Sorry I'm away for so long. Been hooked on a chinese xianxia/wuxia light novel.
Chapter 18
(during the first skirmish of Zanac vs Barbro)
Necromancers is the magic of death, and the un-death. The very nature of it, means there must be some kind of death, where the physical body's life force converts itself into something else.
"It's working as we expected, Wololo-san." Ainz smiled, a distance a way of the battlefield where the two princes went to their battles. He looked at the long, spear-like item, with eight protruding rods placed on the ground. It looks a little like a lamppost, with a glass sphere on the top, but with more sinister intentions.
It started off initially empty, but as the first battle went on, within the glass sphere, there was a gradual dripping of a dark greenish substance, that seemed to be harvested via the rods. With more death and bloodshed, the dripping became a small constant flow.
Wololo was in his usual werewolf form, but his bottom half was like a tree, with its roots too embedded into the ground. "But only with you around to protect me, while I'm defenseless, dare I try something of this scale."
[Dungeon Master]
As a dungeonkeeper, Wololo possessed the ability to exchange his mobility and lose the ability to use Super Tier, and Tier 8 to 10 spells, to temporarily take control of his surroundings, and make it into a "dungeon", in the typical RPG sense. In Yggdrasil, that meant Wololo took a percentage of all gold, experience and even items that was earned in it, and had the ability to control the spawn of monsters and terrain effects in the area he controlled. Of course, he had to be protected too, since if enemy players killed him, all the gathered gold and experience becomes a reward to the killer.
In short, Wololo became the raid boss. It's a suitable roleplay, considering Heteromorphs were the type of race players played to indulge in the fantasies of being a raid boss.
In actual gameplay, being immobile is a huge sitting duck, and allows enemies in the dungeon to spam AoE or ranged spells without worry, so the skill rarely sees use it the times of Yggdrasil.
Still, it was one way to take control of ambient and natural energies, and channel them into the spherical glass container, using the elemental control of Wololo and Ainz's natural skills as the Master of Death to guide the dark energies, and ensure they flow correctly into the sphere, condensed into the magical essence of pure death.
"It's halfway now." Ainz still looked at the rod that now is half filled with the essence of death, harvested from the dying men in their violent battle of each other. It it the power of a lich, a necromancer,
Both Albedo and Aura was in full combat mode, Albedo in her heavy armor, and Aura in her best ranger gear, and around her a few of the summons, a large frost wolf, a few primal elementals. No defensive precaution was spared, as Cocytus and Demiurge was nearby surveying for potential threats to their Lords.
The rain too, using Mare's elemental powers as a druid, to create a thick illusionary fog around the supreme beings to mask their presence, and ensure that the battlefield remains well within the range of their supreme beings.
"How could I resist?" Ainz smiled. "To collect death energies on this scale."
Though Albedo earlier suggesting just releasing the guardians on the humans, and killing all of them swiftly, they decided against it as they both felt this was not the right time to reveal the extent of their power, or the presence of so many guardians to the human world.
But the issue of killing too many at one go if the guardians started the slaughter, was that the harvesting of dark energies had to be done gradually, like double-boiling chicken to get the essence of chicken. The rods that harvested them energies, was limited in capacity, and killing too many, too quickly, would cause the rods to overflow and not be absorbed into the container.
The glass sphere was now almost full, and by their count, the energies of 15,000 dead were gathered. It had a faint white and yellowish glow and at irregular timings, sparkles with a plethora of colors.
And the last drop fills the sphere, and the rod trembles violently.
"Wahhhh…" Ainz felt powerful just grabbing the rod, it's energies resonating to the Overlord's presence.
"That's good enough for today. Mare, please make it rain heavier, and flood some of the battlelines, so that the two forces split up?" Ainz commanded. "Don't want all of them to die before we finish a second round of collection."
"Yes sir!" And Mare started chanting, changing the weather as he went on. The dark skies become even darker, with strange thunderings even.
With the rain heavy, and the two armies as expected started to split, and those of the younger Prince retreated back to the city of E-Libera.
"Want to try out the energies?" Wololo smirked, cancelling the [Dungeon Master] skill. The bottom half of his body that was like a tree, started to shrink and pull out from the ground, and the roots transformed back into his legs.
"A Level 75 ghost dragon, is possible with this." Ainz looked, a little bit excited at the prospect of creating permanent undeads of that power level in the New World. The eight protruding rods that once pierced the ground now collapsed into a single rod, like how a closed umbrella. At the tip, the spherical container of dark energies.
Ainz's bony hands grabbed the sphere, and with a light squeeze and turn, the sphere came off the rod. Wololo then passed an empty sphere to replace it.
"But maybe not today. Keep this back in Nazarick." Ainz passed it over to Shalltear, figuring her undead levels to be the best suited place to store a battery of death energy. Shalltear nodded, and a large [Gate] opened over all of the guardians and the two supreme beings.
All that's left, are a few ghostly wraiths patrolling in the skies...
The siege on E-Libera was about to begin. Barbro's men marched through the rain that was gradually dying down, and though slow, they were making progress.
However, that also meant coming into the range of E-Libera's defensive weapons, and rocks, large bolts and arrows rained on the marching army. And with each bolt, a few men would be knocked out. But Barbro had more men, and he didn't care about the lives of the simple soldier.
So die they did.
The battlefield was Barbro's army ominously approaching, whilst the ballistas and archers tried their level best to keep them away.
But too many.
There was just too many of Barbro's men.
They tried, but the walls were soon the only thing that kept the two armies apart.
"Hmm, their siege weapons are not here yet. Does that mean our men are successful in their attack?"
"That's good, we can hold onto the walls abit more before descending a street battle." The defenders used long spears, hot oil and even rocks to attack the men that are now swarming outside the walls.
Some of the invaders brought makeshift stairs to climb the walls, but few succeeded initially, as the defenders were still able to kill them or knock them off. But the invaders threw javelins and spears, and every now and then they hit the a defender, and taking them out.
And gradually, an opening appeared for the invaders, and once they successfully scaled the walls, it became a slugfest.
With their larger numbers, the invaders gradually overpowered the defenders on the walls, and forced the battle into the city streets.
At this point, many of the city streets are deserted. Civilians have fled to the nearby hills, or some have decided to hide in their homes, hoping for the battle to pass. The defenders formed defensive lines along the streets, while the invaders manage to successfully force open the gates, allowing more of the invading army to push into the city.
"The numbers look pretty even now, Zanac… Reports say there are still some forces at the back, guarding the siege weapons that are gradually drawing closer."
Zanac wasn't pleased by the assessment. He had hoped the ballistas and the walls give his men an edge, allowing his men to push back before the remaining parts of Barbro's army arrives. But now the situation is a lot more perilous.
The streets close to the walls and the invading army, the area near the gates, all descend into a chaotic mess, as the defenders try to fight off the invaders.
"We… should leave E-Libera, Zanac." Lord Farquhar suggested. "It's better if we retreat now and regroup with Raeven's men, rather than lose here. With the fighting relatively even, "
Zanac smacked the table.
"No."
They were based in a fort in the middle of E-Libera, with a great vantage over the city around it. From it, they could see the army's movement, how Barbro's offensive line looked, and how it looked.
Beyond E-Libera's walls was a big patch of flatlands, farms and fields used for farming. Now its a field mostly covered in Barbro's army, like a swarm of ants. Behind the fields was a large patch of land covered with light vegetation and bushes, but now is drenched in blood and the bodies of the battles the days prior.
The rain was clearing, and sun started to shine through the cracks in the sky.
And in the distance…
"Oh no, the siege weapons are here." Lord Farquhar lamented.
And then rains of fire started.
Truly, Barbro didn't seem to care that his men were in the city as well, as the siege weapons rained fire on the city.
"Fire!"
The somewhat cloudy sky soon had streaks of burning projectiles flung towards E-Libera.
And they exploded on impact, in a burst,splitting the broken but still burning projectiles everywhere, and the some of the buildings started to catch fire.
The fire spread quickly, as more and more of those projectiles landed on the city, starting new fires, whilst reigniting those that were slowly dying off.
The city, that was chaotic, quickly became a fiery inferno of death.
"Zanac. We must go. I've signalled the men to retreat, and regroup elsewhere, rather than fight this battle."
"This… this is unacceptable."
"You can say that all you want, but Barbro won this battle. Live, and take your revenge another day, Zanac."
"Damn you, Barbro. Damn you." Zanac followed Lord Farquhar out the door.
The siege cannons started their barrage, and the fort that housed them started getting bombarded with the projectiles.
Dummm~ Dummm~ duummm~
The projectiles pounded the fort's stone walls, and each time the fort shook a little.
Prince Zanac, Lord Farquhar and a few guards rushed to escape the fort before the bombardment destroys it.
Dumm~
A projectile smashed through the fort's walls, causing the walls to explode and scatter the rocks in multiple directions, and some of the hit the Prince, causing him to fall, and then pinn his left hand in the rocks and collapsing rubble.
"ARGHHH!" Lord Farquhar and a few men tried to free his hand.
Dumm~
Another projectile smashed into the fort, and they could hear the loud explosions.
Dumm~
The fort shook a little, and the roofs seemed to have small rocks fall out of them. It wasn't going to last very long if the pounding continues.
Lord Farquhar looked at Prince Zanac apologetically. "Sorry my prince." He withdrew his sword, and slashed Prince Zanac's pinned arm, severed the arm from his body.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The prince collapsed, fainted from the sudden pain and loss of blood.
"Carry him."
The city was engulfed in flames. The defenders started retreating, when Lord Bolgar sounded the horn that marked a retreat.
When the horn blared from the top of those forts, the citizens fled, rushing through the rear gates of the city. The defending army too, tried to retreat. But with the fires surrounding them, and the barrage of the siege weapons relentless, it felt like they were trapped.
And so some captains amongst them decided to just stand and fight.
A gust of wind blows through the city, a regular feature of a city built near the fields and plains. But now with the rain gone, the wind fanned the flames of destruction, twisting the burning houses into pyres, a tornado of flame.
"Do we stop here, since it's already full?" Aura asked, and looking at how most of the defenders have fled, it seemed there wouldn't be much left to fill another flask, unless they somehow engage in another round of battle.
"It's enough." Ainz smiled at how well everything went. It seems it wasn't as difficult as he imagined, to guide these countries into some kind of conflict.
Wololo was in his tree-form, his roots gripped the rod that allows the death essence channeled by Ainz-sama to flow from the deaths in the area under the effect of the "artificial dungeon" into him, and then into the spherical glass container. Though rooted into the ground, he could still turn around to look at Ainz, Albedo and Aura.
"Let's go." Ainz then turned to Wololo, who wasn't reacting, "Are you coming, Wololo-san?"
"I'm planning to do some experiments, you can go on ahead."
Wololo smiled, and somehow it was one of the strangest smile the guardians have ever seen.
Ainz smirked, he had seen that smile before. "Have fun." And he warped away, back to Nazarick.
E-Libera was in flames, and bodies drenched the ground with blood. The invaders killed, and killed. Some looted whatever they could, and some grabbed and raped. Screams, yells and shouts could be heard in all directions.
"Stand and fight, you scums! Stop running and supporting that spare." The invaders screamed and commanded the fleeing forces, ironic considering they are probably equally scummy.
Then, suddenly the earth shook.
The tower in the center of E-Libera collapsed.
And from that tower, a shockwave spread throughout the city, causing each and every building along the way to collapse.
In less than a minute, the entire city was flattened, and everyone in it could not even stand up, as the shaking became increasingly violent.
"What's happening." Barbro looked from a distance, shocked.
The advisors were silent. They had no clue what was going on.
"Call back the army."
"They… can't move." Even from their position, some distance away from E-Libera, the shaking was increasingly violent.
The earth started to crack and buckle, and in an instant, huge vines and roots emerged from the ground, like a kraken emerging from the sea depths. Large, dark green and brown in color and covered in thorns, they appeared across the entirety of E-Libera,
And they stabbed every single living human in the space of E-Libera, and in an instant they became mindless puppets, their brains linked to the vines.
At the core of it, in the central tower, a tree sprung forth, growing rapidly, its branches sprouting and splitting every couple of seconds. Flowers and leaves appeared at every second, representing each and every person killed by the vines.
In less than half an hour, E Libera is no more, and is replaced by a massive tree that reached the heavens, it's vines spread across the entirety of the battlefield, and those unfortunate men and women caught in it were absorbed by the tree as nourishment.
They walked in a daze to the center of the city, their bodies linked to the roots on the floor.
At the center, once they were next to the tree, they disintegrated into some kind of essence and merged with the giant tree.
Barbro's army, was dead. So was most of the E-Liberians who failed to escape. Only those who stood at the sidelines, watching from afar, could see it.
The bombards, blasted the shreds by deflected projectiles. The fleeing men, unable to outrun the swift stab of the endless vines. As the tree grew, so did it's range, and Barbro watched as his entire invasion force collapsed before him.
In horror, Barbro's advisors fled, fearing the vines that seem to get ever closer with each passing moment.
"This…" Barbro could not describe what just appeared. One of Barbro's confidantes, pulled at Barbro's arm, and yelled.
"Your majesty! We must flee!"
Barbro couldn't answer, but somehow his instinct to run kicked in and he too ran for the horses, and fled as far as he could.
In an hour, the entirety of E-Libera and it's surroundings returned to an eerie silence, with only the occasional rustling of the vines and leaves.
"Worked better than expected." Wololo smiled.
The New World retains most of Yggdrasil's magic system, but at the same time there were certain things that were unique to the New World. Martial arts was one, and the writings on the Wild Magic too suggest that there is an alternate magic system as well. But another thing that Wololo's observations of the Theocracy, was that there was a way to amplify magic, by way of either having multiple people cast together in some of ritual, like how the priests were able to work together to summon higher level creatures than they were normally able to.
On top of that, the New World also opened up the ability to spend more MP than the required amount to "boost" the effect of any spell, a skill that was only available to certain types of mage classes back in Yggdrasil. Combined with a store of magic essence, that greatly amplified the effect of the 10th tier spell [Daemon Tree Prison].
Long Author explanation : Magic theory and the background of how I view the Supreme Beings
I view both Momonga and Wololo as different forms of a "Raid Boss" or a "Final boss".
Ainz is the supreme undead of incredible magical power, the sorcerer supreme of death. His status of the Leader of the 41 (42 in my fanfic) is evidence of his master-mind like ways, despite his personal lack of self esteem. He's like Sephiroth, or like the final boss. Incredibly(x 9000) powerful.
Wololo, is the crafter and dungeon master, who lurks in lairs with traps, and summons all sorts of creatures. Creates weapons, and all sorts of items that the minions then use to wreck havoc, but ideally, prefers minions to do his bidding. The player, in a strategy game of managing dungeon (with an epic tech tree). You don't summon the dungeonkeeper all the time, though he drops gifts to help your quests along the way.