The Portal opened, and I carefully eased my foot through before stepping the rest of the way. I was much more careful now, making sure I didn’t have any unfortunate Portal mishaps. No bandit or monster was waiting for me on the other side. This was an area I had been to before when I first came to this dungeon. It almost felt nostalgic how far I had come since entering this dungeon. The place was now completely mapped out. The story was unlocked. Now, I was raising an army to make the final push and defeat the Demon King.
Of course, being able to defeat this Demon King didn’t mean I’d be able to defeat the real Demon King. This was only a shadow of the real man. It was as much an approximation as the mermaid was the princess. I did admit I was curious how he looked, although since Xin only shared the vaguest resemblance to her giant counterpart from the Widow’s dungeon, I didn’t have too high of expectations.
I started walking in the direction of the camp where Xin had indicated. I had only needed to walk five minutes before a patrol of undead riding undead horses rode up to me. I held up my hands as they circled me. Thankfully, I didn’t even have to open my mouth before one of the skeletons seemed to recognize me.
“Commander Stone?” the skeleton said in the surprise.
He gestured, and the others lowered their weapons. They still kept them at the ready though.
“Yes, I have returned. I bring news to our leader.”
“Yes… I suppose you will need to debrief with the general. He thinks you are dead.”
“I almost was,” I responded, and that didn’t even have to be a lie.
The men led me back into the camp, which while shabby, still looked more disciplined than my own. These were real soldiers, not an assortment of conscribed commoners, brainwashed soldiers, and bandits. It made a difference. Still, compared to what Garnet made, their armor was shabby, and it was clear they were all haggard after countless battles. I realized I might have to stay a day or two to cast White Mage spells and restore them to full fighting condition. Never underestimate the power of a White Mage on an army.
As I approached a large tent that seemed to be the command tent, a man broke out. He had an extremely angry expression on his face, and he was wearing armor much better than the rest. His eyes landed on our party, and the men escorting me turned white.
“Commander Stone! You’re supposed to be dead!” He snarled.
I was a bit surprised, having not expected the General to be so violently angry. He continued to approach me, his posture filled with malice, and I realized the situation was sinking fast.
“You are a deserter and a traitor! You let the fort fall to enemy hands! Give me one good reason I shouldn’t order you cut down right here!” He shouted, now right in my face.
I shrugged, a causal expression on my face that caused him to grow even more enraged. “Because you won’t be alive in a second to make that order.”
Without hesitation, I used Pace and Quick Attack, and my blade struck right through his armor into his heart. Although the Star sword was only a dungeon’s approximation of the Silvthril sword, and not made from it, it still could cut through anything else this dungeon made. I wasn’t sure if it’d have that trait outside of this dungeon. It might be something it could only do in here, but that was enough for now.
“A-assassin!” The men could only stare in shock before someone screamed.
As everyone pulled their sword, I put my hand on the man’s chest and a black substance flowed from him to me. By the time we were surrounded by guards, the general, his mouth agape, and a look of shock still on his face collapsed to the ground dead. I casually looked around at the men surrounding me while activating Mimic’s skills.
“What are you all doing?” I bellowed just like he had. “You almost let an assassin in here to kill me!”
“S-s-sorry, general!”
“General wouldn’t let anything like an assassin stop him!” Someone else declared proudly.
“Everyone, get ready!” I shouted, ignoring their excuses. “We’re moving out!”
Like that, I was now the general of the undead army.
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