After putting some distance between them and the dragon Dave finally had a few moments to spare, so he returned Lone's call.
"What's up?"
"Hey Davy, what was that you were saying about a dragon?"
"Yeah, I'm in the Eastern region, in the Wilds. We ran into the dragon."
"Whaaat!? You didn't die, did you?" Zoe was concerned that he might have lost everything, all the hard work he'd put in as a draugr, ranking up in the hierarchy of the Undead realm.
"Nah. It was close, but I got out. Scary shit though. What about Mrs. Clementine?" he was worried for her, those goons didn't seem like they played around.
"She's fine. Uncle Sam sent some of daddy's people to watch over her. I'm in the hospital waiting room. I wanted to pick you up, but the doc said that you still need two more days to rest."
"I'm sorry for being so much trouble for you and your family, and thank you for everything" Dave said guiltily.
"It's alright Dave, the Giovanni family aren't the kind of people you stand against alone. Let daddy straighten things out for you."
"Yeah, that kind of thing is way out of my comfort zone. I'll log out as soon as I finish this quest," said Dave.
"Alright. I'm watching the CCN replay of the Underworld video. Those pompous guild 'experts.' Can you believe they said everything that you've done was just because you were lucky?"
"The video! I lost track of time. Meh, it doesn't matter what the guildies say. Lucky or not, they are just jealous, ha!"
"Another thing, you're paying for dinner when we get out of here. Someplace really nice!" she said with undisguised glee.
"What!? I'm just a poor boy from the country, I can't afford big city prices. Maybe we can do street food for dinner."
He knew she was kidding around, she didn't really expect him to pay for a fancy dinner. Besides if you knew where to go for good street food it was better than the overpriced sit-down stuff.
"Dave! Don't tell me you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"The bidding for the Right of Conquest is at 20 million gold coins! That's in less than 12 hours of bidding time! And the big guilds haven't even started bidding yet!"
Dave was silent for a moment.
"Zoe, you're not pulling my leg, are you?"
"No! What did you think? That it would go for cheap?"
"Well, that is…unexpected," he said, sounding calm. "Alright, dinner is on me next time."
They said their goodbyes and disconnected.
He was in a daze, the news of how much he was getting for the scroll– no he was going to make MORE, it was a huge thing. He couldn't even think of all the ways it affected him.
"Now I can live however I want. Focus on the game more. Twenty million gold is enough for many lifetimes. Ha!"
The Dunlords carefully made their way through the dark forest in the eastern region. They have just entered the area where the Blood Ragers guildies were farming.
They battalion met with some high-level mobs, mostly corrupted trees, and stone golems, but they didn't present much of a challenge to the dunlords.
A level 500 horned-serpent ambushed them but they managed to escape without any casualties.
Yet the deeper they traveled into the forest the more uneasy he became.
Something in the forest was putting Dave on edge.
As the party of undead moved deeper in the forest, he noticed that the monsters in the area became scarcer.
The forest was brimming with monsters all above level 400.
Dave was not confident that he could defeat the 400 level monsters even with his ten Dunlords.
The party approached a giant cave opening carved into the foot of a mountain.
Dog the Dullahan jumped from his Dunlord and moved ahead of the party.
The Dullahan stopped and stabbed his sword deep into the ground.
A desiccated hand erupted from the dirt, followed by the rest of an undead until it was standing over the dullahan.
It was a draugr, it wore silver armor of an ancient design.
But the eyes of the newly raised draugr was strange, unlike the usual blue of the Undead this one had crimson orbs blazing out at them.
Dog stepped back quickly, retreating from the reanimated corpse.
A red name tag appeared on the draugr.
"Fuck, it's hostile! What did you do, Dog?"
Dave inspected the undead.
Kalel the vanquisher
Level: 550
Tier: Mythic
Danger level: Unknown
HP: ???
Damage: ???
DN: ???
MA: ???
Skills: ???
Kalel was a hero of the people. He rose from obscurity to claim a place among the heroes of legend.
Beasts, monsters, demons, nothing could overcome his mighty blade!
Alas, in his final task he failed to defeat the Abyssal Dragon and now rests in the earth under the entrance to its lair.
A man only lives once! Make it worthwhile!
"Shit, it's too high level for us! Dog what the hell did you go and dig up this time!"
The draugr continued to move toward the group aggressively, sword at the ready.
Dave was about to issue a command to retreat when a figure made of shadow appeared, hovering in the sky.
"The Undead King!"
The dunlords all bowed in obeisance to the shadowy presence of their liege.
"You are newly risen, yet dare to attack your Undead brethren?" roared the king at Kalel.
"I am no kin to the dead!" the draugr shouted back, raising his sword in defiance.
"If you spurn the laws of your creator, my laws, then you are not worthy of my gifts!"
The shadow of the Undead king waved a hand, black chains erupted from underground latching onto the draugr and pulling him back under the dirt.
"Child of mine," the king addressed Dave, "That one is too strong for you, I shall gift him back to you when you are powerful enough to command him.
"Before I leave I must warn you, this is the lair of the Abyssal dragon. The dragon keeps many great treasures here, powerful treasures that it has collected over long ages. Flee or enter to plunder the dragon's hoard, the choice is yours but make haste, for the dragon will return soon!"
The king's avatar disappeared and Dave was left with his battalion standing near the dragon's lair.
Dog the Dullahan Dog moved forward a few steps and raised his sword to pierce the ground.
"No! Bad Dog! No more digging for bones!" ordered Dave, he didn't want the dullahan to raise anything else in the area.
He couldn't fight something of the draugr's caliber right now, not at his level without his full battalion.
"Stinger, we are going to raid the dragon's lair. Let's be quick about it."
