A Rattling Monster - Chapter 73：The Not So Brave Shadow

I should have known that he will have let me down at the worst moment. I am fairly certain that the two magicians are in the middle of the corridor and watching all around them. Probably surrounded by the remaining bandits, carrying their deadly crossbows. And their mighty and proud leader, shaking in the middle. Ok, I am inventing that last part, I have no idea what he is doing. And I have no idea of what I should be doing. Create more shadows that will get blow away by fireballs? Make my undead servants charge and watch them get destroyed by both the bolts and the spells of the magicians? Wait for them to run?

-Ok, ENOUGH!

Oh, they are talking now, I think it was for me.

-WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING US? Why? What did we do to you? We are not like Oktar and his madmen, killing everyone and kidnapping some innocents. We have never really killed anyone, except for some situations where we had to defend ourselves. But we are the good guys, I mean, inside the slums.

That’s the first. A member of a gang, saying that they are the good guys. This city is really incredible and stunning. But what should I answer, I have to resolve this standoff one way or another? I order number one to talk once again.

-Shadow.

That’s good, that way, I give them an exit door and they give me their leader.

-What Shadow? What do you want with him? Information? You could have just asked; we would have given you a discount.

-Shadow.

-Ok, we would have given you the information for free, you are happy now? So what do you want to know? Who is the father of a bastard? Which noble did kill the prostitute inside the “Red Lantern”? Whatever you want, we have it.

-SHADOW.

Really, I don’t care about all your information. I mean, yes they can be great or even good for a lot of people. But I can’t just ask them the current situation inside Atria. If I do that, I will be labeled as a stranger, a foreigner. And actually, I don’ really need to know that either, I just need to know some information that Oslo can already provide. Right now, I want to target all the gangs and kill their members, that’s all. And without my condition as a ratman and the nature of my skeletons warriors revealed. So I can just say his name one more time.

-Shadow.

-Oh c’mon. Shadow, Shadow, Shadow. All you say is always that name. He has run away a long time ago; you see that door right next to you? That one is the door leading to his room. Normally it is not locked, but now it is. That means he has decided to flee by his secret tunnel under his bed. So good luck finding him, he has at least 4 different hiding places across the entire slums. I only know those, but I am sure he has more. Maybe he will even seek help from Joe or Dareen. So whatever grudge you have with him, can we just all walk away, like nothing happened?

So even his lieutenant believes that his chief has fled the battle. And with the support of two magicians, I can’t win this without casualties. Well, sorry number three and four then. I order the two skeletons warriors to show themselves quickly behind the group. They just have to appear for less than a second and hide after that. Separate themselves, one near the corridor, the other near the door leading to the next room. I can hear a fireball being cast, but both of my undead servants inform me that they are fine. I split number one and two like their fellows. That way, the magicians have to cover four different places. The crossbows are irrelevant in front of an undead. It was just to maintain the mask of humanity, now it is time to discard this disguise.

When everyone is in place, I order all my undead to charge. I can hear two different fireballs being thrown and at least six bolts being released. As I contact all my skeletons warriors, I notice that number two doesn’t answer anymore. And number three has lost his right arm. So as expected, a fireball is capable of inflicting heavy injuries into my invocations. But as I walk through the door leading to the corridor, the sight is enjoyable. I can already see a head on the ground and the body of a bandit near it. The magician is pierced by the sword of number one and is losing a lot of blood. Behind them, number three and number four are slaughtering the unarmed crossbowmen. They didn’t even have the chance to unsheathe their swords. Only the lieutenant is rushing toward number three, a sword in each of his hands.

As for the last magician, he seems to have escaped. Shortly after, I hear the sound of a broken window. Turning my head to my right, I see a fleeing silhouette, he was quite fast. But not fast enough. I quickly reach the nearby window, broke it as well and throw an orb at him. The only trace of his existence is the hole made in the courtyard of the houses. Good thing those windows were not facing the street. I return to the corridor and meet an unexpected surprise. That man is a lot stronger than I thought.

Number three is dead. First, the injury provoked by the fireball, then the assault of the lieutenant sealed his fate. And even against number one and number four, he is strong enough to not succumb to their attacks. I can even hear him mumbling the same word over and over. Undead. I guess he figured out the secret at the end. That’s why I couldn’t let the magician escape. The fireballs burned the leather armors, revealing the bones under it. We were close to the group of criminals so number one managed to kill the magician. But apparently, neither number three and four manage to accomplish the same task. Is it because they were created later? Well, I really rely on number one for a lot of things. That’s playing a part too, the implication of the invocator.

As for the lieutenant, he is truly standing his ground. Attacked from the front and the back, he is still alive. My arrival doesn’t change anything, so my [Cause Fear] is not strong enough to influence the mind of a great warrior. Like the situation with Oktar, he was fearless. He even has the time to take a peek at me once in a while. He is probably thinking about what I am. Another undead, maybe a human that is a necromancer. Since it has been a long time that I wear this stupid appearance, I will grant him his last request. And it was really a hard time for my eyes to see through my [Nightfall].

Now that I think about, I check and yes, my night vision has improved. That was an unexpected gain. It is now level 11. So the level 10 is not necessarily the limit of my spells. But during the entire day, I have walked with a veil of darkness in front of me. If it didn’t improve, I would really have wonder if level 10 is the absolute limit. But that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. That means an ability has to have more level before evolving, like my [Create Poison] turning into [Create Acid]. Slowing me down at the same time, because my acid is immensely more powerful than just a poison. One can melt iron while the other only target living organisms. But for all the skills that don’t have an evolution, like [Night Vision] I guess, that means it delays the level Max. We will see in the future what will happen anyway.

As for the current situation, I can finally see the light. And the lieutenant, see my real form. Well, just see my claws and my weird feet. And a strange silhouette dressed in weird clothes nearly covering his entire body and preventing his face to be seen. Seeing his very puzzled face, I order my two skeleton warriors to stop their assault. Making the last human even more baffled. I then proceed to slowly remove my hood, showing my head. Before he was scared, now he is terrified.

-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ratman???

I order number four to backstab him, and the poor lieutenant will never learn how he died. His heart was pierced by a precise strike. But his face was not even showing pain, only pure terror. I guess I will have to melt him as well. I order my undead servants to collect all the bodies surrounding us, all the bodies inside the corridor. Even the two skeletons of number two and number three. When a pile is formed on the middle of the corridor, I activate my aura, melting every proof of anything suspicious. Just another day in the slums, with a gang being attacked by five unknown humans. As for the shadow of death? Just a magician trying to impress the crowd. But that small attack cost me a lot of mana, slowing down the invocation of the next skeleton warriors. But I got what I was looking for, more humans died under the sword of my undead servants.