Battle Commences!

Kai saw his zombies fidgeting in a peculiar way. They seemed to be on edge, and for undead creatures with barely any sentience, that was saying something. As soon as Kai was within their sight, the zombies turned to look at him.

Necromancers had to be authoritative. A necromancer was a spellcaster who willed the energy of death. However, if a necromancer had fear in his heart against his own creations, their control over them would be weaker and weaker.

Then again, learning to rule their summoned undead was one of the first things a necromancer would learn. Having not studied it as a deep and meaningful magical art, Kai had no appreciation for it before. But it was finally getting through even his thick skull.

Kai was a man who cherished his emotions and tried to please people if he could. He had kindness in his heart, which is why if it was possible, he didn't want to turn into one of these savages he had been seeing in this barbaric land.

At this moment, his heart and mind were at war. He was confused and hurt. For some reason, he thought even as his bones slowly became brittle and he turned into dust, everything would be fine. Ignoring the bad and only focusing on the good in this world had been a horrible mistake on his part.

'How could I be so stupid?' Kai thought to himself before recovering. 'No, I am done berating myself.'

Kai wouldn't even consider being shrewd before. He didn't like to be someone like that. But he was barely a person anymore. He was a hulking pile of bones, a monster. Perhaps he should play the part and be a monster.

Indignance flashed in Kai's purple eyes as they glowed in a resolute radiance. 'Why should I be the one to be thrown around? I only ever defended myself and helped others. Why am I the one always discarded, kidnapped, sold, harassed?'

"Well, no more," Kai mumbled under his breath, gazing straight at his small platoon of zombies.

The zombies, when fallen under Kai's gaze, wouldn't even move. A certain level of respect needed to be commanded by the necromancer, and Kai, at the moment, was determined. The determination was not only reflected on his zombies, but also on the younger forest spirits.

Senior spirits were cautious, but not intimidated. They had seen the treatment this skeleton had received by Bear, they didn't respect him too much. If someone unfamiliar with Kai saw him right now, he could be mistaken with a Skeleton Lord.

For the first time in a while, Kai felt no anxiety. He would no longer leave his well-being to the mercy of others. He used to figure that if he was in a powerful position, he would be kind to the people he stumbled upon. But if he wasn't as durable as he was, would he even be still alive? Kindness or mercy wouldn't protect him.

Kai took another look at the jar full of poison rocks he had been given. He decided to save it for later and as he was putting it back in his bag, he saw a peculiar sight. Both the younger and senior forest spirits seemed to be looking beyond the oasis. But there was nothing there.

And after a few more seconds, Kai heard it. It was the sound of marching. The sound that he had only heard back in his world on special holidays. It was undoubtedly the marching of hundreds of people.

The sound of marching became louder and louder. Kai noticed the witches were already high up on trees observing the enemy. Kai held the talisman in his hands.

"The Demons, they are here."

"We'll massacre them all."

"Kill them all."

The three witches; Crow, Bear and Deer spoke respectively through mental messages. They soon ordered Kai to get ready to send his zombies out as soon as he was told.

"Sure."

Crow shot a glance at the skeleton who seemed to have no joy left in his voice. It was uncharacteristic of this skeleton. But since she couldn't read into him too much, she let it go. It was no wonder he'd be bummed out after what he had experienced.

Crow felt worried, seeing their current numbers. Hundreds of low-tier demons had lined up right outside. Aside from them, there were around a hundred mid-tier demons, and a few mid-to-high tier incubi commanders accompanying a small palanquin to only fit a single person. But the carriage Lady Naamah rode was not here.

She surmised that the one in the small palanquin had to be Barbas, especially considering almost a high-tier demon like Aldan was walking alongside him. He looked aggrieved and upset with the circumstances, but he was keeping himself in check.

Revered Scholar Barbas slowly stepped out of his palanquin and instantaneously looked at where the witches were hiding in the trees. Even if they could be seen, it wasn't possible to spot them so quickly. Crow's heart grew uneasy.

"Skinwalkers of the Forest of the Blessed," Barbas yelled as he continued looking in the direction of the witches, his voice commandeering and cruel, "Give back the skeleton presently, and your punishment will be lighter."

Lloyd was using multiple spells and items to hide his presence almost fully, worried that the Revered Scholar may be tipped off. He was also expecting what would be the Crow's response.

In response, Crow used her ability, Gaze of the Skinwalker and imposed her will on one of the low-tier demons in the soon-to-be-battlefield. The soldier turned to face Barbas and slit his own throat.

It was a taxing ability to be used continuously, but it was a good enough answer to explain there was no room for discussion.

"So be it," Barbas huffed. They had already killed all forest spirits who dared to fight them.

Of course, the Forest of the Blessed was an entity by itself, and if they slaughtered all of the spirits, they could be rejected by the forest itself. At that point, even this army couldn't guarantee their safety.

Kai's zombies numbering 30 jumped out of the forest and immediately attacked the low-tier demons. They barely had any impact, but they were soon followed by Bear's battle cry. It was almost loud enough to deafen anyone on the battlefield.

Both senior and younger forest spirits jumped out of the oasis and into the battlefield, biting a path through with their fangs where Kai's zombies had gone first.

Barbas nodded to the Incubus commanders, who gave the order to their hundreds of men with hoarse cries.

"Slaughter them all!"