Beginning- The Boss Fight
Milean had slowly started regaining his composure. It was now clear to Arin how he had become the de-facto leader of the group, and why he was level 8. However, the repeated psychological attacks on his psyche, first in the form of 'Dread Howl,' then being directly targeted by the grim curse of 'Haze,' and last but not least, coming to his senses only to witness the gruesome end of his companions—these were too much for a small-town guard's mind to withstand. He was really shaken to the core. The only thing making him stand upright and get ready for a final stand in the face of overwhelming dread and morbid carnage was his survival instinct. And Arin was aware of this situation as well.
"Do not press an enemy at bay. To a surrounded enemy, you must leave a way of escape," Arin told himself. It was a quote by an Eastern scholar called Sun Tzu. The last mafia boss Arin had worked under often quoted Sun Tzu, and Arin had learned and remembered all of those quotes by heart. He was well aware that if Milean really imagined there was no way out, he might attack Arin like a rabid wolf and put him in great danger.
"You are really something, Sir Milean," Arin praised. "I did not imagine anyone would be so mentally strong to stand upright after all this!" Arin was evidently trying to butter up Milean. He was planning to make Milean drop his guard by giving him hope of coming out unscathed so that he would not go desperate berserk on Arin. "I am sorry for what happened," he said.
"You are 'sorry!' you say?" Milean gritted his teeth. "After massacring my friends this brutally, you have the nerve to say you are 'sorry,' you hell-spawn abomination!" Milean picked up his sword from the ground, being extra cautious so that neither the foul necromancer nor his wretched minions would jump on him. But Arin, to his surprise, did not show any sign of hostility—neither when Milean bent to pick up his sword, nor when he held it in his hand.
"Yes, I am," Arin replied in an apologetic tone. "I really did not want such bloodshed. I am just a novice necromancer and was just passing by. But I could witness the bloodlust among your friends when you were trying to calm them down. It was just my survival instinct that kicked in and things happened. I cannot even properly control my minions, and thus such gruesome events occurred." Arin took a breath and continued in an apologetic tone, "Tell me honestly, did you not also sense bloodlust among your friends, that they would go against you to kill me?"
"Even if you are right," Milean said, "what you have done is not something I can ignore or overlook. It just can't be." Arin smiled inwardly. Milean had dropped his aggressive stance and was now entering negotiation mode. He was now trying to take a commanding role over Arin. It only meant that he was seeing Arin as less of a threat compared to before. Arin decided to play along for now.
"So, what would you suggest, Sir Milean?" Arin asked in a sheepish tone.
"Let me think, but first, shut your trap!" Milean replied agitatedly. "First I need to think of the kids…" Suddenly both of them remembered the kids. Amid all the commotion, they had forgotten the little kids who had brought both groups together in the first place. "Wait here," Milean ordered Arin as he picked up the torch to look at the kids.
However, both Milean and Arin witnessed something strange that surprised both of them.
Two revenants were standing tall, like a wall, in front of the kids, as if they wanted to stop Milean from approaching them. Arin wanted to believe that those two just happened to be standing there, waiting for his next command, and nothing else. Milean commanded, "Move aside, you foul beings," but those two did not move an inch and kept standing like statues. Milean grumbled and ordered Arin, "Tell your corpses to make way, right NOW," and Arin obliged. "Give Milean way," he commanded, and the two revenants obeyed. But something did not feel right. Arin looked around and saw his specter, who had guided him to this place, standing far off, looking at him as if waiting for his command. Arin nodded for him to come near.
Milean brought the torch near the kids and shouted, "What have you done, you evil monster?" Arin was perplexed, and a fear dawned upon him. He was afraid that in his zeal to overpower his enemies, he might have hurt the kids unintentionally. He too rushed beside Milean and was shocked as well. Arin realized that the kids were most likely caught in the crossfire when he had unleashed his Dread Howl. The poor kids, being unable to withstand the psychological onslaught, had collapsed to the ground and lay motionless, fainting with froth at their mouths; their small bodies were a stark contrast to the hellish gore around them.
Arin leaned further to check whether they were breathing. To his great surprise, he noticed that they were not human, but most likely elves, judging by their long pointy ears. "Keep your foul breath away from my goods," shouted Milean and shoved Arin back. Arin could not keep his balance and dropped to the ground.
"Shambling corpse and their shambling master," Milean scoffed and leaned down to check the status of the kids. At that time, Arin realized that Milean had dropped his guard and was focused on the kids completely.
Arin looked around and saw a dagger lying near a corpse. He slowly grabbed the dagger and crept behind Milean, as he used to do as a thief or cutpurse in his past life. It seemed this new body of his had somehow retained or regained that muscle memory of the past.
He slowly stood on his feet just behind Milean and, with a swift but powerful thrust, shoved the sharp knife deep into Milean's nape, so deep that the front sharp end of the dagger came out the other side, piercing his throat. With a faint grunt, Milean dropped like a sack of cabbages, lifeless. "I knew it, even if things are game-like, but it can't be nonsensical enough that a knife at an unprotected vital organ wouldn't kill someone just by virtue of him being a higher level," Arin said to himself proudly.
*Ding* a new Notification-
[You have killed four enemies. You have been awarded +40 exp]
[You have killed four enemies of level higher than you. You have been awarded bonus +20 exp]
[You have killed eight Human. Kill forty-two more to unlock title ??????????]
[Congratulation! You have accumulated enough Experience Points to level up]
['Dread Howl' spell progression 3/150]
['Haze' spell progression 1/150]
['Life Drain' spell progression 1/150]
['Feeble' spell progression 1/150]
['Erode' spell progression 1/150]
['Necromantic Healing' spell progression 1/150]
['Simple Weapon Proficiency' spell progression 1/150]
['Dark Magic' skill progression 1/100]
['Necromancy' skill progression 6/150]
Arin didn't pay attention to these anymore, as he was getting used to these notifications by now.
His concern was now more towards the kids. They were still breathing. Arin ordered the two revenants to carry the kids with them, and to his shock, they did not scoop the kids into their arms. Instead, each of them carried one kid tenderly in their laps, as humans gently cradle sleeping babies in their arms. "Something is wrong here!" Arin told himself and decided to raise the four freshly killed corpses.
He stretched his hands and commanded at the four corpses, "Rise, my minions, and serve me."
The corpses started twisting and flinching. Virion was the first to rise. He had risen as a skeleton, a skeleton archer to be more precise. The rest of the three rose as Draugurs, carrying their original weapons and armor.
[You have successfully raised 1 Skeleton Archer]
[You have successfully raised 3 Draugurs]
['Raise Dead' spell progression 22/150]
['Necromancy' skill progression 7/150]
He also received his newly raised minion's status window-
=============================
| Skeleton Archer |
| Race: Undead |
|Tier- I |
| Level: 1 |
| Owner: Arin Drez |
=============================
| Strength: 30 |
|Agility: 50 |
|Magicka: 0 |
|Wisdom: 20 |
|HP: 130 |
=============================
| Resistance: |
| Blade 15% | Blunt 5% | Piercing 40% |
| Fire 5% | Water 5% | Earth 5% |
| Light -70% | Dark 80% | Mental 60% |
=============================
| Status: |
| Undead (Permanent) |
=============================
=============================
| Draugur |
| Race: Undead |
|Tier- III |
| Level: 1 |
| Owner: Arin Drez |
=============================
| Strength: 60 |
|Agility: 30 |
|Magicka: 0 |
|Wisdom: 30 |
|HP: 180 |
=============================
| Resistance: |
| Blade 35% | Blunt 30% | Piercing 40% |
| Fire 5% | Water 5% | Earth 10% |
| Light -80% | Dark 80% | Mental 80% |
=============================
| Status: |
| Undead (Permanent) |
| Fear (Permanent) |
=============================
| Ability: |
| Fear Strike – Every Attack drain morale of Enemy |
=============================
It was amusing. But Arin was more focused on the unconscious kids. He issued command to his minions, "Let's retreat to our base", and they took the road back to the castle, which Arin had selected as his base for the time being. There were many more questions to be answered, and it was so unsettling. However, Arin decided to address the pending issue at hand right now. He had levelled up, and he had to allocate spare points. He opened up his status window. He had 10 free points to allocate, across the four stats- Strength which was at 50, Agility at 25, Magicka at 75 and Wisdom at 50. He decided to equally distribute points across all stats, allocating 3 to each of Magicka and Wisdom; 2 each to Strength and Agility. He did not want to be a glass canon who would die with just a slap from an enemy after all. After allocating points, he looked at his new Status Window-
=============================
| Name: Arin Drez |
| Profession: Champion of Nerthazir |
| Race: Undead |
| Level: 2 |
| Experience: 55/150 |
=============================
| Strength: 52 |
| Agility: 27 |
| Magicka: 78 |
| Wisdom: 53 |
| HP: 262 |
| MP: 184 |
=============================
| Resistance: |
| Blade 7% | Blunt 2% | Piercing 6% |
| Fire 50% | Water 1% | Earth 2% |
| Light -75% | Dark 90% | Mental 85% |
=============================
| Status: |
| Undead(Permanent) |
| Champion(Permanent) |
=============================
| Skill: |
| Simple Weapon Proficiency – Adept(1/150) |
| Unique Weapon Proficiency – Novice |
| Light Magic Proficiency – NA |
| Dark Magic Proficiency – Apprentice (1/100)|
| Destructive Magic Proficiency – NA |
| Creation Magic Proficiency – NA |
| Necromancy – Adept |(7/150)
| Scrying – Novice(5/50) |
=============================
| Spells Learnt: |
| Raise Dead – Adept (22/150) |
| Dread Howl – Adept (3/150) |
| Life Drain – Apprentice (1/100) |
| Necromantic Healing - Novice (1/50) |
| Feeble – Apprentice (1/100) |
| Cripple – Apprentice |
| Wither – Apprentice |
| Erode – Apprentice (1/100) |
| Haze – Apprentice (1/100) |
=============================