klisemfg Chapter 296 Who is the real necromancer?
Chapter 296 Who is the real necromancer?
"You've been resurrected, so why are you targeting me? Didn't you want revenge?"
Lorraine was baffled. Who was Hercula? His teacher had already told him. This guy was killed by the righteous people of Southshore; he was a traitor, a member of a cult at the time.
The plague was spread by the Cult of the Damned. The former prince of Lordaeron and his fiancée Jaina discovered the truth and killed their leader, Kel'Thuzad.
The school of spiritualism was expelled from the Kirin Tor of Dalaran... and listed as taboo.
Kel'Thuzad was banished by the Kirin Tor long ago, and the dangers of necromancy have long been documented. Gaining power from the demons of the abyss comes at a price that mortals cannot bear... and the evil spirits summoned are extremely harmful.
The once-fragile spatial nodes around Dalaran were a chain reaction triggered by the misuse of magic.
The magic used by the mages here is primarily arcane and abyssal magic... Arcane magic can decompose and reconstruct matter, including life and flesh, and even reverse time... Abyssal magic is equally mysterious; echoes from other dimensions are always shrouded in the unknown. Adventurous and thrill-seeking mages disregard the risks and forcibly open the website...
Oh, wrong. It was forcibly opening a portal to another world that ultimately brought death and chaos to the human realm...
Hercula roared at Lorraine, but didn't stop wielding his wand. As he waved his wand, countless skeletons that had been sleeping in the Southshore cemetery sprang out... their numbers were no less than the number of living people in Southshore.
The cemetery is filled with too many corpses, the remains of generations unable to rest in peace; Hercula's summoning magic is a form of forced resurrection.
Those who were resurrected were almost all empty shells, soulless puppets.
"Tch... I thought it was something special. This kind of low-level skeleton spell is something I've already mastered... It looks impressive in numbers, but it's completely useless."
Lorraine, with the mindset of someone who's been there, mocked the so-called lich's disciples.
His upgraded intermediate necromancy runes, even at their lowest level, only convert to skeletons... equipped with bone spikes and bone blades, and potentially even a small number of skeleton mages... The opponent's soulless corpses are, unfortunately, just a bunch of skeletons that can barely move and intimidate...
At best, they'd just be using junk as weapons.
It's really not as good as the first batch of vengeful spirits and skeletons that Lorraine initially resurrected using a bug... The number of them is much faster and more numerous than what Lorraine summoned. Back then, Lorraine could only exchange one vengeful spirit for one skeleton.
Just like the evil sorcerer extracting soul stone fragments, achieving absolute control over the skeleton beast requires immense mental energy.
Hercula, in the cemetery below the hill, was not subject to this restriction. With a wave of his wand, new skeletons would crawl out of the graves, endless and in astonishing numbers... Rayleigh and the others immediately paled. They were already surrounded by enemies on all sides and could not spare any manpower to deal with the sea of skeletons that was right in front of them.
"Has the reinforcement arrived yet? Where are the dwarves? How many signal flares have been fired already? Don't the dwarves know how to look up and see signals?!"
Some were cursing angrily; they were under immense pressure. If it weren't for the ballistae on both flanks... a regular Forsaken charge is completely different from a direct harassment by Lorraine. The real main force was on the flanks.
The undead soldiers moved swiftly, with heavy combat units like the Abomination Stitches leading the charge... supported by longbow archers, and slingshots made by the orcs providing harassment... destroying the outer houses, and burning fireballs igniting the thatch... The Horde's offensive put Southshore under immense pressure.
The newly recruited soldiers urgently recalled to hunt down Lorraine... barely managing to hold off the Forsaken's undead vanguard by relying on buildings...
It's uncertain whether the enemy attacking them is an elite Forsaken force, but it's definitely their main regular army...
The truth is that the main force of the Alliance's 7th Legion's garrison cavalry company is outside. They are stationed with Prince Galin of Stromgarde on the shores of Lake Lordamere, threatening the heart of Undercity... This attack on Southshore is also intended to force the Alliance to return to defend.
The defensive forces in Nanhai Town have been reduced by more than half. Even if they receive the signal and rush back, there is still a distance between them.
"I don't know if I can hold on..."
Rayleigh was filled with worry, but he could no longer risk his life alone... His men had lost more than half in the recent ghoul horde. His disciples and guards, whom he had painstakingly trained for many years, were annihilated in a single battle.
It's impossible not to feel sad, but that's just how the real battlefield is...
The lieutenant roared at the remaining team members, "Hold your posts! Behind you are the people of Southsea Town... All the training has been for this moment!"
The guards remained silent, cautiously watching ahead...
People were constantly being hit by stray arrows and falling to the ground; others would immediately rush to their aid and drag the wounded away...
The passing of life makes no sense... no reason, no justice, and no complicated emotions. Those who fall are gone forever, and those who survive have only one thing to do: overcome fear.
Remain calm in a crisis?
It depends on how dangerous it is...
Lieutenant Rayleigh remained calm, watching as the number of skeletons in the hillside cemetery increased... They wandered there unconsciously, most of them the remains of relatives from Southshore...
His expression was stern, but he was actually very anxious...
Britney, the novice paladin beside her, felt uneasy, but she could only grit her teeth and wait for her teacher's orders.
Today's patrol instruction was so thrilling...so realistic, and so brutal...
Dozens of my friends who were chatting together this morning have now vanished forever.
Paladin Britney didn't even have a chance to unleash her learned Redemption skill because her teammates' corpses were blown to pieces... a bloody mess, all because Lorraine unconsciously unleashed the cruel [Wrath of the Dead].
His first patrol with his teacher to defend Southsea Town ended in big trouble, but his teacher, Rayleigh, told him that this was just how things were on the front lines...
Next, survival is the most important thing. Only by surviving will you have the opportunity to save and protect more people.
The same applies on the battlefield!
The number of skeletons is still increasing... Centered on Hercula's wand, like an area-of-effect spell or an automatically enveloping evil aura... Awakened by the magic released by the wand, nine out of ten graveyards are empty.
Everyone who could stand up stood up...
Lorraine shook her head...
"A mere showpiece..."
Compared to the eleven Death Knight legions she once commanded, Hercula's summoning of these low-level skeletons was nothing... In fact, the only humans who had truly witnessed the terror of Lorraine were General Marcus and Tyran & Fording... as well as the so-called Scarlet Navy Admiral Barry.
The admiral of the Scarlet Crusade was high-profile, yet many people had contact with him, except for Marcus.
I've heard that Abidis recently left Tyr's Hand to head to Northrend, thanks to the support and summons of the Scarlet Fleet...
The Scarlet Crusade has almost no contact with anyone outside of Lordaeron.
They faced the scourge alone, scoffing at the surrounding kingdoms, especially those like Gilneas, which were self-enclosed and had forgotten the kindness that House Menethil had once bestowed upon them.
The Scarlet Crusade were xenophobic, fanatical, and insane.
Like a living Scourge, they have gradually become puppets of others.
The Scarlet Crusade has already categorized the Plaguebringer Lorraine as an extremely dangerous figure, almost on par with Baron Rivendare, the Scourge commander of Stratholme. Other factions are completely oblivious to this.
Wherever Lorraine went, Wolf Island and Ambermill were left with almost no survivors...
The Alliance commander believed it was the work of the Forsaken elite legion in Undercity, but in reality, it was Lorraine who single-handedly wiped out the battle mages and the leading archmage on the outskirts of Dalaran.
The Violet Magus Envoy in charge of surveillance, whose cat had an eccentric personality, would only report information to high-ranking Kirin Tor officials she favored.
She mentioned the danger posed by the necromancer Lorraine to the council.
But in Dalaran and Lorraine, disguises and transformations made it difficult for many to recognize that the Plaguebringer was actually running around right in front of them... and eventually, he mysteriously disappeared... In the battle by the lake, the departing Tyrande & Fordring and Master Yuvel also failed to expose their crimes.
If Hercula, who calls himself the Archmage of Death, is a quasi-lich... then Lorraine, at the full extent of his abilities, is already close to an archlich, since his necromancy originated from a certain world-renowned archmage of the Lordaeron court!
Being low-key is an attitude that the teacher has always instilled in his students...