The Homeseeker: An Elemental Adventurer LitRPG

Chapter 39 - Outnumbered and Outmatched

The reanimated, Fleshless King Docrun stood numbly, waiting silently. Zalan saw that hanging from his hip was a white, dimly shining object. Half of it was an hourglass, and the other was a skeleton head that the sand would pour into, except there was no sand. Zalan heard the faint scratching at the door behind him, the previous room of Fleshless trying to make their way in.

"He is alone?" Yelsa asked to confirm.

"They say the Fleshless maintain some echoes of their previous life. It must be that he preferred to be alone when he was living," Rep said.

"That would explain why the Fleshless in the previous room remembered how to use some of their weapons," Fran said.

"And why Docrun still wears his crown," Gorb mentioned.

"That there! At his hip, there is an Artifact!" Rep said, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "That is a Ressurector! Yelsa was right, Docrun was the one filling that room with Fleshless for any intruders to fight. The one that has access to the Resurrector has the power over the Fleshless."

"Then who turned him into a Fleshless?" Zalan asked.

The question hung in the air for a moment. Docrun continued to idly watch them, the only part of him moving was his eyes lazily sliding over each of them. His lack of movement was throwing Zalan off. The other Fleshless were always shambling towards them. But he couldn't read Docrun at all when he just stood there.

"I think he may have turned himself into this creature?" Fran said, more a question than an answer.

No one gave a rebuttal to the claim. It didn't seem so impossible when he had the Artifact at his hip. A vain man too attached to his wealth and need for power to allow himself to die with dignity. They looked at Docrun, as if waiting for his pale gray form to either confirm or deny the suspicion. Docrun continued to watch them silently.

"So, you said if we get the Artifact, then we would have the power over the Fleshless?" Zalan asked.

"Indeed. You need not activate it, just the simple act of holding on to it will suffice for you to take control," Rep replied.

"Then that's our new plan. Let's get the Resurrector from him and we can have a small army take on the dragon together," Zalan said, the others nodding confidently.

They took a collective step toward Docrun and he shifted marginally. They stopped, warily watching the former king for any other movements, but it seemed he had returned to observing motionlessly. Zalan took another small step forward, and Docrun shifted ever-so-slightly. The travelers waited again, then took another step. Docrun twisted his head.

"This is disturbing," Yelsa muttered.

"Better than him coming to attack us," Rep replied.

"Let me try something. Don't move," Zalan suggested. He walked a few steps away from the group toward a wall, perpendicular to Docrun. Docrun walked with him, remaining on an invisible line and preventing himself from being flanked. Zalan looked at his friends who looked back at him.

"I think he's protecting himself," Zalan said.

"More than that," Fran shook her head. "He is protecting the door. He does not want us accessing his treasure."

Docrun turned to her sharply at the mention of "treasure." But he didn't make a move against her.

"Look how he does not charge at us. He knows he cannot overpower us," Fran said. "We should stop being so slow, we are only making room for him to catch us off guard."

To Zalan's surprise, his companions looked to him for a response to that suggestion. They were treating him like an equal.

"Right," he said to Fran. "We should put a plan together to grab the Artifact."