The cruise missiles came straight down toward the location where Khalid and Thalassar were meeting. A blinding flash erupted as the missiles exploded mid-air, redirecting the shockwave and blasting the sand around them. The deafening sound waves ruptured the eardrums of all the nearby mortals.
"Arrrgh!" Khalid clutched his ears, as did his entourage, their eardrums ruptured, blood seeping from their ears.
The undead, however, were unaffected by the soundwave. As beings animated by dark magic, they no longer relied on living bodily functions. No matter how damaged their bodies were, they felt no pain, and their organs continued to function as long as dark magic sustained their unlife.
Thalassar cared little for the well-being of his negotiating partners. To him, they were mere mortals, powerless like ants. If they proved useful, he would tolerate their inconvenience. If not, he would happily change their state of existence to suit his needs.
"It seems we cannot continue this negotiation under such conditions. Allow me to do you a favor, human. I shall bestow upon you the power to brave eternity... with me!" said the Archlich as he waved his hand, sending a surge of dark magic toward the group.
Khalid and his entourage, their eardrums ruptured, could not hear what Thalassar had said. But they saw the ominous green wave of magic coming toward them. In panic, they tried to flee, shouting in desperation, though Thalassar paid no heed. He assumed they were pleading for mercy—cries of powerless mortals, which bored him.
What he needed were useful vassals who could inform him about the world, not a group of deaf, useless humans.
The dark magic drained the life force from Khalid and his entourage, reducing them to lifeless husks. Their souls were extracted from their bodies, now lying still on the ground.
Among Khalid's belongings was a device that seemed to monitor his heart rate, but Thalassar, unfamiliar with such technology, ignored it. Detecting no magic or threat from it, he dismissed it as irrelevant.
"Now, my vassal, we can speak. I have freed you from the fragility of mortality. There's no need to thank me," Thalassar said with regal authority, sincerely believing that his actions were a favor rather than an act of malice.
"Why did you kill me!?" Khalid's soul roared in fury at Thalassar.
Seeing this display of rebellion and disobedience, Thalassar decided to punish the insolent soul. Black chains rose from the ground, binding the souls of the powerless mortals. The chains flared with dark magic, corroding Khalid's spirit.
"Arrrrrrggghhh!" Khalid cried out in agony, struggling against the chains, but they were too strong.
"You'll pay! You'll pay for this!" Khalid shouted, his voice filled with hatred and regret. He couldn't understand why he had been killed so suddenly. He hadn't provoked this maniac, and yet, he was slain the moment his eardrum ruptured. Was that the only reason? He was baffled by the cruelty.
The obsidian ziggurat was severely cracked, with green crystals atop its crown-like structure. Souls leaked out from the fractures. Most of the undead army had vanished, with only a few remaining near the ziggurat.
The obsidian ziggurat, once floating, now sat on the ground like any ordinary structure. Dark magic and trapped souls seeped from its cracks, with eerie green light shining through. Human-like green soul forms escaped from the fissures, as if the ziggurat had been designed to contain them.
This was all the drone could capture, as Azis didn't dare lower its altitude for more detailed footage. He feared the drone might alert the enemy, redirecting the undead's wrath toward his forces.
"Tell everyone to stay low. Call all personnel in the field back to HQ. We'll reinforce the base, power up all artillery, defensive emplacements, and cannons. Wait for the undead army to pass, but if they don't... we'll fight," Azis commanded.
"Yes, sir!" his subordinate replied, immediately relaying the order for all forces outside to return and reinforce the HQ. The troops hurriedly moved through the network of tunnels they had dug throughout the mountain range. Their base, hidden deep within the mountains, featured only small peepholes and camouflaged gun emplacements outside.
If Azis's drones had New Atlantis technology, he would have known that Thalassar wasn't as unscathed as he appeared. In fact, Thalassar had been severely weakened. He had drained all his mana reserves, including the excess stored within the Obsidian Ziggurat. His mana pathways, though unnaturally strong, were strained beyond their limits, leaving his soul fatigued from the overuse.
Defending against a nuclear blast just meters from ground zero was no small feat. Yet, Thalassar managed to keep his body relatively unharmed, and despite some damage to the black ziggurat, he retained a portion of his forces. It was a remarkable display of power.
"That damned mortal! I'll summon your soul from the afterlife and torture it for eternity!" Thalassar roared in fury. He had lost a significant amount of power and 80% of his army.
Meanwhile, Azis's heart raced with anxiety. He could only pray that the undead would pass by and target another warlord instead of him. At that moment, his drone detected a large swarm of bats in the sky, flying from the direction of the Sultan's palace.
The swarm gathered into the form of a man, who then descended from the sky, landing in front of Thalassar. From the video feed, Azis could make out that the man wore blood-red armor, was an adult with black hair, but the drone's altitude prevented further details.
At the blast site, Thalassar gritted his teeth. He knew exactly who the uninvited guest was.
"Vlad!" Thalassar snarled through clenched teeth, naming his nemesis.
"Oh, if it isn't my old enemy! Lord Thalassar, ruler of death and loser of the Solomon throne," Vlad said mockingly, laughing.
The phrase "Loser of the Solomon throne" grated harshly on Thalassar's ears. It was the one humiliation he could never endure—a stain on his eternal life. Long ago, when he was still human, Thalassar had attempted to usurp King Solomon's throne. But he failed... and lost his life in the process.
Luckily, his lich ritual had been completed in time, allowing him to return as an undead. But when he came back to challenge Solomon once more, he was beaten so badly he nearly lost his unlife and access to eternity. Fortunately, he had prepared an escape plan, or he would have faced final death!