Daughter of Death - A Necromantic LitRPG

Lieze had a few expectations of what to expect from the so-called ‘Wichts’, both in terms of appearance and attitude. She’d heard the stories as a child; of the fair folk and their ghastly, tricking ways. Tiny humanoids with butterfly wings and big eyes who giggled and pranced about the forest floor, living under mushrooms or in little cottages formed of mud and twigs.

Fantastical, wonderful expectations. It came as no surprise to her when they were dashed beyond measure, knowing better than to expect truthfulness from old fairy tales.

While she admired the hollow interior of the root labyrinth, Baccharum had his sightless gaze fixated on the path ahead, and was quick to extend an arm when he spotted something amiss up ahead. A gaping hole in the cylindrical walkway might have allowed rays of moonlight to penetrate through the ceiling if Akzhem wasn’t coated in darkness twenty-four hours of the day. Below, where the bark peeled away to reveal the emerald grass beneath, a circle of mushrooms contained what appeared to be the carapaced corpses of woodland critters: spiders, wood louse, and winged hornets among others.

“...What is that?” Lieze asked.

As if to answer her question, there was a puff of violet smoke from the encirclement. Before her eyes, the insectoid cadavers animated, twitched, and jolted to life, skittering upon one-another to form a sort of humanoid facsimile no larger than a stuffed toy. The corpse-thing twirled in place, both arms shedding layers of chitin while it tapped both feet against the ground to some alien rhythm.

Corpse Eater

Level 3 Fae

HP - 80 / 80 MP - 10 / 10

BODY - 2 MIND - 1 SOUL - 0

“Star Child… Star Child…” A hollow voice escaped from some orifice upon its creeping skin, “Give us thy name.”

“It’s good to see you as well, young one.” Baccharum answered, “How are the roots tonight?”

“Roaring. Seething. Filled with furie.” The sprite took a step forward, “Children waver and croak under the weight of this light - the foul, turgid things wandering the woods! The Herald calls us… offers us the sweet millennium nectar for their skulls!”

“What in the name of all that’s good is this terrible little freak?” Lieze asked.

Her interruption seemed to cause the beast physical harm. Digging both sharpened claws into its nonexistent brain, the tiny Fae released a scream that caused her to wince.

Corpse Eater’s HP - 3,200 / 4,785

Baccharum nudged an elbow into her chest, “Watch what you say! Words have power in this domain! Plug your ears!”

“...What?”

“Do it!”

She gave in to his demand, and not a moment too soon. As her fingers sank into her ear canals, the Corpse Eater recovered from its bout of agony and began on a tirade of what Lieze assumed to be a wave of expletives and curses. What little she could hear over the oceanic rushing of her blood was quite hurtful - literally.

Lieze’s HP - 270 / 394

She sneezed involuntarily, and all of a sudden her face was coated in blood. As if inflicted with some terrible disease, she felt a terrible nausea welling in her stomach which only came to a rest when the Corpse Eater’s fury began to wear off. Once it stopped speaking, she attempted to wipe the blood from her nostrils only to find the flow endless.

“What the…?” She smacked her tongue as the taste of iron spread across her mouth, “What kind of magic is this?”

“That’s what you get for insulting a Wicht.” Baccharum replied, “Let no man say I didn’t warn you. Be thankful it thought you were being playful, or you might have ended up dead.”

“Hihihi!” The Corpse Eater doubled over with laughter, “The Godsworn bleeds!”

“It was nice seeing you, young one, but the two of us will be returning to our comrades now.” He intoned certain words as if they were full to bursting with hidden meanings, “The exit is this way. We’re going to leave now.”

“Hm? Hm?” Lieze darted her eyes between the two of them, “Are we?”

“While we still have the chance.” Baccharum spoke through clenched teeth.

“Fair enough. Let me just try one thing very quickly.”

Saying that, she marched over to the Corpse Eater while it rolled around on the floor with both claws on its cadaverous belly and lifted her foot. Before the little beast could realise its own imminent demise, she stomped the fell conglomerate of insectoid flesh into the dirt, rewarded with a squeal of terror for her efforts.

[Corpse Eater Defeated]

40xp Rewarded

Heightened Potential Progress - 49,442 / 50,000

“Lieze!” Baccharum yelled, “What have you done!?”

“You made this foul thing seem so high and mighty, but now it’s just a stain on my shoe.” She replied, leaning down to lift the Fae’s lifeless body in one hand, “I’m interested in experimenting with the forces that animated it to begin with. There’s something to be learned here.”

-Is what she said, but the piercing howl which carried on the winds just a second later was enough to make her regret the decision somewhat. All around them, the roots seemed to shimmer and tremble, as if the forest itself had suffered an affront.

“You’ve done it now…” Baccharum sighed, “Did you hear what that Wicht said? The ‘Herald’ - The Head Shaman - is calling upon their aid. And you’ve just given them every reason to overrun us!”

“If the Elves were planning to use these sprites against us from the beginning, then it was only going to be a matter of time before we were attacked.” Lieze shrugged, “If the forest itself plans on destroying us, then it’s in for a terrible surprise. I couldn’t care less about the magic these ‘fair folk’ supposedly wield - if they were so powerful, then my shoe wouldn’t have been enough to kill one.”

Baccharum grumbled, forming a response while the two of them stole through the labyrinthine roots in a bid to escape before the passages closed around them, “You’re a terrible fool, Lieze.”

“Please. We all knew this was never going to be easy.” She retorted, “Do you even remember the way back?”

“Like I said before - words have power in this twisting maze.” He said, “When I said the exit was this way, I meant it. Just as I mentioned how we both planned to leave and that the rest of the Order were our comrades. If I didn’t state those truths with absolute certainty, the Wicht might have twisted them into something troublesome.”

“What’s stopping them from ruling the world with such power at their fingertips?”

“Asking a Fae why it doesn’t want to rule the world… would you ask a tree the same question?” He replied, “No - their authority over the laws of our reality are limited to these roots. Beyond this lost maze, and beyond the shadows of Akzhem, they’re nothing more than critters.”

The tube of timber and moss surrounding them began to constrict. Lieze chanced a glance over her shoulder to see the corridor collapsing in on itself. The hateful woods were after her life for infringing upon the whimsy of its inhabitants - and Akzhem was nothing but woods.

“Almost as if the forest is alive…” She thought, “That makes me wonder…”

Something caught her by the arm - a tendril of bark extending from the wall, wrapping around her wrist with every intent of squeezing until it popped off. She yanked her arm back only to find its grip incontestable, saved from losing one of her limbs at the last moment by a well-placed cleave from Baccharum’s dagger, severing the tendril at its centre.

“Protect yourself, Lieze!” He shouted, “-Or do you fancy having your skin peeled off inch-by-inch once the Wichts have you in their cackling sights?”

“I’ve heard too many threats of skin-peeling from my own father to be disgusted by the idea anymore.” She replied, ripping off the ring of bark, “Let’s move.”

Lieze’s MP - 2,350 / 2,550

She didn’t waste time fishing out her staff from the Bag of Holding, instead relying on her personal font of mana to conjure a [Blood Barrier] that would prevent her from being grabbed again. With the passage at their backs shrinking, the two of them sprinted through the smog and dark as a chorus of echoing laughter bored into their eardrums. Lieze followed in Baccharum’s paces, hoping for their sake that he had the slightest idea of where he was going.

Then, the roots ended. Lieze never saw a light at the end of the tunnel - there was no such salvation to be found in Akzhem - but the fresh air stinking of wet soil told her that they were free from the Wichts’ domain. Or, at least, free from their wicked magic, at least.

The scene before them was like some chaotic theatre performance. Between regions of shadow, soft lamplight illuminated the Deathguards and their thralls surging across the glade, battling an enemy only captured in glimpses, but which seemed to be composed of the earth itself. Beings formed from soil, stalk, and bark of every size conceivable threw themselves at the army. They clawed, bit, tore - anything if it guaranteed the death of their target.

“Monsters?” Lieze wondered.

“No…” Baccharum stepped forward, “Wichts. All of them. You’d be lucky to see one in a single lifetime, and yet right here, I can hear thousands. This must have been the Head Shaman’s plan all along - to put a stop to our crusade by pitting the forest itself against us.”

She didn’t have time for a history lesson. Before Baccharum had finished, Lieze was already descending the tiny crest upon which they stood to join the battle. With a tiresome sigh, Baccharum’s grip tightened around his twin daggers as he followed suit.

The names popped up over the shadows, glowing like beacons that warned Lieze of an imminent encounter, but there was one defining qualifier among them all: [Rootborne]. From [Scouts] to [Warriors] to [Behemoths], the verdant monstrosities encompassed just about every role Lieze had filled out in her own army. Briarknights swung fiercely into the ranks of lesser Fae, carving fibre from bark while Gravewalkers sank their teeth into every ridge that offered purchase.

“Are we outnumbered? Losing? Winning? I can’t make out anything in this darkness…” She thought, “I’ll assume the worst… we’ve been caught off-guard, so regaining control of the situation is our main goal.”

[Strengthen Undead] Activated

Remaining Heavenly Favours - 5

[Summon Supreme Flesh Golem] Activated

Remaining Heavenly Favours - 4

The power of her scale was felt across the battlefield’s width. Flesh rippled beneath shreds of clothing and armour, hardening against the Rootborne assault. Rot Behemoths transformed from glacial mountains into thundering balls of flesh subsuming anything foolish enough to draw close into their crimson flesh.

The light of Lieze’s lantern reflected a titan in the dark as the Flesh Golem emerged from its summoning circle, rising to shroud everything above its ankles in the gloom. She glimpsed Stalkers dashing between its legs with tiny woodland sprites caught in their maws, gulping down the creatures with glee while lashing out at the nearest enemy. [Blood Spikes] were thrown with such frequency that one could swear it was raining, and the stench of iron in the air became thick enough to invite nausea.

Lieze had seen many battles by that point, but never one so chaotic and disorganised that it couldn’t be said with any certainty which side had the advantage. All she could rely on was the splintering chorus of dying Fae to guide her judgement.

Something landed nearby - a beast of tremendous size. Lieze didn’t have to think, sprinting ahead to scramble atop the Manticore and hanging on for dear life as it leaped headfirst into the fray.