A Rattling Monster

No one died because of us on the way back to the tomb. That was expected since we have let quite a trail of dead bodies behind us. Right at the time where I get the mana necessary to invoke the next skeleton warrior. The only good thing is the huge number of people that were affected by my [Cause Fear]. Thanks to this, the ability has leveled up. Checking everything on the System once again.

"Attributes:

Name:Sleek

Race: Ratman

Class: Plague Sorcerer

Level 5/30

HP: 240/240

MP: 374/385

Strength: 21.1

Agility: 38.5

Vitality: 24.0

Wisdom: 38.5

Intelligence: 38.5

Active skills:

[Sneaky-Sneaky lvl 8] [Venomous Bite lvl 10] [Infected Claws lvl 10] [Create Acid lvl 8] [Create Plague lvl 8] [Aura of Mayhem lvl Max] [Nightfall lvl 5] [Magical Orb lvl Max] [Cursed Winds lvl 3] [Raise Undead lvl 3]

Passive Abilities:

[Scavenger lvl Max] [Language of Aria lvl Max] [Night Vision lvl 10] [Toxic resistance lvl 10] [Plague resistance lvl 10] [Craftsmanship lvl 5] [Pain resistance lvl 10] [Deadly Body lvl 4] [Self-Healing lvl 1] [Magical Restoration lvl 6] [Magical Efficiency lvl 6] [Magical Handling lvl 5] [Cause Fear lvl 4]

Titles:

[Forsaken of Aria] [Blessed by Oslo] [Slaughterer]"

Except for my level that is still extremely low, everything else is quite good. The fact that the only few times I get hit by something is more because of me have prevented my self-regeneration to get improved. Otherwise, I am quite proud of what I have accomplish. Facing the ratmen or even the real power of the holy kingdom, of course it is weak, far too weak. But just to survive in this world it is enough. And here come number four, armed and ready. Now, Oslo, can you point me the location of the base of those guards that I asked you to track?

(Yes, just be more careful, I really want you to survive long enough for me to do some stuff on Forslo. Just a little more and I can at least re-apply half of the blessings that were removed during the Portal War.)

And what is a little more?

(Oh, not a lot. Barely fifty thousand deaths.)

As expected of a god, the not a lot is turned into a huge number for me. But that's logical too, since he has to use his power for me during that time and to bless an entire planet is probably very costly. What do you think is the total population on Astria? All races, all kingdoms, even those not believing in Aria or the servants of Salazar and Krieg?

(Just for the holy kingdom, I would say a little less than one million. After that, counting every living beings and undead beings, ten million. On Forslo, right now, I only have barely three million. But my planet is smaller than Astria so it makes sense that her population is a lot bigger than mine.)

That's a lot of people to kill, a lot of experience. I can probably reach two evolutions with this, the worst part would have been to have killed everything and still not be able to evolve to something else. And talking about killing, let's make a visit to the boss of those criminals.

Once again I travel to the North of Atria, but this time with four servants instead of three. Just this information is turning the entire slums into a huge turmoil of questions. How many swordsmen do I really have? Who are they? Can more arrive shortly? Do they have to expect a revenge if I die? Before I was just the shadow of death reaping his victims, now I have become an enigma, and everyone is trying to find the truth. More and more people are following me, trying to sell whatever information they will learn about me.

The mutes are beginning to talk, the deaf listen and the blinds open their eyes. The beggars disappear in front of me but never let me go out of their vision. And apparently, my little discussion near the black market was already known by the entire den of criminals. And seeing me walking toward the only notable place in that direction, the nearby passer-byes whisper the name of a shadow. And that death has finally come to unveil the mask.

By the time I arrive at the house mentioned by Oslo, a wave of humans is here, expecting a fine spectacle. I can see even some outlaws wearing the two other colors that I saw in the black market. So the alliance between all the gang leaders was definitely just for the profit. I guess that after I kill the second head, they will probably really join their efforts against me. Even if they suspect that I am responsible for the death of Oktar, they have no proof of it.

In front of me is standing ten men with their crossbows loaded. Behind them, five are wearing some shield and spears, they are capable of holding the entrance without a problem. First, they will shoot their bolts and then retreat behind the wall of shields. Seeing me without any means of killing someone from a distance, that is smart. I can even notice some strange particles floating in the air, the sign of a magician. Even if I can't see him, I know that a shield is protecting those bandits, so even if I throw an orb of acid on them, they will be unscathed.

That is quite problematic, even if my skeletons are far enough to not be hit by my aura of acid, seeing them pierced by multiple bolts will make the surrounding crowd puzzled. And if they get close to me, I know I can spare them from the acid but it will be very taxing on my mind. Actually, I am not sure that I can do that. I can probably save number one for sure, number two probably, but sparing both number three and four will be impossible. That is one point I forget to train. My ability to control my aura as I really wish. And their shields are not enough to protect their entire body, so if the crossbows are really fired, one or two bolts will probably pierce the leather armor of my undead servants. And I can't let that happen.

But right now we are in a standoff. They are not firing; we are not moving. And this keeps going for a minute. Some inside the crowd is getting impatient but they are quickly told to shut up by the rest. I need to take the advantage. I order all of my skeletons warriors to stand behind me, with only number one close to me. That action provokes a huge noise in the surrounding. After that, I calmly approach the crossbows, closing the distance. The moment they fire; I will melt their bolts. I know that my reflex is immensely better than theirs thanks to my high agility. And when one will fire, the rest will follow shortly after. That way, the first and only volley will be useless.

I keep approaching. Forty meters, thirty-five meters, thirty meters. At that moment, probably my [Cause Fear] took effect but I won't know, one of the bandit fire. Badly I have to say, the bolt wouldn't even have touched me, but I melted it anyway. That provokes a chain reaction and soon, all the ten crossbows have unleashed their deadly projectiles. That harmed no one, in the end, only costing me three seconds of aura. The sudden disappearance of the bolts provokes this time a real clamor from the crowd. The shadow of death is a magician, and a powerful one. He destroyed ten moving projectiles without a problem.

The face of everyone facing me is now white, without any other colors. The now useless bandits in the front quickly run in fear inside the house. And the poor shielded criminals are really tempted to do the same. I order my four skeletons warriors to get close to this shield wall. Their robotic and without fear approach make the remaining outlaws shake. This is of course greatly because of my presence near them. I am not sure of the actual range of [Cause Fear] but where I am standing, it is definitely affecting the humans.

This time the battle will really start. All the weapons are unsheathed, masked undead against coward humans. Blood will be spilled today, and nothing is apparently trying to prevent that. After waiting a few seconds to see any reaction from the gang, I order all my warriors to slaughter the five men standing in front of them. Order that I remove immediately after.

-STOP! STOP! My leader, Shadow is requesting this honorable sir to come inside and talk about this regrettable situation. There is absolutely no reason for anyone to die today. I humbly ask you to prevent your men from doing anything that you could regret in the future. Can we talk in peace?

Walk inside your house to talk about that? Better walk in the wolf mouth, it would have been a quicker death. I convey my words to number one, letting him talk.

-My master said no survivors.