The First Lich Lord

Chapter 28

The pyramid where my skills were stored loomed before us. The island it was contained in wasnt much bigger than the structure itself, but I hadnt realized just how deep the building went into the ground. How could something so large remain out of sight for so long?

Inside this impressive structure were the focus tables to improve my abilities. Truly one of the most important things in the mindscape.

Not having access to it definitely slowed my progress, so I was determined that we retake this place. But it was also covered in monsters.

Shall we begin? I asked Damien and Ilore.

Open fire! Damien yelled back at the crew.

The battleship rocked as a barrage of magical projectiles were launched from the cannons on the underside. A moment later, two larger cannons mounted on the top of the island fired, utilizing traditional explosives.

The projectiles from the heavy cannons on top were faster, and they slammed into the ground first, a wash of fire sweeping out in growing circles from their impact points. Before the flames died out, the barrage of death cannons hit, peppering the area in waves of death magic across a small section of the massive pyramid.

Figures that had been rendered immobile by the heavy cannons, were beginning to move again.

A surge of motion on the pyramid drew my eye, and hundreds of creatures leapt off into the airsome lacking wings grew them as they tumbled in the air. The turrets mounted along the walls of the battleship were unleashed. Lines of small, fast-moving projectiles ripped through the air, cutting apart many of the incoming monsters.

Damien, when this is done, I said calmly, never taking my eye off the incoming attack, remind me that we need to create some true flak weapons. I hadnt thought about flying monsters.

Will do, boss, Damien said.

A net exploded from Ilores cannons barrel. The net was made of her gray time magic and spread out wide before the island. Flying through the air, it encompassed many of the incoming monsters. Upon touching them, parts of their body would freeze in place. Several wings snapped under the unexpected strain and the monsters cried out in pain, tumbling from the sky.

Nothing would be enough to stop all of them, but wed kept the potential of the battleship being boarded in mind as we designed it.

I remained exposed in a clearing near the front. The idea was that the monsters would be drawn to me, and the crew hidden in bunkers could shred them with bows and arrows. We even mounted a few of the heavy turrets to point down into this area.

I could potentially take some friendly fire, but I was willing to take the risk. No permanent damage could be done to me inside my own mindscape, at least not truly permanent. If my avatar died, I would simply come back. Except if that happened, it would leave my mindscape very exposed.

I whirled my blade and cut the first monster that landed before me in half. Here in the mindscape, my power with my blade-staff was even greater. Thanks to the increased physical ability, I was a maelstrom of death.

Damien was in the back, protected within a small bunker. But he was still just as deadly. His necromantic abilities reached the battlefield, and as the bodies piled up, a few of them stirred with renewed life, turning against their former allies.

A particularly large monster landed. It had two short legs, a long muscular body covered in black fur. Big jagged teeth bared in menace. It had two powerful arms with wings attached to them that stirred in the air. It was just lunging for me when a spell from Ilore struck and froze it in place. I used the opening that gave me to lop off one of its big forearms. When the creature unfroze, it was off-balance and screaming in pain. I drove my blade deep into it, twisting to widen the wound.

The more monsters that came, the more they rose to help us under the influence of Damiens necromantic power. By the time the flying monsters were finished off, we had a veritable horde on our side. Not all of them could still fly, but enough could so that we were able to launch a counterattack.

Thanks to the cannons continuously firing on the pyramid, a swarm of directionless undead wandered around directly below the battleship. Damien and I leapt off the battleship for the pyramid. The moment we touched ground, Damien started taking control of the directionless undead. Ilore followed a moment later, her time magic too valuable to leave aboard.

I led the charge up the pyramid, our undead army now growing at a faster rate. The guns from the battleship served to support us as they hammered the front lines of the enemies before we got to them. Damien was in a constant state of building a more powerful necromantic control spell, and almost before the bodies even hit the ground, they were rising to join us.

We reached the top of the pyramid and were greeted by a group of massive monsters. They were a cross between an ogre and a dragon with scaly skin and wicked talons on massive lumbering bodies. Their heads were that of an ogre, but with an elongated snout full of razor-sharp teeth. Wisps of smoke rose from their noses just before torrents of flame erupted out.

I managed to dodge, the flames that engulfed a few of the undead that had taken my spot. The horde rushed past me, the undead not caring if these monsters would tear them apart, seeking only to serve. The carnage was unbelievable. A dozen of these dragon-ogres tore apart our undead. The battleship began to bombard the top of the island, before a beam of gray light shot out and hit a pair of them.

Chains of gray magic wrapped around the two and faded, freezing the dragon-ogres in place. Undead swarmed over them, ripping at them with teeth and claws. An ogre waded toward me like a man pushing through shallow water, each swipe of its massive claws dismembering undead all around it. I prepared myself to face it.

It swiped at me and I dove aside, lashing out with my blade, slicing through the scales with ease. The dragon-ogre roared in pain and lunged anew. It wouldve had me, but a well-timed blast of time magic from Ilore temporarily slowed it down. Enough that it looked like it was stuck in molasses.

The effect was temporary and I rushed into action, circling around behind it to slash at it with my blade-staff.

I opened deep rents in its flesh until I finally hit something important, severing its spine just before Ilores spell ended. The ogre collapsed, its legs no longer working, roaring in rage and pain as it thrashed about on the ground. With it all but prone, it was no match for me as I drove my blade through its head.

Dark magic suffused it, and Damien approached. The ogre rose again, but instead of remaining as a dragon-ogre, more undead were drawn to it, fusing into it. Soon it grew in sizedoubling, then tripling, and continuing on until it was ten times its original size.

The massive undead creature roared and turned on the remaining dragon-ogres.

The powerful monsters had managed to wipe out most of our horde, and their attention honed in on the massive undead stalking toward them. Bouts of flame burned away at the creature, but with a mighty fist, it pulverized two of the dragon-ogres into mush.

The power of necromancers was frightening. Id been able to do similar things before I was killed. People often thought of necromancers as back line support, and sometimes they were, but when they chose to take the battlefield, the proximity to so much death greatly enhanced their powers.

That being said, these monstrous dragon-ogres were something else. Despite the power of Damiens undead giant, the dragon-ogres were winning. Ilore and I joined the fight, tackling one beast at a time.

There was an explosion behind our foes. Followed by another, and another. A gap briefly opened between the dragon-ogres, showing me something I hadnt expected.

One of my guardians, created by Damien and I to protect my mindscape, was ripping through the back ranks of the dragon-ogres. My guess was this guardian had elected to defend the pyramid and had been inside the focus chamber protecting it from the monsters.

This particular guardian was a fast-moving, bony construct. Each blow it landed resulted in an explosion of death magic. It wasnt the strongest creature physically, but its offensive capabilities were massive. The dragon-ogres, in an unexpected turn of events, broke and ran.

We chased the fleeing monsters down, but when they reached the edge of the top of the pyramid, they leapt into the air, sprouted wings, and flew off into the distance.

Why would they do that? I looked at Damien and Ilore. What do you think is going on?

If I had to guess, Damien said slowly, I would say they serve one of the emotions. We should track them to see where they go. Maybe theyll lead us back to the emotion.

Thats a good plan, I agreed. But first I want to check out the focus chamber.

I moved toward the chamber, but my guardian appeared before me, blocking my progress. I ordered it out of the way with a mental command, but it stubbornly refused to move.

Damien stepped forward, a frown on his face as he began to build up a control spell.

Ilore spoke up, Wait, Ezekiel, you should not enter there. Her face was pale. Something is terribly wrong in there. I will go look. If its time related, I should be fine. She was gone only a moment before she stepped back out. You cannot enter there, not if you wish to remain sane.

Whats wrong? I asked.

Its hard to explain Your focus tables are very different now, and show things they should not. It will take time for me to repair the damage so that you can enter. For now, we should focus on hunting down the emotions.