Monarch Chapter 87

Chapter 87

The arcspiders were truly just the beginning.

Rayne realized that grim truth soon enough, and so did the rest of the army. Even that first ambush had cost more lives than it should have, and the ones that had died wouldn’t even be getting funerals. Casper and the other fire mages burned their bodies to make sure they didn’t turn into undead due to the death mana in the air.

And then they moved again.

The dungeon didn’t give them time to recover.

As the army pressed deeper, more undead began to strike—not in a single overwhelming wave, but in carefully timed assaults. Common undead always led the charge with their rusty weapons and sheer numbers.

But they were nothing more than bait.

While shields were raised and blades hacked through rotting flesh, the real threats followed.

Arcspiders dropped from ceilings again and again, mixed with bulkier variants whose chitin was thick enough to deflect most ordinary strikes. Undead lords emerged from side corridors and crashed into formations, trying to kill as many soldiers as they could. There were even death elementals—parasitic things that inhabited corpses like shells, warping dead bodies into golems that they controlled—and they were far deadlier than ordinary undead.

Within an hour, the army had lost more than two dozen men.

As a result, Commander Evans made the decision not to hold back mages and spellswords. Preserving their mana and energy meant nothing if it came at the cost of lives.

With the next few attacks, the army went on the offensive.

Fire and lightning tore through clustered mobs before they could fully engage. Ice locked corridors down, forcing undead into choke points where soldiers could finish them more cleanly. The common undead were culled ruthlessly, no longer allowed to build pressure on the front lines.

The Crown’s Hand took over dealing with the bigger threats.

Rayne saw them break away in groups of two to intercept undead lords and elementals before they could crash into the main body.

During one such clash, something massive fell into the center of the formation.

A larger arcspider—easily twice the size of the others—smashed into the stone, sending soldiers stumbling back. Its mandibles snapped wide, webs rolling off it in thick waves.

Before panic could spread, Selene moved.

Rayne barely tracked her at first as she appeared out of nowhere from the front lines, golden mana forming an ethereal blade in her hand. She cut through the arcspider in a blur of motion, severing legs and splitting its head before it could do anything.

The entire fight lasted seconds.

Then she was gone again, already moving back toward the front.

Rayne stared after her longer than he should have.

If Varrick was already as strong as he was, and Selene stood above him as his master… then she had to be well beyond level one hundred. The realization sat heavy in his chest.

But he didn’t dwell on the thought for long. There was no time for idle musings in the dungeon.

Despite being stationed toward the rear, Rayne and his warband were pulled into combat more than once. There were arcspiders that crawled through the walls and ceiling, and by the fourth hour in the corridor, they also faced monsters called ghouls, which had the ability to float and attacked the rear.

Fortunately, they were weak against mana skills, and Casper and Varrick took care of each of them before they even reached the ordinary soldiers.

Even with all these challenges, Captain Edran’s warband held.

They didn’t lose a single soldier.

Minor injuries were patched quickly with potions and cloth bandages, and Rayne made sure no one in his party overextended.

Because he knew the moment to break away was coming.

If his memory of the map served him right, the endless corridor they had been marching through was soon going to open up, splitting into wider junctions with multiple tunnels stretching off into different areas.

And if there was ever a moment to break away from the main body without drawing immediate attention, it would be there.

Captain Edran seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

Rayne noticed him whispering with Casper more than once, their heads tilted close together as they walked.

He wanted to focus on that, but a voice beside him interrupted his thoughts.

“Do you have any other mana skills?”

Rayne paused for half a step before matching pace again. He turned his head slightly.

“Why are you asking?” he said.

Varrick walked beside him and spoke as if they were discussing something mundane. “It’s always good to know how strong your ally is,” he replied calmly. “Once we break off, it’ll just be you, me, Edran, and Casper carrying the warband as mana users.”

Rayne’s jaw tightened. “I only have two,” he said. Then he added, his voice sharpening, “And why are you talking so casually after trying to kill me during the spar?”

Varrick simply shrugged. “I still want to kill you.”

Rayne stopped.

Varrick stopped too and turned toward him.

“Your family was ordered to be executed,” Varrick said quietly. “I was there when the order was given to bring you to the castle. I was also sent to get you. It was my first quest, but I don’t think you remember, since I was wearing a helmet.”

Rayne stared at him.

“King Xanders spared you,” Varrick continued. “I don’t know why. It has never happened in the history of the Hand. When we are deployed, we leave no witnesses.” His gaze hardened. “You are the black mark on our history. You are black mark on my career.”

Rayne frowned openly and started walking again. “That’s between the Hand and the king,” he said. “Even I don’t know why I survived.” Then he leaned in just enough toward him. “Don’t try anything here.”

Varrick snickered. “I’m not an idiot. I have honor. I will never do anything but fulfill my role during such an expedition.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “But it’s different in a duel.”

Rayne didn’t believe the part about honor. The man had tried to harm him in a training duel, and he simply said, “You’re not getting another duel with me.”

The conversation ended there. Varrick didn’t say another word, and Rayne didn’t feel like talking anymore either. They simply kept marching in silence.

For a long while, the dungeon was strangely quiet. The sounds of fighting that usually came from the front of the army stopped completely. Rayne felt uneasy, wondering if there were no undead in this area, or if it was just a trap.

He looked around to check on his party and realized Bran was missing. The old veteran had been walking right behind him only a few minutes ago, but now his spot was empty.

Rayne leaned toward Kesh on the left and whispered, “Where’s Bran?”

Kesh kept his eyes fixed forward but answered in a low voice. “Captain Edran sent him ahead while you were talking to Varrick. I believe we are going to break off from the main force soon. He moved up to confirm the plan with the commander.”

Rayne nodded. He turned his attention back to the surroundings, watching the jagged walls and the shadowed ceiling closely.

A part of him expected a monster to jump out of the shadows at any moment, but the corridor remained empty. They kept moving deeper, the sound of their own footsteps echoing against the rock.

The stone walls eventually began to narrow. The soldiers had to shift their positions and tighten their ranks to fit through the smaller space. Soon, whispers started to travel back from the men at the front.

They were approaching a large opening.

Half an hour later, Rayne and the rest of the army walked into a massive chamber. It was even slightly bigger than the chamber at the entrance of the dungeon. Large stone pillars and heavy boulders were scattered across the floor, creating plenty of places for things to hide.

But the thing that took most of their attention was on the far side.

There were three giant gates there. Two of them were closed tight, but the one in the center was wide open. It led into another hallway that looked to be sloping down.

Rayne also noticed a set of stone stairs on the side of the chamber. These stairs led up and away from the floor. He saw Captain Edran looking toward those stairs and realized that was their exit.

They just needed a chance to move away from the main group.

But before they could do anything, a loud, heavy creak echoed through the room. The gate on the left swung open.

A thick green gas flowed out of the doorway the very next second. It moved with unnatural speed, spreading across the floor and swirling around the soldiers’ legs. Panic started to spread through the army immediately.

“Don’t inhale the gas!” Commander Evans shouted. His voice was loud and clear over the growing noise. “It could be poisonous! Hold your breath until the mages can blow it back!”

Rayne immediately clamped his mouth shut and held his breath. He watched as the green mist grew thicker, making it hard to see the floor.

The warning had barely finished when the real attack began. A wave of undead charged out from the left gate. Following right behind them were several undead lords with heavy weapons, death elementals in their suits of armor, and screaming ghouls.

They slammed into the side of the army with massive force.

The soldiers were already struggling to hold their breath and deal with the gas. The sudden attack made the situation much worse. The undead pushed deep into the lines, trying to break the army’s formation and separate the squads.

But even without a command, most of the army didn’t panic or break their formations.

Shields came up almost instinctively.

The front ranks locked together, bracing as the charging undead smashed into them. The impact rattled through the chamber, but the line held. Behind them, mages shouted short commands and sent gusts of compressed wind ripping across the chamber. The green gas churned, thinned, and was pushed back in rolling waves, while floating ghouls were thrown off balance and slammed into pillars or walls.

Here in the chamber, Rayne could see everything clearly.

Members of the Crown’s Hand moved with frightening precision. Selene was among them, already engaging the death elementals—golden mana flashing as she carved through warped armored bodies that crackled with necrotic energy. Further ahead, captains and other mages converged on the undead lords, dealing blows in rapid succession.

But their numbers hardly dwindled.

More undead poured out of the left gate, filling the chamber with gas and walking corpses.

Axel’s voice cut through the noise. “Form up!”

Rayne didn’t hesitate. He moved with his squad, shields aligning just as an undead lord broke free from the press and charged straight at them. The creature was taller than the last one he had faced, a huge iron mace swinging in a wide arc.

The blow crashed down, only to strike a translucent [Force Shield].

The impact cracked the air, but the shield held.

Before the undead lord could swing again, Rayne stepped forward. He pushed mana into his blade, letting it soak up the death mana that saturated the chamber. The sword heated instantly, dark energy crawling along its edge like living fire.

He swung the next second.

The arc of destructive mana tore through part of the shield and slammed into the undead lord’s neck. The cut wasn’t clean, but it didn’t need to be. Blackened blood burst out in a thick spray as the creature staggered backward.

They didn’t give it time to recover.

His squad surged forward, taking advantage.

Blades stabbed into joints, spears punched through its spine, and the undead lord stumbled onto a knee under the sudden assault. With its neck half-severed and its movements slowing, it couldn’t fight back.

Jason stepped in and brought his axe down in a brutal, finishing swing, cleaving through the damaged neck. The corpse collapsed in a heap.

The burly man grunted and spit at it before turning toward Rayne and giving him a quick grin.

Before they could take on more undead, Captain Edran’s voice rang out in a commanding tone. “We need to move toward the stairs. The gas isn’t dissipating, and we won’t get another opening.”

He pointed up toward the stone steps along the side of the chamber.

Rayne saw it immediately. While the main force was locked in combat, the chaos would mask their movement. This was exactly the chance they’d been waiting for.

All of them immediately started weaving through the army.

Bran was already back among them, loosing arrows with practiced calm, each shot dropping a common undead just long enough to keep their path open. The other archers did the same.

To anyone watching, it would look like they were reinforcing wounded soldiers.

But they were simply slipping out.

As they moved, Rayne couldn’t help but notice something. The whole warband moved without any visible panic on their faces. Even Kesh moved quickly, not shuddering at the sight of undead.

Time on the front lines had truly sculpted them into tougher soldiers.

Soon, they reached the base of the stairs, but a cluster of undead blocked the path, several death elementals hovering among them in suits of armor.

“I’ll clear it,” Captain Edran shouted, taking the lead.

His sword ignited with a deep red glow as he charged forward alone. Every strike sent shockwaves through the undead, his mana skill killing a few of them every second. He carved a straight line toward the stairs, shouting over his shoulder, “Move! Don’t look back!”

As the first of the soldiers ran through the undead, [Force Shields] flared to life on either side of the path, snapping into place just long enough to give them cover.

Rayne caught a glimpse of Varrick beside him, left hand raised, sweat beading on his brow as he maintained the shields. Despite everything between them, Rayne couldn’t deny it.

The man was reliable.

They pushed through, undead clawing and pressing against the barriers, claws scraping uselessly against shimmering mana. Rayne stayed tight to his squad, blade moving whenever something slipped through.

They hit the stairs at a run.

Half the warband was already climbing ahead of him, boots pounding against stone. Rayne followed, moving as fast as he could without shoving the person ahead.

But when he was halfway up, a familiar voice cut through the noise.

“Rayne!”

He immediately spun and frowned at what he saw.

At the very first step, Nate and Bran were pinned against the wall. A death elemental had slammed into them, its shield pinning them against the stone as it raised its sword.

Rayne’s heart lurched, and he cursed.