Chapter 259: A Whole Nother Tier (1/2)
Brenden stumbled again, his legs numb from fatigue. It was frustrating, but the zombies were proving to be just as much of an obstacle now as when they were moving. He was still heading towards the area where the dark cloud had been. Judging from the occasional explosions which erupted in that vicinity, he could surmise that the fight was still going on.
Every now and then he caught sight of Red circling high overhead, evidently waiting for something. Brenden tried signalling him, but to no avail. Unfortunately, the dragon's attention seemed to be focused elsewhere, and he gave no indication of noticing the beastman, regardless of how loudly he yelled.
[Seriously? What good is a overgrown aerial predator if he can't spot something my size on the ground?] He complained in his mind while scrabbling over another particularly tall pile of corpses.
Little did Brenden realize that he was just one of thousands of tiny humanoid figures scrabbling around the battlefield. For a dragon of Red's extreme youth and inexperience, it would actually be more surprising if he did pay attention to these insect-like creatures while his summoner was in the midst of a life and death battle.
”Alright, just another few hundred meters...” The beastman mumbled to himself after cresting the most recent mound of bodies. The omnipresent stench, already fairly unpleasant, was beginning to get worse. It was almost as the animating force that had brought them back from the dead had also prevented them from rotting. Now that it was removed, the corpses were making up for lost time.
[Zombies are truly inconvenient in a number of ways.]
A part of Brenden marveled at his own state of mind. Not too long ago, this kind of experience would have seemed like something out of his worst nightmares. Now, it really just felt irritating.
He could still intellectually understand the horror of clambering over the pale and rotting corpses of massacred civilians, with a disproportionate number of women and children among them, but for some reason that fact didn't do much more than make him angry at the people responsible.
As he pondered that, he recalled a tidbit of information his master had let slip while he was learning methods for improving secondary attributes. Something along the lines of ”Skills and titles that grant an increase to Willpower are rare, and have an unusual effect on a person's mind. While they won't dramatically change an individual's personality, they do have tendency to realign their worldview, thus making it more difficult for things to shake them on an emotional level.”
[I suppose that fits. Even with all my desperation to help Sera, I'm still capable of thinking fairly rationally.]
Any further introspection was interrupted when he noticed a group of horsemen cutting across the field to his left. They were moving somewhat slowly, thanks to the unusual terrain, but it was clear that their destination was the same as his. Seeing as they were alive, and figuring that they were probably on his side because of it, he decided to angle his way towards them and see if they could give him a ride.
Worst case scenario, he could always resort to violence.
When he was fairly close and about to call out to them, a brilliant burst of golden light exploded to the west. It captured his attention for a few moments, as he tried to guess what its origin might be.
[Its not quite what I would expect from Mike, but doesn't seem like something from the undead either. Someone from the strike force maybe?]
Figuring that he would need to see for himself, Brenden called out to the equally distracted horsemen, ”Hello, there! What unit are you from?”
He'd hoped for a simple response. Something along the lines of 'we're part of such and such division on a scouting mission.' However, he'd clearly misread the situation.
The majority of the horsemen, which he could now tell were knights of some sort, immediately sprung into action, spurring their mounts to quickly surround Brenden.
An older man, wearing an insignia of a shield, drew his sword and demanded, ”Identify yourself!”
”Hold on, now! I'm not an enemy.” He replied, a little annoyed by the hostile welcome. Couldn't they see that he wasn't undead?
”The prove it by stating your rank and affiliation.” Came the cold reply.
”I'm...” Then he hesitated. Brenden couldn't exactly say that he was the ruler of the Almirn's criminal underworld. Not if he wanted to avoid some very awkward questions.
”You're what?” The knight demanded, voice harsh with suspicion.
[Guess I'll have to swallow my pride here, and hope for the best.]
”I'm a follower of the Dragonknight Erasmus, bearing an important message for him.” He stated with as much confidence as he could muster.
Unsurprisingly, the knight was not impressed. ”You expect me to believe that?”
”Hold.” One of the other horsemen broke in, this one significantly younger. ”I recall that, before revealing himself, the Dragonknight was said to have three companions, a beastman warrior was supposedly one of them. Are you claiming that you are him?”
The speaker was a young man, no older than twenty, who held himself with the regal bearing of a noble. However, his battered armor and constantly roving gaze showed that he was also a veteran fighter. Although most of his features were obscured underneath his helmet, his masculine jaw, peppered with a few days worth of stubble, remained visible.
Brenden immediately noted the deference the remaining knights paid this young man, which gave some indication of his identity. Despite the obvious age difference, he was clearly the one in charge, and therefore the one he'd have to convince.
”I am.” He answered, meeting the man's gaze and holding it.
He stared at Brenden for a few moments, as if weighing the whole thing in his mind, before finally nodding. ”I believe you.”
”Your Highness!” The older knight protested.
”Had he intended to do us harm, he would not have called out to us in the first place, but that is inconsequential at the moment. We do not have the luxury of conducting a full trial of his identity, so I would rather trust that this capable warrior would not attempt to deceive us.”
The prince, whose own identity was now evident, turned back to Brenden. ”I apologize for your treatment by my followers, but they were only acting with my safety in mind. Evidence suggests that there are a few traitors amongst the coalition forces, and we were specifically warned about individuals operating independently or in small groups. In any event, I assume you are heading towards the confrontation between your master and the abominable lich who threatens our lands.”
”Yes, actually. I was hoping you might be able to give me a lift.”
The prince chuckled at that. ”Then it seems we share a destination, for I have business there as well. Come, let us-”
His words were cut off as the world shook. There was simply no other way to describe it.
The ground, air, and even their bodies shuddered as a wave of unimaginable power swept over the battlefield. For a moment, the planet itself seemed to sing, a humming voice of exultation that filled those who listened to it with awe. Brenden felt compressed, as if the atmosphere itself was trying to crush him, and he would have collapsed onto the ground if he'd been able to.
As suddenly as they appeared, the vibrations ceased, leaving him and the others gasping for breath.
”What in the hells...” He heard one of the knights mutter, shortly before his horse collapsed underneath him, along with all the others. Thankfully, the riders were all fairly tough, so there were no apparent injuries.
The horses were clearly still alive, judging from the way their chests still rose and fell, but the phenomenon had evidently knocked them all unconscious.
”Looks like we're going on foot.” The prince muttered apologetically.
Brenden sighed mentally. He didn't know for sure, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Mike was to blame for this too.
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The barrier shattered under his hand, and he fell forward into a sudden wash of light and heat. Warmth seeped into his very essence and seemed to permeate his being. Many things which had confounded him up to this point began to make sense. He could practically feel his understanding of the world expanding.
Suddenly, he was floating in a white void that stretched as far as his eyes could see. Although it was to know for sure, he got the distinct impression that he was alone.
After trying to crane his neck to look around, he realized that couldn't move, which should have been concerning. For some reason though, it didn't really bother him.
[This old trick again. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed. Hopefully, they won't make me wait as long as they did when I was reincarnating.]
The thought of spending any amount of time immobilized in this eerie zone should have been deeply disturbing, but he just couldn't muster up the emotion to care. It was almost as if his emotions had been largely cut off.
Silence reigned in the void, and he couldn't even detect the sound of his own heartbeat. For an indeterminable length of time he simply floated, waiting for something to happen. As he did so, he realized he was starting to detect a faint noise. At first he thought it must have been his imagination, but it slowly grew louder.
It was a scratching noise, a bit like the sound made by someone writing with a particularly sharp pen. Mike focused on it, trying to determine where it was coming from, but it appeared to be rising from the void itself.