Chapter 24 - The Plan I - The Dead Lord Phariseer and Adjudicator!
Dead Plains - The Maw
Chris, Alito, and Death reached a huge Big Ben-like tower with huge skeleton-like doors. With the Interdiction, the door slide itself open.
The trio entered the room. A big chandelier hung by the, with two long chains by the chandelier's side. Two ragged pieces of brown clothes hung across the ceilings from side to side and the wall was made of reddish-brown rocks.
Right in front of them laid a lift held by four chains and a small, yet tall crystal.
Project Tundra Scans: Scans found that the crystal is capable of moving the lift when hit.
Death, Chris, and Alito got on the lift. The Pale Rider hit the crystal and the lift descended.
"So...this is the Phariseer Tomb...wait, where's Death? I swore he's here seconds ago." Chris looked at her side and saw the pale Rider missing.
Alito looked up in the air and widened her eyes. "Um...My Lady...you probably want to look upwards..."
Chris looked upwards and her eyes became squiggly again. Death was high up in mid-air, punching the air itself with his Slice of Death and his dual Possessed Scythes, and unleashing a flipsaw from a high height.
Death gave an amusing look when he saw Chris and Alito's squiggly eyes with a huge bead of sweat on their hair.
"I constantly do this for my warm-up for the mobs at hand. Is there any problems?" Death frowned.
"For a serious warrior, you do have your weirdness...but hey, they're amusing." Chris shook her head.
"Today in 'Physics, What's that?' - the Pale Rider Death shows how badass he is in defying physics!" Alito chuckled.
"I get that's a compliment?" Death approached Chris and frowning.
Silence...
"Of course...Mid-air assault - who wouldn't want to rip off enemies in style in mid-air? I am just surprised that you would be doing that in a lift of all places. But hey...not judging you." Chris simpered while keeping her calm.
"Good." Death frowned.
As soon as the lift stopped at the basement level, the trio set their eyes on several wandering mummies. The monsters' heard the lift's rumbling lift, set their sights on the trio, and trudged forth to attack them.
Death summoned three ghouls, Chris summoned her skeleton, and Alito summoned her wind skeleton. The five summoned troops assaulted the front; Death assaulted the left, while Chris assaulted the right with Lifebane.
The mummies disintegrated soon enough.
"Talk about sweeping the floor." Death grunted.
The trio entered the room saw several Corrupted Crystals on the walls, covering a tall podium.
"Just as the Soul Arbiter said...the Dead Kingdom is corrupted, yet the Lord of Bones ignored it. Something is wrong there." Death frowned.
"Maybe it is an administration conspiracy." Chris concluded.
Chris scanned the door's mechanisms and the button.
"The door's mechanisms will close quickly as soon as someone sets foot off the switch." Chris reported.
"Right...we need to jam the door." Death frowned as he climbed several wooden planks into a platform with a Corrupted Bomb pod.
Death grabbed the Corrupted Bomb and threw it at the crystals covering the podium.
Chris and Death nodded as the former stepped on the switch and with a loud screech, the large gate opened. Death used the soul grip to pull the podium into the ground. The Pale Rider pushed the podium precisely under the gate.
Chris stepped off from the switch and the door descended down soon after, but the podium jarred the gate completely.
A lift with four crystals lay at the next room complete with Roman numerals. Death hit the crystals labelled 'Door II' where the Phariseer's door, with a skull insignia, was. However, the lift suddenly changes to 'Door III' at the second level, where they faced a locked door. No matter how much they tried, it will always bring them to anywhere but 'II'.
"Seems the Phariseer doesn't want to see us; we have to jar the lift somehow." Death frowned.
and the lift soon brought them down to the last level with a door labelled 'IV'. Upon opening the door, a treasure box laid on distances in front of them.
After tearing up the monsters guarding the treasure box with ease, the trio unlocked the door on the second level - the door labelled 'III'.
Climbing pass several wooden planks, descending wooden poles, and wall riding several levels later, the trio managed to reach another metallic podium. A pathway connected the podium a button on the other side.
After Death pulled the podium to the button, a small platform lifted itself up to a height just below the third level - the door labelled 'II'.
"Well...guess we found our solution." Alito shrugged.
Getting back to the lift through climbing and wall riding their way, the three warriors head back to the lift, hit the crystal that said 'II', and the lift descended towards 'IV'. The podium blocked and jarred the lift when it reached the door labelled 'II'.
"The Phariseer...Let's go." Chris frowned.
As they entered the Dead Lord's room, a big, pyramid-like coffin opened. An undead in the same appearance of the Soul Arbiter, except for a light shade of green, and holding a mace, came out of the coffin.
"You would interrupt my slumber? You should have never left your grave." the Phariseer spoke in a cold, haunting voice as he brandished his mace. "Leave, while you still can."
"Do we really have to fight you?" Chris asked.
The Dead Lord charged into the fray. With the trio dodging the linear attack easily.
"We will take that as a yes." Death frowned.
Morphology: Phariseer
Type: Dead Lord
Description: It has the same attack as the Soul Arbiter, minus the shielding when he reaches certain health. It can summon skeletons using arcane magic when he reaches a certain health.
Death unleashed a powerful shockwave from his Slice of Death then closed in for the slash. Chris unleashed a triple slash with Lifebane simultaneously.
The Phariseer grunted as he raised his mace and unleashed an overhead smash, which the duo dodged quickly. Death quickly land a triple slash called Twin Humanities on the Dead Lord, who keeled over.
Angered, the Dead Lord slammed his mace on the ground as skeleton crawled out of the ground.
Death summoned three ghouls to lure the Phariseer and unleashed charged shockwaves on two skeletons before unleashing a Harvestor Revenge on the third skeleton.
Chris summoned ice skeleton and the Lifebane's hilt glowed as she summoned a wind skeleton.
The two skeletons collaborated with Death's ghouls in slashing the Phariseer. Chris drove her Lifebane into one skeleton, ran towards two more skeletons using arcane teleport slash, drove Lifebane into their spines, and smashed them hard on a wall with an overhead smash.
The ghouls exploded upon expiry, damaging the Phariseer further.
Death summoned another group of three ghouls to lure the Dead Lord as he unleashed another powerful shockwave. The ghouls exploded soon after to hurt Phariseer again, only to have the enraged Dead Lord to summon another circle of skeletons.
Summoning another three ghouls once more, Death did several flips backwards before unleashing two shockwaves to two skeletal sword wielders. Another skeleton pounced on Death but the latter rolled forth before the former could land a hit. The Pale Rider instantly turned towards the attacking skeleton and slashed it using Harvestor Revenge.
Chris summoned four towers of ice around her, shattered the ice, formed eight ice javelins and delivered headshots to the remaining three skeletons.
The Phariseer quickly keeled when the ghouls exploded on him. Chris's left eyes glowed intensely as she unleashed a flurry of slashes behind the Phariseer's back.
Angered, the Dead Lord delivered an overhead smash, which Chris blocked with her Lifebane's hilt. The ground that they stood on dented because of the impact of the clash. Chris winced as the Phariseer's green aura slowly burned into the former's mechanical and organic body parts.
Death quickly unleashed another Harvestor Revenge, interrupting the Dead Lord's attack clash while Chris managed to dodge out just in time.
The Phariseer roared as he turned towards the Pale Rider and clashed their weapons together. In the same way he made the Arbiter keeled, Death hit Phariseer's head and slashed across his chest, bringing the Dead Lord to his knees.
Chris and Death held Phariseer by knifepoint and threatened, "Do you yield?"
Phariseer relented. "Yes."
Both Death and Chris stood down, with Lifebane transforming back to Alito.
"To think we have to knock you back to your senses. The Dead King might sent us to take you, but we want to rescue you from the Dead King's rule." Chris replied, huffing.
"What?" Phariseer wondered.
After Death, Chris, and Alito explained to Phariseer about their plans.
"You have the Interdiction...That means I could break free from the Dead King's will and reunite with my twin brother." the Phariseer replied.
"Wait, what? The Soul Arbiter is your twin brother?" Death's eyes widened.
"Yes, Horseman. He is the only Dead Lord among the Four Pillars of Argul that has not succumbed to the Dead King's Interdiction as he escaped in time." the Phariseer nodded. "Besides that...I thank you three for releasing our Real King from his madness. It is sorrowful, yes...but after so many eons have passed, I felt that's a blessing for him."
"Right...we will bend you in to the Interdiction then. We need your help to escape this place." Chris nodded.
"Your wish is my command." the Dead Lord bowed.
"Wait...I thought we can teleport our way out using the WaypointTM system?" Death wondered.
"The teleport signal won't work in dungeons, which are enclosed areas." Chris explained.
"Damnation..." Death cursed.
As they successfully escaped out of Phariseer's Tomb and travelled to the Adjudicator's palace at the North-West according to the Interdiction...
"It was chaos...We never knew that the Lord of Bones was secretly planning the attack all along until it's too late. All we know is that he usurped Argul's Throne, and bound us to his will as the new Dead Lords with his Interdiction. The Lord of Bones blocked our memories of how the event took place, though, to prevent any evidence from leaking out. He thought that will make people dismiss it as groundless accusations." Phariseer sighed.
"Well, your twin brother has the slip of paper depicting the event that happened. It's taken from one of the Chancellor's old diary book on the day of the Arbiter's exile." Chris explained.
"Thank goodness. I really thank the three of you from sparing my brother for once. Even you, Pale Rider." the Dead Lord thanked.
"Trust me; your brother is the least of my worries. For the Chancellor and the Dead King to accuse me and my siblings for being responsible for the ominous death of Argul's Dead Lords..." Death crushed a skeleton he got on his hand and hissed, "Believe me you...they are not getting away..."
"The Dead King will still be invincible even when the Interdiction is at your hand. As long as the artifact is anywhere, the Dead King will be exceedingly powerful. The only thing is, he needs it to summon and command us; without it, he could not call us not track us." the Dead Lord replied.
"Good. We will have to take two more Dead Lords, and then we will discuss about our next plan. Since the Interdiction is not at the Lord of Bones's hands, anything we say will remain confidential, alright?" Alito replied.
"Of course..." the Phariseer bowed.
Adjudicator's Palace
"Same' ol...same 'ol...With a touch of silver, that is." Death grunted.
"Every building in the Dead Plains is nearly the same, save for certain colour schemes as the Phariseer said back then." Chris replied.
Upon entering the Palace, a bald Dead Lord rose from a bench created by rocks. He was a baldhead with sharp teeth, a snarling look, two pointy ears, and a skeleton armor that was less armored than the Phariseer's.
"So the Pale Rider and two more humans dare to enter my palace..." Adjudicator growled.
"Human? I do not know what you mean...Adjudicator. Alito and I were 'dead', as far as being human is concerned, without knowing what humanity is...My name is Chris." she bowed.
"I see...Even then, that does not explain why you are here. I do not care about your origins, for I only hear the pleas of the dead, not the damned.
"What about the pleas of your Dead King?" Death wondered.
"I do...though he will reward me with eternal torment. I have no other choice, as I'm bound to his will." Adjudicator sighed.
"There's a chance for freedom, you know that?" Death replied.
The Adjudicator raised his eyebrows. "Are you so certain?"
Death summoned the Phariseer, who then explained their plans together with the trio.
The Adjudicator lowered his head, and slowly, but gradually, broke into a deep chuckle.
"So...the Dead King is getting sloppy, huh? I know that one day he will be. Ever since the day Corruption arrives and tear our kingdom apart, I know that it is a matter of time before someone will step up and rebel against the Lord of Bones just like how he did to the formal Dead King. The Lord of Bones refused to see into the matter, and we have no choice but to escape because we cannot go against him. Fortunately, his burden allowed us to flee, but only back to our homes." the Adjudicator replied.
The bald Dead Lord descended down and bowed. "I am yours to command."
"Well, that was easy. I was expecting some sort of fetch quest that fractally pad out all the stuff we might face." Death shrugged in surprise.
"Oh...you mean fetch quests?" Chris wondered.
"You know those?" Death wondered.
"Ah, it's nothing. You know, most of the mission where you will have to get so and so, just to achieve an aim. We call 'em fetch quest - 'bring three of this, three of that, three of everything!', everything is about three, three, and the number three. Some required more than that but...ya know." Chris shrugged.
"You don't mind, right?" Death wondered.
"Not really. Most people posted on the Request Board for something because they might be ill equipped to do so. Besides, it's in the interest of my loved ones' last will that I do so. But seeing them happy to get the things they wanted makes Alito and I feel want to give a gentle smile, but we can't because we thought softening up in front of strangers means being weak. Besides, we do not even know why we feel that way. Tis' just me, though." Chris sighed and shrugged.
"I see..." the pale Rider nodded.
"Alright...let's get the last one, Basilieus..." Alito nodded.
Then...
"You forgot your station, Nephilim, Chris, and Alito. You might be a Rider, but I am the Lord of the Dead!"
A spectral Dead Lord rose out of a green portal. He has two huge sabres with jagged blade bodies. A knight helmet with two devil-like horns, a bony jaw, and a full clad knight armor with skeleton ornaments decorated around his shoulder pads and waist belts.
It did not take long for the trio to know who the Dead Lord was...
The Trio frowned. "Basilieus!"
Basilieus, the strongest of all Dead Lord, has appeared!
Without the Seven Seals to ride, how will Death deal with the task?
Will Death, Chris, and Alito persuaded the Dead Lord?
Will they be able to unite the Dead Lords to find out about the Interdiction's power source?
Or will they be a victim to the endless darkness itself?
What lies ahead for our heroes?
Stay tuned in the next Chapter!
Basilieus - Darkness Renegade!