Rise of The Undead Legion

"Is everything in order?" Warlord asked through voice com. He was currently moving rapidly through Icathia's streets. Beside him were Satan Slayer, Valentine, a Priest, a Ranger, and an Assassin and five more characters Dave didn't even bother looking at twice. These players were the highest level players and part of the inner circle for the Devastators super guild. Backed by their own powerful companies, they had obtained the best gears and hogged the best EXP areas.     

In a game where being in the lead was all that mattered, even a small advantage over their enemies could spell the rise and fall of a guild. This mere expedition to the Underworld would give The Devastators an edge over their competitors. Every level gained at this stage of the game translated into a huge advantage. And judging by Dave's adventures it was a treasure trove only waiting to be taken.     

"Yes, Guild-Master!" Jeffery's voice sounded to the party through the voice chat. "The device has been planted. I did not get any notification about something happening to it. Skelly doesn't seem to suspect a thing. Now can you tell me what you meant by 'keeping him occupied' ?"     

"The less you know the better. Now get ready. The A teams will start the assault first thing tomorrow morning."     

"Isn't Dave's friend with the A-team? Won't he notify him?" Jeffery wondered.     

"Blaster himself isn't aware of any of this. Anyway as I just said, the less you know the better. Just make sure to contact me the moment your Mecha comes off cooldown."     

"Right boss," Jeffery replied and hung up.     

"Let me ask you one final time, are you completely sure you want to do this?" Valentine questioned his long time friend with a worried expression.     

"Yeah. This is the way things should be. I don't care if he's the most famous person in the game or that he may have the highest level right now. I only care about the reputation of our Guild. Once we pull this off, Skelly's rocketing fame will stop. His invincibility will dissipate."     

"But if you fail…" Valentine decided it was for the best to not finish the sentence. He usually was not one for superstition but a bit of extra luck couldn't hurt.     

"I won't! I have everything planned out. You'll see Val. It will be just like in the old days!" Warlord ensured him.     

"If you say so, man. I'm backing you no matter what," Valentine replied with a smile. Still, he could not help but think: 'The old you would not risk everything, just to rise back to the top…'      

"I know you got my back, now let's do this!" Warlord finished his words.      

As if on cue, he appeared at the Teleportation Gate.     

The Doom Knight Kis'Shtiengbrah, also known as Mr. Skeletal, nicknamed Skelly by the masses, stood tall in the middle of the plaza.     

The NPC guards and Church Paladins were looking at him eerily, but they decided it was in their best interest to remain unmoving and not do anything to get noticed by the domineering Doom Knight.     

The mere presence of such a 'Monster' was usually enough to send all the NPCs into a panicked flight away from him. But thanks to the already regular appearance of Kis'Shtiengbrah, the NPCs instead regarded him with mild fear and interest.     

The Undead, however, looked unusually annoyed. He was tapping his metallic boot on the ground, making an eerie sound that resounded through the plaza. For some reason, most of the people around were quiet, making the tapping sound like the beatings of a metallic heart.     

 "You guys know I have better stuff to do right?" Dave called out in the open.     

"Sorry for taking a while, we had to gather the team. Do you have them with you?" Valentine apologized as he had hurried from around a corner.     

"Yeah, here," Dave answered by pulling out ten teleportation scrolls for the third Raid Zone, The Pharaoh's Tomb.     

Valentine took the scrolls and handed each of the players next to him one.     

"Let's go then," Dave hurried.     

Dave noticed the players fidgeting with the scrolls in their hands, while the Priest of the party was gazing intently at the codes and patterns of the scroll.     

"You can go first. After all, we need you to be there, so you can stop the other Undead from attacking us on sight," the Assassin of the party spoke up.     

Dave tilted his head, "Right… Oh, one more thing. You can forget about copying the scrolls. It takes an Undead with the Grandmaster Scroll Creation Skill," Dave revealed with his trademark grin starting directly at the Priest.     

He had realized that the Priest must have been trying to copy the codes to recreate the scrolls. Fortunately, the Undead King had long since taken the necessary preparations to prevent his enemies from using such a method to invade them. Even if they fell into the wrong hands any foreign entity would immediately be attacked, making those scrolls useless unless whoever used one was accompanied by Dave.     

The Priest frowned for a moment but hid his expression almost immediately.     

Dave laughed and tore his own scroll.     

He appeared in the Underworld, right in front of the Teleportation Gate of the Pharaoh's Tomb Raid zone.     

The Teleportation Gate had been erected in the middle of a great square, where the black and gold pyramid overlooked the whole city.     

The high walls of the city and the dark buildings gave off an eerie look to the entire thing. Not to mention, the numerous Undead that roamed about.     

Around the Gate stood more than a dozen Death Knights. Mere guards to the Gate. Their combined power was enough to cause problems for anyone of the Devastators players.     

Soon, Warlord appeared, followed by Valentine and the rest of the players.     

"Welcome to our humble abode!" Dave greeted them in an overly dramatic fashion with both hands opened wide.     

The Undead around Dave were grimly staring at the players. Their hostile gazes sent shivers down their spines. But they were not foolish enough to show weakness.     

"Where are we going to grind?" Warlord took a step forward to instill some confidence in his guild members.     

"Well, I can take you outside. There should be more than a few Manticors strewn about under the sand here. They'll give a decent amount of EXP." Dave suggested.     

"We saw the Manticores outside these gates in your videos. They don't seem like they are worth the effort. What about a dungeon? Or better yet what about the next Raid Zone?" the Assassin spoke up.     

"Right, I forgot that I also shared the fourth raid zone with CCN. I guess it should be fine. If you want to grind there, then I won't mind. Only, do you think you can survive the area on your own when the Undead have yet to take control?" Dave asked.     

"We can handle ourselves." Warlord answered with pride, "Just take us out of the city."      

"Follow me and stay close, please," Dave shrugged and led the way.     

The Undead gave way for Dave, but they didn't change their behavior toward the party, their grim and tense reaction towards them only heightened the more the players moved toward the city gate.     

"I advise that you guys should move faster," Dave's voice did not hide his schadenfreude.     

"We didn't agree to this! These Undead are looking for a fight!" Warlord complained, his voice fused with anger.     

"I'm sorry bud, but these aren't my Undead. I don't control them. Besides, our deal was only for me to get you to the Underworld and ensure you won't get shredded to pieces as soon as you arrive. I'm already doing you a favor by ensuring you get safely to the Fourth Raid Zone. So far I'm above and beyond the contract terms." Dave argued while hastening his pace.     

"Shit, keep moving!" Warlord commanded and followed after Dave.     

The Undead began moving after the fleeing humans. While Dave was moving ahead, he had a grin on his face. He made a mental note to thank Dagla for making it difficult for the players to stay within the city and interact with anything or anyone.     

The fewer advantages he gave them the better for him.     

Soon after, the party arrived at the front gate. Dave asked the Knights to open the gate while making a visible effort in making the whole situation look urgent.     

Once the gate was open, Dave turned to the players and said, "Now, enjoy your grinding," Dave said.     

The party looked at Dave questioningly but they didn't talk back, they grouped up and headed east.     

After half an hour walk, the party stopped and turned, Dave was following behind them like a shadow.     

"What the fuck man?!" Warlord shouted.     

Dave had both hands behind his head, and was smiling, "What?"     

"Stop following us!"     

"I'm not following you, I'm just taking a stroll," Dave replied innocently.     

Warlord frowned, but Valentine calmed him down with a pat on the shoulder, "We're a bit uneasy with you behind us, could you please leave us?"     

"Sorry bruh, but I'm just taking a casual stroll. You don't have to worry about me backstabbing you guys if that's what you've been thinking about. I'm not the sort to do that, you know. Now, why would I try to do anything about our perfectly wonderful cooperation so far? Honestly, I think that people who go around the back of others are the lowest of the low, don't you agree?"     

Warlord frowned. Was this a coincidence or was there a real possibility that Dave had somehow found out about their assault on the East? No, that can't be. The information was tightly locked down. Blaster has not been informed and even Jeffery had been fed some false information, just in case. There's no way it got leaked.     

"Boss, you want me to take him down?," the Assassin boldly volunteered.     

But before Warlord could even reprimand the Assassin, Dave took the opportunity to summon Tiny.     

"Bring out the Knights," Dave ordered. The Slime immediately transformed into its massive hulking size and began summoning sarcophagi in mid-air. A hundred Death Knight emerged from the boxes and dropped to the ground.     

They stood facing the ten players.     

"What is the meaning of this?" Warlord looked at the Draugr.     

"Easy, big shot! I'm just feeling a bit of fear for my life you know. It's hard to level up nowadays, and your Assassin just said he wanted to kill me. These are my bodyguards," Dave told him grinning.     

The obvious threat from Dave's show of power was enough to shut the Assassin up and make him regret ever antagonizing Dave.     

The pressure Dave had on the party had now increased a hundred times over.     

"We don't want any trouble man, just leave us be."     

"Don't worry, don't worry," Dave said calmly, "I won't do anything to ruin your fun. Go ahead, enjoy yourselves. I told you, all I'm doing is taking a casual stroll… now with a hundred Death Knights."     

The hideous smile never faded from Dave's face, giving the players more unease.     

"Let's just ignore him. If he pulls anything we can show the world how Kis'Shtiengbrah really acts." Satan Slayer spoke loud enough for Dave to hear.     

Dave shrugged at this empty threat.     

The party moved forward toward the east. They couldn't help but look over their shoulders every now and then, to see the pesky, unrelenting, smiling and shameless draugr and his entourage following closely behind.     

It appeared as if the draugr was not going to give them any peace of mind during their stay.