C40. Turning Tides

In the Darknar forest, some distance away from the rocky plains close to the outskirts of the Forest. A slim figure moved atop the trees with swift and fluid motions before coming to a stop. It then stood atop a large tree branch as it watched the group of ogres, beastmen, Kobolds and trolls under the command of a few demons get on eleven large carriages that headed North in the direction of the demon king's castle.

The figure wore a simple black robe made of silk with black pants and golden colored boots, he had long silver hair that went down to his back and Scarlet eyes. His extremely handsome features was only complemented by his pale white skin tone.

He had a wide smile on his face as he muttered to himself in clear delight. "Interesting... I'm glad my whim to let those girls be has turned out to be even more interesting... Kukuku, I can't believe i didn't notice it in time to see the fight, but that aura, I wonder... which one of them did it belong to..."

His eyes crossed the distance of several miles and alternated between the grey haired aged demon and simple looking young man. He settled on the aged old man and chuckled. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter... I've finally found something truly worth my time."

"Lord Ferlis!"

"Awk!!!"

Ferlis almost jump out of his skin when a person suddenly appeared next to him and called his name in a scary tone.

"Oh, Silver, ha...ha, what are you doing all the way out here."

"Surely you jest, lord Ferlis, we came here to retrieve you."

The one who spoke was a female clad in black skin tight armor, she had silver hair that only went down to her neck and a pair of red pupils that hid a certain level of anger within them. Her skin was as pale as Ferlis and she entrancing figure to go with her pretty face.

"Hehe... how did you find me so soon."

"You've been missing for over a year already."

"Yeah? wow, time sure moves fast doesn't it..."

The female known as Silver glared at her seemingly lackadaisical lord Ferlis and spoke. "Your presence is urgently required back home."

"Really! I can't leave now... I just found something a lot more interesting."

"If you're talking about those demi-humans I can send someone to monitor them for you."

Ferlis was speechless at her quick response, he then sighed inwardly as a faint smile bloomed on his face.

"Don't bother, wouldn't want anyone to temper with my toys or scare them off, besides you would just be wasting the lives of you men if you do that. Ferlis then turned and disappeared into the woods. The silver haired girl turned her gaze to look at the distant carriage that sped off towards the red river and thought. 'Interesting toys huh? why not just catch them now?'

She then proceeded to follow in the direction that Ferlis had sped off to.

••••••••••

In the Darknar forest western region, underneath a steep hill surrounded by dense vegetation was a cave whose entrance had been expanded by unnatural means and was guarded by two hulking creatures geared in bone armors mixed with a type of metal, they exuded a dense smoke like aura that repelled any living being from approaching them.

Inside the cave laid a massive underground mine that had been expanded to form a large labyrinth that lead to several secret locations in the western parts of the forest. There were several Gray-War trolls working the Grade 1 Runite mine in this place but deep inside of the tunnels, was a well constructed passage way that lead to a large black double door.

Two Gray-War trolls were walking down this unlit hallway like it was illuminated by something. They were formally cave trolls so they could see quite well in the dark, although they still prefer using touches. The trolls walked proudly to the double doors that was one or two feet taller than them.

They lost their previous pride and nervously opened the doors. The room ahead came before their eyes. Unlike the hallway leading here this place was illuminated by touches that burnt with blue flames. The room was oval in shape and was almost masterfully crafted with various runes or glyphs on the walls.

There was a large stone throne at the end of the room that didn't share the same craftsmanship as the rest of the room but stood elevated behind a few flights of stairs. Standing by the side of the stone throne was two Doom Knights clad in blood red armor and wielding a massive red shield and a long sword. Their deathly gaze sent shivers down the trolls spines.

An undead creature sat atop the stone throne, it wore a slightly tattered luxurious robe with purple threads that designed it's edges, holding a wooden staff with small red crystals embedded in it and a large one attached to it's end. It wore a bone crown with the same red crystals adorning the tips of the spiked parts of the bone crown.

It had rotten skin attached to the white bones beneath it's robe. It's face was a mixture of the rotten flesh and a skull, however, beneath its rotting exterior lies a pair of evil eyes brimming with intelligence. The lights in it's eyes flickered like dancing flames before settling on the two trolls that had just entered the room.

Immediately the trolls dropped to their knees and one of them spoke with trembling voice.

"Y-you requested us, my Lord."

"Yes.... He died"

The trolls stared at each other in confusion as they were wondering who this lich was talking about.

"Um... My Lord, wh—"

"Kadiz "

The room fell silent for a full minute, it was know that amongst all the Gray-War trolls residing in this underground labyrinth, Kadiz Ral Le Lizor was the strongest. An ordinary Tier 3 warrior that could go toe to toe with even a Tier 5 monster thanks to his magic weapon the Dark-Syphon.

Kadiz might not realize it but the reason why he was given an essence stone to swallow in other to get the runes and glyphs that appear on his body was because, trolls generally couldn't effectively wield a magic weapon thanks to their inability to actively access the energy stored in their cores.

The essence stone he had swallow to gain power was the core of the magic weapon he wielded. Zerahut had accidentally extracted the essence of a magic weapon during one of his experimentations, and although it was easy to return the essence back to the weapon, he opted on giving the stone to Kadiz to see of he would survive the process.

He was impressed by Kadiz tenacity and had later given him the empty shell of a weapon as a reward to further deepen his loyalty towards him.

Thanks to the essence stone in his body Kadiz could use the abilities of the magic weapon without needing the weapon itself. Zerahut was able to sense the essence stone directly so he could always tell if Kadiz was alive or not and a few hours ago, he no longer sensed it. The essence stone must've returned back to the weapon which would only happen when Kadiz dies.

Zerahut spoke with a ghastly voice. "You both are the next in line to succeed him. Find out what happened to Kadiz and whoever returns back his weapon will receive the same strength I gave him."

The two trolls eyes shone brilliantly when they heard that, so far only the troll chief and whomever he chooses could leave the labyrinth and as war trolls, not being able to fight was their greatest punishment, the power the undead spoke of was only secondary.

"We'll leave at once."

Zerahut nodded and the two quickly got up and exited the room before Zerahut's ghastly voice made them halt for a moment.

"...Oh and, do not get involved with a demon, if the weapon is in the possession of any demon leave it and report back to me."

The trolls nodded and left the room closing the door behind them. Zerahut then moved his hand and retrieved a dark purple orb from within his robe, the orb was uneven and coarse to the touch, it had a faint glow that emitted negative energy.

'I didn't think I could gather enough negative energy to fill this orb in this lifetime and yet, here it is, fully charged.' Zerahut rubbed the orb with his right hand and if he had lips he would have been smiling but unfortunately he did not. It was only two day ago that this orb had barely any negative energy yet and explosion of negative energy that originated from the east had instantly filled it.

He was elated by his good fortune and was also frightened by whatever could produce this much negative energy in one go. His original plan was put on hold untill he could investigate the situation out east and now he was receiving this information about the death of Kadiz who had gone to the east on his own accord.

Zerahut returned the orb back to his robe and snapped his bony fingers before speaking. "Shadow assassin."

An undead creature clad in black and tattered ninja outfit appeared out of thin air and knelt before him.

"Head to the south and give Daenererys a message from me... Mmm, yes, tell her I seek audience for talks of an alliance."

The shadow assassin nodded and disappeared the same way it came. Zerahut then stood up from his throne and walked down the short flight of stairs towards the end of the room close to the large double doors. He placed a finger on one of the runes on the wall and a stone plaque was elevated till it was around four feet high.

The plaque had a slot around the same shape and size of the orb Zerahut had on him. He brought out the orb and placed it on the depression. A clicking sound was heard and the same purple glow the orb emitted sipped into the plaque. Soon all the runes in room glowed a similar colour and Zerahut immediately removed the orb.

"That should be enough, I can't rush this at this point in time, best to gain control gradually to avoid any oversight."

He placed the orb back inside his robe and exited the room alongside his two Doom Knights. Not long after they arrived at another room ten times larger than the previous one. Entering the room a foul stench assaulted his nose but because he was undead, Zerahut didn't mind the stench.

Rows upon rows of rotten corpses, ranging from monsters to demi-human and even several hundred trolls were laid down in the room. Zerahut held the Orb of Death in his hand and as the glow intensified he cast a spell on a section of the corpses.

"Mass Magic - Create Undead."

Normally the create undead spell could only create one undead at a time and even with the use of the mass magic meta magic it could only create at most three undead at a time and drained a large amount of mana. However right now Zerahut had cast this spell on over 200 demi-human corpses.

These were among the weakest race that resides in the Darknar forest. Goblins, the goblin corpse moved slightly before being wrapped in a blanket of negative aura. Soon zombified goblins rose up from the dead and knelt before their master.

"Fufufu... Impressive, not only can I raise so many at a time now but they didn't even lose their tier... fufufu... This should be enough for now, i shouldn't raise my strength too fast and attracted any attention." While there was a lot of restrictions to the create undead spell, the orb of death had negated them all.

Zerahut then instructed the undead goblins to follow him as he walked out of the room fill of corpses.