Stygian Mage

Although Soren wanted to take his time with them, he had to put his safety above all. He had already sensed his Forsaken Knight dying earlier, so he knew that it was not going to take much time before Ervin and the others arrived here. Of course, just because he didn’t have much time on hand didn’t mean that he would let them off easily. They had made his life a living hell since he had arrived in this world. While he was furious because of the whole Blood Contract thing, he was willing to let it go before. He was just planning on going away after breaking the contract.

But then they took him prisoner and tortured him day after day for more than a month. And as if that was not enough, they had also destroyed one of his eyes permanently. Because of that one incident, he had almost given up on living. If not for Argus, Isaac, and the spell that he had bought in the auction, he might not have gained back his confidence to survive.

And so, he had to pay it all back.

Following that thought, Soren gave out specific orders to his Skeleton Soldiers. Although their skills couldn’t stand up to Soren’s expectations, they were all that he had so he chose them for this.

Wails echoed in the hall and even penetrated the thick walls as the undeads jumped at the six people. Soren stood there with his hands in his jacket pocket and watched his undeads slowly rip these people’s skin off with a peaceful eye. While the undeads were not that skilled when it came to such precision work, they were still able to somehow do the job; albeit, their lack of precision and finesse in doing that made it even worse for these six.

The process continued as these ‘victims’ fainted one after another. The pain crossed the threshold of what they were able to endure so their brain immediately cut the connection. But Soren wasn’t going to allow that; he wanted them to feel every bit of the pain he was going to unleash on them. So, he used his <Spark> spell and shocked everyone’s brain to keep them conscious while his undeads slowly ripped the skin off their body.

The red muscle inside that layer of skin covered in blood and the ear-piercing screams were all that Ellie, Ward, and Phil could see and hear right now. Resultantly, Ellie fainted on the spot while Ward and Phil vomited their guts out. This was not something they could handle even with all the experience they had in hunting Beasts or killing people.

The whole thing continued for a while as the undeads skinned these people in a rough manner. Soren had ordered them to leave their faces alone so their current expression which was filled with pain, despair, hatred, and anger was completely on display. Soren didn’t even let them faint so they had felt every bit of the pain that came when the undeads had torn the skin off their body.

…..

Finally, the whole thing was over. Six red colored bodies covered in blood and gore were currently lying in front of Soren. As they all were Initiators, they still remained alive even after going through all that. Of course, Soren wasn’t going to end it here as he had one more thing to do. As such, he took out his survival knife and crouched down in front of the girl named Marie. She was in a very bad condition right now but she was still able to stay lucid. So, when she saw Soren coming down to her with a knife in his hand, she completely freaked out and quickly started begging for mercy in a weak voice. Although they had been completely skinned, it was not an injury that could not be healed. But if Soren did some permanent damage to her, that might just be the end of her glorious life. Apparently, she was thinking that they were going to live after Soren was done tormenting them.

“An eye….for an eye.” Disregarding her pleas for mercy, Soren whispered in a soft voice as he grabbed her hair and slowly inserted his knife in her right eye.

“AAAAHHH!!!!” He hadn’t gone too deep in her skull so her brain remained undamaged but her eye was completely destroyed.

Soren didn’t stop there though. He once again pulled his knife back, and as the blood mixed with the viscous liquid splattered on his black mask, he inserted it in her left eye; slowly.

“This is….for the interest.”

The pain had already crossed the realm of what she could bear, so she fainted on the spot as the intraocular viscous liquid mixed with blood dripped down from her empty eye sockets.

This time, Soren didn’t wake her up. It was time he finished here as Ervin and others could arrive at any moment. So, he ordered his undeads to drag these people and follow him. He was going to face those Rank 1 Initiators now and wanted to use these people as hostages. Of course, these hostages could only work against Liston Family’s Initiators. If other Families and Organizations decided to interfere in this matter, Soren would have no other choice but to change his plans.

………

Soren stood in front of the Liston Family Mansion facing the main entrance gate. He had already dispersed the Forsaken Knight that he had created previously as controlling it put a huge strain on his soul. He wanted to give his soul a rest before going into this fight. He had also taken out a Mana Crystal from the Storage Pearl and was currently holding it in his hand, trying to recover his Mana quickly. This was a method of recovering Mana which only the Initiators at or above Rank 1 could use. The reason was the Soul Strength.

At Rank 0, the Initiator’s soul wasn’t strong enough to handle the incoming burst of Mana from a Mana Crystal. This same concept applied when it came to removing or adding anything to a Storage Pearl. At Rank 0, the Initiator would have to first release their Soul Form before adding or removing anything from the Storage Pearl; whereas at Rank 1 or above, Initiators could do that without releasing their Soul Form.

…

There were six bloodied bodies sitting behind Soren with expressions filled with pain and anguish. Soren had positioned them in such a way that anyone coming through that main entrance could easily see their faces.

And he didn’t have to wait for long for that to happen as the main entrance opened up soon. The vehicles filled with Initiators entered the mansion ground as Soren tightened his grip on the Mana Crystal.

“DENISE!!!!” Ervin howled in rage the moment he saw the scene behind Soren.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!!!!” He jumped out of the vehicle before it even stopped and started rushing towards Soren. Suddenly, Faron grabbed him from behind and stopped him from moving forward.

“Please stop, Sir. Your actions will only get them killed.” Ervin, in his rage, had actually missed the skeleton undeads standing behind Soren who were wielding swords and were ready to chop Denise’s head if he took another step; the swords were the loot from the mansion.

After hearing Faron’s words and looking at the situation properly, Ervin calmed down a little but still glared at Soren with eyes filled with intense hatred. This was the person who had done all that to his precious daughter; no matter what, he wasn’t going to leave him alive. Of course, he had completely ignored the other five people who were in the same situation as his daughter. Right now, the only thing that occupied his mind was the safety of his child.

“What do you want?” Ervin said as the rest of the Initiators also got out of the vehicles and stood behind him.

A smile formed on Soren’s face as he saw this situation. He had expected as much from Ervin.

“You guys are not from the Liston Family. Do you really want to interfere with this?” Instead of answering Ervin, though, Soren asked the other Rank 1 Initiators that had come together with Ervin and Faron.

“It’s an order from our Young Miss, Mr. Soren. We can’t disobey her.” One of the Initiators answered Soren as two other Rank 1 Initiators stood in support of him.

Just from hearing those words, Soren understood who these people were as he muttered, “Abbate Family…”

“And what about you guys? You also have some kind of grudge with me?” Seeing that the Initiators from the Abbate Family were unwilling to back down, he asked another group which had come together with them.

But instead of an answer, all he got from them was a stare filled with hostility. He even saw Captain Brady standing amongst them with a meaningful smile on his face and no intention of backing out.

*Sigh*

Soren finally released a sigh as he realized that he had no way out of this. Earlier, he was planning on distracting Ervin and Faron during the fight using the hostages. That was all the worth the hostages had for him. A moment of distraction in a fight was enough for him to kill both Ervin and Faron. But now, the situation had changed drastically. Although Soren could still use these hostages to distract those two, it would only serve to hinder him instead. After all, he now had other enemies that he had to take care of.

“Fine...Let's not waste any time then.” Soren muttered in a soft and inaudible voice before taking a look around these Initiators.

Just as these people thought that he was going to negotiate with them, Soren cast his <Create Undead> and created three Forsaken Knights. Three large black-armored undeads came out of the black mist and stood in front of Soren. This sudden act from Soren stunned those Initiators as they all got ready to fight him. They had already seen how terrifying these black-armored undeads were, and so, they had no intention of underestimating either them or their creator, Soren.

The atmosphere in the mansion ground became extremely heavy as Soren took one step forward and said in an authoritative voice, “Kill them.”

Plans never went the way one wanted it to, and so, Soren had to quickly adapt to the situation. Six heads were chopped off in a swift manner as the Forsaken Knights rushed forward to intercept the Initiators.

“NOOOOO!!!!!!!” Ervin’s howl filled with grief and sorrow pervaded the area as the battle began.

There were eight Initiators against Soren but they knew very well that they currently didn’t have the numerical advantage that they would usually have in this kind of situation. This was what it meant to be a Necromancer. Numerical advantage meant nothing against this type of Spellcasters.

Six of the Initiators were blocked by the Forsaken Knights as the other two went after Soren. While the Forsaken Knight had stopped the three Rank 1 Initiators earlier by itself, things were different this time. Tactics, combination, and difference in strength made it so that these six Initiators could rival the three Forsaken Knights at this moment.

On the other side, the other two Initiators who had gone after Soren were a raging Ervin and Denzel, a dark-skinned middle-aged man who had a golden-rimmed monocle on his left eye and was wearing a white overcoat with black pants; the monocle was seemingly his Soul Form. Both their cultivation level was at Rank 1: Layer 2.

Denzel was an Initiator from the Abbate Family. Because of the orders from their Young Miss Dina, he and the other Rank 1 Initiators from the Abbate Family had no choice but to go against Soren. If given the chance, they would have hoped to not antagonize this ‘Traveler’ without a good reason. But here they were, fighting against him because of the stupid ego and pride of their Young Miss. Of course, even if they thought like that in their mind, they could not say it to her face; not unless they wanted to die.

….

Denzel, as a Spellcaster, took a long-distance approach while letting Ervin rush in towards Soren. Although watching his daughter die in front of him had made him go crazy, he was still able to make rational decisions in a fight. He was, after all, a seasoned Rank 1 Initiator.

Seeing Ervin rush towards him with a shield and a lance in his hand, Soren remained calm and cast his spells.

Elemental Sense

Ice Barrage

A dozen of ice arrows formed in front of him as he aimed with his staff and sent them towards Ervin. But the moment he hurled those ice arrows, he saw a bunch of burning whips flying towards him from his left at a high speed.

Shadow Steps

Soren quickly used his movement skill and retreated back while turning into mist and dodging this <Fire Whip> spell cast by Denzel. By this time, the ice arrows had also reached Ervin who used his Bloodline Talent ‘Metal Transmutation’ and increased the size of the shield to cover his whole body.

The sound of ice hitting the metal echoed in that area as Soren did a cast of <Shadow Prison> and aimed at Denzel. A dozen of black chains came out of the ground and were about to pierce him as Denzel suddenly cast <Fire Trail> and escaped the area of effect while leaving a trail of fire behind; this was his movement spell.

But Soren didn’t falter there as he did another cast of <Ice Barrage> and once again sent it towards Ervin. This time, Ervin didn’t stop and kept moving forward with his shield protecting his whole body. As the ice arrows were about to hit his shield, Soren suddenly exploded them all.

Bang!!

A loud blast of ice occurred right in front of Ervin which made him stop for a moment. His shield protected him from all the shards so he wasn’t injured but this one moment of hesitation was all that Soren needed.

Shadow Steps

So, he quickly used his movement skill and rushed towards Ervin. But as he was about to reach near the place where the ice arrows had exploded, a red beam of light suddenly came towards him from his left at a very high speed, taking him by surprise.

Although he hadn’t expected this kind of spell from Denzel, Soren reacted very quickly because of his eye skill and moved away from the path of the spell; he was still in his mist form so he evaded it easily. But the moment the beam passed him, it abruptly turned and once again came at him. This spell was actually a homing type of spell; something that Soren himself was aiming for with his <Dark Raven>. 

This time, he couldn’t dodge it properly and the beam hit his right shoulder, burning a hole in it. A burst of pain hit Soren but his expression remained the same. He had experienced much worse this past month; this much pain was nothing for him now.

As he looked towards the source of this spell, he found out that this beam was actually not a spell at all. This was the unique ability of Denzel’s Soul Form; his monocle.

Isaac, analyze the residual of the beam.

Seeing this homing type of beam in front of him, Soren couldn’t help but get greedy for the knowledge about how it worked. But even if he ordered Isaac to analyze it, Soren didn’t get distracted from the battle. Ervin had currently moved very close to him, so he had to move back quickly; after all, this was not a good distance for him to fight.

So, once again he used his movement skill and dodged the <Shield Rush> skill that Ervin had just used. Dodging Ervin’s skill by a hair’s breadth, Soren retreated back while leaving a trail of black mist.

After increasing his distance, he suddenly lifted both his hands, one wielding the staff while the other holding the Mana Crystal, and aimed at Ervin and Denzel. A moment of silence pervaded the area as he started casting.

Ice Barrage

Ice Barrage

Ice Barrage

Ice Barrage

Dozens of ice arrows floated in front of him as the temperature around him fell down sharply and even froze the ground. Without wasting any time, though, Soren hurled these ice arrows towards his enemies.

Even after seeing so many ice arrows coming towards them, Ervin and Denzel both remained calm and swiftly took defensive measures. Ervin used his shield as he expanded it to defend himself while Denzel cast his Defense Spell, <Earth Wall>.

But as these ice arrows were about to reach their targets, Soren suddenly exploded them all.

BANG!!

As a result of this ice explosion, the area around Ervin and Denzel were now covered in white mist and ice shards. And Soren didn’t let this chance go to waste as he quickly started rushing towards Ervin. As he reached closer to the edge of the mist, he suddenly stopped and cast his <Frost Domain>; freezing the outer part of the mist.

A chain reaction abruptly began as the mist around Ervin froze at a very high speed and turned into an iceberg, sealing him within. But Soren didn’t stop there as he then cast <Shadow Prison> as a backup.

Suddenly, a bunch of fireballs flew towards the iceberg and bombarded it; this was Denzel’s spell <Fire Strike>. The iceberg quickly broke apart under the spell’s effect as Ervin was free once again. But Soren’s backup, the <Shadow Prison>, was already in effect, so Ervin had to use his ‘Metal Transmutation’ and protect himself against its binding property.

Soren obviously wasn’t going to sit around for him to do that as he aimed at Ervin and cast <Dark Gravity> while he was distracted by the chains.

The moment Soren finished casting the spell, Ervin felt the gravitational force around him increase exponentially. A bad feeling rose in his mind as he quickly used all the power he had and forced the metal from his ‘Metal Cube’ towards the ground. Of course, such action couldn’t stop the spell but it did lift Ervin in the air and prevented him from getting hit by the second phase of the spell.

But as he was in the air, he suddenly saw a dark raven coming towards him at a high speed. He had no way to defend himself against this sudden attack, so the only thing he could do now was to watch as the dark raven hit his chest.

“AAH!!” A loud scream came out of Ervin’s mouth as the spell hit him and withered the area around his chest; his armor absorbed some of the damage so it wasn’t very severe, though.

On the other side, Soren calmly watched all this without a shred of excitement on his face as he dodged the <Fire Whip> coming from Denzel. He knew his spell could at most injure Ervin and not kill him. But still, this was the first spell so far that had been successful.

Nevertheless, seeing how the situation had developed so far, Soren knew that he needed to change his tactics. If things continued like this, he was going to run out of Mana sooner or later. The Mana Crystals were supporting his Mana Recovery for now but it could not fill his Mana reserve that quickly to make up for what he was using.

So, Soren ditched his two enemies and started running towards the other battlefield; towards his Forsaken Knights and the other six Initiators. As he came close to them, he was suddenly attacked by a bunch of <Wind Blade> spells. These wind blades were sent by Faron who had seen Soren rushing towards them. But as these blades came close to Soren, they were all stopped by one of his Forsaken Knights.

The next moment, Soren took control of the situation and swiftly commanded his Forsaken Knights. Under his orders, one of the Forsaken Knights suddenly dodged his opponents and dashed towards another Forsaken Knight. This sudden changed stunned the Rank 1 Initiators as the undead then used his right hand and threw the other Forsaken Knight towards one of their opponents. The already stunned Initiators were now completely shocked as the thrown Forsaken Knight flew towards the ‘Geomancer’ of the group at a very high speed and chopped him apart in one strike; one Rank 1 Initiator was dead.

Seeing the death of their companion brought them to their senses as they all quickly dodged the ice arrows coming their way. But as they dodged, they all suddenly found themselves being attacked by a dark raven.

All of them had to use a defense spell or skill as they realized that this was a homing type of spell. By the time they finished dealing with the dark ravens, Soren had already started his next attack. He aimed his staff at the Initiator who excelled at using Lightning Element spells and cast <Acid Needles>. Bunch of thin green needles formed in front of him and were then hurled towards his target.

The targeted Initiator also sensed this attack using his sensing spell and quickly dodged using his <Lightning Stream> spell. But just as he moved away from the spell’s path, he suddenly found a Forsaken Knight above his head swinging the big sword at him. Before this Initiator had dodged, Soren had already sent his three Forsaken Knights towards all the possible directions that he could go.

This Rank 1 Initiator was also not weak, though, as he quickly started casting his <Earth Dome> spell and tried to protect himself against the powerful strike from the Forsaken Knight. But things didn’t go well for him as black chains suddenly came out from the ground around him and bound him; rendering his casting invalid. Unable to defend himself against the Forsaken Knight and also suffering from the backlash, he could only watch as he too was cut into two pieces; and like that, one more Initiator had died.

While this Initiator was being chopped in half, Soren turned into dark mist and tried to dodge the attacks from the remaining Initiators; Ervin and Denzel had also joined the others at this point. Soren dodged most of the attacks but ended up being hit by Ervin’s <Shield Rush>, causing him to be pushed back a few meters as he started bleeding from his head and nose.

He had already cast his <Shadow Prison> before that Initiator had started casting his <Earth Dome> and that became the reason for his death; as it was nigh impossible to send an origin point of a spell inside an area protected by another spell.

Seeing that his plan worked, Soren quickly ordered his Forsaken Knights to get back. After all, being protected by the three Forsaken Knights from all the sides allowed him to fully focus on the offense.

There were only six Initiators left now and most of them were already injured. Soren himself was also quite injured after getting attacked by the combined attacks from all the Initiators. Maybe that was the reason, but the fight suddenly came to a pause as they all stared at each other while trying to catch their breath.

The situation remained as such for a couple of minutes. During this time, Soren quickly repaired his Spell Vessels and took out another Mana Crystal to increase his Mana Recovery rate; he had already gone through dozens of Mana Crystals in this fight and it was slowly taking a toll on his soul. Of course, other Initiators also did the same but it didn’t take long before the battle began once more.

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