Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 614: The Might of a Necromancer

He then turned toward his fellow bearkin warriors and shouted, ”Getting picked one by one with our backs turned to our enemies is not the way of the mighty bearkin! There’s no greater honor one could achieve than dying a warrior’s death! Don’t let them capture you!”

*ROOOOAAAAARRR!*

His subordinates were more than receptive to Kargrim’s brief speech. I saw not a single shred of fright as all 400 of them bravely stood side-by-side before charging into certain death together.

”Kargrim…” Sova shed a single tear while watching the broad back of her captain charge at the undead. Everyone in the aerial unit did the same. I only met this warrior a day ago, yet he left quite an impression on me, so I could only imagine how those who’ve known him for centuries felt.

”We have no time to waste!” my words successfully awoke them, and our retreat efforts resumed.

As we sprinted away, I couldn’t help but look back. The bearkin warriors, true to their nature, fought with every ounce of strength in their massive frames. Their sheer power was undeniable: each strike of their fists shattered skeletons like brittle twigs. Bones broke into smithereens as undead bodies were flung aside like ragdolls under their might. For a brief moment, it almost seemed like they could hold their own.

But then the tide shifted. The sheer number of the undead became insurmountable. For every skeleton crushed, ten more took their place. The bearkin were drowning in a sea of undead. I watched as clawed hands grabbed at their limbs and as skeletal jaws bit into their flesh. Even as they fell, they fought. Their roars of defiance rang through the battlefield, but one by one, those voices were snuffed out, consumed by the overwhelming horde.

The worst of it all was that the bearkin’s valiant stand didn’t buy us almost any time. The undead tide barely paused for a moment before resuming their tireless pursuit.

Several of our allies simply weren’t fast enough to outrun them. Even I struggled to keep pace with the swiftest members running ahead of the rest of the undead—the corpses of wolfkin, dogkin, and other speedster beastkin subspecies.

We had no choice but to take to the skies. Ignis, Raika, and Vex continued on foot, but the rest of us—my team and Ryker’s—were lifted into the air by birdkin and rabbitkin warriors who possessed [Sky Hopper] and other flight-enhancing abilities. Their riders turned in their saddles, aiming their crossbows at the undead, but it was a futile effort. Even if they were properly trained rangers, 200 crossbowmen could never prove to be a significant enough force to repel an army of this size.

The undead horde didn’t seem bothered by us taking to the skies—they kept following us from the ground.

Our strategy seemed to be working; we were finally pulling away by gaining altitude.

But then, an ominous feminine voice rang out across the vast fields, amplified by magic.

”My army of the dead! [Ascend]!”

A wave of power washed across the battlefield as a result.

It wasn’t the skeletons themselves casting the spell—from what I could tell, they lacked the intelligence or the autonomy to perform magic on their own. The necromancer, however, had no such limitations. It seemed she could cast spells that affected her entire horde.

In an instant, birdkin and rabbitkin skeletons began transforming. Their wings or rabbitkin legs materialized as if they themselves cast their aerial spells.

I watched grimly as thousands of such skeletons broke free of the army, ascending skyward—toward us.

They were fast. Just like that, our advantage in the air was gone.

”Shit!” Ryker swore after barely managing to dodge a bony claw that slashed at his leg. The aerial units were getting overwhelmed. I watched as, within mere moments, dozens of our allies were dragged down from the skies, forced to plummet to the ground, where the rest of the tide tore them to shreds.

”No! Guys, run!” BunBun cried with grief upon seeing her cherished allies fall one after the other. She was doing her best to hop faster than ever. She carried both me and Aurora due to there being more riders than mounts.

Iris’ ride was one of the slower ones, mostly because of the armor she wore. The aerial units were not fit to carry multiple people, let alone when they were so heavy. Once an enemy neared, she spun, kicking the falconkin corpse in the head, sending it barreling backward. But multiple skeletons overtook its place, forcing Iris to fight. Soon, it became hopeless. She had to let go of her ride.

”[Airwalk].” I pretended to cast a spell, using my [Wind Manipulation] to manipulate the element to let me act as if I was still an intermediate Elemental Sovereign. ŗÀ𐌽ôᛒĚs̩

I was truly in a bind. I desperately wanted to go all out, but if I did, my future prospects looked grim. For all I knew, I might find myself betrayed by Black Fang herself, deciding she couldn’t afford to let a person of my importance enjoy the current independence I had. Maybe I’ll even find an iron collar strapped around my neck.

”Quin!” Aurora cried after seeing I let go of BunBun. The rabbitgirl was doing her best, but she struggled to carry both me and Aurora.

”Keep going, BunBun, no matter what happens!” I instructed while rushing toward the falling Iris, catching her before she fell into the middle of the horde.

Below us, the writhing mass of undead awaited, but they were not our only problems. The flying undead were overwhelming us fast.

*BOOM!*

A violent explosion rocked the sky, sending a fiery shockwave through the air that incinerated a cluster of airborne skeletons in an instant. I turned to see Ignis barreling toward us with flames trailing in his wake. He fire-punched another skeleton that was in his path, sending its charred remains plummeting below.

”Hold on, youngsters.” His voice was grim, resolute. Nonetheless, the Ashbringer did his best to help us out despite having to expend a great deal of mana to conjure major spells due to the natural resistance skeletons enjoyed against his element.

Two more figures leaped into the sky—Raika and Vex. Unlike Ignis, they weren’t flying, for they had no aerial spell in their arsenal. As such, they elected to simply use their overwhelming Strength stats to propel themselves upward, launching off the ground like cannonballs.

Raika slammed her fist into the ribcage of a flying skeleton, shattering it instantly. Before she could fall, she twisted midair and kicked off another one, propelling herself higher. Vex followed suit, using the undead themselves as stepping stones, leaping between them like a parkour expert while kicking them crashing toward the ground in one go.

I had an ashen expression while taking in all the chaos around me. As impressive as the display of our three elites was, it wasn’t a solution. The flying skeletons weren’t infinite, but they might as well have been. Furthermore, even if we somehow beat the ones in the air, the ground forces were just as relentless. More than that, our flying spells wouldn’t last forever.

It was all a losing battle.

”Damn it!” Ayame cursed while narrowly avoiding a claw swipe; she was forced to do acrobatic dodges on top of a flying birdkin so as not to get grabbed out of the air. ”We have to do something!”

No one argued. We were getting overwhelmed by the second. Even Ignis, despite his destructive power, wasn’t enough to clear a path. More skeletons kept rising; this necromancer commanded a seemingly never-ending tide of undeath.

But then—

”Quinlan Noir!”

The battlefield noise instantly faded into a dull silence as a loud, feminine shout reverberated across the battlefield. My mind froze as if the entire world had been yanked out from under me. That voice… It didn’t come from one of my trusted allies using [Master’s Link]. No… It came from…

I turned.

Slowly.

As if I could delay what I would see. As if I could somehow unhear the words before they were spoken.

Vex.

The Hexblade. Black Fang’s disciple. My future wife.

She was staring straight at me.

She knew.

”Stop pretending to be a weakling!”

Her voice rang across the battlefield, louder than the howls of the undead.

And then...

She parted her lips once again.

.

.

.

”Show me the might of a primordial!”