Chapter 142: Into The Dungeons

We continued onward as we remained on the first floor.

Akari hadn't really done much since I began using undead to keep the enemies at bay.

I even began summoning my own in the short breaks we took...

Because Akari demanded we stop occasionally for her own sanity.

The magic in Delvandal's atmosphere was dense and as a result, I had more mp than usual. This world was truly a breath of fresh air from Ignitus' suffocating and desolate enviornment.

Also, some of the undead I summoned were apparently very powerful variants.

I summoned high level death knights, ravenous flesh golems, and frost shades.

I even found a spell to summon a skeletal dragon. There wasn't enough room for it to fit here, however. And lastly, a spell to summon a lich under my control.

Unfortunately, nearby undead found it difficult to decide who to listen to when the lich was present. I had to dispose of it as a result.

It was a shame... That lich was really strong...

Regardless, I summoned about thirty skeletal sorcerers to compensate.

My army was really becoming something truly menacing.

At one point, I began conjuring flesh golems wielding Gatling guns on their arms. They fired fragments of bone as ammunition and restocked by devouring the corpses of dead enemies.

The possibilities were endless with enough imagination and scientific knowledge!

I truly began to appreciate the things necromancy could do.

Akari, however, was absolutely terrified of the things I summoned.

"I can't help but feel like I'm in danger..." She said.

"You aren't in danger unless you betray us. Keep that in mind," I said.

"Right..."

Eventually, we came to a large, wide-open room that the compass led us into.

With my night vision, I could see a creature sleeping in the back of it.

From what I could tell, it was a zombie dragon.

As we approached, it slowly sat up and looked at us.

"Gwooooooooh..."

It let out a low growl as I stepped forward.

I raised my hand to it and tried to grasp the magic holding it.

It was dense. Many threads were woven into this monster and it would take time to deconstruct it, but it could be done.

"Who dares...disturb..." It said.

"Oh. It talks," I said.

"YAAAHHHHH!!!" Akari screamed as she stepped back.

"Flesh... I smell...the living..."

"That would be us. Who do you serve?"

"Food... I will eat... You will perish..."

"I thought so."

I waved my hand to order all of my ranged undead to attack.

At once, all of my flesh golems and skeletal sorcerers began shooting and throwing spells at the dragon.

The frost shades began throwing icy shards and creating blizzards to attack from the flanks as well.

"GROOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR"

I jumped back as it roared and stomped the ground where I had been standing.

Then I manifested several flaming lances above it and rained them down on the dragon.

The bone bullets and fireballs from the golems and skeletons slammed into it and the dragon pulled back.

I changed Vengeance into its regular form...with a twist.

The blades were segmented and could disconnect while being held together by chains.

I shot towards the dragon and jumped into the air.

"Assassinate," I said.

I teleported behind the dragon's head and swung my swords.

They extended and severed the dragon's head.

I landed on its back before jumping off.

The head of the dragon turned its eyes and looked at me.

"Superior... I am...beaten..."

I raised my hand and my undead ceased their assault.

"Before landing a single attack as well, it seems. Who do you serve?" I asked.

"This one serves...Lord Nevarius...the god of death..."

"A god? Is he really a god?" I asked.

I was starting to get nervous... If there really was a god down here, we were screwed.

And I wasn't sure if that Kronos guy would save us again, either...

"He is our god... But no... He is not divine..."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the dragon's body kneeled down and touched its neck to the severed head.

It reconnected and stood back up.

"Will you serve me?" I asked the zombie dragon.

"No... Because I am...unable... I am connected...to my Master..."

I held my hand up and tried grasping the magical threads again.

Suddenly the dragon locked its gaze solely on me.

"MASTER ORDERS YOUR DEATH!!! PERISH!!! GRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!"

The dragon lunged at me and I narrowly avoided being eaten.

At once, all of my undead began attacking again.

"Fine. If that's how it is..."

I manifested numerous flaming spears to pierce the dragon all over it's body.

As soon as he was pinned down, I detonated them.

The dragon was blown to pieces, but its body parts began slowly pulling themselves back together.

"M-mizik? Maybe we should run!? I don't know how to kill something like this!!!" Akari said fearfully.

"Quiet...I'm concentrating," I said.

I kept trying to grasp the threads connecting this thing to its master.

Eventually, I grabbed one...then two...and so on.

Just before the dragon had completely regenerated, I fully grasped the magic holding the dragon and tore it out of Nevarius' control.

At once, the dragon looked at me.

The remaining portion of its face smiled.

Please...don't do that. It reminds me of the shadow dragon...

Then it stopped smiling.

"I shall obey."

"Good. Where is the entrance to the dungeon?" I asked.

The dragon backed away and placed its massive claw on an unassuming area of the carpet in this room.

I walked over and tapped it with my foot. From what I could tell, it was cloaked in some kind of solid illusion. It was similar to the fog, but significantly weaker. It wouldn't take me nearly as long to deal with it.

I just sighed and got to work dispelling it.

* * *

About an hour later, I had dispelled the illusion, but the door underneath wouldn't open for me.

The fake Leiso had mentioned not being able to go down there without being undead, but I had no intention of taking my life.

I sent a skeletal sorcerer over and it opened the hatch easily.

When I tried to go down, I was blocked by a barrier. Once again, I sent my skeletal sorcerer in to see what was happening.

Through a spell I had made to look through its eyes, I saw a strange object that looked to be casting the ward at the bottom of the stairs.

It was a sort of staff surrounded by grasping skeletal hands with a glowing circle underneath. On top of the staff, there was a glowing crystal that the magic came from.

I ordered my skeleton to take the crystal and it did. Right after that, the barrier went down and we began descending the stairs.

It took a few minutes for me to get everything down here, but once my undead army made it, we continued.

The dragon had to stay behind, unfortunately. It was far too big.

We only walked for a few minutes until more monsters began attacking.

At one point, they started being overrun by...giant undead centipedes...

After we killed them, they came back to life again and tried to kill us once more.

I simply took control of them and we began moving again.

I would make sure not to let Isabella see these creatures, of course.

She didn't like bugs, so it would be a small kindness that I could offer.

* * *

After walking for a couple more hours, I had begun to notice a tremendous amount of power radiating from far below our current location. Once I noticed, Akari started speaking again.

"Hey Mizik... I want to mention something here," she said.

"Go for it," I said.

"This guy...the dragon said his name was Nevarius, right?"

"I believe so. Why do you ask?"

"Umm...I didn't remember until now... But I've heard of him. Nevarius is an otherworlder. No one knows where he came from, but over two hundred years ago, he appeared suddenly and started a war using a legion of undead. He was beaten back by the Mad Admiral, but he wasn't killed. He disappeared."

"So he fought the Mad Admiral? This will be a good test then."

"Th-that isn't supposed to excite you! The Mad Admiral is one of the strongest beings to ever live in this world!"

"Good. I want to see what he's capable of," I said.

"Aren't you even a little worried?" Akari asked.

"No. I don't have time to be worried. Nevarius has my wife and I want her back."

"Wow...you're actually a lot more caring than I thought you were."

"I'm not heartless, I'm cursed. I have trouble being kind and sincere with others, but I mean well."

Akari nodded in understanding and we kept walking in silence.

The tunnels underneath the mansion were a literal maze and without the compass showing us the way, we wouldn't be able to find anything down here.

Eventually, I began to notice lots of carnage. Undead that were either turned to ash, evicerated, melted, frozen, or blown apart.

I think we're on the right track...

* * *

The next time Isabella awoke, she was wearing a beautiful white dress and sitting on a throne.

"Nnn...what's...going on here...?" She said.

"Isabella, what are we wearing...?" Cassandra said.

She tried to move, but found her arms and legs were pinned with magical restraints.

"Oh...good. You're awake," a nearby voice said.

Isabella looked up and saw someone.

It was a skeleton with dark gray bones. He wore an intricate armored robe colored with gray, dark blue, and black. Several pouches were connected to his waist and he held a strange lantern in one of his bony hands.

His right eye glowed with a pale cyan light, and the left was like a blazing fire of the same color.

He also had a hood up over his head.

"Greetings. I am Aldaril Nevarius. The forbidden Avatar of Death. My origins are somewhat lengthy, but I'll spare you the details... Especially since they will soon be irrelevant to you. I am the former ruler of the Death Realm back where I come from."

"Umm...my name is Isabella Iratus. First Princess of Albatross in Avernia... Enforcer seat...4 of Ignitus."

"And I am Cassandra Iratus. Second Princess of Albatross in Avernia, and formerly General Kyriel of The Dark Army," Cassandra said.

"Yes, Cassandra... Your memories of the time spent with that...horrifying monster of a man scared me quite a bit. But I am already planning on dealing with him if he ever arrives here," Aldaril said.

"But...Mizik is the one who's supposed to kill him. It isn't possible for anyone else. Especially not a filthy undead pervert like you," Cassandra said.

"Hm. Don't worry, I'll find a way. You, however, are not part of the plan. Neither of you are. So I must dispose of your souls to make room for my beloved Hikari. The Avatar of Order."

He held out his hand, and a dark blue orb appeared in it.

"Hikari...I've brought you to a wonderful vessel. She is stunningly beautiful. Almost as much as you were. Her body is strong and durable as well. I hope you will find it pleasing," Aldaril said.

The orb shook.

Then...

"Aldaril...why do you do this to yourself? You can't just hurt innocents on my behalf! How many times have I told you?" The orb said.

"Hikari...please... I only want to hold you in my arms again..." Aldaril said.

"And I wish to be there. But my time is passed. You must give the Eye of Order back to the high priest. I need to pass on. A new Avatar must be selected."

Aldaril put the orb into his lantern and shook his head.

"Stubborn woman... Why won't she listen...? The High Priest is an enemy... There's no way I could ever go back there..." Aldaril mumbled sadly.

"Umm...is everything okay?" Isabella asked.

"Sister, isn't he the enemy? We should kill him!"

"He IS the enemy. But it might be better to wait for Mizik..."

"If we kill him before Mizik arrives, he'll be so happy that he might reward is both! Wouldn't that be amazing!?"

"I would rather try to resolve this peacefully. If I can help him, then maybe he will let us go. He might even stop trying to hurt Mizik."

"Ugh...fine... But I still think he deserves death. No one hurts Mizik and gets away with it!"

"You are impossible...!"

Aldaril simply looked at Isabella with his expressionless face.

"I...uh...no. Everything is not okay..." He said.

"If you want to talk about it, I'll listen," Isabella said.

Aldaril sighed.

At least, he made the noise of a sigh. Since he was a skeleton, he did not require oxygen...

Regardless, Aldaril began to explain his tale to Isabella.

He gave them a quick explanation of how he had ended up the way he was.