Charles Blueflame, High Paladin of Order of Fates Untold

few hours earlier, above the dungeon

“We’re moving at a good pace, master.” Adam, my butler entered the carriage I was riding and smiled in satisfaction. “All according to plan. In an hour or two we’ll arrive at our destination - ruins of the Waltzer Castle and join up with the half-elves.” I knew that it was his skill talking, but his innate love for precision was the cause of it being born, not the other way around. After all, any skill is only an extension of ourselves.

“Good. Now, can I have you tell me our predicted force composition?” I asked. The weather outside was certainly cold - just like the badlands usually were and I already missed my warm house in the capital. Oh well. It was nothing that a sip of warm tea wouldn’t remedy.

“Yes!” The smile on his face grew a bit wider. Truly a man perfectly suited to his tasks. “Our main force consists of twenty mounted warriors. Order breed - both horses and men. Eighteen of them have the Knight class, the other two are Order Knights. Most of them know Charge skill, so our method of attack is already decided. Levels are varying from five to seven. Their followers - pages - are a mix of classes. We have Heavy Infantry, Shielders and Weapon Users with the usual combination of Shield and Weapon skills in tow. Not very useful as their levels vary between two and three, four in some singular cases, but they will stop an enemy charge when needed.”

“Lovely. Having access to the heavy armored frontline is the best. They should hold long enough for the mages to fire their spells. Remind me, who was sent by the main house?” I pursed my lips in disdain. Fame-seekers, all of them. But I use what I can. After all, there should be no problem if a few of them “heroically” die to the stray arrow or spell. More glory for the Blueflame house. My lips twisted in a smile.

“Three Inferno Mages were added to our forces. They each have an acolyte, most of the Flame type, by their side. From what they said all of them boast Enlarged Area of Effect as their main skill. Every single one of them is a fifth level magus. It is unknown if they have any other aces in their sleeves.” He bowed quickly. “There wasn’t a chance to use our artifact since I suspect that they were already warned about it.”

“Bah! Inferno Mages. The lowest of the low.” I fumed while taking a pipe from the counter and lighting it up without tinder-box. No spell needed, just pure mana manipulation. That was a real skill. Not some measly AoE knowledge pumped into them by forced level-ups! Children bred to fill up the ranks. “And of course they knew. My family loves stabbing each other in the back.”

“Not everyone can boast class as unique as Ifreet Magician, master. Or two skills by their name. Or having a level ten in their class by the twenty-fifth winter.” Adam bowed while lowering his head. He knew well how to appease me. “There are, however… complications.”

“What now?” I groaned, knowing that whatever he called a complication was a full-blown disaster for another person.

“Our meeting with the elves is due this afternoon. Their forces shouldn’t be too big, twenty, maybe thirty rangers. And some druids of course. I would be wary however of these two who invoked the right of the alliance. Their levels are fairly high. I assume their subordinates would be stronger than usual.”

“Rikr and Binno, right?” I asked while in thought.

“Oh. That’s unusual, master. Did they catch your eye?”

“Hmmm, yeah - somehow. Especially this half-elf I feel like he already advanced to the second class.”

“Hoh. That’s fast, especially for half-bloods, master. Are you sure?”

“Nah, that’s only my intuition speaking. It’s not like we were granted Analyzer while on the expedition, right?”

“Not even mentioning that checking people status without their consent is considered a crime.” We looked at each other and started to laugh.

“So, did you check?”

“Yes, master, but please remember that the data from our artifact is limited. Only name, class, level and skill name are displayed.”

“It’s still adequate.” I breathed in the smoke. This herb was used mainly for its relaxing properties. It somewhat kept my temper in line. “Tell me,” I demanded.

“As you wish.” Adam straightened his back and took out a small notebook. The information inside was written in code. Then he spoke, decrypting and then reciting the information immediately. “Binno, 8th level Wilder Druid, one skill found: Nature Friend. Effect unknown. Rikr, 10th level Lunar Walker, two skills found: Enhanced Senses and Lunar Empowerment. Self-explanatory. The rest of their entourage were either too far or had camouflaging skills active.”

“Yes... Like I thought - strong. Too bad that the names of skills are sometimes hard to decipher. But some knowledge is better than no knowledge at all.” I smiled wildly but controlled my urge to do battle with these commoners. It was unsightly for a member of nobility like me. “I’m sure it’s not the end of surprises that you have for me, Adam. Out with it.” I grumbled again, waiting for his report to finish.

“It is as you assumed. I’m afraid that the Beast Princess is on her way.” He answered while closing his eyes. My response was immediate.

“Shit! Not her! That damn prodigy and achievement thief! How did she even hear about it?”

“Master…” Adam tone was clearly annoyed. “It’s obvious that somebody of royal heritage would be informed about the new dungeon. Especially because we took a month to arrive in these lands and our scouts haven’t yet found the breach site!”

“Argh! I know! I fucking know that, but that doesn’t improve the situation in the slightest!” I clutched my head and resisted the urge to scream. “How much time do we have?”

“Two days, maybe three. She is dragging her entire entourage here, so considering how they have to rest… But you know her.”

“Yeah, of course, I frickin' know her! She’s mad! Like, seriously, she’s younger than me and already halfway to her third advancement class! You have to be mad to keep up with her speed!” Things were going south. Nothing went right when that little psycho was around. “Order the army to speed up their advance. We’re going to meet with the elves and wipe out the undead. Immediately!”

***

Rikr, Lunar Walker representative of Luna Kingdom Ranger Forces

near the Waltzer Castle Ruins

“Quit your whining, Binno. We’re under strict orders to cooperate. The humans had already chosen their battlefield. There isn’t much else that I can do. Especially since their leader seems to be a high noble.” The druid had already transformed into his Dark Panther form. His reaction to my tirade was simply a snort. “Yes, yes, I know. You crave battle. Be patient, my friend.”

Most of the rangers under my command were stalking the bushes on the left wing of the human army. It was wise to leave some semblance of freedom to people who could easily coordinate with each other. And those who had a distinct problem with heeding orders from outsiders. Rikr nodded to himself - it seemed like the commander wasn’t a total newbie.

The joint army put all twenty-something cavalry riders in the middle, on the mostly-flat terrain and ordered nearly a hundred of human infantry to guard their rear - a veritable mass of metal and flesh. Like most people from the Geinard Kingdom, they preferred the heavy armor and even heavier weapons, but a kite or tower shield wasn’t a rare occurrence either. They weren’t able to hide from the enemy, neither they cared about it. For them, the battle would be a clash of steel and courage, not a tactical dance.

On the right wing, another forty infantrymen were walking forward while crushing down feeble vegetation. Rikr could see the runners flow in and out of their formation. Young men arrived and left from his position with each passing minute, confirming their movements. Rikr thirty or so rangers and druids were moving like ghosts on the wind, so they abhorred the attention that couriers brought to their ranks.

Not that it mattered.

The undead were sure to notice them either way. It was more part of personal preference. One didn’t become a ranger if they wanted to stand out.

Behind all this noise about ten mages walked with their heads held high. Each of them carried an adorned staff and wore a bright red robe. Some of them seemed to wear less eye-gouging clothes than the others - which probably denoted weaker power. The one who dressed the flashiest was, of course, the high commander of this joint force. Charles Blueflame, of the noble mage family specializing in the inferno spells. According to my sources, he had already achieved his second advancement.

“Talk about being in the spotlight,” I muttered and some of my subordinates nodded in acknowledgment. We all looked at the High Paladin with a mixture of awe and consternation. Somebody wearing that kind of colors was easily the biggest target on the battlefield.

Well… it was not our business.

We were here only to take care of the undead that appeared in this part of the world. All other things were secondary. Finishing the mission was the priority - through any means necessary.

The moment that the situation turned sour and human forces were going to get decimated we would turn tail and escape. After all one can’t live to fight another day if they’re dead. That was the creed of the Luna Kingdom Ranger Forces.

Ah, but right now the battle seemed to proceed in our favor.

The undead just stood there in a big, clumped mass - they had about four, maybe five times more bodies than our combined forces could field. They were mostly zombies, skeletons and some ghouls though - cannon fodder, nothing really dangerous reared their ugly heads yet. This lack of higher tier undead was worrying. They were either hidden close by or retreated altogether.

Each alternative could spell our doom.

Our commander, however, didn’t have such worries. He shouted loudly and with a short chant, while the mages hidden behind infantry sent their spells flying. Fireballs of various sizes sailed through the air with deadly grace and landed amongst the dead decimating their frontline.

The undead simply marched forward without flinching flowing ahead like an unmovable tide. Unlike the living, they didn’t fear, didn’t hunger nor grew jealous.

Only to get blasted by fire once again.

Some of them lost their limbs, their shields caught fire, skin melted. And yet they walked.

My rangers shot their weapons, but they dealt minimal damage. Bows were poor weapons against this type of foe after all. Three volleys later we switched to melee.

In the middle human, cavalrymen charged forward, moving down their enemies. Their impact was great, cutting deep into enemy lines. The undead, however, didn’t want to stay down - even lacking limbs they crawled forward and bit, trying to drag the knights to the ground.

It was then that the Death General appeared with his elite units. Dark Knights armed with bardiches, spears, and hooks - many types of pole weapons were present. The situation stabilized for a moment, but then two mounted warriors were taken down and pretty much turned into ribbons. The noble leading us lost his cool and ordered a charge.

Infantrymen screamed in response and ran forward, eager to slaughter their enemies.

My warriors also felt the heat of the moment. Their charge was less impressive than the humans, not being reinforced by the mass of armors and shields. In turn, however, our attack was like a piercing strike, breaking deep into their lines. Like a barbed arrow.

Then everything shattered into pieces. I uncovered my weapons - sword and dagger. They craved blood, just like my subordinates. And so the dance of death has begun.

An undead appeared ahead of me, raising his weapon. I weaved under his arm, severing the head with a single swipe.

Drops of blackened blood were slowly falling to the ground.

Another two - zombies this time - were slowly coming towards me. One got its head crushed by the allied warrior and I in turn dismembered legs out of the second one, forcing it to crawl pitifully on the ground. Soon both bodies disappeared behind me.

I ran. Faces and weapons turned into a blur.

It was the feeling of battle. Pure bloodlust.

A short burst of speed later and I was facing a Dark Knight armed with a halberd. It stabbed forward, trying to skewer me and I used nearby human as a shield.

The defender grunted, his feet sliding back under the pressure, forehead slick with sweat and blood. As his enemy focused on a new opponent I slid under his guard, forcing my dagger into slits of his helmet.

He roared. The damage was forcing him to lose black steel weapon - in his case, an enhanced intelligence was counterbalanced with a sense of pain. It all was working in my favor.

Human trooper roared too, attacking his now defenseless foe.

An ax tore the undead apart, forcing him to his knees. The human raised his weapon to deliver a finishing blow only to fall down - victim to an attack from behind. Small dwarven skeletons cackled as they bash down the living to the ground.

He died while screaming.

I was already away - lunging forward, carving a bloody path through our enemies.

It was then when I heard…

An explosion.

The ground groaned and trembled while mana concentration started to rise shockingly fast. Somebody screamed. Somebody fell.

“It’s a Breach! The dungeon is breaching the surface!”

The battle stalled immediately.

We all knew what it meant.

“By the Gods.” I muttered. “We couldn’t find it because it didn’t surface yet?” This was bad, really bad. “Did the Death General make his stand here, because he knew about that?”

A hole opened up in the ground, spewing a tornado of sickly green and blue mana. It was just a beginning - a ball of energy was already forming above it, threatening to blow up.

“Retreat towards the dungeon!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and warriors around me grew ever restless.

We all knew that once this ball of energy stopped charging a big explosion would occur.

And then our surroundings and all beings stupid enough to stay close to the epicenter would be broken down and converted into flora and fauna native to the dungeon. Nobody seen this process in years, but we weren’t keen on checking if it was true or not.

The fight grew even fiercer as undead, humans and my rangers raced towards the dungeon entrance.

It will be a fucking long day.

Even if we escape down the entrance there was also a problem of dungeon denizens…

“This is getting more and more annoying” I murmured seeing as most of the human forces managed to retreat outside the explosion radius. At least our forces haven’t lost more than a few warriors.

“Let’s try to keep it that way.” I said, licking my suddenly dry lips.

Long fucking day.