The Dreadlands 2

Leftan was the best and only fighter I had, and his health was decreasing faster than I would've liked. If he went down, I probably wouldn't be able to make it out of the Dreadlands.

"Gunnar, you're on defense," I told him, frantically switching from the combat panel to my status. "Keep those horses unscathed." Grabbing the rein of the other horse, he instantly wheeled us in a different direction, running over several kobolds as well.

Hundreds of notifications filled my head as my status appeared, suddenly all contracting into one line with the numbers increasing steadily.

Beep. [ 116 Enemies vanquished ]

Beep. [ Rewards: x229 Soul Stones ]

"Two hundred..." I said to myself, calculating the numbers. "That's only about 2 soul stones per kobold then... That's all? What happened to the other rewards?"

Beep. [ Your stats increase automatically only once. After that, you will need to fund soul stones to each stat to improve your status. ]

'So that's what they're for... A pay-to-win system.' I thought in understanding, though it irritated me. Of course, nothing was ever free. What's more, killing the kobolds gave ten times fewer soul stones than killing robbers. 'Why can't it work like a normal leveling system?' I grumbled, looking through the other stats.

------

[ System Host: Arius Scerriton ]

[ Race: Skeletal Undead ]

[ Rank 2: Trainee Soldier ]

[ Soul Stones: 94 >> 323 ]

[ Authority Level: 2 ]

[ Soul Level: 103 ]

[ Soul Health: 40/40 ]

[ Soul Mana: 24/55 ]

[ Skills: Enlist Undead, Dismiss Undead, Mending ]

[ Troops under command: Gunnar, Leftan ]

------

"If I remember correctly, the Authority level should be the limit of my skeleton control. How much do I need to increase it?"

BeEp. [ x50 soul stones for next Authority Level ]

'This is such a scam.' I thought but nodded my head anyway. Perhaps the system was mad at me for calling it pay-to-win. "Raise it."

Beep. [ Authority Level: 2 >> 3 ]

[ Soul Stones: 323 >> 273 ]

'Perfect.' I thought. Now, if my plan didn't work, it would probably be impossible to win against the kobolds.

Without hesitation, I saluted the nearest dead kobold on the ground, feeling my soul mana leave me. Nothing happened for a moment, and I almost thought I had wasted a third of my soul stones.

Until there was a sudden twitch from the body and bones ripped through the scale and flesh. The bare skeleton of the kobold emerged, ripping off shreds of its own body from itself before giving me a salute. All around it, its allies looked as dumbfounded as me. But I wasted no time in sending the kobold skeleton to backstab its former brethren.

Exceeding my expectations, he actually managed to kill two before accidentally getting clouted in the skull by a crazed kobold that was whirling his club around like a tornado.

'Interesting.' I wondered. ' Does that mean all the units I control will always be skeletons?' However, that was a thought for another time. I still had to see if my assumptions were correct. Again, I saluted the same skeleton, trying to revive it.

Beep. [ Enlist failed. You may not enlist a defeated unit again for 24 hours ]

Undeterred, I saluted a different kobold corpse. It was a success. The skeleton ripped out from its body once again, picked up a dropped weapon, and joined the battle.

"Perfect." I said in satisfaction. "I can use their own forces against them endlessly. Divide and conquer. Hey, scam system, upgrade my authority again."

BEEP. [ x100 Soul Stones for the next Authority Level ]

"What? The price is twice as much now?"

Beep. [ Inflation. ]

"Fine, fine. I won't call you a scam system anymore."

Beep. [ Authority Level: 3 >> 4 ]

[ Soul Stones: 273 >> 223 ]

As the skeleton kobold died quickly again, two more took his place this time, moving to join Leftan in his slaughter. By the time the kobolds started to realize what was happening, their forces were already thinning.

"Catch up with them," I ordered Gunnar, looking for Leftan on the combat overview. With replenishable units to serve as meat shields- or in this case, bone shields, the two skeleton town guards can finally go all out without having to worry about their health decreasing.

In a few minutes, we had already regrouped our units. The kobold skeletons were purely on the defensive and distraction, while Leftan plowed through the dispersing kobold waves.

Behind them, I made sure the defenses didn't die out, enlisting a new dead kobold every time one of the two meat shields fell. An infinitely regrowing force. Just like the Dreadlands.

A sudden thought occurred to me and I opened up the status panel in my mind once more. 'If I'm able to upgrade any stat in the status with soul stones, would that apply to the troops under command too?'

Beep. [ Upgrading an individual unit's level is possible with soul stones ]

"So they have their own levels too..." I mumbled to myself, feeling an arrow pass harmlessly through my bones. The kobolds had brought out ranged weapons against us, though projectiles were hardly a threat against skeletons. "How many soul stones will it cost?" I asked the system.

Beep. [ 70 soul stones needed for town guard units. 20 soul stones needed for kobold units ]

"Let's try leveling up Gunnar first."

Beep. [ Gunnar Lv.1 >> Lv.2 ]

[ Soul Stones: 223 >> 153 ]

[ Status:

+5 Max Soul Health

+10 Max Mana

+1 Str

+6 Dex

+4 Agi

+3 Int ]

The difference was almost instantaneous. A couple of kobolds sprung a sudden ambush, leaping down on us from the trees. No doubt, they had been preparing for this.

At that moment, a larger flow of soul mana was absorbed into Gunnar as he leveled up. His movements sped up immediately, veering the horse forward, the thin line of his sabre slashing above us in a wide arc at the same time.

Most of the kobolds were sliced through while some bit the dust under trampling hooves.

'So the units have their own individual leveling system through mine.' I surmised. 'Looks like my type of stats are different since I'm the leader. Not that I mind, I've played similar SRPGs before. I should be able to get the hang of this quickly like I've done before.'

As more soul stones flowed into my alerts, several high-pitched screeches suddenly echoed through the leaves.

'This sound... A scream from the kobold generals that throws the kobolds into a frenzy. It's one of the kobold tribes' last resorts... I think I've pissed all the kobold tribes here too early.'

[ Skill Detected: x3 Shriek of Dying Scales ]

[ Str, Agi, and Def boost gained to all reptilian units in the area (x3 effect multiplier) ]

A distant tremor shook the ground, followed by a loud roar as a massive scaly creature crashed out of the trees towards us. With one swipe of its claws, it smashed through a tree in its path, and all the kobold skeletons were mutilated instantly.

Large armor-like scales covered its body with a long jaw and face like an alligator. An Armagator. They looked somewhat like a cross between lizardmen and ogres and were deemed to be a dangerous rank 3 Dreadspawn. I hadn't been counting on the kobolds having one of them, they were only usually found with Lizardmen tribes.

'Just when everything was going smoothly.' I grimaced. 'It's never easy. I need to upgrade Leftan immediately.'

Beep. [ Leftan Lv.1 >> Lv.2 ]

[ Soul Stones: 153 >> 83 ]

[ Status:

+10 Max Soul Health

+2 Max Mana

+7 Str

+2 Dex

+6 Agi

+1 Int ]

Leftan sped up instantly with a surge of mana, but it was still not enough for a Rank 3 monster. After all, Leftan wasn't the only one with a stat boost. The armagator repelled the barrage of slashes with no difficulty, pushing back Leftan with his own attacks. A ball of fire blasted out from the sides of the giant lizard as it gave a high-pitched roar.

I couldn't feel the heat as an undead, but the kobold skeletons I had just enlisted again were scorched on the spot.

'There are flame newts as well? This must be their elite warriors, there's no way my skeletons can handle them.' I thought in distress. With the system around, I had forgotten that anything could still go wrong in reality. "Draw back!" I ordered, forcing Leftan to stop swinging and jump back on his horse. "We can't fight those dreadspawn. Retreat!"

'Retreat... But to where?' I thought anxiously, scanning the view of the terrain in the combat panel for an exit out of the Dreadlands. I could hear the crashes of the armagator charging behind me as an occasional fireball sailed over my head.

Beep. [ Defeat! You've given the order to retreat ]

[ x50 Soul Stones lost ]

Beep. [ New Objective ]

[ Target: Eradicate the kobolds within 10 hours. Objective will fail if the host is killed or the time limit has passed. This is a one-time-only mission.

Bonus Target: Eliminate the Armagator.

Difficulty: Hard

Failure Penalty: None

Reward: x300 Soul Stones

Additional Rewards: x100 Soul Stones ]

'That's new. An objective with rewards? It's like a free soul stones giveaway... But killing that rank 3 monster was out of the question. It was hard enough trying to find an escape.'

More acres of trees stretched out around us on the panel's map. I had gone too far into the dreadlands to get back out now. No, I didn't technically need an exit. I needed somewhere I could hold the kobolds at bay and regenerate.

Beep. [ Achievement Obtained: From Hunter to Hunted ]

[ x100 Soul Stones received ]

Hunted was the perfect way to describe the situation. Leftan was only a few points away from turning back to calcium. Plus, the rest of the kobolds left were now all out for blood.

Well, they weren't going to get it either way.

A new object suddenly appeared on the combat panel. It was concealed by the undergrowth, but it stood out from the usual rows of trees when viewed from above. An opportunity.