Necromancer Dreams of Mechs Chapter 59: Chapter 65

Read chapter 59 of Necromancer Dreams of Mechs by Magic on NovelPedia.

Chapter 59: The Darkness Within The Safety Of Walls The transition to the city was a blur of necrotic energy and grinding iron. Under my command, the undead—both the Elite Twelve and the new Fleshed Squires—trained with a silent, terrifying efficiency. They didn't just move across the mansion’s grounds; they became a spectral gale of porcelain and bone that forced the living survivors to stay huddled deep within the manor’s bowels. As we neared the outskirts of Oakhaven, the mansion-on-wheels began its descent. The massive tires bit into the loam, and glowing skeletal hands burst from the front of the chassis, clawing at the earth to hollow out a hidden grove within a cluster of ancient, twisted trees—just out of sight of the city’s High Spire. The Battle-Bus looked like a neglected estate at first, but that changed within minutes. Forty-three blurs of movement manicured the area with a precision that suggested the task was their life’s—or unlife’s—sole purpose. "Stay inside," I told the survivors, my voice as cold as the marble foyer. The last thing I needed was some grief-stricken lunatic running off to the city and blowing our cover. "The Squires will guard the perimeter. If you try to leave, they will stop you. It's for your own safety... and mine." I didn't wait for a response. I retreated to the master suite and began to pull on the "Civilian" gear Harold had provided. It lacked the striking presence of my white robes and the glowing bone hands that usually accented my gear, but if I was going to infiltrate Oakhaven, I had to look like a person, not a catastrophe. A few minutes later, Seraphine joined me. She wore a dress of simple, high-quality linen—the kind a wealthy merchant's wife might wear to show status without drawing undue suspicion. I stood there in a leather doublet and dark trousers, my bone-gauntlets hidden beneath heavy traveling gloves. "A young married couple," Seraphine said, her fingers lingering as she adjusted the collar of my doublet. She looked up at me with a playful, almost predatory glint in her eyes. "A most refreshing catastrophe on a honeymoon. Do try to look like you’re enjoying yourself, Allen. You look as though you’re headed for a tribunal." "I feel like I am," I muttered. We left the mansion hidden in its perfectly groomed grove and walked toward the gates of Oakhaven. The dark barely lit city was a sprawling fortress of white stone and silver banners, its walls bristling with Level 100 guards. To them, we were just two more travelers seeking refuge from the "Long Night." I could have provided clothing for the city like I had for the caravan, but I wasn't playing the hero today. Instead, we waited in the shadows for two hours while the city, caught in its naked, "unpatched" state, descended into chaos. In the end, I caved—not out of mercy, but out of a need for order. I sent my four Slasher Elites and Vane to deal with the men who saw the darkness as an invitation to commit atrocities. I thought I might have sent too few, but within thirty seconds of the order, I felt the experience bar in my mind begin to tick upward. The sheer volume of EXP flowing in was disturbing; I couldn't pull my mental focus away from the level gains, watched with a morbid curiosity as my power climbed on the backs of the dead. The reason for all that death made me angry and sick at the same time, yet I felt myself growing colder, more detached from the world around me. Seraphine noticed the tremor in my hands and slipped her hand into mine. She didn't say anything, but the contact grounded me against the rising tide of my own emotions. After an hour, the psychic screaming in the back of my head calmed. It was only then that Vane and his troop returned, coated in more blood than seemed physically possible for five entities to carry. I physically twitched as Vane and the four Reapers established a mental link, forcing the raw data of the "purge" into my mind without remorse. [786 Male Guards. 39 Female Guards. 12