“Easier said than done,” I mumbled.
“Mmm,” he said. “I couldn’t hear your thoughts while you were knocked out. Did something happen?”
“Ah,” I said.
“What?”
“I had a visitor.”
“A visitor? In your mind?”
I nodded. “Azmuth Razugan.”
“Azmuth—” He paused. “The Dark Lord!”
“Yeaaaah,” I said, dragging my voice.
“What the hell? How did he even get inside your mind? What did he want with you?”
“I’m actually not sure,” I said. “I didn’t gain anything from the conversation. He didn’t comment on what the Dark Alliance was doing. The most he did was threaten me with the vengeance he was going to deal out once he returned to reality.”
“Well, at least we know he isn’t back yet.”
“That’s true,” I said. “But with the Dark Alliance being as mysterious and perplexing as before, we don’t know when that might happen.”
“Anything else important?”
“I did find out he’s just a spirit now,” I said.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, apparently, our last battle caused him to be stripped of his physical form,” I said. “So right now, he’s just a consciousness roaming around.”
“I guess that’s good?”
“Yeah, I’m not too sure,” I said. “He’s a problem no matter what his form is.”
“Anyway, how do you feel now?”
“I’m fine, I think. Where are we, though?”
I took in the sights around me and quickly noticed a round rock in front. I crawled a step closer, taking a better look, and I immediately froze.
A tombstone. I jumped back, sitting up straight now. I jerked my head around and realized there were many more stones all around me.
“Your map says this place is called the Akhar Graveyard,” Nyx said.
A graveyard. I stared at all the tombstones around me. A crow cawed as it glided overhead in the sky, its cry setting the tone for the eerie place I was in.
“For a man titled the Undead Emperor, you sure seem nervous in a graveyard,” Nyx chuckled, teasing me.
“Hey, I haven’t used any of those powers yet, okay?” I said. “Plus, the dead are scary, no matter what kind of person I—”
Something tugged my leg, and I stumbled before catching myself from falling. I turned around and my hair nearly stood up straight. A skeletal hand had dug its way out of the tomb underneath me and had latched onto my ankle.
“Yikes!” I yelped and yanked my leg back. The skeleton’s hand broke off at the wrist, and the bony fingers flew into the air, landing past some bushes ahead. Cracking and popping filled the air, and all of a sudden, skeletal beings were rising from the ground all around me, ambushing me all at once.
“Isn’t it pretty clichéd for skeletons to be attacking me at a graveyard?” I asked.
“It’s also something that shouldn’t have scared you as much as it did just now,” Nyx chuckled.
“Shut up, please,” I said and turned to the beings around me. I used my Analyze skill on the one closest to me.
DING!
Race
Skeletal Warrior
Level
121
That’s not too far off from the ones I faced in Ikarius, I thought.
I heard a rumbling beneath me and quickly jumped back to an open spot. The ground I had just stood on broke apart, and a pillar of solid earth shot into the sky, absolutely obliterating any skeletons that had been within three feet of the spot.
There’s an Earth Mage here, I realized, and I looked around. I noticed someone in robes, but in the starlight, I could see that it wasn’t a human being but a skeleton.
A skeletal mage, I figured. That actually sounded very cool, but also a little unsettling since I wasn’t too sure of what such a warrior was capable off. I quickly used my Analyze skill on it after making sure I was far enough from danger for a few seconds.
DING!
Race
Skeletal Mage
Level
213
Oh wow, I thought.
“That’s almost double the level of the warriors,” Nyx said.
And as if on cue, a few Skeletal Warriors charged at me, their bones rattling. I quickly pulled out my sword and swung hard. Three strikes later, a pile of bones lay on the ground before me.
The rest of the skeletal cohort charged, and a rumbling came from the ground once again. I glanced at the mage and noticed him standing with its hands up to the sky, no doubt summoning a spell.
I need to take it out first. I shot ahead, ignoring the skeletons in between and attacking just it. My sword passed right through its body, and it dissolved into nothing. For a second, I’d have assumed I’d killed it, but I knew enough to realize I’d just taken out a decoy.
The ground beneath me contorted, and another pillar shot up, smacking me high in the air. I came down with a tumble and smacked back to the damp earth.
Tsk. I gritted my teeth, standing up. Can’t believe I fell for that one.
“Can’t believe the mage was clever enough to even set up something like a decoy,” Nyx said. “They’re not supposed to be that smart about their battle plans.”
“Mmm,” I said, my eyes focusing on the wave of skeletons charging at me. I thrust my hand into the air. “Uher!” A dark phoenix rose from the ground, this time larger and angrier than before. It shot into the skeletons, and a large section of them sank to the ground, dead.
“Wow, that attack felt a lot better,” I said.
“It’s because we’re in a graveyard,” Nyx said. “Your Dark Arts and Death Arts are automatically powered up since this is a place of darkness and death.”
“Ahhh,” I said. “I should have realized that.”
I looked at the next wave of skeletons coming up to me, a lot smaller and weaker than the others had been. I summoned the phoenix once again, and in about five seconds they were all down on the ground, their bones disintegrating.
I saw the mage a few yards behind the dead warriors, its hands up in the air. I surged up to it without hesitation and sank my blade straight into its chest. I’d expected it to disappear like before, but this one wasn’t a clone. Its health bar quickly sank, and it collapsed to the ground, dissolving to dust and returning to the earth.
DING!
Congratulations! You have defeated:
Skeletal Cohort (Lv 151)!
The “Undead Emperor” is massacring his kin now? I wonder how the skeletons feel about that. Reward: 700000 Sol. Reward: 200000 XP. Reward: Robes of the Skeletal Mage. Reward: Shield of the Skeletal Swordsman. Reward: Staff of the Skeletal Mage.
Massacring my kin? I raised an eyebrow. Please. They attacked me first.
“Maybe it was a friendly hug,” Nyx said.
“Sure.”
DING!
Congratulations! You have cleansed the Akhar Graveyard of the undead that plagued it. Fame has been increased by +100. Resistance to Dark Arts increased by +5%. Resistance to Death Arts increased by +5%
DING!
Congratulations! You have advanced a new spell.
Uher: The Dark Phoenix (Lv 15)!
It feels like you’ve used this move way too many times for it to have reached Level 15 only now.
Mana Cost
1950
Casting Time
1 second
Cooldown Time
1 minute
Range
1000 yards
Effect 1
Attack +1% for every foe killed
Effect 2
Attack strength increases by +10% with each consecutive use within 5 minutes
Damn, that’s neat. I grinned.
“Well, you seem to be having fun.” A form walked out of the darkness. I immediately went into my attack stance, Dawnbreaker gripped tight in my hands. I could tell from the voice that this was an old man, and that worried me. In almos
t all my interactions with old men so far, they had been trying to kill me.
“Threatened by me, eh?” he chuckled, his form slowly appearing under the starlight. The elderly man with a full beard and a familiar grin on his face walked up to me. “Surely you haven’t forgotten me, Diablo.”
My eyes widened. “Krof,” I said.
“That’s Grand Wizard Krof to you,” he said. “Even if you’re an all-powerful Evil Overlord who nearly destroyed the kingdoms millennia ago.”
“It’s good to see you,” I chuckled. “What are you even doing here?”
“Ijyela,” he said. “The elven witch wouldn’t stop pestering me to come find you. She was convinced you were hurt, said she had a dream about you writhing on the ground in pain.”
She must have reacted to that man in white attacking me, I realized, remembering the weird vision-like dreams Ijyela sometimes had. I looked to Krof. “How on earth did you find me, though?”
He chuckled. “Did you forget? I spent years tracking energy signals similar to yours,” he said. “It is hard but not impossible for me to find you. Although it did take me nearly a whole day even to track which region you were in.”
“A day?” I asked, wondering how long it had been since I’d resurrected.
“What exactly happened?” he asked. “What are you doing in this graveyard?”
And so I told Krof everything about what had happened over the last few days, how the Alliances and the Black Guardians seemed to be after something. He listened patiently, and when I got to the part about the man in the white armor, his eyes widened.
“A man with a helmet shaped like a Dragon head,” he mumbled softly. “And you say he was too strong for your Analyze skill even to work.”
I nodded. “I’ve never seen someone like him before.”
“This complicates things,” he muttered.
“Huh?” I asked.
“That man you saw,” he said. “He’s what the ancient people used to call a…Dragonborn. A man infused with the power of a Dragon.”
I stared at him, contemplating his words. I faced a Dragonborn? I wondered. “Does this mean this man was a descendent of a Dragon?” I asked.
Krof shook his head. “You don’t have to be a descendent of a Dragon to be able to wield its powers.”
“Ah,” I said. My mind immediately went to Nazu, wondering if the little one had the potential to strengthen himself as well.
“I heard the Dark Alliance has been overly active these past few days,” Krof said. “What do you have on them for me?”
“Perfect timing,” Nyx said, and I felt the same. I told Krof all about what we’d done, especially how they’d kidnapped Nazu, hoping he had some useful info for us once we were done.
“Ah,” he said, his voice dropping. “This is not good.”
I looked at him, waiting for him to say more.
“So this Kobold is a half-Dragon,” he said.
I nodded.
“And the Dark Alliance kidnapped him.”
I nodded once again.
“Ugh,” he sighed.
“What does it mean?” I asked.
“It means they were planning on sacrificing him.”
“What?” I blinked.
“As far as the Dragon Clan goes, I’ve learned far more than Ijyela has. There is one well-known way to summon a Dragon—a sacrifice. Spilling Dragon blood can cause a Dragon to rise from the depths of the earth. I don’t know how valid this claim is, but I’ve seen it mentioned more than once, which is enough to make me think there is some truth to it.”
“That’s why they were taking Nazu to that chamber,” I mumbled.
“Chamber?” Krof asked, his voice agitated. “What chamber? Was there a symbol inside it?”
I stared at him. “Yeah,” I said. “How did you know?”
“Every Dragon had a safe place, called a spiritual home. The symbol of each Dragon was inscribed in its home. Consequently, I believe these homes were the places where a sacrifice of Dragon blood was said to raise or resurrect the Dragon it was home to.”
“Oh my God.”
“What was the symbol you saw?” Krof asked.
I put my finger in the sand, drawing a circle, an inverted triangle and three lines pointing from the center to the vertices. The exact symbol I’d seen on the ceiling of the ice chamber.
“Oh dear.” Krof quietened.
“Ijyela said it was a random Dragon sign,” I said.
He shook his head. “It’s a sign that’s lost a few strokes. It is not complete.” He put his finger down and drew a few more lines, namely two triangles around the circle, one facing up, one facing down, and both intersecting each other at the sides.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“This isn’t the sign of any old Dragon.” Krof stood up, a tremble in his voice. “It is the sign of one of the most legendary ones,” he said. “Acnologia, the Shadow Dragon.”
***
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Acnologia,” I whispered.
“Mmm.” Krof nodded. “The Shadow Dragon from the ancient times. If the Dark Alliance was at a chamber that had this symbol, and they had a Kobold of Dragon blood with them, then it follows that they’re attempting to resurrect the Shadow Dragon.”
“That doesn’t sound good for us,” Nyx said.
“Are you sure that’s what the Alliance wants to do?” I asked Krof. “Could they not have another reason for all this?”
He looked at me. “I’m not sure,” he said a few seconds later. “From what I recall, the Dark Alliance somehow managed to use your power to summon the Dark Lord the last time.”
“Ah…yeah,” I said, remembering my unfond memories.
“It is possible they are trying to do something similar with Acnologia,” he said. “They could use the Shadow Dragon’s power to try and bring back the Dark Lord.”
“That would explain their motivation behind finding such a beast,” I said.
“It would indeed.”
“How on earth did they know to search for the Kobold, though?” I asked. “It seems very coincidental that they just so happened to kidnap someone who also possesses Dragon blood. Especially when the someone in question looks quite normal.”
“I do not know how they knew who to search for,” he said. “It is possible someone from the Alliance stumbled upon the Kobold and just happened to realize he had Dragon blood.”
“I doubt that was the case,” I said. “When Nazu was kidnapped, it was part of a deliberate scheme, not some last-moment stunt. And as far as the Dragon blood thing goes, neither I nor Freya nor Ijyela was able to discern that the young one was half-Dragon just from looking at him, so I doubt anyone else could have.”
“Hmmm. What you say makes sense,” he said. “In that case, I can’t provide any good reason why they’d know of the Kobold and his special abilities.”
Talking about Nazu returned my thoughts to the man in the white armor. I had to get back to the Ulhur Mountains soon. There was no telling what kind of situation Freya and Nazu had gotten into. The thought of that man himself just made me realize I had no clue who he was, or who he sided with.
“It’d be funny if he’s with the Black Guardians,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?” Krof asked.
I shook my head. “I was just talking to myself.”
DING!
Congratulations! You have completed the quest:
The Purpose of Dragon Blood.
Krof has explained why the Dark Alliance and the Black Guardians could be after Nazu and his Dragon blood. Reward: Shadow Dragon Mysteries.
DING!
You have obtained a new quest:
Shadow Dragon Mysteries.
It has become clear that the Dark Alliance and the Black Guardians seem to be trying to resurrect Acnologia, the Shadow Dragon. Find out why they are doing this. Reward: Unknown.
Find out why? I asked. Easier said than done.
“So, who are these Bla
ck Guardians?” Krof asked. “I am quite curious about why they are siding with the Dark Alliance.”
“I’m confused by that as well. I don’t see what’s in it for them.”
“Well, it is possible that there is a beneficial agreement that we’re not aware of. But on the surface, it does seem like the partnership doesn’t benefit them. I don’t really know why they’re so interested in raising a Dragon from the dead, anyway.”
“I get that feeling. I’ve questioned their actions many times too.”
“So who are they?” he asked. “I have never heard their names until you mentioned them to me.”
A blast of wind passed by us, not deadly enough to hurt, but definitely strong enough to seem unnatural. “You don’t say, old man,” a voice spoke from the side. We both turned on instinct, just in time to see the darkness fold out and men emerge from the black.
Figures in armor and cloaks stepped into the graveyard, surrounding us fast. I could make out about thirty men easily, and with a quick use of my Analyze skill, I could tell they were all around Level 200, at least. A glint of light struck my eyes, and I realized it was the reflections caused by a patch on their attire—an eye-shaped metal pin, but the eye had no pupils.
The Black Guardians, I confirmed.
“It’s a little ironic that they should show up exactly when you were talking about them,” Nyx said.
“How did they even find us?” I asked. “It couldn’t have been easy.”
“It doesn’t have to have been easy,” he said. “They could have just used raw manpower to discern your location.”
A man stepped forward from the circle that had formed around us. He had a hood over his head, but I still recognized him quite easily.
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 40
