...
Lynch was instantly overcome with wild joy, a tingling sensation washing over his entire body.
Dead.
He was finally dead.
It was pitiful. Such a formidable Necromancer had not even managed to cast a proper spell, save for instant-casting a Weakness Curse with his Magic Ring.
Instead, he had been beaten to death in this nameless forest by Lynch, an unconventional peer who used the most primitive and barbaric methods.
And in the very instant the Necromancer's life energy completely extinguished...
All the summoned creatures under his command ceased their attacks.
As if their souls had been drained simultaneously, they stood frozen in place in perfect unison.
But this state lasted for only a brief moment.
In the next second, having lost the binding of their contracts and the mental link to their master, they completely broke free from control and began darting around frantically.
Driven by pure instinct, they began indiscriminately attacking any moving object around them.
Even the two Netherworld Skeleton Soldiers, who possessed a sliver of intelligence, swung their Bone Blades and began a frenzied assault on everything nearby after being struck by a Skeleton Servant.
In just a few short moments, the entire battlefield devolved into a chaotic bloodbath of Undead Creatures slaughtering one another.
Still weakened and sapped of all strength, Lynch could only roll off the Necromancer's body, drop to the ground, and drag the corpse over himself as a makeshift shield.
Then, he held his breath and played dead, terrified of drawing the attention of the rampant Undead.
Simultaneously, he commanded his surviving Skeletons to slowly gather around him and break away from the chaotic melee as much as possible.
The mutual slaughter lasted for a grueling five or six minutes before the scalp-numbing commotion finally subsided.
After waiting a bit longer to ensure there were no further disturbances, Lynch carefully pushed the Necromancer's corpse aside and staggered to his feet.
"Hiss..."
He drew a sharp breath of cold air at the sight before him, a sudden urge to curse surging in his chest.
The once relatively open forest clearing was now carpeted in a thick layer of scattered, shattered skeletal remains, looking as if a minor Undead Calamity had swept through.
His painstakingly assembled Undead Army, which he had sacrificed so much time and effort to build, had been utterly decimated. Only a sparse handful of units were barely left standing.
Among them was Bone Jade.
Bone Jade was heavily damaged, with multiple fractures across its skeletal frame. The Soul Fire in its eye sockets flickered weakly like a candle in the wind, threatening to extinguish at any moment.
Aside from it, there were three humanoid Skeleton Guards missing arms or legs, and one... Fishman Priest Skeleton?
Lynch's gaze swept over its nearly pristine skeletal frame, and he couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
This guy was quite the survivor. Not only did it make it to the end, but it also appeared completely unscathed.
In contrast, the valiant Fishman Leader Skeleton that had fiercely defended him against the Netherworld Skeleton was nowhere to be found. It had died a heroic death at some point, not even leaving a single bone behind.
The only proof of its existence was the thick bone club Lynch had just used to bludgeon his enemy.
Lynch mourned it for a single second before tossing the thought to the back of his mind.
Next, his gaze shifted to the four members of the Holy Light group lying motionless nearby.
Well, these bastards had good luck. They didn't seem to be caught up in the undead infighting.
Though they remained unconscious and their breathing was faint, their chests were still rising and falling. It seemed they wouldn't die anytime soon.
He had to admit, the life energy and regenerative abilities of these Holy Light System folks were truly formidable. They were as stubbornly resilient as cockroaches.
"You've worked hard, Bone Jade," Lynch sighed as he walked over to the skeleton.
Although his Weakness Curse status had faded, his body still ached terribly.
But this was far from the time to rest. He focused his Mana and slowly channeled it into Bone Jade's battered frame.
As a Necromancer, his Mana was fundamentally composed of Negative Energy and carried the pure aura of death. For Undead Creatures, this was one of the finest tonics imaginable.
Nourished by the Mana, the fractures on Bone Jade's skeleton began to mend at a visible rate. The feeble Soul Fire in its eye sockets stabilized and gradually grew stronger.
After surviving such a grueling series of life-and-death battles, Bone Jade's aura was currently weak, but Lynch could sense that the essence of its Soul Fire had become more condensed and profound than before.
Clearly, it had been continuously absorbing the dissipating Death Energy throughout the battle, steadily growing stronger.
After treating Bone Jade's injuries, Lynch gritted his teeth, pulled a bottle of Basic Awakening Potion from his coat, popped the cork, and chugged it down in one go.
GLUG GLUG GLUG.
The bitter liquid slid down his throat, sending a jolt through his body and barely dispelling some of his exhaustion.
His dried-up Mana pool rapidly replenished.
Then, he swept his eyes over the field of shattered bones and the Necromancer's corpse, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"With so many premium materials lying around, how could I let them go to waste?"
Fighting through his mental fatigue, he began casting the Skeleton Resurrection Skill on the scattered remains over and over again.
Flashes of pale light flared up one after another. Accompanied by a series of clattering SNAP CRACK sounds as bones fused together, group after group of Skeleton Servants slowly climbed up from the debris.
Evidently, their skeletal structures did not entirely belong to their original bodies. Most were cobbled together from miscellaneous parts.
For instance, one skeleton might be sporting someone else's arm, while another had rib bones of unknown origin attached.
Ultimately, for a Necromancer, as long as the skeletal frame worked, it was fine. Any skeleton that could stand up and swing a blade was a good skeleton.
"Wait, how did that weakling Fishman Skeleton sneak into the ranks of the humanoid Skeletons?"
Lynch cast a look of disgust at the short, scrawny Fishman Skeleton. It was standing blankly, squeezed in among a group of towering humanoid Skeletons.
"Go on, get out of here. Stay on the sidelines."
He directed the Fishman Skeleton to step far away and then cleanly dispelled the magic sustaining it.
"You've got to be kidding me. With all these high-quality humanoid bones available, what use do I have for a mere Fishman? It's just a waste of a precious unit slot."
He muttered complaints under his breath, continuing his great endeavor of recycling waste. He seemed to have completely forgotten that the vast majority of his previous Undead Corps consisted of Fishman Skeletons.
Eventually, Lynch managed to assemble a force of twenty-five humanoid Skeleton Servants.
Although they looked crooked and mismatched, with many still bearing cracks, their sheer numbers meant they were not to be underestimated.
He handed complete command of this new army over to the mostly recovered Bone Jade.
With Bone Jade's current strength, controlling these twenty-five decent-quality humanoid Skeleton Servants pushed its limit. After all, humanoid skeletons consumed more Commanding Power than the feeble Fishman Skeletons.
As for Lynch himself, he continued casting the Skeleton Resurrection Skill until he had pieced together fourteen of the most robust-looking skeletons to serve as his direct Skeleton Guards. Among them was that Fishman Priest Skeleton who had survived to the bitter end.
It was just a pity that his fiercely loyal Fishman Leader Skeleton couldn't be brought back.
However, with this setup, Lynch's current military strength had actually increased compared to before the battle, and the overall quality had improved as well.
"This is the most captivating trait of a Necromancer," Lynch marveled inwardly as he surveyed his revitalized Skeleton Army.
As long as victory was achieved, no matter how tragic the process, a Necromancer's forces could snowball and grow ever stronger.
With a sufficient army securing the perimeter, Lynch finally regained a sense of safety.
Only then did he turn his attention to the Necromancer's corpse, whose eyes were still wide open in death.
This was an old habit of his.
The best things were always saved for last.
First up, naturally, was the universally beloved corpse-looting phase.
Lynch crouched down, grabbed the dead Necromancer's withered hand, and forcefully yanked off the bone ring that had caused him so much suffering.
The ring felt cold to the touch. The material seemed to be some sort of bone, and its surface was engraved with undead runes. A tiny, dark Gemstone was set in the center, faintly pulsing with weak Death Energy.
"What a treasure!"
Lynch's eyes lit up. This was undoubtedly a piece of Magic Equipment.
He slightly adjusted the inner clasp of the ring and slipped it onto his own finger.
Then, he probed it lightly with his Spiritual Power and sensed a solidified Magic Model within. As long as he charged it with Mana, it could instantly cast a Level 1 Weakness Curse Skill at a critical moment.
"Hehe, this is a perfect tool for dirty tricks. Not bad at all." Lynch appraised the ring with satisfaction, giving it a beautiful name—Banshee's Kiss.
...