Dave inspected the church the paladins.

Paladin

Level 200

Hp 200,000

Base Damage: 10,000-12,000

DN 2000

MA 2500

Servants of the Holy Church, a paladin will follow the teachings of the church to safeguard the land and its people.

Dave was thrilled when he saw the paladins were close to his own level.

"Finally I get to actually fight something! No need to hide behind the dunlords this time!"

As the charging battalion closed in the paladins stopped and turned to meet the attack, allowing the wagon to pull ahead in a bid to escape.

The paladins shifted their white horses into a line then lowered the points of their lances, and to the sounding of war horns they charged at the incoming horde of undead.

"BREAK THEM!" roared Dave as the ten dunlords expanded the formation from a spearhead to a straight line.

They fired their ballista crossbows aimed at the horses, creating gaps in the line. The scorpion-men barrelled through the gaps they had created and then rampaged within the ranks of the paladins like crazed bulls.

Bloodied ruins of men and steeds littered the field behind the charging paladins and the air was filled with the music of war, the agonized cries and screaming of men and animals.

The paladins were no match for the level 350 dunlords, the lucky riders who didn't get thrown from their horses met a grim end at the hands of the overpowered scorpion-men.

An unlucky rider who managed to survive the first skirmish rode toward Dave at full gallop, but Stinger casually reached out with a claw and snapped through the destrier's neck, the horse's head fell off as blood fountained meters into the air. The headless horse continued moving forward and was just starting to falter and stumble when it collided with Dave's mount, but Stinger just shrugged the massive dead-weight away and to the side.

The sudden change of direction made the paladin fly from his saddle, he managed to land in a partially controlled roll, his armor clanging against the ground.

Dave smiled and jumped from Stinger's back and smacked the dazed paladin with his fist. His fist ignited on contact and a burst of fire washed over the paladin.

[-2880]

Dave was surprised at the amount of damage he dealt. The paladin was supposed to have 2,000 Damage Nullification, Dave's gauntlet only did two to three thousand points of damage.

"Oh yeah, debuffed!" He recalled the basic damage was increased for attacks against a Staggered enemy.

Dog the dullahan had finally placed his head back on top of his neck as the battle began. He looked more enraged and insane than ever, the green glow of his eyes intensified until they were like the headbeams of a runaway car. Ever close to Dave, he charged at the paladin and rocked the hapless church man with a shoulder dash.

The remaining undead gathered around the isolated paladin like hungry beasts and a massacre was enacted.

The dunlords continued to decimate the paladins..

Dave faced off in one on one combat against another paladin.

He dodged in and out like a boxer, avoiding strikes from the paladin's mace and returning hooks and uppercuts whenever he had the chance, Muhammed Ali would have been impressed with his floating butterfly and stinging bee impression.

Ramp up activated!

+10% Basic Weapon damage!

20% weapon Damage converted to fire damage!

Dave's fists turned into orbs of raging flame, like twin blast-furnaces lighting up the desolate night air.

With every punch a burst of fire engulfed the paladin, and each time he suffered burning damage over a span of seconds, further reducing his HP.

Occasionally the Paladin managed to hit the draugr, his Holy imbued mace sending the Undead reeling.

This only increased Dave's appetite for the fight and he retaliated like an inveterate brawler.

Gauntlet of the Sworn Stalwart proficiency increased!

Skill Unlocked!

Flame Tornado!

Dave didn't read the skill description, he just activated it immediately.

His arms extended and his body spun like a top, a whirling dervish of flame moving toward the paladin.

Dave's fists struck the paladin rapidly and every time one of his fists landed with a wash of fire, damage values erupted from the staggered paladine.

[-1200]

[-1000]

[-800]

[-600]

[-400]

[-200]

[-0]

[-0]

[-0]

The moment Dave stopped spinning he noticed that the paladin's white armor was charred black and crushed in several places.

"What a broken skill!"

Dave smiled and continued with his assault, on the battered paladin.

He didn't realize that he'd moved off a considerable distance away from his battalion and was surrounded by three paladins.

He didn't get the chance to finish off the charred paladin as it still had about 40,000Hp left.

Dave smiled and activated [Double Edged]!

The earth trembled all around them and Dave quickly made his escape from the path of the doom-worm with [Immortal apparition]..

The moment Dave disappeared, the Minhocao rose from the depths and engulfed a large area, the entire circle of earth disappeared into the monster-worm's maw along with the three paladins.

The Minhocao spat the paladins back out as it turned to dive back underground. But each of the Jonah imitators had taken 22,000 damage. The worm disappeared, leaving behind what looked like a sinkhole had dropped away a big circular section of the land.

Dave reappeared near a paladin and dunlord who were exchanging blows, but the paladin turned tail and started running away when Dave appeared. [Immortal apparition] had a passive effect that caused Fear in enemies.

"Where are you going!" roared Dave. Stomping a foot into the ground he activated [Death Surge].

The Skill was a basic tank ability that had been transformed by his Death's Apostle class.

If an enemy flees because of the [Immortal Apparition] Fear effect, [Death Surge] combines with the attack to do 300% of weapon damage.

A huge damage value appeared above the paladin's head.

[-4850]

Dave chases the fleeing paladin and shouts out,

"Bud, Dog, Spark! You and three dunlords chase down that carriage and stop them from getting away! But don't kill the Priestess, our mission is to capture her!"

The three Undead nodded and each of them leapt onto the back of a dunlord. The three scorpion-men accelerated rapidly away, going after the fleeing carriage.

Dave shook his head as they galloped away on the tank-units, Dog was holding his head under one arm again. The dullahan stood wide legged and bent kneed behind the dunlord's human torso gripping the trailing ends of its shemagh like reign in his free hand.

Dave wouldn't normally detach troops for the mission when they were under-leveled, but the three Undead would carry out their task and do what was best for his interests and the dunlords would be a good buffer against just about any danger they might encounter. Plus they would all get a good chunk of EXP by defeating the last few protectors with the carriage.

Dave turned back to the job on hand, he roared commands at the remaining dunlords getting them to flank and then encircle the remaining paladins.

"Wrap it up boyz!" roared Dave.

When there were only 15 paladins left Dave called for the enemy to stop fighting.

"Who among you is the senior leader?" he demanded of the hopeless paladins.

One of them, the one with charred armor, answered.

"I command here!" said the paladin in a gruff voice.

"Wrong! I COMMAND: submit or die!" Dave said in his most menacing Undead draugr tone.

"We are servants of the holy church, we will never surrender to the Undead!" he spat.

"Kill him!" the draugr ordered. Two dunlords seized the puny paladin and literally ripped him in half.

"Who is the next most senior? You? Submit or die!"

"Never!" the paladin drew himself up in defiance and spat at the ground then waved his weapon and made to rush at the draugr.

"FINISH HIM!"

This time the dunlords pulled in four directions tearing the paladin's arms and legs away from his body with a fleshy wet crunching sound.

"WHO IS NEXT!? This will continue until you submit or all of you are in bloody pieces! Each death will be more horrific and painful than the last."

Dave played the role of the villain to perfection. The next paladin in line was torn between piety and his concern for the lives of his subordinates.

"The families of these men will curse you until kingdom come and we are all judged before the Most High. Better to live today as a prisoner than to die. You can make the right choice, instead of giving up their lives for pride and vanity. Submit and I allow you and your men to live, perhaps you will even find an opportunity to escape some day. Defy my will and your lives end here and now, then you will rise again to serve me in Undeath!" Dave gave a final warning to the paladin and the man dropped his weapon and crashed on his knees.

The paladins have surrendered, they are now subject to your command.

+13 Paladins added to your command.

Your command has too many units, to increase the numbers under you command you must rank up.

To retain the extra units you must pass the Death Knight challenge within

72 hours

Bud, Dog and Spark rode the dunlords back to the site of the battle leading the carriage.

When the wagon stopped, the curtains covering the carriage windows were drawn back, revealing a frightened young woman in priestly robes of pristine white.

"Come out of there," Dave commanded.

The girl opened the door and stepped down, she trembled fearfully at the sight of the Undead gathered around her.

She was beautiful, this priestess NPC. Her robes shimmered and the circlet that held her veil in place glittered with rare gems.

Dave inspected her:

Holy Priestess

Affiliation: The church.

Level 1

HP 100

Note:

Born to the holy church and raised solely to serve it, a pure and innocent maiden blessed by the Holy Touch of the divine.

She spoke in a voice like clear bells, "What do you want with this lowly one, sir?".

Before he could answer:

Regional Announcement!

A Holy Priestess of the Church of has been captured by the Undead!

The Church will reward all who assist in her rescue!

The last known location of the undead holding her captive is

near Moria, the Eastern region, Conquest Positioning System: [-300, 880]

Dave frowned, he cursed Alfred, reasonably certain that the AI was interfering to deliberately make the quest more difficult.

'But never mind, the quest will be done when we return to the Dead Realm.'

He grabbed a teleportation scroll and tore it, but instead of disappearing to the Underworld he received a notification:

Teleportation scrolls are currently disabled for your use!

New orders have been issued!

You must deliver the Holy priestess to the closest undead campsite.

The location of the closest campsite has been marked on your map.

"For fuck's sake Alfred!" Dave roared.

He grabbed the priestess's arm and dragged her ontoStinger's back. The priestess squealed in fright.

"Fuck. That campsite is far away!"

Dave ordered the undead to secure the paladins and put them on the backs of the dunlords for transport.

"Alright Boyz! We are going east! MOVE OUT!"

The battalion moved deeper into the dangerous and unexplored eastern region, moving with extreme haste!