Even as the undead continued to enter the portals that had appeared before them and would lead them to Salifinos they were mentally uttering messages of gratitude. They were well on their way to execute an order of mine: to destroy well over two dozen communities inhabited by mortals.
The undead legions I had commanded to be the first warriors in the genocidal war I was waging on Salifinos' mortal population included the warriors who fought in the battle against the reptilefolk encampment, and many, many more undead.
They were all bloodthirsty, violent creatures who wanted to execute the living for committing an unforgivable sin: living. Among them, only the most powerful and important could reanimate the dead unaided, creatures similar in strength to Nivar.
As they marched, flew, and crawled to try and be the first to get to bathe in the blood of their enemies, I quietly turned a small portion of my mind to the hyenoid encampment in Puerto Rico. At last, the most important hyenoids had fallen asleep which gave what I needed to begin to enact another of my schemes.
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Darkness wasn't the only thing spreading out across the plain on which Luthor and his kin lived. So too did a vast, brutally armed legion of the undead. The skies were darkened by the spectral bodies of undead monsters who worshiped a god of death, nightmares, and pain. The plain's ground was covered in his servants who ineffectually crawled, walked, and shuffled across it, driven by a singular desire: to kill mortals.
From worlds away, their god focused a fair amount of his divine mind on them. He was aware of their actions, of their urges, and he enjoyed the emotions they felt. Their beliefs and their hate fascinated him, and he found their emotions surprisingly amusing to examine. That said, he was doing his best to let them roam freely and to give them free rein to act, so long as they generally obeyed his orders to hunt down and kill mortals. And they fully intended to do that.
There was precisely one thing that kept the mortals of the town's closest to the frontlines of the war alive: the distance that separated them from the undead Althonian hordes. That said, that distance was shrinking more and more every second.
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My tower was hundreds of kilometers away from Puerto Rico. But I could reach out across the cosmos and freely interact with people and objects in other worlds, it was all too easy for me to reach out to my home and the closest thing I had to a birthplace.
Without any sign of mental or divine strain, I quietly flexed a divine muscle and hurled a part of my mind into the dream of the first of the targets I had for my schemes to acquire the second tier of influence over the corruption subdomain. I proceeded to flex my divine muscles more and hurled more of my mind into other dreams, dreams belonging to hyenoids and humans alike.
Fomenting conflict was not something I usually did, but I didn't mind doing it this time. I actually liked the idea of experimenting and discovering if I had a talent for stoking conflict. This would be the first time I was purposefully doing such a thing.
The fragments of myself that appeared within the dreams I had invaded all entered vastly different dreamscapes. I could see and drive each of my dream-selves at the same time thanks to my expanded powers, and I had no difficulties awakening my dream-selves with merely the mental version of a flick of the wrist.
One fragment awoke within a dreamscape that was of a vast forest. Another appeared within a rustic house. The other two woke up in a hyenoid camp, and in the Silver Xana. All four of the dream-selves I had generated had goals in their "minds": appeal to the mortal, manipulable emotions mortals felt and use those emotions to start conflicts.
The "true" me, my physical body, smiled as the dream-selves I had created begin to move through the dream-worlds imagined by the people whose minds I had invaded. My dream-selves took on distinct forms and began to investigate the personalized dreamworlds of my victims.
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Nivar was silent as her mount dashed towards a town just barely becoming visible in the darkness. The disgusting, wormy mass that only superficially resembled a gigantic humanoid, stared straight ahead. She had no eyes, as every bit of her humanoid corpse had been devoured by her master's chosen mound of worms, but she was clearly facing the distant community she was approaching.
The worm that walked was standing on top of a strange, slack-jawed, and quadrupedal zombie giant. The zombie giant was mindlessly dashing towards the town and was one of the fastest creatures in the particular horde she had been assigned too. Nivar would have sighed if she could, but that sound was too complex for her to make, given what passed for her throat.
The creature was composed entirely of filthy worms. A countless number of filthy, wallowing worms were magically and psychically fused together and driven by the incredibly powerful will Nivar possessed.
Nivar herself was a grave-giant who had initially been reanimated by Althos and then deanimated so that he could experiment with a magical corpse. Althos allowed worms to devour her deanimated corpse and then aided her in handcrafting a disgusting new form, made of those same worms.
At first, her new form had been a thing she had hated. But days had passed since she gained her new form, days which she had to mull it over and to accustom herself to her new body. And now she was indifferent to her new form. She quietly assumed that it pleased her master, and for her, for now, that was enough. That said what she was about to do was pleasing to her.
The giant was silent because she was focused on the sight in front of her. She could see a thick, wooden, wall that outlined and protected a small town off in the distance. She smiled and mentally thanked her dark lord for the chance to be one of the undead warriors who got to be violent in today's brutal activities.
She raised a single hand made of worms and pointed a single finger, in so far as she possessed a finger, and took aim. The giant was silent as she channeled the magical energy she possessed.
Gathering magical energy, when done by non-deific beings, was a laborious and concentration-intensive activity that took serious effort. Even for a purely magical being like Nivar it wasn't easily done. The grave giant was utterly still for several seconds, aside from the disgusting movement of the worms that made up her form before she had successfully gathered the energy she needed for what she had in mind.
When she had the needed amount, she began to grin. Or at least she tried to grin. A mortal would not have been able to tell. As soon as the energy she needed was concentrated and at her disposal, she took a moment to shape the necromantic lance that was about to fly out of her finger. It only took a second, as this was perhaps the easiest part of magic usage aside from the release of the magic.
When the energy was primed within her, and shaped to her satisfaction, she merely unleashed it. A thick lance of magical energy shot out of her fingertip and rocketed towards the wall that outlined the town she and her allies were intent on destroying. The lance was the color of midnight, was several meters long, and amazingly enough, it managed to be even thicker than it was long.
Nivar watched, curious to see what would happen when her attack collided with the walls protecting the mortal community. It took the lance several seconds of sailing through the air before it finally collided with the wall. When it did the strange, magical attack ripped into the thick wooden posts that comprised the barrier and torn a sizable hole in the wall. The spell continued past the wall and sailed into the town itself before finally slamming into a small home and ceasing to exist.
The grave giant felt ecstatic as she realized just how powerful the first of the magical powers she now possessed was. She hadn't had the chance to use this when battling at the encampment, but now that she had seen it with her own eyes she was quick to begin to ready another lance.
It was while she was preparing another evocation-based magical attack that her master began to move. The distant god was not burdened or bothered by mortal constraints like distance. His divine powers could stretch across the universe if he wanted it too. And in this instance, all it had to do was reach partway across the solar system and reward one of his servants.
Nivar smiled as she felt her master's approval seep into her and as she read the notification she just received. It filled her with pride and made her feel that what she was doing was something her master approved of.
Alert:
You have received a dual blessing, bestowed upon you by the god of the grave. The god has been pleased by the power you've displayed and seeks to aid you. He has magically and evocatively blessed you.
Your next three low-level magical spells, such as your dark spear attack, will cost you no magical energy. In addition to that, your evocation magic will be cheaper even beyond the next three spells you cast, and the spells will be stronger. If you continue to please Althos, he may bless you even more.
Nivar grinned sadistically, a terrifying sight made all the more frightening by the fact that her mouth was literally made of wriggling worms, when she was done reading the notification. She felt power and magical energy surging back into herself and did what she could to prepare for the wicked power that would be exploding out of her fingertips soon.
"Thank you... Master." She whispered as she took careful aim with her other hand. Behind her the undead army that was roving towards the settlement inhabited by living mortals cheered in sadistic joy as they began to be able to see the settlement. The distant sight of the town invigorated the undead horde and they dashed with renewed enthusiasm towards the living community.
Nivar stood atop her bizarre pet, a zombified giant. The giant was a primitive-looking thing, dressed in the furs of some massive animal, and with a dazed look on its passive face. Both of its tree-truck-like arms and legs were on the ground and even on all fours it stood several meters tall.
Unlike her pet, Nivar was not merely a mobile corpse. Nivar was a fully intelligent, almost autonomous undead being. And she had thoughts of her own. Presently all of her thoughts were fixated on the thick wooden wall that stood between her and her master's objectives: the extermination of a community of living mortals.
Nivar's hands were at her side. She had lowered them after receiving her blessing. After a few moments of quiet contemplation, the young grave giant rose them and did her own verminous version of a smile. But there was no magical energy gathered in her hands. She had a different idea in mind for how to finish the destruction she had begun. One that'd allow her to save her supped up spells for when she'd need them.
She stretched a single finger at the wall and spoke. "Destroy." She muttered, her voice soft and causing her to experience pangs of discomfort. Fortunately for her, she was as loud as she needed to be. The giant she was mounted on top of started forward with a halting gait, before finally beginning to sprint at the wall.
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There was a smile on my face when Nivar uttered that single word. It showed me something admirable about her: she knew she didn't need to do everything alone. There was a point in my life, days ago, when I felt that I couldn't rely on others. It was a feeling I never voiced, but one I felt all the same. I know better than that now. And I was happy that my worshipers were already so wise.
Parts of my mind were elsewhere, beyond my physical form, but the part of me that remained within my body was delighted at the events on Salifinos. Nivar and her pet were currently the undead servants of mine that were closest to mortal life on Salifinos and Nivar was showing me a little bit of leadership potential.
Depending on how she did here a part of me was open to making her a real leader within my horde. I could use leaders within that messy mass of undead might and it'd be nice if Nivar, one of the original undead I rose up before I had a horde, was one of them.
My dream-selves were making progress. They steadily explored the dreams they had infiltrated and were corrupting things. None of them had yet encountered the dream-forms of the people whose minds they had invaded, but I wasn't in a rush. I knew they just needed time.
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I watched as Nivar's pet swung its mighty arms at the wall that obstructed it. The beast panted as a result of the physical exertions it was being forced to do, to complete the command it had been given.
The giant was an eerie thing. It was far taller than Nivar herself, even when crouching on all fours, and had larger muscles than any other living creature I had seen aside from a dragon. It swung its limbs in an uncoordinated manner, merely bashing them against the walls that ringed the boundaries of the town the monsters were attacking, but it was strong enough to be effective anyway.
Each time one of its limbs bashed into the wall, or the oaf hurled its body against the wood that stood between it and slaughter, the barrier budged a bit more. Each strike brought the horde closer and closer to the living mortals they sought to devour, but only produced a noise comparable to a dull thud, and not the explosive roar that such an attack should have produced. I watched the giant strike the wall three times, before I sighed and had had enough of its limited strength.
I reached out with my mind, and spoke directly to Nivar.
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"Your pet looks like he could use... A boost." I told my servant, deciding to hint at what I was about to do. I felt her excitement, as an echo of it radiated out of her and into me.
"Master... Are you enjoying yourself?" She asked me, her mental voice much clearer than her physical one. I heard no signs of pain in it, only the excitement of a subordinate who had been seeking their superior's approval. I chuckled.
"I am. But your pet seems to be struggling." I told her, speaking cryptically. She couldn't see me, but I was smiling.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
"Oh? Is he?" She asked, beginning to sound a little bit concerned, but I merely rose a metaphorical hand, and began to bless the massive beast. I was bestowing it with a temporary blessing, one that increased its strength.
"He is. But he won't be for long." I told the grave-giant turned worm-that-walks. I sensed a bit of confusion radiated off of her, but it only lasted the time that it took her mount to hurl another powerful strike against the wall. This time there wasn't a dull thud when it tried to bash the wall in.
The beast's attack was a powerful one that made use of its thick body. My blessing was fast-acting and even seconds after I blessed the thing the difference in power was immediately noticeable. The wall was visibly forced back, but the craftsmanship of the thing was commendable and the wall refused to collapse. Nivar was encouraged by this though and cheered her pet on. She radiated genuine joy, and I chuckled at the positive outburst.
"One more attack." I muttered, inaudibly. The beast Nivar was riding reared up and proceeded to throw a single, powerful punch at the wall.
The beast's meaty fist collided with the already damaged barrier and proceeded to not only smash through the wall, busting the area the fist collided with into splinters, but continued onwards until lazily coming to a stop a few seconds after smashing the wall to bits.
The zombified giant was the first creature to step past where the walls had once been. It did so with happiness, and I momentarily wondered if I should awaken the thing. I knew that that would increase its potential and turn the monster into a real beast, but I knew that such an activity would force Nivar to try and control it, which might not work.
I mulled it over, and after a second or two of internal debating decided to hold off on awakening the giant. For now. Right now was Nivar's chance to shine. I wanted to see if she could.
The area the pair had just reached were the town's outskirts. In front of the pair stood a number of small houses, houses I knew contained life. But here's the thing: the noise of the wall falling had alerted the town's guards, a small number of men who were on their way to see what had caused the collapse of the wall. Nivar had a few moments to decide how to proceed.
I knew that the grave giant instinctually knew that her enemies were approaching. It was both logical to assume that, and also something that should have been within the realm of possibility as a sensory thing for a worm that walks, the particular type of undead that Nivar was.
Nivar spent a moment or two being as still as a worm that walks could be. There was no movement from her actual form, though the tiny swarm that made up her body was constantly in motion. But then she tilted her head and turned to face the nearest, tiny hovel in front of her. And with a grim smirk she pointed at it. This time she didn't even need to speak. Her pet lumbered forward, ready for more destruction.
Not far behind her there were more undead. It wouldn't take them long to get to her, and she was confident. She didn't doubt that she could hold off any guards who might actually reach her before her allies backed her up. So she opted to begin to fulfill her objectives. It was a wise choice.
"So she's mission-oriented huh? A real 'get the job done' type of creature..." I muttered, grinning wryly.
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The giant's pet closed in on the house in a few steps, and swung one of its arms at the tiny building. The house was a simple building, a tiny square made of wood with just enough for two rooms, an all-purpose room, and a bedroom. It was occupied by a single, sleeping person.
The giant was still blessed by me, and I watched, satisfied, as the monster's untrained arm crashed into one of the walls of the house and smashed through it. The noise this produced was incredible and inflicted lasting harm on the house. Nivar's excitement spiked, and the truth was, so did mine.
The wooden house's wall broke apart against the overwhelming power of the giant's fist. It stood no chance against the beast, and the zombie swiftly retracted its fist, all while inadvertently doing more damage to the house. The loud noise had awoken the mortal within the house, who was a single, human, woman. The woman leaped out of her bed, and opened the door that separated her from the destroyed wall and the rest of her home.
I "heard" her gasp, thanks to my sensory powers and the proximity of my worshipers to her. And I heard the harsh laughter Nivar emitted when the grave giant heard her too. Nivar rose a single hand and pointed it at the house's door. The giant somehow understood her intentions and aimed its other hand at the door.
A single violent thrust of the beast's limb was all it took for the massive monster to blow through the door. The monster's limb was a blur of movement and the thing slammed through the object that protected the house's inhabitant, prompting her to scream in terror. And that was a mistake.
The fear-filled sound was heard by Nivar and Nivar's pet. It was a fascinating sound that clearly communicated the horror she felt as a massive limb broke apart her house. I liked the way it sounded, and I recognized the... eerieness of that. But the problem wasn't that I heard it, the problem was that Nivar and her pet heard it.
Nivar was radiating bloodlust. I sensed it wafting off of her, and wondered how long it'd take her to act on it. She was perfectly still, and I had a theory that she was actually a bit overwhelmed by the emotions she was feeling at this moment. Her pet, a much simpler creature, was not.
The giant's thick hand was momentarily still just inside of the house. The woman who lived in it could see that it was still, and even in her dark, unlit house, she could see the pallid skin tone of the hand. It made the hand's appearance stand out against the dark, and also filled her with fear.
She was overwhelmed by fear and paralyzed because of it, as she frantically studied the hand. The hand abruptly shot forward, easily crossing the distance that separated the woman from the monster and grabbing her.
The hand was larger than she was, and also easily strong enough to wrap around her and drag her out of the house. It was only when she began to be dragged closer to the undead monsters that I had ordered to exterminate her village that she began to scream again.
Nivar would finally come to her senses right as other undead crossed the threshold into the town behind her. It was the sounds of their footfalls, the creaks and groans of their bones, and the occasional sounds they made that allowed her to snap back to reality. She hopped off of her pet to move closer to the woman it had captured.
The grave-giant looked down at the woman and studied her. She had an olive skin tone and was wearing a light outfit meant for sleep. The woman gasped when she first laid eyes on Nivar. She was utterly petrified, especially of Nivar.
I knew enough about mortals to know that her reaction was a reasonable one. It made sense for her to be afraid of a mass of writhing worms in the loose shape of a massive creature.
Nivar towered above the woman, standing entire meters taller than her. The woman was a human, after all, she stood a measly meter and a half tall. There was a hopelessness to her, almost auric in nature, but a part of me wondered if that was new or if it had always been there.
Nivar studied her for a few moments, even as other undead surged into the community and began to break into houses. The next screams to fill the night were heard, and they were close. After a few moments, Nivar had had enough and moved with a swiftness that belied the large nature of her form.
One of Nivar's hands shot out and grabbed the woman's chin. She applied a bit of force to forcibly open the woman's mouth. The woman feebly resisted, but even with adrenaline aiding her was no match for her opponent. Nivar's other hand shot forward but didn't stop at the woman's open mouth. It entered it. Her prisoner's eyes shot open, even more fear filling them as she realized what was going on.
Nivar was silent but was enjoying this. Her hand that was inside of the woman's mouth was purposefully made up of the filthiest worms that comprised her form. Nivar let go out of the woman's face, and reflexively the woman closed her mouth. She was able to bite partway through the giant's hand, an impressive feat all things considered. Sadly, that was what Nivar wanted.
The limb the human damaged was made up of living worms. Worms she had just freed from their partially psychic and partially magical prison, a prison that made them controllable by Nivar. Those freed worms showed their gratitude by writhing around the woman's mouth and a few, the ones furthest in, even tried to go into her throat. This caused her to begin choking. I had watched this whole gruesome display and quietly healed Nivar.
The giantess sighed in delight, almost purring at the sensations of worms spawning spontaneously within her and crawling over to her damaged hand, to remake it and heal her. Nivar watched as the woman she had attacked collapsed into a choking heap, her face turning red, even as the worms inside of her tried to explore their new home. I quietly sent her a new message. It was simple.
"Kill." I commanded her, having enjoyed the brutality of what I had just witnessed. The woman was still alive, and in considerable pain. Nivar turned to her pet, and relayed my order. The giant's response was simple. It closed its hand, lifted it above the woman, and then brought it crashing down on top of her. There was a sickening crunch as the giant's fist crushed the woman, but it was at least a swift end.
Nivar seemed to melt into a swarm of worms, worms which crawled onto and then on top of her pet. It was when they were all squarely assembled on the giant's back that they got back together and formed the strange vaguely humanoid mass that was more properly recognizable as Nivar. The process took about fifteen seconds, as the worms were supernaturally fast and collaborative.
Another scream filled the air, and the first airborne undead, monsters like shadows and wraiths, began to descend on the town. The carnage was about to begin in full.
After watching Nivar order the execution of the woman she had begun to suffocate, a smile appeared on my lips. It was a reminder that despite how rarely I used the undead, they were chillingly effective weapons and tools I should make more direct use of.
Once the woman was dead and pounded into the ground, and Nivar was back atop her pet the two began to move again. But now they weren't the only agents of mine that were inside of the town. There were, in fact, more of my servants than inhabitants of the town within the town at this point.
I quickly shifted my mental vision, scanning the area for other servants. Of the corporeal servants at my command in the area, I was consciously made aware of the fact that this particular army was fairly even in its ranks. There were equal numbers of zombies and skeletons, which were the most populous of my servants in the town, and then a much smaller number of other corporeal undead.
Wrights, mummies, vampires, and creatures like hungry hands were some of the other bodily undead servants who were merely hunting down and butchering the living. And I could tell that they were quite effective at it. Thanks to and through them I could hear the screams of the living. And it was a fun sound to be able to hear.
I quickly scanned the whole town and found that already many living people had been killed. That warmed my heart to know, since I was attempting to embrace my role as a god of calamity, eldritch horrors, and death, on Salifinos if nowhere else.
The truth was, that the delight my servants felt as they were bathed in the blood of the living was affecting me too. I felt an echo of it, and since so many undead were on Salifinos, exterminating living mortals, even an echo of their emotions was significant.
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Another servant of mine who was in the town and contributing to its destruction was a dark elven vampire. This servant hadn't particularly distinguished himself during the battle in the reptilefolk encampment, but currently he was rushing headfirst to confront the town's guards.
The town's guards were a handful of human men who wore light armor, held simple shields, and had shortswords in their other hands. They were a gruff group of men who had spent years training and defending their community, and they boldly dashed at the undead, corporeal and incorporeal alike, who had invaded their town. They were afraid, but there was something admirable in their ability to overcome their fear enough for them to rush headlong into battle.
I didn't know if they knew much about the undead. There weren't many necromancers on Salifinos, and most of them were eldritch abominations, which meant many mortals most likely either never saw the undead or only saw them shortly before their lives ended. So in the eyes of the town's guard, even guards on the frontier and frontlines of the war, odds are the monsters that there were attacking them and their friends was a never before seen class of terrifying monster.
I watched, grinning sadistically as my vampiric minion's dashing enabled him to close the distance that separated him from the guards. He was equally happy and reached out with his claw-tipped hands. The guard closest to him attempted to stab into him with his sword, the weapon giving him a slight reach advantage, but the vampire was too fast and narrowly dodged the weapon all while moving close to the guard and using his claw-tipped fingers to slice through the guard's light armor. The blow was quick and light, but it also successfully damaged the guard's armor.
"Heh. You're doomed." The vampire muttered, in the language of his people. The human didn't understand it, and growled in anger in response. Instinctively the human man could tell he was being taunted and his pride didn't let him take that and stay silent in the face of it.
He pulled back his blade and was attempting to ready another blow when the vampire surprised him by leaping at the militia-man. The guard was too close to be able to dodge the unusual technique and was instead hit, full-force by the vampire's muscled form. The vampire proceeded to force the guard to the ground, causing the man to land flat on his back.
"I am so... damn... thirsty." The vampire growled, a sadistic smile on his lips as he did so. He knelt on top of the guard and his scarlet eyes flashed with hunger. Each time he spoke his teeth were revealed, including elongated canines that were common to the kind of undead monsters he happened to be.
As soon as he was done speaking he hurled his mouth at the guard's exposed neck and began to bite the guard's soft neck. His fangs immediately penetrated the flesh of the guard, and the man began to wail in pain. The guard would only suffer for a few moments, but while he was suffering he was enduring excruciating pain as his most precious bodily fluid was stolen from him.
The guard wasn't alone, but the other guards couldn't reach him. Even though they were close, other undead monsters were backing the vampire. Skeletons and zombies, as well as wraiths, had closed in on the battle and began to engage the other guards who normally would have prioritized rescuing their friend.
Not that it would have mattered, the guard was dead, fully drained by the vampire in a matter of seconds. The vampire's personal vice was gluttony and it powered his ability to drain life from the living in a speedy manner. The guard was fully deceased rather quickly, but that wasn't even the end of the guard's existence. Vampires didn't just kill their victims.
The guard's corpse began to moan, and his eyes began to vibrate. His moan had an unnervingly erotic component to it and was definitely the sound of a man having a pleasurable experience, and not a corpse becoming something far more terrible than just a dead body.
Not far from them, a skeleton and a guard exchanged blows. The guard was quickly learning that trying to stab a skeleton, who lacked both flesh and blood, wasn't a great tactic even when his blade actually connected with one of the monster's bones. Meanwhile, the skeleton's axe was a fantastic weapon against the living guard.
In other parts of the town the violence was far more one-sided. The town had little over one hundred people. It was amazing that it had twelve guards, or that it had had twelve guards and now had eleven. That number wouldn't be that high for long.
I pulled myself away from an up-close observation of the battle and instead took on a bird's eye view of the conflict. In doing so I saw the dozens of incorporeal, flying spirits that surrounded the town. I learned, over the course of a few minutes of watching them that they were vulture-like in attitude and swooped down on any mortals who attempted to flee the town.
Wraiths and ghosts hurled themselves at any children who managed to escape from their homes unaided, and that number was surprisingly small. Only five children lived in the town, an impossibly small number even given the town's small size.
It was this realization that made me stand up and teleport myself to this town. In an instant, I went from standing in my tower to standing at the edge of the town, where Nivar and her pet had wreaked havoc, minutes ago.
Elsewhere my servants were causing mayhem, but this far from the battle only the slowest undead were still active. I could see them in the distance, entering houses and exploring them.
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This town was already largely wrecked. The air smelled of death and of blood and was filled with screams, wails, and the sound of distant battle. Houses that I could see were visibly damaged, most not quite as much as the house Nivar had attacked, but many had broken windows, shattered doors, and bloodied walls. Thanks to my vision I could see both distant battles and also countless bodies.
"I suppose I should explore..." I said, curious to see if I could figure out why this town had so few children. My theory was that the mortals here tried to send their children away since this town was situated on the frontlines of a savage war. This theory was one I believed was possible since this particular town lacked a sizable defense, and relied on militiamen who were being easily wiped out by my servants. That said, I wanted to find out for sure if I could.
I took my first few steps onto this new world and would spend the next few minutes exploring the town's outskirts. It was during this time that my horde would advance into the town and proceeded to successfully exterminate the town's populace.
Each death brought a macabre smile to my face, and the final death brought the biggest smile. It was at this same time that other communities were being destroyed, something which resulted in a brand new notification appearing in my vision: a notification alerting me that I had just completed the quest to gain the second tier of influence over the subdomain of necromancy.