Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1295: Unexpected Enemies



Skullius remembered every detail about his trip to Maqi - as his possessed self. Since his intent for coming here wasn't nearly as daring as what he had had in mind last time, he was determined to ensure that his approach didn't trigger the egos of the Maqians; that was all too easy to accomplish with the right amount of cockiness, after all.

He made sure to descend quite far from Maqi's capital and that he would be spotted by hidden sentries. (They weren't so hidden before his natural divine senses.)

The Maqians embraced nature almost as much as the Sif, only, they did in their own way. They valued the land more than its produce - trees and all forms of vegetation. This fact was embodied by the sentries who rushed to receive Skullius and Elita as soon as they landed.

They had been disguised as anthills in a woodland nearby, absorbing and expelling mana as they waited and watched. All four of them held a Class that Skullius found most interesting - Shamanic Mage. It was the same Class the old hag, Umbett, who had accompanied the Ode to Opungale, possessed.

The four approached calmly. They were dressed in beautiful hides that might have looked no different from cotton shirts and pants from a distance. The pressure of Incandescent Stagers roared from their bodies.

One of them, a short man with a long neck, looked Skullius dead in the eye.

"What do you want here... creature?" he asked.

There was less malice than Skullius would have expected. It seemed the man had recognised his strength. At least, he was poised not to start with hostility when faced with something he didn't quite understand.

This made matters easier for Skullius. He didn't have to face slap before getting down to business.

He had been about to give the short man an appropriate answer when his extraordinary senses traced the shape of another one of the sentries, a woman with long, brown hair and small, sharp green eyes.

Skullius' mind whirred. Suddenly, he was in a hall of ice where millions upon millions of souls were caged in huge, frosty blocks. He was looking upon a familiar soul, bound like the others, only, he felt it resonate with his.

THRUM. THRUM. THRUM!

"MY LIEGE!"

Beyrmir's voice woke the Hybrid Warmoth up. Everything returned to normal.

Again, Elita was giving him a curious look.

'Dammit!' Skullius thought, seething. This was ridiculous. Again, Doom Factor 2 had been triggered, and just because the Maqian woman he had seen had brown hair, like Camilla's!

'Thanks, Beyrmir,' Skullius said to the Apostle.

Beyrmir had retreated back into his master's body after they had started descending. He acknowledged his master's gratitude with a sense of unease. This wasn't going to be the last time his master needed waking.

Elita would have asked if Skullius was alright, but that wouldn't do with enemies about. That would make him look weak, especially in front of the Maqians. They had noticed how oddly Skullius was behaving just now.

Before everything got too awkward, Skullius spelled his identity to the Maqians in a very simple fashion.

A vast, dark shadow pooled at his feet and a great, glowing jewel appeared over his head, shining with a piercing, but limited light.

"The Maqians' eyes widened.

At once, they realised that they didn't need to be so wary. In fact, they were to escort this man to the First Horn immediately!Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Skullius had made quite an impression the last time he was here in Maqi. Practically all the high-level experts knew about him. He was the only non-native to ever be brought before the First Horn and live to tell the tale.

Those that hadn't seen him personally had been told about his distinct appearance and features, most unique of all, the dark shadow that followed him, and the miniature sun above his head what had been the [Heart of Revelation] before. It was also known that he had been acknowledged by the First Horn. Some form of agreement had been brokered between the

two.

"Follow," the short, long-necked Maqian said to Skullius and Elita.

The journey was rather quick.

The four Shamanic Mages raced through the lands and of course, they expected Skullius to keep up.

Elita gave the Warmoth a concerned look. She didn't say the words, but he felt her probing. Now wasn't the time to tell her about Doom Factor 2 over a cup of tea though. He signalled that he would explain later.

As they crossed through multiple towns and villages, Skullius noticed that Maqi was quite untouched, and not just by the assault of the Cavern.

His possessed self had formed a Creed that ensued that their battle would only be hosted in heavily populated places across Aigas. The battle had ravaged Pelian and Emeradis, Skullius remembered. He didn't recall them devastating Maqi.

Great houses built from mud and wood - created splendid, well-organised towns and cities where millions lived, safe and unbothered, even with the threat of the Cavern at hand.

The many Cavern corpses Skullius saw, all piled outside villages and cities, suggested to him that Maqi had swiftly taken care of a wave of Cavern recently. Their skies were clear and so were their lands. The Cavern, if they had a strict budget for their forces allocated to different places, were likely late in realising that a staggering portion of their army had already fallen. 'If Maqi had been serious about punishing Opungale - truly bloodthirsty - the Sif would have been wiped off the face of Aigas,' Skullius thought to himself.

A force of 1,000 had been sent to Opungale a week ago, and the whole nation had been paralysed. If the possessed Skullius hadn't been there, things might have ended differently.

Soon, the group had arrived in Maqi's capital.

All the cities, towns and villages in the nation had no fixed names of their own, not even this one; to identify them, the name of the individual that lorded over them was used. The Maqians believed in plainly giving power to the one who oversaw the land, not the land itself. In this case, to refer to the capital, one only had to say, 'The First Horn's domain' or 'The First Horn's City'.

The capital had no walls. From the widest entrance, all the way to what was clearly the First Horn's palace dozens of kilometers away, great earthen sculptures could be seen, each at least forty meters tall and nearly half as wide. They were all moulded after the previous First Horns. This was way this singular, straight road to the First Horn's premises was called the Hallowed Road. It was forbidden to walk along the Hallowed Road if your purpose wasn't to meet the First Horn.

Skullius hadn't gotten the time to admire this city before. Immediately after he had arrived with a Maqian ship, holding Umbett and the Ode of the First Horn as hostages, he had been imprisoned while awaiting an audience with the ruler of the nation. (He allowed it, of course.) Now, as soon as all the powerhouses saw his 'sun and shadow', they marvelled and allowed him and the four Shamanic Mages to pass without any qualms.

Soon, the group had arrived before the great entrance into the hall of the great palace.

They had just stepped in when Skullius felt an extreme sense of foreboding. This time, Elita

sensed it too. She frowned.

The only threat that could have made both of them wary was...

'Consequences...' Skullius thought. The presences he sensed...

The great hall, made of dry mud varnished in some way to be smooth and shiny, almost like glass, was gorgeous. It had three layers; the first accommodated the First Horns palace guards, all female Incandescent Stagers, the second layer, higher than the last, held sixteen of the First Horn's personal guards and the last, the topmost, held a large, earthen bowl with a large, fat tree growing in it.

The First Horn nested within, looking down on his two guests.

When Skullius and Elita entered the great hall, his eyes turned to them instead. The two

before him did the same.

...!!!

Skullius' eyes widened to the limit, and then they turned cold.

"You," he hissed.

"Me? Have we met before?" the man skullius was glaring at said with a cool, calm smile. He narrowed his eyes at Skullius' 'sun and shadow', however. "Ah, I see. Time works wonders."

The broad-shouldered man with long, dark hair and sharp, almond eyes that released a piercing grey light chuckled.

The other man by his side, much younger in comparison, not to mention smaller, looked at

Skullius with intrigue.

"We meet again," he said.

The Hybrid Warmoth scowled at him.

The potent power of Undeath hidden within the young man was too distinct for Skullius to

miss.

'I knew that damned necromancer had another card up his sleeve!' Skullius thought. Fulgardt seemed delighted by Skullius' reaction.

"Ah, of course you know my partner too. How fortunate," he said and then he turned to the

First Horn. "I suppose this was whom you were referring to? The man you made a deal with

previously?"

The First Horn simply frowned at this.

Fulgardt wore a sinister grin, one that made Skullius want to puke.

"Well now. How shall we resolve this?" the Immoral said.