Wild Era 3, Ch 31: Cult of Undeath

Information from the soul search flooded into Kelin’s mind, filling in pieces that had been missing from the first necromancer.

These two were weaker, so it was easier to get the complete picture from them. 

It wasn’t long before he released both of the assistants and a blade of soul energy formed in his hand. It was invisible to the eye, but in his mind it appeared as a prismatic line of power.

The blade swept down, slicing through the two assistants and shredding their souls into a thousand fragments. 

They slumped to the ground lifelessly while their mana and elemental essence dissipated from them, sending streams of chaotic energy through the area.

Some of it swirled toward the dungeon portal that was a dozen feet behind them, but Kelin reached and blocked it.

That portal pulsed with a dangerous bone-white energy that shrouded the normal black and silver. It was under the control of the Lord of Bones, or at least some part of his domain, and it was the center of everything here.

It was no longer under the Path’s control.

It had already consumed endless vitality from thousands of living beings that had been slain here, most of them innocents kidnapped by the pirates.

These two assistants had been responsible for watching over it and continuing to supply it with life force. He had endless details of what they had done and how many innocents they had killed.

Their deaths were more than deserved. 

They’d had more pieces of the puzzle and now he had an almost complete view of things. He knew a great deal more about the island and the dungeon, as well as their backers in Sarathia.

As well as his immediate problems.

He gave the dungeon portal a long look to assess the power around it, and then he glanced outside the old town hall, to where he knew thousands of undead were beginning to stir.

All of those lives sacrificed here had gone to power this ritual around the dungeon, where a fragment of the Lord of Bones’ kingdom was trying to enter the world, and their bodies had been raised as guards. 

There was a considerable horde of undead on this island, some sleeping in the shattered buildings and others burrowed into the earth or wandering the forests.

It was one of the worst habits of necromancers. 

Each of those undead was also a node of necrotic energy that was stabilizing the ritual and expanding the influence of the dungeon in an attempt to build a true City of Bones. 

The necromancers had been trying to recreate the city that had been here in the past and to change it even further.

Now that he knew what to look for, he could see the stones around him slowly repairing themselves and expanding, gradually restoring the walls of the town hall.

It wasn’t quick, only about a quarter of an inch a day perhaps, but it would eventually reach its goal. 

At that point, the concentration of vital energy across the island would all flow into the dungeon, be transformed into necrotic energy, and flow back out again in a tidal wave of undeath that would transform everything around it.

It was an infiltration, the same type of method that necrotic energy always liked, but on an environmental scale.

If it weren’t stopped, not just this island, but eventually the surrounding lands would be affected. He wasn’t sure how far it could spread, but if there was enough energy than even Celadon and Sarathia might fall.

He shook his head.

Seeing this here made him wonder what was going on inside the Sarathian Empire. 

Had they completely lost their minds? 

They were still human and should have opposed necrotic energy on basic principles. It was incredibly dangerous, the same as letting a plague into your house.

From the assistants, he knew some of what was going on, including where they had come from, but it still didn’t fully explain it.

Somehow a cult of Undeath had become part of Sarathian culture among the nobles and some of the higher political classes, including a few wealthy merchants. 

These two had been from a couple of the lesser noble clans, ones that had been focusing on negative classes and necrotic energy research for almost fifty years.

It was much further back than the rise of the dungeons, but that was because they were the origin of that push.

Somehow, they’d discovered a ritual that granted them powers and changed their classes and abilities. They’d slowly become necromancers, shadow knights, death priests, and darkness savants.

As they did, their power grew and they took control of more of the political situation around them, taking command of more economic traffic, businesses, and influence.

The key seemed to be the ritual itself.

It allowed them to subvert some of the functions of the Path, gain new abilities, and hide their presence. 

As the concentration of necrotic energy increased, it made it harder for the Path to see what was going on. It was why this island was basically invisible to it.

That ritual also allowed them to alter some dungeons that had undead inside, tapping into the original powers inside, like this Lord of Bones.

These two hadn’t known the exact details of the ritual, but they’d benefited from its effects.

All they knew was that it was something like a prayer or a meditation chant, one that allowed their ancestors to absorb necrotic energy and use it for their own benefit.

All they had to do was kill the undead and absorb their power. 

It didn’t matter how they made those undead.

They could create them and then absorb the energy, or they could go to an undead dungeon and gather it there.

The core of the ritual was the ability to avoid becoming undead themselves, but Kelin found that to be highly suspicious.

In his mind, there was no way that was happening freely. The necrotic energy they were absorbing had to be a slow poison, something that would strike later on and turn them into a powerful undead all at once.

It was a classic case of stupidity leading the way.

He muttered as he searched the new necromancers and took away their spatial items. Then he incinerated their corpses, destroying the web of necrotic energy that was already beginning to alter their bodies.

That was proof enough that he was right.

In three or four days, they would have risen as the undead. Originally, it might have been as liches if they were lucky, but since he’d destroyed their souls, only their bodies were left to power the change.

It was more likely they would be mindless zombies or skeletons shambling around the island.

He gave them a glance as they turned to ash, debating the value of dropping them as zombies into their families’ living rooms.

Maybe that would drive the point home.

This cult was a problem.

They believed that the natural end to life was to become one of the undead and were more than willing to kill anyone in their path to get there, justifying the deaths as only accelerating everyone else’s path to their ultimate goal.

The key question was what else was happening inside Sarathia.

These two hadn’t had enough status to see the full picture, but they’d had some guesses, so even though Kelin knew some of what was going on, he didn’t know everything.

There were some hints that forces in Sarathia were opposing them behind the scenes, which was why this ritual was happening here beyond its borders instead of inside the empire.

The assassins that had come into Celadon to seed dungeons with dangerous cores were also acting in foreign areas.

But no news had come through guild channels about similar disruptions inside Sarathia. Even the increase of undead dungeons over the past decade was mostly hidden.

Normally, that would have resulted in extensive dungeon breaks and undead waves, or at least the guild would have been alarmed.

But not only were those developments concealed from the Path, there was no noticeable disruption to the lands or people.

That meant something was keeping things under control.

He had some evidence that it was due to political conflicts in the empire.

The cult was relatively new and the empire’s old guard and more upright powers were suppressing them, which forced the cult to extend its influence outside the borders to areas like this one.

At the same time, the cult was keeping its backyard clean while fighting that quiet civil war. Only once they had firm control would obvious changes start taking place.

Guild records described the heritage of the empire as being one of political turmoil and mostly righteous, but that it hadn’t crushed this cult long ago was not a mark in its favor. It was either fading with age or the influence of the cult was strong enough that it was taking over.

The only silver lining was that Kelin knew about the cult now, including some of the places where they gathered and their methods. 

He could track them down and kill them. 

It would just take time and levels.

Some of the older members were well into the Third Evolution, stronger than the necromancers and potentially more powerful than even the emperor of Sarathia, who was supposed to be somewhere in the middle or late stage, around Level 375.

The silence that was holding over these events and the perfect suppression of news from Sarathia was telling.

It suggested there might be a Fourth Evolution enemy hiding somewhere, and possibly more than one, which could threaten the balance of power in the world.

He would need some assistance or a significant amount of time to deal with that.

Plans filled his mind as he considered the possibilities.

For a moment, he wished Sandren were still here, so he could discuss things with her. She’d had good insight into local politics and it would have been pleasant to have her company again.

But he was also glad that she had already left. Things were growing dangerous and the army was safer.

Ideally, the guild would pull in some off-world assistance, like a few more Fourth Evolutions commanders to support Yaslen, or even higher, and crush everything here, but he doubted it was going to happen.

Lareth was only one world among tens of thousands, and even after five thousand years of the Wild Era, higher Evolution forces were still rare. It took time and resources for a single one to level up, as well as the right class and mindset. 

There were also losses from the Chaos War. Fourth Evolution rankers were the commanders who took the brunt of the impact, and also the specialists called upon for every problem like this one.

If things got bad, he could reach out to Sleset and ask for a squad of Silver Nagas, but that was like calling down armageddon on the world.

They would probably lay waste to half of Lareth. 

It was questionable whether there would even be a landmark left to mark Sarathia or its neighbors by the time they were done.

The Path’s blindness to Undeath was also troubling. It suggested that a thousand other areas like this one might be spread across the human domain and the galaxy.

Then, of course, there was the Sovereign himself. He reached into his storage and pulled out the goblet of astral mead that the being had given him. 

He held it, turning it from side to side as he looked at the intricate detailing and the runes that covered the surface, letting his thoughts organize themselves into clarity.

“Alright,” he said eventually. “Since you haven’t mentioned it, I suppose you want me to deal with things. What else is a Knight Commander for?”

Rank came at a price.

He looked at the golden mead inside the goblet and then he glanced down at the ashes of the two necromancers and shook his head, storing it away.

This wasn’t the right place to drink.

His thoughts reached out to the Path and after a moment he felt the connection snap into place.

I have information to update the Quest you gave me, he told it. Listen.

He gathered up all of the information he’d learned from the soul searches and passed it to the Path in a single thought.

The response was instant. The Path’s voice filled his mind like falling stars, shaking the edges of reality.

Understood, Knight Commander. 

Quest Updated.

Primary Goal: Investigate the Rise of Undead Dungeons and Negative Classes in Sarathia.

Details: Over the last twenty years, the percentage of human classes with negative elements has risen from the average of 14% to 19% in Sarathia. Over the past ten years, the number of undead dungeons in Sarathia has tripled. These points suggest a dangerous progression of necrotic energy that is likely accelerating.

New Goal Added: Investigate the Cult of Undeath in Sarathia and Eliminate Them.

Potential Rewards: Experience, Wealth, Common to Epic-grade Items, Alliance Credit, and Elite to Heroic-tier Ability Rewards.

Continue with your Quest and clear the Chaos Remnant called the City of Bones. Once you have purged the ritual inside, the remnant can be reclaimed.

For your work up to this point and for identifying a critical ritual in progress, you are granted two Levels.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You are now Level 207.

There were a series of smaller notifications for the attribute gain, but Kelin waved them away, only pausing to toss the 30 free points into Constitution.

Two levels wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. 

Even though this quest was critical to Lareth, the Path wasn’t in the habit of handing out free things. You had to work for them. 

The real reward would be at the end.

For now, it was some recognition that the Path agreed with his assessment.

He turned his attention to the dungeon portal in front of him, his eyes moving over the white energy that was woven into its structure and covering it like a veil.

It radiated danger. 

It was also half again as large as it should have been, swollen from the energy that was mixed with it.

As he looked at it, information echoed in his mind.

You have discovered a Chaos Remnant: The City of Bones. 

Level: 240.

Mana Density: Extreme.

Relative Danger: Extreme.

Rewards: Variable (Ultra Rare).

Danger: This Dungeon has been identified as a True Remnant. It contains the fragmented energy of the Lord of Bones, one of the Four Divinities of Undeath.

Notes: This remnant has been twisted by necrotic energy and the Law of Bones. It has been augmented above its stated level and is continuing to draw energy from external sources. Due to the extreme monster density, a high-level specialist team is recommended.

Requirements: Kill 90% or more of the monsters and destroy the ritual inside. Break the altar that allows it to focus its energy flows. That will also destroy the Curse of Violet Bones that is draining the vitality from the people nearby.

Additional Bonus: 100% completion and kill the final boss. 

Possible Rewards: Experience, Wealth, Common to Epic-grade Items, Alliance Credit.

Kelin let the information pass through his mind and his eyes hardened. 

A Level 240 dungeon should be within his abilities, but the changes to this one would make it harder than usual. 

It would be a challenge, but there was no point in going back to ask for help. By the time he did, the situation might have become even worse. 

There was an entire ritual hanging around this place ready to feed in the vitality of thousands of lives. It had to be dealt with now.

But he still needed to help the people on the ship before he went inside.

“Wait here,” he said to the portal. 

Then he turned around and headed back to the docks.

It didn’t take him long to bring the broken ship to shore. The Spirit of the Dark Ocean guided it up to the dock and some of the people waiting jumped off, securing it with a few lines.

As soon as that was done, the elemental faded away, turning into a cascade of dark water that fell back into the ocean below and making waves crash along the shore. 

The elemental’s trident and the Shard of Dark Ice floated down into Kelin’s hand. The shard hummed with contained energy. A trace of the elemental’s aura was on it now, which would make it easier to summon the same one again.

Kelin spent a little while organizing people and moving them and their supplies to the other ship, which he secured without much trouble. Everyone that had been near it ran away as soon as they saw him coming.

Once everyone was on board, he spent a little while checking their supplies of food and water and then restocking them from his storage. He had a habit of buying a lot, so he had plenty to spare.

He also reviewed the behavior of the people, particularly the ones he’d appointed to look after things and the ones that had looked the most dangerous. He confirmed some leadership positions and arrested a few people, confining them back into the hold.

He handed out some more talismans and basic equipment to the ones in charge, mostly defensive items, as well as some message talismans that could reach the guild once they were closer to Stormhill.

After that, he checked over the enchantments on the ship and tinkered with them, adjusting things here and there. A few elemental crystals disintegrated in his hands, while soulfire flowed out of him and into the ship, making the runes shine.

It took some trouble, but he added a temporary healing effect to the enchantments, one that would cover the ship for the next few weeks, long enough for them to cross the ocean again. 

The main purpose was to burn out any remnants of necrotic energy that might linger on the ship, even the faintest aura, so that the curse on this island and anything from the necromancer’s attack would fade away.

He didn’t want to have an undead plague break out on the ship.

When that was done, he sacrificed a handful of Darkness elemental crystals and an enormous amount of mana and summoned the same elemental again.

The figure rose into sight, gathering from the waves and towering over the ship.

“Take them back to Stormhill,” he said. “Keep your energy expenditure low. Take these to support yourself.”

A stream of high-grade mana crystals and darkness elemental crystals flew out of his hand and into the elemental’s body, where they were swept into the center by a whirlpool. They began to circle around the Shard of Dark Ice that made up its heart.

“And this,” he said, tossing the trident back to it.

Then a flare of soulfire separated from his body, turning into another Sage Soul clone, which walked onto the ship and stood on the prow. 

“I’ll look after things,” he said to everyone watching. “And I can be here in a moment at need. My clone will keep an eye on the ship and elemental. Make sure to keep the peace, recover, and rest. You should be back near Stormhill in a week or less. Someone from the guild will meet you, I expect. If not, report to the nearest guild outpost once you land. Don’t let me down.”

There was some grumbling and nervousness, but the sight of his clone and the powerful elemental was enough to quell most of it.

“Fair winds and following seas,” he said, raising his hand in farewell. As his hand fell, a blade of soulfire severed the lines that connected the ship to the shore.

“Go,” he said to the elemental. “Shape the currents and guide the wind. Take them home.”

The elemental inclined its head toward him and then a wave of its hand lifted the ship away from the dock. It spun in place, twisting like a whirlpool, until its prow pointed to the southwest.

Then it began to move, gliding across the waves as the foam broke around it. The sunlight was bright above.

Kelin watched it go with careful eyes, studying the flow of soul energy and mana around it. The people on board had never touched the shore of the island, only the dock, so he hoped there would be no trouble from the curse on this place.

They didn’t deserve that fate.

So far, there were no signs of it, but his clone would keep an eye on things. Part of his mind was divided into the clone’s view, allowing him to see what was happening on the ship and its energies, even if he couldn’t do anything to it without teleporting there.

With the elemental guiding it, the ship moved swiftly, propelled by the waves and the wind. Eventually, it faded into the distance and slowly fell below the horizon.

“Safe travels,” he said, the words drifting on the breeze. 

Then he turned and headed back to the dungeon portal. He ignored most of the things on the island for now, except that he incinerated a few undead here and there when he saw them.

He’d deal with the undead around this place later. The most important thing was to break the ritual inside.

It was tempting to Wildfire the entire island, but there were still quite a few people here who were cursed and not undead yet. He could control Wildfire within his mana field, but not if it spread across the entire island.

Time was short and the ritual was more important. 

Once he broke the ritual inside the dungeon, he’d return and carefully eliminate everything. It should be easier after that, since the dungeon was feeding the aura of the Lord of Bones into this place.

The curse should disappear too.

He walked back into the town hall and stopped in front of the portal, which still glowed with the same dangerous white light that was veiling the usual silvery black.

His staff appeared in one hand and spells began to circle it. With his other hand, he pulled out a handful of talismans.

He hadn’t had time yet to upgrade his clothing and enchantments to the Second Evolution, but he could do it inside.

There should also be plenty of Bone elemental essence to temper his body.

A golden mana shield appeared around him as he stepped forward and the portal passed over his shoulders with a hissing, cold discomfort.

White streams of energy filled his vision, floating through all of existence and making it look like he’d stepped into a funeral shroud. At the same time, the cold scent of bone and earth filled his senses.

It reeked of age and death.