On command, the Riders let out a war cry and charged forward. The Legions of Undead that stood there unmoving for decades, now suddenly, a flame flickered in their eyes and all their heads simultaneously turned towards the noise.

The kind of Undead that stood guard like this were called “Fodder Undead” due to their low intelligence and overall weak fighting strength. The only merit to these “Fodder Undead” was their high number and ease of controlling. Standing guard over this fortress were four Necromancers, who mostly did their own research.

The three Empires occasionally sent people to try and take the fortress but due to the threat of the Demons, they never sent a formidable force. In most cases, the armies outside were enough to deal with those armies without the Necromancers taking control of the armies themselves. So, when Jack attacked, they thought that it was the same case as always and promptly ignored the attack and kept up their own research.

To Jack, this was the best case scenario as his whole plan revolved around using his Scouts to kill the Necromancers when their guard was the lowest. Since the general power of the skeletons was very low, this meant that the Riders only had to worry about the arrows shot towards them from the walls. As for the infantry…. They were nothing more than dry twigs as they snapped apart as the Riders plowed through them. On the back of the Riders Lizard’s there were also men with crossbows that were crouching on their toes.

As the Riders charged through the skeletons, they made a turn at the wall and ran back towards the spot they came from. At the wall, the Scouts used various means to scale the wall and infiltrate the fortress to kill the Necromancers.

When the Riders arrived back at Jack’s location, they were all completely unharmed. Jack looked back and saw that about a hundred meter’s back, the skeletons stood stock still. They were still looking at the Riders but they weren’t willing to move a single step. Jack didn’t seem surprised at all as he knew already why.

These skeletons worked on simple orders: Protect the fortress and eliminate all that attack.

It was obvious that they were ordered to stay inside a certain area. Now, all that was left was for the Scouts to kill the Necromancers and then this problem would be solved. Without the Necromancers to control the skeletons, the bodies would fall apart on their own.

Fighting with a Necromancer was something very annoying and tedious. Necromancers never fought others head on but always hid behind armies of Undead. Undead were usually weak by themselves but when hundreds, then thousands, then dozens of thousands kept attacking, wave after wave, showing no exhaustion, no fear….

Most Undead were impervious to most elements besides the Light. To them, it didn’t matter whether it was a tundra or a desert, they still kept marching the same. That is why people never wanted to fight a Necromancer.

While your troops suffered physical fatigue and mental exhaustion, the skeletons, zombies, wraiths didn’t. The undead could keep fighting for days, weeks or even months without any need for rest. They have very low intelligence, meaning they never questions orders, fear death or feel fear in general. Fighting against troops that never tired, never felt fear in general… It was hard to keep your own morale up unless you managed to outnumber them ten to one.

As Jack recalled all the information on Necromancers, a sudden change happened.

Suddenly, nearly half of the skeletons eyes, lost the flames and their bodies collapsed into a pile of bones. Jack smiled seeing that and waited for the rest of the skeletons to do the same. It didn’t take long for the rest of the skeletons to crumble the same way and when the last skeleton had hit the floor, Jack led his troops forward and as the first thing, hoisted up the Emblem of Dragon Cross.

After Jack took over the fortress, he first got rid of all the traces of the Necromancers. Besides the four Necromancers, there were no other “living” beings anywhere near the fortress. Jack stood on the wall and overlooked the vast dead forest. He could do nothing but sigh at the sight. Necromancers excluded a cold, death like aura.

This was the side effect Necromancy had on the world passively. Everything near the Necromancer died, as if all life was drained straight from it. The longer the stay of the Necromancer in one place, the bigger the effects on the environment itself. Necromancy was the vilest Dark Magic that dabbled with things that were never supposed to be dabbled with.

The equivalent to Necromancy in Immortal Cultivation was Corpse Refining. The principle was the same and the way people viewed the two in their respective worlds was the same, with disgust. As Jack’s troops reorganized the defences and got rid of the remains of the skeletons, Jack tried to get rid of the dead nature all around.

Necromancers kept dabbling with the dead and Necromancy itself was a very Dark Magic to begin with. Necromancy just corrupted the Mana in the vicinity and nature dies all around. It isn’t by any means permanent. If a Necromancer is killed, his Mana will no longer corrupt the surrounding area and given enough time, the corruption would slowly disappear over time and the nature would spring to life again.

However, the big problem with that is, is that, it all depends on the amount of time the Necromancer spent there and also, how strong the Necromancer was. The longer the time and the stronger the Necromancer, obviously, the stronger the corruption would be. In this case, there were four quite strong Necromancers stationed here for over 50 years. The corruption here was strong, to let nature slowly recover on its own…. It would take centuries for the nature to go back to normal on its own.

So Jack was currently setting up several “purification” Magic Circles that belonged to the Light Element, the natural opposite to the Darkness Element. From Raelag’s memories he had seen how beautiful the nature here had been and it actually made him sad for some reason to see only dead woods, poisonous marshes and wilted grasslands.

So, under the protection of some of his troops, he set up several Purification areas. When the final seventh one was set down, Jack smiled. With a simple chant, the Seven independent [Purification Spells] transformed into one big [Purification Spell]. The circular spell had a diameter of 2 kilometers and was the absolute top that Jack could do.

Had it been an Acolyte on the same level as Jack but with a Light Affinity, he could have probably made a Magic Formation that was two or even three times bigger than Jacks. Jack had extraordinary affinity with the Fire Element but his affinity with the other elements was average, maybe a bit higher than average but still, comparing them to his Fire Affinity….

When the [Purification Formation] started working, the change was obvious. First, the miasma started dissolving, grass started sprouting and small leaves started appearing on the dead trees branches. This change didn’t happen immediately but happened over the period of several days. During these days, the air was purified and the sun shone on the area for the first time in several decades.

From the moment the fortress had fallen to Jack, all the Necromancer’s in the area knew. Those four were the strongest Necromancers in the valley area, so for them to be beaten when they were inside the fortress…. To those low level Necromancers, it was impossible to imagine what kind of an enemy managed to do it.

This place had become the Safe Haven to the Necromancers solely due to the fortress. The other side of the valley, there was an access route to the sea but it was filled with danger. The surroundings were littered with whirlpools and jagged rocks, making travelling via the sea, completely impossible. So now, they were completely stuck inside the valley and their only options were either to take on the fortress or try their luck at sea. Neither of the two choices were delightful to the Necromancers because either way, the chance of dying was extremely high.

As people that dabbled with Necromancy, their life goal was to extend their life and become Immortal or Undying. Charging to death like this…. It was the exact opposite of their life’s goal. Although there were some crazy Necromancers that enjoyed caused massive destruction and slaughter, most Necromancers only killed those that came after them.

With a heated discussion, the final decision was reached: Instead of trying heir luck at the sea, they would all band together and try to overrun the fortress with the sheer number of Undead under them. As the ninth day of occupying the fortress came to an end, Jack stood on the wall, looking inside the valley. On the horizon, countless undead stood, waiting for orders.

Jack’s eyes were serious as he looked at the endless hordes. Next to him, Shadya looked as well and asked, “Master, that’s some number they have managed to scrap together.” Jack nodded his head and looked back to see his own troops. He was outnumbered over a hundred to one but he had the upper hand in this fight. He knew this and all of the Necromancers also knew this. Jack’s troops were alive.

They could adapt, use strategy, use Magic, use Magical Equipment, and in a combat instances, they were far stronger than these skeletons made from ordinary people. The only advantage these skeletons had was that they had an advantage in the numbers but the rest…. It was all in Jack’s favour.

A cold smile spread over Jack’s face as he raised his hand and yelled, “Charge!” Without a second thought, all the Riders charged forward, all of the Scout’s gently hiding in the shadows of the Riders. On the wall, several women like Shadya were looking at the Necromancer army amused. As for the half bull, half men, they stood at the fortress gate with their axes in hand, ready to charge on a moments notice. As the Riders set off, Jack added another command, “Bombard them!” All of the five women simultaneously raised their right hand and started chanting.

When the Riders had covered half the distance between the fortress and the Undead, several gigantic fireballs flew over their heads and landed in the middle of the Undead ranks. At the moment of contact, each of the [Giant Fireball]’s exploded, creating a small crater that was around 50 meters in diameter. The Necromancer’s opened their eyes wide when they saw those fireballs. Those fireballs were an Intermediate Level Magic that had been lost to the ages. Only in some ruins or very old Ancient Texts, you would find some mention of it.

Now to have five people use this Ancient extinct Magic, who wouldn’t be afraid. This [Fire Ball] was the most destructive Intermediate Level Magic known. However, to be able to use it, meant that these people weren’t simple at all. If they could use one Ancient Forgotten Magic Spell, who said they did not have another spell on the same level as the [Giant Fire Ball]. No matter how many troops they had or how strong they were, against people that could use Intermediate Level Forgotten Magic Spells, they had no confidence of winning.

Jack saw that it was very weird that the moment these [Giant Fire Balls] hit their targets, the opposition lost every scrap of will to fight. In the next moment, all the armies were at full retreat. Jack and Shadya looked at the retreating armies with wide eyes. Jack immediately told the Riders to pursue and kill but to leave one of them alive.

This was very bizarre as the [Giant Fire Ball] was he most used Combat spell with armies. It had good power, a long range and a decent Mana cost. Now to see the enemies running away without even a single second thought after seeing the spell, they were all baffled. As the Necromancers were all busy with trying to run away, they didn’t notice the Lizard Riders that basically stormed though the skeletons. The Riders were in a V shaped formation as well and charged through the Legions of Undead like a spear. It didn’t take long until one Legion after another started collapsing out of the blue. When that happened, it was obvious that the Necromancer that controlled them were killed one after another.

Finally, only one small legion was left but they were destroyed by the Riders themselves as they brought back one Necromancer. The fellow was quite young and when Jack first saw him, he could only sigh. The fellow looked exactly like a Corpse Refiner, pale skin, surrounded by an aura of death, extremely skinny….

As he was dragged in front of Jack, the Necromancer was scared shitless. He didn’t even dare to raise his head as he stared the ground shaking. With one look, Jack could tell that this fellow was going to break soon. Jack walked in front of him and asked, “Why did you run?” As the voice echoed out, the Necromancer raised his head and in front of him was Jack. As he looked at the pointy ears, the Necromancer let out a look of disgust as he said, “I have nothing to say to a Half Breed Mongrel.” Jacks eyes opened wide as he was astonished by these words.

This fellow was basically going mad from fear but still didn’t know when to bite his tongue. A malicious smile danced on Jacks lips as he withdrew a long black rod from his Spacial Ring. With the other end of the stick, he raised the Necromancers chin and showed him the coldest smile he had ever seen, “Well then, let’s see how long you can hold onto that silly sense of superiority.” After saying so, without even the need to say anything.

The two Scouts pulled off the man’s robes, exposing his skinny upper body. As they raised him to stand, the fellow looked around nervously and then.

*BAM!*

“AAAAHHHH!” A soul wrenching scream echoed out. For the next half an hour, one scream after another rang out, one more miserable than the last. When the screams stopped, the skinny man, had no scars what so ever on his body.

He looked at Jack, more especially the stick in his hands, with complete and utter dread. Jack asked him again with a malicious smile, “Why did you run?” The Necromancer struggled to keep quiet and seeing Jack raise the stick for another hit, he quickly said, “Because you used a Forgotten Magic Spell!”

Jack’s hand stopped and he slowly lowered it as he asked, “Forgotten Magic Spell?” The Necromancer nodded his head in fear of another hit from the stick. HE then started explaining, “That Magic Spell was the most popular and used Combat Spell millions of years ago but after the Great War of Races, most of the Magic Spells from that Era, along with all the knowledge went missing.” He took a deep breath as he continued, “The Spell Diagram and the Chant were lost to history. I only know of it because I saw some records of it in an Ancient Ruin once.”

Jack rubbed his chin and asked, “But, how does that have anything to do with you running at the sight of it?” The Necromancer let out a sigh, “In this current World, anyone who can use a Forgotten or Ancient Magic Spell…. They are people that even the Three Empires of the Four Churches won’t dare to disrespect.”

He looked at Jack for a moment and then shook his head, “They won’t even dare to disrespect them, much less pick a fight with them. Anyone who has at least one Ancient or Forgotten Magic Spell is bound to have another one.” Jack got the general gist of things. Jack then signalled for the Scouts to hold down the person as he put his hand on his head.

A gentle flicker appeared on his hand as the Necromancer suddenly screamed and started foaming from the mouth. When Jack took back his hand, he stood there with closed eyes for a second. The Necromancer however fell to the ground, lifeless. Jack then opened his eyes and looked at Shadya, “Well, these guys were all of the Necromancers inside the Fortress area.”

Jack then gave the orders to various people under him, “Riders, clean up the battlefield. Scouts, go to nearby cities of the Humans and buy all Dark Elven Slaves and deliver them here.” He then looked towards the half bull, half men and said, “Well, you guys keep doing what you were doing. As for the Priestesses...” Jack turned his head towards the five women and said, “You will travel with me to set up [Purification Magic Formation]” He then pinched his nose as he said, “This foul Necromantic air making me nauseous and the gloomy atmosphere is really….”

All the troops acknowledged their orders and started carrying them out. Slowly but steadily, Jack’s fate started moving. As for whether it was for better or worse, only time could tell. All he knew for now was, that there was still only 150 years left for him in this world.

In that time, he wanted to build the most magnificent Empire that didn’t lose out to Raelags by one bit. The starting point was the same for them, as to how it will play out, only time would tell.