Chapter 96
All around me were dozens and dozens of the blood bats that swarmed me and Raven. Id raised them as fast as Id killed them, and had reached a critical mass. Once that happened, they swarmed and overran and killed the rest of the bats, which had in turn been raised.
I really hope the rest of this place is full of little annoying creatures like that. Raven kicked at one of the undead bats. The small creatures, though far weaker than either of us, were fast enough to get through her defenses and managed to land a few scratches that had festered.
It hadnt been enough to threaten her, since she had a certain degree of natural resistance to poisons, but theyd been annoying.
Just in case there are, let me always be out in front, you can always fall back and support me to make sure nothing gets to you, I assured her as we explored the floor. It was bigger than the floor we were making our current home inziggurat floors should get wider as you went deeper. Though I do remember seeing drawings of things like ziggurats and pyramids, and they were usually mostly solid with only a few rooms on each floor. But this wasnt Earth, so Earth logic didnt matter nearly as much.
When we reached the stairs leading to the next floor, I received an unanticipated prompt.
Would you like to add this new area to your lair?
It will expand the power capacity of your lair, but you will be required to defend it as other creatures seek to claim it.
Warning! This opens your lair to potential hostile takeovers from other monsters.
Y/N
I of course selected Yes. Immediately, I felt the presence that was my lair enveloped the floor I was on. The warning about it needing to be defended was interesting, and I wondered how likely that was. Just in case, I left one of my zombie snakes at the top of the stairs while Raven, my minions, and I continued down.
The map indicated this next floor was for more housing, but when we passed out of the initial landing zone of the stairs, I could tell there was a difference. There were no long halls with dozens of rooms attached to them like the previous floor. Here there was merely a large area that had remnants of furniture and tables scattered around. Some were even still intact.
What waited for us were not small, pesky bats, they were large rats called giant blood rats. Whatever the ziggurat had deeper down, it was affecting all of the creatures that took up residence here. There were also a few of the bats flitting around. Before the rat saw us, I noted how the bats were sweeping down scratching at the rats, while one of the rats hissed and tried to grab a bat with its claws. Clearly this was where the bats had come for their food.
I didnt have time to ponder on the idea of what kind of ecosystem must exist inside of the ziggurat before the rats noticed me, squealing in excitement as they rushed toward me, a gleam entered their eyes as if they believed me to be easier food than the bats. Little did they know I would not make good food. Then again, they could have been going after my snake and other fleshy companions, like Raven. I doubted the undead would taste good though.
Pay attention! Raven snapped as she transformed into her lynx form and leapt at the rats. I got the feeling she was excitedthis would have been normally in her food chain.
I heeded her advice and paid closer attention, my bats swarmed the other bats in the room as I transformed Mercy into a heavy Pole Axe and began to slam it onto the rats. Their levels werent high, and they really did not stand a chance against us, but like the bats, their numbers were daunting.
Drawn by the sound of combat, more rats swarmed, and there were some larger ones showing up. When I got a brief scan of them, I noticed their levels were only in the high thirties. They would make good fodder for my minions. I decided to use them to build something bigger than a horde of rats before we headed down to the next floor.
Once the fight was over, I used the largest rat that came storming out near the end and had been the size of a German Shepherdas a base. The rat boss had been overwhelmed by my bats and zombie rats before Raven could even get to it. It struggled in vain before it was so overtaken with necrotic poison that it died.
I gathered the other death cores and left the one inside of the large rat. I then pulled the magic out of all the rat minions Id made. The zombies collapsed. The low-level rats did not make great zombies, the bats, even though they were weaker, provided quite a bit of utility since they were small and so bloody fast.
I stayed with the rat theme for a lot of different reasons as I cast the spell. Instead of using death energy, I used eldritch magic to amplify it, and my mana pool depleted quickly from using the powerful magic. The bodies of the smaller rats were dissolved as the large boss rats body was picked up and modified.
Muscles swelled as skin split and the skeletal structure was reshaped. Truly a gruesome process. The purple fire of the eldritch magic refined the body, even as more layers of skin were added, healing where the body had torn open. I could do this to all living creatures, though I couldnt remember if I had before. I pitied any creature still conscious caught in this spell. Capturing the spark of the creatures soul ensure that, while it wouldnt make it a living dead since it was a monster, it would be something beyond just a mindless zombie.
At the last moment I decided to add death energy. The purple eldritch magic became tainted with pure black death energy as I crushed the cores from the other rats and channeled it into my creation. Most of the energy focused on the death core, but also used small amounts to enhance other aspects. The addition of the extra death energy increased the overall power of the minion since it would amplify the power of the death core.
The remnants of the eldritch and death magic flickered away into the room like strands of flame burning out, and I examined the creature before me and smiled.
Eldritch Greater Zombie Ogre Ratman
Magical Creation
Level: 53
Ratmen are despised by most races of the overworld, but in Tehomal they are one of the most numerous races. They are no more liked, but it makes other races hesitant to challenge them en masse. Individually far weaker than many other races, Ratmans strength lays in their numbers. This is a rat ogre, bread by the brood mothers to be able to stand toe to toe with other ogres and trolls that prey on the Ratmen. They are tough and ferocious fighters, if not very smart.
This particular rat ogre was not created through normal means. A powerful Lich fused the fallen bodies of rats with his terrible magic. It has been further enhanced by eldritch powers giving it an innate ability with eldritch magic.
This zombie is capable of awakening from its mindless state into a living dead state due to the presence of the soul spark.
The level was far higher than I hoped for. Considering the rat boss had only been around level 40, this was a major step up. I had seen bigger rat ogres before, but instead of the bulging massive muscles that they often had, this one had lean thick muscles that emanated power. The rat ogres eyes burned with eldritch fire matching my own, and its skin had lost most of the hair except for around the top of its head and along its spine, showcasing the pitch-black skin underneath.
It had two small rear legs and two humongous front legs, or arms depending on how you looked at it, that supported most of its weight. The connection to my creation was solid and powerful. We waited for a few minutes as my mana recovered before we headed for the nearest stairs leading down.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺