Isekai Magus 3: A LitRPG Progression Saga (The Fantasy World of Nordan)
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By the gods, the minotaurs were fighting over dominance below as well, and I had just shattered a whole lot of new minions.
Horrified shrieks erupted in the distance and broke my contemplation. The wails of the shocked ogres didn’t bring joy.
Their nervous realization and pointing fingers to the brewing cloud of energy did bring relief. They feared what was coming.
The black bubbling cloud brewed angrily over the magical sunlight, blotting the nearly infinite landscape into darkness. I didn’t gloat or sneer. I retreated to safety.
Reapers dropped from above, landing with tufts of snow. A few of the ogres attacked the creations, exerting their mana. While the ghouls stripped the bountiful flesh off the ogres, Nick pushed the army forward at a fast clip.
I could feel my minions in both locations dying as they rose. I ordered them to secure their weapons and to run to our formations, avoiding a fight if possible.
The anguished wailing of the enemy realizing their loved ones were skeletons faded as the sound of an ogre charge deafened the area.
Nick paused the army, readied the troops, and we waited for the Battle of the Snowing Den to begin.
CHAPTER 16
Wurm Labyrinth 5th Floor
Snap!
The bolts from our ballista whizzed forward, slicing through the air. While I wished we had a thousand units, the twenty would have to do.
Two thousand charging ogres raised their shields. The additional thousands who hesitated during the restructuring, thundered forward, eager to join their brethren in the coming fight.
Boom!
Crack!
The shields cratered under the immense pressure of the large projectiles. Bolts ripped through the clumping enemy, sometimes downing two or more per shot.
“Spear them!” the repeated call echoed down the ogre lines.
Over the next minute, ogres planted their feet or threw spears mid run. The sheer amount of weapons arching into the sky darkened the battlefield.
“Loose formation! Open fire!” Nick’s enhanced voice shouted.
The unit commanders scrambled to spread out their units.
The enemy spears soared long, fell short, and wreaked havoc among the ranks.
“Javelins, loose!” Nick shouted.
A counter volley arched high darting into a thin cloud before entering a descent. At first I thought the javelins would fall short, but the ogres ran under their maximum range.
Their rage drove them onward, pressing the attack even when it meant more would die. The javelins pin cushioned the ogre ranks with the damage mostly being ignored. Healing spells repaired wounds, and two golden beams crashing down spoke of revivals.
I reached in my core, condensed a spell, and connected to the dead. I quickly navigated the options and raised as many new minions as possible with zero discrimination.
The black cloud, the crackling energy – hell, even the ghouls didn’t scare these ogres from their heedless charge.
Three hundred trolls, a hundred goblins, a half dozen tigran, three orcs, and a few dozen ogres joined my forces. The undead continued to race to build a stalwart army.
Personally, I didn’t want to enter the scrum yet, deciding to watch and observe. The big wolf seemed content at the moment, sticking to the outsides of the army. Since I remained cloaked, I had a half dozen dran follow behind at a long distance.
“If you die today, for Tribe Moonguard, the gods will bring you back. There is no retreat, only victory,” Nick shouted.
That wasn’t exactly true, but it certainly was motivational. I led my alpha wolf to the treeline well away from the brewing conflict.
Snap!
A volley of bolts slew ogres in the dozens. I didn’t hesitate, immediately picking them up and using them to slow the charge before it finally reached our lines.
I saw a lone ogre pointing at my wolf. Before they could react, I diverted into the treeline.
The alpha guided me to a burrow a few trees into the forest. I hurried off his back and tucked myself inside. The wolf curled in a ball, blocking a cool breeze that blew into the entrance. I ensured the cloak covered my feet to complete my hiding spot.
Getting as cozy as I could, I chanted my obedience spell.
My mind’s eye zoomed out of the woods right as the advancing ogres smashed into the orc lines. Ogres batted aside long pikes, resulting in clangs loud enough to reach me in the woods.
Some ogres failed to shield themselves or infantry swapped targets at the last seconds, and the barbs impaled the bloodthirsty attackers.
The front rank faltered under the pressure, ceding ground to the larger foes. The second rank held firm, not bending to the might of the enemy.
That wouldn’t last long, as the thundering footfalls of the ogre army increased.
The moment the main force of the ogres arrived, the front ranks crumbled, the second ranks caved, and the third ranks buckled, barely holding. The scrum of melee intensified with thirty foot ogres clobbering orcs who barely stood above the knee level.
I caught a fleeting scene of an orc climbing up an ogres armor to ram a blade into an arm pit. Blood gushed out from the wound and the ogre staggered.
Before I connected, I blasted out a connection and domination spell.
You have connected to 319 orcs, 42 ogres, and 23 minotaurs worth 8,022.882 Zorta. You desire to claim all has been accepted. Confirm that you want to convert these beings into minions. (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected
You have connected to 1430 minotaurs, 83 dran, 31 ogres, and 17 orcs worth 101,337 Zorta. Your desire to consume all has been accepted. Confirm you want to consume 101,337 Zorta (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected
By the gods. I had expected this for the most part, just… this was a lot. The plan I had formed back on the first floor was always to convert the powerful ogres and minotaurs into youths. Either the minotaurs on the sixth floor were extremely plentiful, or they were in a full scale civil war.
The clouds billowed angrily before unleashing reapers and ghouls alike. I zipped into an ogre in the front ranks. The frame staggered from my insertion.
Ghoulish hands ripped at the dead near my feet. Both sides dodged the undead who devoured flesh with abandon.
Smack!
A mace slammed into my shield arm, forcing me to focus. My opponent charged an ice spear in her hands. I ignored her spell and flung myself onto her body.
Crack!
The sound of brittle bones snapping told me the sudden shift in my weight meant I lost my left leg. My skeletal arms latched onto her body with enough force that we tumbled into the snow as one.
I rolled free, and a moment later, a swarm of orcs hacked at her neck.
I ordered this minion to cut tendons and calves before ejecting out of the body. The second I was free, I raised the dead and collected the stubborn I couldn’t convert.
Snap!
A volley of ballista shot over the orcs, slicing into the ogres. The enemy healers rushed to get revivals off.
Again, I raised the dead, trying to find a point where I could help.
“Loose!” Nick ordered.
A volley of javelins arched over the melee scrum, honing in on the large targets.
Tigran mages from within our ranks fired spells with impunity. Ogres raked formations with massive spells that the shielding mages couldn’t temper. The death count and carnage escalated as the battle entered a pitched swing.
“Use all your mana!” Nick ordered, an urgency in his shout. “Hold nothing back!”
“Kill the minotaur and the undead die!” an ogre near the front shouted.
My mind’s eye forced me to return to my body or pick a minion to control.
I dove into an ogre near the enemy trying to encourage his troops. The connection synced quickly and I dodged a spear throw. The weapon raced over my shoulder and impaled three trolls.
I cursed myself for not deflecting the weapon.
“Push you fools,” the enemy leader said.
<
br /> “Push!”
“To us!”
“We’re going for the mancer, join the attack!”
“Kill the taur on the podium!”
The ogres encouraged each other until they attained a battle rhythm. Their grunts kept their steps in tandem.
Our army gave ground, fighting back the best it could against the sheer mass of the ogres.
I only had a short sword and a shield which would only go so far. A dozen ogres crushed orcs in their path. It became evident that the enemy had found a resolve, a determination that was driven by a singular but misguided purpose - to kill Nick.
My ogre skeletons fought fiercely to cut off the ogres who pushed ahead of their peers. Their efforts failed - the ground they gained quickly retaken as they overextended. The ogres kicked, stomped, and cleaved the orcs back.
I walked through orcs until I yanked a big spear out of the dead.
When I neared the advancing ogres, I stood still as a statue.
The nearest opponent scoffed. “Wonder who this was? We must be cloggin’ the mancer’s mind,” the ogre said.
I watched the male load up a massive swing, readying to clobber me to bits with a homerun type swing.
The second he committed, I ducked under the weapon. He overshot his blow, the club ringing off his ally’s shield.
I leaped up and thrust aggressively. My spear slid into his ear canal, tearing its way forward until the tip gored brain matter.
He died with a look of dismay etched on his face. I yanked the spear free and fell back a step.
Clang!
A mace crashed into my shield.
“They’re tryin’ to cut off our allies,” a worried ogre shouted.
“Quit belly achin’ and get to the mancer! They’re just little metal sticks,” the leader shouted.
The leader spun to see his back lines. I hurled my spear, and an enemy shield soared up, deflecting my throw.
My opening to kill the enemy boss had closed.
The mace wielder across from me hammered relentlessly on my shield.
Snap!
Ballista bolts decimated the advancing team. The leader clutched at a shaft that jutted out of his neck. A healer dragged him back, and our middle experienced a slight reprieve.
Additional ogres arrived, smashing into our right flank. The result decimated the orc infantry with hundreds dying in mere moments. The trolls unleashed a fresh volley of javelins, scoring a few kills.
The deaths didn’t amount to much, and the fresh ogres carved through the unprepared infantry.
I left the minion, hoping he could weather the onslaught. My encouraging thoughts were dashed when the mace wielder smashed a knee before caving the minion’s skull.
You have connected to 1309 orcs, 422 goblins, 211 ogres, and 203 minotaurs worth 38,992.297 Zorta. You desire to claim all has been accepted. Confirm that you want to convert these beings into minions. (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected
You have connected to 103 minotaurs, 81 ogres, and 77 orcs worth 17,099 Zorta. Your desire to consume all has been accepted. Confirm you want to consume 17,099 Zorta (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected
Necromancer Level 12 -} Necromancer Level 13 = 105,000 Zorta - (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected.
Necromancy Level: 13
Necromancer Minions: 28,788/36,000
I fist pumped internally and groaned at the sight.
The right flank continued to lose troops. I conducted another round of summoning before the ghouls even landed for the first revivals.
A dozen trolls routed. Those who fled increased until it became a full unit. Nick shouted at them to stop, but they didn’t listen. When those trolls ran into my wolf reserves, they stopped their flight.
Even if they ended up halting their retreat, the damage to the right flank left it unable to weather the attack. The entire section of the right side condensed, giving up more ground than the line could tolerate.
Nick ordered the reserves forward, slowing the ogres’ massacre. My reapers crashed down into the middle of the ogres.
Howls of pain shrieked out. The ogres collapsed in droves as ghouls stole flesh from feet. This finally slowed what seemed like the moment the enemy would achieve victory. The fight was never in doubt. The ogres were always on the winning side if I wasn’t a factor.
Except I was.
A third round of summoning raised even more dead. Suddenly, the ogres realized that they had charged into a trap against a necromancer.
I zoomed away from the battlefield and down, toward a minotaur minion running up from the sixth floor. Before I could reach them, I saw the first reinforcements cresting the ridge.
Out poured hundreds and hundreds of minotaurs. Instead of sinking into one of the bodies, I let my mind’s eye reset to relieve the strain.
When I flew over the main mass of melee fighting, the right flank had stabilized. At least a thousand ogres still ran to reinforce their allies, but a few hundred paused.
Both sides in the fight had exhausted their mana, leaving the fighting at a slight edge to the ogres. However, once the third wave of revival arose from the dead, the tide shifted to an even match.
That was never supposed to happen. The ogres should have run over inferior species, reveling in their easy win. Instead, they had fought tireless skeletons just as big as they were. Orcs and goblins skeletons had no qualms about suiciding to bring down an ogre.
The undead terrified all, and the carnage only helped bring more of them to life.
You have connected to 509 orcs, 333 trolls, 332 ogres, and 13 minotaurs worth 29,334.337 Zorta. You desire to claim all has been accepted. Confirm that you want to convert these beings into minions. (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected
After returning to my body, I sat up, seeing my breath frosting from the chill forest. I really hated the cold.
A wolf growling nearby sent chills down my spine.
“There’s an easy kill over here, come use your goop, Darto,” an ogre said.
“Jort, we should be helping the main army,” Darto replied.
I had a choice to make. The damn snow would show the tracks that led here. Only a half dozen dran waited in the woods nearby as scouting guards.
Crash!
“Got one.”
Five guards.
The jarring thud of an ogre nearing caused my heart to slam against the inside of my chest. I scorned my decision to hide in the trees.
Crack!
“That one shattered against a tree,” Darto said.
Four guards.
“I think they’re here to warn the mancer of a flank attack,” Jort replied. “Should probably stop kickin’ ‘em.”
“This damn wolf is elusive. I need a new -”
Darto cried out in pain. “Shit! It tore out a chunk of my calf. Help me, Jort, they’re swarming me.”
The snarling from a pack of wolves slowed my panic. Reinforcements had arrived.
“Darto, run!” Jort cried out.
“I can’t. They got me encircled,” Darto replied. A whoosh of magic shot through the forest and pink light flashed brightly. “I got most of ‘em coated.”
“The main army is - is - is… By the gods, we’re losing,” Jort said.
Darto shouted, “Help me, fool.”
I could hear Jort storming to aid his ally.
Crack!
Thud!
A wolf whimpered before going silent.
“Oh shit, Darto, orc skeletons are rushing for us. We shouldn’t have killed these scouts,” Jort complained. “All to try to capture a stupid wolf.”
“We have to hurry to one of the hold entrances. The good news is that the necromancer stopped raising the dead,” Darto said.
“Ha! Me saving you is the good news,” Jort said, his voice fading as the duo retreated.
Even though I was invisible, I had dodged a bullet. The force I had sent to aid me was hopefully small enough not to draw attention.
I reached into my core and summoned a massive dominatio
n and connection spell.
Whoosh!
The energy blasted out of the battlefield, and even though I couldn’t see the action, the results told an interesting story.
You have connected to 522 ogres, 277 trolls, 202 orcs, and 2 minotaurs worth 36,444.309 Zorta. You desire to claim all has been accepted. Confirm that you want to convert these beings into minions. (YES) - (NO) - Yes selected
I consumed almost double that in dead minions, stubborn ogres, and even minotaurs I’d missed earlier. The battle had swung, and the enemy sounded a retreat.
My minions provided no quarter, harrying the enemy. I shot out of my body, flying to the front lines to survey the fighting.
A quarter of the Jeer mercenaries lay scattered across the battlefield, frozen forever in death. Half of them still breathed, collecting the loot from battlefield. The final quarter were skeletons, and they chased the enemy down relentlessly with the minotaur arrivals.
Almost two thousand skeletal ogres aided them. Every time an enemy ogre tripped the swarming minions tore into the fallen foe until an orb rose.
The rout proved more devastating than the fighting.
I returned to my body, exiting the cutout. The alpha wolf waited for me, blood dripping from its maw.
I cast another spell, raising the dead quickly before I vaulted onto his back. When we rode out of the treeline, I saw the faster minotaur skeletons hacking calves. A few slashed, and they left the hampered enemy to the skeleton ogres.
Ogres tumbled into the snow, sending tufts of flakes into the air. The slaughter continued with the desperate fleeing as quick as they could. An ogre flew the yellow on the horizon. A troll beside Nick raised the red.
The thousand fleeing ogres became nine hundred, then eight hundred. Finally, the women and children rushed out of their homes to help the last of the retreating enemy make a stand.
I called off the pursuit. Not because of the new defenders, but because of the siege weapons that rested near the ogre cities.
While many got away, so many more now stood in my ranks. After a final raising of the dead, I ordered the battlefield looted and for two hundred ogres and three hundred minotaurs to act as my honor guard.