The Witch in the Sleeping Forest -2-
"Ugh... ughh..."
While I was venting my rage at the monster, the Death Knight—whose body had been scorched by its recent attack—let out a groan as if to say he was still alive. A good chunk of his body was charred, but he endured. It was the kind of blow that could've killed him instantly, but Death Knights had a skill that let them survive one fatal hit per day with 1 HP remaining. And thanks to the undead's signature tenacious vitality, he could still move without issue even in that state.
-Whirrr!!
I immediately cast Necro Healing, the recovery spell exclusive to undead.
Necro Healing
-Pling!
"Roooaaar!!"
The Death Knight, burned but now restored to perfect condition, roared back to life.
"Grrr..."
Seeing this, the monster growled low from its disproportionately small mouth on that massive head, wary of the Death Knight that hadn't died from its attack.
-Shrrk...
It must've had some mimicry ability—its skin, previously like fortress stone, gradually shifted to the texture of living flesh, tough and rubbery like brown hide.
-Thud! Thud!!
"Roooaaar!!"
"Grraaah!!"
"Hiihiihing!!"
"Haha!!"
I issued real-time orders in my mind, and my undead began forming a encirclement around the beast. Death Knights and Necro Guards advanced to the front, Dullahan positioned behind them, and the Liches took up the rearmost position with us. In the sky hovered pale, grumpy-looking Geists, while Shadow Walkers lurked in our shadows, ready for ambushes at any moment. Not a single gap—the encirclement was airtight, mechanical in its precision, a tactic I'd loved using back in the low-level days of the game.
"Grrrh..."
The beast let out another small growl, surrounded meticulously from floor to ceiling.
Then—
-Flash!!
"GRRROOOAAAR!!!"
Dozens of eyes embedded in its body snapped open all at once. I could feel massive mana gathering in each one. It must've decided splitting us up numerically wasn't working and activated every evil eye to blast in all directions.
"Not on my watch."
Evil eyes that inflicted curses like sleep, paralysis, or petrification didn't work on undead. Surprisingly, undead had high resistance to curses in general, plus resistances to all sorts of status ailments. But Auroray Fantasia had tons of evil eye types, including ones that dealt magical attacks rather than curses—like the ignition evil eye it'd used earlier. Evil eyes were powerful, instant-cast abilities that hit anywhere in line of sight regardless of distance. But they weren't invincible.
The counter I'd spammed endlessly in the game? I deployed it the moment I sensed mana pooling in its eyes.
-Fwoosh!!
A massive wall of black flame erupted before me and my minions, shielding us all.
-Fweeeeen!!!
A split-second later, after I'd already blocked the front with black flame, its evil eyes fired in unison.
-KABOOM!!!
A bizarre barrage of multicolored spells slammed into us—or tried to—but the black flames stopped them cold.
-Fwoosh!!
The magic from the evil eyes was devoured by the black flames, which burned even spells themselves, vanishing without a trace.
The weakness of evil eyes: block their line of sight before activation, and the attacks fizzle.
That blocked the assault. Sure, some eyes had penetration vision, remote viewing, or clairvoyance to bypass obstructions, but thankfully, this thing didn't seem to have those.
"Grrrh!?"
Stunned that its evil eyes had failed, the beast hesitated—but I pressed the advantage.
-Fwoosh!!
The black flame wall, fattened by devouring the spells, surged forward like a tidal wave to engulf it.
"KRAAAGH!!!"
-Screeech!!
Sensing danger, it activated a few more evil eyes. Some fizzled on contact with the flames before I could even tell their effects; one spewed frigid cold and ice chunks that froze the stone floor, pillars, and walls—but
-Fwoom!!
Plain ice and cold stood no chance against black flames. Hell, since it was mana-based, it just fed the fire, making it burn hotter.
"GRRRROOO!!!"
-Fwoosh!!
Feeling the flames' unnatural menace, it fired off more evil eyes.
-Fweeen!!
-Crack!!
-Tsss!!
Its body wrapped in a translucent barrier, then encased in a thick layer of ice.
-Fwoosh!!
The black flames couldn't touch its core, latching onto the outermost ice barrier instead.
"Tch, a shield, huh?"
And in that instant—
-Crack!
-BOOM!!
The ice shield shattered in a shockwave, scattering ice shards and the clinging flames everywhere.
"Grrrh!!"
The black flames harmlessly fell away, failing to hit the main body.
Exactly the same counter I used against Flamma.
It'd improvised the perfect response to black flames on the spot. Simple implication: this thing was smart. Real smart.
"GRRRROOOOAAAAA!!!!"
Having repelled the flames but knowing it'd lose if we closed in, it bellowed a frantic, desperate roar that echoed through the castle.
-GRRROOOAAAR!!
Then, from all directions—
"Grrrh!!"
"Graaah!!"
Smaller monsters with similar builds but fewer eyes (one or two) and shrunken size floated in at high speed. Smaller than the boss, sure, but still bigger than humans—bigger than even the Gulshik Ogre. And flanking it were two especially huge ones, near-ogre sized with over a dozen eyes each, hovering protectively.
"It's called for reinforcements."
"Uuu...!!"
"Eeek...!!!"
In response to the growls from its oversized escorts, Kangjang and Dena flanked me protectively, growling threats of their own.
"Heh, guarding me? Good girls."
"Auu!!"
"Uee!!"
Compared to these tentacled, eye-studded horrors with heads like boulders, they looked downright cute. But anyone sensing the auras they exuded wouldn't dare say that. That's what high-grade undead were.
-Crack!
I rolled my shoulders. Unnecessary for undead, but habit.
"Alright then. Time for a proper war after so long."
"Grrrh."
My army and its faced off.
-Gooooh!!
Untold thousands of eyes clashed against the eerie morale of death spirits—dead yet alive—creating crushing pressure in between.
"Charge!!"
"GRRROOOAAAR!!!"
With our signals—
"ROOOAAAR!!!"
"GRRROOOAAAR!!!"
The two monstrous hordes collided.
War had begun.
-Slash!!
"Kieee!!"
-Fweeen!!
"Graaaah!!"
No chaotic melee here. My crew had already formed an ironclad phalanx like a castle wall. Our quality was superior, but their numbers were greater. No need to devolve into a brawl that favored them.
-Whirrr!!
"Heehee!! YeNebelbal Qwas!!"
Plus, with the Liches as fixed artillery in the rear, melee would've tangled friend and foe, making AoE spells tricky.
-Fwoosh!
-Boom!!
Liches barraged like cannons,
-Clang!
-Thud!!
"ROOOAAAR!!"
while Death Knights and Necro Guards shielded them and hacked at any foes that got close.
"Uuuoooh...!!!"
"Grrrh!?"
Overhead, Geists floated, securing air superiority by assaulting the flying evil-eye monsters and blocking their ascent to the ceiling.
-Slash!!
"Graaaah!!"
"Grararara!?"
"..."
Shadow Walkers shifted to shadow form, assassinating from blind spots unscathed by Lich spells thanks to their incorporeality. Like a vast machine in motion, the undead executed their roles with chilling discipline and order.
The enemy had numbers, but inferior quality—and
-Pewwww!!
"Uwaaah!!"
"Graaaah!?"
most had just one or two eyes, mostly curse-types useless against undead resistances. Their effects were nullified pointlessly.
"GRRROOO!!"
-Boom!!!
Instead, they spat mana orbs from their mouths—not very powerful, easily blocked by Death Knight and Necro Guard shields.
Overall, despite the evil-eye swarm's numerical edge, we held the advantage.
And amid the fray—
"Uuuuwaaah!!!!"
"Ueee!!"
"GRRROOO!!"
"Grrrrr!!!"
Kangjang, Dena, and I dueled at the center. Fierce doesn't cover it—no other monster could've intervened without being pulped by the shockwaves.
Kangjang and Dena took the ogre-sized flankers; naturally, I had the original boss.
"GRRROOO!!!"
-Whirrrrr!!!
Massive mana gathered in its mouth.
-Fwoosh!!
I armored myself in black flames to block any evil eyes.
Judging them futile, it prepared a mouth-blast like the small fry—but on this scale, it rivaled a dragon's breath, mana condensing to insane levels. Excluding Flamma, this was the strongest foe I'd faced.
"Huuuuh..."
-Fwoosh!
I countered with a deep inhale gesture, black flames pooling at my mouth.
And then—
-KABOOOOOM!!!
-Fwoosh!!
A thick white mana beam erupted from the evil-eye monster alongside my black flame breath.
-KABOOOOOM!!!
They collided head-on.