I became a legion lich

205 Chs

ADD

202 Corrupted Avatar

His skeleton fell forward for an instant, before his avatar returned to his body and regained his balance. The corrupted willow returned to its tree form, but kept a small size to fit inside the building.

Treevor looked at his own skeleton for a few seconds with disgust, before lying back against the corrupted willow tree and freeing his avatar again.

“As expected, it’s getting worse.” Treevor sighed wearily, but thanks to his incorporeal form, nothing happened.

His formerly translucent avatar was now stained black in several places, the black chains that bound his limbs even thicker than the last time he’d seen them and slowly corrupting his avatar, as if they were snakes spreading their venom.

The black chains were five in total and bound their wrists, ankles and neck, one for each general in the army. The unique nature of Treevor’s soul allowed him to resist the corruption of the black currents to some extent, but with time and the increase in the number of chains, the balance tipped in the direction of the currents.

It took Treevor a while to realize the problem, as he normally jumped from his skeleton straight to the willow tree and back again. He only noticed the problem when he started to have bouts of sudden aggression and urges to kill for no reason.

But the worst part was that Treevor didn’t feel bad about seeing his avatar corrupted. He knew he should be disgusted at the thought of becoming a slave in mind and body or thinking of a way to break free of his chains, but he didn’t think the idea of serving Athos was so bad.

The corruption was changing his mind on a fundamental level, making him think that serving Athos was right and resisting was wrong. Treevor had chosen to watch Athos precisely so that he could gauge how he felt about Athos.

Before he knew it, the hatred of being killed had completely disappeared and was replaced by loyalty. He now honestly cared about Athos’ safety, instead of just worrying about him for his own safety.

.....

“What am I supposed to do now? I feel like I’m already at my limit.” Treevor muttered half in despair and half in relief, realizing how his avatar’s pure side and corrupted side were balanced.

If he waited any longer, the corrupted side would take over and he would end up bending the knee to Athos.

“On the one hand, Athos is a bastard who kills for pleasure and doesn’t care about anyone, not even himself. If I decide to follow him, I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting and killing until I get unlucky and face an enemy that I won’t be able to face it and die.” Treevor muttered, but then he remembered what his life had been like up until the moment Athos killed him.

Ever since his clan was wiped out and he lost his family, all he’s done is just survive, killing and feeding in order to survive. Treevor had already tried to get in contact with other clans of demihumans, but he was always branded as an aberration and expelled.

He had no family, friends, lovers or anything worth living for. In fact, he had talked more in the past two months than he had decades living in the desert, even if the conversations were mostly about slaughter or runesmithing.

Though he didn’t like to admit it, Treevor had become attached to the skeletons.

“Even if by some miracle I find a way to break free and run away, what would I do next? I was judged before I was undead, what would I do now that I am one?” Treevor muttered as he gripped his hair in frustration, only to let go and sigh.

“If I stay and decide to serve Athos, at the very least I’ll have a place to stay and people who don’t despise me for who I am. How ironic, the place I would feel accepted would be among a bunch of bloodthirsty undead.” Treevor started to laugh at the irony of things.

Among all the defects of Athos, prejudice was not among them. He hated all races equally and judged people by how useful they could be after he killed them, regardless of race or appearance.

“Here, I have not only a place to stay, but also a high position among the skeletons. It’s not very useful for now since our numbers are low, but I’ll have a big influence when we form a permanent base and start to expand.” Treevor was suddenly excited by the idea of being the commander of a large army, but quickly realized that it was corruption’s influence and shook his head to recover.

“But most importantly, this is a real chance to get revenge on that son of a bitch. If the army grows big enough, I might have a chance to kill Kastil and get revenge for what he did to my family and clan.” Treevor thought as his mind was filled with a deep hatred that the corruption increased tenfold, but this time he didn’t care.

Treevor harbored a strong hatred towards Kastil, but he never had the necessary power to kill him, so he had to swallow his hatred.

“The boss will continue to expand without stopping and if it continues like this, at some point it will clash with Kastil. It may take decades or even centuries for that to happen, but they will definitely face each other and I will have my chance.” Treevor spoke and returned to his own body, before rising determinedly.

He exited the small building and confirmed Athos’ position on the wall before going over to him. Athos was still standing on top of the wall as he surveyed the surroundings, or at least he pretended to, as his eyes never left the sword in his hand.

Ruy and Astrus were on his side and were slightly surprised to see Treevor approaching.

“Commander, haven’t you decided to retreat for today?” Ruy asked as soon as he approached.

“I need to talk to the boss in private. Get out.” Treevor demanded in a serious tone, making both Ruy and Astrus look at each other for a few seconds before retreating.

Treevor used earth magic lightly on the rock under Athos’ feet, turning it to mud and making him slip.

“Gha?!” Athos was focused on his sword and didn’t notice Treevor’s approach or the magic under his feet, at least until gravity did its work and made him fall while letting out a strange scream.

“Shit! Why did you do that?” Athos asked angrily as he got up. He didn’t take any damage after falling thanks to his armor and enhanced body, but he was still irritated by the sudden fall.

“I’m sorry about that boss, but I need to talk to you about something important and I need you to listen to me.” Treevor spoke in a serious tone and Athos put his sword in its scabbard to hear him.

“I’ve thought a lot about my current condition and I’ve come to a conclusion, but I need to ask you a question first.” Treevor took a deep breath despite having no lungs. “What are your plans for the future? Do you have any goals, or are you just going to kill until you find an enemy strong enough to destroy us all?”

Noticing the serious tone and implications behind Treevor’s sudden questions, Athos also became serious and remembered that among all the skeletons, Treevor was the only one who wasn’t totally loyal to him.

They both had an agreement and Treevor was working diligently for him until now and it was impossible for Treevor to run away, so he ended up forgetting this important detail.

“I intend to kill until everything in this world is dead, because it’s the only thing in this world that makes me feel better.” Athos answered honestly, knowing that it would be useless to lie to someone who can see into someone’s soul.

“And as for my future plans, I first plan to settle in the desert and slowly expand like a disease and when we are strong enough, contact the undead realm to the east.” Athos spoke calmly and Treevor confirmed that it was all true.

“If they’re friendly, we can form an alliance, if not, we’ll devour them and take their power for ourselves. After that, all of the South will be in our or my hands and I’ll begin the march north, starting through the central mountain range.” Athos explained the outline of his plan, but Treevor interrupted him here.

“Wait a minute. If the goal is to gain strength before contacting the undead realm, then why are we moving further and further east? Wouldn’t it be better to go west and slowly expand east?” He asked confused, but Athos laughed at the stupid question.

“It’s a way to limit the unknown undead. As undead, it’s very likely that they are thinking of expanding like me, but I doubt that they can invade the sea of trees and defeat a yggdrasil sprout, so they will change target and tried to expand into the desert.”

“I intend to create my empire in the middle of the desert and block the passage to the west, stopping the advance of the unknown undead. They will be forced to fight us or expand in another direction. In that case, against the sea of trees and the yggdrasil sprout.” Athos smirked and Treevor had to agree that the plan made sense.