8 Chapter 8: Necromancy Manipulation: Rise Undead.
"We've made it…" Muttered Ruby as she entered the cave.
Lyra was lying on Ruby's back while Ruby held Ava. There was something odd about seeing someone who was Ruby's size, carrying the two of them.
Within seconds of entering the cave, she noticed that the temperature was significantly higher inside than it was outside.
"Looks like bringing them here was the right call. It looks like a relatively safe shelter from the blizzard."
Her eyes flicked to Ava's stomach, checking for injuries.
"Seems to have healed well, although there's a small scar, it's not noticeable. For now, I suppose collecting some wood and starting a fire would be the best-"
Suddenly, Ruby's ears twitched as they caught a faint sound. After gazing into the darkness of the cave, a smile spread across her face.
"Oh~ It appears we have some company."
Suddenly, blue glowing creatures appeared in the tunnel's darkness.
There were five of them and they were huge. They had serpentine bodies with six legs, reptilian heads, and long tails..
Blue ice crystals gathered at the edges of their deep blue cerulean coloured skins.
Their surroundings almost seemed to freeze, as they left behind a cloudy frosty trail.
Frost Salamanders.
A mid-ranking elemental monster comparable to the Ice trolls. Ruby didn't know anything about them, but she could estimate their strength.
They crawled against the cave walls, and floors, easily reaching Ruby with a single charge. The moment she came into view, the closest one leapt at her without hesitation.
"The boss monster that Ava killed should be enough…" Ruby declared as it opened its mouth wide,mid-air, aiming its fans to tear her to pieces.
But just when it was inches away from her-
*Wham!*
An arm shot out of Ruby's shadow and crashed into the monster's body, blasting it toward the walls.
*Splat!*
It hit the wall with so much force that it's bones were crushed on impact, causing an almost instant death.
Seeing this, the other salamanders stopped charging and watched as the large figure emerged from her darkness.
"Using my servants would destroy this cave… so you'll do for now."
[Necromancy Manipulation: Rise Undead.]
"Rise, Ogre."
Slowly, the figure took on the shape of a giant humanoid creature, about 10 feet tall with a large head and very muscular body. With only a piece of cloth around its waist, it carried no weapons.
As a corpse, its body was covered in cuts from which black blood escaped. A hulking giant, which marched towards the salamanders whilst infuriated.
Feeling threatened, the frost salamanders took a few steps back, rearing onto their hind legs before their mouths lit up.
[Frost Breath.]
Blue freezing flames erupted from the salamanders' mouths and collided with the ogre. Using its arm, the ogre shielding its face from the blasts as it marched forward.
Then with a wide swing of it's frozen arm-
*Splat!*
The Ogre's fist smashed into the next salamander, crushing it into the cave's floor while shattering the ice over the Ogre's arm. "
"It was killed in a single blow… even though it's stronger now that it's an undead… for that girl to have been able to kill this, she must be strong." Ruby muttered as she glanced at Ava.
While Lyra's condition was good, Ava's was rapidly deteriorating. She needed to get her something warm and fast.
Understanding this, Ruby ignored the Ogre's onslaught on the frost salamanders and glanced at the trees outside.
[Necromancy Manipulation: Rise Undead.]
"Rise… Undying Flames."
-
With the moonlight illuminating his figure, Julius's figure trembled in the cold as his body grew closer to collapsing.
Even though the blizzard didn't run amok thanks to his domain, it was still unbearably cold.
[Quest: Ice Troll Slayer.]
[You must kill all the Ice Trolls in the vicinity.]
[Failure of the quest will result in a penalty.]
"I can't feel any others in my domain… that should have been the last of them." Julius muttered as he raised his head, looking away from the screen.
He was surrounded by ice troll corpses, and the snow around him was stained purple from their blood. A massacre had taken place.
"Ah- right. There's still one left." Julius muttered as he looked down at his seat.
It was the Ice troll that had almost killed Ava.
Its body was riddled with holes and its four limbs were twisted and severed. It was still alive, albeit barely.
Just from catching Julius's attention again, its body began to tremble. The pain and torture inflicted on it was too much for it to bear. It had given up on survival, long since hoped to die.
Julius, however, didn't allow that, he made it suffer whilst remaining alive.
Unable to see or breathe, with the only feeling being a repeated brain-boiling surge of pain, the Ice troll was slowly being driven to madness.
Even when it would lose consciousness, Julius would wake it up and allow it to get a breath of fresh air before resuming the torture as he murdered the others of its species.
Not wanting to go through it again, it began to slam it's head on the floor, doing whatever it could to kill itself. It had lost its will.
*Crunch!*
Julius stared coldly at it, observing as it attempted to kill itself again. Before he would've stopped it but this time, he silently placed his palm over the back of it's head.
"Oi, what's wrong? Where's that grin that you had after you almost killed Ava?"
The monster didn't respond and instead tried to slam its head once more in order to kill itself.
Seeing this, Julius clicked his tongue.
*Splatter!*
Through the shadows of his palm, dark spikes burst out, piercing through it's brain and instantly killing it.
[You have killed an Ice Troll]
[+5 Experience Points.]
[Level 2(75/100)]
Julius wiped the blood off his hands before staring at the notifications.
'I'm level 2 already…? I was so focused on killing them that I didn't even notice… Not that there was much for me to do anyways… They all just fell asleep before they reached me, making them easy targets.'
[You have completed the quest: Ice Troll Slayer.]
Julius then noticed a (3) icon next to the [Mail.] tab. Curious as to what it meant, he opened it.
[Mail.]
[You have levelled up.]
[You have one levelling point available.]
[Would you like to exchange it?] (Y/N)
-
[You've completed 'Main Quest: Ice Troll Slayer'.]
[Completion rewards have arrived.]
[Would you like to receive it?] (Y/N)
-
"Ah… so that's what it was… obviously I'll-"
*Badump!*
Julius's eyes grew wide. He was overcome by fatigue as his vision suddenly blurred.
In an attempt to get up, he collapsed onto the snow, unable to move.
'You gotta be kidding me…? Was I poisoned or something?'
[Energy:1% -> 0%]
[HP: 58 -> 54%]
[State: You are afflicted with frostbite.]
[State: You are exhausted.]
'Damn it… I made a mistake and ran out of energy… But how…? The domain hasn't been active for that long and I had 100% when I used it…'
He glanced up at the full moon in the sky.
'Could it be…? Because the fourth stage was active from the beginning, it drained my energy faster than normal? Fuck, I'll freeze to death at this… rate…''
Before he could think of anything else, his eyelids shut and his consciousness faded.
