Supreme Magus

Chapter 4014: Corrupted Life Force (Part 3)

Sylpha wore a bland cream-colored day dress, her hands were dirty with ink, and her face taut from the exhaustion of the long day, but to Meron’s eyes she was as beautiful as the day he had married her.

”Gods, it’s been so long that I might have forgotten how to do it.” She blushed a bit, sweeping a few strands of unruly hair behind her ear. ”Just give me a minute to slip into something more comfortable and-”

”I’m not waiting one minute longer.” Meron cut her short and swept the air with his hand. ”I don’t care about fancy clothes, and I need no bed. We’re going to do it right here and now on this table!”

”Gods, I love it when you are so assertive.” The Queen took a soft pillow out of her dimensional item and placed it on her work desk at the same time as the King did the same.

”Good night, my love.” Meron fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow, his lips parting to let out a soft snore.

”Don’t start without me!” The Queen arranged her hair in a bun and was about to lie her head down when the alarm blared, and the lights in the room flashed red.

”Oh, come on!” Sylpha cursed like an angry sailor. ”What’s happening now?”

As for Meron, he snored harder. His body did everything it could to ignore the noise and keep sleeping.

”Your Majesties, the Kingdom is under attack!” The hologram of General Vorgh appeared in the middle of the room along with a map of the Griffon Kingdom.

”Under attack from who?” The King woke up instantly.

”Meln Narchat.” Vorgh said with a grave tone. ”The Dead King is back, and he’s out for revenge. His army of Upyrs is laying waste to our lands.”

”Lands?” Sylpha furrowed her brow. ”How many Upyrs does Narchat have?”

”Based on the incoming reports, we estimate the Dead King has brought at least two thousand Upyrs.”

”Two thousand?” The King echoed in disbelief. ”That’s more than the average number of Divine Beasts of a single bloodline. What are their targets?”

”The Kingdom, My Liege.” Vorgh pointed at the several red dots across the map that marked the sites of the attacks.

They were scattered all across the Griffon Kingdom, and more dots lit up by the second. There was no apparent scheme in the onslaught. Small and big cities were under attack, no matter how irrelevant they were from a strategic standpoint.

After a few seconds of staring at the hologram, one pattern emerged.

”Narchat is not interested in conquest. He’s merely destroying everything on his path as quickly as he can before moving on to his next target.” Meron said.

”And they are all a diversion.” Sylpha pointed out. ”He wants to keep our forces busy as he strikes at the Distar region.”

Meron followed her finger and noticed that the Distar Marquisate had no more red dots than its neighbors, but they all appeared in specific locations that the Crown had been monitoring for a long time.

***

The Queen was right about Orpal’s real goal, but she was also wrong.

Most of the attacks were indeed a diversion, but they all served a precise purpose. Just like the Dead King, the Upyrs had returned to their lands of origin to exact their revenge on those who had wronged them.

Their former masters, rival apprentices, siblings, and family members who had played a decisive role in the banishment of the Upyrs were the only targets that mattered.

Everything and everyone else was just fun.

The army of Upyr had more than enough power to conquer a few regions of the Kingdom if they put their mind to it, yet they lacked the means to keep the citizens compliant to their rule or repel the inevitable retaliation of the Crown.

Most importantly, the Upyrs had no will to undertake such a burdensome task. Awakened were egotistical by nature, and few among them wanted to spend most of their lives as bureaucrats, tending to the lives of lesser beings.

On top of that, the Upyrs knew that ruling a region would have earned them nothing but another chain on their neck. The Dead King had made no secret of his dreams of becoming the next ruler of the Kingdom, and no Upyr could afford to defy him.

At least not until they mastered all the Vurdalak’s bloodline abilities and ascertained whether his life force had multiple aspects like a Tiamat’s or not. The Upyrs dreamed of turning into full Phoenixes and Dragons, wishing to gain Rebirth Flames and Dragon Eyes.

Orpal had turned Lith’s feat in Jiera to his advantage, using the revelation of the Tiamat’s hidden potential to strengthen the leash around his minions’ necks and ensure their loyalty to him for a bit longer.

The squads of Upyrs employed the same strategy that Orpal had used in the Blood Desert. A few of them plunged in the middle of the city/village and spread their Frost Soul to keep the rest of the defensive arrays from activating and neutralize the first responders.

Frost Soul didn’t work on the air- and earth-sealing arrays that were always kept active, but it froze the most powerful magical formations that were kept on standby and any mage who tried to cast a spell.

At the same time, more Upyrs attacked the cities/villages from the outside with Fire Soul to burn through the active arrays without hindering Frost Soul and split the focus of the army and Association on two fronts.

The tactic was as simple as it was effective, allowing the Upyrs to commit massacres on a large scale while encountering minimal resistance. They all could use Spirit Magic to bypass Frost Soul, and their raw physical prowess made them giants among ants living in sand castles.

One kick was enough to raze a house to the ground and kill its occupants. A punch squashed a squad of fully armed soldiers like a bunch of bugs. The people screamed and cried for help, yet no one came to their rescue.

Those gentle souls who tried to help the wounded with their powers froze on the spot as well, adding to the number of casualties and causing more panic.

”It’s been so long since the last time I’ve been here.” Orpal looked at the burning Lachar orphanage, where he had been sent over a decade ago after his parents disowned him. ”Sixteen years, yet it seems yesterday.”

A tier five spell, Raging Sun, destroyed the building and killed those who had been too slow or scared to evacuate it.

”I’ve suffered so many scars during my stay here, but today I’m going to heal from them once and for all.” He cast more spells until the Lachar orphanage was nothing but ash and rubble.

Once he was done, Orpal used water magic to douse the flames and earth magic to heal the land until no trace of either the attack or the building remained.

”What about the witnesses, My Liege?” Jorl had a hard time suppressing his sneer at that word, but he performed his role of loyal general and right-hand man of the Dead King flawlessly, like he did everything else.