24 Chapter 24 (1/2)
Three made his rounds among the corpse piles, finding another somewhat intact skeleton and two zombies, who were surprisingly whole, so he conscripted them. He decided to hold off on naming them, he suspected that conscripts would not be as strong and at the level they were at would not survive for extended periods of time.
Vila had taken to following him around, naming his pets regardless of what he told her. The other skeleton was named Bony Bones, the two zombies were named Shuffles and Armless. Armless had both arms, Shuffles did not. He looked at Vila and rolled his eyes. Her naming sense was terrible, he would make sure that his next companion was named with her far, far, far, very far, very very far away.
Nearly all the fighters that had fought during the night were heading to their houses to rest. The few that had no need for sleep like him helped with the clean-up, he let Sir Kelly Ton finish off any remaining undead that were alive. Pushing the skeleton to level seven. He noticed that instead of its stats increasing its skill levels increased in level. It had gone up a mere two levels but its skill Tough bones had doubled in level.
It made him wonder if monsters gained their strength between levels through gains in skill levels, while their stats only increased upon evolution, he was curious about what this meant about the main difference between man and monster. It made him wonder about the core inside his own body, over the course of time he had begun to think about it being a core from a monster of sorts that the hags had somehow integrated into his physique.
Yet his skill levels did not increase with his increase of level, he had the stats per level same as any other race did. Although he had noticed that his increase of strength per stat point was larger than those of others, he also didn't seem to be as reliant on stat-points for skill-level increase. He had done some asking around and some skills would level faster for people focusing on a certain stat, his stomp skill, for instance, would level with strength. Yet although he had appointed a great amount to strength the skill did not increase in leveling potential as far as he had observed.
Skills that were reliant on other stats did not slow down either, his challenging cry skill had leveled despite him putting no points in charisma, the stat the skill was tied to. He wondered if this was the effect of his core. If it was the effect of his core it could mean many things, first of all he could focus his stats on his physical stats without it being detrimental to his skill gain. He could have possibly become a physically strong mage, he remembered trying to learn some of the spells from Sumi, end result was him burning off his eyebrows. Magic went out of control when it was near him, making him a no-go for a mage.
Then there was the energy he could send into his muscles, increasing their size, toughness and efficiency. He had not heard of anyone doing anything similar and he had taken the time to ask around. He suspected it to be tied to his strength stat, so he poured his points into strength. It did not increase the power of the energy to any noticeable degree. He no longer needed the points in vitality and endurance yet it was a waste to not use his battered body perk to its optimal potential. It would increase the effects of his vitality by double, so he felt obligated to put a decent amount of points in the stat.
His defenses had become strong enough that it was a waste to invest points into anything defense related besides the few points in vitality he focused on strength, he thought about using agility but all the battles he had been in, he choose to face his opponent, taking their blows head-on and throwing his own in turn. He sighed, the stats and their implications had bothered him for several days, he would have to ask Jer and the others to investigate by themselves so they could decide on a proper use of stats.
He looked down at the corpse he was carrying over to the burnsite, around him he saw many of the women and children help drag the corpses around. They had won the battle, when the scouts had returned an hour ago they reported they had still not found the origin of the undead, meaning they could not yet put an end to the seemingly endless and evergrowing waves.
He personally did not mind withstanding some more of the undead attacks, it was a great way for him to gain some levels. It would also increase the strength of his newly gained companion and pets rapidly, providing they managed to survive the night. He was not worried about Sir Kelly Ton surviving the night, he had the feeling that his lesser regeneration made the skeleton the next best thing to invincible since the monster had no core, brain or heart. No vital spot that could be severed meant it could regenerate from any amount of damage given enough time.
It severely lacked in offensive strength however, something he hoped would increase with future evolutions, he thought he would be able to reach level twenty tonight, meaning he could get his second companion and another group of conscripts. He was also pondering his rank-up skill choice at level twenty five and what his class increase would be at the same level. He was curious and couldn't help thinking about it despite knowing that it would only jumble his thoughts.
He worked at cleaning the battlefield with all these thoughts floating his mind. Crimson was playing with Vila, who never got enough of the large Jurgor. The rest of his conscripts were helping him with moving the body, although they weren't at all effective. The day passed as he worked. Together with the noncombatants he cleared the battle-field, restored any of the broken defenses while reinforcing what they could for the upcoming battle. Time swiftly passes as he helped around the village, soon the sun was setting again and the warriors came outside. They checked weapons and armour, helping others ready their equipment. Archers, slingers and crossbowmen gathered the ammunition they could from the fletchers and blacksmiths that had prepared them. Slingers making do with any round enough pebbles the children had found.
The fighters took their places in the trenches, preparing for the battle ahead. Three stood infront of them, waiting for the fog to appear, his conscripts and companions next to him. He was ready for battle, wanted it, hungered for it. He grinned, tonight he would get to let loose some more.
The fog started creeping through the trees once more, the eerie shuffle of undead feet heard. Branches broke underneath their feet, the crackle of rotten bodies stomping on leaves making the lines of fighters nervous. Three stood at the front of them all, his heart speeding up from his excitement. Crimson smelling the undead, growled at the forest. She shifted her massive shoulders, the fur rippling as her muscles tensed. The undead to his left, those under his control stood stoicly, waiting for commands. Soon enough the shapes started becoming visible through the fog, rotten grey zombies shuffling forward, their broken cracked flesh oozing, covered in dried blood.
Some of the undead had changed, some of the zombies were larger, standing at seven feet. Taller than even Three, some zombies movements were more supple, smooth. Not the jerking movements of their brethren. Some skeletons he was sure had thicker bones, in a slightly darker shade. Some of them had spiked skeletal growths, jutting from elbows, knees, shoulders. He read the tags, level ten undead, those that had undergone their first evolution. Fast zombies, Large zombies, Tough skeletons and Strong skeletons. He grinned, perhaps tonight something might actually be able to damage him.
He was tired of waiting, the undead could shuffle at their slow pace but he would not wait, with a roar he charged their shambeling ranks, Crimson following him, charging right beside him, to his suprirse even though they had not been commanded to do so the undead were doing their best to make a charge of their own. He smiled, thinking his own battle tendencies were seeping into those he bonded with. The smile grew when he smashed into the enemy line, his fists crushed the skeleton that reached for him, its fragile skull exploding into thousands of fragments.
He tore an arm of a zombie attempting to harm him, using the improvised weapon to smash nearby skeletons. Crimson tore through the ranks like they were parchment, ripping her opponents to pieces with a imple swipe. To his left he saw his undead smack into the line, he saw Sir Kelly Ton duking it out with a zombie, its regeneration making up for the difference as the skeleton started pounding it's opponent to the ground. Shuffles and Armless were tearing apart a skeleton together, both pulling on an arm till they snapped the skeleton, its bones collapsing to the floor.
Three stomped, smashed, punched and threw anything that came within range. Behind him the villagers were fighting the undead, in the same manner as they had before, the undead no longer circled Three, they swarmed forward, only those in his vicinity attacked him, if they were further than ten meters out they ignored him and his bondlings and charged the villagers. Not that he noticed, he was too lost in the flow of battle to consider such perculiarities, he simply smashed his foes to bits, the new and improved undead not managing to even scratch his skin.
He continued fighting, the roar of battle dieng down as the undead fell, less and less of them remained untill Three stomped on the skull of the last remaining zombie, its brains splattering between his toes. The feeling, while unpleasent, went unnoticed. He was still pumped for battle even though there were no more enemies to fight. He looked around, Sir Kelly was regenerating an arm he had lost, to his suprise Shuffles had also managed to survive the fight the other two conscripts were nowhere to be seen, he walked back towards the villagers, one of them handing him a flask of water.
”Everytime I see you fight I'm amazed.” The villager stated as he looked at Three.
Three turned his head, cocking it slightly. ”Howso?”
”Well beyond the fact that you smash apart hundreds of undead as if it is the easiest thing in the world and the fact that the creatures can't even harm you, what suprises me the most is that it does not tire you in the least. You have no sheen of sweat on your skin, you do not breathe heavily. There is nothing to show for your exerction, it is quite impressive.”
Three blinked at the compliment. ”Thank you.”
The older man smiled, ”You are welcome, I am just happy you came here when you did youngster. You have probably saved a good many of my fellow villagers lives by now.”