Logan flew on top of his Skeleton Dragon with mild satisfaction, not because he was experiencing flight but because he had finally destroyed a town that had been an eyesore. A long time ago, he had come to the Backview Towns to gain a very important artifact which if he had been able to get would not only have allowed him to complete his plans faster but would have also given him access to incredible knowledge.
If it wasn't for the fact that the books, he had found had given him a crucial clue on where to start looking for answers he would not have been able to complete his transformation by now.
So now that he was finally out in the open, the first thing he did was get rid of the town that plagued him with a frustrating memory. Then he proceeded to destroy every town in the Backview Towns, not because they had offended him but because he needed a formidable army if he wanted to storm the castle.
He looked down at the hundreds of undead chasing after him emotionlessly, all of which were Greater Undead. Unlike the other necromancers, he was an expert at improving undead and utilizing Soul Energy. He did not use a single piece of his soul to improve his undead army, rather he used their own souls before they dissipated.
He had evolved the undead in a particular way, their bones had bulked up and formed armor, and every one of them had a bone spear or a bone saber that was fashioned from a bone in their body and had been enlarged. Logan called them The Legion, and with them he was going to get a proper revenge.
Suddenly, Logan felt a surge of energy coming from in his vicinity, and he would reach the place if he kept moving forward. His interest was sparked, he might actually find a natural born treasure that would aid him in his war, perhaps the gods were helping him.
…
Henry and Jolene walked out of the whirlpool that formed in the gate, they had a moment of surrealism as they witnessed their surroundings change. Jolene cupped her hands and a ball of light appeared floating on top of them, after she had gotten the God of Origins acknowledgement, she had received the Light Mage class.
Henry picked the Power Key from its slot, cutting of the connection to the artificial dimension. Henry gave the gem to Jolene, but she didn't take it, she was far to engrossed in the ball of light as she made it circle her. Henry got close to her and nudged her with his elbow, "Don't you want your family's precious artifact?"
"Oh, sorry." She chuckled and grabbed the gem, "It's just… amazing! This is completely new method of using magic."
"I know." Henry said. He reached forward and grabbed Jolene's hand, she rolled her eyes and snorted but didn't let go. They held hands till they reached the last step.
"So, what now?" Jolene asked.
"Well, I'm assuming you're not returning to your… back-alley town – "
"Backview Towns." Jolene corrected.
"Right." Henry scrunched his eyebrows, "Why is it called that anyway?"
"It's because the towns were built behind the castle." Jolene said, "They say if you stand at the highest point of the castle and looked back, you would be able to see the outline of some buildings of the towns."
Henry stared blanky, "Wow." He shook his head to redirect his thoughts. "Anyway, since you're not returning that means you can come to my place."
"Oh, the Overlord's City you mentioned." Henry had introduced Jolene to the Map Function after she was blessed, so she knew exactly where he was talking about, "That place is really far though, even the nearest Transport Station that is in the Capital City is far from here. Wait, do you have money? Cause I got none."
"No, we're not going to that. Have you forgotten how I got here?" Henry said smugly, "Why pay to get teleported when I can get us there for free, and faster even."
"Hmm." Jolene stared at him skeptically.
"What is it?"
"It's just… didn't you come here by mistake? What if the spell goes wrong and we land in the middle of the ocean, or something?"
"That won't happen! I didn't make a mistake, the skill just took me farther than I expected. But now that I know what it can do, all I have to do is follow the map and we won't get lost." He reassured her.
"…Okay." Jolene was still a bit skeptical, but she agreed.
After getting her consent, Henry began concentrating on the skill. He spread out his [Sense] to see if the space around him was stable, although he was able to use the skill without it, he felt it was better to be careful, slow, and steady.
All of a sudden, he felt a very powerful magical energy above him and was seized with an irrational fear, breaking his connection with the skill. The energy he felt wasn't as immense as the one in the Power Key, but it was more ferocious, the magical beasts he fought in the Unsafe Zones were nothing in comparison. He rose his head up slowly to where the energy was originating from and saw something he never thought he would see in his life.
A huge bone dragon floated in place above them, green flames ran along it's body like currents. A figure stood on the dragon, Henry couldn't see their face but could somehow feel their cold gaze.
"What is that?" Jolene asked shakenly.
Before Henry could say anything, they felt the ground beneath them tremble. They looked behind and saw an army of skeletons running towards them with great speed, every piece of vegetation in front of them were mowed down, even some weak trees. The ones in front were riding skeleton horses and it didn't seem like they were going to stop even when they got so close Henry and Jolene.
Henry moved before his brain caught up, he spread his arms and disturbed the flow of space around him. The warped space caused the undead in front to deviate from the paths, in Logan's eyes the undead were still moving towards them but somehow not one of them manage to hit the two of them.
"This young boy is actually so proficient in the space element?" Logan was shocked, "I wonder if he can do more with it."
With an order, the Skeleton Dragon opened its jaw and shot a huge fireball at Henry. Henry gasped in fright and quicky used [Inverted Universe] to isolate the attack, but the attack was greater than he had imagined, even thought it was trapped in another space the fireball broke through with sheer power.
"Run!" Henry grabbed Jolene's arm and ran to the side, blocking the undead with [Mirror] and dodging those he could. The fireball slammed into the ground, the blast knocking Henry and Jolene off their feet. They quickly got back on their feet, even though they were shaken they weren't in the right place to rest.
Jolene threw light balls at the faces of the skeletons, but they were too weak to do anything, and they shattered on impact, they couldn't blind them either since they had no eyes. She then transformed a light ball into a light lasso, it tightened itself on a skeletons neck. But the undead were way too strong for her, and she ended up being dragged across the ground.
"Jolene!" Henry's eyes widened in anger, "[Space Press]!" He yelled. The undead around them abruptly stopped as space collapsed on them, and they fell flat on the ground. But those undead were but a mere drop in the ocean of skeletons that surrounded them, Henry quickly tried to open a space tunnel as fast as he could.
"Ah!"
A chill ran down Henry's spine when he heard Jolene's scream, he looked back dreadfully and was instantly petrified by what he saw. Jolene had been impaled by two bone spears, blood dripped down her mouth that was open in a silent cry of pain. Henry's body shook and he lost control of his magic, in his rage and pain his magic flared and he tore open a space past the Space Between.
The space was darker than the darkest black, it was an empty void. But Henry didn't notice it, his eyes stayed on Jolene. For the first time in his life, Henry felt a sinking helplessness, no matter how much he wished otherwise he knew there was nothing he could do to save her. Their eyes met, Henry noticed that although her eyes were filled with pain and sorrow there was also peace and understanding mixed in them.
Jolene's eyes bulged in pain as she forced herself to pick something from her pocket, then she tossed it at Henry with her abating strength. Henry caught it instinctively, he looked at his hand and saw the Power Key resting there.
Uncontrollable tears began falling from Henry's eyes, he looked back at Jolene, and this time her eyes transmitted her will. Even though she didn't say anything her eyes communicated her intent perfectly, and it said ''Avenge me!''
He grasped the gem tight and nodded firmly, seeing this Jolene closed her eyes slowly as her consciousness finally left her. Henry squeaked out a sob, he turned his head upward and glared at the person on the bone dragon with burning hatred.
Then he kept the gem in his storage space and jumped into the void, it closed behind him instantly.
…
Logan was dumbfounded by the turn of events, he wanted to capture the young sorcerer, but he had escaped to quickly for him to do anything.
Logan thought of the glare he had given him and snorted, he ordered the Skeleton Dragon to continue flying towards the castle, they had wasted too much time already.