New Horizons (Emerilia Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Through the arena!” Josh appeared behind a forest wolf, his blades working between the wooden armor that covered it to pierce through its chest and into its heart. Josh jumped off, racing out into the arena after the other Stone Raiders.

  Mages placed blessings on all of the fallen bodies, so that the Arch Lich couldn’t revive them. Five parties raced across the arena, giving the shambling mounds a wide berth.

  None of the living creatures dared to enter the arena, sensing the danger of the sleeping creatures. They instead started fighting one another now that their common enemy was gone.

  “Undead!” Kim yelled out. Spells of Light rushed to meet the undead ranks. A number fell before they were able to reach the Stone Raiders. These creatures were a higher level than the living creatures they had fought.

  Holy blades and blessed weapons tore into the creatures. A number of the fighters had changed their weapons. The effectiveness of the holy weapons against the undead was no joke. Just being close to them, the undead yelled out in pain.

  Josh’s mouth rose into a predatory smile. His blades were neither Dark nor Light; they were soul weapons, draining the very living essence and consciousness from his targets.

  He had known that the weapons were powerful, but after they had been repaired in Zolun, he didn’t know whether he could use another weapon. They fit his fighting style perfectly. When chaining kills together, he could take out fighters that were tens of levels above him. It was only through the high-ranked gear, buffs, and chain heals that the Stone Raiders were able to hold against the Arch Lich’s forces.

  Josh’s blades, if fed with enough souls, would tear through the undead creatures. Josh ran into the fight, easily dodging past the incoming attacks, his blades’ Legendary abilities now stacking his own to improve his Agility to unseen heights. As his blades hit the undead, he pulled the soul energy from them that animated them, turning them sluggish or ripping the Arch Lich’s hold on the creatures.

  As the first started to die, his weapons surged with power and a faint shadow started to spread from them across his body. Josh laughed, jumping out of the way of a bone knight and disappearing into the shadows. He appeared above the bone lord and stabbed between its shoulder blades; the chained kills and sneak attack fell the bone lord. Shadows seemed to envelope him again. Undead tried to cut at where he had been but found nothing but darkness.

  He stepped out of the shadows, on top of one of the benches that lay above the arena, overlooking the entrance that the undead came from.

  “Let them come to us!” Josh yelled. His body and his blades wanted him to drive forward, to feed and become stronger. However, he was first, and foremost, the guildmaster more than his blade; his guild needed his leadership. Getting himself killed because he wanted to strengthen his blades and achieve the heady rush of the power that came with using his opponents’ souls was not his goal. Winning was.

  The Stone Raiders broke into their different lines, turning from party fighting into guild fighting within moments.

  Josh used his shadow ability to move behind his people. It drained a lot of the soul energy from his blades; with the reduced energy, he could focus on what was in front of him and clear his mind.

  “We’ll weaken their undead numbers here and then move on to the Arch Lich. I need a party with people capable of blessing to move back to the other side of the arena and bless the bodies of the creatures that are dying there. I don’t want us to get hit in the ass. Jones, Kai—I want you two to go and watch the other two entrances into the arena. Let me know if anything tries to bite us in the ass.” People rushed off to carry out his orders.

  I hope the searching teams are able to find that damn box. It won’t be long until that Arch Lich finds something big to send in our direction.

  Josh pulled up his map to check on the rest of the guild. Scouting groups were headed into the regions that the scouts hadn’t been able to enter. Nearly half of them were dead already, finding resistance that they weren’t able to overcome or being swarmed by the undead forces that knew exactly where they were.

  Party Zero had made it into the grand library of the college. From the symbols, they were fighting off an undead bone lord as well as hundreds of other undead that were inside the library.

  Josh moved to the next group he could see.

  It looked as if the group with Kim were under attack by undead stone-worms. Lucy and the groups with her were not linked together yet, rushing through open areas and right up the central road that ran through the college.

  “Dwayne, I’m thinking that we should move to link up with Lucy—nice open area, see where our enemies are behind us and ahead,” Josh said.

  “Sounds good to me, boss,” Dwayne said, fighting on the front lines against the undead.

  Josh opened up a private chat to Mikal, who was running with Lucy’s group.

  “Mikal, I need you to scout a route from where you are to my position. We’re going to move to reinforce you.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Is it about time for the second wave? Lucy is asking.”

  “Five minutes, then send them in,” Josh said.

  ***

  The Arch Lich turned his head at the rumbling explosion in the distance. For centuries, it had been left in peace, building up his strength and gaining the knowledge that his fellow Aleph had kept from him. He had listened to the Dark Lord’s apostle.

  He had given up his fellow Aleph in order to be given everlasting life. To be left with the knowledge that the Aleph deemed him unworthy of learning, he had developed his own black arts and become the ruler of the Aleph.

  He let out a dry noise as he went back to reading the book in front of him. He had experimented for generations on the creatures left within the college. He had created an army to deal with those he let run wild. All he needed was the college and the freedom to do his experiments as he desired. The Aleph called it the Dark arts, called it murder and torture.

  The Arch Lich laughed, a noise that would make any living creature shiver in fear.

  They had been so blind! They were not willing to push their magic and their abilities to their limits! Not him. He would do everything in his power to become stronger, no matter the cost. Through it, he had transcended death itself.

  Another rumbling noise could be heard in the distance.

  “Seems the experiments were not as strong as I hoped,” the Arch Lich muttered darkly as he drifted through the main building of the college, up to the second floor and the laboratories. Magical tools were scattered around the room. Blood, offal, and dead creatures lay around the room. It was enough to make anyone gag.

  The Arch Lich hummed to himself as he looked over a pile of yellowed bones. He held his arms up, infusing the bones with his Mana as he started to give the bones form. The Arch Lich’s face contorted in anger as he felt an all too familiar magic. Necromancers asserted their will, tearing the controlling bonds the Arch Lich held.

  “They dare take control of the creatures that I have made!” They must have come for my notes, for my knowledge. I will reward them by making them one of my undead. I wonder if I could make a necromancer undead use their magical powers? Some of the experiments have shown the ability to use their old skills at a reduced level.

  The Arch Lich cackled to himself, excited for all the experiments he would be able to make in the future and the pain he would put them through as he turned them from living into his undying legions.

  Dark strands of magic poured from his hands and into a pile of yellowed bones. Their aura was one of anger and uncontained fury. They had come from victims who had been put in mental and physical pain in the end, unable to do anything about their situation.

  The heap of bones started to pile together, taking on a humanoid form.

  The Arch Lich paused as teleport pads opened once again. He felt the automatons’ stain as they ran through his halls.

  The Lich screeched out in anger. Those metal creations! Reminders of that dead race. I
will remove all that is left of the Aleph. I will fill their cities and homes with my army of undead! All will know of Alastair Montgoa! The destroyer of the Aleph!

  Incensed, the Bone creations formed faster and faster; another bone pile came into a form, bones ripped from the dead creatures to fulfill their master’s needs.

  The Arch Lich cackled in glee and looked at his two new experiments. “I shall name you bone juggernauts.”

  Standing in front of him were two roughly humanoid creatures. Spikes jutted out from their shoulders and back. Their forearms were massive blades, with a spike where their hand would have been. Red eyes glowed in their empty sockets. The anger of the bones that made up their bodies added to their aura of death.

  The Arch Lich touched the first bone juggernaut. Black shadows seemed to pour out from the Arch Lich’s remaining robes and into the bone juggernaut.

  It bellowed out in joy. Its eyes glowed brighter as black shadows seemed to spread out from its body and down the sharpened spikes and blades that covered its body. The juggernaut of death stomped out of the room, shaking it as the Arch Lich did the same to the second creation.

  We will see how they do. Once I have more data, we can refine these creatures down. The Arch Lich made crooning noises as the second bone juggernaut followed the first.

  It would have taken a normal level 100 necromancer weeks or months to create the bone juggernauts. The Arch Lich, with his knowledge and power over the undead, could make another twenty in as many minutes.

  ***

  “Switch!” Deia said to Dave. Dave moved out of her way as she switched in. Steve had joined in the fight against the Bone lord, acting as a tank while Anna and Dave took his Health down.

  Dave moved to help Malsour. Induca was supporting Suzy as her creations tore into the creatures that had been hiding in the library or had made it through Malsour’s walls.

  “How is it looking?” Malsour asked as Dave hammered two creatures back with his shield. His blade came low under his shield, cutting out legs. His two rods came together in a halberd that he swung across those in front of him, clearing out five meters in front.

  “He’s down maybe ten percent Health. Thing’s hard as shit and fast somehow!” Dave followed his Inference and Perception skills flowing through the blue movements that he saw and pushed the undead back before Malsour’s darklings once again descended and tore the undead apart.

  Dave looked back to Malsour, a thin sheen of sweat on his face. He had been forming walls and fixing them for twenty minutes now. More and stronger creatures were trying to get in from all directions. It was a matter of time before Malsour’s magic wasn’t strong enough to keep them out.

  “Start letting them in. Suzy and I can take more of them on. It will be less of a strain on your walls.” Dave’s halberd broke apart into two twin hammers.

  “The main doorway,” Malsour said.

  Dave moved to it, setting his feet. Each of the hammers weighed twenty kilos but Dave no longer felt their weight after smithing for so long.

  “Ready?” Malsour asked.

  “Nope, but might as well try this out!” Dave felt Malsour’s Mana stop channeling into the doorway ahead of him.

  The wall that was in front of him started to crumble in a matter of seconds. It wasn’t long until cracks formed. The wall disintegrated, the undead rushing in after it. Some were too fast, getting crushed by the crumbling wall as they charged.

  Dave felt power surge through him. As he stamped his foot, spikes came up to pierce through the undead. Spikes continued to form and fall away, thinning the undead horde.

  Dave spun, launching his hammer through the now open wall. It was like a cannon ball, slamming into a bone lord. Dave destroyed the hammer, creating a spiked ball within the bone lord. It grew shadowy spikes and dropped to its knees from the internal damage. Dave destroyed the spiked ball, recalling the rod as it transformed into a hammer. It crashed through another undead, bones and rotting parts exploding across the hall.

  Dave met the first undead with his left hammer. Counting as a two-handed weapon, it was a wrecking ball. There was little need for piercing damage, but the blunt effects of armor penetration shattered those that met Dave’s hammer heads. He grabbed the second hammer out of the air, bringing it across a minotaur and crushing its ribs, making it stagger.

  Dave conjured defenses that tore into the undead. Thumping could be heard from above, coming closer every time. Dave leaped back out of an attack, letting his hammer go as a ball formed in his hand out of shadow.

  “Watch your eyes!” Dave hurled the ball into the middle of the undead. A new sun lit the hall and the lobby as undead screamed at the onslaught of the Light grenade.

  Dave drove his foot into the floor of the lobby, stopping his momentum and hurling himself forward. He recalled his hammer; catching it, he spun in mid-air, and brought it over the head of another minotaur. Its head rolled off as Dave used its corpse to propel himself forward.

  He did everything he could to keep up his momentum, turning his axis and twisting his body for every ounce of power. Each kill and swing set him up for another strike as he turned, using the hammers to unleash his destruction.

  Finally, the thumping from above stopped as a metal lance broke through the floors above and crashed into the undead piling through the front door.

  It disappeared in a moment. A whistling sound came from above: one, then two—then three and more every second.

  Dave could feel the bruises across his body, the growing headache from his Mana usage and the sweat that stung his eyes. He panted, looking at the advancing undead, undeterred by their loss in numbers.

  We’re not going to get out of here alive unless we find that damn box or someone kills the Arch Lich. Fuck, well, they’re not going to get my life easily!

  Now, without the worry about surviving or not, Dave ran toward the undead once again. His sledgehammers changed to swords, then a shield, and then a claymore and spear. They flashed from one weapon to the next as he dispatched undead.

  They were on or below his overall level, including his skills. Although the undead were slow and had degraded skills after being reanimated, Dave had been trained into unconsciousness by weapons masters. His inference and perception skills allowed him to think of the right weapon for every fight and know how to use it. His dodge skill and perception allowed him to take the least amount of damage as the first of the whistling noises stopped, making it through several floors of the library before impacting in the middle of the hallway.

  Four creatures were killed instantly in its impact area. Others were thrown away; dust and debris blew out through both ends of the hallway.

  Dave used the distraction to kill any of the undead that had been left stunned around him before he backed away.

  Whistling filled the air as a conjured spear of Light dropped from above. Runes glowed along its length, lightly at first and then stronger and stronger. It slammed into undead that were now charging toward him. The spear exploded into brilliant white. The undead cried out as the holy metal burned through their bodies, making them writhe in pain. Their Health dropped quickly from the status effect.

  “That’s what you get when you mix artillery shells, kinetic bombardment, and some good ole magically blessed metal!” Dave said as thirty undead creatures were turned into lifeless bodies.

  Dave took a knee, concentrating as more thumping could be heard through the library. Dave sensed the floors and roofs above him started to dissolve.

  Malsour, seeing what he was doing, was helping him out, banishing everything above where Dave was defending.

  Whistling noises filled the air as Dave conjured lances to land among the undead masses that were trying to claw their way through Malsour’s walls. He couldn’t keep it up for long, but the toll on the undead would be high.

  “Where is the biggest group of undead?” Suzy yelled.

  “Over there.” Malsour put a waypoint on one of the larger entrances into the lobby f
rom the first floor.

  Suzy and Induca moved to it. Suzy’s creations moved into the hallway, moving onto the walls and floor.

  “Open it up!” Induca said.

  The wall disintegrated. Undead fell over one another just as the air in the lobby seemed to be dragged toward Induca and the cannon in her arms.

  Her plasma cannon bucked. Induca rocked with it slightly as the plasma round hit the undead, burning through them and turning it into a burning hell. A firestorm grew the length of the incoming hallway.

  “Well, looks like Induca has this one. You have another hallway?” Suzy asked. A new waypoint appeared and Suzy moved her creations there.

  Dave stopped calling down strikes on the undead. His mind nearly at its limit, he needed time to recover. If he overdid it now, then he would be out of the fight. The latest spear went off, the explosion clearing out as Dave moved among the undead. His weapons cleaved through them, knee-deep in undead bodies, as he fought.

  ***

  Suzy watched her forces get into place, glancing at the fight happening in the middle of the lobby. Steve’s Mithril was showing through in areas.

  There looked to be actual scratches in it as Steve fought the bone lord. He wasn’t as fast as the bone lord but he was the most armored of anyone in the party. If the bone lord started targeting his joints, then he would be fucked. But for now he was holding its attention, slamming his axe against it and yelling at it.

  Anna and Deia’s blades moved with controlled fury. Wind and Fire cut into the bone lord.

  As she watched, the bone lord reached seventy-percent Health.

  With a yell, it stopped on the ground. Steve was thrown back—stunned.

  Deia shook off the effects as Anna, who had been out of the area of effect, charged in.