There were many things humanity could be proud of, their successes since the beginning of human history were truly marvelous. Like the discovery of electricity, the fact they could build a car, extract resources from the earth or use the sun to generate energy. There were also the negative things like guns, atomic bombs and more ways to kill each other than you can count.
But one thing in Ethan’s case wasn’t something grand or big, it was a curse, a curse to wonder and excitement in the face of the unknown. Because now he sat there on a gigantic lizard while watching musclebound crocodile people kill a horde of undead, his fingers waving around lazily as he casted spells to bind the zombies.
What he suffered from was humanity's ability to adapt to everything. The moment they got into a comfortable rhythm everything just lost its wonder.
Before, he could manage seeing undead, goblins or other monsters born from fantasy. While those were things not even possible in his former life it was something he was familiar with. But now they were real and he saw them live, kill things and get killed and ever so slowly the sense of wonder for these creatures vanished into nothing.
Now…now he was straight up bored.
For almost a week now they traveled around this god forsaken desert. They found scattered troops of the necromancers army. They got swiftly destroyed by either Ethan and his plague magic or by the troops at his side. But not one proper track to follow during this whole time. It was the same thing that happened with the main horde.
Because when the scout came back to the camp and told him about the massive army the undead gathered he was excited. With them so close he could send scouts to watch them, set ambushes and interrupt their small hordes that regularly attacked outposts.
They sent out multiple teams of scouts but when they made their way back the army was gone, but not only the army. Their tracks were gone, even their scent wasn’t detectable. When the scouts returned they looked mortified and wouldn’t even lift their heads as they, quote, disappointed their liege that even the next ten generations would bear that shame.
As always their sense of pride was totally off but he didn’t even care. Ethan just assured them everything was alright. The more time he spent with them, the happier he was about having Nora, she was real and not some kind of artificial creature.
To him it sounded like the system exaggerated the usual character traits of the species to make it super obvious to the tutorial attendee what they worked with.
He shook his head and focused back on the current battle, in neat rows he saw his troops advance, the Crocodiarii were excellents soldiers, their tactics reminded him a lot of the Romans, their lines closed. Shield overlapping, they advanced forward. From sword to spears, to even their jaws. Every weapon was used in a ruthless and efficient manner.
“You can be proud of your troops general, they’re excellent in killing these mindless bastards.” Ethan praised his commander before freezing a group of zombies in place to make the push on the left flank easier.
“Thank you my liege, we train hard to achieve this amount of teamwork and personal strength.”
Ethan nodded and watched the troops at work, for the last few days he witnessed them fight. Precise and cold-blooded did they kill everything he pointed his finger at. The original 500 swelled to an impressive 2000 over the last few days, the general, true to his word, pulled everything together for this war. Even now smaller contingents arrived and seamlessly integrated themselves into the whole army.
The fight ended like all of them, the soldiers cut down the last of the undead and the army continued on their way forward. This time things were different, the week was almost up and while they could try to find the necromancer Ethan had other plans.
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Two days ago the small group they sent out to the Brammgestir returned with good news, they would meet a delegation on the Rock of suffering. A memorial to the end of the titan war and the beginning of the current war. There the last titan died in battle, cut apart but his own brethren to finally end the bloodshed.
There was also the first death of the current war, delegations of both races met here to discuss a treaty that would secure peace for thousands of years, but the delegations never returned and both sides blamed each other. Instead of working together the current war started and divided their world.
When they arrived at the Rock of suffering Ethan could clearly see the bones of the titan, while the others were mostly covered in sand, every contour sanded down over the years, this skeleton was almost untouched. The titans looked like normal humans, at least that's what Ethan thought when looking at the skull that formed the rock of suffering.
General Kra’kulgar and a group of his best soldiers accompanied him to the base of the rock, where he saw them for the first time alive. The Brammgestir were massive, towering over the normal soldiers and only the general could compete with them in size.
He hoped that they could see reason and knew what was at stake when they wanted to defeat the necromancer, while they looked like savages he had a plan to secure their support. On the way here Kra’kulgar had taught him a bit about the Brammgestir, how they used the skulls of their fallen to produce armor and jewelry or how their children need to fight in duels to determine the hierarchy inside their tribes from an early age.
But the most important thing, the Brammgestir valued strength over everything. It didn't matter how intelligent you’re, how rich or how many people followed you. A weak leader would be killed without consequences. So he just needed to defeat one of them in battle, which sounded super easy.
Ethan stopped a few meters away from the delegation, in total he saw ten of them. Eight of them were clearly soldiers, heavy axes or maces hanging from their belts and shields were strapped to their arms. The last two looked more like diplomats, each of them carrying a smaller axe and no shield, they wore simple clothes instead of the leather armor the others wore.
Before he could even speak the biggest one of them spoke. “Kra’kulgar! I thought you brought us your leader, not some half starve weakling that couldn’t even beat a child in battle. Did you deceive us?! We will defend ourselves if this is an ambush.”
Kra’kulgar stepped forward, growling in anger. “You should guard your tongue Brakan if you wanna see another day. This is our leader, the one that defeated hordes of undead to save our land. You will show him the respect he has earned.”
“HA! Respect? He wouldn’t even be here if you didn’t babysat him so far, that stick of his won’t even break my skin. His muscles are weak and his horns are tiny!”
Ethan felt the last comment hurt more than he expected, getting called infertile, he guessed this is what he meant, somehow hit harder than anticipated. Before Kra’kulgar could draw his weapon Ethan stepped forward and looked up to Brakan. He could feel the strength radiating from him like an oppressive heat, he wasn’t lying about Ethan being weak. In comparison he was but only because his strength laid elsewhere.
“So you think I’m weak right? Well, let's find out. I challenge you to a duel, Brakan, of the Brammgestir. Maybe you will take me seriously when I wipe the floor with you.”
Brakan laughed and rested his meaty hand on the axe in his belt. “A duel? You will die the moment it starts but have it your way weakling, I accept…a duel…to the death.” He spat on the floor and walked away from his warriors to an open piece of sand that was reasonably level.
Ethan followed him, his staff alright in his hands. He knew he could win if he used his magic well. The mountain of muscles in front of him grabbed his axe and grunted, Ethan’s grip tightened around his staff and both of them stared at each other.
Kra’kulgar stepped between them and held his sword over his head. “The moment the sword reaches the ground your fight begins. There are no rules, the fight only ends if one of you dies. Be ready!”
Without making a sound the general used his sword to deliver a strong downwards chop, when the tip touched the sand he jumped back and yelled. “Fight!”
