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It looked like a complete mess. The robots only had time to reload crossbows. And the technicians even had a prototype of some kind of elementary firearm. They were the only ones who saved us – if not for the army of technicians, we definitely would not have been able to cope with so many conquests. Although the robots could not penetrate the magic armor, the weakest of the players were already out of action.
– KISHI! – said Sienna, and Hyde did not have time to parry the killing spell. And it takes away the entire supply of lives if it goes well.
Our enemy fell to the ground and disappeared into thin air.
«Your reputation with the Freed faction has decreased by two units.»
«Your reputation with the Conquest faction has decreased by forty-two points.»
– Has your reputation also fallen? – I asked.
– Still would! Direct killing spells are the strong point of the conquests, and here Gerber strictly forbade them. Okay, let’s give them a hard time. We all use any yellow spell together.
– DONE! – I said. Usually the shock wave only came from the staff, but now it spread in all directions at once, and one after another our enemies were thrown back to the walls.
Meanwhile, Dirk continued to walk towards the exit, pushing away enemies.
– We need to stop him immediately! Sienna said. – DEPRESSION! – a violet beam headed towards Dirk. But his shield could not be broken so easily. He turned in our direction.
– SAMPT-NIEN! – he said. This meant approximately: «No shield.» A red spot appeared on our blue hemisphere, which continued to grow in size.
– NAYEN! – I tried to cancel the effect of his spells.
«It’s no use,» Sienna said. – His spell is more complex; it consists of several connected words. Against a spell of the second level, spells of the first are powerless. I don’t know any second-level spells yet. They will become available only from level forty.
Something needs to be done about this urgently! If our shield disappears, then we will not hold out for long against superior enemy forces. Although, what could be simpler? Just cancel the shield cancel.
– NAYEN-NAYEN-SAMPT! – I said. A red beam shot out from my staff. But after half a second, the staff in my hands shattered into pieces.
– What are you talking about! You have a weak staff for second-level spells! He is not able to pass such an amount of energy through himself!
A few seconds later our shield burst like a soap bubble. And then about twenty green rays flew in our direction.
Again a sharp ache all over the body.
And I woke up at the spawn point. I was surrounded by elves and poured some strange-smelling infusions over me. I want to tell you that it is not a pleasant feeling to come to life. There was a feeling that you were being turned inside out, then you disappeared in one place and appeared in another. In general, I don’t recommend trying it.
Level 3. Ghost Squad
Gerber was waiting for us in the throne room. A gray-haired, bearded old man sat on a throne. There were guards around. The light from the windows near the ceiling was an even white blanket, but the candles were still burning, adding to the solemnity of the atmosphere. It smelled of rose oil and wine. Minstrels played lutes.
– How he escaped! – I didn’t expect such a loud voice from the old man. I even jumped on the spot, honestly! – The technicians could not allow such an oversight! They have never been friends with magicians, which is why I entrusted Dirk into their hands. They believed that he was accidentally captured by them, but in fact the Order of the Frieds did everything possible to ensure that the head of the conquests was imprisoned as long as possible.
Although, why am I blaming the technicians? It’s only my fault! I was too careless! The time has come to prepare for war. Before this there were endless skirmishes, but now the enemy has a leader again. And conquests cannot live without war, because power and conquest are their element. Friends, I want to warn Melissa about the impending danger.
New task. Accept.
– She is now in Parkwell, which is southwest of Darville. Harness your horses and ride to her!
The six of us immediately rushed to complete this task. It seems that we were the very first to be in the thick of things, so the main thing is not to miss the chance and complete a number of unique tasks. Most likely, they will give us all sorts of goodies. Come over to our side – we have cookies!
But the path lay through the Cursed Forest.
– It looks like the developers are planning some serious changes in the plot of the game! Sienna said. – Now, I can imagine the faces of the arrogant ones from the Sable clan! We will receive unique tasks that will not be available to them! And our tops will also bite their elbows for not being, like us, in the right place at the right time!
***
The light somehow made its way through the thick foliage. The forest was dark and gloomy. An eerie, ominous silence reigned. It was even scary to break it by stepping on a branch. Here and there an owl hoots or a wolf howls. And fog, which makes it very difficult to know where you will step next.
– Guys, be careful! Sienna said. – Here mobs appear from the void. Been here several times – unpleasant place. And I don’t really want to come here a second time from the respawn point – I can’t stand this horror.
We walked on, stepping carefully. Then Sienna motioned for us to stop.
– Do you hear? – she whispered. I was just trying to answer when suddenly a ghost appeared in front of us. It was a gray-bearded man in knight’s armor.
– What did you forget, travelers, in our forest? He is ours, and only ours. And we don’t invite guests at all.
«Let us go to Parkwell,» Still said.
– You chose the wrong route.
– But there is simply no other! – Bran intervened.
– But there is also no other way through our forest, except to reach the outskirts of the forest, becoming a ghost. This path is closed to the living!
The knight clicked his teeth and flew towards us. My companions realized faster, and they were already wearing blue shields.
– SAMPT! – I shouted when the ghost was a couple of steps away from me, and he hit the blue hemisphere.
– MALLEBAR! – I shot orange lightning towards the ghost, but he did not pay attention to my magic, which did not harm him
– DONE! – Robert shouted, but the shock wave only hit the trees, and the ghost continued to tear apart our shields.
– KISHI! – said Bran, but a green ray entered the ghost and spread evenly over his translucent body.
The knight laughed:
– Are you thinking of killing the dead man? You can’t have two deaths, but you can’t avoid at least one!
– DEPRESSION! – Still made his last attempt when his shield had already burst. A purple stream enveloped the ghost’s body, and he fell to his knees.
«I listen and obey, my lord,» said the ghost.
– Yes! The subjugation spell worked! – Still smiled. – Tell me, how can you be killed?
– I’ve been dead for half a millennium. It’s impossible to kill me.
– Okay, how can I… Calm you down?
– Please, no need! I will do anything for you…
– Speak!
– The spell of all-purifying light sends the ghosts on their final journey.
– Name him.
– LIGHTENIS! – the ghost whispered, and a light white haze flew from his lips, and a new spell – or rather, a new branch of spells – white in color, shone on my panel. Without the staff, the spells were too weak to do any good or harm. It’s so good that they made me a new staff! Otherwise he would now be as useless as this ghost.
«A second-level spell,» Sienna whispered. Only my staff can do such things; yours will crumble into pieces from it. Tell me, knight, how many people like you are there in this forest?
– Once upon a time there were two hundred of us. We swore an oath to serve King Charles faithfully, just as we served his father. But Charles turned out to be a bad king. He spent his days and nights on wine and women, but he didn’t care about his native lands. When his younger brother Stan rebelled, we joined his army. After all, the threat of attack by the Styrians was great, and Karl did not care about anything except a cheerful and wild life.
Stan and I entered the royal city. Stan stabbed his brother with his sword. But before his death he uttered words of curse. The phrase spoken before his death acquired special power, and since then everyone who swore an oath of allegiance to Charles, but disobeyed it, was cursed forever.
Since then we have been groaning among the forests, and there is no peace for our souls.
– Take us to the edge of the forest! – Still commanded.
– Yes, master. Only I am far from the only one who will attack you. We hate the living. We despise their happiness, which we did not know. We envy their ability to experience warm feelings that we have already forgotten. We also want to be loved, but no one will ever love us. We want to be alive – or at least just die. But even this is not available to us!
The ghost led us through the labyrinth of the forest. He turned left and right, and we could barely keep up with the flying creature.
The wolf sat baring his teeth at us, but as soon as the ghost flew closer, he ran away, howling pitifully.
We found ourselves in a small clearing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, more ghosts appeared. Dead warriors surrounded us on all sides.
«I warned you, master, the path through the forest is dangerous,» said our knight, who was shining with the purple light of submission.
– What have the living forgotten in this forest! – one of the dead warriors shouted in a terrible, sepulchral voice. – We didn’t invite you. Although, I am ready to invite you to our squad. Guys, let’s make them dead too. We haven’t made new friends for a long time.
The knights clicked their teeth, staring at us with glowing red eyes.
– SAMPT! – without saying a word, all six said at the same time, and a large blue shield immediately enveloped the entire brotherhood. The ghosts flew towards us and began to bite our defenses.
«The shield won’t last long against such numbers,» Bran noted.
«We need to try a new spell,» Sienna said. – LIGHTENIS!
For a few moments, time seemed to stand still. A white beam shot out from Sienna’s staff, but literally a moment later the light filled everything around. I went blind, and for a couple of seconds the only thing I could see was a bright, all-consuming light.
When the haze cleared, our shield was no longer there – it seems that the light destroys all spells, even those cast by us. The ghosts suddenly began to turn into fog.
– Thank you! I’m free now! – said the knight who was our prisoner. – The light cleansed me from the curse!
Sienna fell to her knees.
– What happened to you? – I asked.
«The spell drained all my strength.» You see, the energy is almost zero.
– But you alone dealt with so many enemies! Let’s help her, guys.
– SAMPT! – we said together, and the resulting blue shield began to feed the girl with energy.
After resting a bit, we moved on.
We walked further through the forest without incident. Of course, wolves and guardian birds attacked a couple of times, but are single mobs really an obstacle for such a brave squad as ours?
Then we came out onto the plain. In the distance was the beautiful fortified city of Parkwell. We got there only at sunset. We asked for the guards, and we were taken straight to Melisa.
– Oh, my friends, what have you forgotten in these parts?
«King Gerber sent us to you to convey important news,» I said. – Dirk, the head of the conquests, broke free.
Melissa’s eyes filled with horror.
«Now everything will change,» she said. «I’m wondering why our enemies are so self-confident lately.»
Melissa came closer to me and whispered in my ear:
– Parkwell is filled with conquests. They captured me. Tell Gerber about it. They are dressed as simple peasants, but they have wands hidden under their peasant clothes. Be careful, but be sure to tell the king about it. We must not allow this plague to spread throughout the kingdom. I can’t handle such a huge number of villains alone. But if they gain power throughout the kingdom, it will be too late to fight. Tell it to Gerber while you still have time!
– KISHI! – there was a scream from behind, and Melisa, enveloped in green flame, fell to the ground. An unpleasant man stood behind him with an outstretched staff.
«But I thought it was that Melisa really came over to our side.» And she decided to be a spy and report everything to the enemy. For the sake of order, I suggest you come to us. Let’s conquer the world together.
The inscription hung in the air: «Change faction.» Refuse.
Sienna readied her staff for an attack.
– DEPRESSION! – said the conquest, and Sienna stood, shrouded in purple threads. – Not so fast. I know what you did with the ghosts, but there’s no point in waving a staff around.
We didn’t even notice when more people appeared behind us. Now the six of us stood, wrapped in threads of submission.
– I forgot to introduce myself – Count Mallon, an old friend of Countess Melissa. I’m very sorry, but the ideas of conquest are closer to me than the peaceful life that the Frieds propagate. The world is collapsing much faster than people can build it. Now the head of the conquests is free again, and we can go on the offensive. I have already prepared one army.
Behind Mallon, ghost knights appeared from the void
– But how were you able to subdue the ghosts? – Bran was surprised. – Depresis can make slaves of one or two, but you have a whole army!
– Once upon a time, they swore an oath to King Charles, which they did not fulfill during their lifetime, but after death they are obliged to obey it.
A half-decomposed corpse walked into the center of the hall. He smelled of death. He walked with his arms outstretched and chattering his teeth.
– Meet Karl. I’ve been interested in necromancy for a long time. I awakened many wights. Some of you have even fought with my warriors in the Elsky Burial Grounds.
Then I remembered the terrible sight I saw while looking for Gran. Hundreds of restless people wandered back and forth, without a shadow of a thought. Their only desire was death and revenge. So was Charles, the long-dead king who cursed many infidels.
