Rise of the Supreme Necromancer-Chapter 49: No Rest for the Wicked

Rita immediately paused and straightened. She and all of her siblings at once moved closer to the "raw material" bodies, trying to appear like they were working harder than they were.

A dozens seconds later, Aleric walked into the castle with an escort of several undead. To the siblings’ nervousness, he left his bodyguards behind and immediately approached them.

"Apprentices. I see that you’ve made some progress... That’s good," he said, looking at the finished slaves.

From Aleric’s gray face and his cold, assured demeanor, no one could have thought that he was actually five years younger than Rita, the eldest of the siblings. Even Rita herself had no idea.

"We are happy to serve, Master Fenn," Karl said, bowing.

Aleric smiled. The sight made Fiona shudder a little.

"I have just made something to help you and your pathetic mana reserves out. These trinkets are near-useless to me now, but to you, they will be major boons."

He pulled something out of the pocket of his cloak. The curious Leshmann siblings all approached to look closer.

The items were four pieces of jewelry: two silver stars with a blue stone in them, and two golden stars with smaller stones. All exuded Dark magic.

"Take one each," Aleric said, giving them all to Rita. "These Tarnished Star amulets will gradually regain Dark energy on their own, and you can use it to cast spells."

The siblings’ eyes widened.

They had never held something like this!

Even the cheapest one-use artifacts were quite expensive. There weren’t many clerics in the country, and even fewer who could bless items!

And Aleric was just handing these items out like they were worthless to him!

"Thank you, Master Fenn! We will put these to good use!" Rita said, nodding vigorously.

She took herself one of the golden stars—the one that was slightly larger. Upon inspecting it closer, Rita saw a smear of blood on it.

"This thing... I think I can feel it... moaning?" Dreske said, eying his own Tarnished Star.

Aleric’s smile widened.

"I bound the remnants of the souls of dead clerics to some fitting pieces of jewelry. Even these pieces of souls are definitely unhappy to channel Dark magic, but they won’t be able to do anything about it."

Aleric walked to the undead slaves made by Leshmann siblings at this time.

"I’m going to take these ones."

He walked over the row of undead, touching each of them with his staff. Each touch sent a tiny bit of Aleric’s Dark energy into the undead slaves.

Like a drop of wine turns a cup of water red, Aleric’s energy turned the Leshmann siblings’ energy in the slaves into Aleric’s.

The siblings felt the entire process. The slaves were full of their energy—if they wanted, they could have even resisted it.

This process was the main thing that made them useful for Aleric, after all! They were sure that Aleric would’ve kicked them out already otherwise—why would he need undead servants that he can’t command directly?

After Aleric left with his new undead slaves, Rita looked at the shiny, expensive, bloody amulet in her hands and, with despair, realized one thing.

This blasted amulet just ended her mana recovery break!

***

After sending his new undead slaves toward a servant who would find them fitting tasks, Aleric didn’t leave the Castle Arstain’s courtyard.

The sky was only barely lit by the future sunrise. The night was young, and despite all the work done already, there was more to do.

Aleric went to the corpse piles.

The largest was the most valuable one. Several militiamen were laid out in long rows, waiting for him to reanimate them, and there were many more waiting in the pile—future undead servants.

Aside from it was a smaller pile. Bodies in it were too mangled to function. Most of them belonged to Aleric’s zombies or skeletons that were destroyed in the fight.

Now Aleric’s servants were striping the bodies of their valuables so the useless meat and bones could be disposed of.

There was also a pile of several dead horses, which must’ve been a pain to haul up the corpse carts.

But what attracted Aleric’s attention was a male corpse laid aside from all these categories.

When he approached it, he saw that the corpse was dressed in mismatched clothing and armor that was common for Aleric’s own lieutenants, and his face was badly burned. A bit of Light energy was still lingering in the wounds.

"Was he killed by holy water?" Aleric muttered to himself. "I guess the city’s defenders took the stash from the templar Chapter house. I should ask Samuel when he gets less busy with cleaning things up."

He began transforming his mana into Dark energy, when Spine Staff suddenly spoke.

"Master, are you planning to reanimate this man again?"

Aleric paused.

"Yes. What’s the problem? This man was equipped and trained to do his tasks by me, he’s already more valuable than an average militiaman lying on the ground. Besides, I didn’t release him from service."

"An absolutely wise decision, master! And I am not implying that your magic will fail. But being summoned from the grave is something that can easily damage a soul, as you know. Doing that twice is even harder. I recommend you draw a ritual heptagram, even though you can perfectly well cast the spell without it!"

"Hm... Well, since you advise it. And since I’m going to raise many more undead servants today..."

Aleric quickly drew the heptagram and dropped a drop of blood in each corner. All the preparations and the spell’s incantation were as natural as breathing to him after all his practice.

Normally, with a corpse so recent, soul was easy to summon. But this time, Aleric felt resistance, as if the body waited for him not just several hours, but an entire day!

Aleric clenched the Spine Staff and grit his teeth. When he only started, this would’ve made it impossible to summon the soul at all. But now he was better! Stronger! His control over magic only grew!

He poured more Dark energy into the heptagram, and its green fire flared taller.

On the other side of the courtyard, the Leshmann siblings all jolted at once, fumbling their own spells. As one, they turned to watch the swirls of energy around Aleric in shock and awe.

With a sharp exhale, Aleric swung his staff in the air, tearing the soul from the other side by pure force!

His spell trap caught it immediately. Aleric found that he didn’t even have to subdue the soul first—the old bindings returned to it like they never left.

Aleric had to catch his breath. When he finished, he realized that his undead servant wasn’t moving despite the magic coursing in it.