Hero of Darkness

The loud noises of the crackling ground, clashing weapons and bodies filled the battlefield as a bloodied scene of gore and chewed-off bodies colored the night red. 

As soon as the peak master rank variant monsters created by the necromancer subordinate came into the play.. The once seemingly well-organized army of the hydra heads was discombobulated in a matter of minutes. 

Ceril who was now being attacked by 6 peak grandmaster fighters who were as strong as him prior to the moment where he revealed his real form, now felt like a bunch of tryhards who were barely living up to their reputation. 

"Impossible! I don't believe this! How can he be stronger than all of us combined?" said the elven swordsman who was using all of his highly destructible sword attacks that we normally blow everything to smitten and not even leave a single body part intact. 

This was the same case for the rest of the heads of the hydra who were also bombarding the darkness barrier with their respective class-specific attack skills.

Huff! Huff! 

The demonkin warrior breathed heavily after running out of stamina. 

"Arrhhh!!" screamed Tormund, the tengu grandmaster archer whose heart was ripped out by Odin. 

Just a minute ago, he was fighting the thrall undead on even terms by using his skills and long-range attacks but as soon as over a hundred unique rank monsters who were comparable to a peak master rank fighter came into the fray and completely outnumbered him. 

The 1200+ trained warriors were now reduced to only 500 surviving members who were already on their last straw after their fallen comrades also became part of the undead army and attacked them instead. 

All these people had proper fighting skills and abilities than being just mindless monsters. And after taking out the groups of healers & druids first.. Their losses kept increasing. 

Only the peak master rank and beginner grandmasters of the group were barely managing to hold off the enemy while protecting their allies. 

But another soul-shuddering scenario happened as all the remaining soldiers lost the will to fight as soon as the Undead Lich cast another ancient magic formation that previously turned the fallen dead soldiers as part of his army... Again! 

"We're dead.. We are all dead!!" shouted one of the soldiers as he threw away his weapon when he saw the magic formation dropping from the sky again. A similar scene occurred on the different ends of the battlefield at the same time. 

"How is that even possible? He's just a necromancer at the end. Even the records never said anything about an undead lich being this strong." said the snakekin mage. 

Although this undead mage was on the same level as them being a peak grandmaster… he was thoroughly oppressing all six of them. And just now, another one of their group had fallen. 

[Keep his body and core intact. I have other uses for him.] commanded Ceril to Odin. And then his gaze landed upon the five enemies in front of him. 

"Like I said before, inside this barrier.. I am a God." said Ceril in his grim tone. 

"Nonsense! Even a Necromancer can't become this strong!" shouted the snakekin. 

"Yes. But I am a variant. Even my liege doesn't know this fact about me. 

But the more people I kill, the more undeads I have in my army and the higher-ranked soldiers I have as my summons.. The powerful I become with time by using their cores and mana stored inside their bodies as a source to strengthen myself. 

And you lot aren't just my enemies.. But you are all my benefactors who brought these high levels and ranked trained fighters for me. 

At this very moment… I am as strong as a Semi-Saint mage. Ha ha ha!" laughed Ceril, his crackling laugh through his skeletal body sounding completely inhumane. 

"Now, let's end this quickly." he said and for the first time, his target shifted to the grandmasters and all the undead soldiers who were fighting with the normal soldiers quickly changed their targets and started running towards the group of grandmasters. 

Boom! Shrill! 

One after another, the group was besieged by hundreds of monsters from different sides and the grandmasters were forced to fight as a team and use their most effective abilities to fend off the enemies.

The space was already locked by the undead lich and the horde of these three thousand monsters and additional soldiers from their side made it nearly impossible to escape. 

Violetta, the succubus glanced at the lich who was just standing behind the darkness barrier which they couldn't even scratch at this point. His sinister appearance sent shivers under her spine again. 

And from behind that barrier, the necromancer was throwing dark magic spells and blades at them which were cracking the protection barriers cast by the snakekin mage. 

Not just her but all the other heads of hydra understood how terrifying Ceril aka Loki was as an enemy. 

This guy got stronger over time, had an extremely huge supply of mana and his spells and skills increased in damage output as the number of the undead soldiers rose. 

Although each of them could fight against a thousand enemies at this point.. The problem wasn't their lack of experience or skills.. But the unending horde of monsters attacking them. 

And as soon as the numbers of the undead decreased, the lich would cast another one of those ancient magic formations and raise the fallen bodies to create more undead. 

As if reveling and thanking them to kill the monsters, Ceril chuckled as he summoned the Calcium Throne aka the throne made out of bones and skulls. 

A 10 meter tall throne made by using thousands bones appeared behind Ceril as he majestically sat and enjoyed the scene in front of him. 

What was happening now took a lot of strain on the bodies of six heads and skills as they were depleting their mana and stamina with time. 

Crack! Crack! Crack!! 

Suddenly, the 100 meter wide protection barrier burst open after the constant bombardment of brute attacks from the enemy forces. 

Swoosh! 

The horned succubus whose assets were jiggling during the fight swoop her epic rank whip and destroyed over a hundred undeads with her powerful lightning element-infused attack. 

Now that the protection barrier broke, all of them were forced to a close-range battle. 

"I concede! I will serve you as long as you spare me!!" declared the green snakekin mage as he raised both of his hands in the air, to show that he was surrendering to the undead lich. 

His mana had run out and unlike others, he wouldn't survive any longer. 

All the other heads who also felt cornered at this moment felt indignant but they had no choice left either. 

What's the use of pride if you're dead? 

"I concede too!" 

"I will serve the mighty lich! Please spare us!" 

One by one, all the remaining heads surrendered in hopes that they will get to live on. 

"Hahaha! Who said I need you alive to serve me?" laughed Ceril sarcastically. 

"You're more useful to me dead than being alive." he said and ordered his army and the new undead warriors to attack the group of grandmasters again. 

This time, Odin also jumped into the fray and the sheer pressure and impact it created on the remaining ones also broke their formation. 

For the next 2 hours, Ceril thoroughly enjoyed and commented merrily on the struggle out up by the grandmasters. 

Their skills and mana were proving useless as time went by and rather than having his undead kill them, he was using the soldiers to tease and exhaust the grandmaster. 

And as a member of hydra fell.. He summoned them as his new grandmaster undead and his own strength increased with time. 

Just like Jugram who got stronger over time with the more people he killed, Ceril was also a terrifying subordinate himself. 

He was a force to be reckoned with because if put against hundred thousand enemies.. The Necromancer subordinate could turn all the enemies as part of his army and even when his undeads fell, he would still get a fresh supply with the enemy soldiers. 

He was a walking talking hack who would turn your own forces as his and then use your allies to kill you instead. 

Finally when he killed all the heads and made them his undead soldiers.. Ceril felt a huge burst of mana flowing inside his bones. 

Other than himself, nobody else knew how he was becoming this strong, not even Kahn. 

"Thanks to the undead lich my master used to create me.. I can absorb a small portion of mana and energy from all of my subjects. Now I will be able to even kill a semi-saint easily." spoke Ceril in his grim voice. 

At this moment, even though he wasn't comparable to a bonafide saint, he was still half as strong as them. 

Compared to all the other subordinates of Kahn.. Ceril was only second to Rudra in terms of combat power & skills. 

Even Omega & Jugram had nothing on him despite them being very powerful variants themselves. 

Ceril let out a content sigh and looked at the group of 500 soldiers he had left alive after he targeted the grandmasters. 

They were all still surrounded by his monsters but there was no fight occurring. 

And after killing their heads and making them his personal servants, the undead lich was no different than someone who had all of their lives under his palm. 

Ceril's gigantic and mighty lich was now seated on his throne and had the 6 heads of hydra kneeling in front of their master.

"I demand an applause!" he ordered and the next second, all the new grandmaster undead warriors shouted in their hoarse and cryptic loud voices… 

"ALL HAIL THE UNDEAD KING!!"