The First Lich Lord - Chapter 174

I felt bad that I didn’t even know the man’s name. He’d volunteered to be used as a sacrifice, though they claimed they did not see it as a sacrifice. When I proposed the spell, Freya had suggested this change. I told her I wasn’t going to refrain from using eldritch magic, these creations needed to be one with my power. Still, she had insisted, saying they would follow me and before the ritual began, the four living dead had sworn their eternal loyalty to me.

The living dead practically disintegrated in the maelstrom of power. His death energy swept into the massive creation. The power coalesced deep within the chest of the giant before I saw it flooding up into the mind.

The ritual ended in a flash of pitch-black power that consumed the creation. In a moment, it was gone, and the arms of the giant before me sagged down to its side before the black glass of the eyes became partially liquid as an iris of purple eldritch formed.

The giant moved and stretched its arms and fingers. Then he threw back his head, mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and began to laugh. The voice was deep and booming and resonated with in me as the eldritch power of the mind behind the voice could be felt.

The laugh was echoed by the other four giants that now stood in the square. The one before me knelt, and one by one the others joined, crossing the large square in long powerful strides. The one that had been the former archbishop spoke. “We reaffirm our loyalty to the Lich Ezekiel, through his eldritch might he gave birth to us and we begin this new life. We will follow and destroy his enemies without mercy or remorse.”

I looked over my new creations and couldn’t help but smile. “And I accept your pledge of fealty and will honor it with my power. What are your new names?”

They’d refused to give me their names before the ritual, knowing the eldritch power would change them. They accepted that fact, all of them wanting the power that would come with this. “I am Ghrodri,” the formal general said.

“I am Vogdess,” the former paladin said. He was the same as Ghrodri with muscular builds with bone protrusions from their elbows, shoulders, and knees, and a head covered in black spikes. Other than that, they were just giant humans.

“I am Vhytlos,” the former brainiac priest said. She was different than the first two. Her head wasn’t covered in black spikes and only small ones came from her elbows and shoulders. Overall, her frame was less muscular, but intense power burned in her eyes that the others lacked.

“And I am Agreldo,” the former archbishop said. He was different in many ways. His eyes burned with power less than Vhytlos but greater than the others. The bone spikes from his shoulders extended clear above his head where they arched in slightly instead of out. Crackling eldritch power ran up and down them. The spikes on his head were not formed randomly, but instead made a crown.

I of course examined them, wanting to know what we had managed to create. I knew what my intention was, but the addition of the sacrifice probably changed things.

Agreldo

Living Dead Eldritch Juggernaut

Level: 123

Juggernaut creations embody power and destruction. Either the juggernaut will be destroyed or their task will be accomplished. There is no stopping a juggernaut.

Not all juggernauts are created equal, and wide variations can be found.

Living Dead: This juggernaut was created with a spark of divine power from a god whose purpose is to spread the living dead race. The sacrifice used in creating this monstrosity allowed it to become living dead. Normally these creatures need to be controlled carefully, but this one can think for itself, and more importantly, advance on its own. This does mean that it doesn’t have to follow its creator’s will.

Oath Braced Eldritch Mind: The mind and nervous system of this juggernaut has been refined and enhanced by eldritch magic. This gives them an increased intellect and further increases their skill with eldritch magic. It also increases their fine motor controls and reaction times. The mind used in the creation was not eldritch in nature. But was thrust into an eldritch mind, normally this would have driven them mad, but a binding oath sworn to the progenitor of that power has kept the mind from going mad, though it was irrevocably changed in the process.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Profaned Core: A powerful body is needed to create a juggernaut. The body this one was derived from was once that of a powerful servant to the divine. That nature was corrupted and overwhelmed by death energy, changing it. This grants the juggernaut a resistance to the divine magic of its original nature and similar kinds. Resistance purity and related magics.

Divine core: The body used in the construction of this juggernaut was so in tuned with its god that it’s very nature had been changed and divine power was an innate part of their very bones. Though that power has been removed and purged, the ability to channel the divine has remained. The eldritch nature of the juggernaut gives them one point of eldritch divine power per twelve hours.

All of them had the same description with the exception that only Agreldo had the divine core. I guessed the others had not been far enough down the path for that to be a thing. The other exception was Vhytlos. She had another trait.

Conduit of Eldritch Power: The body used in the creation of this juggernaut had a truly powerful mind. That mind took to the eldritch power it was steeped in like a fish to water. This fundamentally changed not just the nature of the mind, but the nature of the juggernaut itself. Eldritch power will run through it, and she can use it in innate spellcasting like that of a mage.

“Anything interesting?” Maxwell asked.

“I don’t even know where to start,” I said. I started explaining what I had read.

“I didn’t even know eldritch divine power was a thing,” Maxwell said.

“Oh, there is divine energy for everything,” Freya informed him. “Though eldritch is very rare to see.”

“Where does that come from?” I asked. “My Dread Thirteen also have access to divine energy, though not as often. I thought it only came from being sworn to a god.”

The question made Freya uncomfortable, and she let it go unanswered. “Thank you for letting me use the sacrifices to create the living dead part. Thiar is quite pleased with me.”

“I’m glad we did,” I agreed.

Raven was walking over, looking up at the juggernauts. “We might want to get them clothes.” I thought I caught a blush on her cheeks.

All of the revived had come back and stood in neat lines. The eldritch death knights that had fallen were also back. The process of reanimating them wasn’t much different than the bone guards so they had been included. I was still down several hundred bone guard, but I was certain my juggernauts made up for that.

Though I was short, I was still planning on leaving several hundred skeletons behind to support the city.

Now I had to go help Freya. With Abimelech organizing the troops and taking charge of the juggernauts, I headed for the temple. What Freya needed my help with wasn’t powering a spell or ritual. I had done that when I helped her convert the temple. It was setting up a ritual. She was far better at converting people into living dead than I was, but it was still easier if she had a ritual set up for it. I worked under her direction for many long hours that day drawing out a ritual that would do just that.

To my surprise, by the time we were done, there was a line of people waiting to be converted. It wasn’t a long line, but already Freya’s people had spread through the city and were talking to citizens about becoming living dead. Freya couldn’t be happier.

The players in the city were the other interesting part. They all seemed to want to be converted or had already fled. My guess was the ones that were not interested had died in the fighting and when they respawned, they left. Maltis wasn’t a center of players by any stretch of the imagination. But there was still a fair number of them.

“Max, what do we do if we come across an army of players?” I asked. We were standing on the wall looking out over the plains. “No matter how many times we kill them, they’ll just keep coming back. They don’t fear pain, at least not normally since it hurts less for them.”

“You do realize it sounds like you’re talking about fighting you, right?” Maxwell joked.

“You know what I mean.” I glared at him. Below us a group that was clearly an adventuring party was just setting out from the city, even though night was coming. Many of them left at this point, had signed up, or were happy just continuing life as usual, perhaps they liked the darker mood. No doubt they were on a quest to accomplish something given to them in the city.

“I don’t think it’s a real threat, and even if it is I doubt they can hold it together.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well,” Maxwell said. “Think about it, you used to be a player, and in a fairly large guild. Even so, that guild wasn’t even over a thousand people, what was it, like a hundred at most? It would take a coalition of multiple guilds to even build a large force.”

“Yes, but that force would have to be much smaller than my army to be incredibly powerful,” I pointed out. “A single one of my bone guards might be worth half a soldier in another NPC army of equivalent level, not counting buffs, but a single player probably could wipe the floor with ten soldiers at least.”

“You’re right, we would need an army comprised of things like your juggernauts or the Dread Thirteen to go toe to toe with a player army,” Maxwell agreed. “The thing is, they would still need hundreds of players who are all relatively strong. And even if they did manage to get that together, yes it would be a force to be reckoned with, but the first time it was defeated it would break apart. Heck it might break apart on its own if they got bored.”

“Well, here’s to hoping that we never come across an army of organized players,” I said.