Avilien

Unholy battle

Chris held a hand to his ear and mumbled a few words that Nate couldn't hear as clear as he would have liked. It did perk his interest, as to what could be so important that Chris needed to say it in the middle of a showdown. Interest would be one word and another would be plain arrogance, as he thought about sending all of his minions to attack. He could send them into a feeding frenzy and end Eldenwolf there and then, or so he believed. In that plan, there was no build or drama involved, and he loved to build suspense, as you never knew who could be watching from the darkness.

A few zombies and a ragtag group of skeletons wandered onto the path as Nate controlled them, their focus on Chris as they brandished their weapons. Those that lacked eyes had small glowing red lights hovering in place to look extra creepy; none of it creeping Chris out, who thought of them as nothing more than basic AI corrupters.

"So it has come down to this. If I delete you here and now, Nate, that will really mess with the master's plans. Consider backing off."

"A gunman does not listen to his victim. You think you can delete me with all these soldiers around me?" Nate waved a single gloved finger and commanded one of the zombies to attack Chris to see what he was made of.

The undead minion with green slobber dangling from a broken jaw raced across the grass and leapt into the air, its silhouette cast upon Chris as he drew his giant unholy sword. One swish through the air and the zombie split apart, causing green numbers and orbs to burst like fireworks. Nate didn't expect his attack damage to be so ridiculous or that the strange dark pulsating sword Chris held would give him a terrible headache.

Without using skills to increase the zombies' stats, they started with two hundred and fifty health, a little over double what a normal person had. With skills, Nate could raise that health to nearly five hundred, and over a thousand for the sabres. Taking into account that zombies and skeletons had fifty defence before any buffs, then Chris attacked for a minimum of three hundred health points. Nate had two thousand to play with as a Necromancer and could sacrifice more minions to gain more. Each sacrificed minion would give an extra hundred health to his own for five minutes.

"A level-fifteen unholy Paladin may be trouble for you master," said Bones in a raspy dark voice.

"Relax, Bones, it will be fine. Tonight will be fun. It will be the night where I ascend to rank eight after taking care of Grimmock and Eldenwolf." Nate held out his arms and brought them together to create a loud clap. Now every creature in the graveyard sprinted for Chris.

Gravestones smashed onto the grass and crumbled as the undead vaulted or sprinted straight through them. With overwhelming numbers, Chris had to pray his mana held out. Scattered around the forest, as Nate had pointed out, there were teams of agents willing to step in should the signal be given. Chris didn't want it to come to that, but if need be, he would call on them.

A skeleton armed with a steel broadaxe swung for him and found its blow bouncing off solid gold-lined black armour as he activated his level-ten ability. The armour had four thousand health points and the skeleton's attack knocked off two hundred, so it wouldn't hold up for long if he got attacked by every creature in the cemetery, and he couldn't re-cast it for fifteen minutes. Coupled with his own health, he had a grand total of five thousand five hundred...and zero defence, since the government had failed to get equipment into the real world. A small transgression that the Orb of Drunskull would rectify.

Nate continued to laugh as Chris was pelted again and again by various attacks. His armour's life points plummeting at an unprecedented rate. Chris had managed to take out four skeletons as they enclosed him in a circle, but in order to survive, he would have to use every skill and ability he had.

"I didn't want to use this, but you forced my hand. I wanted to keep your undead minions numbers high for the attack on the town. Cursed ground!" Chris activated another of his class abilities that he had taken and strengthened with skill points.

Lance had a version similar to the attack Chris used, but instead of holy light surrounding Chris, a dark void poured around him and grew in size, rotting everything it touched including Nate's creatures. The pool bubbled and popped like warm sludge as it ate away at the already rotten flesh and bones of the undead. With each monster it consumed, it grew bigger and showed no sign of stopping as it threatened to reach all the way to Nate and Bones.

Watching his minions struggle to move as the sludge gripped them and pulled them downwards to devour them, Nate couldn't believe how overpowered the move was. A slow area of effect or "AOE" ability coupled with a deadly rotting attack killed his Warriors faster than they could attack. He motioned with the flick of his gloved hand for them to pull back and those not caught in the attack did so.

Twenty-nine skeletons and thirteen zombies had turned into green XP bubbles before floating through the air and being absorbed into Chris's body. Chris turned off the ability as soon as Nate got his monsters in full retreat; his mana would not last if he had to keep that up and it was now near empty. Mana regenerated slower than health, a lot slower. Equipment inside Avilien could help with those issues, but that knowledge was useless now.

Nate had climbed onto Douglas's grave in case the sludge caught him and ground his teeth at the loss of so many soldiers. Angry and hell-bent on getting what he wanted, he didn't make any stupid moves like charging in. He took note of Chris panting and his exhausted mana bar, and drew his own weapon.

"Going to fight me yourself? Rather reckless of you, Nate. A Necromancer has the worst strength stats out of every class in the game. You are meant to hide behind your minions and whittle down your foes. However, that cannot be done to me, with my AOE abilities. The more of them I delete, the more my health grows." Chris stopped talking and pulled out his phone. A quick swipe and a small crystal diamond-shaped vial appeared filled with blue liquid.

"That is a mana potion, master. He must know alchemy. It should be impossible to get Avilien items here or take up an alchemy profession," said Bones as he balanced on Nate's shoulder.

"I'm well aware of that, Bones. I'm not blind. I see this fight could get drawn out long into the night and my forces would whittle away thanks to that ability of his. I admit this will not get me anywhere." Nate withdrew his scythe that he just summoned and addressed Chris, "Before we do end this battle, allow me to explain something to you since you believe you know everything about my class.

"Necromancers have the lowest strength stats of all classes...even a healing-class Druid has more base attack power. What is clear to me, however, is that you fail to grasp or understand the attribute and skills system coupled with the immense game mechanics. Avilien allows you to forge your own path and choose whatever skills and abilities you think you will use and need.

"With as little as seven hundred abilities per class and well over two thousand skills, it is daunting and confusing for even gaming veterans like myself. Normal classes have access to far less skills and abilities than beta classes, and now I will get to the point I wanted to make. An Assassin has the largest base attack power in the game, but thanks to my own prowess, I surpassed that as a Necromancer." Nate jumped off the gravestone and punched the ground, causing it to rupture upwards and cause cracks to run across the ground in multiple directions.

Chris believed he could walk into the graveyard and leave unscathed thanks to his abundance of items, his level, and class. Now he realised that was not the case; it was a good thing Nate decided to stop. Just to be safe and in case Nate tried to be devious, he drank down the mana potion and felt his energy return.

Feeling more comfortable, he chucked the empty bottle aside and swiped his phone again to produce a brown sack of coins, the same sack of coins he'd offered Anna.

"I have twenty gold Avilien coins in this bag that can be carried with you and taken to Avilien as you transfer over. Call it a good-will gesture." Chris chucked the sack over to Nate, who caught it in his right hand.

"I'm aware of what this amount of gold can do for me in Avilien, so I will take your gesture of good will. That you actually have a backbone surprised me." Nate sat back down on his favourite spot. "Until we enter Avilien, consider me no longer a threat. After that, you're on my menu again." Nate grinned and Chris took his leave of the area slightly satisfied with the knowledge that Nate would attack the town as planned.