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Within the depths of a labyrinth composed of black bricks endorsed with blue moss, eerie and freezing atmosphere, and wailing dead spirits crying in agony everywhere, the Necromancer sat down on its throne made out of bones, as it glanced upon a crystal ball that released a phantasmagoric, blue-colored flame.
?
He glanced at the flame as it expanded into the air, the flame then began to showcase the images of what seemed to be what had just happened with the bear-kin tribe.
"Failure, failure, and more failure… I actually did not expect this. It was rather impossible because I simply… did not think about some kind of outside force with this kind of power coming out of nowhere. I had everything carefully planned, the bear-kin were strong, but my undead was more than them, sooner or later all of them would have died and their dead spirits, emotions, and life had been amassed within me… But now, even those that died were… resurrected? What kind of trickery is this?"
The Necromancer, a being of untold origins that sat down on its throne of bones, a creature composed of a two-meter-tall skeleton, a Lich.
Liches were an Undead-type Demon Race, one of the few Undead that was actually not Monsters, as they possessed Jobs and did not Rank up through evolution.
Their origins were varied, as they were one of the few Demon Races that came to existence not from reproduction but from a living sorcerer that become one through a special ritual.
This is why Liches were the smallest of Demon Tribes, nonetheless, they were recognized as great sorcerers and mages that had lived for hundreds of years.
Often a Lich would be 'born' from within the corpse of a sorcerer that held great faith towards Qadall, the Dark God of Souls and Death. Their souls would undergo a special change in quality through the ritual is done, every so often, by other Liches that welcomed the person within their Undead tribe.
The soul would evolve into a Phantasmagoric Soul, and it would take over the corpse again. As the Phantasmagoric Soul took over the corpse, the skin, flesh, organs, and everything else except the bare bones would be used as the offerings and fuel of the ritual.
When the person that wanted to be a member of this race was to wake up again, it would have become a living skeleton, a Lich.
Liches were a Demon Race due to several circumstances, such as that their ritual was made by the Dark God himself, and they were not simply corpses and dead spirits wandering within a Devil Zone that, through the contamination of miasma, raised into an Undead monster.
Liches remained with their minds as clear as ever, and they held no monstrous desires other than the obsessive desire for knowledge and magic.
It is said that the Liches are the apostles of Qadall, as the first Lich was said to have been a human who devoted their entire lives to Qadall, and when he died, he was rewarded by the Dark God by becoming a Lich and serving him for eternity… although this Lich died in the Ragnar?k.
Due to the uniqueness of their birth, Liches were rare amongst the entire world of Kritias, but many gathered in the Demon Continents nonetheless, within the Dark Palace of Death where the eternal apostles of Qadall would study magic and research the various phenomena of Kritias.
This Lich, named the 'Necromancer', was an existence unique even within all Liches.
"Hateful… Who could these damn mortals be? Coming out of nowhere… Don't they know how hard I have worked to reach this point?! How much planning I had to do, slowly but steadily for so many years… Tricking the foolish beasts, making them rage war until barely two tribes remained, feeding the land with their corpses, souls, and miasma, generating this dungeon, making a comfortable home, gathering followers and worshipers, amassing power… How long all of this has been?! I was even planning on devouring that one-eyed god that was foolishly sealed in the nearby forest, but it seems that things had escalated to something that not even I could have predicted," said the skeleton as it rested its head on the throne, sighing.
The Necromancer worked for hundreds of years to reach the point where he was, but due to a miscalculation on his master plan, raising to godhood was inhibited due to the lack of resources.
The resources meaning the large black lumps that floated within his vast hall.
"Negative emotions had been accumulating quite nicely, but this… it is simply not enough. There is just a point where the Dead Spirits are so weakened that not even my powers can extract any more emotions from them… I need more fuel… more power. This is simply not enough! This is why I wanted those bear-kin and harpies, as they had healthy minds, the emotions I could extract from them would be of the highest quality…"
The Necromancer's eye sockets within its skull flashed with a phantasmagoric, blue-colored flame, as it glanced at the projections.
In the projections, he saw a young kid, seemingly a dhampir, floating in the sky as it released an immense aura filled with Life that glowed in yellow-gold colors of iridescent brightness. Not even the Necromancer would see what kind of Spell this was, it was simply a power that only a Life Attribute God could exert.
"This kid… Could he be blessed by Bestellen and his pawns?! Maybe… he was using Spirit Descent? Perhaps that might explain its power… So those Gods had already detected where I was!"
But then, the Necromancer glanced at the enormous metallic tower that fell from the sky and shapeshifted into many things.
He, who had been once part of a being that lived for many years and experienced many things, had never seen such a thing in his entire life.
"But this… What… What is this even?! I cannot even make a reason to what this is this?! It's a giant metallic being that shapes into anything it wants. A… a golem? It is the only thing that comes to my mind. But to think that there is such a golem… is that liquid metal? And it can solidify itself at any time it desires… Simply unbelievable, what is this even?!"
The Necromancer groaned in frustration and anger, the metallic creature, Veronica, was simply way too out of its knowledge, her existence had already become way too unique, a first in the world of Kritias, perhaps Ervas could be associated with some things, but her… was simply something akin to otherworldly.
"What should I do? These beings and the army of monsters and demi-humans that they lead are of impressive strength, the strongest of them being up to Rank 8! And that metallic creature and the kid… they are probably within the leagues above Rank 10 in strength, perhaps up to… 11?"
The Necromancer's teeth began to gnash as the cracking noises filled the large hall, becoming even louder than the wailing spirits around, whose entire beings were being bound by some kind of magic while having the dark essence that was their negative emotions extracted out of them as if it were a precious material.
"I do have the forces to outnumber then and also to overpower them, as long as their strength is within my expectations. However, it could be better to simply raise into godhood before I have to clash against them. These two beings must be Heroes of some kind sent by a certain God within Bestellen's faction. I bet that some of them had realized my whereabouts at this point, even if I dispose of them, more Heroes will come towards me sooner or later, I cannot simply rest at ease, I must hurry and raise to godhood, overpower the heroes with the power of a god and escape!" said the Necromancer, as he began to absorb all the floating black-colored lumps of energy around him, his soul began to flow out of his skeleton body like a spectral entity that fairly surpassed common mortal sense, it was a thing that was way beyond a mortal, yet, it had not yet grasped immortality.
Finishing his 'meal' the Necromancer rests on his throne again as his mind begins to think about many things at the same time, one after another.
"Thanks to this System, I am capable of acquiring great help in the form of Skills and Jobs, but this is simply not enough… without becoming a God, perhaps I could get rid of the kid. But I have no idea how I could defeat the metallic creature without having to rip apart its soul out of its body, which seems fairly difficult… Even if I manage, I would have already used most of my power and Mana, and I would once again be at the bottom, waiting to amass more power to raise to godhood again… this is, quite the predicant. To think that a superior being such as myself would have to undergo such hardships, but I will not budge, Bestellen, this world will one day belong to me," it muttered.
Then, as the entity realized that there was still the harpy tribe, which hasn't been invaded by these 'Heroes', sudden sharp pain filled its soul.
"Nnnnghhh…?! NnNNnnGggYyYYyyyYYyyAAaaaAaAAaaa!!!"
The respected Necromancer's consciousness was suddenly given the memories of a piece of itself being devoured by a vicious, gray-colored specter as it quickly disappeared.
"Impossible… What… Ungh… They somehow dispelled the curses in my pawn's souls and… a-ate it?! But who… is this specter?! It cannot be… perhaps… a god with the ability to eat curses? No… but then what?! Haahh… Damn it! I should go there and- No, move the troops, hurry to the harpy tribe!" roared the Necromancer, as a young harpy boy appeared at his side.
"But my lord, the flying troops are not enough, the tribe is at the top of the mountains, and our Undead are not quite dexterous on-"
"It doesn't matter, make your way through! Shot down the birds if you may! Use as many cursed bows and arrows as possible! Anything! But bring the Dead Spirits to me! Hurry!" roared the Necromancer, enveloping the young kid whose soul was corrupted and made into a pawn, the kid shivered as it flew away while nodding.
"Immediately my lord!"
"As long as they gather enough… then I can use these damned kids as the last resource and then… it should be possible…"
"However, even then, I must prepare…" muttered the Necromancer, its soul began to expand everywhere as the dungeon began to be covered in runes imprinted into the walls, Undead rising everywhere as they began to slowly merge together into large masses of bones.
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