The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-Three I: Glimpse Of Truth

"Undead contractor, a rare grade three class. What is an undead contractor? An undead contractor is someone whose sole power is through contracts with undead monsters. The stronger the undead contractor was, the more undead can be contracted. Of course, the contracts are limited to how strong an undead contractor was (tied to the magic stat). Not only can the undead contractor, but it can also make contracts with undead monsters. An undead contractor himself can use strong dark magic, which makes a strong undead contractor even stronger.

Likewise, there are ways to exploit the power of an undead contractor. An undead contractor could release the contract of the undead, whenever. Meaning that if an undead contractor were to have twenty undead under contract, the undead contractor could release all of the undeath's contract. Then, if the undead contractor were to gather up the undead monsters in a confined space, it would be easy for the undead contractor to create multiple traps and obstructions when up against others. Of course, that is if the undead contractor does not want to die. The undead contractor would only release some of the weakest undead monsters while retaining the stronger undead monster in contract to suppress the weaker undead monsters that were released.

This is why an undead contractor is strong and dangerous. Once an undead contractor can fully maximize their full potential with a list of high-quality (Grade 3) undead monster contracts. An undead contractor's full power can be compared to a kingdom. They are highly dangerous. The best counter when going up against a powerful undead contractor is light magic. Light magic will easily eradicate the undead under the undead contractor and is effective against the undead contractor itself." Written within a passage on one of the holy book copies.

---

John Smith had never thought that today, homecoming would give him such a different vibe. The gate was hanging loosely. The entrance garden that he was so familiar with was scarred with dried blood. The flowers are all wilted blackish, lacking in vitality. Random weeds are growing all over the place and through the cracks within the stone tiles on the ground. The once beautiful trees were not any better. Somehow, he could feel only two light breaths coming from the overgrown bush.

He had only gained this ability after the battle and he was still lacking in this department. However, he can still say that the two light breaths are no threat and only comparable to animals. He had already encountered a couple of animal breaths that had such light breathings. He ignored the two harmless animals and opened the iron gate that was intricately welded together and took the first step into the compound. His heart tightened as he could feel three unimaginably large 'breaths.'

To be specific, what he felt was not 'breath.' What he could feel was the presence of the three within the mansion. He could feel that one was incomparably dark and the other two were not slightly as dark. His unease erupted at this point because he had confirmed that what his family had faced was more than he could tackle. When he felt the three dark presence moving downward, he realized that the three presence also sensed his 'breath' or presence in return.

Strong. They are very strong and dangerous. However, he did not hesitate because his father, mother, and two younger siblings were still waiting for him. He wants to confirm if they are still alive and if they are dead. He wants to see their cold bodies. His eyes reddened and the grip on his iron lance tightened by another notch. No matter how strong the three were, he felt that he would regret it if he ran away from the fear of the three. Somehow, his legs started to tremble slightly and this remnant of fear had brought him back to the moment when he was fleeing from the first hobgoblin he encountered.

Now, he is not the same as back then. The power to fight back, he had it now. If he were to run, he could not imagine being a coward. He could not and would not forgive himself if he were to run away because of this slight fear. Thus, he took many slow steps to the huge massive door. His footsteps were not as unsteady as before. He also felt that the presence had stopped somewhere within the hallway and was just awaiting his arrival. Likewise, once he opens this door, he will see the true faces of the three presences.

He uses his left hand to push the left side of the huge door. He had not smelled anything when the door was still closed. However, the moment he opens a small gap. The stinky odor of death and decay rushed into his nose. He frowned and his nose slightly twitched as the smell was unbearable. This was not the stink of fresh blood but long dried up rotten flesh and blood. Just a small gap in the door and he could smell the disgusting stench.

He took a deep breath through his mouth and exhaled out from his mouth. No longer affected by the rotten smell. He also did not breathe through his nose now, instead of from his mouth. Even then, the condensed rotten stench was still present. He uses his right arm to also open up the right door. Once he widened the gap, he could see three visible figures in the distance.

On the right of his sight was a skeleton with worn and rusty armor on it. There were some cracks in the armor. The most prevailing thing about the skeleton was that it was a small size, bigger than his own, and was seated on top of a horse consisting of bones. Some form of dark power formed the body structure of the horse which also stabilized the skeleton on top of the horse. The skeleton was holding onto a sword that glimmered brightly, which was unfitting for the overall black grabs of the skeleton.

To the left of his view was the familiar statue of a man with a huge body. Darkness was prevalent all over the body, painting a blackish outline on the man. The darkness seemed to slowly evaporate upward and disappeared. Completely the opposite of the skeleton rider, who was barely able to release such dark power on the head only. The man was holding a familiar lance and he had seen such a lance before. It was a silver lance. He had once seen Jagen's silver lance and he had never forgotten about its looks.

His mind paused. He felt that he had seen this heavy armor structure everywhere within his mind. However, this armor's size and coloration were completely different than the one within his memories. The armor badge's pattern was still there. Once he came to a realization, his eyes watered a bit. This was his father, no, this was not his father anymore. This figure is just a cold corpse of his father that had been turned into an undead monster.

His eyes were already further reddened and could not go any further. His grip on his iron lance was already tightened and could not tighten anymore. However, his frowning expression distorted into anger and the murderous intent within his eyes was prevalent. His murderous eyes set on the center figure. The center figure's face was pale white. A hunched back along with long white and blond hair. The facial features are smooth, but wrongly as if old by age and still youthful at the same time. The hunchback man was holding onto a long and thin scepter that supported the man's body from collapsing.

The man was the first to speak, "My, my. What a beautiful expression." Then the man continues, "I just want to put those pretty eyes into my collection." As if the man was surprised by the man's self afterward, "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself." The man continues in a high-pitched voice, "My name is Victor." The voice to him was obnoxious and irritating, "And yours?"

He stares at Victor's mocking expression. It made him want to puncture a hole through that face. He did not answer or observe their next action. Since the battle grid line did not form, then the three must-have no intention of attacking him. He kept on observing the three status screens as Victor continued talking.

Victor's expression changed while saying, "What a rude young man you are. Well, not that I care. Ahahaha!" The high-pitched mocking laugh is disturbing and screeching to the ear.

Victor finally changed his expression, seeing that he did not care about the provocation. He knew that a victorious battle would depend on two sides of opposing stats. He was using this time to check their stats. After all, even if he plans to fight until death. He never joked about his life on the line and if the three were such monstrous beings that he could not scratch. Then he was better off escaping now and solving them later once he grows stronger.

He still has many long years ahead of him and he only needs a short amount of time to grow strong. It may not even take a year for him to finally get revenge. The fact that he was observing them had piqued his interest in Victor.

A scheming smile formed on Victor's face before finally saying, "I guess it's time for me to leave." As the last words were uttered, a magic circle was blooming brightly underneath Victor's feet and flashing purplish black. A dangerous vibe came out of the magic circle.

He paid attention to Victor from the very beginning. Once he felt the slightest intent from Victor and the growing threat of the mana condensed gathering, he had already moved his feet. He knew that Victor was not running away because the blatant expression emitted from Victor was very obvious that there was no chance that Victor would be running away. For some reason, he had also seen the glint in Victor's eyes as if Victor was trying to agitate him.

Victor's open hand was above his head while a tint of dark magic condensed. The moment he rushed close to Victor, a fiery ball of blackish-purple flame that was as large as a boulder was already within his open palm of Victor. A victorious smirk appeared on Victor's face. However, he too also smiled. He had already checked Victor's status screen and had already known what the results would be. Once this thought had reached his head, the dark magic had already rushed towards him and he took the blow head-on.

Once his body was in touch with the blackish-purple flame, he realized the intensely familiar feeling of touching death. The violent magic energy within the spell blasted his whole body and the worst thing was the pain. Even his armor did nothing to protect him from such magic power and he felt that he lost over half of his life. Every part of his body aches. His flesh that was at the blinking point of the blast felt painful just touching the air. To describe him, his skin felt like it was seared in a hot frying pan and the worst of all was the air that was touching his skin like a piece of meat being seasoned.

He felt maddened, but the pain was worth it because he was on the square tile that was adjacent to Victor. Since the battle started and the enemy had attacked first, it was his turn to counterattack. He was confident and crazed, the first thrust of his iron lance and he targeted none other than Victor's heart. However, Victor was able to react in time and he had only managed to destroy Victor's left shoulder. Only a single piece of flesh was hanging on and the left arm was completely limp. His second counter-attack came at lightning speed and the target was none other than the chest. He was aiming for the throat, but his luck of Victor was quite good and Victor was able to do a failed twisted dodge.

He was only confident in his action because he knew that he could survive one round when up against Victor. He initially had hopes that he would land a critical attack on Victor and end the battle right there and then. From the outcome of the battle, he had suffered thirty-three damage, which was a significant loss of health. Meanwhile, he suffered greatly. He also managed to deal some major damage. Each of his counterattacks deals sixteen damage and a total of thirty-two damage back (John Smith, EXP +40x2, Level Up). Truthfully, he was gambling with his life at this time and his subconscious did not allow any other thoughts, since everything was done within a blink of an eye. Victor's status screen reads:

[Name: Victor][Class: Undead Contractor (Grade 3)][Level: 50/50][Rank: 5][HP: 33/33-43/43] +10

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

[MAG: 23(25) / [...] ] +4 +2

[SKL: 15(20) / [...] ]

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

[LCK: 10(30) / [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ]

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

[RES: 28(30) / [...] ] +4

[Hidden: [CON: 10][MOV: 7][SKILL: [Darkness Affinity][Undead Contract][Darkness Gift][Darkness Prowess][Darkness Might]][EXP: --/100][WEA: Dark S]]

1[Equip: Death Specter (MAG +4)]

2[Equip: Skull Ring (DEF +2)]

3[Equip: Darkness Shard (RES +4)]

[Darkness Affinity - Dark magic might be +2. Dark magic requires less experience to increase mastery rank.]

[Undead Contract - Create a binding contract, full control over the undead. Limit of contracts is tied to magic status.]

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

[Darkness Prowess - Dark magic mastery rank increases by one. (Current: A -> S)]

[Darkness Might - Dark magic might +4 when using dark magic.]