The first line of orcs carried huge shields and had good armor protection, but the rest of the orcs just held their shields above their heads in an attempt to protect themselves from the elven arrows. The orcs weren't particularly trained, however, and their shields were far from forming a solid wall. Especially those orcs with shields over their heads who were just haphazardly trying to protect themselves without any special training or formation.

"Orcs are pretty poorly organized and not well trained," I noted.

"That is one of their weaknesses. In the past, whenever a strong military leader emerged, unites the orcs and rallys and trains them, he would drench his opponents in blood and conquer large parts of the island. Only our strong fortifications and the ancient magics of our capital keep us safe in such cases. Orcs do not live that long. Their average lifespan is around 25 years, with the older ones rarely passing 40-45, though there are exceptions. However, their customs are quite primitive and bloody."

We know that three months ago in their capital a special tournament was held through which they elected new candidates for combat leaders. It is held once every five years and is of particular importance to the Orcs.

The selected ones have to prove themselves. Those of them who bring a large number of their opponents' heads or prove themselves in the war with us, or other strong races, will receive many privileges and will be promoted to their version of nobles. That is why their battle groups are currently going around the island looking for battles. That is why their war with us is intensifying.

"Ah, now I understand why the orcs are trying to kill the zombie boss in town or relentlessly attacking us. We're hunting zombies and the orcs want to hunt us.", I thought.

At that moment, the first orcs entered the range of the elven archers. The first volleys of arrows were deflected by elaborate runic shields, with only a small fraction of the arrows that were enchanted managing to pierce the shield and wound some of the orcs.

The elven mages, who had been preparing an intricate ritual for some time, chose this moment to send a powerful nullifying attack at the runic shield. The two magical forces met in the air in front of the fortification, and as a result a multitude of sparks formed over the orcs' heads.

A volley of enchanted arrows followed, with hollow points that burst upon impact with the runic shield and released their own mystic energies. With my magical vision, I saw the shield begin to lose its stability and crack in many places.

"Now!" cried Agradela, and began to shell the orcs with arrows.

I also sent my first crossbow bolt, and a moment later I saw thousands of arrows and siege machines hit the unstable shield and pierce it. Its magic abruptly dimmed, and within seconds it completely disappeared. In that time the orcs, who had not stopped their rapid advance, had traveled a great distance and approached the fortification.

Arrows poured down on top of them and struck the ordinary troops. However, many of the taller orcs had various talismans that could stop an arrow or two before they were spent, and almost every warrior had a large shield to protect them from stray arrows.

When the orcs came within range of my spells, I sent my mana to my imps and they began showering the attackers with fire spells.

A battle horn sounded and from deep within the Orcish formation, a large mass of crossbow archers came to a halt, stuck their huge shields into the ground and after taking cover behind them, began to return fire. The various monstrous allies of the orcs, began throwing huge stones, spear and axes at the fortification. The orc shamans also began to send out their spells, and the elves' magical defenses soon crumbled in the face of this massive attack.

However, I was relatively well protected in my small stone tower, which I hoped wouldn't attract the attention of the enormous cyclops or other larger opponents. My imps danced between the turrets, their movements dynamic and unpredictable. Their small spells poured down mercilessly upon the shorter orcs and defenseless goblins. I knew my summons limitations and wanted to collect as many currency units as possible.

Despite the losses, the orcish army slowly reached the walls and the orcs raised multiple ladders and threw ropes with hooks on the end. The fortification was not large and its walls were not high enough. I wondered why the elves had accepted the fight in this relatively small fortress, but on the other hand I understood why the orcs had chosen to attack this fortification.

A group of hulking trolls with heavy armor came from the orc formation and once they reached the gate of the fortification, began pounding on a nearby door with massive hammers. They were shielded by several layers of magical defenses, but still multiple spears and arrows were embedded in the bodies of most of them. However, they didn't seem to feel the pain and didn't stop working with their hammers.

I commanded my imps to focus on them and even decided to use my dwindling mana reserves to pepper them with fireballs.

The many elves were also forced to concentrate their fire on the trolls, and they soon fell to our concentrated attacks. During this time, a multitude of orcs began to climb the walls, and suddenly a mighty explosion was heard.

"It's Mudronol!" said Agradela after we recovered from the shockwave.

"What is a Mudronol?" I asked.

"This is an extremely rare demon that the Orc shamans are sometimes able to summon at great cost from the depths of the demon world. These creatures can collect a massive amount of mana in their bellies and release it at lightning speed when needed, causing a massive explosion. Let's hope they don't have any more of these beasts."

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I glanced in the direction of the explosion - one of the walls had fallen, and many troll fighters and hundreds of orcs were heading for the gap.

"Now I understand why the orcs attacked us so confidently." said Agradela as she kept firing at the orcs trying to climb the wall.

A squad of heavily armored elves with huge seven meter long spears, with heavy steel points and with multiple enchantments on their armors came forward and quickly formed a wall of steel in front of the breached wall. Then two groups of mages hurried to support them with their protective spells and elemental attacks.

Then a titanic clash followed and many trolls lost their lives. However, this allowed the orcs to move in and even take over some of the nearby walls.

However, I had my own problems and focused on the battle in my section of the fortification.

I had run out of mana so I started absorbing the abundant mana in the area. Agradela looked at me in surprise and I explained to her that I would generate my mana first. My imps greedily drank every drop of mana I sent their way turning it into deadly fire attacks.

The mana around me was so abundant that soon I stopped using my crossbows and started throwing many fireballs. Time slowed down and I went into something of a trance. I absorbed mana, turned it into fire and destruction, and repeated. My body could not withstand the strain, and my skin became chapped and flushed from the temperatures of the fire elemental. However, I was also absorbing the life force of the orcs around me and healing my wounds.

I summoned new imps several times to complete my creature count.

"What incredible amounts of mana.... "Agradela didn't contain herself. "Please help the defenders in …. "

At this point two more explosions were heard, albeit less intense. Orc alchemists had somehow managed to sneak in and sabotage the walls.

Two new holes formed in the walls, one of them quite close to my tower. I, in a not-so-sober mind, decided to take the risk, and approached the hole in the wall, getting down to the level of the defenders and joining the small fortification of battle mages sent to guard the newly-formed hole in the defenses.

Heavy combat ensued as I kept absorbing mana and throwing fireballs.

Suddenly, something happened to my body and I lost consciousness...

"Meridin, Meridin..." called Agradela and tried to help me with her magic.

Even though I had lost consciousness, I continued to automatically absorb mana and life force from the surroundings. They were so delicious, especially the powers of freshly dead elves...

My body had paid a heavy price for the many spells I had cast, my magical channels were badly damaged. When I regained consciousness, I took cover behind a wall and tried to fall into the meditative trance I had practiced briefly during my life and energy absorption training with the necromancers.

My mana absorption and life force skills weren't up to par and I only had several days of training, but every necromancer's dream was to one day get into a large scale battle where they could freely use their powers. So my instructor had made sure to instruct me on how to take advantage of such a situation despite our short time together.

I was sending half of the mana I absorbed to my imps, and I started using the rest to remap my energy channels again. This required an incredible amount of mana and life force, and only a necromancer surrounded by a huge amount of both could afford this complicated procedure.

So for the next hour I meditated hard and worked on readjusting my body. My channels had slowly begun to heal, but they had become significantly larger and stronger. My energy core was accumulating mana and concentrating it the whole time, slowly growing in volume and density. The life force of my enemies slowly began to change my body, here I had a choice on how to continue the ritual.

I could choose to strengthen my body's physical attributes, thus taking the path of the mighty Necromancer Knights. On the other hand, I could develop my magical skills, improving my magical potential significantly.

Without hesitation I chose the second option and continued my efforts in that direction. The runes I needed to embed into my bones using the mana of the dead popped again into my head and I slowly began to channel my powers.

The pain was intense, sharp and intoxicating. Soon it turned into euphoria and enveloped me in its tender embrace. I, however, remained unyielding to its temptations and continued my hard work.

Tons of sweat poured from my body, but it didn't take long for it to slowly subside and finally stop completely. My skin began to turn paler and my body tighter and firmer. Mana and life force were building up in my body, and I was channeling them into the new paths I was building. They were more special. These were not the standard magical paths of a normal mage. No, these were the channels through which I would harness the various necrotic energies over which I was slowly beginning to gain more control.

The energy of the dead mixed with the ambient mana and continuously poured into my body. And then, the runes I drew with my will around my core allowed it to mix with my magic.

Soon I began to feel more and more clearly the souls of the dying warriors around me. The energies that swirled around them were so sweet and tempting. I slowly reached out to a small goblin soul that hovered over its small and ruined body. I approached carefully and attacked it with my new powers.

The soul tried to get away, but I grabbed it in my grasp and greedily began to absorb its powers.

"If I knew souls were so delicious, I'd never waste my time hunting those disgusting zombies," I thought in a moment of utter exaltation.

Meanwhile, the battle raged on and my imps kept sowing death among the attackers. The heavily armored elves with their huge spears, slowly began to push the orcs away. Crossbow bolts were crossing paths with the elves' long arrows in the air and both were spelling death.

A death that I welcomed. A death I craved. A death I had to both master and defeat.

I knew I shouldn't let these feelings dominate me for long. I had to strengthen my will and confront myself. I had to defeat my instincts, in a particular way.

The battle lasted hours. Finally, with heavy losses, the elves repealed the orc and hastened to repair the breached walls. I was intoxicated by my new skills and lost consciousness several times while enjoying the energies around me.

On several occasions during the battle, I had to exert a supreme effort of will to break away from my necromantic pursuits and summon new creatures. This exercise of will helped me greatly to strengthen my control over my new powers and the process began to become more and more bearable.

Finally, the last of the orcs retreated, leaving a great number of bodies in their wake. I climbed back into my tower and stayed there all night, absorbing the mana of the dead, and finally in the morning, when the battle approached again I finished my alteration.