Rise of the Undead Legion

Dave struck down with his glaive at the downed Manticore’s neck, while activating the glaive’s skill [Heaven Slasher].

The glaive swung down, leaving a white trace in space tracking the blade’s trajectory. The glaive cut through the manticore’s neck and dug deep into the ground.

A red numerical value appeared over the creature.

[-220,000]

The manticore froze for a moment, a long, thin cut spread along the monster’s neck. Blood seeped through the cut for a few moments, then it gushed out. The head slid off the manticore’s torso. Finally, the giant behemoth was felled.

***

Thanks to your undead nature, the Curse effect of the manticore failed to apply

***

***

You have gained 11,960,156 XP. (This is only 50% of the real XP value you gained. The other half has been divided equally between the undead under your command.

EXP required to level up to level (346 is 21,177,232)

81 Archer Undead have leveled up.

66 Melee undead have leveled up.

80 Caster undead have leveled up

3 unholy Paladins have leveled up.

Named Dullahan (Dog), level up to level 226.

Named Undead caster (Spark) leveled up to level 221

Named Ghoul (Bud) leveled up to 225

Named basilisk, (Grumpy) leveled up to 347.

***

"Good," Dave waved the information away and touched the monster’s corpse for loot.

Two notification appeared in front of Dave.

***

Do you wish to attempt [Rise Undead] on the corpse of [Manticore level 450]?

Be warned, your [Raise Undead] level is too low to successfully revive [Manticore level 450]

You can attempt to use [Raise Undead] on [Manticore Level 450] 3 times.

Failure to resurrect [Manticore Level 450] will exhaust the Undeath Energy around the corpse making it impossible to revive again.

***

***

You have obtained the following items

Manticore’s Head (Trophy) you can sell this item for a substantial amount of gold at merchants.

Manticore’s carapace. X 20 (Crafting material)

Manticore’s Stinger X1 (Crafting Material)

Lesser Cursed Essence x 1 (Upgrade Material)

Manticore Carapace shield [Shield]

***

Dave was surprised he wanted to get the loot but forgot about the possibility of actually using this creature to fight.

Dave took the loot and was about to use [Raise Undead] when a black slime hopped onto his shoulder.

"Huh, you’re still alive, Tiny. Where’ve you been?"

The slime wiggled and created a small mouth to say, "Hungry, me, eat. Me become strong."

"You want to eat this?" Dave asked the slime.

The slime spoke, "Yes, strong monster. Me eat strong monster. Me strong."

Dave was in a dilemma. Either give Tiny the corpse for it to eat or let Dave use the corpse to aid it in the following battle.

"Listen Tiny, I’ll try to revive it. If I succeed, I’ll promise I’ll feed you something better next time okay?"

The slime deflated in disappointment but accepted Dave’s offer saying "Me agree."

Dave touched the corpse and muttered, "Rise!"

A black burst of deathly energy blasted out from Dave’s palm and covered the corpse, like raging black flames. Dave moved away from the corpse as it began shaking.

Dave waited a few moments; the corpse was shaking more and more. One of the manticore’s limbs moved, but the black death flames suddenly went off.

***

You have failed in reviving [Manticore Level 450]

Attempts left 2/3

***

Dave cursed and tried again, "Rise!"

Another surge of black death flames covered the corpse. This time the corpse shook even harder but the failure notification appeared even faster.

***

You have failed in reviving [Manticore level 450]

Attempts left 1/3

***

"Damn," Dave cursed. Turning, he saw Dog guiding a limping Grumpy toward Dave’s location.

Grumpy was wounded because the manticore slammed him with its tail when the basilisk tried to pull the giant creature down.

Dave felt ashamed to have forgotten about his friend as greed clouded his eyes in search of loot.

"Sorry grumps, are you okay?"

Grumpy, cooed, he looked to be in pain, drops of blood poured from his armor.

"Priestess, where is she?" Dave asked.

"Here my lord." The unholy priestess came running toward Dave, she was using her dark magic to ’heal’ the undead under Dave’s command.

"Can you heal Grumpy for me?" Dave asked.

"Yes, my lord."

The unholy priestess waved her hand, a black magic circle materialized over grumpy and his wounds began healing. The basilisk’s limp disappeared and he was now able to move properly.

"It is done, my lord." The priestess nodded to Dave.

"Thanks." Dave thanked the priestess and turned to Dog "Dog. Thanks for bringing grumpy here. Also, can you revive this Manticore for me?" Dave asked.

Dog looked at the manticore and grunted a few words.

Dave didn’t understand what the dullahan was trying to say until he heard.

"Dog saying...Scorpion bull revive he can."

It was the shadow ghoul, Bud. The ghoul towered over Dave, threathening and frightening as ever, but in Dave’s company he was as docile as a lamb.

"Then it’s better if Dog revives it. Otherwise, I’ll just waste it," Dave said. He knew he was down to his last attempt at trying to revive the Manticore.

Bud shook his head, "Scorpion Bull, goes crazy, possible. Scorpion Bull, not undead legion. Scorpion Bull dangerous, you, my lord. Can bring... scorpion Bull, tame."

Dave stroke his beard, ’So, if I revive the Manticore, it’ll come back to life under my command. And if Dog does it. It might end up being another Kalel situation. Only this time, the undead King won’t help us. Shit.’ Dave cursed under his breath.

"Alright, Tiny, if I fail this time, you can eat the Manticore," Dave said.

Touching the corpse again, Dave shouted "RISE!"

This time, the flames coated the manticore, they didn’t rage, didn’t burn or go out of control. They covered the entire body in a thin coating of darkness.

The manticore didn’t shake or move. Dave thought that there was not enough undeath energy left, and the Manticore was going to waste.

"Tiny, you can eat it up," Dave said before waiting for the notification to even show up. He had a feeling that it was not possible to revive something more than 100 levels above his own.

"I, can’t eat now. Now, monster, strong." Tiny said.

Dave frowned, then it dawned on him. Turning, the blackness of the undeath energy started perforating through the wounds over the Manticore’s corpse. Dave’s inventory began shuddering. Several items were trying to ’get out’ on their own.

Dave took the item out from his inventory, it was the Manticore’s head trophy and all the other crafting materials. The items shot toward the corpse and were fused by the black energy into the monster.

The giant creature shuddered and its limbs moved. This time they moved more naturally. The creature stood on all of its legs towering above the one thousand two hundred undead regiments.

***

You have successfully revived [Manticore level 450]

You have summoned a non-named Undead. To keep [Manticore Level 450] in functional condition you must constantly supply it with mana.

Cost to keep [Manticore Level 450] operational is 5 Mana/second.

***

"Oh, that’s cheap," Dave said the mana cost wasn’t that much for him. He had 34,200 mana and 0.1% regen that’s about 34.2 more than enough to keep the Manticore operational forever.

Dave inspected the manticore. Most of his abilities were the same, but its HP pool had decreased from 2,500,000 to 1,000,000.

"Alright, everyone let’s keep moving- Dave stopped his words midway. Looking up at the Manticore, he smiled.

"Big guy, come down. You’ll be our ride for the rest of the way!"

The manticore came down, shook its body a bit until it was on level with the underworld sand.

"Dunlords and basilisks are heavy, we will act as the manticore’s escort. The rest, climb up!" Dave gave the command. The one thousand and more undead army all climbed up on top of the Manticore.

The dunlords and basilisks moved ahead of the manticore carrying the undead. Dave was leading the entire regiment on Grumpy’s back. To his sides were Dog and Bud. They looked like marines, running along with a tank in the middle. Soon after, another dun burst open, another cursed manticore appeared in front of the undead.

"Looks like we’re getting another ride boyz!" Dave was excited as he pointed with his glaive toward the Manticore.