Hero of Darkness

Inside the secret site where the meeting of all the heads of the hydra was held, one of the heads had fallen but so did the man who killed him. 

Loki's headless body that was impaled with a sword and a spear dropped on the ground on both knees. His figure appeared like a fallen knight on the battlefield. 

"Hmph! What a fool. Thinking that he could take on all of us just because he could use the dark magic." spoke the peak grandmaster archer who blew up Loki's head exactly when he was caught off guard and didn't have a chance to resist. 

"Yeah.. He got Odin only by surprise. This guy was overestimating himself." said the elf. 

One by one, all the heads started making fun of Loki who acted too impulsively and lost his life. 

"Wait…" suddenly spoke the green snakekin mage. 

"What?" asked the demonkin head. 

"Something doesn't feel right." he said and the next second, his eyes were left wide open. 

"Check his body and see if there's a core present in it?!" shouted the mage as a sudden realization hit him. 

The elven swordsman who stood the closest quickly pulled out his sword and cut open Loki's heart, only to find it.. hollow. 

"He he he.." suddenly, a familiar ghostly voice landed on their ears as all of their bodies jolted in fear. 

"As expected of a mage. You sensed it so quickly." 

Loki's eerie voice filled the area again, instantly petrifying all the soldiers who stood far away. 

Even the grandmasters were unable to sense the source of the sound as if it was present everywhere. 

"Impossible.." 

"We already killed you! How can you still be alive?!" queried the succubus. 

"Hahaha! How can you kill me when you can't even sense the real me?" asked Loki in a sarcastic tone. 

"That was just a fake body I created using human corpses." 

Crack! Crack! Crack! 

Suddenly, the ground surrounding all the forces belonging to the respective heads of the hydra cracked open as dozens of crevices formed in few seconds.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Shing! 

One after another, dozens of magical formations appeared on the ground under this two kilometer wide isolation barrier and completely surrounded the 1200+ soldiers. 

"Wraaaah." 

"Kraa."

Hundreds of undead soldiers ripped open the ground and emerged like how an army from the underworld erupted before the doom. 

Just in 5 minutes, more than 3 thousand undeads, out of which, three hundred were master rank skeletons & monsters given the aura they were emitting came to be and surrounded these forces who already took a defensive stance. 

"Since all of you were shameless enough to attack one individual by six people teaming together.. I shall hold no more and fight you with my own numbers." Loki's grim voice filled the area. 

BOOM!! 

A big crevice was formed at the eastern end of this dome and a gigantic figure of a skeleton mage that was 15 meters tall burst out of the ground. 

This enormous and towering figure with a skull that had burning red eyes terrified every single one of the soldiers. 

The gigantic skeletal mage with red and white mage robes and a crown on its head looked at all the enemies. 

5 grimoires were floating in the air beside this skeletal figure who appeared like a grim reaper gave everyone, including the grandmasters goosebumps all over their bodies. 

"What the hell.. I thought he was only using the black magic to summon those dogs as undeads but he's actually an Undead Lich." spoke the snakekin mage. 

The one before them was Ceril in his true form. 

It had been nearly 5 months since he appeared in his real form and now, the 20 levels suppression in stats and mana capacity was finally lifted as he was no longer under the limitations placed by metamorphosis ability. 

His entire appearance looked like a certain majestic undead lich who ruled the Tomb of Nazarick. 

And as soon as Ceril in his full power released his dark black aura filled with bloodlust and darkness element.. Even the grandmaster felt like their legs were giving out. 

It hadn't even been 10 minutes since they killed Loki only to find out that he was actually an Undead Lich. A very high-leveled one at that. 

All these peak grandmasters felt like they were at least level 120 but the oppressive aura that was released by the undead seemed like it was from someone of level 130.

"Now let me show you my real power." he said and all the grimoires shone bright red and started rotating around his body in a clockwise manner. 

"Everyone, in formation!" shouted one of the heads as all the forces consisting of every fighting class took got themselves in a defensive formation, ready to face the undead skeleton army under the command of their leaders. 

"We just killed you. We can do it again." said the demonkin. 

To his words, Ceril only let out a ghastly chuckle. 

"You can not kill me. I am a being above your mortal lives. 

I am entropy. I am death. I am a Dark Summoner." declared Ceril in his grim voice. 

His eyes flickered red and from all the gaps in the ground that created a pathway to the skeletons to appear previously.. Jumped 5 to 7 meters tall monsters, following them were a dozen giant monsters varying from amalgamations of different monster species. 

These were the peak master rank monsters he created recently. Some looked like dinosaurs while others like mammoths. 

"Attack!" shouted the elf and all of their forces charged at the skeleton army for a full-scale battle. 

Ceril's army of the undead, which consisted of varieties of species, let it be monsters, humans and demihumans that outnumbered the opposition by 3 times, frantically attacked the defenders without the care for getting damaged. 

A volley of arrows and bombs, followed by the destructive magic spell and the defensive skills from the tanks and knights activated at the same time. 

Boom! Crack! 

Ear deafening noises filled the battlefield as soon as the first wave of attacks landed on the undeads. 

This was an army of trained and organized fighters. Despite belonging to different sides, the forces of the Hydra were already well versed in coordinating and assisting each other as if this was something they trained for years. 

Even the forces belonging to the fallen thrall's side were managing themselves well with just Hank, the right-hand wolfkin ordering them. 

In just the first attempt, 500 undeads were broken to pieces, obliterated and burned on the spot. Their torn, splintered bodies and the sticking flesh lay across the battlefield. 

"You alone can't stand against all of us!" spoke the tengu archer. 

To this proclamation, Ceril whose towering figure had put the fear of god in the opposite side's soldiers already, spoke in a solemn tone. 

"Who said I am alone?" replied Ceril as his skull let out an eerie chuckle. 

Boom!! 

The very next second, a chaotic blue aura suddenly filled the other end of the battlefield and jumped in between the defensive formation of the hydra soldiers. 

A tall and ripped figure adorned in battle armor and gauntlets released its aura of a peak grandmaster fighter and suppressed the people fighting from the back. 

It was none other than Odin who was now summoned by Ceril as one of his undead soldiers. 

"Boss Odin!" shouted Hank.. But what stood in front of him wasn't his leader but an undead with lifeless eyes. Despite having holes put into his body, the undead Odin now stood as powerful and domineering as before. 

Shatter!! 

Odin punched the ground and shattered the 200 meter area with his skill, creating havoc inside the defensive formation as he targeted the healers of the group first. 

The undead lich's army didn't have weapons or armors. They were simply dead species made into walking zombies by Ceril. So they only had the numbers but not fighting skills. Even the tall monsters only had the advantage of their bodies and brute strength, not job-specific skills. 

Ceril then grandly gestured his boney hands towards the air. 

The very next second, an ancient magic formation appeared in the sky and the entire battlefield under the illusion barrier was covered by the bright red magic formation. 

"This world shall know pain." 

Spoke the Necromancer and the magic formation made with mana dropped on the ground, let it be the soldiers or the army of the undeads, all of them were covered under it. 

But unlike what everyone thought, not a single one of them was harmed or felt like anything happened to their bodies as the red glow around them disappeared into the thin air. 

"What.. What is this?" asked Violetta. 

Crack! Crack! 

"Rahhhhh!" 

"Baaarr.." 

What happened next sent shivers even to the 6 grandmasters. Because the scene in front of them completely caught them off guard. 

After the magic formation dispersed… nearly a thousand bodies rose up. These were all the fallen undeads their armies destroyed. But what boggled their minds were the new additions. 

These were the dead soldiers who just died while fighting the undeads.. And now, they belonged to the enemy side!

"Fuck! That's cheating!" shouted the snakekin mage. 

"Tormund, go! Handle Odin. We will take care of this bastard!" said Violetta to the tengu archer. 

But instead of targeting the grandmasters charging at him, the ones he attacked with his dark magic spells were the hundreds of common soldiers. 

He telepathically ordered his peak master rank monsters who were on standby to charge and break the first line of defense. Their job was to break the formation and let the weak undeads breach inside the enemy ranks. 

The shadow blades skill assisted these forces and all the protection barriers cast by the enemy mages broke in seconds. 

Ceril then quickly cast his Darkness Barrier. 

BANG!! 

Unlike before, even the light elemental attacks failed to destroy the darkness barrier. Rather than getting destroyed.. It only broke the outer layer of the barrier while Ceril spoke in a domineering and grim voice as if he was looking at mere ants. 

"Hahaha! You still don't get it, do you? Inside this battlefield…" his burning red eyes lightened up far brighter than before as he spoke again… 

"I am a God!"