134 The End Of Resistance (2/2)

As soon as he was done speaking he hurled his mouth at the guard's exposed neck and began to bite the guard's soft neck. His fangs immediately penetrated the flesh of the guard, and the man began to wail in pain. The guard would only suffer for a few moments, but while he was suffering he was enduring excruciating pain as his most precious bodily fluid was stolen from him.

The guard wasn't alone, but the other guards couldn't reach him. Even though they were close, other undead monsters were backing the vampire. Skeletons and zombies, as well as wraiths, had closed in on the battle and began to engage the other guards who normally would have prioritized rescuing their friend.

Not that it would have mattered, the guard was dead, fully drained by the vampire in a matter of seconds. The vampire's personal vice was gluttony and it powered his ability to drain life from the living in a speedy manner. The guard was fully deceased rather quickly, but that wasn't even the end of the guard's existence. Vampires didn't just kill their victims.

The guard's corpse began to moan, and his eyes began to vibrate. His moan had an unnervingly erotic component to it and was definitely the sound of a man having a pleasurable experience, and not a corpse becoming something far more terrible than just a dead body.

Not far from them, a skeleton and a guard exchanged blows. The guard was quickly learning that trying to stab a skeleton, who lacked both flesh and blood, wasn't a great tactic even when his blade actually connected with one of the monster's bones. Meanwhile, the skeleton's axe was a fantastic weapon against the living guard.

In other parts of the town the violence was far more one-sided. The town had little over one hundred people. It was amazing that it had twelve guards, or that it had had twelve guards and now had eleven. That number wouldn't be that high for long.

I pulled myself away from an up-close observation of the battle and instead took on a bird's eye view of the conflict. In doing so I saw the dozens of incorporeal, flying spirits that surrounded the town. I learned, over the course of a few minutes of watching them that they were vulture-like in attitude and swooped down on any mortals who attempted to flee the town.

Wraiths and ghosts hurled themselves at any children who managed to escape from their homes unaided, and that number was surprisingly small. Only five children lived in the town, an impossibly small number even given the town's small size.

It was this realization that made me stand up and teleport myself to this town. In an instant, I went from standing in my tower to standing at the edge of the town, where Nivar and her pet had wreaked havoc, minutes ago.

Elsewhere my servants were causing mayhem, but this far from the battle only the slowest undead were still active. I could see them in the distance, entering houses and exploring them.

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This town was already largely wrecked. The air smelled of death and of blood and was filled with screams, wails, and the sound of distant battle. Houses that I could see were visibly damaged, most not quite as much as the house Nivar had attacked, but many had broken windows, shattered doors, and bloodied walls. Thanks to my vision I could see both distant battles and also countless bodies.

”I suppose I should explore...” I said, curious to see if I could figure out why this town had so few children. My theory was that the mortals here tried to send their children away since this town was situated on the frontlines of a savage war. This theory was one I believed was possible since this particular town lacked a sizable defense, and relied on militiamen who were being easily wiped out by my servants. That said, I wanted to find out for sure if I could.

I took my first few steps onto this new world and would spend the next few minutes exploring the town's outskirts. It was during this time that my horde would advance into the town and proceeded to successfully exterminate the town's populace. Each death brought a macabre smile to my face, and the final death brought the biggest smile. It marked the completion of the quest to acquire the second tier of influence over the subdomain of necromancy.