FiOP: Chapter 120 (Patreon)

Third Person Point of View

The land to the south, also known as the Deadlands…

The land was full of millions of undead. It would have been more, but the lands were closed off from all sides. To the north, there were mountains, hard terrain to travel, and harder monsters to deal with. Most of the mountain range was under the control of one dragon or another. To the south was the sea; similarly, terrifying creatures lay beneath, and any ship full of undead that set out never returned.

To the east was a massive consecrated wall. Not only was it extremely difficult to assault, but passing over consecrated land was only possible for the truly strong, and at that point, the thousands of troops inside were enough to deal with them. Then, finally, to the west was a collection of dungeons, placed there as the last act of the final dungeon gardener before his death and the extinction of the class.

Deep in the center of the country was a castle, an old relic of the past that the ruler of the lands took for himself, ruling in some sort of parody of a living country. All of the undead instinctively feared him; he was beyond what others were capable of reaching, a true Lich King. Cold blue flames as his skeleton eyes were the only sign that he was more than a corpse.

Before him knelt three of his four commanders. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Seven Deadly Sins, the larger group of other generals(but weaker), also joined them. They knelt, waiting for him to give the command to rise, and because of the large group, he didn’t make them wait all that long. Ten different creatures, all waiting for him to give the command to speak, and he raises his hand, giving permission.

The first to speak was, of course, the most bubbly of the group. The succubus spoke with pho cheeriness. “What’s got the big boss so interested that he has an all-hands-on-deck meeting?” The Lich King didn’t speak, but instead his second in command(the War horseman), a Dullahan woman in armor, spoke. “Lust clearly didn’t pay any attention to the missives I’ve sent, so I’ll reiterate. The dungeons to the west are starting to fail; soon, they’ll cascade into complete failure, and we’ll be able to invade the other countries.

She wasn’t lying. Entrance into any other country would result in heavy casualties that would increase their own army's numbers. Spinning around the central mountain, they could sweep through the west, north, and then east countries, killing most of the living beings on the continent. A man who looked like a normal human, only those with a keen eye would notice his pale skin and lack of breathing spoke next. Those with an even better eye might also notice the shadows moving on their own while the man was mostly stationary.

“Do we all have to prepare? Can I leave my part of the work to someone else?” An undead troll spoke, ignoring the man. “Oh, send mees to the front lines, I wants the fresh meat!” The giant troll drooled slightly as everyone ignored Sloth and Gluttony. A small blonde twin-tailed girl spoke next. “The plan is to send the Sins in first. Did anyone actually read the data we sent beforehand? If you did, you’d have read that Famine is already pushing as far into the dungeons as he can right now.”

One of the most sexy women ever conceived… For her top part, while her bottom was a giant spider, she spoke next. “Of course, Master knew they wouldn’t pay attention, Death. That’s why we’re having this meeting so they all understand the mission and… Understand the punishment they’ll receive if this plan fails.” A few of the more wary members gulped or shuddered, while some of the smarter ones already knew this. Not every one of the Seven Deadly Sins was a moron after all.

Their leader, Wrath, is the standout. She sat with her arms crossed, the same stoic, silent expression she always had. Mainly because she couldn’t speak, if she did, she very well could kill some of the people sitting at that table. Another female ghost floated up through the table as she asked. “What are we getting for doing this?”

War swung her head from her hair through the ghost like a mace, causing her body the shimmer as the ghost had a shiver go down her spine. War looked disappointed in her as she spoke. “Your life is payment for obedience, Greed. You’ll listen to Master’s command, or you’ll die.” The ghost chuckled again. “Well, I’ve already died, but I get where you’re coming from. But you got to sweeten the pot more than just living, you know?”

An undead abomination of patchwork stitched skin, many different creatures all cobbled together to make a single Frankenstein-like entity. It wasn’t in the shape of a person, but closer to that of an eight-legged horse. It spoke out of its multiple-lipped mouth that more resembled a snout than a human face. “Whatever they have, we’ll take for ourselves!” 

“Doesn’t the pride in being one of the strongest beings on the planet give you enough motivation? What else could you want? You’re a ghost, you can’t even enjoy the things you collect.” A man wrapped in bandages spoke last, at least it appeared to be him speaking, but if you looked closer, it was actually the cat sitting in his lap that spoke.

Pride thought himself the leader, but most just ignored what he said. Gluttony asked again. “Can I go right now? If I don’t, Famine won’t leave anything for me.” Finally, their leader spoke. His voice was powerful enough to make the other undead alert and fearful. “Anyone who wants can go right now. We’ll send a more consolidated force to systematically tear the dungeons down after the initial few go.”

The giant troll might have been one of the few too stupid to really understand that the Lich King could end his existence in an instant. His annoyance was put up with only because he was convenient for killing any humans who made it into the southern continent. After most of humanity was wiped out, many of the more annoying undead would be dealt with, but for now, he had to rely on these undead to accomplish his goals.

Gluttony couldn’t help it, though; he was a troll, his regeneration was impossibly strong, but he had a large section of his chest hollowed out, making it impossible for him to consume anything, unlike Famine. Gluttony could get caught in an eternal feedback loop until someone else stopped him, where he’d continuously eat the same thing as it fell out of his stomach.

With Famine on the front lines, there was a good chance the dungeons would already be in cascading failure before anyone else arrived. Similar to Gluttony, he was always hungry, his undead aura killing off most crops as he moved, but his size was the real threat, and also the reason he didn’t participate in many of the meetings, because he couldn’t fit.

Famine was an undead giant. Most of the damage done to the Eastern wall was because of him; many of the men who died were from him ripping them right off the top of the wall and right into his open mouth while they still lived. The only reason he didn’t smash his way through was the consecrated ground weakening him. The undead had an instinctual fear of sacred ground, many refusing to ever touch.

The group began to disband as the Lich King left the rest of the plans to his three remaining generals. War was trying to corral them while Plague flirted with Lust and Death floated behind, making sure Sloth didn’t stay at the table sleeping like he had before.