The First Lich Lord

Chapter 75

The sounds of the conflict continued to draw more attention, and there was an almost constant stream of few humans and other races joining the fight. The spell Id cast continued to raise more undead of my fallen foes. It wasnt as fast as the initial group, but it gave me the edge. The basic humans were far weaker than the brutes or even the runners, but they served as fodder.

Once my mana had been restored enough, I cast another spell. Death magic poured out of me as I added a powerful buff to all my minions. I added a small amount of death energy into it to see if I could further amplify the effect, since I was supposed to be able to. Unlike creating minions by adding death energy, the effect wasnt nearly as obvious.

All of my zombies gained regeneration and strength that allowed them to push the goons back. Maxwell continued playing, and now that the tide began to shift, he changed his song to a more ominous tune. Fear entered the eyes of those we were fighting as they were pushed back, leaving more and more bodies behind. I drank another mana potion.

Raven stood next to me, casting a steady stream of dark magic. With the line of battle so clearly drawn, and the narrow confines of the space, her stealth skills were less useful, and she was better off attacking from range with her magic.

Soon the room was ours and the spell I initially cast had faded. I ordered the remaining brutes and bludgeoner, which was surprisingly still alive, to guard the door to the stairs leading down. I began to lay out the bodies of the fallen. While the pits provided chokepoints to fight around, bodies had fallen down into them, and with the help of a few of my zombies, they were easy to retrieve and sort between those whod already been raised to undeath once and those that had not.

To my surprise, the final pit still held the beautiful, naked, modified humans with their blank stares. Maxwell saw them, and while almost any hot-blooded man likely couldnt help but be aroused at the raw sight of them, all that was in his eyes was horror and disgust. Raven dealt them swift merciful deaths, and I made sure to wait long enough so that the kernel that represented their true soul had truly moved on.

There was a constant rumbling of combat near the stairs, but the three brutes still standing held the door easily.

A grim smile spread on my face as I examined the available materials. Once the creature has been raised to undeath once, it becomes less efficient to raise them again, at least in the same form. Though their bodies do become more tuned to death magic. Truly it is how undead advance in strength, assuming theyre not killed and have the magic within themselves to sustain their form.

I bent to retrieve a death core but stilled. A thread of power reached from me to the core. It wasnt something I had noticed before, and when I tugged on it, the core flew to me. I caught it, pleased to find it was a powerful core, and the more I thought about what Id just done, the wider my smile became. I was the creator of these cores, of course I would have a connection.

I closed my eyes and focused on the thread connecting me to the core. The meditation I tried practicing for aura control came back to me. While I was terrible at it, I could feel the death energy in me and how it was connected to the cores around me. Reaching out, I tugged. Cores ripped out of bodies as necrotic energy emitted from them to eat holes through the flesh.

The cores even came pouring out of the creatures still standing, with the exception of the bludgeoner whose cores Id used to further enhance its strength. A tumbling ball of smaller death cores floated in front of me. There had been at least twenty that had come from the modified humans and another dozen from the fighters that tried to push us out.

That was gruesome, Maxwell muttered, never breaking his song that was continuing to strengthen my minions at the door.

But much better than having to retrieve them manually. I watched the ever-shifting ball of orbs. Part of me wanted just to absorb them. None were overly powerful, but that many would definitely bring up my core level some.

I stopped that thought and focused on the task at hand, there were too many other useful things I could use them for. I carefully set the cores down and they spread out on the floor. The fighters that had come to engage us had been more powerful than the ones above, most of them in their mid-forties and a few in their fifties as far as levels went.

I could spend the energy to just raise all of these into undead, but the problem with fighting in confined spaces wasnt an issue of numbers, it was an issue of concentrated force. A good example of this was how my four troops were holding back quite a few more at the stairs chokepoint.

I set aside the zombies that had fallen along with the weaker gazer and scout zombies. They would be material regardless of what I decide to do. The few that were still alive I pulled the death magic back out of them and let them collapse.

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There were only four bodies that hadnt already been raised to undeath. I decided to make those my core, and then divided up the rest of the materials between them.

Whatever youre going to do, do it soon, Raven said from her station near the door. Theyre getting organized. Therell be a push soon.

I approached the first cluster of material after giving a mental order for the remaining zombies that had been helping me to join the brutes at the door. I was getting awfully tired of headaches, but I expended the rest of my mana anyways. Death magic poured out of me and consumed the bodies and death cores.

Instinctually I reached into the spell with my own death energy and began to shape the energy from the cores, forming a new core along with enhancing my spell. My control over the death magic with my own death energy enhancing it was far greater than ever before. This particular spell was something between a construct and a regular create undead spell.

Bone was blackened as my magic condensed it. The central body of the creature was layered with more muscle and skin that was further compressed, allowing for smooth, powerful muscles. The skin was merged, transformed into something more akin to leather with added bone plates. Finally, the death core slid into the chest cavity as the ribs closed around it and dark muscles formed conduits that connected to the core.

The spell took a lot of mana, and I was truly depleted now. But when I looked at my creation, I smiled. In many ways, this was the first truly powerful undead Id created. The amount of death energy tied up into this monster was more than any other up to this point. It was as tall as I was, and far heavier. Its eyes burned with the purple glow that matched my own.

There was a subservient connection that ensured it would obey my will. At least until it gained its own mind, something that very well could happen if I included brain matter.

I ordered it to join the front and it sprinted across the room, picking up a heavy battle axan order I had not given it. I could beat it in a fight, I just hoped it would never come to that. That was the danger of creating things as powerful, if not more powerful than you.

I read over its description, becoming even more pleased. I hadnt seen this description in a long time.

Greater Zombie

Level: 55

What sets greater zombies apart from their lesser counterparts is the presence of a death core. This allows them to advance and become more powerful and adapt and change on their own. This particular zombie has been further enhanced by the addition of increased base material. Since material was added at the point of creation and was not shaped, the creatures base power has increased.

Personally, Ive never created a living dead before, if you didnt count the ritual that turned the city into a city of the undead. That had a certain level of world magic involved that was far beyond my ability to work on my own. Aside from creatures like me and other incredibly powerful undead, the only way to create living dead was through advanced rituals, like the one that turned me into a Lich.

My new minion then joined the fight and I immediately saw the difference as it took command of the other zombies and began to organize them. Before long, the new zombie had organized my minions, defending the top of the stairs much more effectively. The fools trying to force their way up the stairs gave up and fell back. For them it was the worst thing they could have done. Over the next hour I raised three more. They wouldnt be able to stop me now.

***

I used one of my last two remaining mana potions to speed up the creation process. I didnt know how big this complex would prove to be, and hoped I wouldnt regret using one of the potions to save me some time.

With a mental command I ordered my group of zombies to push down the stairs. The weaker zombies were stacked in front and were quickly torn apart by the forces arrayed below. Then the brutes plowed down the stairs and forced their way into the next room.

I was at the rear of the formation, and from the flashes of magical light that bled through the archway I guessed we had discovered a much stronger foe.

The four greater zombies charged down, with me on their heels. Maxwell and Raven were farther back, and hed switched to an ominous metal song that buffed me and my minions and put a subtle psionic effect on our foes to make them feel more intimidated, kind of. His music magic is strange when you stop and think about it.

The next room turned out to be a long, wide corridor, with brick walls that looked to have been recently made and curved into an arched ceiling. Two large doors were on either side, and another set of wide stairs led deeper at the far end. It was stark and unadorned, with the exception of a few sconces burning along the walls, and huddled in front of the next stairwell was a group of fighters wielding crossbows, and behind them a pair of figures draped in dark robes with elaborate designs sewn into them.

Whoever this crime family was, they werent idiots. Since they couldnt force their way up the stairs, theyd fallen back and prepared for us to rush them. Between my forces and the ranged fighters was a small horde of melee fighters. Fortunately, I only felt the presence of a few powerful figures, but there were still nearly two dozen people arrayed before me.

The one saving grace we had was the raised platform wed come out on. It was a half-circle that led out of the archway with only a couple of steps, but it was enough to give me a view of the area and my troops a slight edge.

Bolts stuck out of the shield held by the greater zombies, and magic was building around the two casters. They were powerful, likely the two most powerful people in the room, aside from me.

As I built my own spell, I regretted not having put any points into the defense category of my focus table. I tried to console myselfmost of the time that wouldve been a waste.

Electric blue lightning raced down the corridor right as I cast my spell. A barrier of black magic formed in front of the bolt, stopping and dispersing it before it struck my bludgeoner. My barrier shattered, but since it hadnt been a channeled spell, prematurely detonating it was all I needed. Unfortunately, I didnt have time to build another barrier and my precognition had me dive to the side just as a bolt of red magic tore through the space beside me.

Necromancers were not known for powerful defensive magics, they were essentially wizards that specialized in death magic. My best defensive spells came from my dark magic. But even then, that was more specialized in stealth and high damage singular attacks. I was really not the right kind of castor for a magical duel. The one advantage I had, was my casting speed.

Thats the downside of wizard type castingtheyre slow. Mages often won duels simply because they could hit faster, even if wizards typically had more powerful spells. Now, as a Lich, I had the speed of a mage with the power of a wizard.

As I came up out of my roll, I was already building a spell. If I couldnt defend against the casters, my only option was to eliminate them before they did too much damage. My minions spread out, and yes that would isolate them as they fought, but it was better than a well-placed spell causing massive damage. It would also make me the primary target for the casters, since hitting my front line would become problematic.

I trusted Maxwell and Raven to take care of themselves. People rarely saw Maxwell as a threat. Little did they know, in many ways, he was more valuable to the fight than I was. And where Raven was concerned, I hoped she would go after the group of crossbow users since they would only add to my headaches as they focused on me as well.

A bolt of dark purple lightning fired from the tip of Mercy. As it arced across the room and slammed into the caster who fired the bolt of lightning, a barrier flickered around him. They wore some heavily enchanted items, because I hadnt seen them cast defensive magics. Although it was possible theyd already been in place. I poured magic into my spell and for a few long seconds I was connected across the corridor to the other casters.

As my spell slammed into the barrier sparks erupted, and tendrils of death magic spiraled off into the room. I cut off magic into the spell as I felt the price of maintaining it begin to increase exponentially.

Even before the light of my magic faded, I was already building another. The other advantage I held was the power granted to my death spells. Death magic was already a potent offensive spell type, and as a Lich, it was even more so. I tended to focus on amplifying my minions, since that was one of the big benefits of being a necromancer, but that didnt mean my spells were lacking.

My precognition warned me of an incoming attack, one I couldnt dodge due to its area of effect component. Instead, I focused my mind so my spell would not come unraveled and tried to hunker down. Right before the spell hit, I glanced at Maxwell, who was also dodging to the side. He wasnt the target of the spell and would likely get out of the blast radius.

An explosion of dark red energy filled the corridor. My initial response was panic. Blood magic, while not a counter to me, was one of the types of magic that would be very effective against undead, since it was vitality based. But as this magic washed through me and I rocked back from the blast, there wasnt any pain. And it wasnt just from the resistance gained from the Order of Equinox.

In a way, I tasted the magic, and then a deep chuckle escaped me. A moment later that chuckle boomed across the room as Maxwell did something to amplify. Deciding to take advantage of it, I mocked them. You would use corruption magic against a Lich? You mustve been dropped on the head as a baby. You poor fool.

I struck out with my spell and an orb of relatively slow-moving dark purple death magic flew across the room in a straight line, unaffected by gravity. As it did, I channeled nearly a quarter of my death energy into it, this was the first time I tried such a thing.

This orb was a terrifying attack. I honestly hadnt known I had access to such things, it just came to me as I started casting it. Id used the spell many times before I was brought here, when I had just been a necromancer. The things that came to me and that I remembered were confusing at times. I didnt think overly much on it, I was thankful for access to the spell.

The orb emitted a field around it that degraded all life it touched. Some of the fighters directly underneath the orb gasped and staggered, one even dropped to the ground, life draining from his face.

The slow-moving attack gave the casters the opportunity to raise a barrier to stop it. I did not have time to watch the impact as a volley of bolts was incoming. So far, the crossbowmen that had been trying to take pot shots at my front line, were focused on me. I dashed to the side, avoiding most of the projectiles. One caught me where my stomach would be. They punched through the armor, as bolts tended to do, and I ground my teeth. The pain wasnt horrible, but the feeling was not pleasant.

When I glanced at the casters, I saw the magic remnants of a broken barrier fading as the orb reached them. It did not target either one of the casters, instead it just hovered above them. The field it emitted was already taking effect, and the death energy enhancing the spell made it far more powerful than I should have been able to cast. I could physically see the death magic eating away at their life.

One of the casters pointed his wand up and I smiled, with the limited strands of black flesh on my face it was quite the gruesome sight. The caster not focusing on the spell turned to his friend and shouted something just as a beam of crimson energy fired from the mans wand into the orb.

The spell was hard to block and bring down as it traveled, and once it reached its end position, it became a sitting duck. Except attacking it was the last thing they shouldve done. It was like a mine. And what they had just done was purposefully step on it.

The crimson energy pierced the orb and there was an explosion of dark purple energy laced with pure black. Two of the crossbow wielders were close enough to be caught in the explosion, and screams came from the casters as they were consumed.

When the magic faded, one of the casters lay on the ground, his body and robes completely ravaged and torn apart by the rampant death energy. The other one was still barely standing; his barriers having saved him. One of the crossbow wielders was a desiccate corpse, while half the body of the other had been withered away. Before he could recover, Raven drove a dagger into the side of his head and vanished into a shadow.

Instead of pressing my advantage, I used my dwindling mana supply to cast a spell that would heal my minions. Somehow the bludgeoner was still alive, though at a glance I was pretty certain it was only barely. One arm still functioned, and it swung around blindly, its eyes mustve been blotted out. My greater zombies faired better, though two of them were now engaged with fighters that went toe to toe with them.

Maxwells buffs kept them in the fight, but they wouldnt last forever. A wave of death magic flowed out for me and established an area of effect centered on me that included all of my minions. Wounds closed, and the bludgeoner even began to move a bit better, one of its broken arms twitching.

Amongst the crossbowmen was Raven, slashing and stabbing. They tried to grab her or strike her with short swords, but she was faster than they were, leaving behind a trail of wounds that hampered their movements. With two dead, there was only three other crossbowmen, and none were strong enough to tango with Raven.

I turned my attention back to the other side of the room, where the caster was preparing to retaliate. Using another chunk of my dwindling mana, I answered, and raced to complete it before the other caster. I couldnt move, my position allowed me to heal my minions, so if I could bring that caster down before they finished their spell that would be great.

I used another bolt of lightning, but as my spell arched across the room the caster fired their own. My precognition told me it would hit me, so I ground my teeth and held my position. If I remember correctly, this was the corruption caster, maybe the spell wouldnt hurt very much. My lightning blasted into him, the barrier already gone. They resisted for a moment before the lightning tore them apart.

That, however, did not stop their spell, and a moment later an explosion of crimson energy hammered me. I howled in pain as the vital magic warred with my body, and I channeled death energy. The magic and energy clashed as the death energy restored my body faster than the vital magic could hurt it.

When the attack ended, I rose to my feet. With no more casters to worry about, I poured death magic into Mercy and reshaped it into a spear with the needlelike tip. I moved to support the bludgeoner who was again being torn down.