The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 909: Rampage Through the Skeletons

As [Rampage] began to get fully stacked, Karl found that the Skeletal Knights stood no chance before the Blade of Champions. Even when he simply swung it to create an arc of [Rend] to weaken a swathe of undead, most of them would be crippled, or their armour would be severely damaged.

Of course, this did not go unnoticed. A pair of Overlords and their summoned supporters should not be able to cut through an undead horde that was keeping an entire battalion at bay.

It simply didnʼt make any sense.

But like Karl and his team, the Skeletal Knights also had damage reduction, so the actual damage done to them by the average attack was minimal. It wasnʼt that they were immensely durable, they simply reduced all damage done by enough that they were hard to kill.

But with [Rampage] in effect, the damage reduction was more than offset, and they were no more than skeletons in crude armour, a mediocre form of undead.

The demons of the 7th Bhurk Regiment pushed out to follow Karl and Remi as he moved toward the portals, intending to let Remi bombard the other side with [Apocalypse] once they had a clear view of the situation there.

The two Battalion Commanders had reached the remaining Necromancers, which had allowed Delilah to join Hawk and Nachtia in bombarding the battlefield from above.

With Hawk plus two dragons, the amount of aerial bombardment was insane, even though Remi didnʼt use her larger area spells during this battle, just in case they targeted friendlies.

Making a spell hit certain targets but not others wasnʼt always easy.

When everyone was in your group, it would happen automatically so that you didnʼt damage party members, but the system didnʼt intervene if you should happen to cast a spell that would hit noncombatants, other teams, or hidden allies.

Karl noticed that the Lamia bodyguards had fallen back to let a pair of wrath demons take positions at Karlʼs shoulders.

While the Lamia pair did have blades, they were better as a second line fighter, not the one most likely to be attacked, and the wrath demons were much larger than they were.

Karl attempted to include them in [Rampage], but found that the spell couldnʼt be targeted at anyone but his own group. That was unfortunate, but if he explored the System later, there might be a way to include more people in your team of allies.

You could include the whole Guild, and a bunch of strangers to do a dungeon run, so there should be a way to add a military commander and their unit.

If there was one thing that the System favoured on a reliable basis, it was group activities.

”Whatever damage increasing skill your class gets is ridiculous.” One of the wrath demons joked as he cut down a pair of skeletal knights that Karl had wounded.

{Itʼs the power of friendship.} Remi joked, and the demon spared her a confused glance.

{The damage buff is based on a percentage of group damage done during the last minute.} She clarified.

The demon laughed as he cut down one more of the skeletal knights.

”The power of friendship it is.”

The Skeletal Knights began to pack together to stop Karlʼs group from advancing on the portals, forming a wall of bones that was rapidly being refilled even as [Void Blast] knocked holes in it.

Karl cast [Consecrated Ground], Thorʼs new favourite anti-undead spell, and Remi cast a [Hellstorm] vortex in front of them as they paused to let the area damage do its thing.

”Should we really pause our progress?” The Demon on Karlʼs left asked.

”Give them a moment to swarm into the area effects, and then I will deal with them all at once.” Karl replied confidently.

The demon didnʼt look convinced, but Karl could see Priestess Delilah coming their way overhead.

With a row of [Hellstorm] vortexes pulling the Skeletal Knights together and away from the soldiers, it was a perfect target for a draconic strafing run.

But only because the vortexes multiplied. The Skeleton Knights seemed particularly inept at destroying them, as it didnʼt even occur to most of them that the fire was a thing they could attack to dissipate the magic, now that their mental link to the Necromancers was gone.

The red dragon passed overhead, and a massive gout of flame engulfed the Skeleton Knights, burning bones to ash and leaving the path clear between Karl and the nearest portal.

”Everyone, forward! We will push to the portal and separate the undead.” He ordered.

Technically, he had no authority over the Demons, but they didnʼt hesitate to follow him and his group forward.

However, Karl did not find what he was hoping for in the view through the portal.

The staging grounds on the other side were dead, barren, and completely empty.

Not a single undead was held in reserve at that location, so there probably wouldnʼt be any more coming. But he could see multiple other portals in the vicinity.

”Lamia, youʼre up. Let me know where those other portals go.” Karl instructed out loud, for the benefit of the Demons.

It might be a trap or an illusion. However, if he sent the two Bodyguards, they should be able to tell him the truth of the matter.

The Lamia duo passed through and entered the Bomgon Army staging area, where an immense wave of unholy energy threatened to overcome them. However, with [Void Body] active on the whole group, thanks to the skills of the Epic Guard, they were regenerating faster than they were being corrupted.

[The portals all lead here. We can see every angle of the battlefield.]

Their explanation was both reassuring and disappointing. Remi wouldnʼt get to bombard an unsuspecting army, but the portals were all accounted for, and there were no more undead in the area.

”Let your boss know not to send anyone through the portals. There is some sort of Necromantic spell there that is trying to corrupt the summoned creatures. If he sends an army unit through, we will be fighting against them in a few minutes.” Karl informed the demons beside him.

”On it. We will make sure that nobody goes through. Can you tell us where the staging area is?” One of them replied.

Karl shook his head.

”I can say that itʼs northwest of here by more than a hundred kilometres, and likely less than two hundred. But I canʼt say exactly, and there are no real landmarks, itʼs dead grass and withered trees all the way to the horizon.”

The Demon shrugged. ”Good enough for me. We have a general description to send to Military Intelligence, and they can reference the description against what they already know. Might as well bring your creatures back, and we will work on finding a way to close the portals.”