Chapter 36: Finally, Noda Is Safe
Ibro's advance wasn't halted by anything, as nothing could stop the two fighting side by side, using this complementary mix of close and far ranged attacks. Ibro was following the direction provided to him by the system, while delving deeper into the ocean of monsters, killing endless amounts of them without pause.
"The lord is back!"
Suddenly, this yell came from far, weak and low, but Ibro was sure it was loudly heard at the place it came from. It seemed Froki had sent scouts up ahead, and he was just spotted by one of them.
Ibro used that shout as a direction for his march, and it didn't take him long until he reached the place where he met with a group of hurriedly running individuals, with numbers so low that it wasn't exceeding a thousand. They seemed like a tiny drop of light in this ocean of darkness. Ibro managed to spot Froki, alone, standing amidst those people.
"Our lord is back, Our lord is back!"
Froki said, as he knelt on the ground, crying tears of joy. Ibro smiled as he moved forward, and everyone else knelt on the ground like Froki, showing their respect to Ibro, who patted Froki on the shoulder while muttering:
"You had it hard, don't be worried, I'm here and now everything will be alright."
He felt the quaver of Froki's body, which made him feel some blame. He was their lord, the one they should lean to at the hardest of times, but he wasn't here when they tasted it hard. He sighed, helplessly, recalling how unwilling he was to leave here, and how he was pushed away, far away, without even his consent.
Ibro then glanced around, looking for Noda, but he couldn't find her, or any familiar face of her annoying group.
"Where is Noda?" he asked.
Froki, after he stood straight and asked others to stand upright, said with shame:
"They were just captured by these monsters."
Once heard, his anger boiled, bubbled inside his heart, but he controlled it perfectly while asking:
"Where were they heading?"
"To the village centre, my lord," Froki felt the faint sense of Ibro's anger before he perfectly controlled it, and that made his heart shudder. His lord was getting stronger, and was far stronger than before.
"Froki," Ibro simply said, as he turned on his heels and gave him his back.
"Yes, my lord."
"I'm a king now, a king over many worlds," Ibro faintly mumbled, before he said to his system:
'Let's use our full strength then, my old friend.'
'…'
The system had nothing to say, as he was the will and desire of Ibro. Ibro then didn't delay in using his divine sense, covering the whole village, the herd of monsters, the ruins, and even the distant terrain with it.
It wasn't hard to spot the captured, defeated, Noda and her friends and subjects. Ibro sighed, they weren't that far from him, safe so far. He didn't turn to Froki, who was yet to digest the news he just heard from Ibro, as the latter started to rise in the air.
"You stay here, and I will go and end this battle."
Froki was about to open his mouth, advise his lord against it, but he stopped, as calling Ibro as a lord wasn't appropriate. He just hesitated for a moment, enough for Ibro to rise in the sky, away from Froki's reach.
'Let's do our utmost best here my friend,' Ibro muttered before he started using his curses, one after another.
"Death summon curse."
"Lich summon curse."
"Bony dragon summon curse."
"Giant bony golam summon curse."
"Mummy summon curse."
"Death knight summon curse."
Ibro started summoning his army of skeletons, by saying the names of the curses out loud. He aimed, for everyone watching and hearing, to know he was the source of the skeletons, so any ally wouldn't run off, scared of his skeletons.
Suddenly, everything turned upside down. The whole world started to vibrate under the newcomers, the skeletons that stretched over the horizon, forming a majestic scene, bringing feat into any monster around.
Ibro didn't need to do anything, as his system started to command and take control over his skeletons, as he continued to summon them, especially his beloved lich and dragon units.
'Do you want the liches to summon the graveyard?'
'No, we don't need it here,'
Ibro then watched his skeletons forming a huge wave that hit every single monster around. It wasn't surprising for Ibro, when he watched the emptiness left by the skeletons on the battlefield, an emptiness that kept expanding without showing any signs of stopping.
But for others, who were watching this bizarre scene, this was a miracle, a shocking thing beyond their wildest imagination. Ibro didn't stop summoning his skeletons, despite the restriction forced upon the system here, he knew he could summon them endlessly, without worry of MANA depletion.
As for the skeletons, their numbers just kept rising, without decline, by the continuous effort of the liches summoning other units of skeletons as well.
Ibro watched his skeletons, moving without any resistance, towards everywhere, content. This was the way he preferred to battle, and like this he could face the whole world, without worrying of losing.
The appearance of Ibro and his skeletons shocked the whole battlefield, making every single monster here move its focus over the place of Ibro. The appearance of more monsters coming towards Ibro didn't make him stop summoning his skeletons, or even thinking about using any other strike to kill them.
Skeletons were enough to kill all the monsters here, so Ibro kept summoning, focusing mainly now over his previous liches, depending on them to create more skeletons, adding them into the battle.
'Now, it's time to rescue,' Ibro muttered to himself, before he turned towards the thousands of dragons in the sky, as he ordered:
"Follow me."
His orders were strict to the skeletons, even those sentient like dragons, so they followed him, flying rapidly towards the group of monsters holding Noda and her friends.
From the ground, the captured Noda and her friends, her followers, and the remnants of her, once mighty, army were marching with their heads low. Even when they heard the strange noises coming from far, the battle once again erupted there, but not inside their hearts or souls.
They had already succumbed to their dark fate, and Noda knew she was done for, she and her brother as well. She moved her legs, heavy as lead, towards the village centre, as she wanted to be killed off soon, and be relieved from this shame.
"Attack every single monster, leave none alive. Lich summon curse, Death knight summon curse, giant bony golam summon curse."
Ibro's voice reverberated like thunder, clear like a horn blown in their ears, shaking their bodies, reviving their dead souls, making them all look up, to see him, the same youth who once appeared mystically outside the walls of their village amidst hard battle, to reappear again flying like magic in the air, without any aid, surrounded by an ocean of white silver and black skeletons.
Amidst their despair, in this once lost, already devastated village, he appeared, like a beacon of hope, shining over their faces, spreading his care and might to shelter them.
At this moment, they all felt the same trembling in their bodies, and even many of them fell on the ground, kneeling to their savior.
"He has finally come, like a knight on his spotless white horse, and shiny bright armor," Sola said, in a tiring tone that was full of exhaustion. If not for her position and image, she would have fallen on the ground since the moment Ibro appeared.
Noda ignored the heated discussion that started between the naughty friends of her, as her eyes and heart were attracted to his picture, there up in the sky.
If she was alone, she would have cried, cried so hard that soaked the lands with her tears. If they were both alone, she wouldn't hesitate to throw herself into his embrace, finally letting all the burden on her to flow away, seep from her into his, without any reservation.
But she controlled herself, and above all, she watched with vigilance, the reaction of her kidnappers.
They were monsters, but a special type of them, highly ranked and thus they had some mind in their dirty filthy brain of theirs.
As Ibro appeared up there, he didn't give any monster the chance to do anything, as he summoned his skeletons, and started arranging them without any hesitation.
"All liches start summoning other units, the death knights will make a clear area, patrolling it around here, and kill any monster you meet. The golams will move to the captured below, surround and protect them at no cost. The dragons, keep circling and start killing everything down there."
Ibro's orders were swiftly executed, as all the skeletons started their designated roles. Noda and the others watched with shocking expressions the movement of the skeletons everywhere, some were protection them directly, some were forming a clear zone from far, while others started summoning more, far stranger units, and lastly there were these dragons, that kept hovering in the sky, shooting at any strong looking monster.
This arrangement was enough, enough to make them feel safe and finally they realized, they were saved, Noda village was saved, Noda was saved.
"Thank you."
Noda softly muttered, as she couldn't hold back her tears anymore, so she fell on the ground, crying silently, sobbing with pain, as she was finally safe.