Chapter 21
Theo summoned the Spectral Guard. Ten zombies were shuffling towards them; some had weapons, some didn’t. In the background, the necromancer was casting a spell. With a smile on his face, he said some incantation that sounded like gibberish to Theo. Theo, imbuing his sword with Cleanse, was fighting two zombies that were wielding swords. Their motions were jerky, as they were just puppets and not in control of their own bodies. Because of this, Theo was able to cut them both down with ease. He waited for three more to come for him; one came up on the side while the other two came from straight on. Theo attacked and dodged from the two zombies, losing track of the third one. At that moment, he felt a tinge of pain in his back. Doing a sidestep to the left, he then proceeded to backstep to get distance from the three zombies. He saw the third short sword was dripping blood—his blood. Theo lashed out with the chain on his left arm and smacked the zombie away, then the other three chains uncoiled from his body, imbuing all four of them as well with Cleanse. It looked like he was an angry octopus with four chains swirling around him. Theo used a Healing Touch on himself and cleansed the wound that had pierced his armor.
“What’s the point of wearing armor if it’s just like tissue paper?” Theo thought.
As they were down to the last two zombies, the necromancer's spell went off. It was a pulse of miasma that originated from the necromancer and then spread out.
The necromancer laughed. “Reinforcements are on the way,” the necromancer said in a scratchy voice.
Theo began to laugh. “That was the right call; smash the bodies, then I gotta thank my brother when I see him next,” Theo thought.
“What’s so funny?” the vampire said with a vicious grin.
“You’ll find out soon,” Theo said in response.
As he and the spectral guard cut down the last two zombies, the necromancer began to backpedal, his expression one of dawning horror. “My spell did not connect with any corpses.”
Reaching into his robe, the necromancer brought out a wand and started casting a dark bolt at him. Theo dodged, commanding the Spectral Guard to keep going further. The necromancer switched targets, but Theo and the Spectral Guard were gaining on him. The necromancer backed up and hit the wall of the vault.
“You will not kill me, and you will be my slave!” the vampire roared.
With that, psychic energy hit Theo, catching him off guard. It smashed through his mental defenses. Theo stumbled and fell to his right, his foot not responding due to the psychic attack. The Spectral Guard just stood there; the spell was active, but there was no command to move. The necromancer stepped forward, and it looked like he was gliding across the vault floor. An optical illusion from how long the robe was.
The vampire spoke in a singsong voice with a smile on his face. “See how weak and feeble you are? One simple attack and you’re down and out for the fight, poor, poor little venturer. Now you’ll be my slave until you die. Then I’ll raise you as an undead, and you’ll serve me for all eternity. How does that sound?”
Theo’s mind became cold—no anger, no fear, no emotion. His instinct, fueled by his bloodline, became focused. The mental noise caused by the psychic attack was gone, or in the background so far away it did not affect his mind. As the vampire got close enough, leaning down toward Theo and still talking, Theo imbued the sword with Cleanse and rammed it right through the necromancer’s mouth, out the back of his head, and kept on channeling Cleanse until the necromancer burst into flames. After he was done, Theo stood there, still in an extreme state of focus, looking around for the next threat. He heard a clunk on one of the pedestals to his right. Walking up to the pedestal, there was a lantern engraved with runes. Using Identify:
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Enchanted Lantern
This lantern is engraved with runes and features a small mana stone as its power source. It lasts up to 24 hours on the brightest setting. It is engraved to use the mana to recharge itself, but you can also infuse your mana to speed up the process.
Theo thought nothing of it, grabbed it, and turned it on. The light came off orangish, yellow, like a lit torch.
After 45 seconds, after the necromancer’s death, Theo’s mind cleared,
“What the fuck was that? That was one of the weirdest feelings I have ever experienced: the mind-numbing mental attack and then just clarity—no thought, just action. That was actually really scary,” Theo thought with a shiver.
Theo spent the rest of the day going through the ground level of the castle, capturing the vampires and letting them use their mind magic on him. Theo did this for the next three days. By the end of the third day, he decided to look at his notifications, which he had put off for the past couple of days.
Ding:
Battle Healer level 22 to level 24
Human grade F level 23 to level 24,
You have five free stat points to allocate.
Mental Resistance, Common, Master 2 to Uncommon Novice 0
Meditation Common, Journeyman 5 to 8
Looking at his character sheet, he allocated all the free stat points to perception.
Theodore Thompson
Race: Human F-Grade Lv. 24
Class: Battle Healer Lv. 24
Profession: Warden Lv. 25
Health: 740/740
Mana: 930/930
Stamina: 750/750
Stats:
Vitality: 74
Strength: 69
Endurance: 75
Agility: 71
Intelligence: 93
Wisdom: 83
Willpower: 105
Perception: 63
Free Points: 0
Class Skills:
Healing Touch, Common, master 1
Cleanse, Common, Master 1
Target Healing, Common, Journeyman 6
Healers Intuition, Common, Novice 0
Clean Common, novice 1
Sword Mastery, Common, master 1
Club Mastery, Common, Journeyman 2
profession skills
Warden’s Knowledge, N/A: Warden Site, Common, Novice 0: Universal translator, N/A: Spectral Guard, Journeyman 6: Warden’s suggestion, Journeyman 4, Novice 9: Warden's Command, Common, Novice 4: Warden’s Key, Common, Novice 0: Summon Handcuffs, Common, Novice 7
General Skills:
Inspect, Common, Novice 1
Meditation Common, Journeyman 8
Bonded Skills:
Respond and Chains of Gehenna
Titles: Warden of Gehenna
Bloodline Skills:
Mental Resistance, Uncommon Novice 0
Physical Resistance, Common, Master 7
Soul Resistance, Common, Master 0
Bloodline: Fortitude
Bonds:
Galaxy Trade Store tablet, Chains of Gehenna, the Prison Gehenna, Sword Cane Rare
At this point, the mental manipulation didn’t even faze him; he no longer felt or was influenced in any way by the vampires’ magic. Theo decided to call it a day and headed back to the inn.
“Good evening, Theo,” the host said as Theo walked in.
“Good evening to you, host,”
“You seem to be in a better mood,” the host said.
“Yes, I’m finally done with resistance training,” Theo said with a smile.
“So tomorrow, are you going to fight the Guardian?”
“Yes,” Theo said with pride.
The host went back and got a delicious meal of chicken and dumplings with a weak beer. Theo devoured it with gusto, went upstairs, and slept. The following morning, Theo got up, said his greetings to the host, and entered the castle through the main entrance. Theo went up the stairs to the second floor. From there, from his vantage point atop the stairs, he saw a massive room with cracked marble floors, and there were some chandeliers still standing, while some were smashed on the floor. There was a stage on the right-hand side of the room, and there was a bigger stage at the back side of the room.
“I’m guessing this is the ballroom?” Theo thought.
Theo noticed there was a door in the backstage area. Heading towards that, he entered the door and found a hallway that led to the living quarters of the Royal family. Going through the rooms, he saw nothing of value; all the rooms were shattered and destroyed. From there, there was a door that led to a circular staircase that went up. Remembering the outside of the miasma falling from a tower, Theo headed up. As he got to the top, there was no door entering the top of the turret. He saw a vampire wearing a crown. The man was regal; the only things that separated him from looking human were his pointy teeth and eyes that resembled voids instead of eyes.
“Good evening, adventurer. I hope my subjects' hospitality in this fine town has been to your liking,” the vampire said in a kind tone of voice..
