A Rattling Monster

Chapter 99: The Messenger

I look just for a fraction of second before attacking at my attribute window and I see that I have gained a level. Seeing the chaos around me, I will say that's fair. Between the slaughter perpetrated by my Chosen and the continuous volley of fireballs, I have already killed more than hundreds of guards. And my zombies are chasing the fleeing side and with each second, more death can be found. The standoff we are currently is quickly resolved, without violence. I mean, real violence, it was even kind of funny.

I just approached the guards and priests and at the same time used [Blood touch] to absorb all the blood surrounding me. The floating rivers of blood that were converging on me should have been a really scary scene. And that, with the support of my [Cause Fear], provoked a chained reaction. At first, only one crossbow was dropped and his bearer seen fleeing. But shortly after, a wave of humans was seen running away, bravely. The only men standing were the priests, and by men, I mean men and women. Now that I look at it, there is two female priest, not that I really care, but you have to give them some merits. They are more courageous than the guards. By a small margin. Because when danger reared his ugly head, all those people of the Church bravely turned their tails and fled instead.

Unfortunately, cowardly behaviors won't save you from me. My Chosen, using their spells to grant them additional speed quickly reach the slowest guards and behead them. No one managed to outrun my skeleton warriors, not a single soul from that group escaped. And with that additional supply of mana, I create ten more zombies, and I direct them toward their fellow undead. That way, one side of the ramparts will be permanently attacked by my zombies. As for those that are in sight of my Chosen, I will let them off for the moment.

Now that everyone is dead around me, oh no, there is a survivor here. Well, until I sucked all his blood away from his body. I begin to go to the area where my spell [Blood Touch] can still be used, and after that, I finally have five spirits in total. Two to my protection and three searching for any heretics hidden inside the capital.

(Yes, searching the capital but not the entire capital, I just want to precise that.)

What do you mean, not the entire capital?

(Remember those dead spirits in Ronta? IT IS THE CAPITAL! Of course, there would be some weird shields and blessings, preventing your undead from entering. So, each time I have to move them to a location, I have to check that nothing will kill them. And it is really slowing down my progress, there are already five areas where I can't approach. Basically, I can go about five hundred meters away from the ramparts, before being blocked. So that's not really a lot of surfaces to cover.)

Wait, wait, wait? You are saying that, but does that mean that once I will enter the city, all my undead will be killed?

(Yes and no. Yes, your zombies will definitely die, that's nearly certain. They are you weakest undead and they are dumb, so they will take the blunt of the attack at its full effect. Your skeleton magicians should be able to stay alive, partially because of their higher knowledge in mana and their magic shields. As for the Chosen, don't worry. Their armors were designed to break anything that Aria will throw at them. The bad thing was that they were not that invincible against your spells.)

You nearly scared me for a minute, but I guess that makes sense that a weak spirit that doesn't even have a single resistance will die to the first barrier. But that means that I have to improve my zombies or stop the creation of them. In the meantime, they are still useful at destroying and rampaging the ramparts, where only guards are located. Except for some unexpected priests.

I regroup my true army around me and begin to go to the right side of the ramparts since the left is taking by my zombies. Now that I have destroyed a gate and that the news is spreading, my kill count is not rising as before. The guards are all gone by the time I reach the second gate. No matter what, I keep going but I have to face a problem at the third gate. There is still no one near. I expected them to be cowardly, but that cowardly? They are bloody chickens, running away even before the fox arrived.

And I am not talking about the buildings located near the walls. I have seen some abandoned pubs, even some inns deserted. No one is staying near me and my force, and the city is still big enough to not really provoke a problem. Like I said, Ronta was not even a quarter of the capital, so just sheltering the slums and the exterior houses are not a huge problem. And there are three walls in total, separating me from the royal palace. I have not heard the retreat from this zone of the city, meaning that if I provoke too much trouble, they will close the second wall. And it is even bigger than the first.

After the 6th gate, I resign myself to my cruel fate. I won't be able to do anything in the ramparts, and, with the minutes that I am wasting, it is not looking good. I call my zombies, to see if they have seen anything. They answer that besides the first running guards, they have not managed to grab anyone. They tell me that they are hungry too, but that they continue to run on the ramparts, looking for a prey. That confirms my supposition, the ramparts were clearly abandoned, and the guards must have retreated to the second wall. As for the commoners? I have no idea, maybe they were let in, maybe the gates are already closed.

Since I am just letting the Church gather more troops, I order my zombies to spread inside the city, only the edge of the city, preventing them from getting close to the areas where Oslo have found some strange protections. As for me and my army, we will directly go toward the second wall. That way, we can both walk inside the city and watch out for any survivors hidden in the deserted houses.

Because while the slums will be welcomed inside this part of the city, there is absolutely no way that they will be able to pass through the gates on the second wall. That's plain logic, in time of desperate times, only the good-looking and innocent citizens can survive. The rest? They will be lucky if they are not captured and turned into death squadrons, earning their freedom by killing the enemy. I am certain that there is a bounty for the head of the shadow of death, or whatever is my name now.

Madman and maniacs, hopeless and bloodthirsty criminals, they will be thrown at me, just trying to hurt me, or even better, kill me. But that will only make me stronger, more bodies, more souls, more blood. As I walk, I come across a well, connected to the water tank. I remember when I tried to poison the entire city of Ronta, now I realize that they have a means of preventing anything. Not even the alchemists that are quite good, but just some priests, thanks to the power of faith, can turn a poisoned air into a pure one.

CATACLOP CATACLOP

A horse? I hear a horse running away, and another one coming in my direction. I guess they don't know where I am. The moment he appears in the plaza located around the well, I can see his face distorted by fear, and see him trying to get away. It is not a knight, a squire at best. But his horse is scared, and he has thrown him out of the saddle. Now, I can slowly approach the stunned young man, while the horse is returning from where he was coming from.

It takes him a few seconds, but the young man finally recovers his mind, only to be encircled by me and my Chosen. His face is now pale, not a single touch of red in sight. I ask number one to do that talking, as always.

-Where are you going? What do you carry?

He has a bag, and he was clearly on a mission. I can guess what it is, but I need a confirmation.

-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th

He keeps stuttering until he stopped. For a moment, I don't understand, but then, seeing the light in his eyes fade away, I realize that he died of fear. Well, I guess it is a painless death, but it is not useful to me. I suck his blood and begin to search inside his bag. I found a letter, sealed, that I quickly open.

Inside, its content reveals that an unknown force has attacked Atria and the army located inside Ronta has to bring some reinforcements to the Capital. So I guess, mental telepathy is not spread across the country. And the other horse that I heard had probably the same letter. But that means I have nearly a week to destroy as much as I can the city before the reinforcements arrived. And I am only short of 8 levels before my evolution.