Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Undead smashed together, their unfeeling bodies crushing each other. The flesh golems tore apart dozens at a time, absorbing them and growing. This kind of brutal melee was exactly what they wanted.

Where are you, Ezekiel? a distorted voice growled. The massive, corrupted magic emanated from a figure stalking through the middle of his zombies. They werent zombies though, not in the technical terms anyways, they were a different kind of animated dead. Flooded with corrupted magic, they had a nasty habit of being uncontrollable and hard to kill.

I scanned the figure from where I stood atop the building with Maxwell, Abimelech, Othniel, Raven, and Fraya.

Talkak

Level: 133

Living Dead: The Forsaken, Freed

The forsaken are powerful undead and rarely seen. They are lethal melee fighters and powerful magic casters. The resentment and anger they harbor toward the one who created them is what has allowed them to shape the form of their body and power. The hatred they hold toward their creator and master is unending. They can be powerful minions, but they should never be trusted by their master. They will always seek to break free and extract their vengeance.

This forsaken has broken free of the shackles that bound him and now seeks to take his terrible vengeance on the world and his former master, Ezekiel the Lich. Embracing the corrupted magic that suffused his body, he has taken his power and hatred and merged them into something terrible. Once he finds his hated creator, nothing will hold him back and his creators power will have little effect on him.

Oooo, Freya licked her lips. You made a forsaken, and a good one at that. Can I have him?

What? I asked, looking at her in shock. I doubt he will follow you.

Youre crazy, Maxwell said. That man was crazy and fucked up, he deserves this and deserves to be killed again.

Come on, you let Raven have pets, Freya pouted.

My pets arent crazy, Raven said. That man is crazy, and he hates Ezekiel, no way you get to keep him with you if keeps trying to kill Zeke.

I promise he will behave, Freya said. I was too confused to even respond, there was a brutal brawl taking place only meters away. And Talkak was wading through them drawn directly towards me. You dont get to see forsaken very often, and hes so strong. There was a whine in her voice.

Fine, hes all yours. Just make the fighting stop. I dont want to lose more of my troops in a needless battle.

Oh goody! Freya gushed before floating off the roof and heading towards that poor forsaken.

***

The alley we were in was half a block from the foot of the bridge where the guard building stood to one side. A barricade had been built across the bridge. It looked surprisingly stout and well-built for how rapidly it mustve been thrown up.

Raven disappeared to scout. We had a rough estimate of how many soldiers would be stationed there, but we wanted to make sure there were no hidden surprises. Either way, at this point, we were committed.

I began to cast a death magic spell, along with Tola and Izban. Casting the spell would make us more likely to be detected but that wouldnt matter in a few moments. We each cast our own spells to lessen the chance of detection, since group casting a more powerful spell would be a sure way for us to be found out.

There is a group of clerics and priests in a building a street that way, Raven nodded behind us.

I was holding my spell near completion, not wanting to waste the duration. Okay, can you handle it if you take Ehud and DeBarak with you?

Yes, Raven assured me.

Okay. I will give you a thirty count before we kick things off here, strike while they are distracted.

No, I thought Id announce myself and give them time to prepare, Raven snarked, and gestured for the two fighters to follow her and they disappeared.

I counted in my head for twenty-five long seconds. Then aloud I said, Five, four, three, two, one. As one, the three of us cast our spells and Maxwell opened up with an electric guitar shred.

The death magic washed over the twenty-four of us and we rushed into the light. I dispelled the darkness spell around us. The guards whirled, roughly two hundred of them. We were terribly outnumbered, but individually we were quite a bit stronger. My spell had been a powerful strength enhancement, Tolas enhanced speed, and Izbans was a regeneration aura.

The strength enhancement would help us smash our way through their lines with ease, as we were predominantly melee fighters. I was already casting another spell, and eldritch power swirled around me. Though I hadnt cast this kind of spell before, I knew how to do it.

My absolute mastery of eldritch magic had me finish the spell right before we reached the front line. A wave of purple eldritch power spread out over my allies. Their weapons gained a purple eldritch flame along the blade, eldritch power suffusing their bodies further increasing their speed.

The soldiers barely had time to turn, and the ones stationed on the barricade were caught between us and the defenses. Most importantly, the softer targets stationed behind them, the archers, wizards, and other range fighters, were caught in our charge.

We hit them like a sledgehammer against a pane of glass. Shamgar and Gideon secured our flanks instead of being at the center driving back the soldiers. Dozens of soldiers fell within seconds of the engagement starting. We were already inside their magical defenses, this force was not meant to hold on its own, it was meant to hold long enough for reinforcements to get to it.

Tolas second spell was another buffing spell, a general effect one that would increase the overall power of all involved. She attached the spell to the barricade so its area of effect would stay with the front line. Izbans next spell was also attached to the barricade, and would raise any fallen bodies within its area of effect.

Purple lightning left Othniels hand and hammered into a soldier who had just flung open the guard house door. The lightning chained inside of the building, leaping from soldier to soldier. The crackle of the purple light shown through windows on the second and then third floor.

On the top floor, pure white light that was hard to see the in the daylight blossomed. I reshaped Mercy into its eldritch canon form, seeking a target.