Chereads / A skeleton's journey / Chapter 28 - The end of the beginning

Chapter 28 - The end of the beginning

Inside a dark room we could see 4 people gathered a round table with a map of Regalia on it. Those 4 were Malcolm, Lucius, Selene and queen Elisif oh and Sergei is also here but he's standing outside the door. Queen Elisif was first surprised to hear that her daughter has returned with a cure without any demands for it either. Of course she also didn't expect the paladin to be an undead and hit him in the face with wind blade point blank out of panic. Selene intervenes and explain the entire situation before Elisif could accidentally kill her healer. Still suspicious about Sergei, Elisif stubborny refuses to be healed until Selene calls the royal guards to dogpile Elisif for her own good. Elisif resisted fiercely and even cursed at the guards but eventually Sergei finished the spell. Embarrassed that nothing wrong happened and that she basically acted like a child, Elisif made the guards swear an oath never to mention this before dismissing them. They are now all gathered inside the room to discuss tactics and to expect the arrival of Margaret. A while later, a small cerulean portal opens up in the middle of the room and Margaret steps out as everybody begins the meeting.

Malcolm: alright now that everybody is present let the war council begins.

Lucius: How much troops do we have in total?

Malcolm: Hmm we have about 436 elven units, 821 beastmen and 642 human units with an additional 579 from Canvastor then that leaves us with a total of 2478. Oh i almost forgot about Yosif's force of about 460 skeleton knights so in total we should have 2938 units.

Elisif: What of the king's forces?

Margaret: according to my scouts they have around 6000 units with more elites in the royal guards and the king's personal bodyguards.

Elisif: THAT MANY? How could we defeat such a force when they're the one with the terrain advantages? Also where is Yosif shouldn't he be here right now?

Everybody looks to Margaret who gasps as she remembers where Yosif went and that the beast may have killed him and broken free. The cold sweat dripping down her face doesn't exactly assure the others of Yosif's situation.

Margaret: He... may have went to the Argent forest to confront the monster... that killed the old emperor.

Elisif looks horrified that such a monster exists and more so when the leader of the rebellion has gone there alone to fight it. Yet instead of panicking like the queen, Malcolm Lucius and Selene all seems calm since they don't doubt Yosif's abilities though this monster is probaly way stronger than the Moris. Elisif is confused at the others' calm behavior.

Elisif: Why didn't you inform us of such a threat! And why didn't you stop Yosif?

Margaret: we've only discovered it yesterday and i needed to catch up with my sleep so i couldn't have stopped Yosif from going.

Elisif: This is bad! What if he died there! What if the rebellion fails! WHAT IF THE BEAST MAKES IT WAY TO US ALL!

Selene: Mother, calm down. Have some faith in Yosif, if there's anybody who could kill it then it's Yosif himself.

Elisif: Oh Please how powerful could he be to be able t-

Elisif was cut off as Sergei opens the door to the room letting an unfamiliar figure walk in. Though the figure has strange armor, the 3 ambassadors know without a doubt that it was Yosif walking in and he has succeeded in killing the monster. Elisif was dumbfounded at the appearance of Yosif while Margaret was also surprised but not as much. Seeing someone reading books non-stop with her for 40 days, she already knew Yosif was not normal by any means.

Me: Sorry for being late, what did i miss? What is the situation so far?

Malcolm: Well, they basically have twice our numbers not to mention that they have a lot of elites and the advantages from the stronghold.

Me: I can work with that, gather the troops it's time to storm the gates.

Elisif: But how would we fight them outnumbered like this?

Me: Outnumbered... but not outmatched.

[Later at the walls of Regalia]

Guards were patrolling the walls as usual when suddenly an ear-splitting screech reaches the wall shaking the entire thing from the intensity. Never have any of them heard such a terrifying roar, what monstrosity could have caused that? An archer on the wall hears something in the distance and he focuses hard to spot where it is coming from. An army of undead marches on the horizon with a banner he has never seen before of a hammer and sickle, their numbers are only around 500 but he can tell something is off. A giant shadow flies over the ground as the archer looks up to his horror to see an enormous dragon made of stone flying at unbelievable speed straight for the walls. It stops barely before hitting the wall directly and rear its head back. A torrent of flames and thunder spews forth from it crushing the wall entirely killing hundreds of guards. The lookout wets himself at the scene and frantically rings the alarm calling for all forces. Thousands of guards march through the streets to intercept the undead. Foolishly, the knights underestimate the invading undead and charge recklessly at them. they never expected skeleton knights to toss fireballs and hurl lightning bolts at them (Yosif can transfer spells knowledge to his summons but they can only cast the ones within their ability). Dozens of knights died in the charge while a few hundred more standing in frontline is destroyed by the barrage of spells consistently being flung at them. Eventually they have to fall back from the onslaught and call in ranged reinforcements of mages and archers. But they couldn't even reach the battle before the dragon hovering above cooks them alive. When all of the knights are gathered in the West side where the battle is happening, a few left behind were terrified as another army starts approaching the city. The army is a massive mix of Beastmen, elves and humans with the queen herself and the chieftain leading the charge. A knight try to alert the others but find that he now have an arrow stuck in his throat and falls down to the ground dead. The marksmen were Malcolm along Selene with Margaret's spies within the city and their job was to liberate the slave camps.

Back at the West side, the king's knights are being pushed back rapidly, there's nothing they can do until the elites arrive. Fighting a mage as a knight is already hard but fighting nearly 500 skeleton mages that have the toughness of knight is downright impossible without support. Yet the support couldn't show their faces without the dragon lunging at them with its rider (Yosif). Strange enough, some of the knights even surrender but the skeletons instead of mercilessly killing them like people would expect, they just take the knights weapons and tie them up before moving on. The healers are unharmed with all of the attacks barely hurting them or missing them completely (did you really think Yosif would ignore the Geneva convention?) The skeleton knights eventually arrive at the castle's gates with the king's regular army utterly defeated. Now it's the royal guard's turn to join the battles. Wearing decorated platinum armor wielding diamond weapons, these guards are no laughing matter. Already, you could see the differences. All of the royal guards could dodge most of the attacks with ease only suffering some hits occasionally and were able to actually approach the skeleton knights. But without the numbers advantage like the regular army, the royal guards only have 224 members, half the numbers of the skeleton knights. When a skeleton knight would fall, a royal guard would fall as well, outnumbered they can't do much but buy time for the elites to arrive. With their utmost loyalty and fighting spirit, none of the royal guards even consider surrendering. But even then, some of them were too incapacitated to move and were forcefully captured by the skeleton knights. With only 136 royal guards left while the skeleton knights still have 416 left, a horn sounded across the field signaling the arrival of the elites.

The elites consist of 4 members: Hawkeye Hana, an archer who have never missed a shot in her career being a diamond rank adventurer. Steadfast Sven, a diamond rank defender who has survived multiples fights with dragons and near-death encounters, he even survived an arrow to the neck and heart at the same time. William the wise, an old mithril mage who is rumored to be the greatest since master warlock Jacques (spoilers alert, he's nowhere near Yosif in terms of magic power). And finally, the leader of the elites, grand duelist Dandelion, a mithril rank fencer that can disarms anybody within seconds and has the ability to pierce dragon scales with her techniques.

They stand tall in front of the remaining royal guards ready to kill the oncoming invaders. But instead of charging, the skeleton knights start backing away but they weren't retreating, they were making way for their own elites. Directly ahead of the elites, 2 spire of blue flames and 2 spire of red flames erupt from the ground. The fire fades revealing 2 endless paladins and 2 endless phantoms with their weapons ready. Yet again, the elites were confused when the new arrivals step back with the knights and all of them start slamming their weapons on the ground. *CRASH* Massive clouds of dust kick up as the stone dragon in the sky land on the ground lowering its head. The rider hops down from the dragon and walks towards the elites. Wearing inky bone armor and wielding the runic sword was none other than Yosif himself.

Me: You know... It's not too late for you all to surrender, no one is blaming you if you take the reasonable way.

Sven: Preposterous! I'd rather die for the kingdom than bow my head before you!

Hana: You will not take any more lives demon!

William: You're no match for us creature of darkness!

Dandelion: For my people, i will strike you down!

Me: Ain't that ironic, you fight for your people yet you align yourself with the scumbag king. Well i gave you a chance to walk away unscathed... Let me show you just how inferior you are.

With a flick of my wrist, multiple beams of light and lightning strike from above the elites scattering them out. To deal with Sven, i create a psychic blast that slowly cooks his head inside out. Sven screams in pain falling to his knees dropping his shield leaving himself wide open to more attacks as spears of stone impale him all over. The royal guards' determination was nearly extinguished when they see one of the most resilient man die within seconds. Hana nocks an arrow fully back empowering it with wind magic and set ablaze with flames before releasing the attack at my shoulder. Normally, that would've shattered my bones but with the additional strength i absorb from the eye of despair not to mention the armor, it is the arrow that shattered on impact. Hana looks flabbergasted at this, her attack has never failed to damage her opponents before. William casts multiple spells such as ice spikes, thunder bolts, fireballs, earth blast and even create several elemental storms around me before making the earth opens up and swallow me. William thinks that he has won but he didn't expect for 6 elemental serpents to rise out of the ground he was standing on and devour him whole. I shift the earth to make a column raising me out of the ground to face the 2 remaining elites. Hana shoots a wave of arrows at me to which i created a light shield deflecting them all. The shield was then shattered as Dandelion thrusts her rapier clean through it, dashing to me. I draw my runic sword to intercept her but with a quick jab, her rapier smacks my sword out of my hand. This girl is seriously skilled someone of her age. The rapier suddenly shines brightly and i can feel mana gathering at the tip, Dandelion swiftly strikes at my chestplate with the empowered blade. To her surprise, i have caught it with my bare hands using the [divine lightning palm strike]. Using all of my force, i yank the rapier out of her hands tossing it to Sergei who led the charge standing next to the skeleton knights frontline. Sergei caught it before breaking the blade using his hammer leaving Dandelion helpless, no longer armed with any weapon. Hana was no better off, she was too distracted by the fight to notice the endless phantoms sneaking up behind her. She yelps in surprise as the phantoms grab her arms as the paladins take away her bow and dagger which they break as well.

Desperation filled the remaining royal guards' hearts as they witness their last hope stomped out like a thin matchstick. Hana was forced to her knees by the phantoms as a paladin raises its axe dangerously close to the back of her neck. Dandelion's eyes widen, tears threatening to pour out, horrified at what's about to happen. Now i just need to make sure that she'll listen, no harm in using [intimidation] is it? I grab her by throat lightly choking her, lifting her up to my eyes that seem to glow brighter.

Me: I'm giving you one final chance to admit defeat. Remain stubborn and see for yourself what will happen to your friend over there.

With no choice left and fear overtaking her, Dandelion nods making the royal guards surrendering as well. 20 knights escort Dandelion and Hana away while the remaining forces of the rebellion arrive at the palace as well. Lucius looks overjoyed, Malcolm looks stoic but i can see glee in his eyes, Selene and Elisif look... drunk?

Me: What the hell happened to them?

Malcolm: well you see... when we were raiding one of the slave camps, Lucius found a shipment of vodka stashed away and we pressured the two of them in trying it. One shot of it and they were all ready drunk, you won't believe the thing they say while they were drunk.

Me: *sigh* you do realize they will both make you and Lucius suffer when they're sober again right?

Lucius: Oh we do know, which is why Malcolm and i have purchased a hidden base together to hide.

Me: Just... let's go kill the king and i'll see if i can save your asses from their wrath later.

The three of us and my knights along with Sergei make our way to the throne room. The halls were devoid of guards with only the occasional maids that were stuck inside the castle during the attack. I send some of my knights to evacuate them and we continue to where the pig is hiding. The extravagant room belonging to the prick is filled with so much gold it looks like Midas lived here.

Mounds after mounds of gold filled the room with the center being a large throne. And behind the throne is a the cowering sack of shit that is the king. Never in my most twisted nightmare would i imagine someone to be fatter than minister Honest but the more you know... Lucius and Malcolm looks like starved wolves eyeing fresh meat so i let them have their ways, it's not like i know the art of torture. The screams and cries of pain echoes throughout the halls for hours before it quiets down. Walking back in the room, i see Malcolm and Lucius both soaked in blood with shards of bones and bits of guts clinging to their arms and messy pile of red mush that seems to be still breathing. What fucking spell or ritual did they use to accomplish this. Don't get me wrong the bastard the deserves it but to think such a thing is possible.

Malcolm: ah Yosif... since you're the one who made this all possible in the first place me and Lucius decided to let you have the honor of dealing the final blow.

Lucius: make it spectacular my friend, i want to see a shower of the asshole's blood.

Me: Well if you say so.

Channeling the most of my energy into my flames i lob a fireball the size of a boulder at the remains incinerate the whole thing. I don't want to clean the shit left behind so this is the way i'm doing it. But when the flames died down, there remains a floating black amulet in the air.

{amulet of retribution}

rarity: legendary

Description: kills whoever kills the current user of the amulet. This effect cannot be resisted as it's directed at the soul.

OH FUCK ME SIDEWAYS! The amulet spins around rapidly before opening up releasing a burning blue chain that pierces my chest. The next thing i know, a portal of pure darkness opens up and the last thing i see was Lucius and Malcolm screaming at me.

Total inventory:

Ascended Wraith set

Enchanted runic sword

Diadem of supreme arcane might

Crystal of decay

Greater ironskin potion

76 copper 53 silver 39414 gold

Current familiars:

- Sergei the Skeleton Paladin