Revenge of the Sorcerer King 24

Hey Everyone! Whew! Can't believe we're in October already! I hope the year hasn't been treating anyone too roughly. Anyways! Chapter 24 RSK here you go!

Chapter 24

Oberon POV~~

We rushed over to where Alessa was lodged in a tree with her arms and legs sticking out. She had a bewildered expression on her face, and I could tell from here that her ears had to be ringing. Helena and I came to a stop as we both tried to stop laughing. Being creatures that didn’t need to breath it was interesting to find that we could still laugh until we ran out of breath. 

“When you two are done, could you please help me?” Alessa said as she struggled to get out of the tree. 

She was lodged in such a way that she couldn’t get any force behind her attempts. Sobering from the moment, I moved next to her and pulled her out of the tree. A loud crack sounded out as the tree couldn’t handle anymore. It slowly twisted under its own weight and fell to the ground. 

“What did you do?” I asked checking her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

“I was just following what Lady Helena told me to do. Condense the mana in my palm to the point in no longer shrinks then throw it. Didn’t expect for it to explode the moment it left my hand,” Alessa explained with a pout. 

Helena laughed then started to explain why the spell failed. I listened in for a while but decided that she was had it covered. I looked off into the distance and noticed the life signature that was following us was nowhere to be seen. I don’t know when it creeped off. 

“Helena. Did you see the person following us?” I asked when they reached a stopping point. 

“Yeah, I took a look at them as I made my way in earlier. He was good, but not good enough to escape my notice,” Helena said putting her on her hips and sticking her chest out, nonexistent as it was. 

“You want to go see what their report is? I think we scared him,” I said gesturing after in the direction the individual had been hiding. 

She nodded then turned back to Alessa. The two worked on the spell through the night. It seemed just a simple visualization problem. Since the shadow was definitely out of sight now, I made my way into the forest. I needed to work on my own magic if I was going to get stronger. 

I came to another clearing after a few minutes of walking. Looking around to make sure nothing followed me, I jumped in to the tree then quickly made my way further up. I checked the area for as far I as I could see which should be several kilometers given the height of the tree. 

Dropping back down to the ground, I focused on my basic Magic ability. I felt it was high enough that I could do the spell I wanted if I pushed it a little. I was finding that my Forgotten Knowledge boon allowed me to ignore some of the level requirements but only a few. Placing my hand on the ground, I channeled my mana into a concealment spell. If someone was viewing from the outside it would look as if a haze engulfed the clearing, then soon vanished replaced with a densely wooded area. 

“Grodo. Unequip and go see if you can see me,” I said. I wanted to be sure. The living golem’s plates popped open allowing me to step out. Even as an undead, being stuck in the armor all the time was disconcerting. Grodo quickly went out of the clearing. I could still easily make him out from my place inside the clearing. 

He turned then looked around for a moment. Then retraced his steps with near perfect precision. If you ever needed something to guide you through a trapped area, get a golem to do it. He reentered the clearing and nodded to me. 

“Excellent. Stay there for now. I wouldn’t mind some time to myself,” I said with a laugh. 

Now, for the fun part. I didn’t have much to work with in the clearing, but I would make do. I wanted to test a few fundamental parts of necromancy anyways. I quickly recited the spell for the summon undead, expecting it to fizzle out as there was no target. Even advanced spells needed you to designate the target of the spell. 

I completed the chant, then watched as the green necromantic energies shot into the ground. I stepped back as it was almost directly under where I stood. I wasn’t worried about my safety, but I didn’t want to be thrown if something big burst from the ground. After a few minutes of nothing happening, I was beginning to wonder if that was just the way the energy dispersed when it had no target. Almost as soon as the thought crossed my mind, a rotting paw burst from the ground. 

I grinned at the sight. Either some hunters killed a wolf here, or it died due to some other reason, but there was a corpse under the soil here. Judging by how rotted it was and how long it took for it to break free of the ground, I would place it at several years if not longer. 

I backed away even further as the undead beast that was emerging from the ground was quite more massive than I first anticipated. Its paw alone was already the size of half my body. The clearing was rumbling as the ground was torn apart. Finally, the undead beast managed to free its entire form from the soil. 

“A Range Guardian!” I muttered as I took in the fantastic creature. 

These beasts grew to tremendous size and protected forests, mountains, and other sites of nature from invaders. I couldn’t believe my luck to just randomly use an undead raising spell right where something like this rested. Of course, my elation didn’t last for long as the sound of howling echoed through the night from no less than three places deeper in the forest. 

The undead Range Guardian turned to the sound then unleased its own nightmare version of the howl. I was in no way, shape, or form able to take on a Range Guardian. Even top-class adventurers back before the System would have trouble taking one of these on. I patted the undead creature on its flank. 

“I am sorry for raising you and running, but I feel like I shouldn’t be around for the upcoming family reunion. Please try to survive. When I am more powerful, I shall return for you if you manage to survive. That is the best I can promise.” 

The undead beast lowered its head to look at me. It felt like its green flaming eyes were telling me to go shove it. I chuckled already like the creature. Thinking it over, I replaced my hand on its flank then began channeling all the mana I currently had into the creature. I had access to my entire ocean from before I died, but it was like through a tube and would take a while to use it all. Still, it allowed me to do things like this since I didn’t have to worry about actually running out. 

Once all my current mana was emptied into the beast, it roared its nightmare howl. I motioned for Grodo and equipped him quickly, before making my way from the clearing. I glanced behind me to see the spell survived the beast digging itself free. I called back to it.

“The clearing is hidden. If you play with your prey, you might be able to be able to wear them down!” 

When nothing replied I shrugged then kept back to the original clearing. I was just exiting the tree line when Helena rushed up to me. She looked angry which was cute on her childish face. I made sure to keep that to myself of course. 

“What did you do?” She asked poking me in the stomach. 

“I may have peeved off the forest. We should probably head out at first light.”

“Men!” Helena shouted, throwing her hands up then walked back to where she left Alessa 

When morning came, I was glad to be on the move again. Helena vanished in a poof of smoke with the morning sun. We got back on the road. If the stalker didn’t reappear tonight, I planned on pushing for the next few nights. 

Alessa POV~~~

I wasn’t sure if Helena and Oberon got along or didn’t. One moment they would be laughing at something, the next Oberon would have Helena up in the air by her neck or Helena would have Oberon flat on his back on the ground. I normally got a good chuckle out of the situation, so I just watched.

The second night after Helena joined us, she reported that the shadow had told the Guildmaster that we shouldn’t be messed with. Something about unnatural strength and throwing people through trees. I admit Oberon and Helena were unnatural with their strength, and Oberon wasn’t even that high a level. 

Thanks to the shadow leaving us alone we were able to accelerate our trip. We made it to the second town in only two days. Oberon wanted to quickly make it through the town. I for one agreed. Helena, however, suggested that we should make a name for ourselves as Mercenaries. I didn’t understand the benefits of it. 

“You guys are walking around in a fortune of armor and gear. Even if you don’t want to attract attention to yourselves, you are. If you make a name then people that you don’t even want to bother with will leave you alone, and the ones you want to ‘sink your teeth into’ will come to you. I’m telling you this mainly for your sake Alessa. As a vampire your strength comes from your family. The more Servants, Descendants, and Vassals you have the more powerful you’ll become,” Helena explained as we approached the new town. I did my best to ignore that it felt like a child was lecturing me by constantly reminding myself that she was over five hundred years old. 

“Hm~, she has a point,” Oberon said tapping his chin. 

“Alright. Then let’s take a few missions that are on the way to Frinz then turn them in there,” I said clapping my hands to hurry the decision. 

We were soon inside the town of Hase. It was pretty big considering it wasn’t near a dungeon. It mainly traded with the frontier villages and towns. Merchants were leading large caravans laden with goods in every which direction. 

“This is a bandit’s wet dream,” Oberon muttered. 

“That’s why it’s a good place to make your name as a mercenary. Adventurers deal with the monsters, mercenaries deal with people,” Helena said. 

We made our way over to the mercenary guild leaving the wagon to the adventurers. I had only been in the adventurer guild in Guil, so I didn’t know what to expect. Just as we approached the doors, a man stumbled out, quite obviously drunk. 

“Oh! What do we have here? Are you lost girlie?” He slurred as he looked at Helena. I backed away to avoid any potential splatter. It was hard to get blood rust off armor. 

The man didn’t even appear to notice Oberon as he stumbled past him. Oberon stuck his foot out and the man fell face first into the mud. That served to sober him up a bit, but it also made him quite angry. He jerked his head out of the mud with a shout, only to have it stepped on by Helena who shoved it quite harshly back into the mud. He flailed his arms an legs, but couldn’t get free of her foot. 

Helena looked over to me. “Did you hear something? I can’t stand these outer towns. Have no idea what you’re stepping in,” she said cupping her face in her hand. I just nodded as the man’s struggles slowly came to a stop. Everyone around us gave us a wide berth. Helena sighed and used a single foot to pop the man up then kick him hard enough to send him flying several meters to crash into a wall. “He’s lucky it is twilight, or I would drain him dry.” I heard her mutter under her breath. 

“Are you done playing?” Oberon asked from the steps to the mercenary Guild. 

“Yep,” Helena replied with a smile.