The Death Element: by Nick Venom (books to read in a lifetime txt) 📕

Derrick raised his head. “As you see fit, my liege.”

A little boy notices a clump of zombies dumping wood in an empty clearing. Fearing the monsters, the boy rushed off to report the strange situation. He headed towards Bluehaven.

TBC…

“Ma’am, we have our next report.” A scrawny kid wearing thick black glasses shouted to the captain of the Fifth Squad, Ingrid Winters, from outside of her tent. Ingrid, a young and muscular female knight, nodded her head. 

“I heard it, a simple subjugation mission in the Death Forest.”

“Isn’t the Death Forest the most dangerous forest in the world?” Jim, the scrawny kid, asked.

Ingrid grabbed her armor, a set of silver armor with red and white paint on it. The red was the outline while the white paint created the symbol of a cross on her armor, a symbol from her hometown.

“It’s nothing if you’re paying attention. Plus, we’re not going too deep. We’re subjugating the zombies in the shallow parts of the forest.” She told him.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Jim said, bowing his head. He turned around and ran off to fulfill his role as messenger to the other captains in the small fortress city known as Bluehaven. 

Ingrid grabbed a paintbrush, painting something on her helmet. Her helmet was new - the last one was damaged during her last battle. “That should-” She started while painting the names of her family on the helmet. “-be perfect. Now my family can protect me during future battles with their prayers towards God.” 

Another soldier popped his head into her tent. “Reporting for duty, squad leader.”

Ingrid glanced over her shoulder at the soldier and nodded her head. “Fox, where’ve you been? I sent Echo and Hijax to look for you.”

“Oh, I was at the cafeteria. Did you know they’re serving sloppy joe’s?” He asked.

“Can it.” She remarked. “Enough about food for today, get in your gear. We’re being dispatched in half an hour.”

Fox raised his hand to his forehand, saluting her. “Yes, squad leader.” He ran off to his tent to grab his gear. Alongside him were four of Ingrid’s squad, preparing themselves for the subjugation mission.

Fortunately, time passed quickly. A half-hour reached them before they realized it. The Fifth Squad was dispatched towards the Death Forest. The eight-person team arrived at the entrance to the Death Forest, a rusty steel gate. The steel gate barred people from entering but, over the years, it wasn’t well-maintained, leading to its rustic appearance. The caretaker of the gate had passed away years before and his children failed to take proper care of the gate and the perimeter of the forest - which had a nine-foot gate circling the area..

“We’re entering the forest, keep on your toes. Our mission is to exterminate the zombies in the shallow parts of the forest, but anything can happen. Copy?”

“Copy!” Her team simultaneously shouted.

“Good, let’s go.”

***

“Good, the house is nearing completion. I would say a few days before it’s done.” Zake muttered to himself. Jessica stood by his side, watching as the zombies and Derrick’s subordinates, a skeleton platoon, worked. Derek ordered his subordinates to assist in the house buildings. 

Before Zake could establish a kingdom in the Death Forest, he’ll need a house to serve as the capital building. That’s where he’ll begin the process of expanding over the entire forest and manifesting the Death Kingdom.

Until then, one simple two-story wooden building would be sufficient. The wooden house was built by the zombies and skeletons at an impressive speed. The skeletons appeared to be more intelligent and harder workers than the lazier zombies. Even so, the pair of monsters worked together nicely.

“My liege!” Derrick exclaimed, appearing in Zake’s sight. “There’s trouble at our border. Human adventurers are slaughtering the zombies in the shallow south part of the forest. My subordinate-” A skeleton bat appeared by his side. “-has informed me that it’s eight humans.”

“Humans? What is their intention?”

“Subjugating us, my liege.”

“Are you sure?” Zake asked, not wanting to engage in a fight.

“Yes,”

Zake shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Fine, pool everybody together. Leave two skeletons to guard Jessica. Everybody else will follow me to-” He was interrupted by the sounds of sword slashes and grunts. The squad of humans had reached the deeper part of the Death Forest and Zake’s home.

“My liege, your orders?”

“Attack them, but deal no damage unless you have to. Even if I want to strip away my identity, I can’t kill people of my own race willy nilly.”

“Understood, my liege,” Derrick said before ordering his skeleton platoon towards the humans. The humans responded by slashing at the undead warriors, but the numbers were overwhelming. The humans were outnumbered, six on one. 

“Squad leader, we’re surrounded!” Fox shouted.

“Keep pushing, do whatever you have to,” Ingrid ordered. Her men nodded, pushing against the skeletons. 

Fox grabbed a small hammer from his back pocket, smacking it against a skeleton’s head. The dent immediately killed the skeleton and irritated Derrick, who watched from afar. 

“Hit them in the heads with our tools! Our swords can’t do anything anyways!” Fox shouted, smashing a skeleton’s skull into pieces. “Let’s kill them!”

Fox’s words motivated the team, slowly decimating the platoon of soldiers and approaching the clearing where Zake waited for them. Once they arrived, he made his appearance to them. 

“What do you wish to do here?” He asked, still hoping to avoid a fight.

“To kill you!” Echo, another of Ingrid’s men, shouted.

Ingrid glanced over her shoulder at the smaller in frame Echo, glaring at him. She then cleared her throat before speaking. “We were given a mission to clear out the zombies in the shallow parts of the forest. We didn’t intend on venturing farther.”

“Yet you did.” 

“It was an accident. We saw the skeletons and kept going in.”

“An accident?” Zake scoffed. “Return wherever you came from, but do not come back. Or else, I won’t let you go easily.” 

Ingrid nodded, turning around and motioning for her squad to follow her out of the forest. “We’re leaving and not coming back!” She ordered.

“Screw that, let’s eliminate him now. Ace! Use your fire magic!” Fox bluntly shouted, ordering his comrade, a meathead named Ace, to use his magic and burn Zake to a crisp.

Ingrid turned around and shook her head. “Stop, don’t do that! As your squad leader, you’re not allowed to attack!”

Ace ignored her, pointing his palms at Zake. “Scorch the Earth and burn my enemies!” He chanted, emitting a large wave of fire towards Zake. Fortunately, Zake’s Death Element was enough to cancel the attack. He created a small wave of darkness to absorb the attack. 

Ace, now irritated, tried again for a second round. However, this time, his chant was interrupted by Ingrid. She grabbed his shoulder, dragging him away from the scene. This change in angle led to a wave of fire pointed at the newly erected two-story capitol building. 

The wave of fire scorched the building, ruining Zake’s plan. He was now angered by Ace’s actions, ordering Derrick to attack.

Derrick, who had been watching from afar, summoned elite skeletons using a small percentage of the Death Element that Zake granted him. The elite skeletons got to work, killing all but one with several daggers. The sole survivor of the incident, Ingrid, watched as her men collapsed, their brains pierced by a single dagger. They lost all functions without seconds - some staring at her as they went down. 

Zake approached Ingrid, touching her face. “Your town is named… Bluehaven?”

She nodded her head, tears collecting at the corner of her eyes.

“Tell them that the next time, it will be war. You burnt my home, I’ll burn yours.” He threatened. “Now leave before I change my mind and kill you here.”

She nodded, scrambling to stand. She then fled from the clearing, returning to Bluehaven with her tail behind her legs. 

“Derrick, prepare another platoon. I doubt that she’ll convince her superior to never return here.”

“Yes, my liege.”

“And another platoon to rebuild our home. We need to build the kingdom as quickly as we can before they trample us to death. The Death Kingdom will rise.”

TBC…

“The repairs look better than I could’ve expected,” Zake said, approaching the newly constructed three-story building. Instead of wood, Zake ordered Derrick’s skeletons to go out and search for stone or other non-flammable resources. They gathered the stone, a farther distance away from the clearing, and brought it back. The skeletons then began building the house, repairing the damages caused by the fire. It had devoured the house within seconds, leaving nothing more than burnt remains behind. 

Frustrated over the loss of his home, he massacred all but Ingrid, sending her away. He kept her alive for a single purpose of scaring off future people from entering the forest. He knew that if he didn’t allow one to return as a messenger, Bluehaven would send more squads, platoons, and companies into the forest to deal with Zake. He knew that if it wasn’t for Derrick’s Elite Squad, Ingrid and her squad would’ve trampled on their progress. To prevent future incidents, Zake decided to summon new monsters to assist him. He had Derrick summoning low-level skeletons to help with the building process while training the few Elite soldiers they had. Their powers were great, but they were few in numbers. This wouldn’t be advantageous against a platoon or company of soldiers.  

“Birth me a monster from Hell and bring it to me.” He chanted. He took a step back, watching as a magic circle formed, different from the first one, and two beings were created from it. A female dragonkin rose from the earth, her blood-red scales glistening in the sunlight. She reached seven feet, towering over Zake’s 5’9 height. Aside from her height, she wore pieces of iron and leather armor, resembling a human adventurer. 

Alongside the dragonkin was a skeleton. The difference between Derrick’s skeletons and Zake’s one was that this skeleton wielded a bow; an archer skeleton. The skeleton, five feet in height, wore leather armor that covered most of his body. He carried a book in one hand and a bow in the other. On top of his skull was a boat-shaped hat, a unique but strange choice for a hat. 

“My name is Selena Knapp of the Knapp family. I am a dragonkin general.” Selena declared, kneeling.

“I am Mikey May, the best archer in my division, at your service.” Mikey declared, bowing his head. 

“Both of you, rise,” Zake ordered. Both monsters rose to their feet. “Follow me, I have a few jobs for