My horde moved forward, and the queen’s horde had no choice but to fight back or risk being invaded. As soon as a zombie grabbed another, I tried to send out my karmic infection, but I was surprised to feel some kind of resistance. It looked like there was a limit to my takeover. As I took over more zombies, my soul power was spread out into controlling them, making my overall strength weaker. Meanwhile, every zombie she lost allowed her to condense her soul power, increasing her strength.

We reached a standstill where I couldn’t force my karmic infection forward anymore without risking losing some zombies to her attacks. Yes, she had attacked as well and managed to reconquer several of the zombies I had acquired before I could reason out how she was blocking them. It became a delicate balance of power as we fought for control of the horde. While this was happening, the hordes were battling each other, and this is where my disadvantage truly showed.

An undead necromancer was far more suited for controlling undead than I was, so when it came to her game, I was only able to conquer about 1/3rd of the zombies, leaving her the majority. On top of that, my zombies were the only mindless drones I could send out with orders. It was clear the difference between a necromancer and an undead necromancer, as her side all moved with technique, purpose, and strategy to quickly subdue one undead after another.

I had to come up with a new strategy, as I’d be overwhelmed shortly if things kept going in this direction. If I was going to continue to fight the zombie on their terms, I had to use my advantages to change the situation in my favor. What was my greatest advantage in a battle of the souls? Wasn’t that the god soul? How could I use my god soul to fight the enemy?

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As I considered this, I realized that I had been using purely karma and miasma in this fight. I was using darkness against darkness. However, the undead was extremely vulnerable to white mage magic and healing magic. What would happen if I injected my mana into the zombies too? I had a god soul, and that unique disposition had, from time to time, allowed me to give a certain degree of protection to my allies. Usually, it was protection in the case of them not being hurt by miasma, but what if I protected them from mana?

I decided it was worth a shot. I began to infuse mana into the zombies under my control. The blue light in their eyes turned brighter and whiter and I felt like I was infusing them with strength. Rather than be harmed by the white magic, they were able to absorb it cleanly. Considering they were just bodies with no souls other than what I gave them, that made sense.

I waited patiently for an opportunity, leading one of my zombies vulnerable while the other took on a defensive ring to protect me. Since the other zombies were smarter and faster, I had been on the defensive since we reached the point that I could no longer steal more zombies. Yet, I made it seem like I had to sacrifice some to keep the defensive line. The queen jumped on this, trying to snatch her zombies back. I felt the darkness invade them, but as soon as it reached their mana enclaved souls, I heard a small scream.

“Chance!”

That scream came from none other than the Queen. I now knew where she was hiding.