As expected, the Order didn't waste any time making a move on the castle. From her perch atop the rubbled slope leading downwards from the fortress, Lieze could make out the levitating forms of Deathguards hovering over their legions of undead. Not two months ago, she had been just another faceless footsoldier in the same horde. Now, she was poised to eliminate the cult she once called family for the sake of her own ambitions.
Her elevated position allowed Lieze to examine the peculiarities of Sokalar's army with the aid of Marché's spyglass. Of all the thralls to look out for, she was concerned most of all with the abundance of Briarknights and Rot Behemoths filling out the Deathguards' ranks.
"Our defences won't hold for long after the battle begins…" She thought, "But that's not too much of a problem… we have to make it appear as if we're taking a defensive position in order to lure them closer."
Her trump card - [Mass Control Undead] - would turn the tide. Upon usage, she could take control of any 190 thralls within 1km of her current position. All she had to do was identify the most troublesome of Sokalar's forces and use them to sow chaos within his ranks.
That would leave the cult with just under 400 thralls in total - still outnumbered, but with significantly more punch per thrall. The battle would remain hard-won, especially with the constant threat of Sokalar looming over their heads.
All that remained was to wait.
New Quest Received!
'The Final Encounter' - Rout or destroy Ignas Sokalar's army
Reward - 8,000XP
Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of that to be done. Within the next quarter of an hour, Marché's troops near the lower gatehouses were poised to repel a tide of villainous undead. When the two armies came to blows, there was no place for strategy or formations. Thralls could understand basic commands, but their cohesion disintegrated upon contact with the enemy.
Gristle and blood flew on the fearsome winds. A wailing chorus of gnashing teeth and animalistic growls filled Tonberg's streets with terror. From the battlements and gatehouses, sorcerous bolts flew from the foci of Dark Casters, melting or obliterating rotten flesh with spells of fire and force.
[Gravewalker Defeated] x12
98XP rewarded
[Horror Defeated] x6
101XP rewarded
[Fleshbag Defeated] x 9
55XP rewarded
The cult's dedication to alchemical improvement over the course of its existence had paid off in full. The first siege of Tonberg had stripped Sokalar of his most powerful thralls, forcing him and his Deathguards to rely on weaker corpses during their return. Lieze had insisted on purging the weakest of her thralls and using them to empower the strongest, leaving her with a small but surprisingly powerful entourage.
Lieze herself wasn't above contributing to the battle. The levitating Deathguards made for ideal targets to practise her marksmanship. Summoning a mixture of blood and Mercuria from her Bag of Holding, she plunged a hand into the linen depths to retrieve her bloodsoaked focus.
Lieze's MP - 1,498 / 1,630
Lieze's HP - 292 / 329
The staff lapped up her poisoned blood with glee, ripping through her skin with its barbs and granting her its innate strength of mana reduction. Lieze had become so accustomed to the pain that she didn't think twice about the stinging agony running up from her hand.
A quintupled [Blood Spike] using [Mercurial Enhancement] granted her a crimson javelin that could have been spotted from the other side of the city. She could see the Deathguards below returning to the ground in an effort to hide themselves from its wrath, but it was far too late for such adjustments.
The [Blood Spike] carved into the army's advance, sundering thralls and necromancers alike. A shower of blood coated each and every combatant unlucky enough to be within range as the javelin splattered against the ground.
[Vao Thrudem Defeated]
25XP rewarded
[Leonard Alving Defeated]
22XP Rewarded
[Gravewalker Defeated] x27
161XP rewarded
[Horror Defeated] x4
77XP rewarded
Two Deathguards perished in the attack. Lieze recognised the names but did not spare any remorse for their passing. Those who sided against her would fall, no matter their previous relations.
Enemy Dark Casters returned her barrage in kind, but their shimmering spells were unable to strike true. Lieze understood why this was the case. When she created her own Dark Casters, their accuracy was appalling. Thus, she granted one of them a modicum of intelligence in order to give them a 'leader' of sorts. Sokalar was not experienced in the usage of Dark Casters, and had not taken the time to conduct the same investigation into their abilities.
The shifting tide of battle did not go unnoticed. Sokalar witnessed the previous [Blood Spike], and in doing so, had been enlightened to the secret of his enemy's defence.
"Lieze…" He muttered, "She lives. Of course. I did not expect anything less from my own daughter."
The Lich's robes were buffeted with gales of wind as he rose into the air. Though the girl in question couldn't be seen from such a distance, he knew that the sensation of lingering necromancy in the air had belonged to her all along.
"I shall delight in uncovering the secrets of your strength." The crystal atop his focus glimmered with wicked light, "A child cannot be blamed for rebellion. But a father's hand must always rise to quell the insolence of his own blood."
The earth began to quake. Lieze knew all-too-well what such a phenomenon entailed, but couldn't have imagined that Sokalar would make use of it so early into the battle.
"Here it comes…" She furrowed her brow, "We must survive this…"
Great chasms opened in the streets of Tonberg, swallowing thralls whole as enormous tendrils rose from the depths to overshadow the city's abandoned homes. Lieze flicked her head and placed two curled fingers into her mouth, whistling through the chaotic tremors and turning her gaze towards the sky.
The Manticore answered her call, rising through the destroyed remains of the throne room. With incredible speed, the beast plummeted towards Lieze's position and landed with the grace of a feline, lowering its head to offer her an accessible route to its back.
As soon as she climbed atop the creature, its wings began to beat with enough force to dislodge shards of rubble from the surrounding debris. Seconds later, Lieze was higher than she ever thought possible, deafened by the roar of howling wind striking her face.
From on high, she could spot every last one of Sokalar's summoned tendrils. Marché and Drayya couldn't possibly be seen from such a height, but the shifting sea of their thralls clashing with the enemy was being decimated by a pair of thorn-studded tentacles.
"Are those the Blackbriar's tendrils?" Lieze wondered, "And to think they're part of the very same being that resurrected me… the Gods truly are fickle."
The thought sprung an idea in her mind.
If the Blackbriar was the patron of all undead, then wouldn't it make sense to assume that the God itself was undead? As they were under the command of Sokalar, would the tendrils then be considered a type of thrall?
As tears collected in her eyes, Lieze peered over the Manticore's side to get a good look at one of the limbs in question.
Profane Lash
Level 45 Abomination
HP - 8,810 / 8,810
BODY - 45 MIND - 0 SOUL - 0
"They must be… otherwise they would be attacking Sokalar's army as well…" She could barely hear her own voice, "This is my chance!"
The Manticore descended, twisting to avoid barrages of fire, force, and blood. It was bound for the centre of Sokalar's army, where a veritable ocean of thralls were awaiting their chance to dive into the fray. Lieze didn't have time to hesitate once she was in the most optimal position.
[Mass Control Undead] Activated
Remaining Heavenly Favours - 0
Claiming Alistair's power had increased her maximum [Heavenly Favours] to 4, granting her one more use of the feature that day. At once, her world melted away, sending her to a familiar void where the Blackbriar's unspeakable true form lingered like a leviathan in the depths of the ocean. Necromantic power flowed through her veins, bringing her blood to its boiling point.
Then, she returned to the world of the living just in time to grip down on the Manticore's fur before being thrown off into the night. The Blackbriar's tendrils twitched with internal ferocity, as if attempting to resist some unknown command.
"What!?" Sokalar detected the change in his command structure instantly, casting a glance towards one of the tendrils in question, "Impossible…"
His trump card - his personal legion of chained Godflesh - was being stolen from him. With their allegiances changed, the tentacles began to set their sights on the Lich's army, as opposed to Lieze's, catching hordes of undead and Deathguards by surprise. The monstrous limbs crashed into Tonberg's streets one after the other, flattening entire battalions of Sokalar's army.
[Gravewalker Defeated] x192
1611XP rewarded
[Horror Defeated] x89
1068XP rewarded
[Fleshbag Defeated] x 66
376XP rewarded
[Rot Behemoth Defeated] x 21
820XP rewarded
[Briarknight Defeated] x 10
549XP rewarded
[Basil Reeve Defeated]
27XP rewarded
[Piper Soone Defeated]
22XP rewarded
[Ethel Townsend Defeated]
25XP rewarded
[Raphael Drakeson Defeated]
25XP rewarded
[Therion East Defeated]
29XP rewarded
Level Up!
You are now level [39]
HP+5 MP+50
MIND + 1
"By the Gods…" Lieze waved her hand to dismiss the notification, "At least until after the battle is finished before you start bombarding me with information."
[Settings Changed]
XP Rewards for individual enemies will not be shown until after a battle has concluded
"Huh. That's useful…" She muttered, "Perhaps I should make demands more often."
The delayed gratification of success hit her like a warhammer to the gut. Her gambit had paid off, and Sokalar's most powerful weapon had now been turned against him. No longer were the Deathguards near the castle focused on Lieze's forces, but scrambling to escape from the trashing, chaotic movements of the tendrils.
Furthermore, Lieze had taken control of many powerful thralls tucked into Sokalar's army. Briarknight and Rot Behemoths sowed chaos within the Lich's ranks, adding further confusion to the sudden counterattack.
Drayya and Marché, who alongside the cultists were commanding the thralls from below, found themselves a tad puzzled by the change in advantage. One look towards the skies above the city, however, told Drayya everything she needed to know.
"She wasn't kidding about turning the tides…" She muttered, "Are we really going to win this?"
"Don't say that as if you were expecting us to die this whole time…" Marché replied, "We need to push forward! The Order is retreating! If we remain mindful of those tendrils, we can ensure that the enemy isn't allowed to escape!"
'The Order is retreating' was a sentence Drayya had never expected to hear in her life - especially considering the fact that Lieze was the one they were retreating from. No matter how narrowed her eyes became, she just couldn't imagine that the girl riding the Manticore was the same one from two months ago.
"Right…" She muttered, "Let's move on! Don't let any of them escape!"
The Deathguards who had perished during the battle did not stay perished for long. With a swing of his staff, Sokalar raised the recently dead as fresh Gravewalkers for the cause, though even he was beginning to doubt the likelihood of his victory.
Something dangerously close to pride swelled in his stilled heart. There was something worthy of respect in the sheer stubbornness of his enemy.
"...If this is my fate, then I will face it with dignity." His eyeless sockets faced the Manticore's skybound silhouette, "Come, Lieze. Face me if you dare."