Looking for trouble with the undead? Many people would choose to find a Holy Knight or a Holy Priest. They viewed the undead as their natural enemy, and many of their abilities and divine spells were specifically targeted at the undead. There were also specialized undead detection divine spells.
"No Undead can escape the judgment of the Holy Light!" All along, Paladins had been confident in facing the Undead.
But, if I had to say, the Holy Knight's Undead Detection ability was a bit exaggerated. Its principle was to release a small amount of Holy Light and use the Holy Light's natural resistance to the power of death to detect the surrounding undead.
First of all, due to the limited amount of Holy Light, its detection range wasn't too large. Even a high-level Holy Knight would only be able to detect a few kilometers, while a low-level Holy Knight would only be able to detect a house's area. If the Holy Light was in an open area, it was highly likely that the Holy Light would be able to detect the Holy Light in front of the Holy Light's detection range. And the worst part was that the Holy Light's fundamental principle was that if the Holy Light discovered the Holy Light, the Holy Light would most likely discover the Holy Light as well.
At the very least, the ancient artifacts and demons that I knew of over three hundred years old were all capable of detecting Holy Light job class members based on the density of Holy Light in the air. Casually using undead detection Divine Arts in a place where undead gathered would basically be suicidal.
Rangers and thieves, the best scouts in ordinary squads, would be no good. It would be difficult for rangers to use Divine Arts that could track living beings. The undead's perception of living beings would allow them to ignore low-level stealth techniques. Undead mages' various anti-detection Divine Arts would always be a pain in the ass for thieves. Many undead would even use their souls (liches) to sense their enemies. Low-level stealth techniques that relied on light and shadows would be completely ineffective … Alright then, now that I mentioned it, we all understood just how ridiculous Ah Gen was. He was actually able to fool a Blood Tribe noble just because he could use his stealth, which didn't even count as a disguise!
In that case, what profession was the most suitable for searching for the undead?
First of all, he had to have enough methods to detect the Undead. Secondly, he couldn't be killed by the Undead. At the very least, he had to have the ability to escape.
Alright then, the final conclusion was out. The most suitable job to cause trouble for the undead … Necromancers!
"Pa!"
With a snap of his fingers and the simplest of actions, Necromancy, the group of ghouls that looked like hunting dogs had changed their boss, and their original master had turned into a pile of broken bones.
He eliminated the necromancer who was herding low-level undead. The group of ghouls lost the shackles of their former master and became a bunch of wild dogs that would bite anyone they saw. As long as they were branded with my soul imprint, they would naturally become my puppets.
I closed my eyes and ignored the aura of death in my mind. Compared to the Holy Knight's ability to detect the undead, an undead mage's innate ability to sense the power of death was the most effective method of detection. Without this, how would an undead mage be able to find the undead and corpses?
"There's another squad about 1.3 kilometers ahead. The leader seems to be a Black Knight."
I casually shook the black cloak off the unlucky Lich's body before draping it over my own body. It seems that there are quite a lot of prey. I guess I'll be very busy today …
A murky aura of death rose from my body. While I covered my face, I constantly adjusted the strength of the aura of death until my entire body appeared and disappeared in the black mist. At this moment, to the Holy Knight and the Undead Mage's Undead Sense, I was just a lich who had just become a high-level undead.
As for why I wasn't a lich? I was here to hunt, not to become prey. If even the weakest lich here was a Legend-rank lich, then the wood spirits would definitely send out a hunting squad to wipe him out. And even among the powerful Undead Lords, every single lich would be a famous individual. It was highly likely that anyone who tried to impersonate a lich would be exposed. Rex's skull would have been exposed long ago.
Alright then, by now, they had probably already guessed what I intended to do … My old job of organizing the Undead Calamity!
"Oh my, another group of little black Knight, where do you think you're going!"
Since I was already here, how could it be enough to just scout around? The undead that filled the sky were all free troops. Since a great battle was imminent, how could I not take in the combat strength that was delivered to my doorstep? Perhaps I could even use these undead as a cover to gather some information.
Although it wasn't rare for the undead to fight amongst themselves in the Undead Plane, the intelligent undead wouldn't fight amongst themselves now that the Undead Lords were keeping them in check. However, battles between low-level undead wouldn't attract much attention, but it would be far too conspicuous if there was a target that was obviously trying to destroy and reorganize the other undead.
"Remember, when you hear my order, meet up with me."
That was why I didn't completely reorganize the other undead after I attacked them. Instead, I only left a high-level undead with a Soul Imprint on them so that they could wander around the area and listen to my orders when necessary.
Of course, if there were any modified undead or powerful troops in my team, I would of course accept them without hesitation and exchange some low-level undead for them.
This was just like a wooden ship that was constantly changing parts. In the end, perhaps the outer appearance wouldn't change that much, but it was likely that all the parts would have been changed. As for whether or not it would still be the original ship? I wouldn't bother with such a philosophical question. At the very least, my undead soldiers were rapidly becoming stronger as they changed.
"… Our prey this time is going to be rather troublesome."
The skeleton swordsman who was currently being surrounded had a faint green glow on his bone blade, which seemed to contain some poison. His skeleton's outer shell was also a dim yellow color, as if it had been strengthened by the earth element. It was obvious that he was a high-level undead, but judging from how he hadn't shown any obvious emotions since the start of the battle, he wasn't an intelligent undead at all.
My subordinates' ghouls were far too low-level, so he easily sliced them apart with a single swing of his sword. He then took large strides towards me, and behind him, a skeleton mage who was also wearing a black cape was currently casting a buff spell on him.
"A skeleton mage who specializes in transforming the undead? His bones have been strengthened by the earth element, and his bone blade has been enchanted with poison. At the very least, he's been strengthened twice. That's pretty good. Although killing the main body of an undead mage is obviously the most important thing to do in a battle, but … "
The skeleton mage was already right in front of me. His eye sockets were filled with burning soulfire, and I could even smell his foul stench. However, I only shook my head and took a step forward.
"You'd be too foolish to come after me. Charge."
With a simple dash, I arrived right under the skeleton mage. I unsheathed my sword and stabbed directly into the skeleton mage's ribs, piercing through the skeleton's spine. After stabbing in, I twisted my sword, causing the skeleton to crack and fall apart.
Nobody understood skeletons' weaknesses better than an undead mage. High-level skeleton warriors like these had no sense of pain. If you shattered their skull, they would just turn around and stab you as if nothing had happened. If you cut off their right hand, they would stab you with their left hand. However, the weakest part of these bones that had been pieced together would always be their joints. As long as their spine was broken, they wouldn't even be able to stand up.
What happened next was even simpler. The skeleton mage was extremely smart. Seeing that his greatest trump card couldn't even withstand a single attack from me, not only did he quickly tell me his mission, he even signed the strictest soul contract with me.
And so, I took control of that skeleton warrior, repaired it, and added it to my personal guard. Then, I tossed a few of the most heavily injured ghouls to the bitter-faced skeleton mage before I left.
This was only a microcosm of what I was currently doing. While the sun was still setting, the dozen or so patrol squads and undead transport squads around the Wendes Mountain Range where the camp was located had all become my subordinates. At the very least, with these subordinates present, my eyes could now cover the entire mountain range.
Then, something strange happened.
"Strange, why don't I feel any discomfort?"
Undead mages had to pay a price to control the undead. In order to make a bloodthirsty low-level undead obey the mage's control, the undead mage would need to leave a soul imprint on the undead. The finer the control, the more complete the soul imprint, and the more spiritual power the mage would need to invest. In order to tame a powerful undead's instinctive resistance, both mana and spiritual power would need to be invested for a long period of time.
My current mana level was the same as a Knight's, which was Gold. I was basically at the level of a high-level undead. If I used this method to control high-level undead, I would only be able to control two at most before my energy would be exhausted. That was why I always signed a soul contract with them. If I died, they would die. If I wanted them to die, they would die. This was the type where I would have them work for me.
Most undead armies were organized in such a way. They would establish control over every single undead in their army. Even an Undead Emperor would be drained dry. That was why it was necessary to have a large number of mid-level and high-level commanders. The high-level and mid-level commanders would establish a superior and subordinate relationship or sign a soul contract, while the mid-level commanders would directly control the undead.
This was only the perfect theoretical situation. Since mid-level commanders were rare, most undead armies would use the pressure of a high-level undead to force the undead to instinctively charge forward. Basically, the undead would fight for themselves … Yep, this sounded familiar, right? It was the legendary "control without any control" — A battle would be fought, and if the undead won, there would be a celebration party, but if the undead lost, there would be nothing.
Of course, there were also existences that were the complete opposite, such as Omar. Not only was he able to control every single undead, he was even able to obtain power from them. This was something that ordinary undead mages wouldn't be able to understand.
Based on my current Gold rank mana level, it should have been quite difficult for me to deal with more than three hundred modified and specially formed elite undead guards. But surprisingly, I felt full of energy, as if I still had enough spiritual power to control even more undead. In fact, I even felt that it wouldn't be a problem for me to control even more undead.
"… This situation isn't right. Could it be that my bloodline and physical body are buffing my undead magic? But my Willpower hasn't changed at all. "
Perhaps this was the only explanation. I could only come to this conclusion as I looked at my incomplete undead Soul Imprint.
Spiritual power was an additional stat that came with the soul. And on my System's interface, the only stat that was related to the soul was Willpower. Willpower was also the stat that changed the least in my many reincarnations. Although it would increase a little every time I reincarnated, it would also decrease a little when I died. It was basically the same.
Willpower was an incredibly important stat for Holy Light job class members. Only a sufficiently resilient soul would be able to communicate with the Gods, and only then would they be able to withstand more divine power and divine favor without exploding. And for mages, only when fighting against an enemy's illusion magic would a strong soul and strong Willpower be of some use.
Perhaps a higher willpower could slightly increase the recovery speed of mana overdraft, but no one would overdraft their own mana and mental strength for no reason. Perhaps willpower could allow a Necromancer to control more Undead at the same time, but the increase was so small that even the Necromancer themselves might have overlooked it.
"System?"
If I didn't understand, I should've asked. How was I supposed to improve myself if I didn't even understand my own body's condition?
[Their bloodline is part of the Mountain Tribe's royalty. From a certain standpoint, they are of the same species as Aillé, as well as the same species as the Great Immemorial Devils. As the earliest users of undead magic, they are indeed quite talented in undead magic.]
[Congratulations for discovering your own hidden racial talent: Whispers of the Great Immemorial Devils. You have a natural affinity for undead magic, contract magic, and curse magic. You will definitely not be devoured by them. System Notification: This is a hidden passive ability of your bloodline. It is impossible to analyze its specific effects. Hidden racial talents won't be notified before they are discovered.]
After obtaining this body, I didn't have any spare time to research undead magic. I also seemed to have missed the opportunity to research my own bloodline.
"My Arbiter bloodline can even surpass the Titan Giants. Since it's a Double Diamond bloodline that far surpasses the dragons and Titan Giants, it definitely contains more secrets than what I've shown so far. It would seem that I've overlooked many things."
My job class was going to enter the Legend rank, and I needed to repair my other three Soul Imprints. That wouldn't be something that could be done in a short period of time. Perhaps it would be easier to see results if I focused on discovering my own natural talents and potential. After two years of growth, this new physical body of mine seemed to have more potential to be discovered.
"I have nothing to do anyway. Since I still have some mental strength left, why don't I try making something? For example, that Frost Lich that was created by combining Frost Magic and Necromancer. It just so happens that there are so many test subjects here …"
Just as I was looking at my new subordinate with ill intentions, a hoarse voice that originated from an undead soul spoke up in my ear. It was the skeleton mage that I had just taken in not long ago.
"Mas … Master, a human gave me a letter and told me to give it to the higher-ups of the undead. Judging from the token he gave me, he should be one of us (undead)! "
"A traitor?"
Before I could even express my astonishment, a familiar figure approached me from behind while holding a camouflage cloth that had cabbages and radishes tied to it. Not far away, behind a nearby rock, several troublemakers that specialized in making people angry were pushing and shoving each other.
"Go! Aren't you a priest? Hurry up and purify that lich! "
"… Purifying undead is a Holy Light priest's job. I'm a priest of the Goddess of Wealth, and my job is to make money. How about you go first? "
"Actually, I used to be an excellent adventurer as well, but three minutes ago, I took an arrow to the knee …"
A small magic spell caused the wind to transmit their words to me. Meanwhile, that large fellow that was "stealthily" continued to slowly and steadily approach me. One centimeter, two centimeters, one centimeter, two centimeters …
"No, look, they're all high-level undead. Since he's able to simultaneously control so many high-level undead, he's definitely no ordinary undead. Perhaps he's a lich!"
Finally, someone pointed out the crux of the problem. However, this hadn't been a problem from the very start. None of them were newbies, so they naturally recognized their opponents. However, a strong opponent equaled rich rewards. They were simply pushing and shoving and hoping that someone would lead the charge and attract the enemy's firepower … Normally, this would be the job of a Holy Knight or warrior. However, it was evident that this group was all at the back.
I couldn't listen to this any longer, but Betty suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
"Damn it, where's Ah Gen?"
"Damn it, he's over there! Don't, hurry up and come back!"
My teammates in the distance did their best to silently convince the impulsive barbarian to come back, so Ah Gen responded in a small voice.
"Don't worry, this guy's asleep!"
Alright then, where should I start commenting? Should I start with the barbarian's belief that the undead would actually fall asleep? Or should I start with the barbarian's "whispers" that shook the entire forest? That deafening subwoofer battle roar shocked even me. However, the most important thing right now was to stop laughing. Otherwise, it would be impossible to stop laughing.
Wait a moment, let me recall how I should speak at a time like this.
"… Living, since you dare to enter our territory, have you already prepared to pay the toll — I mean, hand over your own soul!?"
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