u/ManiAxe21

Yeah, you guys thought that prologue was dark for no reason, huh. Oh no, it had a purpose.

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The battle between bandits and skeletons faded as Alex focused all his efforts on spilling the life blood of the man before him. Alex snarled as he wove a relentless attack, [Improved Surge] active with every swing. His little nest egg of mana was being burned faster than it was replenished, but the fires of rage burned throughout him, and heedless of the cost, Alex would see the man dead.

After a minute, Marcus snapped out of the shock he was in, and a simple swing of his sword smashed through the block Alex made, cleaving through it as if it was tissue paper. Staring at the snapped blade, he looked up to see the blade swinging at his head. Ducking beneath it, Alex thrust the broken blade into a gap between individual plates at his waist. Marcus let out a grunt and backed off. Flourishing the blade, he started speaking.

“So… You are here too. Wondered why you vanished like that. Marcus, by the way, that is my name, not sure whatever you call me, since that never came up during our last… meeting.” They started circling each other, eyeing each other up. Alex was in a bad situation, sword broken like it was, his armor holding up for now, though given how his blade had fared, it would not hold up for long.

A skeleton with a bearded axe stuck in it’s side came running by. Taking the opportunity, Alex had it run by him so he could replace his broken sword. Marcus’ eyes narrowed at the familiar weapon. The same style having taken his life back on Earth. As they continued circling, Alex decided to go out on a limb.

“[Bandit King], huh? Moving up in the world, though it is not much considering you started as a rapist. As for what I have called you, Asshole Number One has served me well these long months.” Alex spat, waiting for the snap that would release the tension.

“Oho! Talking smack, is it, Mister Necromancer?” The last part was stated with no small amount of sarcasm. “Seems we both moved up when we came here, though yours is far more questionable than mine.” The two continued circling.

“Makes me wonder, this meeting. Was this engineered by these “gods” for their entertainment? That is what that blob said to me, anyways.” Marcus wondered, flourishing his blade as he did so.

“I don’t care. Either way, I am certainly not about to exist in a world in which you are still breathing.”

And with that statement, Alex charged. [Martial Skill] helped guide his strikes and keep the axe’s momentum moving, even as he burned mana rapid firing [Eldritch Bolt] with his open hand. Each shot seemed to make the man flinch, though when Alex attempted to cast [Eldritch Blast] on his open face, Marcus closed the distance in a blur and grasped Alex’s hand with his free one.

Alex tried to back off, but Marcus maintained his grip and attempted to smack him with the hilt. The hilt missed him, but the edge connected, slicing against his armor with a loud screech. Attempting to create some distance, Alex swung with [Slam], catching Marcus in the shoulder. Instead of knocking him back as intended, he used the force to spin him around, and by extension Alex, flinging him a few dozen yards back and away from the gatehouse, before Marcus charged to regain the distance with a grunt.

Almost losing his grasp on the axe by the spin, [Improved Bind to Earth] was cast to give Alex a moment to breathe. A brief frown showed on his foes face as his forward momentum was harshly cut, before he swung his still locked down arm, a boulder attached to it via his ethereal chain.

Quickly releasing the spell and dodging the boulder, Alex realized he wasn’t just the [Bandit King], but he was also likely the Earth Mage. His normal go to for locking him down would not work. Forgoing the break, he returned to swinging, this time dodging every now and then as Marcus threw rock spikes at him.

As he came up for another swing, Alex heard the rapid ratcheting of the gates opening, and saw some of his elites coming from the fortress, their bloody work done. Briefly stunning him though, was the sight of a grey skinned woman amidst them tearing out a bandits throat with her teeth, the violence and her emaciation doing nothing to hide her beauty. As the man fell, she grabbed his weapon and brought it to bear on another. Even with the short sight he had of her, Alex thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on.

Momentary as it was, Marcus noticed the brief flicker of his attention and capitalized on it, slamming into Alex bodily. There must have been a skill active as Alex was sent flying back into a wall far harder than normal physics should have allowed. His breath knocked out of him, all he could do was stumble forwards as Marcus turned his attention to the now open gateway.

World spinning, he summoned his trusty handcannon into his hands. Alex raised and fired it into Marcus’ back, who paused and sent a large rock into his hand, breaking it. With his right hand mangled, Alex fell to the ground, clutching it. His revolver fell to the ground and into some grass.

“Gwynevyre, I see you have chosen now to attempt to flee of all times. Sorry, but this is my playground, and I decide when someone leaves.” And with a glance, the now open archway was shut as a large rock jutted up from the ground to close the opening. The dusky woman who must have been Gwynevyre responded with a large thorny vine bursting out of the ground to strangle him.

A smooth swing had it wither away into dust, and Gwynevyre responded with another. Another chop had it too vanish, and she sagged against the ground, fighting against exhaustion. The rock blocking the gateway shuddered under the force from an impact, with Marcus concernedly reinforcing it. The gatehouse shuddered under another massive blow, which was again repaired.

Alex made a decision as he watched Marcus stride up to the prone woman with all the time in the world. He was perfectly fine with continuing their duel, but with his predominant hand out of commission, and more importantly, someone nearby who might get hit, he needed to fight differently.

As one, about half the undead in the area shifted their focus from killing random bandits to Marcus and charged. Within moments, the undead began to pile on, driving the man to his knees, before that too became too hard to determine. Gwynevyre forced herself back up to her feet slowly, and as she did so, light began to glow from under the numerous undead.

Quickly realizing the danger, Alex started sprinting towards the woman before wrapping his arms around her when a blast struck his back. Awkwardly twisting in the air so that he took the brunt of the impact from landing, he noticed the long elvish ears but was given no time to think on them as the ground impacted his back. With a grunt, Alex opened his arms to let her out and lurched upwards.

Looking at Marcus, the damage was beginning to mount up. One ear had been torn off, streaming blood down the side of his face, and his armor looked like someone had taken a chainsaw to it, it was so scuffed in places. His wound to the side was still bleeding profusely, though it did not show any signs of slowing him down. He was also indescribably pissed.

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*****5 Hours Earlier*****

Alex was startled from what he was doing as he felt a bolt punch through Vaun’s head. Heart beating at 100 miles an hour, he sat down and held his head to calm down as he still felt the bolt rip straight through his skull. After awhile, he felt some breath on him, he looked up to see the Gorilla looking at him, caressing his shoulder with it’s armored hand.

“I’m fine, I’m fine..” Trailing off, he returned to his work. Using [Subsumation] on his undead back at the fight had filled some of his mana up, and he was going to need it. Late last night, Alex had begun his plan. While the bandits attention would be fixated upon the woodline, he would engage in some mild tomfoolery. There would be 4 groups of undead: 1 for the initial assault, and 3 others for the after assault.

The first one on the eastern side where the hill was inclined the least compared to the path held one group of skeletons whose whole purpose was to draw people away from the gatehouse. On the opposite side held another group who was there to open the gatehouse so mercs could rush in and assist in the takeover.

The final group held the most expensive ones yet. Dire humans turned into zombies, his elites. Alex had about fell over in shock when he realized he could give them that label like any other animal, though they still had no skills. They would be the smartest and strongest of them, and they had to, as their goal was to get civilians and hostages out, while also taking out the elite powerhouses in the camp. Priority was the Bandit King and the Earth Mage, plus the asshole with the Silver Streaks.

After equipping everyone with weapons and armor, Alex was left with a slight bit of mana, and the sun was going down. Getting his steel armor set on, he pulled his sword and shield from his inventory, and let loose his standard war cry before giving the command to his undead to assault the place.

“Fetch me their souls!”

*****Now*****

“EYES UP!” Came the cry, and the surveillance which had grown lax soon tightened down. A frantic search of the wood line revealed nothing, though gusts of wind still had them jumping as the mind placed foes in the shifting shadows.

“I knew that necromancer was still kicking about. Has to be a Lich, I know it in my bones. How are we supposed to deal with a Lich, Carl. Carl?” The man turned to see his friend Carl get tossed over the walls, a pitch black skeleton standing in his place, bloody sword in hand.

“THEIR IN THE WALLS! THEIR IN THE WA-” He managed to scream out, before a sword was buried in his back, turning his cries into gurgles. Horns sounded the alarm, and open fighting began on the eastern side, where a flood of skeletons poured over the walls to descend upon the living with a vengeance.

*****The Keep****

“I thought you said you killed him, Jason.”

“I did, even got the notification and everything, not to mention his summons vanished the second I blew his head off. Look.” Pulling his status up, Jason flipped it around and showed it to King Marcus. He let out a snort.

“It says Zombie Knight, dipshit, not Necromancer. Do you really think a necromancer would be here on the battlefield? No, they would be hanging back controlling their undead like some kind of puppet. Sigh, I have to do everything myself.” And with that, he got up from his throne and grabbed a broad chopping blade with no tip. Any man who saw it had their blood run cold, as it wasn’t a sword built for fighting, it was a sword for executing. He paused as he went to leave.

“Do me a favor, find this upstart necromancer and put a bolt through his eye. You are good at that, at the very least, yes? And fetch me Gwynevyre. Tell her to give me the usual. Strength, endurance, the works. She knows what will happen if she refuses. I am grabbing my armor before this becomes a whole mess. Have her here before I return.” And the large man stomped out, mighty blade attached to his back. Jason stood there for a second, until a large form crept up from behind him and slit his throat, hoisting him high to prevent the sound of his struggles. The last thing he saw as he was laid on the ground was several other large men creeping without making a sound, stealthily reaping bandit lives like grass before a blade.

Another dark shadow stepped out from an arch, but this person was an emaciated woman. Sweat dripped from her grey skin, and her silver hair was matted, but it did little to hide her brilliant blue eyes or long pointed ears. The large men reached for their weapons before stopping, realizing this was not a combatant.

“Are you here to save us?” Came the breathless prayer. The men looked at each other, before one nodded. She leaned against a pillar for strength before rousing herself.

“Civillians are being kept in cells two streets over. Where is the necromancer? He needs to be warned who is coming for him.”

***** Alex POV*****

The vast majority of bandits had responded to the east, where his horde was raising hell, but a few of the more disciplined bandits had stayed guard over their positions on the walls. As Alex fought his way through them, the gate could be seen, the tower having collapsed at some point during the pitched battle, with bandits having taken up positions on it as a defensive measure. Their formation was rendered moot as the Gorilla thundered into their midst, pummeling them into a paste. To his side, the Baboon launched itself from rooftop to rooftop and lashing out with it’s claws and blades on the pockets of bandits firing down from up high.

That was something which had shocked Alex. Hidden behind the high walls was the start of a fairly large city, and while most of it was empty, it was clear there had been plans. The narrow streets helped limit the mobility of the bandits, but also limited the force of undead Alex could bring to bear upon them.

Even as he buried his sword into the gut of another bandit, Alex became dimly aware of his elites speaking with a woman. Brushing it aside, he let them handle the conversation, having this many undead active stretched even his high Intelligence stat to the limit, he couldn’t micromanage every single one. As he and his undead waded through bandit after bandit, Alex began returning some of his most damaged undead to mana with [Subsumation]. Occasionally [Mystic Arcanum] would kick in, and rocks would form on his blade just to be flung outwards with a swing.

The Murder Duo were slaughtering to their hearts content, the Baboon jumping from house to house, occasionally jumping on a stubborn pocket of bandits, while the Ape just smashed through everything. Ordering the Baboon onto the ledge, Alex became aware that the mercs were finally responding and had mustered a force to help assault. Telling it to go and help them get in, it jumped from the wall and ran towards the approaching forces, hooting and hollering as it did so.

A thud behind Alex caused him to pause and turn around. A large man clad in golden armor fit for World of Warcraft covered in runes stood up from a crater, holding a similarly runed sword with one hand. The Ape, seeing this new foe charged, before the man grasped the undead by the throat, stopping the couple thousand pound creation in its tracks. Attempting to stab it through the chest, the blade chipped against the bone before being deflected, and an errant swat by the Ape sent the man’s helmet flying away.

His response to the swat was to heave the Ape over the wall, grunting as he did so. The almost comicalness of the scene was only outdone by the seriousness of it as the man turned to look at Alex. Alex’s breath caught as he saw the man’s face. His focus tunnel visioned, breathing became heavier, and no longer was he concerned about the bandits in the area. Every thought turned towards one thing: GET HIM.

“YOU!”

“Do I know you?” In response, Alex roared and charged.

Authors note: Double post today, because I love you guys, even the guy who constantly downvotes me. Keep it up, random internet stranger.

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*****Inside the fortress*****

“Sire, it appears they are about to make an assault here in the next day, will you be taking the field?”

“A bit early, aren’t they? Oh well, our preparations should still hold up. I would keep our elites at the ready though. Tell Jason to get in his perch and fire down upon them. While our mutual friend may have whispered his magic to place this battle in our favor, the mercs might still pull something out of nowhere. As for myself, should the battle fair badly, sniff somehow, then yes, I shall take the field. I fucked up my last life, I am not about to do it again.”

*****Outside behind the woodline*****

Alex watched as the mercs who would make up the initial charge thundered up the way. Kudrik and Liv were in that wave, while he had to remain behind. It did not sit well with him. As he sat there chewing the inside of his lip, a wave of arrows came streaking downwards, falling upon the charge like rain. Some forms fell and did not rise again.

As more and more mercenaries were injured, people were pulled off from the charge to give aid to the wounded, or to drag them away to the healers. As he sat, waiting to give the command, the barbarian woman Tara walked up alongside him.

“Don’t worry, your group are hardened professionals. A little rain isn’t going to hurt them.” Alex reached out to pat her shoulder, before returning his attention to the fight. All around him, hundreds of skeletons and zombies waited for his command. A 2 toned horn blast echoed.

“Lets go boys! That's the signal! Let's teach these mangy sons of dogs justice! RAAAAHHHHHH!” The mercs' war cry was echoed tenfold, the dead staying quiet, and hell let loose as the ground trembled beneath Jasper's mighty steps.

The forest came alive as man and undead charged forth from it’s undergrowth, weapons loosed in their sheaths as they crossed No Man’s Land. Several men on horseback were outpaced by Jasper’s mighty stride, who was only outdone by the formless white tide of skeletons. A few Bone Golems lurched amongst the wave, an undead tower standing out like a sore thumb.

Arrows streaked overhead to land upon unfortunate souls, more often than not striking one of Alex’s undead. A silver blur streaked from the fortress just hanging in view, slamming into one of Alex’s Bone Golems, causing it to crumble into dust. A greater proportion of lesser arrows focused on the remaining Golems, but caused little damage. Alex raised the Bone Shield to protect himself from a sudden flurry of arrows sent his way. Instead of punching through, they slid off to the side, impacting the ground harmlessly like rain.

A pair of Bone Golems reached the walls, their large upper arms swatting men down to the milling horde of undeath, while their lower arms grasped the wall to keep themselves steady, and they dropped to their knees to provide as much structure as possible. Lesser skeletons began to climb them and began flooding the causeway. The first initial wave was quickly cut down, but more soon followed.

As the undead were doing their job, Alex frantically searched for Kudrik and Liv, either as one of the survivors or among the dead, to little avail. Catching his guardian’s eye, he handed her his halberd and started climbing. Blood soaked as they were, the bones which made up the back of the Golems were custom made to be ladders, and it wasn’t long before Alex was up alongside the skeletons and the bandit defenders.

2 bandits launched an arrow at him, and the dense devil iron armor dissipated the force as they bounced off. Tara was up on the causeway with him, handing him his halberd back, and they began to wreck house, more often than not flinging the still living bandits over the side to allow more skeletons to pour out. Occasionally he would use his ring to send out brilliant golden flames, either to burn or blind his foes to gain an advantage.

As they continued their attack, the silver streak would burn out from it to blast the assaulting force like clockwork. Must be a time cooldown, Alex thought. Skeletons were instantly vaporized from its strikes, and mercenaries were left crippled or outright killed. The Golems fared the worst, being as large as they were and being immobile. Nothing Alex could do about it, so he kept his focus on what he could handle, the various bandits in front of him.

Down below on the ground, Jasper hammered against the gate with his head, relying on pure size to break it down. Kudrik had custom forged a helmet for Jasper designed to help focus in the force imparted with a headbutt, all while allowing the body to take the brunt of the impact and keeping the jaw free to bite and snap. Each and every hit caused the surrounding stone to shudder and dust to fall, and yet the gate held. Even as a tower overlooking the gate began to sway unsteadily, the gate held.

Behind Alex, Tara’s eyes widened as one of her skills warned her of danger. Reaching forward, she grabbed Alex, wrapping her arms around him and turned so that her back was to the keep, and not a moment too soon. Silver streaked into her back, punching through her heart. As the strength left her, and her vision tunneled, Tara looked down to see the smoking remains of what used to be Alex’s head.

The 2 fell to the side as the skeletons shimmered and went away. As she stared at the man who had warmed her bed, a single tear rolled down her face, before her head rolled limply on the ground. A woman’s voice called out for a retreat, followed by a 3 tone horn call. The few uninjured mercs pulled back, dragging their groaning brothers in arms. Jasper followed suit, groaning and huffing all the while, gently grabbing those he could and pulling them down as he left. A cheer went up on the defending side.

“Three cheers for King Marcus!”

“FOOLS! They can still come back. Stay on high alert.”

And so they did. Hour after hour the bandits watched the wood line for any movement, but nothing could be seen. High on euphoria and adrenaline, the first few hours were easy, but as the day turned to night, their watch turned lax. A cool breeze flowed down from the nearby mountains, turning the once warm summer’s day to a chill akin to death. Suddenly, a voice rang out, malevolent and inhuman in it’s cruelty.

“FETCH ME THEIR SOULS!”

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While waiting on the General to get his retainers in order, everyone was making bets as to how the General would handle this upcoming battle. Some people bet on trickery, others an overlooked weakness in the fortress itself. Since it was an irregular shape, the potential was there. Alex was withholding his opinion, since he didn’t really know how Thrask committed warfare.

All the chatter ceased as retainers streamed in, followed by the now wheezing General. He stopped to catch his breath for a second, before standing up straight, absentmindedly brushing his laurels as he did so.

“Right, is this everyone of importance?” A general murmur of assent responded. “Good, which means I don’t have to repeat myself. I am General Magnalle of the Thraskan Kingdom, the king's own personal war commander. I will keep my orders simple and to the point.”

“If you take issue with how I run this operation, you may leave at any time. If you disobey a direct order, I will have you flayed before your kinsmen till you are huddled in your own viscera. Cowardice on the field, especially against bandits of all things, will be met with death. Am I understood?” Another round of assent was given, though much more subdued. With his answer, Magnalle strode over to the table holding the map, glancing at it.

“Right, we shall be making a frontal assault. First thing tomorrow at noon.” Immediately everyone broke out into shouting, desperate to be heard over one another. The general clamor carried on until one of the retainers belted out a loud “QUIET!”, silencing everyone.

“If you have a problem with how I plan this, I can turn around and leave right this instance, but I will be taking my healers with me. This is your one and only warning. DISMISSED! And someone get me my midday meal, I am starving.” People began to stream out of the tent, muttering unhappily all the while. Alex and Kudrik streamed out together, talking in hushed undertones.

“Do ya think this is deliberate?”

“Never attribute malice to what could be easily explained as incompetence. For all we know, that bluster he made could just be to make himself feel better.”

“Aye, though a frontal assault is not going to go well for us. It isn’t a star fortress, but the path leading to the gate is a natural murder funnel.” A faint cry of “necromancer” had Alex stopping and turning, noting one of Magnalle’s retainers waving him down.

“Welp, looks like they want me for something, hopefully a secret plan where I go around the back while everyone assaults the gate, or something similar.” Kudrik didn’t respond, just giving a nod and walking away as Alex walked back into the tent.

“Jeff told me about you, boy. I understand you have a necromancy class, and you have been experimenting with the bodies of bandits. No worries, we don’t care about your usage of the dregs of society, so long as you continue to do so out of prying eyes.”

“How did you know about that?”

“He did state we would be keeping our eyes on you, didn’t he? Now, about why I brought you in here. I want you to stay in the reserves. Once the first initial wave has softened up the bandits, I want you to swarm them with your undead. Since this is lowly bandits we are dealing with, it is very likely they will capitulate on the first charge. Best to keep you in reserve, yes?”

“Sir, I don’t understand. None of my undead summons have skills, and would be better off softening the defenders before people with skills come. Better to preserve our greater strength, rather than holding the fodder in reserve. Not to mention we should keep our people in reserve till the heavy hitters come out to play.” Magnalle scoffed.

“Heavy hitters, boy? They are bandits. One solid charge by knights and they will flee to their parents. And it is precisely because your skeletons don’t have skills that I want you to hold them in reserve. Any single crossbow bolt charged with a skill will destroy them with no effort, whereas a person can have some kind of defensive skill that will allow them to shrug it off. As I stated, the people will lead the way.” Clearly being dismissed, Alex furiously ground his teeth together as he stamped away. Walking towards the tavern, he met back up with Kudrik and Liv.

“So, any secret plans ta share with us?”

“He wants to keep me in reserve. Throw people at the walls before even thinking about my skeletons.” Their shock was palpable.

“Are you serious? Did you attempt to push back any?”

“You weren’t there in the tent. If I was to push him too hard, he will just up and leave, taking those healers with him. We need those healers, bad. If I have to get flayed for disobeying his order to save more people, so be it.”

*****

“Nooo, don’t gooooo…..” It was close to the dead of night, and his buff paramour clearly wanted him to stay for another sleepless night. He wasn’t adverse to it, staring a battle in the eye and not knowing if he would make it out the other side, but duties needed doing.

“I am sorry, my darling, but some of us need to prepare for the battle tomorrow.” He looked at her sitting rather prettily before him, and relented. “Fine, just one round.”

As he slipped out of the tent, Alex heard her mutter under her breath as she slept.

“I’ll keep you safe…” Smiling to himself, he closed the zipper back up. Having kept his mana bar full the entire day, Alex was eager to see just how much he could summon if he let loose now. There would be a clear difference between the 15 undead from back in his swamp days.

*****

Despite his helmet being securely on his head, he couldn’t help but keep fiddling with the straps as he waited for the horn. Jasper looked at him in disgust as Alex mounted him.

“I know bud, I don’t like this all that much either, but trust me, I have a plan. Neither of us are going to like it."