Arthur's words landed with deafening silence over the three necromancers. From their faces alone, Arthur could tell they didn't expect him to say that.
It was expected. After all they must have met a lot who wanted their power but feared their curse. However Arthur was different.
He didn't fear anything or anyone. He wanted to simply get stronger troops on his side, so he could eventually win this grand war.
"So…" one of the necromancers finally said after a long pause, "you don't fear our curse?"
"That's what I just said," Arthur nodded and didn't show any sign of his dissatisfaction of repeating his words. After all it seemed this was the first time these necromancers heard such a proposal in such a way.
"I have to admit…" Another one said, "This is the first time ever in our race history to hear such words. Not since the ancient era of the long lost originals."
"Originals?!!" This time it was Arthur's turn to get surprised. He couldn't help but turn to the originals standing around the necromancers before pointing out at them, "do you mean them?"
"Them?!!!" The shock over the necromancers' faces was different this time. It seemed they heard a lot of stories about originals, but never saw one in the flesh.
That was quite expected. After all, the era of the originals was so long, long ago in the line of time.
"Do you possibly mean… They are… Those legendary originals from the past?!!!" one of the three asked while moving his head around. This time the shock vanished and a look of veneration and respect took over.
Such a turn of events surprised Arthur. He thought his offer was the strongest weapon he had to convince them. But it seemed these originals were.
"Yes, we are the long lost originals," one of the originals spoke when Arthur gave him the nod, "we were resurrected by the grace of our mighty lord."
"Him?!!" The necromancers all three gazed up at Arthur in disbelief. The latter didn't feel any awkwardness from their behavior. After all, they just heard a lot of shocking news this time.
"So, do you still want to resist?" Arthur calmly asked, "or you prefer to join me?"
This time their rejection vanished in thin air. In front of his eyes the three kneeled and paid tribute to him.
"We salute our mighty lord," they said in unison and Arthur couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright then," Arthur felt refreshed at this moment, "what's your name?"
"I'm Ji."
"I'm Ki."
"I'm Li."
The three said their names and Arthur couldn't help but smile. Their names were unique as their ability.
"Now shall we have a grand feast for your skeletons?" Arthur's face showed a vicious expression mixed strangely with excitement.
At this moment he was really in a great mood.
"Bring out the army," Arthur said to Gege, "make them appear around the skeletons and protect them."
"no," Li, who seemed to be their leader, said to stop Arthur, "our skeletons need to kill to evolve."
"I see…" Arthur paused to think before he said, "make the troops help from within them. I don't need to lose many skeletons so far."
"That's better," Li said in gratitude before he added, "but it's best if we returned there at once. The death energy there is really rich. If we don't use it fast, it will all dissipate."
"No problem, snap!" Arthur snapped before a portal appeared next to the necromancers. The portal startled them but Arthur's next words made them more impressed by him.
"This will take you directly into the battlefield," Arthur said while motioning with his head for them to pass the portals.
They didn't hesitate to do that. At this point they were loyal to Arthur and would execute anything to please him.
Plus he promised them not only safety, but support. For such a race, supporting their skeletons was some kind of fantasy.
Arthur watched them disappear inside the portal before he turned to his originals and had a thought.
"Come with me," he said before he started to fly away. He didn't try to attack the academy directly this time. He just wanted to see how these skeletons were doing.
As he reached the main battlefield again, he could see his normal forces scattered inside what could be best described as a white ocean!
"These skeletons… I thought they would be lower, much lower in numbers than this," Arthur muttered while moving his gaze around.
He didn't need to fight his way through the army of mages anymore. He simply flew high in the sky while overseeing the battle underneath him.
The skeletons looked quite energetic. They moved to kill any mage standing in front of them without any hesitation.
Arthur kept watching until he noticed some evolved skeletons. They held weapons and shields, looking stronger than others.
But their appearance didn't change much at first. Not until a few hours later these skeletons started to show more signs of evolution.
Their bones started to grow thicker and their bodies became taller. They could now wield two weapons in their hands, and they began to act like killing machines on the battlefield.
What made Arthur more pleased was the fact that more skeletons were summoned constantly as the death kept rising. The necromancers were doing a great job in using the death energy in the entire battlefield.
So he never felt the lack of skeletons even after losing so much already. In fact he felt their numbers increasing and the amount of their elites kept rising constantly.
They never stopped evolving. With the presence of such slightly advanced skeletons, the entire battle seemed much easier than before.
"And this is just from one battle," Arthur's eyes shone in bright blue light while watching this, "what will happen after conquering this realm? Damn! I can't even stop my excitement when imagining this!"
He had all the right to feel so. After all, in just a few hours, skeletons managed to reach a scale to be able to take mages of this world head on and win!
Even his forces seemed not needed at the moment! the entire frontline was shifted and all the evolved skeletons took their positions there.
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