Chapter 188 – Vikas

[You have obtained the rare undead monsters Death Knight (Lvl. 1)]

Nikolai read the panel before him as the cube burst to reveal his undead, a tall armored creature of darkness that wielded a great sword. The undead knight took off his helmet to show his black-flame head and pair of blue streaks for eyes. Then, he kneeled.

“I arrived to serve thee, God of Lost Souls.”

When he heard the voice, Nikolai looked around in confusion before his eyes fell on the death knight. His crimson eyes blinked twice, feeling like he was hallucinating.

“You can talk?”

“I was granted immortality through your powers, and with this, I am honored to communicate with you.”

“That is a long way to say yes,” Nikolai walked forward and tapped on the armor. “You are something else, Death Knight,” Nikolai then stepped back and the knight’s stats.

“I am grateful.”

[Death Knight (Lvl. 1)]

[Rank: Rare.]

[Vitality: ∞]

[Strength: 100]

[Agility: 100]

[Intelligence: 100]

[Mana: 100]

[Skills: Summoning of Death, End Strike, Advanced Swordsmanship.] 

“Those are a lot of skills,” muttered Nikolai with amazement. “And all of them sound so reliable. Show me End Strike, Death Knight.”

“As you command, my sovereign,” the Death Knight stood up, and he gripped his sword, which was as tall as Nikolai. Then, he waved his hand, and an arc of darkness destroyed everything in its path. “End Strike.”

“Awesome,” Nikolai had no words as he witnessed the wide groove in the ground created by the attack. “And what about Summoning of Death?” this was the one which interested him the most.

“As you command, my sovereign,” the Death Knight then waved his hand, and the darkness exploded from his hand to cover the ground. Then, arms pierced through the darkness as undead rose to answer his summons.

“Are you telling me that you can summon undead monsters?” asked Nikolai as he felt that this would render his other undead monsters useless.

“The summoning consumes my mana, my sovereign. Therefore, these monsters do not regenerate as we do.”

“And how many can you summon at once?”

“Ten,” answered the Death Knight, and Nikolai counted nine, making him realize the End Strike consumed a tenth of his mana.

The nine undead monsters summoned were all skeleton soldiers, who were waving their swords. Nikolai wondered where these weapons came from, but there was no one to answer him.

“You are great, Death Knight,” Nikolai said in amazement, and the Death Knight gave a small laugh of triumph. “I want to give you a name since you can talk.”

“I will be honored, my sovereign.”

“Your name shall be Vikas,” said Nikolai, and the knight again fell to its knees, its hands gripping the sword’s hilt.

[Vikas (Lvl. 1)]

A notification appeared in front of him, announcing the name change. Nikolai did not think a lot before naming it, only going with the general impression the knight left.

“I, Vikas, will serve you through eternity and beyond that.”

“I have no idea what lies beyond that, but you have a vast vocabulary for an undead,” laughed Nikolai as he tapped the knight’s armor. This monster was at least three meters tall, making Nikolai imagine its appearance on the battlefield.

Then, Nikolai summoned his undead monsters with a wave of his hand. There were now fifteen of them in total, finally looking like a small platoon.

There were six Skeleton Soldiers, three Skeleton Mages, three Dark Mages, two Ghouls, and Vikas. The monsters were diverse, making his physical combatant quite a few. However, there were ten more Skeleton Soldiers that Vikas could summon.

This rounds up his undead to twenty-five monsters. Nikolai looked at them with pride, waiting for the day there would be thousands of them.

“You might not be the most popular monsters, and people would never adore you, but I do. You are my precious soldiers, and we will go through life together. Our first target will be none other than those ruins!”

The mages gave some screeches while the ghouls pounded their chests. Vikas stood among the rest while bowing to him. Nikolai turned around with a grin as Ash should have found someone.

***

“I brought you another one!” grinned Ash as he placed the giant box down, making the guard jump with joy.

“You are a life-saver, Anton!” the guard was almost beaming as he looked at the giant box filled with liquor. “You are now titled the thirst-terrorizer!”

“Haha, you are too kind, brother!” laughed Ash even though it was a lame joke. The guard took the box into the watchtower while Ash spotted a ship coming from the far horizon. “Ah, what is that?”

“Hm?” the guard turned toward the ship with confusion. “Oh, they have arrived. I will give you a piece of advice, Anton. Do not get close to these guests. They are sons and daughters of heaven who are here to leech off our glory.”

“Are they kids?” Ash pretended to be amazed, and the guard nodded with a disgusted expression.

“I heard this from my brother who works in logistics. These kids asked to join our guild in the exploration, but they are far from worth it. It seems they are here to learn or make themselves famous.”

“The world is vast indeed,” whistled Ash as he looked around and slipped the guard a cloth-wrapped object. The guard acted as if he did not see anything and snatched it.

Then, Ash whistled as he walked past the barricade. All it took was a few bribes and some wine to enter the ruins. However, these were the outermost areas, where everything had already been swept clean.

The guards thought Ash was here to gather some scraps from what was left behind. That was the only reason that they allowed him into the ruins.

“That ship is stopping,” Ash squinted his eyes before he looked around. A few moments later, he was standing atop one of the houses, looking with his binoculars at the ship.

Indeed, it was a giant one, but the hull seemed to have more than a few broken tiles. Ash looked at the railings to see the people standing there, and there were only kids indeed.

“A group of nobles,” spat Ash as he kept observing. The group seemed to be fighting as one of them attacked another. “A group of shitty nobles, to be accurate.”

The infighting seemed to end when a woman stepped between them. Ash felt like he recognized her, and he adjusted his binoculars to get a better look.

“Heir of Helnes? Dammit, why is she here?” panicked the fence as this catch was too big. She worked to defuse the situation between the two fighting men, and the rest scattered.

Then, Ash saw her walk toward one of the two men, a handsome blonde who wore a robe and held a gun. Valkyrie Helnes acted quite intimate with the man before he walked away.

“Oh ho. A gunman favored by House Helnes, this is the perfect catch for the plan! I need to monitor them and report the location to that bastard!”

***

A gunshot rang in the air, and another followed it. Sergio did not stop pulling the trigger as shots after shots landed everywhere, striking both enemies and friends alike.

It was another episode of dissociation, as his brain refused to live through those feelings. When it was finally over, Sergio found that he had made a mess of the deck.

“What are you fucking doing, crazy bastard?!” shouted the armored man from earlier, who seemed to be prepared to attack Sergio. “Are you trying to kill us?”

The rest of the team was enraged, and Sergio saw the smoke fly over Valkyrie’s sword as she used the blade to protect Yuxi. Her eyes were not as gentle, but they were not hostile, only curious.

“Fight the dark beings first!” she shouted without breaking eye contact with him. Then, her body started to overflow with the divinity that made Sergio nauseous for some reason. “A thousand blades!”

Valkyrie Helnes attacked, and Sergio realized why no one dared to defy her. A single strike was all it took for countless dark beings to be destroyed, and the others fled for their lives.

The deck was silent again, only interrupted by the labored breathing of the group. Then, as the ship broke through the darkness, the sunlight revealed the destroyed floors of the vessel.

“I will kill you!”

The handsome man dashed forward, throwing away his sword before punching Sergio in the face. The pain was too sudden, but Sergio knew that he deserved it.

Another punch, a kick to his stomach, and a push followed after that. Sergio did not resist because he knew that the rest approved of this just like he did.

The beating lasted for a while until Valkyrie seemed to gather her energy and stand. Then, she took confident strides toward them, only needing to raise her hand between them for the man to stop beating him.

“I want to know what happened, alchemist,” she seemed disappointed and chose to strip him of his name.. Sergio looked at her through his teary eyes and bleeding face, not knowing what lie he should give this time.