Hunt for the Necromancer- The Complete Series, page 26
part #1 of Hunt for the Necromancer Series
Melea’s eyes looked for mine, and I knew she sensed my change of heart. “Please, Master. Let me kill her!”
“What did you kill us for?” I asked Brianna, uncrossing my arms and resting my hands on my hips.
“After you took Astra as your ally, I stood behind in Glennhaven to organize it, remember? It was less to organize and more to see what would happen. If the Necromancer would miss the demoness, if she would attack us…”
“She didn’t. I was there this morning.”
“Yeah. But she knew Astra was yours. So she sent a messenger to tell me the deal would still stand if I killed you. To kill you, I had to kill the others.” She shrugged again. “I don’t regret it. If that was the price to keep my city safe.”
“But keeping your city safe sacrificing all the others?” I breathed though I wasn’t all that angry anymore.
I hated that she killed me, of course I did. But I wished I had the guts to do the same if my people were in danger.
“I couldn’t protect all the others, Aaron. That was the best I could do, so I did it.” Tilting her chin up in pride, she swallowed, sliding a bored gaze to Melea. “If you’re going to kill me, do it already, mutt.”
Melea gritted her teeth, raising a hand again as she shot me an exasperated look.
But I didn’t nod. I didn’t as much move.
She was risking herself and the city of Glennhaven giving me the gauntlets. The only reason she had to do that… was because she knew I would beat the Necromancer.
Brianna came after me in Firesse to kill me. But by then, I hadn’t defeated only one of the Necromancer’s allies. I had defeated three of them. We went to Kiran face the goddesses together because she was, possibly, intrigued. She expected me to die on the way and I didn’t.
I could remember how nervous she had been on the way to Kiran: because she thought I wouldn’t be able to win. And if the Necromancer found out she wasn’t the one who killed, what would happen to Glennhaven? Would it have been safe because I was dead? Would it be destroyed because Brianna was too?
My heart was heavy with disappointment. She watched me beating all those bosses without getting hit. Why didn’t she believe I could take on the last one?
Was the Necromancer this bad? This hard? This impossible?
The gauntlets still weighted on my fingers. I put them on, letting myself take the time to consider what would be the fate of Brianna. The beautiful red-headed who had my heart and squished it between her fingers.
A subtle surge of energy tingled up my fingers to my wrists and arms as I opened and closed my hands, trying the gauntlets. They were not as heavy once I put them on.
Royal Gauntles appeared in my screen. Accelerates cooldown time by 100%
Fuck. That was amazing! I brought one hand up to my face to study it with a smile.
“Master?” Melea tried again, her voice turning to a whisper as I snapped my gaze back at her, my smile dropping.
“Let her go.” I prompted.
Melea’s mouth dropped and I knew she wanted to dispute my decision, but she wouldn’t. Her hands dropped slowly from Brianna’s body.
Brianna didn’t get up right away. She frowned, her mouth hanging open. “Are you releasing me?”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Do you wish to die?”
She didn’t answer, she just stared at me for a long moment.
“I can solve that,” Melea offered, so low I barely heard her. No one looked her way.
“You killed me because you thought I couldn’t defeat the Necromancer. Why are you giving me these now?” I rose my fist, showing the gauntlet. “Why risking being found out?”
Brianna’s answer came in a heartbeat, as if automatic. “Because I trust you.” A pause as she balled her hands in fists. “I know you can defeat her now. You’re strong. You’re determined as fuck and you’re careful with your planning. If you can’t do it, no one can.”
Pride filled my chest. Fuck yes. I was going to beat the shit out of this boss because I became strong. I worked hard for that.
Flexing my fingers, I smiled. “As thanks for these, I’ll let you live. Don’t worry. I’ll beat the Necromancer either way.” I turned, starting up the road once more, my eyes glued to the walls of the fortress in the distance. “Let’s go!”
I heard the shuffle of steps following me. Melea scurried to my side.
“Aaron?” Brianna called from the place we left her.
“Yes?” I answered without neither turning to her nor stopping.
“May I go with you?”
That made me halt. I turned my head to a side but didn’t look at her.
“No,” escaped my lips before I noticed it. “You’re still a cheater, Brianna. There’s no way I’m trusting a liar again.”
Not waiting for her to say anything else, I focused back on the road, satisfied as fuck with my decision-making. Brianna didn’t follow and I didn’t turn to watch her leave.
6
This time, I wasn’t being careful. I wasn’t taking it slow, each step at a time, checking if the enemy prowled around the corner.
I was kicking the door to that fortress.
Selecting one potion of each - Defensive, Attack Boost, Experience Boost - I felt ready. Blood boiling in my veins, I grinned at my allies, my girls, all of them in fighting stances, and we burst in.
Clutching my sword, I took in my surroundings - clean-cut stones paving large streets, tall security buildings by the entrance, the top of a white palace in the distance. And guards. Breaking their necks to glare at whoever invaded their place.
Breaking their necks as in literally.
That man didn’t look like he was in any condition to work. Or to walk out of his grave.
The guards were corpses.
The two dragging their feet in our direction were halfway there - broken jaws and dislodged shoulder and a broken leg, some bits of flesh had been eaten away. One was missing an eye out of a dark socket. The other, the one with the broken neck, tried to resettle his skull between his shoulder protections, so it would stand upright.
“Undead?” I breathed, then rolled my eyes. Of course. A necromancer.
“They stink,” Melea made a face, covering her nose.
“They can’t be hard to kill. They’re already half-rotten,” suggested Astra, shrugging. “Master?”
I nodded once. “Give me cover!” I jumped to one of the undeads, slashing the head clean off. This one dropped and didn’t move anymore.
Turning to the other, whose hands rose, bringing a sword up, I slashed at its abdomen. Quickly, I had to bring my blade up to parry the attack that came when the undead didn’t even flinch with my attack.
Was this one already harder than the first?
I looked at the other, noticing the head had rolled off to hit the curb.
The head.
Pushing their blade back, I quickly connected a clean cut through the neck. The head dropped and the body followed, unmoving. I breathed out, turning to my allies. They smiled and nodded. Melea still had a face.
We strode up the streets, hunting for a path to reach the Palace. Here and there, we met guards back from the grave, some more rotten than others. We also met slaves. In this part of the city, older people, men and elves, cleaned the streets. We killed the guards watching them and I told them to hide inside their homes for we were killing the Necromancer. Some obeyed promptly. Some frowned then ignored us completely.
I didn’t have time to feel hurt, so I moved on. I didn’t ask for guidance this time - I wanted to go around telling these people to run and hide. I wanted to kill the guards.
The Palace grew in the horizon when a notification popped up.
You’ve reached level MAX.
A surge of pride rushed through me. I grinned. I was so fucking ready.
* * *
We reached the central square soon enough and though I wasn’t getting stronger, I insisted on killing more of those guards. Even if only to make the people feel safer. Some of them thanked me. We met a couple of the Lycan kidnapped ladies. Though they didn’t hide the shock of seeing Melea, they thanked me many times.
Across the central square stood the entrance to Palace Aureus. Golden and white and silvery it stood. The closer we got from it, the more silent the place seemed to be. As if a bubble covered we all….
A silhouette stood on one of the balconies watching the square. I squinted, trying to see who it might have been as we approached.
“Welcome, sir Aaron!” The voice echoed around us. The girls looked over their shoulders, looking, but I knew where and who she was. “Welcome to the center of my power!”
The Necromancer stood on the balcony, raising her arms in greeting as her voice magically reached us. I pressed on, walking faster and preparing to start the last fight. One of my hands hovered to open the menu and start my skills.
My heart thumped but not out of fear. Pure anticipation ran through my veins.
“I appreciate your welcome,” I yelled back. My allies turned to where I looked at. “Now, if you’d do me the favor of getting down here so I can finish you off quickly, I have a series of punishments I want to put you through for everything you’ve done so far.”
She laughed, throwing her head back. Now I was close enough to see her properly.
Surely I’ve thought the same a hundred times in this game, but this time I was sure. She was the most beautiful women I’ve ever laid my eyes on. It only made sense. She was the final boss. The final conquest.
Her eyes were so blue I could see them shimmering even from this distance. Two beacons on her face, refulgent as moons. Her creamy skin stark white when in contrast with her raven hair, falling in soft waves down her shoulders to her hips. Though she was covered in a long-sleeve but deep-plunge black dress, I was sure her body was heaven.
She lifted a hand in the air, the flowy sleeve of her dress dropping to her elbow. “I have other plans,” she smiled, snapping her fingers. “I’ve grown bored of fighting boring rebels and mutts like yourself. Self-important weaklings. Shallow-minded boys. That’s why I developed my personal army.” She grinned and though it was cruel, she never looked prettier. “Enjoy.”
With the snap of her fingers, out of the shadows and the corner appeared waves after waves of undeads. Well, if that wasn’t cool, I didn’t know what was.
My allies rearranged themselves so we all had each other’s backs. I tried to count the number of enemies but it was impossible. They were too many. Though easy, a number this big would easily overwhelm us. It would be such an undignified death.
I let them get closer then activated my skills. “Ready?” I roared to my allies, clutching my sword.
“Yes!” They answered in unison.
We attacked.
We slashed and punched and kicked and cleaned the first wave quickly. Then the second. And a third. I looked above their heads to see a crowd of undead, not only guards but other citizens. Men and Lycans and elves that once slaved away in the city and were now being used in their afterlife.
My stomach churned.
My blood boiled.
I’m pretty sure my face must have shown, because Melea called, from underneath her hidden nose. “Master? Let us take care of this!”
I frowned. “What?”
“They aren’t strong,” Nyx completed, waving her hand in an arch to create one of her dark attacks. “We just need to keep cutting their heads. They are numerous and are just here to slow us down and keep you away from your real purpose.”
I weighed the chances. Indeed, if I didn’t get the Necromancer, all of this would be for naught.
“We’ll have your back, Master,” Faye grinned and winked, swirling around to cut four undeads at the same time with her double swords.
“Are you sure?” I looked to the others and they nodded, determined looks on their faces. I smiled, sure they would fall before they let me down. “Then I’ll move on. I’ll defeat her.”
“We know you will,” Lux grinned before turning back to the fight. As soon as I turned to run for the Palace, they pressed their shoulders together to form a barrier, stopping any undeads from following me. I gulped, focused on the final fight.
I’d finally hunt the Necromancer down.
* * *
I marched as fast and as silently as I could up the halls. Lycans dressed in loose sets of shorts robes or flowy skirts and see-through tops scurried away and I knew these were part of the rumored harem the Necromancer had built for herself.
I wanted to tell them they didn’t need to fear me, for I was the one that would set them free. At the same time, my face wasn’t probably giving away a good-feels vibe.
Following the straightest path, hoping it would give in a throne room or something, I was surprised to find the throne chair empty. A Lycan girl, neither much taller not much older than Melea, jerked from where she knelt, cleaning the marble floor. She looked at me with huge eyes and trembling hands.
Raising one of my hands, I breathed in and told her as calmly as I could, “I’m not going to hurt you. I’ve come to hunt for the Necromancer.”
The girl took a heartbeat to answer me - possibly recovering from the shock - and then pointed to a stair on the opposite end of the room. I nodded to her in thanks and climbed it, two steps at a time.
I opened a double set of oak doors to finally find who I sought for.
The Necromancer stood in a large room covered in pillows and fur and tapestries. The room had a large balcony which I could only take was the place she used to summon her army.
The gaze she snapped at me was precious.
Her blue eyes were even brighter in this clarity. I started to grin a moment before I noticed what she was doing. Kneeling in front of her were a set of three other Lycans, all of them looking at me with a mix of hope and fear. All of them wore the same kind of sheer clothes, their hands crossed in submission in front of their hips.
“So not only stealing thrones and raising the dead, but keeping slaves not only for work but for pleasure, ey?” I entered the room, my grin turning to a scowl. “I don’t think there’s anything else you could possibly add to your list.” I eyed the slaves, then motioned with my head to the door. “Run.”
The girls scurried away instantly.
The Necromancer merely crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
“Let’s finish this,” I lifted my sword.
“Do you think you’re the first man to get in here with this heroic pose?” She clicked her tongue, stepping to one of the walls, where a set of various weapons were displayed. “Come now, sir Aaron,” the way she used the title as something silly made my blood curdle. She pulled a sword out of its stand. “You’re not the first and won’t be the last. This whole thing has been going smoothly for a long time.” She spread her legs, mimicking my pose with the sword. “I have seen you’ve managed some allies, who are holding my army back. But here’s the thing…” She stretched a wicked grin. “Your girls won’t last forever. They’ll tire while my army is indefatigable. That’s where they’ll die. My army will come up the stairs as I’m parrying your attacks and take you before you can chip away a quarter of my health. You’ll be done for and I’ll still be here.”
She lunged. I lifted my sword to block the attack. She was freaking strong.
But I was stronger. I wasn’t level MAX for nothing. I changed my feet to push the attack back.
The light caught on my wrists and she blinked as our blades scratched and slid against one another. Her eyes dropped to my gauntlets and her smirk faltered.
“Where did you get that?”
One of her brows twitched.
“Did you like it?” I smiled, straining the muscles of my arms for a counter-attack. “It was a present from a friend.”
She frowned, trying to understand, and it was all the time I needed.
I thrust my blade up. She stumbled behind, taking a couple of steps back as her sword threatened to leave her grasp.
Sliding my menu open, I activated all my skills. I was giving her no time to think. I was giving the game no time to kill my allies. In the end, they worked as a barrier. They represented how long I had to defeat the final boss.
With the light attack boost from the potion and the blessing I received from the goddesses, the skills destroyed her Health Points quickly enough. My newest skill, Shackles of Light, kept her frozen in place for enough time that I could, with my Critical attacks, chip away on her health even further.
