were being torn apart, and my skeletal minions with them.
Maxwell and I ran as fast as we could, toeing the very edge of the blast. The magic tore at me, and I screamed, my health plummeting away. The only thing that kept me alive was the buff from Equinox.
When the spell ended, I looked back to Rhea. Shed nearly cleared the entire crypt. The only thing remaining between me and her were a few pillars supporting the temple above us.
You come down here, and you defile the long dead good men and women that served this place! The vitriol in Rheas voice stung. I hadnt realized I still cared what she thought, but evidently, I did. I defended you when I first heard. In fact, I wasnt going to kill you, I was going to try and protect you. I thought you were a good person in a bad situation.
You know nothing about what youre talking about, I snarled back. I figured that at this point, what was the difference. Maxwell was hurt beside me, the magic had caught him as well. Fortunately for him, his guitar remained unscathed. My armor and cloak were heavily damaged. The dead dont need their bodies anymore, whats so wrong with putting them to use again. And on top of that, how are you so blind to the cruelty and hypocrisy of your own church? A man named Friar Brown once
A trembling in the whole of the space cut me off, and suddenly the floor cracked and crumbled. It started in the middle but quickly spread as the floor gave way and I tumbled downward with Maxwell into an abyss.
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