Continuing with the Objective

Before Michael returned to the outside world, he noticed that he had gained 5 new believers, bringing his total believers to 6.

It was a surprise, but a welcomed surprise, nonetheless.

Michael did not need to do much to convert others into his believers. As long as they believed in him, the System would consider them as his believers regardless of how his shady his methods were.

He could not brainwash them into his believers, however. It must be out of their own freewill, but that was a fairly loosely term. It was still freewill in the cases of blackmailing someone into doing something they did not want to.

This was because the choice to do it was always theirs even if someone else had forced their hands.

In any case, Michael could siphon off more energy than before, filling up his mana pool. The filling rate was very slow, but it was better than before when he had only one believer. Now he would gain 1 MP every two months or so instead of annually.

This could be considered as a great improvement.

To improve further, Michael would need to gain more believers or higher. Faster mana replenishment rate meant more mana at his disposal. He could do a lot of things with a lot of mana. Miracles for one – not exactly but close enough to it.

Having ownership over souls did not automatically allowed Michael to siphon energies off of them for his own use. It was more complicated than that, and he would have to show the owner of those souls the way with any methods he deemed necessary.

Michael knew that he could not be soft in order to archive his goal. It was his answer to his conviction, and it was a good answer in his mind. What must be done must be done.

Once Michael returned to the outside world, he resumed his skeletal form, and along with that skeletal form, the hatred for all living things. The urge was a lot stronger now, but it was still within manageable level.

He turned his attention towards the direction of the Holy City Celestia. While he couldn't teleport into the city directly due to a powerful barrier protecting the city, he could teleport fairly close to it, within its sight.

Teleportation was always an option, and the reason that Michael didn't resort to it when he was deep inside the chasm was because he did not know the current state of the world. If what Emma had told him was the truth (and there was no reason for her to lie), then the undead scourge had started shortly after Eric Cromwell was executed.

"It couldn't be a coincidence," Michael muttered to himself as black mist manifested, spiraling around him and shrouding his form. The mist vanished afterwards, taking him along with it.

This was a form of teleportation, and it was commonly used by undead spellcasters. Each race actually had their own form of teleportation. Learning another form was possible, but there was no reason to.

Once the black mist had dissipated, Michael was greeted with his new surroundings. Even so, it wasn't that much different from the previous surroundings. The land was still decaying, and the sky was still covered up with endless amount of gloomy clouds.

The undead scourge had spread all across the continent, and with each conquest, their numbers grew exponentially. Now with the heroes defeated, the world was on the brink of total annihilation.

For some strange reason, only the heroes had the power to truly defeat the Demon King. Must be due to the game the Gods were playing with this world.

If the Demon King could be defeated by anyone then what was the point of summoning heroes. Heroes were certainly powerful, but they were not the most powerful. They were simply blessed by the Gods and Goddesses.

Even in the time of darkness, there was still a beacon of hope – the Holy City Celestia.

A powerful barrier that had formed a dome shape around the city was preventing any undead or their masters from entering without repercussion.

Likewise, Michael could not enter the city without getting hurt since he was an undead. Since his stats were fairly high, the passive holy damage within the barrier would be minimal. Even so, it would alert his presence to everyone within the city, and he would be swarmed by the city defenders.

Michael noted that while the holy-attribute dome barrier could protect the Holy City indefinitely, the people living within the city was a different matter. Without a way to safely replenish the city supplies, the people would eventually starve since the siege would never be lifted.

Undead did not need to sleep or require sustenance. They were also restless and relentless, continuing to hunt down their prey until they or their prey were dead.

And with the undead surrounded the Holy City completely, it was only a matter of time before the city falls. That would take a while, however.

Michael wasn't going to wait around for that to happen. He wanted to get the objective over with and then return home, and since the people within Celestia were going to die, he felt like he had no qualm in helping them get there faster.

It was the urge to destroy all life talking, but it was fairly logical.

Michael was an undead, and the people inside the city were the living. He should just wipe them out and then claim their souls for his own purpose. In addition, they would be more happier living within his world.

After debating a little with himself, Michael decided to do what must be done. He raised his hand and channeled vast amount of magical energy before forming a magic incantation circle.

The massive circle manifesting above the city attracted a lot of eyes. A blinding flash caused everyone to cover their eyes, and before they knew it, the barrier was destroyed. How it was destroyed was on most people's mind.

Needlessly to say, the undead horde swarmed into the city now that the barrier was gone, and all hell broke loose soon after.

Michael used the distraction and headed straight towards the Sage Tower located at the heart of the Holy City. Dalton should be there since the man was one of the greatest Sage this world had to offer.

A soon to be dead Sage.