The Deity Entertainment Network

Chapter 252 – Even Titans Can Fall

"There, you're as good as new... well as close as I can get you," John said, releasing the spell on the large wolfkin in front of him. Andre was even bigger than John, a heavily tattooed, hulking mass of a man who looked every inch a warrior. Which was kind of funny since he was something quite different, an Elemental Master who could summon spirits. 

"Thank you... And sorry again for striking you when you healed my mate. That seems like a very inconvenient thing to happen when you heal women."

"You have no idea, but the gods work in mysterious ways," John said, patting the guy on the shoulder. Julia was his wife, but she was in fairly dire straits when he arrived, and he didn't waste time explaining to the large man about the issues with his magic. When she screamed out in pleasure, the man launched himself at John and started to punch him. John didn't blame the man. His armour absorbed all the damage, so there was no harm done, and Mica pulled him off and explained the situation. 

This led John to heal the rest of the beastmen in the sickroom, bringing his total to twelve people now in his ranks. He used Scouter and Card to vet everyone, and while they seemed confused, they all were more than willing to rise up against their captors. 

"No. You have no idea what this means to us. If we get too sick, they will kill us and raise our corpses to keep working, or entomb our souls in living armour. The spirits rage against this treatment and will aid you if you help save our people."

"Yes. I... forgive you for doing that to me. I didn't have much time left, and if having... that happen is the price of not being turned into the undead, I will gladly pay it again and again." Julia said, cradled in her husband's arms. Like her husband, she was another massive wolfkin, about the same size as John. She was soft-spoken right now, but she was of the Berserk class; once her blood was up, she became an indomitable warrior consumed by bloodlust. 

"Hopefully, you won't need it again. Now, I need to rest a bit and recover my mana. Are there weapons or armour somewhere you guys can use?"

"No. We could wrestle some from the guards, but other than some tools, there isn't much here." Mica said. She was standing beside him now, along with her other two party members, whom she woke up while John was healing the injured. They were all similar in look to her, with grey fur and eyes, leading him to believe they were all from the same area.

"Axes and picks would work, even hammers and mauls. What we really need to do is try to divide them into smaller groups and take them apart that way. Random question, if you're bitten by these undead, do you become one?"

"Hun? Is that a thing? I have never heard of that before." Andre asked.

"It was something that happened far away from here, so I just wanted to check to see if it was the same here. I'm glad it isn't, as that would require us to plan for that too." He said, then took a seat on the floor next to the bed and leaned back against the wall. "Does anyone know what Duke is capable of?"

"Well, he is a Lich now, so he has tons of dark magics, but before he turned, he was an Angel that was banished from heaven. He is a strong fighter and uses cleansing flames when he is angry at people. He can even turn the ground into lava." Mica said, looking down at him.

"Of course he can," John said. Rumi was tough, but this sounded like trying to fight Endevour. He was going to have to strike fast, or else he was going to be bogged down by a flying lich that could get out of his range. He chuckled a bit. This sounds like a job for Megumin's Explosion magic. 

Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on her. Having a tactical nuke would be handy right about now.

"Okay. I'm going to lay out a plan, but I want your input. With your help, we should be able to put this guy into the ground."

"We are with you. We will kill them or die trying. Anything is better than living under their thumb a moment longer." Julia said, flexing one of her massive arms.

Damn, she is as big as Twinkle is. Hell, she almost rivals Bryn. I know size isn't everything, but how in the hell did they even get captured to begin with?

John took a deep breath, adjusted his sword belt, then stepped out of the keep into the courtyard. Dawn's light was just starting to brighten the morning sky, the sun still about thirty minutes from rising.

They had made some plans, but the sticking point was how to handle Duke. There were over two hundred undead in the castle, but only about twenty of them were the living armour guards; the rest were mainly skeletons and goblins, who were mainly used for manual labour. The beastmen were going to block as many of them inside the castle as they could, leaving John and a few of their casters, like Andre, to assault Duke and the outside guards. 

The man himself stood before another pair of wolfkin, shouting angrily and lashing them with a wicked-looking whip. "How dare you! Stealing food from the mouths of your fellow workers! I should just kill you now!"

"PLEASE, SIR! It was for the sick and injured who couldn't make it- AHHH!!!" The wolfkin woman screamed as the whip lashed her again.

"Likely story. They will make it, or they won't. If they cannot be bothered to get food on their own, they can join the ranks of the undead like the rest!" He shouted, then lashed at the woman again. Her partner dived in front of her, but caught the whip on his neck, tearing his throat out in the process. "Gah, useless woman. See what you made me do? Now we are down another worker. You're lucky we have been given a reprieve from our deadline, and I need your help; otherwise, you would be joining him immediately. Now, get back to work!"

John continued to walk towards him like nothing was wrong, letting his anger build at the Lich's brutality. It was too late for that man, but he could stop any further terror. 

Duke, ignoring the woman who was scrambling away from him in terror, raised his hand over the body of the man. Black magic shot out of his palm and enveloped the corpse. After a few moments, the power dissipated, and the body rose, the man's skin now grey like the rest of the undead in the castle. 

"Problems?" John said, stepping up beside Duke.

"Hmm? Oh, John, right? You're still here?"

"Yes. I decided to take some time to rest before I head to Axel and start my mission."

"Does this have anything to do with Wiz? I don't see what Beldia sees in that woman; I swear, he wants to move here just so he can tease her more. She should just retire and let me take her place. I can maintain that barrier as easily as she could."

"You got me. I need to look in on her for him. Make sure she isn't considering betraying us."

"Finally, something that makes sense. The moment she decided to leave should have been when the Devil King ended her; Instead, now that he is safe from assassins, he has retreated into the depths of his castle and is loafing about. He says he is strategizing, but I have some doubts about that. Even the princess is confused about this new direction he seems to have taken. Ah, listen to me prattle on like an old maid. Say, do you have some time to check in on something for me? One of our work camps hasn't sent anything in a few hours, and I'm afraid that they have been discovered."

"I can. Where is it?" 

"Just up in the hills, half a day's walk from here. Here, just use this anchor and step over to that roped-off area. It will teleport you there directly." He said, fishing a short rod out of his robes and offering it to John. 

Grabbing the man's wrist, John activated his invulnerability and lashed out at him with an armoured gauntlet powered by Ki and Earth magic. Duke's eyes barely had time to register his surprise before his head snapped back violently. John continued to pummel him several times, then grabbed his neck. "Middle Heal!"

An unholy scream came from Duke as the Lich's body lit up like a green flare from John's power, melting the monster's face like candlewax. He jammed his fingers into his mouth and pulled with all his built-up rage and ripped the jaw off the lich before he could recover and start casting spells. 

A fist crashed into the back of John's head, the undead wolfkin attacking him, but he ignored it, keeping his focus on the powerful caster in front of him. He cycled shadow magic and started to pummel the lich's body, causing it to quickly decay in real time. More and more undead started to pile up on him, but his invulnerability was still running, so he continued trying to destroy the Lich's body. According to Andre, a Lich would have a phylactery somewhere and could resurrect themselves after some time had passed, but their bodies were very durable and could withstand a significant amount of damage before they had to abandon it.

"Heal!" He said, burning some more of his precious mana. He had twenty remaining now, but it should be enough to keep him alive as they picked apart the rest of the undead. Right now, the beastfolk were blocking passages and isolating many of the undead workers and guards, but there was still a lot out here in the courtyard. 

The screaming finally stopped, so John rolled forward and drew his sword, slashing at the limbs around him. There were dozens of undead charging at him, carrying axes or shovels, along with ten of the living armours, with their black shields and swords. Swapping to water magic, he started back towards the charred corpse, dodging the slower-moving undead, beheading others. He then slashed the corpse three more times, bisecting the torso and splitting what remained of the head. Black energy seemed to seep out of it, but he didn't have time to figure out what was happening. 

He dived to the side again, narrowly avoiding being tackled by the mass of flesh surrounding him. He could hear explosions and screams happening elsewhere in the courtyard, but he had no time to look to see what it was. He slashed again, splitting the shield of a living armour, then caught its sword on his pauldron.

Cycling Earth magic, he tried to plough through the mass of flesh one swipe at a time, but the numbers were overwhelming. His invulnerability ended then, and he started to feel the bite of weapons hitting him. Most couldn't pierce his armour, but the crushing power of axes and hammers was beating through the areas where he just had chainmail and no plate.

"Barrier!" He said, burning all but the last of his mana on his defensive spell. He caught an axe haft in his off hand, ran the undead that was holding it through with his sword, then turned it on to the next undead in the circle. He danced across the courtyard, cutting down enemy after enemy. He saw Mica knocked down by one of the undead, so he threw the axe in her direction, hoping it would bury itself in the back of the assailant. He had no idea if it worked as the delay allowed two undead to grab his sword arm, forcing him to try and break free. 

He managed to get them off him, but others showed up and started dogpiling on him. With a roar, he threw one of them into another pile of approaching living armours, but was dragged down under the mass. Hammers, mauls, axes and swords slammed into him, wearing his barrier down and beating him bloody. He swapped to cycling healing magic to try and repair the damage, but it was building faster than he could repair it.

"FUCK YOU!" He shouted, freeing his off hand again and jamming his gauntlet into the eye sockets of another undead. "Heal!" 

The head of the monster caught on fire, causing it to scream as it was consumed by the healing magic. John didn't notice it; his rage was the only thing keeping his mind intact now that his mana had been exhausted.

A maul came down on his right elbow, and suddenly, he couldn't feel the lower half of his right arm. An axe followed it, and he could feel something had given away. More axes and mauls came down on top of him, smashing off his helmet and trying to hit other weak points in his armour. Growling in rage, he cycled shadow magic again and flailed around, striking everything he could with any limb that could still move.

If he was going to die here, he was going to take as many of these bastards with him as he could.