Supreme Magus novel Chapter 215

Kalla’s arrival was loud like thunder and fast like lightning.

"Rise my legions!" A command from her voice and two taps on the ground was all that it took for the undead army buried under the mining town to awake and fight for their master.

The bulk of her force was made up of Skeletal Knights, a class of undead that was not only physically superior to normal skeletons, but also could be imparted skills and techniques their maker was capable of executing.

Their strongest point was the ability to wield and use equipment properly. The academy had provided a huge number of enchanted weapons and armors, making them a force to be reckoned with.

Kalla’s elite forces were the Wights, black hooded figures molded out of darkness magic and hatred. They would either fly or float mid air. Aside from their hands and heads, they had no body. Whatever they touched, it would wither and die.

Because of the unforgiving nature of the arrays, Kalla’s thralls were weakened as well while under the mystical dome.

Both armies were fearless and unrelenting, but only one was backed by its own master. While Balkor’s troops grew weaker with every passing second, Kalla’s army was constantly fueled with new energy thanks to her constant use of Invigoration.

Every time one of her soldiers fell, she would simply raise it again after fixing the damage it had sustained.

Her mastery of Necromancy also allowed her to possess the bodies of her undead, making them use darkness magic like she was among them. Balkor’s minions were designed to fight humans, hence they were ineffective against other undead who weren’t affected by their aura of fear, the toxic spit, or the venom in their claws.

The battle ended as quickly as it had begun, with a one sided slaughter. Scarlett’s plan had been a complete success. There had been no casualties. Only a few among the beasts and the soldiers had been injured, but they were promptly cured and brought back to their peak condition.

Kalla threw Lith a very meaningful glance, freezing him on the spot.

- "What a dirty son of a gun!" Lith thought, realizing the blunder he had almost made.

"Not only his creatures share a hive mind, learning about all of our tactics and security measures each time they force us to employ a new one, but they all also act as Balkor’s eyes and ears!" -

***

Blood Desert, Balkor’s secret lab

"What in the Great Mother’s name has just happened?" Ilyum Balkor couldn’t believe his own eyes.

"That bear-thing seems to be a Necromancer too, but none of its work makes sense. Only greater undead can use magic, yet its creatures defied such basic principle time and time again. Also, how could it possibly raise so many corpses at once?

It takes me a whole year to prepare this many troops, not to mention I need to put them into stasis to prevent them from burning out of energy. Things couldn’t get any worse!"

Balkor Warped out of the lab, inwardly listing all the setbacks he had met so far.

First, there were those arrays that limited the strength of his troops, but that was a secondary issue. He had long learned how to adjust his thralls’ defenses to ignore most of those annoying Warden formations.

Second, he had never taken into account that magical beasts could meddle in human squabbles. There was only a limited number of modifications he could apply to his creatures between each attack. Now he was forced to split his focus into three.

Anti human undead were easy prey for a magical beast and sitting ducks against other undead. Last, but not least, the battle had ended before he could collect any data about his opponents’ real capabilities.

They had won relying on basic military strategies and on the hidden undead army, not letting him catch even a glimpse of the White Griffon’s Archmages’ strongest spells. The secret of Balkor’s success had always been his meticulous preparation and data collection, but this time he had come back empty handed.

Walking back to his home in the Forgotten Plume tribe, he couldn’t help but smile seeing his kids running towards him with their little arms spread in the air.

"Dad, dad! Where have you been?" Cyrl wanted his father to hold him and Balkor was happy to comply.

"I was paying my respects to your grandparents, but now I’m all yours. Let’s see what mom has prepared for dinner." He walked inside his tent, holding the child in his arms.

Ilyum Balkor had many things to be happy about. After the first raid, the students of the Crystal and Earth Griffon had fled, leaving the academies empty. Balkor had an easy time butchering the remaining defense forces and destroying the power cores with minimal losses.

Two out of the six great academies were now just a bunch of stones, unable to nurture mages anymore. The remaining academies were proving to be a tough cookie, but he still had two days to complete his life’s work.

Capturing and studying Abominations had been a mammoth task. Fusing part of them with his undead had proved to be even more difficult. Balkor wasn’t new to pain and was more than willing to make some personal sacrifices.

Controlling all those undead at once, spying on his enemies’ every move, using so many Warping arrays to move his troops, was too much for a single man.

Each attack took away years of Balkor’s life span, but he didn’t care. His job was almost done. After that, he would forget about the accursed Griffon Kingdom and spend the time he had left watching his children grow.

***

After the end of the battle, all the students rejoiced together, chanting Kalla’s name like it was a good luck charm. At that moment, no one cared about her being a Wraith-like monster, nor about her army being quite similar to the enemy one.

For a few hours, nobles and commoners alike loved her like a hero, setting aside differences concerning social status, humans, or beasts. The only thing that mattered was being alive and well.

The students returned to their apartments, discovering that while some houses had been heavily damaged, they were already self repairing at a speed visible to the naked eye.