Chapter 172: Principal Liam's Charge
( The plains of floor21 )
A grotesque figure stood at the centre of a nightmarish whirlwind, as he walked at a steady pace towards the centre of floor 21, the floor master's royal palace.
Principal Liam, barely recognizable as human, embodied an image of half-life and half-death, as he looked more like a necromancer than a principal.
His usual curly white hair and curly white beard seemed to be gone now, as the hair seemed to just melt off his skin, leaving him as a bald mass of flesh.
His skin, a sickly grey colour, clung tightly to his gaunt frame, and his eyes, sunken deep into their sockets, glowed with a malevolent light.
A pendant of black stone, which was the infamous seed of death, hung from his neck, pulsing ominously, its glow casting eerie shadows across his skeletal face.
Around Liam, a storm of 200,000 spectres swirled with a fury unmatched, their ghostly forms a chaotic mass of howling wraiths. These spectres, bound to his will, moved with an otherworldly precision, forming a deadly tornado that ripped apart anything in its path.
Beasts and soldiers who dared to approach Liam, or slow down his ascent were shredded to pieces, their screams swallowed by the relentless roar of the spectral vortex, that stretched for a full five mile radius around Liam.
Charging steadily towards the royal palace, Liam's steps were heavy and deliberate, each one leaving a scorched and desolate mark on the ground below.
His body, charged with the power of the seed of death seemed to be losing its natural vitality every second, as just like Perseus predicted, Liam was indeed on a suicidal mission, where if the Olympian forces did not kill him, the seed of death surely would, as he was sure to lose his life one way or the other in a matter of few hours.
However, until then, his power had surpassed that of even a lesser god, as with the seed of death around his neck and his spectral army swirling around him, he was no different from a walking disaster that could destroy a floor alone.
As Liam walked forward, the landscape around him transformed into a scene from a child's nightmare as trees withered and crumbled, grass turned to ash, and the air itself seemed to crackle with dark energy.
The once vibrant land of floor 21 now turned into a wasteland of death and destruction, which in itself was a testament to Liam's unholy power.
As Liam advanced, his spectral army lashed out at anything that crossed their path.
The spectres tore through the ranks of defending soldiers with savage glee, their incorporeal forms phasing through armour and flesh alike, as they gave the defending soldiers the most gruesome death that one could experience.
Blood sprayed in gruesome arcs, painting the ground red, as limbs were severed and bodies eviscerated. The defenders' attempts to halt the spectral onslaught were futile; their magic fizzled and their weapons shattered against the ethereal tide.
In the midst of this chaos, Liam remained an unyielding force, his eyes fixed on the looming silhouette of the royal palace, as he kept murmuring the same words.
"Don't mess with my children ….. don't mess with my staff…. I won't let it slide…. Death to Olympus"
These words were the only resolve that kept Liam focused on his goal, as apart from his thirst for revenge, he had already lost all his memories and his personality as the once loving Principal was now already dead and all that was left off him was this ghastly necromancer, hellbound on revenge.
His pendant throbbed with dark power, each pulse sending ripples of dread through the air, as the spectres only grew stronger when buffed with the aura of death, as the more beasts and soldiers they killed the stronger the spectral army became, as every single soul claimed only served to increase the power of the seed of death and in turn that of the spectral army.
Liam's mind, though strained by the immense burden of controlling such a vast and deadly force, was singularly focused on his objective, however , while he seemed to hold together the spectral army for now, the toll on his mortal body was immense, as his flesh started to slowly melt off his body like wax, exposing his bones at certain parts.
No matter what army of mages or magical archers Perseus sent to stop Liam, nothing seemed to work, as anything that came into contact with Liam's ghost army was simply reduced to nothingness, as Liam walked unopposed towards the floor master's palace, with many of the local life and Perseus's personal army, simply refusing to take part in this fight, which seemed completely futile at this point.
Eventually, as the palace gates came into view for Liam, the Olympian forces began mounting their real serious defence as bolts of magical energy streaked through the sky, and arrows innumerable darkened the sky as thousands of tier4 archers and mages used their strongest spells to stop Liam's approach.
As the attacks landed on Liam's spectral vortex, they created massive explosions that made the earth under Liam's feet rumble, as for the first time, Liam lost some of his loyal dead soldiers, however, despite the powerful assault by the enemy, no attack penetrated deep enough to personally hit him as he still kept walking at a steady pace.
With a grimace, Liam raised a bony hand in retaliation as the spectres around him surged forward with renewed ferocity.
The gates, massive and imposing, groaned under the pressure before shattering into splinters, their defenders swept away like dust in a hurricane.
Liam's advance was unstoppable. His path, a trail of unending death and devastation, carved a direct route to the heart of the royal stronghold.
As he breached the gates, the wails of the spectres reached a fever pitch, a symphony of despair heralding the doom that had come to the palace.
There, in the eye of the storm, Liam moved forward, a harbinger of annihilation, ready to unleash the full wrath of his spectral army towards those who dared hurt the ones he loved.