17. The Path of the Undead

Almost simultaneously, the priests of the Frost Dragon Clan and the Flame Axe Clan received divine oracles while deep in prayer.

Some deity within the Orc pantheon had taken notice of the war between these Orc clans. Generally, the Orc gods cared little for the lives of their mortal subjects. They accepted small-scale conflicts and casualties among tribes, provided they remained within reasonable limits, for only blood and battle could forge the strong.

Yet, this time, the fratricidal slaughter between the Orcs seemed to have exceeded the limit. At the very least, one of the gods in the Orc pantheon found it distasteful. Consequently, within a single day, the priests of the three great clans received the same divine oracle: "Cease hostilities immediately, Orc tribes! Unite against the common enemy!"

When the priests rode their worgs between the encampments and the front lines to deliver the divine command, the Orcs, blinded by bloodlust, were forced to desist. The god's decree traveled from the tribal tents all the way to the ongoing battlefields.

For the next two or three days, the wilderness witnessed a recurring scene: two squads of Orcs, who moments before had been gripping their spears in preparation for a charge, withdrew their weapons, turned around, and retreated to their respective tribes. The war ended in a manner as farcical as it was sudden—all because of a single word from a god.

Inside a spacious tent, the Great Chieftain of the Blood Wolf Clan, his left eye now nothing more than a hollow socket, reflected on the frantic, brutal war of the past two months. His blood still boiled within his veins.

"It is a pity. This is the will of the gods. I can no longer teach those bastards from the Flame Axe Clan a lesson," the Blood Wolf Chieftain grumbled, his body covered in fresh wounds. "We were only half a month away from completely annexing the Flame Axe Clan and achieving final victory!"

The High Priest turned to the still-fuming Chieftain, attempting to soothe him. "Looking back, perhaps we were too impulsive. We should not have defied the will of the gods and allowed the Orc tribes to fall into this terrible internal strife. I even suspect that the humans were inciting us, manipulating us into killing our own kind!"

"Hmph. You speak of humans?" The Blood Wolf Chieftain scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain. "What could those cowardly, incompetent, hairless monkeys possibly do? Priest, I fear you hold them in too high regard! Even if they did do something, the primary cause of this war was those bastards from the Flame Axe Clan!"

The High Priest lowered his head, not daring to contradict the Chieftain, lest he provoke the wrath of this formidable Orc hero.

The Chieftain heaved a long sigh. "However, you are right. Since the oracle has been delivered, the Orc tribes must unite. We need a common enemy. It is convenient, then, to use those human villages as our target. The blood shed by Orc warriors over these past two months shall be repaid with the blood of these cowardly humans!"

Seeing this, the High Priest’s face lit up with delight. "Excellent. I shall immediately send word to the other two clans to re-establish the alliance. We will form a coalition to raid hundreds of human villages. We shall celebrate the birth of the new Orc alliance with human blood!"

"Go and see to it at once," the Chieftain said with a wave of his hand, endorsing the priest's plan.

In the Chieftain's eyes, even though the Orcs had been severely weakened by the war, once united, those cowardly and pathetic humans would be no match for them. After all, had those aggressive human mages who had threatened to annihilate them not vanished into thin air recently?

...

Aerian stood on the hillside, gazing at the dense, swarming Orc army in the distance. The Orcs, whether on foot or mounted on worgs, brandishing crude and simple weapons, were converging from three directions. These Orcs, having just emerged from a major war, were clearly unable to trust one another fully, still rife with friction and resentment. Yet, they had been cobbled together nonetheless.

They clamored, roared, and bellowed as they marched toward the human lands. This time, they intended to destroy one hundred villages and claim the heads of ten thousand humans as their spoils of war.

"As expected, the three Orc clans have formed a coalition. They are preparing for a massive offensive against human territory."

"Because the Flame Axe Clan is on the verge of extinction and the Blood Wolf Clan has suffered heavy losses, the main strength of this coalition consists of the Frost Dragon Clan's Orcs."

Aerian watched this long-anticipated scene with a calm expression. He had not ordered his mages to attempt to stop the Orcs this time. Firstly, because this alliance was forged in the name of the gods, it was impossible to truly stop. Secondly, the mages of Eldolon truly needed the trial of a conventional, large-scale war.

"Begin. Proceed according to the plan," Aerian said, turning to the mages behind him.

"We obey your will, Your Majesty!" Sol and the other mages replied in unison.

Over this period, under Aerian's command, they had made all necessary preparations. Aerian cast his gaze further into the distance, behind the ranks of the mages. There, a dense mass of zombies and skeletons surged—strong undead reanimated from the corpses of Orcs.

They had not been idle during the two months the Orc clans had been at war.

...

Two months ago, shortly after the Orc tribal war had begun, the battlefield was littered with Orc corpses scattered across the wilderness.

"Begin. According to the spells I have taught you, inject the false life force simulated by necromancy into the corpses until they have established a stable link with the Negative Energy Plane." Aerian instructed the mages patiently.

The mages in the front line began to chant. Dark, foul energy flowed from their fingertips into the Orc corpses. One by one, the bodies stood up. Some became zombies, others skeletons. Compared to the zombies and skeletons raised from human corpses, these undead were taller and far more robust!

"It worked! This is the undead created by magic."

"They will obey our commands completely, right?"

"Come here. Come here."

Seeing the mages' wonder as they attempted to issue commands to the undead, Aerian found it slightly amusing. The mages of the Eldolon era were accustomed to facing enemies head-on; at most, some would keep a familiar with little combat utility. They were entirely ignorant of the minions commonly used by powerful mages of later ages, such as undead, constructs, extraplanar entities, elementals, or alchemically modified creatures.

In the apocalyptic era from which Aerian hailed, things were entirely different. Back then, a powerful legendary mage was, quite literally, a one-man army. The "deployed units" driven by a mage's spells could be ten or even a hundred times more troublesome than the mage themselves.

But in the era of Eldolon, humanity was in its infancy, and their understanding of magic was quite superficial—especially regarding the School of Necromancy. Humans had first encountered magic primarily because of the whims of certain Moon Elves from the Elven Court. These bored Moon Elves, while teaching magic to the "inferior species," had deliberately omitted what they considered the most evil, dangerous, and depraved parts—the forbidden arts of the Elven Court: the necromancy used to create undead.

When teaching, they had touched upon some minor necromantic spells, but only those that weakened or debilitated enemies, such as "Ray of Enfeeblement," while intentionally ignoring the true, terrifying essence of the school: the mastery of the undead.

Because of this, the necromancy taught within the arcane schools of Eldolon was completely crippled. Only a few powerful mages who sought to distinguish themselves chose to specialize in it, such as the original Aerian.

But now, Aerian was correcting this deficiency for Eldolon!

Historically, there had been many versions of spells and rituals for raising undead. Some required rare black onyx as a material component; others required the caster to expend massive amounts of mana daily to maintain control. The version Aerian was teaching now was the most efficient one—no rare materials or daily maintenance required. Once an undead was created from a corpse, it was a permanent asset! The only limitation was the total number of undead a mage could control, which was capped by their individual strength.

"Is this your necromancy, Your Majesty? It is truly miraculous!" Sol tried ordering a group of zombies to wield their weapons, delighted by the absolute obedience of the undead. "They can serve as soldiers, compensating for our lack of proficiency in close-quarters combat. And unlike ordinary soldiers, they feel neither pain nor fear."

"No need for food or water, no fear, no fatigue—the perfect, absolutely obedient soldiers!" Sol was overjoyed.

Close-quarters combatants and fragile mages could complement each other tactically, creating a synergy where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. For a long time, Eldolon's lack of physical combat power had been a major weakness, especially compared to the Elves of the West, who were adept in swordsmanship, archery, and magic alike. Now, however, it seemed that the role of physical combat units could be perfectly fulfilled by undead.

"Indeed," Aerian said, walking among the skeletons and zombies, explaining with the patience of a kind teacher. "Once an undead creature is successfully created, the magical aura used to animate it dissipates, and it is treated as a naturally existing being. Therefore, these units can continue to operate and fight even within an [Anti-Magic Field] or a [Dead Magic Zone]..."

"Yes. Now you mages can try slaughtering warriors in environments where magic is suppressed, heh..."

Aerian continued his lecture. "For now, the zombies and skeletons you have created are merely the most basic undead units. They retain only the physical attributes of the deceased and cannot preserve supernatural abilities like spellcasting. Thus, they can only serve as ordinary soldiers and are ill-suited for complex tactical roles. Of course, for Orcs, who possess only strength and physique without supernatural power, they are perfectly suited!"

"In the future, when we have suitable corpses, I will teach you more complex necromancy to create undead with more specialized capabilities..."

Sol and the other mages nodded, listening intently. The magical knowledge from the future that this Supreme Mage was imparting was incredibly fresh and revolutionary to them.

As he watched the Orc corpses on the battlefield transformed into zombies and skeletons, and looked upon the grim, lifeless faces of the undead, Aerian felt a sense of profound reassurance. Facing the Abyssal invasion thirty years hence, Eldolon now possessed a new type of unit.

This was the third reason for Aerian's resolve to exterminate the Orcs. Though the Orcs were poor, they provided a very precious resource: corpses. Compared to animal carcasses, which were difficult to manipulate or reanimate, the bodies of humanoid creatures were an exceptionally valuable treasure.

Once this great purge of the Orcs was complete, Aerian believed that for the next few decades, Eldolon would never suffer a shortage of cheap corpses for the advancement of its necromantic arts.