Chapter 278 - C278. Notion
•White Nova•
Tyler watched his new skill completely annihilate every undead within its range in an instant flash of blinding light. The strength of the current skill's output was only about one-tenth of the displayed output he had gotten when he hastily used it against Moloc for the forts time.
As the idea had been spontaneous and he hadn't been 100% sure his barrier would restrain the blast while being unwilling to accept any collateral damage, he had held back the output of the white hole quite a bit, and thus, even back then he hadn't released the full power of this skill.
Any one of his white holes could completely erase a solar system so obviously, he wasn't dumb enough to unleash such a powerful skill in an enclosed space.
The spell's effect had only lasted an instant as it immediately ended, leaving everyone stunned at what had happened. Tyler naturally didn't care much about how they felt as the majority of them were undead and could not be intimidated.
He obviously didn't think the undead king would surrender just because he asked but he felt he needed to be the civilized one here and at the very least attempt to negotiate.
Using Demon's Might, he intimidated the members of the Lamia unit and then proceeded to address the so-called undead king before noticing the strange looks the supposed Lamia Queen was giving him and decided to at the very least, say hi.
However, perhaps that had been a bad idea as things had immediately taken a weird turn after that. The Eldar Lich that called himself the undead king had gotten off his throne and stepped forward.
He seems to have realized something from Tyler's brief interactions with Daenerys and it had driven him into a rage.
While Tyler was wondering what was wrong with him all of a sudden, the one he was just addressing as the so-called Queen of the south had suddenly moved to betray the Lich as an army of demi-humans suddenly came storming out of the forest and surrounded them while staying clear of the still overnight Drago.
Of course, Tyler was aware that this was the 10th Unit of the undead army which comprises of only demi-humans. Creatures like Goblins, Orcs, Lizardmen, and even forest nymphs— were among their forces.
There were races Tyler wasn't even aware of amongst them which just showed how rich the darknar forest was to cater to the needs of so many races. And this was all solely based on the western parts.
Tyler hadn't assigned any team to take care of this unit because Z had made a solid point that they could be easily subdued with his Demon's Might and Demonic Eyes of Domination.
They also needed workers to farm and mine the resources of the darknar forest as well as the Darkin mountain range. This is why they were supposed to have left them alone until the undead king was defeated. Making intimidating them a lot easier.
So why the hell were they here right now? Firing spells and arrows at the supposed king of the dead and his horde of mages.
Tyler was puzzled but his questions were soon answered by the one person that literally had all the answers.
{Answer: The individual designated as Z had been given the directive to infiltrate the undead king's unit and make an irrefutable offer to the Queen of the south. Everything is proceeding as planned, Master only needs to quickly take care of the Eldar Lich.}
'Then what is what now?'
Tyler was completely at a loss for words as he failed to understand what Uriel had said for a hot second before a wave of confusion suddenly washed over him as he fumbled through his thoughts.
'Umm Uriel, what the hell are you talking about. Whose plans? I don't remember any of this?'
There was no response from her for a good while and Tyler was almost getting annoyed when Uriel's voice suddenly echoed in his head sounding even more annoyed than he was.
{Master must've forgotten the details of the plan relayed to you after analyzing all possible outcomes of the initial plan laid out by Z.}
Suddenly having a vague idea of what she was talking about given that his mind had been so packed with improving his Magic resentful, Tyler lazily agreed with her as he tried to play it off as a minor slip up.
'Oh right, you did mention something about betrayal. My bad'
Tyler could practically picture Uriel rolling her eyes at him but that must've been his imagination as she wasn't the type to get an attitude over something so insignificant.
With her help, he was able to completely recall the complete details of the aforementioned plan and now understood what had just transpired amongst his enemies.
He also made a mental note to learn a memory skill to improve his obviously bad memory even if something like that won't make him a genius by any stretch of the imagination.
••••••••••••
—Back to the battle.
Daenerys had received specific instructions about this battle and she now understood what her role was and it was not to defeat the annoying Zerahut. If she could even drive him into a corner then that would be great.
However, that was not necessary.
Having lost his army, his guards and now being betrayed by his ally, so many things going wrong at the same time were bound to drive anyone to the edge.
As though she had received a self fulfilling prophecy, everything had played out exactly as he had for told and Zerahut was already at the edge.
However, Zerahut did not make any sudden movements as even the pit of rage, as an undead, he still retained his calm and was self-aware of his own limits.
Thousands of spells and enchanted arrows rained down upon him but were deflected by the barrier his mages had constructed which had become stronger after the range of its effect had been narrowed.
Still, there were a few attacks that made cracks in the barrier, and a single crack was all she needed.
"Zero, go!"
At her command, the large Minotaur known as Zero commanded a small force of Minotaurs as their bodies were engulfed in dense aura and they charged at Zerahut with immense speed and strength.
Sensing the pressure their combined aura emitted, the undead mages concentrated their efforts in the direction the Minotaurs were charging from abs focused on strengthening the barrier there.
However, their charge had only been a distraction as Daenerys moved in from the opposing side of the barrier while wielding an emerald trident that she had pulled out of nothing.
•Emrald Serpentine Syphoning Vortex•
Being a unique skill, Daenerys had absolute mastery over the effect of the skill, and in a pinpoint strike at a cracked portion of the barrier, her attack quickly siphoned enough energy from the barrier itself to form a wind vortex that shattered the barrier as her attack continued onward to Zerahut.
However, before the attack could even reach Zerahut, a massive black arm made entirely of solidified shadows rose from the ground and absorbed the attack without a trace.
[Unforgivable!]
Still enraged, Zerahut let go of his Magic staff and raised the orb on his left hand up, the orb seems to pulsate as the red gem embedded into the tip of his staff turned to a smoke-like substance and was absorbed by the orb of death.
Following that, an oppressive aura erupted from around Zerahut as it dominated the space. This was a pressure that even the undead could not resist as everyone paused in their tracks and instinctively took a step back. Causing a sudden chill in the cold air.
Startled by the sudden pressure, Drago roared loudly as dense black flames gathered rapidly in his open maw, and in the next second, the entire area surrounding the supposed undead king was engulfed in flames of destruction. Burning everything within it.
Seeing this, Daenerys had immediately ordered her forces to retreat to the forest she had never expected to harm Zerahut and only to destroy his protecting barrier.
It wasn't as though she thought the man known as Ty couldn't do it, she had only wanted to make herself useful in order not to be cast out at a later date. Everything she did was based on her survival and the survival of her followers.
The black flames spread rapidly as it seems Drago had been driven into a slight frenzy by that ominous aura. However—
"That's quite enough."
At Tyler's command, the frenzied dark drake was returned to normal in an instant and retrained his flames of destruction. As it was the only one with the least intellect amongst Tyler's present force, it had been the only one affected by the still looming aura.
The flames that burned around the undead king soon began to die out as everything within it had been reduced to ash. Well, all except for one.
Zerahut stood unaffected by the flames as the dense shadows wrapped around him while it seemed to be getting larger.
[Did you really think you could win by destroying all of my minions. Ridiculous! I am Zerahut, the undead king, even against such odds, I shall prevail. Now face the power of the King of Shadows!]
The flames In Zerahut's eyes burnt brighter as he made his declaration. His eerily ghastly voice made his words even more ominous as another massive arm made entirely out of solidified shadows shot out of the ground and literally tried to swath Drago out of the sky like a bug.
"Now this is interesting. Seems Uriel was right after all but where the hell are you getting so much power from?"
*Boom!
The massive palm of solidified shadow was completely stopped in its tracks by an invisible barrier around the dark drake and the ones that stood atop it.
Uriel had predicted that the undead king held a Magic item that allowed him to control so many undead beings even without being at the same rank as Emrys.
That in itself was not exactly a problem for them but judging by the way the army was moving proudly through the darknar forest even with the possibility of the scouts of the Great Five still being around, it meant there was more to this artifact than its control over the undead.
Tyler narrowed his eyes as the figure of the Eldar Lich as he lowered that strange orb closer to his core and forced it in. It seems that orb had a vast array of abilities that were actually the most troublesome thing around.
He would have to completely destroy it if he wanted everything to end smoothly.
"A pain in the ass, this guy has become."