THE INVINCIBLE SKELETON KING
"The demon army is winning the war against the apostles. The apostles have been pushed back to the Gate of Elis to defend there while the rest of the Ten-Kingdoms have to fend for themselves against the demon army", Raven explained the current situation to us.
"We have reinforced our defense in Tarah city together with the Conjurer Court. It will not be easy to invade Tarah city with our preparedness although I couldn't say the same about the other cities in Drachia", Bommurs told us.
"Trogdol kingdom has a new duke, Duke Gagarine. The province of the former Trogdol kingdom has become a part of our empire by the edict of the Church of All-seeing. Maname Fortress will become our new bastion and fortress in the West", Raven told us.
Maname fortress was the name of the fortress that we built over the Sacred Grove. It was named after the founder of Trogdol kingdom, King Maname the Immortal.
"Everything is fine in Trogdol except the naming part. Who named the fortress in the Sacred Grove after Maname?" I asked.
"Sara did", Bommur replied to me.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Because according to our polls, the people of Trogdol still respect and worship their old kings and Maname is on the top of that list. Naming Maname as our frontier fortress will boost our soldiers' morale", Asterix explained to me.
"Fine, as long as Trogdol is under our influence now", I said to them.
"We can't say the same about the other cities in Drachia though. The various major families and the royal family are grabbing control over the major cities. In-fighting between the families has become common", Bommurs added.
"We cannot control and protect all the cities in Drachia kingdom at the same time, we will maintain our presence and stand in Tarah city. However, we should expedite the migration of all the rich from the other cities to Tarah city", I told them.
"We are running daily news in the Herald Times about the strength and invincibility of our defense in Tarah city and the uselessness of the other cities defenses. That will increase the people's appetite to migrate there", Reageon, our minister of Communications told us.
"The Demon Queen has already sacked a few cities, Famelm and Duskborne, in your absence. They don't seem to desire ruling the cities, sacking the cities and killing everyone is their purpose", Raven told us about the recent demon incursions into Drachia kingdom.
"Those cities do not submit to the Demon Queen, so she would naturally raze them to the ground and use the dead to empower her undead army", I replied to him.
"A few smaller cities, especially those from the Mithridocus family are asking for our protection although we don't have the forces to protect so many places", Bommurs told me.
"Accept their request for protection and turn them into official protectorates of our kingdom. Nyx kingdom shall soon conquer Drachia. The Church has given us the edict to rule", I told them.
"I thought you said we can't protect all the cities with our forces, dear?" Queen Mistral asked me.
Queen Mistral has been extremely courteous to me since I returned to Istiopolis city this time and I wondered why. It could be because of the effects of the potion of Resurrection.
"Yeah, our forces will be spread thin", Bommurs added.
"The cities do not need protecting if the demons don't invade them. It is about time we bring the war to the Demon army", I replied to them.
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"Why did it take so long for that skeleton to report back to us? It is a waste of our time to come look for him", Darklord asked the Spider Queen, Emily.
"The skeleton brags about being invincible in his hideout but I guess he is already killed by the Bully", Emily replied to him.
The two soon swooped down into the Sacred Grove of the skeletons and to their horror, the place was filled by soldiers.
"What happened here?" Darklord asked.
Emily quickly summoned several spiderlings that crawled around the place and under the ground. After a careful search, the spiders returned to report to her.
"All the skeleton magic in this grove is gone", Emily told the Darklord in surprise.
"Is this grove attacked by the enemy?" Darklord asked when someone answered him.
"This grove is gone. The Nyx kingdom conquered the sacred grove not long ago and most of Trogdol kingdom for that matter, but I devoured all the magic here. The sacred ground is useless to me now. I am now the Invincible Skeleton King", Kolgane suddenly said as he appeared before them.
"You..you almost gave us a scare. We thought you failed your mission", Emily told Kolgane.
"Did you kill the Bully using the Queen's magic arraye prison?" Darklord asked Kolgane.
"Ah that prison. Nope", Kolgane replied.
"So, you failed", Emily asked.
"No again", Kolgane replied.
"What is your problem? Answer us properly", Darklord asked Kolgane angrily.
"The Bully probably never came out of the Temple of Dragons. I guess he would never come out from there. The magic arraye was wasted", Kolgane told them.
"Are you sure? How can you be sure?" Darklord asked him.
"We sent someone there to check. The door to the Temple of Dragons was closed again. The people who went inside didn't come out. They probably never will", Kolgane replied to him.
"What is taking you so long here if the Bully never came out? You should have returned to report to us," Darklord asked Kolgane.
"I need time to awaken the magic of the Skeleton King and take all the magic of my ancestors from the Sacred Grove. The enemy are taking over the camp and I will not leave our magic to them. I don't have the spare time to talk to you, fools", Kolgane replied to the Darklord to his shock and surprise.
"Are you looking for death?" Darklord asked Kolgane angrily as he rushed toward him with a punch that was charged with his vile magic.
Any lesser being would be destroyed by the punch.