Birth of a Necromancer 027

There are many misconceptions about war. Some people think that wars are won with a single battle, or by conquering a single castle. People believe that war is fought between warriors, and the people involved will do away with each other in a clean gentleman-like manner. That is nowhere near the truth.

Five minutes had passed since the young priest, Will, had exited Elcrada, joining the battle outside. Although the battle had just begun, the former monk could already testify that war was a bloody affair.

Will was currently facing off against a single skeleton, which he made short work of by using the spell ⌈ Purify ⌋, which, when used conventionally, was a healing spell. However, when used against the dead, who has a weakness towards Light Magic, it would have the opposite effect, resulting in the almost immediate dissipation of the Dark Energy, which kept them alive.

The skeleton in front of the young priest fell, turning into a pile of bones. Had Will not been a priest with Light Magic at his disposal, he would most likely die quickly, since the skeletons he was fighting wore armor of good quality.

It wasn't normal for skeletons to wear armor. Under normal circumstances, the dead would walk around with bare bones, sometimes covered by tattered and rotting rags.

Never before had the young priest witnessed skeletons wearing armor. He could see that the warrior-type adventurers were having their troubles with the armored warriors, since their attacks, which would normally decimate skeletons, were often repelled by the strong iron plates.

Death throes could be heard from all around the battlefield, as adventurers were cut down, trampled, and killed by the horde of undead.

Since the adventurers and priests, combined, numbered the same as their enemies, the battle should have been easy, however, because of the massive, looming presence in the midst of the skeletons, the battle suddenly became harder. The flesh golem would tear through two or three of its enemies at once, using only one of its five, fleshy arms, which were clumsily stitched to its body seemingly in random places.

"Sons of Icarus, hear me!" The high-priest, who was fighting five skeletons at once, shouted.

"Focus your attacks on that monstrosity!" He shouted, pointing his scepter at the flesh golem, which had just finished killing off another two adventurers, who had foolishly attempted to slay it alone.

Will, whose plan the high-priest was following, started chanting some of his high-tier light magic. It was rather annoying that he would have to say a prayer, before being able to use his high-tier magic.

However, after the twenty seconds, it took to chant, Will was ready to use his most powerful healing spell. ⌈ Sword of Light ⌋. It was a spell that could heal the living and damage the wicked. The perfect weapon, in the current situation.

"Ready... Fire!" Will's superior shouted.

Light engulfed the battlefield, as every priest in the vicinity used all the magic, they could possibly muster. They were all completely draining their reserves of magical power, confident that it would be enough to purify the enemy.

The many voices of priests chanting their spells could be heard all the way inside of Elcrada, where the panicking voices of the masses had become silent. The many scared citizens knew that they were being protected. To Will, it made no difference whether or not the priests were liked by the citizenship of the town. To him, all that mattered was the fact that he was protecting others. As long as he did that, he didn't care in what regard people held him.

After some time had passed, the light disappeared from the battlefield. The bones of the skeletons were spread across the ground. The dead had been largely affected by the large concentration of magic, which had been present for a while. However, not everything had gone as planned...

Standing on top of a mound of bones, the flesh golem stood. It was still standing after having withstood the great amounts of Light Magic, which should have eliminated it where it stood. It wasn't as if it hadn't been affected, because it had. Two of its five arms had fallen off, and lots of the flesh that made up its body was peeling off.

"Cha... Charge it!" The high-priest shouted. He was taken aback by their opponent's vitality, but he didn't intend to let that stop him. None of the priests did.

Priests and adventurers alike charged the massive creature, followed by more adventurers, who had finally decided to stop hiding inside the walled city.

The flesh golem seemed to finally feel threatened because now, it took every single one of its attacker very seriously. It took a few steps back, before kicking an approaching priest in the gut, sending the unfortunate man flying through the air.

As the priest landed on the ground, cracking sounds could be heard, as his bones broke after having been slammed into the hard, cold earth.

Will, who could see that their ranks had become disorderly tried to get the nearest priests and adventurers to get back in formation. However, none of them wanted to do as he proposed. They were all blinded by the possible honor that would come with ending the creature that had threatened Elcrada.

"Fools, you'll get us all killed!" Will shouted after the charging priests and adventurers, who had suddenly left his side to join the fray.

None of the priests had any magical energy left, so whenever anyone was defeated, they were disregarded and left to die by their comrades, who remained blinded by their lust for honor and prestige.

'We're going to lose at this rate... I have to do something.' The young priest thought to himself, as an adventurer landed next to him.

The former monk looked at the battle, which was going on in front of him. The flesh golem was easily creating disarray in the almost nonexistent ranks of priests and adventurers, who kept pressing forward, no matter how many of them were killed.

Objectively speaking, the mindless undead was fighting with more skill and thoughtfulness than the stupid humans, who were attacking it like complete savages. The priests, who saw themselves as better than the adventurers, fought with less skill, and less mindfulness than their adventurous counterparts.

"Fall back and form ranks!" The high-priest shouted.

Will and his superior, who was smart enough to not join the writhing bodies of mindless humans, were the only ones to stand back and watch as their comrades were slaughtered. No-one listened to the commands they were given. Instead, they pressed forward with greater vigor than ever before.

Although it was distasteful, and unpleasant to look at, one had to admit that the fleshy creature was slowly losing the battle. It had lost another two arms, and the many adventurers were hacking away at its legs, which were slowly giving away.

A sound, much like that of a falling tree, resounded as the adventurers finally cut off one of the golem's legs. Following that, war cries could be heard.

'Animals...' Will thought to himself, as he watched the scene in front of him in utter disbelief.

He, who had been the only one willing to take action against the attacking force of the dead, was now one of the two, who were standing back. Watching, as his comrades got slaughtered.

Deciding that he would at least have to help, Will started moving towards the battle. He could see that the flesh golem was lying on the ground, repeatedly getting stabbed with whatever weapons, its enemies were using. Dead or dying priests and adventurers were scattered around the battlefield, sometimes accompanied by one or two of the dead.

The young priest finally made it to the golem, which was slowly giving up the fight. It no longer had any arms, legs, or other such appendages. It was just lying there. Writhing on the ground, not much unlike the dying men around it.

Will could see that the people, who had been in a complete frenzy for the duration of the battle, were slowly coming to their senses. Around the battlefield, people were taking notice of the dying and dead men and women. Some were suddenly hit by guilt, but others didn't care. The adventurers were used to seeing their people die, so their reaction to seeing their wounded comrades was often nothing more than a shrug or an apology.

The young priest stood before the before so threatening creature, which was now bleeding out on the ground. Will grabbed a hold of the ceremonial knife, he kept at his side, and looked for the creature's heart. He found it located just below the golem's skin, where it was clearly pulsating, pumping the massive abomination's dead blood around its body.

Tightening his grip around the ceremonial knife, Will prepared to strike at the monster's heart. It was time to end this battle, which had been so needlessly costly. He was annoyed by the fact that he was the first to notice that the monster's heart was easy to hit. He was irritated by the way his fellow priests acted. They were just standing around, patting each other on the back because they had 'won'. This had been a Pyrrhic victory, at best.

Will plunged the knife into the exposed heart, ending its life immediately. In a way, the young priest pitied the monster, even though it couldn't feel pain or sadness. Nevertheless, losing to such complete incompetent morons, such as these adventurers and priests, who had lost all sense of duty, would be devastating to anyone.

Battle cries resounded over the plains, as the victorious party made their victory clear to any and everyone, who were even remotely close to their location. From inside Elcrada, the people were cheering for the brave warriors, who had saved them.

Someone's teeth, close to Will, were clattering. It was rather annoying to listen to, so the young priest started walking faster, in hopes of getting away from the irritating sound. However, no matter how far he walked, the sounds of clattering teeth seemed to follow him. Will sighed, and was surprised to see his breath solidifying.

'This sure is one cold summer night...' He thought to himself.

Suddenly, the young priest came to a realization. He dropped his staff and started looking around. Every single priest and adventurer were freezing, however, this was only so on the back lines. The people who were walking all the way up front were complaining about the heat.

"Get inside the town! We're not done fighting!" Will shouted, as he realized what was coming their way.

"Haha, would you listen to this guy? He's so green, he can't see that we've already won." One of the adventurers said, through clattering teeth.

Laughter went through the disorderly ranks of the returning victors, who thought themselves free of danger.

"I'm telling you, there's more coming!" The young priest shouted once again.

He had faced the hooded monster, once before, and it was not something he would like to re-experience. The way it had chilled him to his very core. The way it had made him realize just how weak he was when compared to itself.

Will could feel the sweat, which had accumulated in his gold-blonde hair. It was growing cold. Solidifying, as the temperature kept dropping.

'Where is it?!' The young priest wondered, as his panic rose by the second.

Everyone had made it to the gates of Elcrada, which were now opening, allowing for all of the people outside to enter. People were talking about getting drinks or wanting their share of the money for completing the mission. Unfortunately, none of them were even discussing Will's cries for help.

"No! Don't open the gates!"

"Shut up, boy!"

There was nothing he could do to stop it. Will could do naught but watch, as the gates to Elcrada opened. The young priest realized that he had underestimated the ingenious of their opponent. Sending the dead to break down the gates of the walled city had never been the goal. No, they had all been deceived, and they were about to pay the price for that.

"All... Warfare is based... On deception..." An icy voice said.

It sounded like the voice came from all over. Finally, some of the returning people were sparing a thought to their surroundings. Some were looking at Will, as if he had something to do with it all. Others were looking at the forest.

"Oy... What's that in the forest?" One of the adventurers asked his friends.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"I see it too."

Slowly, they were all realizing that something was off. But it was too late. There was no saving them now, Will realized, as he saw the hooded being standing at the edge of the forest.

Behind it, what looked like hundreds of skeletons peeked out from behind the trees. They were all heavily armed, some with equipment, others with bare bones. However, they all had one thing in common. They had swords. Under normal circumstances, monsters wouldn't carry anything more advanced than a club or a branch. Maybe even a sharp rock. Never did they carry weapons. Not before now, at least.

"Close the gates!" The high-priest shouted, as he tried to lead everyone through the gates. The grave look, Will had seen on his face earlier, had returned.

The middle-aged man looked as if he was already dead. All he could do was minimize the casualties, which would inevitably come from the upcoming battle. He sent a look in the young priest's direction. They both knew what they needed to do.

"Anyone willing to fight alongside us will be paid ten times the promised amount!" The high-priest announced, desperately trying to bring more people to the battlefield.

"Priests, get out here. We are tasked with the divine task of defeating this ungodly creature! Does anyone have any magical energy left?"

Like that, Will and his superior amassed a platoon of priests and adventurers. No-one among their ranks, with the exception of a few adventurers, looked as if they believed in victory. They all knew that this battle was where most of them would meet their ends. But even though they would die, they all appeared ready to fight for even the slightest chance of survival. For that, Will admired them all.

Will, himself, had lost the will to fight completely. He could almost see the devilish smile on the lich's face, as it pointed a bony finger at Elcrada, which functioned as the command to attack. Not a single one of its undead minions stood back. While there were around a hundred people defending Elcrada, there were around five times the amount of enemies. Many of the defenders were exhausted, others had completely emptied their reserves of magic.

The young priest still had some energy remaining, but nowhere near enough to do away with five hundred undead.

"Take this." One of the nearby adventurers said, as he passed Will a chipped sword.

"Thank you." The young priest responded.

Now he had a way to defend himself against the incoming horde of dead men. However, he wasn't at all confident that it would be enough.

"Deadshot!" An archery-type adventurer shouted, killing off two skeletons with a single arrow.

Some of the other ranged adventurers followed suit, ultimately ending up killing around fifty enemies, before the undead started engaging in melee-combat with the adventurers. Behind the front-lines, priests were healing adventurers, as they got hurt, but there were nowhere near enough of them to heal all of the people, who got wounded.

'This is hopeless.' Will thought to himself, as he blocked an incoming hit from a skeleton warrior, proceeding to cut through its spine.

As the bony foe collapsed before the young priest, another skeleton was quick to take its place, disallowing the former monk any rest at all. That was one of the many hard things about fighting the dead. They never got tired, unlike their mortal foes.

Will prepared to do away with his opponent, but was interrupted by an icy voice, which tore through the mess of sounds on the battlefield.

"Arial Freeze..." Said the lich, who was still standing by at the forest, flanked by two creatures, Will knew to be ghouls.

As soon as the lich's words left its non-existent lips, the air grew colder, oxygen left the air, and it became generally harder to keep up with the undead horde, to which there seemed to be no end.

Following the considerable drop in temperature, a massive ice-crystal flew in the direction of the defenders, landing in the middle of them. The impact sent the young priest flying, even though he was at least a good fifty meters away from the point of impact. Not everyone had been as lucky as to simply be sent flying. Screams echoed across the battlefield, as people started to realize how serious their injuries were.

Some of the people closest to the strike-zone were either dead or frostbitten to the point where they could no longer move. Others had limbs torn from their body, or were impaled by shards of solid ice.

Will couldn't help but wonder how these people, who had refused to move an inch when he warned them, had earned their place among the Silver Ranks. They stubbornly refused to do as they were told, follow orders, or be cooperative in any tangible way. They completely failed as warriors.

The young priest cursed his fate for being put in a group with the incompetent mongrel, known as adventurers. While swearing internally, he stood up and grabbed a hold of his sword once again.

A skeleton was approaching him, sword held high. Its bones sounded like broken machinery, as it moved closer and closer to the priest, who was still suffering from confusion, after having been struck by the immense impact from the shard of ice, the lich had conjured.

"Purify!" Will shouted, mustering whatever magic he had left.

Almost unfazed by the attempt to destroy it, the skeleton marched on, ready to strike at the vulnerable priest.

Will swung his sword at the skeleton, but unfortunately the bony fiend blocked the swing, as if it was nothing. It was pathetic. The way a skeleton, renowned for its sluggish movements, had an easy time blocking a strike from a priest.

'It appears I can count myself among the unworthy.' The young priest thought to himself, while smiling slightly at the irony of the situation.

However, the priest did not intend to stand down. He fastened his grip around his place, and slashed at the skeleton once again. The strike was blocked, so Will tried again and again, until he finally hit the skeleton, which couldn't keep up with the speed at which its opponent was attacking it. But the skeleton didn't fall.

Exhausted, Will took a few steps back to analyze the situation. It wasn't looking good for any of the living on the battlefield. The undead that had reached the battlefield were already overwhelming the defenders of Elcrada, and there were still more of the dead on their way.

The skeleton, which the young priest was fighting was still pressing forward, now that it had an even greater edge on its opponent. Not that it would have stopped, even if it didn't. The undead were rather stupid after all.

Will, who kept backing away, walked into someone else, and felt something pointy against his back. He turned around and saw the chubby priest, Ernst. The priest, whom the former monk held in high regard, had been impaled by two swords.

Two skeletons were standing in front of the priest, who was still having a hard time comprehending that he was a dead man. They were dressed in heavy armor, unlike the bare-boned skeleton, Will had been fighting. There was no winning the fight for him now, the young priest realized.

Ernst fell to the ground, and the skeletons that had murdered him pulled their swords from his body, ready to come at Will.

It was getting colder and colder around the young priest, who had fallen on one knee. He was devastated. One of the people he respected had been impaled like a pig, ready to be roasted. If Ernst, who the young priest, Will, considered to be stronger than himself died with ease, how was he going to survive?

"Cross Cut!" Someone shouted.

The skeleton, the defeated priest had been fighting, was hit with two strong bursts of air, which shattered its rib cage. Following that, a spear shattered one of the remaining skeletons' head, shattering it.

"Arcane Arrow!" Another voice bellowed, followed by a flash of light, which shattered the remaining skeleton completely.

Will looked around, confused. It was not often people were able to save him, since he was usually the strongest in the crowd. The young priest was happy to have been saved, and it showed on his face, but he couldn't help but to feel even more powerless now. He had been the one in need of being saved.

"Are you alright Mister priest?" Asked a familiar voice.

'Are you serious? The De la Pole girl's party...'

Suddenly, the former monk wished that he had died before. He had been saved by the people, he had humiliated the other day. Now he was left standing in the midst of battle, like a complete idiot.

"Thank you for saving me, Miss De la Pole." Will managed to say.

He hated to admit it, but his pride had been wounded. But although that was the case, the young priest had no intention of letting it show. He, as a priest, was supposed to be above feelings such as pride.

"I'm sorry we couldn't save your friend." The De la Pole girl continued.

She was looking down on Will, it was obvious to anyone present. The way she looked at him, as if he was a little child, who had cut their finger. In a way, it was only fitting that the young priest was being humiliated, as he had done to his savior. Therefore, he accepted it as his punishment for being ignorant.

"It saddens me that he had to die, but alas. There was nothing you could've done. He is with Icarus now." The young priest said.

"Although I know you have done enough for me already, I have a request for you. Would you let me join your party for the duration of this battle?" Will asked, taking on a kneeling posture, similar to that servants would show their master.

The party of three looked at Will with a certain amount of suspicion showing in their eyes. They had been betrayed recently, so it was only natural that they'd be a little bit xenophobic towards newcomers.

"Yes, you may." Robinia said after a minute had passed.

"However, there'll have to be a condition. Let us analyze your stats!" The party's mage said.

Will was somewhat surprised by the fact that the otherwise quiet mage was taking charge of the situation. She always looked defiantly at the young priest, as if she didn't trust him one bit, but before now she had never let even a single complaint leave her lips.

"You may." Will said, still kneeling before the three.

"Very well. Level Estimation!" Robinia shouted, using the skill to read into Will's abilities.

 

 

⌈Name: Will Siantia – Level 35-50⌋  ⟨ Monk, Priest ⟩

Strength: A

Agility: B+

Intelligence: A-

Magic Affinity: A+

 

 

 

"Incredible..." The De la Pole girl whispered, while looking at the magically generated letters that had appeared in front of her.

She turned her eyes to Will, who was still kneeling. The elven girl was hit with a strong sense of nostalgia. This encounter reminded her a little bit of the first time she had read Ash's stats.

"You may come with us. Get up." Robinia said, and started walking, closely followed by the two remaining members of her party.

And thus, the young priest joined the party, albeit only for a short time. They had all been pushed slightly outside the battlefield. From where they stood, they could see the overwhelming difference between the two clashing armies.

The vast sea of bones accompanied by the sound of heavy equipment against the defending priests and adventurers, who sported a multitude of colors. It was very much like watching a battle between good and evil. The evil side being the colorless, expressionless undead, and the good being the diverse, colorful, and energetic defenders.

With his resolve reignited, Will rejoined the fray with his new temporary companions.

 

Chapter end