The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-Three III: Glimpse Of Truth

"Doom rider, a feared undead monster. Born from the corpse of a cavalry knight who had the potential to become a paladin or great knight. Naturally, a paladin's corpse could develop into a doom rider much faster and easier than a cavalry knight. Likewise, a great knight's corpse would develop into a stronger doom rider than a paladin or a cavalry knight at the cost of a longer period of natural development.

A doom rider had all the time that they needed to become a true master of all weapons. Swords, lances, and axes. When battling against a doom rider, be cautious of their attacks because a doom rider could easily heal themselves after their attack connects. Not only that, a doomed rider can easily travel long distances with a huge range of movement during battle. The most important note was that a doom rider's intelligence is as high as a human's, so a doom rider could easily kite a person with their movement range.

A side note: Run." An old cavalry knight who survived the onslaught of doom riders when she was younger.

---

He had no plan at all, and until that moment. He was aggressive and followed his anger before this without even thinking much. So, he released his breath as he saw that Victor's expression turned ugly. From his side, he could see that Victor's face was distorted in pain, and Victor's body becoming thinner while becoming much more dried out. Victor's current condition was completely different from the first time he saw Victor. Victor looked pitifully in pain, but his murderous eyes did not change at all.

He had decided he was not going to risk his life. Even at the cost of Goon or Uzi, he wants to ensure that this Victor will no longer exist in this world. He still has four chances to completely rid Victor of the universe. He wanted to ensure that even if Victor were to avoid Goon's and Uzi's attacks, then he would personally attack them later on. He did not need to move Goon at all and let Goon attack Victor. Goon did not need to roar nor make a sound. Goon rushes forward to face Victor from behind and an incredible ax swing.

Missed! Goon missed the first attack and he coldly stared on as he felt that he was right to be cautious. Even if Victor was dying, the slight chance of Victor being able to dodge was still there as he had expected. At this time, Goon took the black purplish spell head-on and lost thirty-one health points. However, that was enough. Goon was still alive, which was outside of Victor's consideration. Goon did not need to utter a word because the bone ax had already arrived at Victor's ribcage and smashed it. Even Victor's surprised face was still lingering and the battle ended just like that. Short and simple (Goon, EXP +100, Level Up).

For these three unallocated points, he allocated two to Goon's maximum health points and the last point to Goon's luck stat. There was not a great reason for doing so. Everything boiled down to the fact that Goon's strength stat, skill stat, speed stat, defense stat, and magic resistance stat had all been maxed out. The only other state that was not maxed out was the magic stat, luck stat, and maximum health point. He ruled out the magic stat since it was unnecessary for Goon and, in the end, was left with the maximum health point and the luck stat.

For now, even if he did not use the use of luck stat. It was not a bad thing to start investing in the luck stats, since he never knew how handy it could come later on. Take, for example, Victor, with ten points in the luck stat, and Victor was 'lucky' enough to dodge Goon's first attack. That luckiness must have steamed from the luck stat. It might have been a false impression, but he felt that luck must have played a major role in everything up till now.

For once, he believes that there is luck in the world. He had never believed in luck before, because a lucky opportunity is not something given for free, but created by effort. Even then, the luck stat came into play and he had to believe it because the luck stat was directly defined and ranged on the status screen. He felt that sooner or later, his luck would eventually run out and that might be the day of his life. He relieved himself with the bottle of vulnerary as the battle ended and the grid line retreated.

Likewise, before the gridline vanished, he saw that the two undead monsters on the map had turned white. It must have been because the contract that Victor had over the two was by default. Hence, the two would have their pixilation turned white. While that is not important, he was also confused as to why the two were not aggressive. By default, he was expecting the two to turn aggressive right after he defeated Victor.

However, he was surprised to see that the skeleton rider was making the bone horse trot over in front of him. He was surprised as the bone horse let out a couple of 'neighs' that puffed out some dark smoke. He had already checked the skeleton rider's status screen and was prepared to lose Goon or Uzi. However, everything turns out well. The skeleton rider's status screen reads:

[Name: Dullen][Race: Doom Rider (Grade 3)][Level: 48/48][Rank: 4][HP: 45/45-55/55] +10

[STR: 18(26) / [...] ]

[MAG: 1(15) / [1][2][3][4][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[SKL: 20(24) / [...] ]

[SPD: 15(21) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][][][][][][][] ]

[LCK: 0(30) / [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[DEF: 16(23) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][][][][][][][] ]

[RES: 8(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[Hidden: [CON: 16][MOV: 6+3][SKILL: [Horseback (B)][Undead][Darkness Gift][Brave Sword User][Lifetaker]][EXP: --/100][WEA: Sword A Lance B Axe B]]

[Equip: Silver Sword (35/40)]

[Horseback (B) - Bone horse, movement +3.]

[Undead - Developed natural undead soul core.]

[Darkness Gift - Level +10, cannot exceed the limit. Health points +10. All stat +1. All growth rates - 5. One time only.]

[Brave Sword User - Might +4 when wielding a sword.]

[Lifetaker - Drains 25% health from the total damage dealt to target. Passive.]

Dullen, the doom rider, would have become an annoying enemy to face off against. If Dullen keeps recovering, twenty-five percent of his health comes from the damage. Even then, he was confident to grind down Dullen after dealing with Victor, but his most pressing threat was his father's corpse. It had become way stronger than before and it was not a joke to say that he would eventually die from the blow of his father's corpse attack. His father's undead corpse's status screen reads:

[Name: Roylis Smith][Race: Death Knight (Grade 3)][Level: 52/52][Rank: 5][HP: 51/51-61/61] +10

[STR: 23(25) / [...] ]

[MAG: 5(15) / [1][2][3][4][5][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[SKL: 23(23) / [...] ] G

[SPD: 15(22) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[LCK: 20(30) / [...] ]

[DEF: 29(30) / [...] ] +4

[RES: 10(20) / [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][][][][][][][][][][] ]

[Hidden: [CON: 14][MOV: 6][SKILL: [Brave Lancer][Undead Turning][Darkness Gift][Great Shield][Honorable Spar]][EXP:--/100][WEA: Lance A+]]

[Equip: Silver Lance (40/40)]

[Brave Lancer - Might +4 when wielding a lance weapon.]

[Undead Turning - Turns a skeleton into an undead monster. All stats -2. All growth rates -10. Max level -5.]

[Darkness Gift - Level +10, cannot exceed the limit. Health points +10. All stat +1. All growth rates - 5. One time only.]

[Great Shield - Defense +4]

[Honorable Spar - When in about, no double attack. It affects both sides. Passive]

Right in front of him was Dullen, the doomed rider. Dullen was the first to break the silence, "A talent, strong, yet daring." Dullen continues, "How long? I don't remember. You take on the look of someone I knew."

Even though the voice was raspy, he could still feel the knightly aura coming off Dullen. It was such a strange sensation and impression that he got from Dullen and Dullens undead aura. There was peace, yet bravery. Weak, yet confident. An undead, yet emotional. He did not know what to describe Dullen, a doomed rider, but he knew for sure that Dullen would not attack. He was thinking and did know that his frowning face was slightly impolite.

Dullen continued, since he was still as silent as the moment he came through the door, "Silent, huh?" Then, "Very like."

Once that was said, Dullen did not get long-winded, "Here, this is for you."

It was only when the item was thrown over that he woke up from his thought process. Then, by the time he held the item in his hand, Dullen had already rushed out through the door. He turned his attention back and was able to get a last glance of Dullen on top of the bone horse. There was a trail of black smoke dust lingering in the air for a few seconds. At this moment, he heard a sound before looking back at the figure that had fallen on its knees the moment Victor died.

The 'clunk' and 'clank' echo as he sees that his father's undead corpse got up and stared at him. He was still much smaller than his father, but his body had also gained in height a year after their last meeting. He quickly pocketed the item in his hand into his inventory space and wearily stared back. Their height difference was still there, but the two have changed a lot over the years. His father's undead corpse closes its eyes with both hands open.

He nervously started on and he heard a massive impact due to the quick condensation of mana. He realized that his father's undead corpse had already closed its open hand and its flaming aura had retreated into the body. At this point, there was no more blackish-purple aura emitted. This is the point where his father's undead corpse opens its eyes.

His father's undead corpse opened its mouth and was only able to gurgle for a bit before, "W-wel-welcome back my son." Each word was spoken strong and clear, yet the death vibration was still there, "C-come. It's time for you to know the truth."

With that said, his father moved on. The pathway that they took was very familiar and it was towards his father's office. The two walked in silence, but he was still cautious along the way because he knew that this undead monster before him was no longer his father. There might be some kind of trap and he would never know anything about it. After all, his father's current status is still quite doubtful. Being a little extra care will not hurt him one bit and it might be the reason he survives later on if there were any more complications.

When they reached the office, his father's corpse had to squeeze through the door because the door was not tall enough. Once inside, the sofa was already moved aside and the bookcase behind his father's desk was moved. His father turned back to him and coughed, "Go, the truth is behind this passage." A brief pause before explaining, "Undead dark creatures can't enter."

After hearing so, he went through the passage. At first, he felt that the passage was quite ordinary and smelled moldy. A huge layer of dust had already been situated on the passage floor. However, it did not take long before he felt his heart thump loud and clear. On a closer internal inspection, he felt that it did not come from his heart. It came from his blood. More specifically, he believed that it was the bloodline that was coursing through his veins.

[Dullen - A historical paladin who had once fought against the dark during the past old turbulence. His historical deeds were not recorded, but his transformation into a doomed rider did. However, the current husk as a doomed rider is not the real him because his soul was already gone. Now, the doom rider 'Dullen' only retains pieces and parts of vague memories from way back when Dullen was still alive. Surprisingly, 'Dullen' had never turned evil throughout history, but was controlled by those other evils. This 'Dullen' can still vaguely have the slightest feeling of touching nature and likes to linger in the cool shade of nature. 'Dullen' was never seen during this turbulence until the later greater turbulence. 'Dullen' ran into the main character's son during the time of great turbulence.]