Two of the warriors managed to survive the onslaught of the Demons, while the rest are shredded by Scourge Casters and then cleaved into pieces by the Wrath Bringers.
Through sheet weight of numbers, the Necromancer appears to have the upper hand unless Cain calls the Seraphim or the Supporters back from their battles near the border, but none of his summons except the Bone Dragons were high quality.
He hasn't called them today, so either they're on the ability to cool down or require a reagent that the Necromancer doesn't have with him.
The combination of Dragon Breath and area damage is taking a lot out of the Undead, but the combination is even harder on the Necromancer. They can absorb a Summon every so often to heal, but the actual healers working with the group are dead. Cain watches as the Oath Breakers time their strikes to hit their larger undead targets all at once, killing the black-cloaked Necromancer in a single shot with the area damage.
The undead army disappears, and everything goes eerily silent until a shrill scream splits the air, and Laura returns with a gaudily dressed nobleman in her claws. This must be the Rebel Duke.
"Misha, could you or your Record Keeper dispel all illusions on this man? I would like to see who it is for real."
The effect is instant; the body changes to that of a much plumper and older man that closely matches the drawn picture in Cain's pocket.
"That is his real appearance, and as of yesterday, he was banished from the kingdom for treason," Cain explains to the Administrator, who is still hiding behind the pillars of the travel platform.
"You don't know who you're messing with; we've got strong backers. Harming me will only bring about your death." The former Duke declares as if confident Cain will let him go.
"Strong backers like the Elven Royal family or the Demon King? That strong?" Cain asks with a smile, and the man goes pale.
"The Demon Mercenaries in Niman Territory, it was you?" He stutters.
"Not was, is. From my message feed, they're at some large city right now, competing over who can kill the most of its residents before dawn."
The man sighs and flicks his fingers, throwing a pill from his inventory into his mouth. With a single crunch, his face begins to turn black and melt, killing him beyond hope of revival—a poison pill designed for a world where resurrection is a thing.
Explaining to the Administrator that he had been tricked wasn't hard; he guessed that much from the start. But the news of Nimans this far into the country scares him. Many of the nations on this side of the continent practice slavery in one form or another, but only one country is known as the largest supplier and breeder.
Now that the threat is temporarily dealt with, they've got time to breathe. Cain is still in a Raid group with the King and can see the encouraging messages other Nobles are sending about the improving state of the Northern and Eastern borders.
The mountains are to the east of Skyview and are home to the Gnolls and other hardy monsters. Niman Territory is technically the northeast of Skyview, claiming the foothills and a portion of the rugged mountain range as their hiding spot, using the treacherous terrain to hide slave movements.
Both had spread widely into Skyview lately, though, and the cleanup of the Gnolls is taking much longer than finding the Niman invaders. The Nimans want slaves and are on a schedule; the Gnolls are content to hide until they're hungry or see an opportunity to claim a portion of land as their temporary home.
Cain informs the King that he will be at the Manor for the rest of tonight, but Maria will be at his side and able to contact them at any time for an immediate return.
That leaves the three traveling Companions time to go to the Manor and eat a proper meal, free of Nobles, pretentiousness, and stress. The Puppets are cooking today, saving them the effort, so Cain checks his status while waiting on what they have picked for dinner.
[Name] Cain
[Level] 210
[Class] Ancient Flesh Crafter
[Race] Ancient
[Stats] +210
[STR] 225
[DEX] 225
[CON] 225
[INT] 225
[HP] 3600
[MP] 4500
From level 200, he has been receiving ten stat points per level, a great benefit to him in the long term, as many hidden and special abilities seem to be linked to status points.
That's how his entire first hundred levels in this world went, gaining skills the class could have started with when he finally got enough points into the relevant stat.
Keeping them balanced seems best, so Cain distributes out two hundred of the points and checks his new HP and Mana levels
[Stats] +210->10
[STR] 225->275
[DEX] 225->275
[CON] 225->275
[INT] 225->275
[HP] 3600->4400
[MP] 4500->5500
That's a nice, reliable boost. Sure, most of his effective stat levels during combat come from the user of the Merger skill, but the damage, durability and other abilities of his summons are still determined by the base Stats.
He's also now got ten skill points available to him. [Living Art] and [Greater Merger] are still too expensive, but he could get two out of four ranks of [Ancient Wisdom], letting his entire party use a skill he picks from his Greater Golems, or he could get [Useful Dolls] making all his puppets match his level.
Both are immediately useful skills to him since his Summons are always considered part of him and would benefit from [Ancient Wisdom]. Still, level 210 Puppets that he can create to have a single skill are also a rather impressive addition to the security of the Guild Properties.
With the ongoing attacks, Cain decides to favor combat utility and picks [Ancient Wisdom] x2 for five skill points a Rank. When he gets the final rank into that skill, it should let him grant an ability from the Legendary summons to his whole party.
The very idea of it is utterly broken, though Cain suspects there will still be some restrictions, like not being able to use exclusive racial abilities.
Having the Primal Echoes go to battle within Niman Territory was a great idea; they have all his skills; the only one he knows for sure that they can't use is Primal Echo, but it seems they do get his experience bonus passive. The amount of experience they're pouring into him is staggering, so Cain decides they could use just a little extra help.
Laura's Fog Breath saved him just a few minutes ago, so he grants the party the closest thing he can to it. Ice Drake Breath from one of the Drakes Kone has active.
[Include Raid Party?]Y/N
No. That might be a bad idea right now. As funny as it would be to see most of the Upper Nobles of Skyview with Dragon Breath, that would raise a few questions tomorrow.
The mental cheer that goes up in his mind at that ability is deafening. The city the Echoes were sacking just got reinforcements of a much higher level, and they were slaughtering the summons faster than the Echoes could recover mana. With the ability to freeze, they've slowed their losses.
The higher level Transfers still resist most of the freeze effects, but every little bit helps their competition. At the rate they're going, neither will last until dawn, running out of mana and either being forced to retreat or getting themselves killed.
At the dinner table, Misha puffs a little bit of ice until the air, catching it and placing it in her drink. Mythryll giggles, and the Puppets get an excited look before running back to the kitchen. Sounds of banging and grinding follow while Cain enjoys the meatloaf dinner the Puppets created, and he can hear that whatever they're doing is making them happy.
The meal is his ultimate comfort food in this world. The mediocre and generic meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables you would expect from any roadside diner. The Puppets only have Apprentice 1 cooking skills unless they've been active long enough to naturally obtain better, but that's enough for the standard line cook.
Their meals are never bad, just predictable, they're precisely what you'd hoped they would be. If you were hoping for food from a greasy spoon diner.
The Pub in Graska has been using them for the same reason, the place is always busy, and with so many to feed, plus the Guild Members, the actual chefs were overwhelmed. The Puppets he left make most of the meals, while the chef makes the unique and complicated dishes.
The grinding noise turns out to have been them making a bucket of ice to freeze yogurt to a soft serve ice cream consistency. Blueberry Frozen yogurt that is entirely made from the Long Fang Valley, or so the Puppets inform him.
If they're going to be treating him this well, Cain decides it's only fitting that he finds them a better skill book. If there's one to give them all Apprentice level skills, Cain is certain he can find one to provide them with Journeyman level skills without replacing them with custom-built Puppets.
They don't have the most vibrant personalities, even now that they're intelligent, but the Elven Puppets are very kind. Which reminds Cain to find out what Maria is actually like personality wise as a Puppet. He did leave her alone with the King, after all.
