A Rattling Monster

Chapter 57: The New Strategy

-Yes, master, I can talk.

So, at that level, he gains a real mind. Great, but. I don't know. Doesn't sound really good. First, why is he speaking better than me? He is a skeleton, how is he speaking?

-I don't speak with a tongue like you do, I can directly speak thanks to my spirit, master.

Are you reading my mind too? Why did he speak that sentence otherwise?

(I don't know, I mean lich have their own spirit and can converse, but they are the higher tier of the undead. Of course, there is some exception like most of the spirits like banshee, vengeful spirit, and ghost can directly communicate even when they are inherently weak. But a skeleton speaking is strange. But that's good news.)

Yes, just strange. What did I create? Think, remember, what did I want at that time. To create multiple undead, yes, but most importantly just create a skeleton. Did I want them to speak and think? Probably, it's better that way. I can order them to do stuff and they can think of a way to do it.

"Can you ssssee what I th-think, sleek sleek?"

-Yes, master, we share a telepathically link. Of course, you can prevent me from reading your thoughts at any moments.

Oh, well, how am I supposed to know how to do that. Fortify my mind, don't let anything go through. My mind is mine and mine alone.

(And mine too.)

Shut up. Don't interfere with that. If you hear me number one, say yes. Say yes. I order you to say yes. No, he doesn't hear me. And now, I let my mind open and say yes.

-Yes.

Beautiful. And did that telepathically thing has a range, or is it capable of reaching you anywhere in the world?

-I have no idea, master.

Well, that was expected. I mean I should ask the System. No, I should forget it, it's better. Only the description of the abilities granted by it has a description, [Nightfall] doesn't have one. So an improvement of a spell created by me will not be defined either. I can really see more and more the limits of the System. As I keep improving, he is becoming less useful. Like the [Scavenger]. That ability saved me, granted me my current life. But since the time I eat the drake, I never used it. First, because I understand that only a small percentage of attributes was really gained. And secondly, because all my kills are disintegrated.

But now, I can use efficiently my number one skeleton warrior. Are you capable of doing the same trap we did the first time, with a bloody leg?

-Yes, master. This one is capable of reproducing the event.

And are you capable of hearing Oslo?

-Who is Oslo, master?

Damn, he doesn't hear you.

(That's because I didn't speak. Let me try something.)

-I can hear him, master.

Great, great, great. That way, you can keep hunting small groups of humans and at the same time, I can flee away from the assassin. I let you two discuss the details, just remember number one, follow Oslo commands. He is a very powerful god and deserves your respect. Less than me of course.

(That last part was not useful at all. You could have just avoided to say it.)

Just make me proud of you, number one. Now go, and be efficient. I can see him disappear inside the dark corridor of the sewer. Kids these days, they grow up so fast.

(What do you mean?)

Just a regular sentence that you hear everywhere. I always wanted to say it. But I notice something and that's not good.

(You mean the number of kills to upgrade your skeleton? If it is as you think, yes it was great, but it will slow down a lot of your progression.)

The first time was four kills, second time thirty-six kills, that's nine times the initial amount. If that keeps going that way, for the fourth upgrade, my skeletons would need to kill 324 humans. And I am not even talking about the level above that. But like you said, that's for the original form of my [Raise Undead]. I run around the sewers for a few hours, and with that, the night has come. I learned from Oslo, that number one killed fifteen guards during that time. Since he doesn't have the protection of my curse, he will only target the weakest group. But that's enough for me. I didn't expect anything, I came looking for copper and I found gold.

I can see progressively all the soldiers and magicians leaving the sewers. The day was bad for them. They don't know, but shortly, they will learn that a lot of humans have died inside my underground empire. Not a lot compared to the total number, but too much for a day without anything accomplished. Except verifying the fact that there is a threat under their foot. And now, the cat and mouse game started again with only two players. A plague sorcerer and an assassin.

Now, I need to change those rules to an assassin and an army of undead. And test the suggestion of Oslo. I have just enough mana to create another skeleton warrior. But please don't use that amount. I begin to think of something very small, a spider. Just a little spider, without poison, without a web, just a small spider. Now create that spider for me. I think of a black widow, even if it will probably don't have the color of it. But I see the form, now create. And, yes, I got a small white spider. So the colors are not included with the invocation. Not that I care. So how much did It took me to create a small living being? 50MP. For something not even the size of my feet. That's bullshit. Or maybe the System compensate the lack of details. Because I can precisely create a human skeleton, I mean I saw that in my biology classes, on a lot of games, movies. A human skeleton is easy to create. But a spider skeleton, the details?

I probably messed up a lot on that. But for the rat and dog idea, that's bad too. I don't know how their skeleton looks like. So it will be costly for something weaker than a skeleton warrior. The good thing, it is still only an hour of wait. Not that bad. So by the time the sun rises, I will have number two and number three ready to face another day.

Maybe I should try another round of plague? No. First, this time, the civilians are probably already evacuated. And if they are not evacuated, they have fled the city. Except for some old ones that don't want to leave the house of their family will stay. All the other, merchant, shopkeeper, common citizen, all will exit Ronta. They had the entire day where I fought in the sewers. By tomorrow, Ronta will be only occupied by the armed forces of the Holy Kingdom of Aria. So another plague will be useless. And dangerous, because before, maybe they didn't cast a spell to not hurt the local population. But now, they will make the houses explode if that can hurt me. And every tall building will be guarded.

But since they failed their action today, what will be the next move? They tried the poisoning blessing of Aria. They tried to invade the sewers. So what's next? The worst possible thing will be for them to just stay on the outside. That means I will have to bring the fight to them, and my skeletons will perish under the heavy crossbow bolts. Or even just a priest or a magician. The best thing is another round of invasion.

And so I waited. I waited when the sun has risen. I waited hours after that when nothing was happening. And by wait, I mean I ran around the city. Can't forget that ratman after me. Now I am in the best condition possible and accompanied by three skeletons warriors. I managed to retrieve two new sets of armor and weaponry for them. That way, I begin to really have a small group to fight in my stead. I don't have to personally be involved. But as time passes, and nothing changed, I begin to fear that the worst outcome was chosen. And I can't let that happen.

Since I will not have any mana problem for a while, I decide to make them regret their passive stance. I blast a grid and then launch my acid orb on the surrounding guards. Some melt, some were protected by an invisible shield, and some magicians throw a fireball and other spells toward me. Of course, I immediately ran back into the sewer, not letting anything visible except my head when I cast the spells. I keep doing that every hour. Each time, killing less and less guard. Somewhere before midday, my last attack didn't kill anything. That's bad. That's really bad.