Monarch Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Hobbs slowed half a step and looked at Rayne as if he had grown a horn on his head. “How do you not know them?” he asked quietly.

The question landed heavier than Hobbs probably intended.

Rayne’s stride faltered for a fraction of a second before he forced himself to keep moving. His mind raced with confusion. In the memories he had received, there was only a brief mention of them, and he had never really given it too much thought.

Even his predecessor had no idea how his family had been captured. He had been kept in one of their farmhouses when soldiers had arrived to take him to the capital.

Seeing that Hobbs waited for an answer, he spoke. “They didn’t chase after me because I didn’t run. I was simply dragged to the capital for a sentence, and barely heard of them in whispers.”

Hobbs studied him for a moment, then shook his head. “I know you were barely part of the Fraysers. I read your report when you joined the squad, but it still baffles me that they left you alive.”

“I think they just delayed my death,” Rayne said after a moment.

Hobbs chuckled. “Maybe, but I meant the Crown’s Hand. I have heard of them destroying entire bloodlines for the king. They are known as the king’s executioners for a reason, but they left you alive. I really think Lukara blessed you.”

Before Rayne could reply to that, Axel slowed and raised a hand.

“We are here.”

He finally looked ahead and saw the captain’s tent flap already open. Two soldiers stood outside and saluted Axel as he walked inside. They did the same for Hobbs and Anders, but only gave him blank looks.

Rayne ignored it, his attention taken by how crowded the interior of the tent was.

Each captain’s tent was far bigger than the ordinary ones, yet it was filled to the brim. Every squad leader and their deputies were present. He glanced around, noticing a few squad leaders whose names he cared to remember. Gregory, Rancour, Stalon, and then, a familiar face met his eyes.

Jason stood near the far side, arms folded, standing right next to Squad Leader Rancour. He noticed him too and gave a brief nod.

He hadn’t seen the man much recently since Rancour’s squad was always out in the dungeon too, but his friend seemed to be doing well to be taken to this meeting.

Soon, his eyes turned to the centre of the tent where Captain Edran stood over a table with a map on top of it. Casper stood next to him and on his other side stood a man that immediately scowled at him. Henry.

He hadn’t seen the old man much since reaching the frontlines, but he hadn’t changed one bit.

“Look closely,” Ardan whispered. “That’s the official map of this region with the mana ley lines displayed on it.”

Rayne immediately looked down at the map. Like Ardan said, blue sketched lines were drawn on the map, moving everywhere in a haphazard fashion. None of the lines were straight. And on top of them, locations of each dungeon they had found were marked.

He noticed the ones his party had conquered had a black dot on them.

The army didn’t really give out maps of the region, at least not of the Pascar Plains. Even the ones out in the market were regulated, and only had the locations of towns and villages on them. Not of the dungeons.

As he observed the map, two more people walked in, taking their place at the back, and Captain Edran finally took a step forward.

“Good,” he said. “Everyone we need is here.”

He tapped the map once with a knuckle.

“You all know why this meeting was called. Commander Evans’ announcement wasn’t meant to cause panic, but it would be foolish to pretend we’re dealing with only the dungeons this year.”

His finger traced one of the glowing lines. “These are the major ley lines running beneath the Pascar Plains. Every dungeon portal we’ve recorded in the last three months has emerged within a close radius of them. And here at the centre of them are the dungeons that the army is going to prioritise. The biggest ones. Commander Evans believes the necromancer should be hiding in one of them.”

A few people nodded and Captain Edran moved his hand across the dungeons that were closer to the army camp.

“And here are the dungeons that smaller squads would be sent towards. Since we have found undead in two dungeons by now, it’s very likely there are more, and the necromancer is simply storing them to unleash on the army camp.”

Murmurs spread at those words and a few soldiers shifted uncomfortably next to their squad leaders.

Squad Leader Gregory stepped forward, his voice shutting down all the murmurs. “Are we going to be cleaning out these dungeons?”

Captain Edran shook his head. “No, I’m simply explaining the situation to you all. What we are tasked with is something completely different. Commander Evans has put a lot of value on our squad and has assigned us to take out hibernating monsters along these ley lines.”

“Hibernating monsters?” Axel raised an eyebrow. “We never touch them in our expedition, sir. It’s too dangerous to wake them up.”

Agreements rose instantly as more squad leaders spoke up about the dangers of messing with hibernating monsters. Words jumbled up as people whispered and spoke over each other.

Rayne took in as much information as he could, and quickly realised why poking these hibernating monsters might be a bad thing. From what he guessed, these ley lines meant the whole area was filled with a lot of mana, especially underground.

Monsters took in mana to level up, and in high mana levels, it was easier for them to get stronger. If they went around waking them up, especially when they had been hibernating for a long time, then they would have a major problem on their hands.

He briefly recalled the mana sniffer, and how strong it had been. And just by the expressions of Axel and a few others, he could say that these hibernating monsters would be equally terrifying.

Before the discussion could turn into an argument, Casper spoke in a loud voice. “If we don’t hunt them down, we are going to be risking them to be corrupted by the necromancer! From everything we know, he or she should be strong enough to take on each of them. Undead humans are far easier to deal with than monsters.”

Her words silenced everyone.

A few squad leaders gave her a sharp look, but no one argued.

“With the ley lines, there are monsters that are easily over Level 50 around this part,” she continued. “We ignore them because they rarely come out of their caves and nests, and spend most of the year dormant, but if the necromancer manages to reanimate even one of them, entire squads would easily fall to it.”

Squad Leader Rancour frowned. “Reanimating monsters is far harder than humans. Those spells are extremely rare. You should know that, Mage Casper. Why are we assuming that the necromancer has those types of spells?”

“Because we have confirmed the necromancer has one such spell,” she said simply.

At once, everyone looked uncomfortable and some squad leaders’ expressions strained. Captain Edran and Henry were the only ones taking it calmly, probably already having the information.

Rayne’s mind spun, immediately flicking back to the bug dungeon and the terrifying creature they had barely escaped from.

He spoke before he could think. “You are saying the chimera was an undead construct?”

Eyes immediately focused on him. Axel gave him a sharp look, but before he could say anything, Captain Edran nodded.

“Yes, it was,” he said. “Our mages confirmed it themselves. The dungeon didn’t make it. The necromancer did. Its flesh was stitched together, and all its organs were rotted. It was only running on necrotic mana.”

The tent went quiet.

Jason met his eyes from the other side for a brief second, and he saw Axel exhaling, face pale.

Casper spoke after a few seconds, her voice even. “You all should have read the report of what happened with the chimera. Some of you, including me, experienced it. Commander Evans believes that the necromancer is putting these constructs to kill whoever tries to come close to his undead troops waiting in the dungeon.”

“We don’t know if he has already hunted more hibernating monsters or not,” Captain Edran said. “So, this quest will be both to hunt them and index if anyone is missing.”

Some of the squad leaders nodded, but a few still didn’t look convinced. Conquering smaller dungeons was one thing, but taking on strong, dormant monsters was another. Rayne felt the fear in their eyes, but all of them knew there was no rejecting the quest.

Captain Edran seemed to have sensed their fear too as he sighed. “Don’t worry, I’m not sending any of you to your deaths. Our first job will be to note down the exact locations of the hibernating monsters, then Mage Casper and I will move together with you. Two squads will be working together on this quest. And Commander Evans has promised additional support if we can’t handle it on our own.”

More squad leaders seemed to be on board with the quest now. Even Axel relaxed a little. Rayne still had no idea what to think of it. No quest had ever gone straight for him, but he still focused.

Captain Edran smiled seeing that, and gestured towards Casper, who immediately put her finger on the map.

Her eyes briefly scanned the room, pausing at Rayne for a fraction of a second before she started her briefing.

“The monsters we are going to target first are boneshaw boar, crimson maw lizard, a colony of ripplers and…”

***

The camp changed after Commander Evans’ announcement.

It wasn’t sudden panic or tension, but a slow tightening—like a noose being drawn one inch at a time. Squads started being sent in pairs to take care of the dungeons, and more people started praying to gods. Apparently, it was a large superstition that gods hated necromancers, and praying to them would give soldiers strength against one.

But it didn't seem to be working as just about everyday, more news came out of undead being found in the dungeon, and the squads slowly thinned, with more and more soldiers requesting potions.

Unfortunately, the supply was limited. However, he heard Commander Evans send another group of soldiers on a supply quest to Bricksall to get whatever they had on hand.

As for his own squad, they might be the only one spared from the undead.

Captain Edran dispatched scouts in pairs and trios. Then moved out before dawn and returned long after dusk. Sometimes they returned only the next day.

Bran was selected as one, and Rayne heard everything from him.

According to the veteran, the task only seemed simple on paper. In practice, it meant poking at sleeping nightmares and going to places underground that were hard to come back from.

Due to the ley lines, the underground caves were no less than dungeons, and had all sorts of creatures and terrain that was hard to maneuver through.

The reports they brought back also didn't make many people happy. Some beasts had already moved to different places, hinted by marks of shifting. Others were still dormant. A few lairs had been found suspiciously empty.

That last part unsettled everyone the most.

Word spread, even if the squad leaders tried to keep it contained. Soldiers talked in lowered voices on the walls, and stopped laughing and smiling much. New recruits and forsakens asked too many questions and didn’t like the answers they received.

Rayne sympathised with the soldiers, and felt as nervous as them, but by now, he had also learnt that emotions might be the single worst thing in the army. Instead of worrying about monsters he hadn't faced yet, he decided to train with his party.

After all, he had been given enough time to train, recover fully, and prepare till his squad was given their next orders. He took that as both a mercy and a warning.

He practiced whenever he could—sword forms, shield drills, movement, endurance. And when no one was watching, when the camp slept or patrols shifted, he slipped away to practice [Death Strike].

It was still weak and unstable. But slowly, Rayne was able to bring out more mana and the strikes became stronger than before.

Each time he felt the cold mana answer him, even faintly, it reminded him of the undead lord, and he kept pushing himself to draw an arc as lethal.

But like every good thing, this period also ended as finally, Captain Edran decided that they needed to finish the monsters that were still in their lair.

And when he heard the name of the monster his squad was assigned to hunt, he almost laughed. Not because it was funny—but because of how fitting it was.

Of course his luck would make sure he’d no easy quests.

They were given the task to kill one of the strongest pairs of monsters in the region. Creatures that were actually not underground or living in a cave, but stayed openly in a wide area in the forests. But the army had never dared to hunt them because of how strong and terrifying it was.

Stonefur bears. Level 60 monsters that were known to be incredibly difficult to kill.