Karvas grinned as the sounds of captive Fyrrans reached his non-existent ears, the deadly livestock capable of stomping a full-grown man flat were getting herded by a young shepard, the four-armed undead simply looked on as the scene unfolded infront of him, his grin ever widening.
Ever since he left the village a few days ago, the undead scouted the nearby area during the night, the charred black bones that made up his body perfectly camouflaging him with the surrounding darkness, add on the fact that his skull no longer iminated heat, this is especially true when it comes to his eye sockets, and Karvas was simply put- invisible. Though there should be specialists among humans capable of seeing in the night, he encountered none. What he did find though, was information regarding a dukedom found a few kilometres away from here, the place was a massive city populated by humans. Karvas did not know the exact number but one thing was indeed for certain, this city was filled. With living creatures, and he wanted all of them. Not only to convert them into undeath, but to also gather enough test subjects when it came to his spells. He knows that he can create new ones depending on what kind of affinities he possessed, for example- his affinity towards the decay could potentially allow him to make a few spells related to such a subject, such as a spell that allows him to possibly even regenerate dead skin. Or, one that did the opposite of such a spell and do the what it's name suggested. Karvas had a few spells in mind, that being a spell called [Rust], the decay for metals and [Erode], the decay of natural, unrefined elements. etc, though he has one goal at the end of all this, and that's to upgrade his decaying spells to something called [Wither] a decay that's two tiers higher than the one he currently has.
Karvas was quite ecstatic, knowing that he now has an entire city for his personal use in the near future, though whether or not he would be able to obtain such a massive man-made structure, he did not know. For now, he was satisfied with what he has, a group of multiple villages, some even something that he would consider a town was sprawled around the area, for now, these are enough.
And speaking of the towns surrounding him, apparently, due to the latest (that being Karvas' arson a few days ago) attack on the recently burned down town, defenses around the area has become quite cumbersome, groups of guards that consists of multiple powerful individuals, these "groups", more of a battalion really, are quite varied as well- From priest that looked like cardinals to warriors that have tanned skin and bulging muscles to blue robed individuals that Karvas deemed a mage. Mages, apparently are capable of atbest, locking Karvas down. And that's despite the size difference, these people are what he as an undead has deemed the scariest.
For not only could mages spells capable of crippling him, but also possess enough fire power to potentially weaken him to a point where a single swing from a hammer would be able to shatter him to pieces.
It's mainly due to these people that, Karvas had become exetremely careful. Never mind the priests, apparently his presence alone was able to nullify the connection with their gods. Though that's another thing, Karvas did not know as to whether or not that could potentially be a problem, as the paladin he had killed apparently did not get avenged by the god he worshipped, something that was suppose to happen upon a devoted follower's death.
But whether or not that paladin would be avenged is a matter for another time, for now, what's important is the potential fight he would have with such people and thus- Karvas decided that he would create as many undead as he could.
A few days in.
Groups of undead had been repeatedly attacking villages and apparently, this had garnered the attention of the church of Adalsteinn. Powerful priests soon came into the different villages, 8 foot tall human paladins clad in full plate armor were soon seen as well, all this done to exterminate the undead that was the cause of all this. And as for the person in question-
Karvas looked on as the multiple undead around him followed each and every command he gave, from attacking each other to becoming docile despite being eaten, all of them followed every single command that Karvas gave them, moving with certain disregard for their well being, these undeads will his command even if they were in grave danger, if Karvas were to tell them to jump into a pit full of spikes- they would do so without hesitation.
Karvas looked around, undead so tall that they were able to dwarf him could be seen around the skeleton, chained up on multiple trees, in his eyes, they are stronger than the horde leader he found a few weeks ago, though he cannot control them - For now - He plans on releasing them towards a nearby town, one that he deemed possessed the "Strongest" defences. He kidnapped someone from said town a few days ago, letting him get noticed and remembered by the undead turned him into a target, something that the people within that place undoubtly knows, but one thing was for certain, and that's the fact that they do not know that the undead infront of Karvas existed, and for that very assumption did Karvas let that person go. Albeit with a few scratches here and there.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Karvas prepared to untie the chains.
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The priest around Michael became disordered as the 16th wave consisting of over 20 undead came into view, everyone has been fighting restlessly for the past 4 days now and the undead showed no signs of stopping anytime soon but in fact, it was quite the contrary, the living corpses were becoming stronger with each wave, at first, it started with what seemed to have been the dead people that had been stolen from reported graveyards. And then, slowly but surely, from one individual to multiple, it became a mushy combination of animals and dead people, and now, currently, the undead into view were skinned creature's that had been combined with expertise, seems that their enemy had just started necromancy a few days ago. But that was the scariest part, what kind of genius is capable of making this many undead in but days? Not only that, how can he improve at the same time? One must tirelessly work and think in order to do such things, thinking alone presumably should've burned his energy out, let alone doing all the necessarry footwork when it comes to making the undead.
Michael readied his sword, the metal blade glistening beneath the moonlight as he did. He breath a heavy sigh, "Can't believe that I'll have to fight once again after resting for only 4 hours." he went to his designated station and proceeded to grab a bow and a quiver of arrows, ready to shoot down the undead.
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Dodging an undead's attack, a paladin retaliated with a simple smash toward's it's head, it was but a living corpse but the expertise that it's creator now possessed enabled it's already deadly muscles to become even stronger. The dense sinews becoming something that's akin to nylons tied together by a piece of strong rope, enabling it to release strength no other creature could.
Once the hit didn't do a single thing except dent the flesh that made up it's head, the living coprse smiled, it's mismatched teeth, something that's more akin to a rail of blades than anything else showing up.
The paladin gritted his teeth, praying to his god in silence, wishing that he should be given the power necessary to defeat such an undead, his god answered him, it asked for a price, and the paladin answered- "I won't eat for the next three days." a satisfied grunt entered the paladin's ears, So be it. Kaskain said, the paladin felt a surge of power enveloping him. Smiling, the paladin readied his mace, prepared to strike the undead with a deadly strike to the head, the mace glowed, turning into an actual morning star that enveloped the midnight darkness, the paladin smiled, "Die. Heathen."
A strike hit the undead's head, burning it to the point that the blood that circulated within it evaporated- The body fell down with a thud, a satisfied paladin infront of it. "Guess I'm gonna have to sacrifice a finger soon." he muttered with a sheepish grin.
and then-
A bright orange light enveloped the entire area, causing the different fighters bar the undead to stop mid-way, and a question within these intelligent beings popped up within their head- "Was it the necromancer?" they asked themselves silently, some of them smiled, though he was a genius, he cannot see in the dark, an indication that he was but a weakling for the time being.
They continued to fight, their wills and vigor rejuvenated by a scream from a nearby warrior, but, some, those who have finished their tasked assailant looked towards the source, even for a bit before going out to help, and at that moment, they realized that enemy wasn't some pathetic necromancer but-
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Karvas smiled as the humans infront of him started to freeze, he heard a yell, incoherent but the contents within it is certain, for the gate that was once open was starting to close, but before it fully could, a man atop a horse was released out of the massive maw of the walls, the horse was steadfast, each whiplash of the reins causing it to race even faster. The humans had hoped that this messenger would send his existence towards the mainland, and Karvas predicted such an outcome. A smile dawned on his broken jaw as a six armed snake-like undead with a bony tail came out of the underbrush, the 9 foot long creature easily catching up to the stallion with ease.
"There will be no survivors." Were words the four-armed skeleton muttered to himself as he moved forward, 5 massive undead capable of wiping out the dukedom a few kilometres away right behind him, an army of over a hundred undead - his meatbags - infront of him.
The second army of the living corpse this year was starting to form, not led by some pathetic necromancer, but an undead that had gained the power of a darkened God.