134 The End Of Resistance (1/2)

After watching Nivar order the execution of the woman she had begun to suffocate, a smile appeared on my lips. It was a reminder that despite how rarely I used the undead, they were chillingly effective weapons and tools I should make more direct use of.

Once the woman was dead and pounded into the ground, and Nivar was back atop her pet the two began to move again. But now they weren't the only agents of mine that were inside of the town. There were, in fact, more of my servants than inhabitants of the town within the town at this point.

I quickly shifted my mental vision, scanning the area for other servants. Of the corporeal servants at my command in the area, I was consciously made aware of the fact that this particular army was fairly even in its ranks. There were equal numbers of zombies and skeletons, which were the most populous of my servants in the town, and then a much smaller number of other corporeal undead.

Wrights, mummies, vampires, and creatures like hungry hands were some of the other bodily undead servants who were merely hunting down and butchering the living. And I could tell that they were quite effective at it. Thanks to and through them I could hear the screams of the living. And it was a fun sound to be able to hear.

I quickly scanned the whole town and found that already many living people had been killed. That warmed my heart to know, since I was attempting to embrace my role as a god of calamity, eldritch horrors, and death, on Salifinos if nowhere else.

The truth was, that the delight my servants felt as they were bathed in the blood of the living was affecting me too. I felt an echo of it, and since so many undead were on Salifinos, exterminating living mortals, even an echo of their emotions was significant.

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Another servant of mine who was in the town and contributing to its destruction was a dark elven vampire. This servant hadn't particularly distinguished himself during the battle in the reptilefolk encampment, but currently he was rushing headfirst to confront the town's guards.

The town's guards were a handful of human men who wore light armor, held simple shields, and had shortswords in their other hands. They were a gruff group of men who had spent years training and defending their community, and they boldly dashed at the undead, corporeal and incorporeal alike, who had invaded their town. They were afraid, but there was something admirable in their ability to overcome their fear enough for them to rush headlong into battle.

I didn't know if they knew much about the undead. There weren't many necromancers on Salifinos, and most of them were eldritch abominations, which meant many mortals most likely either never saw the undead or only saw them shortly before their lives ended. So in the eyes of the town's guard, even guards on the frontier and frontlines of the war, odds are the monsters that there were attacking them and their friends was a never before seen class of terrifying monster.

I watched, grinning sadistically as my vampiric minion's dashing enabled him to close the distance that separated him from the guards. He was equally happy and reached out with his claw-tipped hands. The guard closest to him attempted to stab into him with his sword, the weapon giving him a slight reach advantage, but the vampire was too fast and narrowly dodged the weapon all while moving close to the guard and using his claw-tipped fingers to slice through the guard's light armor. The blow was quick and light, but it also successfully damaged the guard's armor.

”Heh. You're doomed.” The vampire muttered, in the language of his people. The human didn't understand it, and growled in anger in response. Instinctively the human man could tell he was being taunted and his pride didn't let him take that and stay silent in the face of it.

He pulled back his blade and was attempting to ready another blow when the vampire surprised him by leaping at the militia-man. The guard was too close to be able to dodge the unusual technique and was instead hit, full-force by the vampire's muscled form. The vampire proceeded to force the guard to the ground, causing the man to land flat on his back.

”I am so... damn... thirsty.” The vampire growled, a sadistic smile on his lips as he did so. He knelt on top of the guard and his scarlet eyes flashed with hunger. Each time he spoke his teeth were revealed, including elongated canines that were common to the kind of undead monsters he happened to be.