"Damn!" I cursed.

These bastards have really rare skills. I am a substitute is one of the most desired skills out there.

It is like having a second life.

Not like. It is having a second life. It is the only reason; the necromancer saved himself.

After the alchfire, the undead had swarmed us, and we had let them. There was no resistance from us, as it was what we wanted.

Now, they are everywhere, and our people are fighting for them.

Not just the undead, but also their powerhouse.

There are no enemy powerhouses, that are not engaged. We have moved everyone to fight, even Valentina, who had joined Paladin Carr against Wayne.

The bastard is strong. Only Methum is stronger than him.

I killed the undead while looking at the necromancer, whose eyes focused on the Stone.

Our victory depends on the defeat of the necromancer. Until we have it, we will not stop.

"Retreat!"

Came out from the necromancer, surprising me.

'Bastard!' I cursed. I didn't want, the enemy to retreat. If we let them retreat; the same thing will happen again.

I don't want that. I want to wipe them out.

If we let them retreat, we will fail with the message and plans after. We cannot let that happen; the undead need to die, every one of them.

…

Stone

He shouted retreat and began to run.

I could see, his horde already started to adhere to his command.

'Stop the enemy's retreat! Kill every undead!' I ordered, and the reacted instantly.

Lord Silver wouldn't like the enemy retreating.

He wants to wipe the horde and he might say, it is for the message. It is not, not all; there is a plan and for it, the horde needs to be wiped out.

I agree with him wholeheartedly.

I knew very well how important the city was for the undead. The trade route, the legacy; they want it and wouldn't stop coming until they get it.

I once fought in the city of Hedin. Important city with Grade III, legacy.

The undead attacked it thirteen times. They failed twelve times from retreat to complete wipeout, but they kept coming, till they attained victory the thirteenth time.

The undead are like that.

The plan wouldn't stop them, but it would create a small block in between.

Most importantly, it will break their aura of invisibility.

We are also fortunate, that we are not on the island, where there is a constant supply of undead. They need to cross the sea to come here.

If it had been an island. I would have advised, Lord Silver to just surrender.

The host of legacies are only people undead listen and give relative freedom. Though, Lord Silver, here passed that. If they get their hands on the city, they will make him pay.

I pushed those thoughts away and focused on Methum, who was running away.

"Elder-blood, I am retreating. You do not have to go any further," told Methum as I followed after him.

"Surrender, necromancer and I will stop!" I replied and cut through the Bone Lances, he sent at me.

"Never!" he replied, eyes blazing with anger.

I didn't say anything to that and pushed myself harder.

The necromancer is a powerful opponent. I had spent more than half of my energy on him.

Unlike him, I can't charge fast.

I could see him, sucking energy from the undead around him. Though, the rate of it is less than half of what it had been; it seemed like, he too reaching the limit.

No wonder he is not attacking me with those powerful spells, anymore.

They were really dangerous; the coffin and the dark chains had nearly killed me.

'Leave him, go to necromancers,' I ordered Carr and Valentina.

I want Wayne dead, but he is one tough bastard. The way, he is moving, even I might have a problem in stopping him from leaving.

It's better to let him leave and focus on more important targets.

Necromancers.

I begin to order, other powerhouses, mostly spellcasters toward the necromancers. Killing them is most important, more than any warrior or the mages.

Bang Bang Bang

Cardin is supporting well with the wall in dealing with the horde.

Finally, there was less than five meters of distance between me and the necromancer, when the Bone Wall appeared in front of me.

Bang!

I brought my halberd and crushed through it. Only to see Dark Frost Wall behind.

I could have easily crushed them with the arc, but I am conserving the energy.

The necromancer is a powerful energy and I, rather conserve the energy and use it, when it uses those powerful spells.

He won't be using many of them; the necromancer is also within its limits.

He isn't using any draining spells on me.

Bang Bang Bang!

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The shields appeared in front of me, one after another, and I crushed through them.

It was frustrating, that I wanted to finish them with the arc, but I had to conserve the energy. It's not like, the necromancer is getting away.

The shields were only helping him maintain the distance; it was not increasing.

I shouldn't complain. It is beneficial to me, considering the number of spells, he is using to stop me, while I am not using much of the energy.

The artifact, despite being broken, is quite powerful.

I do not need to provide it with much of the energy, to destroy the enemy's attacks with it.

Boom!

A few seconds passed, and I kept chasing him when suddenly cannonball crashed not far away from us.

I covered myself with energy, while the necromancer activated the shields.

We didn't suffer any damage, unlike the undead, who turned into pieces of bones and gore. These are no simple cannonballs; each one of them brings quite a destruction.

I looked around me and saw cannonballs flying everywhere, killing a large number of undead at every blow.

Even the mages had stopped defending against them unless it was coming to hit them. They are more focused on running away, seeing our powerhouses chasing them.

Bang Bang Bang!

I continued to chase the necromancer, crushing through any spells. He threw at me, till finally we moved out of the horde.

I could see many enemy powerhouses running away, nearly all of them being chased by us.

Many had already been killed, and some had surrendered.

Only one moved out of our range. Wayne, that bastard is smart. The moment, retreat rang out, he ran out with all his speed.

Unlike the necromancer, he didn't have the support of undead or even skeletal stallions like many necromancers, but he had left them all behind.

It wouldn't have affected things. If I had, Valentina and Carr chased him. It is better to let him escape and have them focus on other enemies.

Time passed, and there was now over a mile distance between us and the horde.

The horde, that is getting blasted, and undead killed. Our army is chasing it, killing the undead and doing better than earlier.

As of now, the necromancers are more focused on surviving, than controlling the undead collectively.

It is always like this. When the horde is strong, it is unbreakable, but once it is at a disadvantage, cracks begin to appear in it.

I had seen it hundreds of times.

Bang!

I crushed through another shield, but one more was waiting for me.

However, the shield is a little, further than usual, had been in the past few minutes.

The necromancer is slowing down his spells. He had become more careful, with them.

"Elder-blood, let me go or I will be forced to use the spells that I really don't want to," he said angrily.

I have no doubt, he had a powerful spell, but I am not without means as well.

Bang!

"You are welcome to use them," I said and destroyed another shield and bore a soul spell that made me want to scream loudly.

Some time passed and there was only a meter distance between us.

Which he is desperately maintaining.

I didn't push myself too hard. I let him expand his energies; the less it will have, the more advantage, I will gain.

A minute passed, when suddenly he turned, with a small bottle appearing in his hand.

"You have forced me now!" he said, taking the bottle to his mouth.

'Shit!' I cursed and sped forward, with every bit of elder power bursting out of me.

It seemed like, I had made a mistake. I didn't think, he would have a potion of emotion essence. I should have thought about it.

He is a High-Mage Necromancer, who had won them a lot of battles; it is obvious, that he would have it.

Now I have to finish him, or he will truly get away.

Bang Bang Bang!

I swing my halberd rapidly, releasing arcs of energy one after another, crushing every wall appearing in front of me.

He also didn't hold back and released the Doom Bolts, which made me shudder all over.

My halberd crushed through them, but when I did, the necromancer with a big smirk waiting for me.

"Die!" he said, and tiredness appeared on his face.

That is the very moment. Three massive spectral scythes with the cold of the underworld appeared. Covering me from all sides, leaving me no way to escape.

The necromancer didn't wait around. The moment, the scythes came, he ran away.

I barely glanced at him.

These scythes could kill me. I felt the power of it last time and now there are two of them.

'It seemed like, I really have to use it,' I said and poured the power into halberd. I poured as much as I could before I moved, or rather spun.

It is a second method; I had received from elder lineage. It is called the Severing Strand.

As I did, a hair-thin bronze string/wire came out.

It looked like real wire, delicate, that it would break away with the slightest tug.

It moved and began to wrap around the scythes, till it had coiled around all three scythes, which were now inches away from me.

I hope it works, or these scythes will tear me apart.

Rip Rip Rip

The scythes were less than an inch away from me when they tore scythes into pieces.

I watched, shocked, before turning to the necromancer, who had a bigger shock in his eyes.

Though he didn't stop running, while I followed behind, weakened than before.

The attack took a lot out of me. Leaving me with less than 15% of energy.

For over a minute, the necromancer was faster than me, before I began to get faster, till our speed reached the same and a minute after, faster than him.

I quickly began to recover the distance until less than ten meters remained between us when he summoned a bone wall in front of me once again.

Bang!

My halberd tore through it, only to meet with the attack of the zombie warrior.

I didn't engage and ducked its massive sword when suddenly all the hair on my body stood up.

I felt a great danger brought out my energy and formed a basic defensive measure against it.

I would have activated my defensive method, but I didn't have the energy for it.

Boom!

I heard a boom as the zombie warrior exploded, hitting me with his blood and bones that had pierced into me, breaching the defense of energy.

"Fuck!"

I cursed but didn't stop.

It is a good thing, I am wearing armor, and a helmet. It saved my head and critical parts. The attack was able to dent the enchanted armor.

They did it after breaching the energy layer.

It was his special zombie, made by the body of the Lv. 30 powerhouses It's hard to survive, their explosion while still able to walk.

I had taken a few steps when I noticed two more warrior zombies coming toward me.

'Not now!'

I said and moved, curving my path a little, to avoid them, but a few seconds later, my expressions turned back.

"Shit!" I cursed when I saw the necromancer increasing the distance between us.

Me diverting from the straight path to avoid zombies had given him an edge.

"Fuck it!" I said and moved straight. The zombie warrior came at me immediately.

If they want to explode, I will let them explode. I have survived one explosion; I will survive another.

I wouldn't have taken the risk, but I really don't want to let this necromancer escape.

I could see the necromancer glaring at me. He didn't want them to explode; it was due to them, that he was gaining distance, but if he didn't, I would gain ground on him.

Even these undead won't be able to catch up to me.

They appeared in front of me and attacked, but it was faint. I could feel the rumbling of energy, they were going to explode.

Boom Boom!

They did, and the explosion was powerful. More than the one last time, but the damage it did was less than the last time.

The last time, it had caught me by surprise. This time, I was prepared. I had activated the full power of my armor and also created a denser layer of energy.

Still, I didn't come out unscathed. There was damage, with many bones sticking into me and necrotic energy trying to infect me.

"Now it's only you and me, necromancer," I shouted. I got no reply other than glare and Dark Frost Wall in front of me.

Every step, I took brought me closer to it, till we went back to five meters.

I have pushed myself with everything, I have, crushing through every wall, and every spell, it throws at me.

This time, I have not held anything back.

Bang!

Finally, less than three meters of distance remained between us, and I poured everything, I had into my halberd.

It is time to finish off the bastard; the necromancer is thinking the same as he turned.

Hun!

What I saw couldn't help, but surprise me.

"I am glad, I had held back this spell," he said with a bloody smile.

In front of him was a spindle. It is black with a golden tip.

It didn't look like a threatening attack, but it was. I felt all the hair on my body rising seeing it.

It is as strong as the scythe attack but more targeted.

"Now die!" he screamed and released the spindle toward me, with my heart as the target.

"It will not!" I roared back and pushed my halberd with everything I had.

I didn't use any method or ability. Just pushed my weapon, harnessing every bit of energy, I have.

My halberd got covered in dense bronze energy as it moved to meet the spindle, which will take my life, if not stopped.

Clang!

The stake clashed against the halberd, and I felt the immense power of it.

"Ahhhh!"

Seeing, that, I screamed and pushed, halberd forward, harnessing the strength from deep within, but the spindle was powerful.

It started to shake, and a shudder spread through, I knew, it was about to explode and if it did, it would be terrible.

'Should I '

I was debating about using the final move when I felt the vibration running down the halberd.

Rip!

To my shock, the halberd which was stalemate against the spindle had torn through it and moved toward the shocked necromancer.

He reacted quickly and tried to retreat faster, but this time, I did not give him the opportunity.

I reached him with a halberd and cut through his defensive spell before reaching his body.

Pachack!

The blade came out of the other side a moment later. Diving the necromancer in two.

Unlike before, this time, no substitute had changed places with him.

It is a necromancer, and he is dead.