The tale of Silas

It has been a full week since I had gotten a steady source of blood essence and things have been progressing smoothly not only that I had unlocked two more facilities, the workshop, and the smithy. Also for the ranks of the undead it has grown quite a bit though I hit a few bumps along the way. Creating undead using the dungeon is as easy as pressing a button, however, the more I buy a certain monster the price increases, but goes down after some time. I can only guess this was put in place to keep dungeon masters from growing their forces too quickly.

But at the moment I had around 60 skeletons, and zombies, with them being on the weaker side when it comes to monsters comes with the boon of being cheap. Plus with my two new facilities, I could now create copper weapons, and not just the ones from the game, but a variety of other weapons as well but I also ran into some problems there. Neither the skeleton nor the zombies could either wield or properly use some of the heavier weapons such as the mace. When a skeleton tried to pick up the giant mace from the game their arms fell off, and zombies while they could lift it kept falling over when they attempted to swing it. But then there was also the crossbows and longbows.

The skeletons didn't have the strength to pull them back, and zombies were incredibly inaccurate. So for now I am limited to using spears, swords, and other similar lighter weapons. The smithy could also make copper armor which I have already given to the zombies, but the armor proved too heavy for the skeletons to use. As for the spies from the other dungeons, they have reappeared now and then, sometimes alone other times in a duo or trio, but I have not attempted to communicate with them.

“So what should I do?” I asked myself as I paced. “If I talk to them, I might be able to ally myself with them, but they could also leak my location to save themselves,” I muttered, but now wasn't a good time to worry myself, I had to learn how to use my powers properly, but I also spared some time to get used to wielding my poleaxe.

I was in the courtyard of my dungeon, trying to learn how to shapeshift so I could visit that town, but so far my efforts had been fruitless. “I think I’ll need another vampire to teach me how to do this, but where am I going to find one,” I thought frustrated at myself. “Hmm, maybe the crypt,” I muttered, the administrator mentioned it before. Maybe I could use it somehow, but first I would have to get it which would take a few days to gather the necessary Mana Prisms.

“Hmm, I wonder what I should do today.” I wondered as I started to wander the castle. But my leisurely walk was interrupted by a large boom outside. I immediately started running till I shoved open the door to see what was going on. What I saw terrified me. I saw my undead on the ramparts struggling to hold off timber wolves that were scaling the walls.

“DAMN IT!” I yelled as I grabbed my poleaxe off my back and charged onto the rampart to help repel the timberwolves. I grabbed one that was biting the leg of a zombie and tossed it over the wall before I looked over to see how many were attacking us. The normal timberwolves seemed to be using the stairs to get up, and once they reached the gate they started piling on each other to get over the gatehouse and onto the rampart. But at the bottom of the mountain were giant timber wolves the size of large trucks struggling to climb the wall of the mountain so all they could do was bark and howl from below as their smaller counterparts did all the work.

“Fuck, I thought I would have more time,” I said as I shoved my first into one of the timberwolves and pulled out its core. “These timberwolves have a core crush or break them to kill them,” I told my monsters. After I told them that the tides had turned a bit but not by much. “Spearmen, form a line and keep these beasts off the wall. Everyone else take care of those already on the rampart!” I shouted. Skeletons who wield spears formed up around the gatehouse and used their spears to push back the timberwolves that climbed over their comrades. Some of them were pushed off the mountain altogether while others had a spear embedded in their head or chest as they tried to lunge at the skeleton phalanx.

The line was holding as I and the rest managed to take care of the wolves that initially got through our defenses, and I took a chance to look at my losses. Just by taking a glance, it seemed at least half of my monsters were done for but with the few I had it would be simple to hold the choke point at the gatehouse, and I knew that we could push them back as long as we held the line. Well, that was what I thought before I heard a roar that shook me to my very core.

I started to look around as my heart beat a thousand times a second, then I saw it. A giant Timberwolf that towered over the canopy of the forest, and as our eyes met it let out another roar.

“Pixel, is that?” I asked nervously.

“It’s the Timberking, you have to get out of here, RUN!” Pixel screamed in my head.

“Run, run where we’re surrounded,” I told her as the Timber king started walking towards my dungeon. “Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, there was only one chance of survival, and that was to use my remaining monsters to open a path for my escape. “Forward, throw those beasts off the mountainside,” I ordered. The skeletons spearmen pushed forwards by there were far to many, and even though wolves were being tossed off the side of the mountain every few seconds more and more took their place, they did not care about their own lives, they merely attacked like mindless drones.

“It's too late,” said Pixel, her voice filled with sorrow. I turned my head to see the Timberking standing in front of me with its maw wide open, and a sphere of emerald green energy floating in its mouth before there was a flash of light, then nothing.

“Silas wake up, wake up.” I heard bringing me back to the waking world. As I took a deep breath I started to cough harshly before I opened my eyes. Everything was gone, not just the castle but the entire mountain was wiped off the map leaving only a smoking crater in its place. I tried to get up but my body was immediately wracked with immense pain. “Don’t move, your body is still healing from that attack. You're lucky if it had decided to eat you instead of blasting you and your dungeon with that blast of magic you would have been done for, but after you heal you need to get more blood fast.” Pixel informed me.

“What are you talking about? I thought Pure Bloods could AAAhhh!” I yelled in pain as I tried lifting my head.

“Yes, but you've been running on fumes since you were reborn, that blood essence you absorbed is the sole reason you are even capable of speaking right now and its energy has just about run out, you’ll need more blood to fully heal yourself with how big that blast was there might have been some wildlife caught in the blast, it's best you start looking immediately or you won't last much longer,” Pixel informed me.

As much as I detested her logic, I knew she was right. I need blood to survive. It took almost everything I had to fight back the pain and lift my head to see what had become of me. And it reminded me of when I was a skeleton. Almost everything below my chest was gone, and I only had one arm, but only the lower half of my forearm had any muscle on it leaving the upper half and my hand as exposed skeleton. Strangely enough, I was able to move my skeletal fingers. I grunted in pain as I pushed on the ground and rolled over onto my chest. My skeletal fingers dug into the dirt as I pulled myself away from the crater, letting out quiet winces of pain as I did so.

“That's good, keep moving,” Pixel told me encouragingly. I ignored her as I focused all of my attention on fighting the pain that wracked what remained of my body every time I moved. As I struggled to pull myself forward I heard something not too far away. It sounded like an animal, but what I did not know, but I didn't have any other option but to slowly crawl towards the source. After crawling a few more feet I saw what was making the sound. An unfortunate deet was caught under the trunk of a tree that had fallen from the force of the blast. It let out bleats and cried out in pain as I slowly inched towards it as thoughts raced through my mind which now seemed strangely calm.

‘I have to do this, there is no other way. To survive, there is no other choice but to become the monster this world is forcing me to be.’ I thought as I inched closer and closer. ‘To be the monster that the Administrator made me.’ I thought as I reached the deer and as it tried to kick me away with its hoof I grabbed it by the neck, and with all the strength I had left, I pulled myself close and latched onto its neck with my teeth puncturing its veins with my fangs.

‘TO SURVIVE, I MUST DEVOUR WHOEVER OR WHATEVER STANDS IN MY WAY!’ I could feel the blood of the deer flow into me not only restoring my body but my strength as well. The deer struggled against me as it tried to save itself, but eventually, its struggle weakened until it stopped. At that point, I felt completely restored and pulled myself off of the deer who stared up at me lifelessly. With a heavy heart, I took a deep breath and sighed before I reached up and closed it's eyes.

“I’m sorry, and thank you.” I said as I petted its head. I gently rested its head on the ground before standing up and looking at myself. My body was fully healed and also for some odd reason my clothes as well.

“It seems you've fully accepted your new self.” Pixel commented.

“Yes, I have,” I told her. “But that doesn't mean I like it, and I won't be some mindless bloodthirsty creature of the night, if I'm going to live in this world as a vampire, then I'm going to forge my own path, but first there is one thing I have to take care of,” I said as I clenched my fists. “The Timberking, I will bring him down no matter how long it takes,” I said with conviction, and even though I had never heard her say it, I could feel that Pixel agreed with me.

“Where to next?” Asked Pixel.

“Now that my dungeon is destroyed it gives me the option of moving it somewhere more secluded,” I said as I brought up the map. “I’ve been eyeing this place for a while, it's a little close to the Gargoyle dungeon you told me about before but it's out of sight,” I said as I pointed at a spot on the map. “But before we go do you know if my poleaxe survived?” I asked.

“Surprisingly yes it did, and it's not too far from where you are now, I'm surprised how durable it is,” Pixel said.

“It's made of dark silver, which makes it an end-game weapon only below Sanguine weapons, and ancestral weapons of purple grade and legendary,” I commented. “Now could you tell me where it is?” I asked.

“It's just a little to the south you can't miss it.” She told me. After she told me that I started looking around for it, it took awhile but I found it embedded in the side of a tree. I pulled it free before I started on my journey, but before I walked too far I turned around to stare at the smoking crater. I stood there for some time making sure I never forgot what I was up against. Finally, I turned around and started walking again. “This is far from over Timberking.”

I journeyed through the forest carefully to stay out of sight, but I did come close to being discovered on several occasions by patrols of timberwolves. Still, I managed to slip away without being seen. “So Pixel, how long do you think it would take for me to get as strong as the Timberking?” I asked.

“It depends on several things, how often you train, the level of your skills, the skills you acquire through training or using your Sanguine steal, there are many variables,” Pixel said as I traversed the forest for several hours before I finally reached my destination. The gargoyles tall mountain was surrounded by a few small ones which would provide a perfect hiding place for me to gather my strength. I walked until I found a small stream and followed it till I found a nice out of sight place between two mountains.

“This palace is perfect, I will declare it my dungeon.” I said with a grin. The very mountains started to shake as the stone wall started to fall apart and took shape turning into a magnificent entrance.

“It's a bit much but it’ll work.” I said before I walked inside to see the new layout of my dungeon. I spent the next hour or so familiarizing myself with the layout and locations of each of the facilities. “This will do just fine, all I need to do now is lay low and grow my strength, but my skills are still problematic, I just hope that the crypt can help.” I said as I pulled up a menu. “Seems my blood essence was saved as well, that's good.” I said as I bought a few monsters to start working around the dungeon. “Now that that's settled, I need to work on getting better with my Poleaxe.” I said as I started training for what is to come.