Hellnik marched forward, assessing the timing.
"This should mean the plan has succeeded..."
There was no way reinforcements wouldn't come after seeing this massive undead army. The Salvation Church must be breathing a sigh of relief because of him.
The only task left was to seize the Kingdom of Grimwell during this window.
With the Salvation Church committing all their forces, the Kingdom of Grimwell wouldn't be able to hold out.
"The Salvation Church gets what they want, and I get this massive undead army. A win-win."
Especially, the Orb of Life had presented him with a new direction for his research. With further study, he felt he could elevate his powers to the next level.
"It's time to wrap this up."
The Farsali Kingdom forces had been pushed to their limits. With nearly all their strongholds lost, they would have no choice but to make a desperate stand.
For them to prepare, Jerome would need to appear again to buy them some time.
Boom!
"He's here."
As expected, Jerome showed up once more, unleashing large-scale magic without reservation, as though his mana had fully recovered.
"Hmm, he's remarkable. His mana recovery speed is incredible."
Jerome had fought him for days without rest. By all accounts, he should have collapsed, yet here he was, back in action.
Although his magic wasn't as overwhelming as it had been at the start, his recovery speed was still astonishing.
"Go. This ends today."
Roar!
The two resurrected priests hurtled toward Jerome once again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sweeping away the advancing corpses, Jerome scowled when he saw the two priests.
"You're so damn annoying."
Boom!
Jerome extended his hand, blasting the priests away. But his expression wasn't good.
"Tsk."
Unlike before, they didn't shatter instantly. This meant Jerome had grown weaker.
Jerome had no choice but to push himself and scrape together more mana.
Boom!
The charging priests' heads were obliterated in a single blow.
Catching his breath, Jerome thought to himself:
'This won't end until I kill him.'
As long as Hellnik, the source of the mana, was alive, the corpses would keep resurrecting.
Jerome knew this, but he had stepped forward to buy time for others to prepare.
Right now, there was no way to kill Hellnik.
'Just a bit longer.'
Although the strongholds had been lost and they had been pushed back, the entire kingdom wasn't yet overrun with corpses.
Survivors were gathering for a final battle. The more time he bought, the more prepared they would be.
The fact that he had delayed them this long was already a historical feat. Yet Jerome had no intention of stopping.
Haaah!
Boom!
The advancing corpses were swept away once more. Having expended significant mana on the priests, Jerome prepared to retreat.
He planned to recover his mana before returning to whittle down the corpses again.
Just as he began to pull back—
Whoosh!
"Ugh!"
The space around him distorted as dozens of Death Knights emerged.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Death Knights lunged at Jerome, their swords aiming to carve him apart. However, the hastily deployed shield blocked their attacks.
'He's going for the kill now!'
Jerome had expected this moment to come eventually. Hellnik must have found him extremely irritating.
Even so, Hellnik didn't show himself, sending only the Death Knights ahead.
The intent was clear: to wear Jerome down even further, as his mana was already depleted. The bastard was cunning.
'I'm low on mana.'
Using large-scale magic was no longer feasible. Spending more mana would leave him unable to escape.
Whoosh!
Jerome cast Blink to escape the battlefield, but the Death Knights, mounted on Phantom Steeds, pursued him relentlessly.
Some even overtook him, spreading out to block all escape routes.
Hellnik clearly understood what needed to be cut off first to trap a mage.
"Tsk."
The Death Knights continued to close in, cutting off his retreat.
He could use consecutive Blinks to escape, but that was precisely what Hellnik wanted.
'With my current mana, I can only Blink so far.'
He couldn't afford to waste mana like that. If he did, Hellnik would eventually catch up to him.
Jerome decided he had no choice but to deal with the Death Knights using minimal mana.
To resurrect Death Knights, Hellnik would have to expend a significant amount of mana as well.
Buzz—!
Golden light enveloped Jerome's hands as he readied himself.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Blocking the swords of dozens of Death Knights, he engaged in close combat. There was no other way to conserve his mana.
Fortunately, his years of training had made him proficient in hand-to-hand combat.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Jerome's fists smashed through the Death Knights' helmets and pierced their chests. Armor crumpled, and limbs twisted and broke.
Yet the Death Knights quickly restored themselves and attacked Jerome again.
Slash!
Despite sustaining minor injuries, Jerome systematically disabled each Death Knight.
At some point, the Death Knights began to fall permanently, unable to regenerate.
As time passed, the remaining Death Knights retreated and encircled Jerome.
"Huff... huff..."
Jerome, breathing heavily and looking exhausted, scanned the remaining Death Knights.
Only about ten were left. Even with his mana nearly depleted, Jerome had taken down over 30 Death Knights.
'What a cunning bastard.'
The one who had achieved such an incredible feat gritted his teeth in frustration. The end was drawing near.
Hellnik, in an effort to conserve mana, wasn't regenerating the Death Knights.
Whoosh!
The remaining Death Knights charged simultaneously.
Jerome, his face pale with exhaustion, gave a faint smile.
"I'm still standing."
Crash!
The fight resumed. Despite his exhaustion, Jerome gritted his teeth and took down the attacking Death Knights.
He hadn't rested properly for days. He had barely eaten. His once-limitless mana was now drained.
Though he could recover mana with every breath, his consumption outpaced his recovery.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The Death Knights' strikes began cutting deeper into his body. Blood poured from multiple wounds, and Jerome's movements slowed.
Crash!
Even so, Jerome clenched his teeth and defeated the remaining Death Knights.
When he shattered the final Death Knight's head—
Rumble!
Grotesque bones erupted from the ground.
Jerome sensed the danger and tried to dodge, but his weakened state made it impossible to avoid completely.
Thud!
"Argh!"
Jerome screamed in pain as his thigh and side were pierced. He barely managed to extricate himself, but the bones kept rising.
Rumble!
The area was soon filled with towering bones. Jerome tried his best to evade, but his slowed movements meant he kept getting injured.
Finally, Jerome stopped moving.
The rising bones ceased.
"Bone Prison..."
Jerome realized he was trapped within a prison of bones.
Hiss.
Black energy coalesced, taking shape. It formed into Hellnik.
Hellnik looked at Jerome, now confined within the bone prison, and laughed.
"Finally, I've caught the rat."
After investing so much effort in draining Jerome's mana, it was over.
Even if Jerome recovered a bit, he was too exhausted and injured to escape Hellnik's grasp.
Jerome let out a hollow laugh, his strength fading.
Black energy radiated from the bone structures around him. His opponent had even created a small mana field to ensure his confinement.
There was no escaping this situation.
"I didn't think it would end like this."
"That's what happens when you overstep. You made me expend too much power."
With a wave of Hellnik's hand, the bone bars began closing in on Jerome.
Rumble...
There was nowhere to run. Jerome decided to accept the death that had come for him.
"This is why I didn't want to leave the home. I barely got to have any fun before dying."
At his composed demeanor, Hellnik paused the movement of the bones and asked.
"What are you?"
"Just a mage."
"Why are you doing something so pointless, without any benefit?"
"Does there have to be a benefit?"
"Then why?"
"Because I have power, so I helped people."
"You helped because you have power?"
"Yes. The talents and circumstances I was born with are blessings the world gave me. So, of course, I use them for the world."
"Hahahaha!"
Hellnik laughed, amused. He had never met anyone like this in his life.
Naïve to the point of absurdity!
He asked again.
"Even if the result of that foolishness is death?"
"Of course, I don't want to die. I'm already regretting stepping out of my home."
"Hahaha! You're truly an amusing one."
As he laughed, Jerome turned the question back to him.
"What about you? Why do you do these things when you have such power?"
"Because I have power."
It was the same answer, but the meaning was entirely different. Hellnik continued leisurely.
"Because I have power, I can do these things. Blessings of the world? Do you think a lion uses its power for the sake of a rabbit?"
"...."
Jerome didn't respond. There was no point in debating with someone whose beliefs were so different.
Hellnik waved his hand. The bones, which had momentarily stopped, began to move again.
His voice echoed ominously.
"A lion and a rabbit are different from birth. To a lion, a rabbit is just prey. You're a fool who threw away the life of a lion for the sake of rabbits. Or are you a lion's body with a rabbit's soul?"
Crack...
Large and small bones began to pierce Jerome's body.
"Urgh..."
He poured all his remaining mana into resisting, but it wasn't enough.
"Aaagh!"
Jerome could no longer endure and trembled in agony. His mind couldn't focus, and his body was soaked in blood.
Hellnik smiled at the sight.
"I've found such a fine material. Make it suffer more. Break that useless conviction and spirit."
The greater the pain and resentment, the stronger the undead it would become.
The reason he didn't end it swiftly was precisely this. A specimen of this caliber was almost impossible to find, even if he scoured the entire continent.
As Hellnik waited in delight, he suddenly lifted his head.
"Hmm?"
Flash!
A bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky.
Boom!
Hellnik had already moved aside. But he could feel it.
Powerful forces were converging on this place.
Whoosh.
Hellnik teleported further back.
Slash!
Dozens of blue daggers streaked through the air where he had been standing.
Raising his hand immediately, Hellnik blocked an attack from a woman who had appeared beside him, attempting to stab him with a dagger.
Clang!
The dagger, imbued with holy power, scorched his blocking hand slightly.
Hellnik spoke in a low voice.
"Who are you?"
The woman, Belinda, grinned and replied.
"Not something you need to know."
"You dare..."
Hellnik began to gather his energy. Even now, countless corpses were advancing ahead of him.
For someone to sneak past that undead army undetected... Even Hellnik hadn't sensed the woman until she was already close.
Her strength aside, her skill was extraordinary.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Before Hellnik could counterattack, lightning rained down from the sky, shattering the bone prison and destroying the nearby corpses.
Judging by the mana signature, the magic was being cast from a considerable distance.
"Who could have..."
The precision of the magic was remarkable. It destroyed the surroundings without harming Jerome. This meant the caster was at least a 7th-circle superhuman.
Jerome, already unconscious, lay collapsed on the ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hellnik turned his gaze to the source of the commotion. In the distance, a group was breaking through the horde of corpses and advancing toward him.
"Was it them?"
Realizing that multiple superhuman-level opponents had appeared, Hellnik ignored Belinda and moved.
"The material..."
Hellnik moved to retrieve Jerome first.
No matter how strong the approaching superhumans were, they still had to get through the sea of corpses. That would take time.
Belinda tried to pursue him, but Hellnik was faster.
Whoosh!
As Hellnik teleported to Jerome and reached out to grab him—
He suddenly felt a sharp force cutting into his body without warning.
Slash.
Though he quickly pulled back, he couldn't fully avoid it this time.
A shallow cut appeared on his chest.
'I need to retreat.'
The moment he was cut, Hellnik decided to abandon Jerome.
A frontal confrontation wasn't how a necromancer fought. He needed to pull back and command his undead. In fact, he was already a bit late.
As he resolved to retreat—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A spear fell from the sky.
The spear, enveloped in red light, tore through the air with tremendous speed and force.
"...!!"
Hellnik couldn't dodge the attack that came with perfect timing.
Boom!
The spear pierced through Hellnik's chest and slammed powerfully into the ground.
[T/L: I am in dire need of support. I will give discount to all those who will buy the rest of the chapters all together, so please support me the reader on my webnovel platform and read ahead chapters on my ko-fi page "RevengerScans" : https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]