A Rattling Monster

I keep going deeper inside the capital, not wanting to waste time. Until at one point, number one informs me of the dreadful truth about this very city.

-Master, I am afraid that we are slowly disintegrating. At first, we were able to endure it and not really suffer. But right now, I am afraid that it will take only a few minutes for all the skeleton magicians to disappear from this world.

Yes, I know. Now, I want you all to be regrouped in a formation where you are all protected by one single magic shield. I see them getting into position and shortly after, I see the particles floating in the air, meaning that the magic shield is activated. I ask number one once again if there is a problem.

-No, master, thanks to that wonderful idea. The magic shield, as you suspected it, is capable of protecting us for now. But the skeleton magician casting it is saying that it is quite a burden on him. And since we already use a lot of mana on those ramparts, we will not be able to fight at our full potential.

Ok, I get it, thank you number one. But you can still fight one more time? I receive a positive answer to my question. Now that is fixed, they should be able to survive, but I will probably have five skeletons removed from the fight since they will have to maintain that shield, even if we flee. That would be a shame if, after the fight, I see all my undead disappear in front of me. Because that would mean I won't be able to do another assault.

I have a window of a week to do the maximum damage to Aria and her holy kingdom. While, at the same time, I hope that they are already attacking the ratmen. That way, my two main enemies are fighting each other, and in the meantime, I survive. As for anyone else engaged in that conflict, I hope you will be destroyed too. Dwarves, elves, orcs or whatever you are. But not too much, otherwise, the ratmen will be hunted too easily and it will end before I manage to provoke too much chaos.

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

What is this, an old door creaking? But what does this mean, someone is near us? Oslo, can you say what is the situation?

(Ok, give me a sec, I approach the spirit and … yes, someone is behind the door. Hold on, more than just one human. Let me check something, yes, still there … hum hum …)

A true and clear answer? Something comprehensible by an intelligent creature, not just some humming?

(Ok, so your idea of throwing bodies at you? You were right, in nearly every house surrounding the street that the messenger took, there are at least three or four criminals waiting for you. And they are armed this time, with real weapons. That means, the guard tossed them something to use against you, they won't fight like last time, with broken knives and rusty swords. They all have a proper equipment, and they will fight not just for their greed, by for their life. Really a shame, thinking that just some outlaws can deal with you.)

You say that, but you are as happy as I am. The truth is, if I haven't the armors of the followers of Krieg on my Chosen, I would be scared. Because I personally had a hard time dealing with it and didn't even manage to melt those reinforced metals with my acid. Only after many orbs can I break through it, so, just a normal iron produced for the guards? Not even the top quality steel granted to the knights, just an ordinary iron. There is no way they can even break a legging, at best their swords won't be destroyed in the process.

As for the surprise effect of their attacks? Well, that was before someone had the stupidity to move a door, most likely to have a better vision of me and my army. Since it will take too much time to hunt them one by one, and I have the distance advantage, I can end this comedy. I relay my words to number one, as usual.

-Pitiful humans, come to embrace your death. Hiding in your weak houses won't save you from the grim reaper. Let me see the feeble strength of the hunting dogs sent by the Church.

I think it is an effective taunting. I mean, it can be better, I could have implied that they are impotent, their fathers smelt of elderberries and their mothers were hamsters, but that would be too much of an insult. Honestly, that is the best way of taunting someone I ever heard, but I have a reputation to preserve, I can't just say those things when I am a ratman.

(Yes, of course, not like it doesn't really matter. What I want to know is, what is a hamster and what do you mean by elderberries?)

Don't you have those things in Forslo? Wait, there is nothing like that in Astria?

(Nothing in the memory of the Agorians, so I want to ask, what are those things?)

Nothing important, good thing then that I didn't say those words. Because the only thing that would have happened is a total incomprehension from the criminals. Instead, I insulted them in a more straightforward way but the effect is not as big as I thought. No one is leaving their houses, maybe they still think that I didn't notice them?

Seeing the lack of answer and movement from the other side, I target the closest location where a group of bandits where. For that, I throw my most useful spell, my good old orb of acid. Shortly after, a hole inside a house and one half of a man lying in the ground can be seen. As for the rest that was too close to the wall, well, magic, they disappeared. After that, there is a big exclamation coming from everywhere around me. Followed by a background sound of intense and heated discussions.

That's the way I want it to happen. Now, they will discuss, decide that fighting in the open will be their only hope of survival, they do that, they encounter my Chosen that cut all of them in pieces and I recover my mana from all their blood. Following those actions, I create more skeleton magicians that I dress with the laying equipment, and we can march toward the second wall. A perfect plan.

(Sleek, they are getting away.)

NO! NO, NO, NO! Fight for your bloody life bunch of morons! Ok fine, you want it the hard way, Chosen, deal with them. I can see 7 of my Chosen rush toward the bandits that are exiting the houses in front of me. They are far too slow to do that, and quickly, my Chosen manage to slash the slowest bandits. Apparently, they are running in direction of the second wall, what are they expecting? Mercy? For what, the numerous crimes they all have committed?

(Well, they are doing that and they are also warning all their fellow members of the slums. Everyone is retreating, so that means the chances of you finding someone not running away toward the nearby gate is extremely low. For example, your zombies still haven't found a single victim, after all this time. Even if they can't fight you directly, they will hide under the protection of the many magicians and priests located at the inner level. Right now, from what I am seeing, you can't approach the second wall.)

That's why I wanted to rampage this outer ring, create a big army, march on the inner circle, destroy that damned wall, repeat again the entire thing. But they clearly prepared themselves for my comeback, because the speed of execution is far too fast. But what do you mean I can't even approach the second wall? Why?

(Ok, just a thing that I have to warn you, my vision can't go past the second wall. The power of Aria is far too powerful after that, reducing my visibility to just the wall. That's why, even without the spirits, I can still locate the bandits hidden inside this part of the city. As for the wall itself, hehe. Maybe you should just look from afar, to see for yourself.)

Great, a new surprise, why do I have the feeling it is a very, very bad news. What should I expect honestly, thousands of guards? Sure thing, not anything less, especially since they know my location thanks to the bandits. Countless priests? Probably, meaning, no plague and probably a reduced power of both my undead and my [Nightfall]. Many magicians? Well, they were clearly lacking on the first wall, but I understand them. Their houses are probably in the inner part of the city; why should they fight for the citizens of the slums? What did I forget?

(Holy knights, a bunch of those fanatics.)

Ah, yes, the final boss.