Chapter 6: NECROMANCER
As Bori put the finishing touches to the summoning circle he had dedicated years to creating, he wiped the sweat off his brow. Finally, he was approaching the finish line. Decades of research had all amounted to this moment. He was about to perform a spell unlike any performed by a necromancer of his calibre.
He looked down at the body sprawled on the circle. It belonged to a young girl who could not possibly be older than seventeen. A pretty thing she use to be, or at least that was what Bori believed. When he had found the body in the dark alleys of Tiih it had been in a horrible state. The girl had clearly been murdered, but before that she had been subjected to harsh treatment that left her body mutilated. It took plenty of work and resources to put it in a state resembling what he thought was its original state. Now it would serve as a medium for his ritual.
He walked along the circle's circumference, making sure that it was not broken anywhere. He was very meticulous with his inspection. The ingredients he used to create the circle were precious. Among the materials he had laid in the circle were a Dark Orb, a batch of Aether Grass, a litre of Leviathan Oil and one hundred millilitres of Unicorn Blood; all of these items were enough to bankrupt a baron. He had spent years collecting them. If this spell failed it could be a decade before he got to try it again.
When he was certain that everything was in order he went on to check if all the protections he had set in place were steady. A common mistake most sorcerers made when testing out new spells, especially of the summoning variation, was that they never prepared enough for when things go wrong. More than a few wizards had perished at the hands of creatures they had summoned because they had been too lazy to create adequate countermeasures. He was determined not join their numbers.
Having judged that all the countermeasures were in place, only then did he release a sigh of relief. After that he raised his hands and began to cast the spell.
Immediately, the crimson flames of the candles rose and turned pale blue. The temperature in the room dropped to freezing rates. When he saw the circle under the body light up he gave a triumphant cry. The circle was functioning properly.
The purpose of this spell was different from the necromantic spells commonly used. What Bori was attempting was not to resurrect the corpse. That was something even a 1st Order mage was capable of. For a 6th Order necromancer such as himself, there was no need to go through all the preparations he had gone through just to animate a corpse. Such a simple act could be completed with the casual wave of a hand.
No, what he was attempting was far grander.
The reason he went through all the trouble of creating the ritual and spell was to summon a creature from the Deadlands. This was the fabled plain believed to be inhabited only by the dead. According to legends, the undead from the Deadlands were far superior to those created on the Main Plane. Unfortunately, only Advanced Mages, those of the 7th Order and above, were capable of summoning a creature from there. It was with much effort that Bori created a way to summon a Deadlands undead.
However, if his aim had merely been to summon an inhabitant of the Deadland he would not have spent so much time and resources on the process.
What Bori was trying to summon was a creature that could only be considered a legend. A being so rare that even necromancers above the 9th Order struggled to summon one. What he was aiming for was a Kin of Death, a Netherkin. If he could call forth such a creature and bind it to himself he would have no trouble breaking through to the 7th Order. The dream of Transcending the 9th Order might even be possible if he succeeded.
With a Netherkin by his side his necromantic spells would be heavily enhanced and the ease of learning new spell of the darkness element would increase. Also, Netherkin were rumoured to boast incredible might and would almost certainly grow to Transcendent Status. Even the most powerful necromancers would give up their firstborn to gain the favour of one.
That was why he had prepared all those materials. Each of them was capable of enticing a Transcendent Creature, especially the Dark Orb. A Netherkin would definitely not reject something like that. As for the body, it was merely a medium. If he had another choice he would have used a better corpse, one of a higher Grade. However, corpses of Grade 4 were hard to come by. Of course he could have waited until he got his hands on one. However, ingredients such as Unicorn Blood and Aether Grass could not be stored for a long time. This was the best body he could get his hands on, if he waited any longer in hopes of obtaining a better body he risked the chance of losing the two materials.
Suddenly, Bori's eyes widened. He could feel it, the summoning circle had come into contact with something! His mana began to gush out of him at a rate he had never experienced before. It was feeding the circle, allowing it to pull the entity into the Main Plain. He could feel the creature. It was close!
Then… it was there. The creature had arrived. Bori could not see it, but he could feel it. The summoning had established a connection between the entity and himself. He could tell that it was inside the corpse.
A spectre, he guessed its nature. Wraith?
The light of the summoning circle disappeared after it finished its purpose. Surprisingly, that was not the end of the ritual. Much to Bori's horror the amount of mana leaving his body did not decrease. Instead it seemed to increase as the materials he prepared began to react. The Unicorn Blood, the Aether Grass and Leviathan Oil began to seep into the body. As for the Dark Orb, he witnessed it melt and pool under the body before it too began to assimilate with the corpse.
"What is happening?" Bori vocalised his confusion.
This was not how the ritual was supposed to go. During the summoning the Netherkin was supposed to accept the materials and establish the contract. His providing mana should have stopped the moment the summoning concluded. Why was he still losing mana?
He tried to activate the countermeasures he had prepared but was dismayed to find they were missing.
Did the spectre destroy them? He wondered. Had he perhaps underestimated the might of a Netherkin? The knowledge of this made his rapidly beating heart beat faster. If that was the case then he was bound to die. If the mana drainage continued he would definitely not survive!
Then, a shrill scream erupted from the corpse.
It was one of the most terrifying screams he had ever heard in his entire life. It rattled his ears and addled his mind. After struggling hard and with great effort that he managed to cast the 2nd Order spell [Focus] on himself for stabilisation's sake. After that he cast an even higher order spell, [Spirit Shield]. It was a 4th Order spell meant to protect from the mental attacks. After he determined that he was safe, at least from the corpse's wailing- he decided to check on animated corpse's state.
It was was still screaming. Its face was twisted in what could only be pain, something Bori thought impossible for undead. Tears spilled out its eyes and pooled down its temples, another act he never knew was possible with the undead. Aware of his rapidly thumping chest, he scrutinised the body.
It's different somehow, he thought.
The body he had collected in the slums of Tiih was more ghastly than the one he was currently staring at. If not for the fact that he remembered preparing it for the summoning ritual he would have believed that it was a living person. Everyone too would be convinced if they saw it; that was if they discounted the stitches running across the entirety of its body.
Then, suddenly, the force that was sapping his mana abruptly cut off. Bori, released a sigh of relief before turning his attention to the corpse on the floor with a serious look.
Did it succeed? He wondered.
The connection was there between him and the summoned entity, though the feeling he had initially gotten had changed. What he felt was no longer something that possessed the corpse but the whole corpse itself, leaving him to believe that the two had merged. He could even make out the corpse's chest rising and falling.
"Fascinating," he whispered, his shoulders moving up and down as he tried to rein in his ragged breaths.
What sort of being had he summoned? Everything that happened was been unexpected. The high-grade materials were supposed to consolidate the summoning, meaning he should not have spent even a fifth of his mana. However, the process had cost him more than a four times that amount. Was this the due to the fact that he had summoned a creature even Ultra Order necromancers struggled to summon?
The corpse opened its eyes, taking in the scene. Then its dark eyes met Bori's, causing his heart to skip a beat. The creature looked furious, and that fury seemed to be directed at him. If it decided to attack him he did not think he would be able to protect himself in his current state. The link between them had been established through the summoning, but it was different from the one he usually established with the undead he created. It was likely he could not use the bond to prevent the creature from attacking him.
Fortunately the creature had no intention of attacking him. It continued inspecting the room before concentrating on itself. Then, a surprised look fell on its face.
"What is this? What happened to me?" it muttered. Then the creature looked at him intensely and asked, "Who are you? Where is this?"
Its voice was raspy, as if it had staved off water for millennia.
"My name is Bori," he replied. "This is my tower, the basement." It was the most optimal place to conduct a summon, especially one with potentially disastrous results.
"A wizard tower? So you are a sorcerer?" It asked.
"Yes," he responded. Putting on a polite face, he continued. "I set up the ritual to summon you and I must say it took quite the toll on me. You must be an extremely powerful Netherkin."
"Netherkin?" the creature scoffed. "What's that? No wait!" It paused for a while before uttering the next sentence. "The wraith that was chasing me had such a Title."
Hearing those words, Bori's world came crashing down. He fell to his knees and grasped the floor in dismay.
At this moment a single train of thought ran in its mind.
The creature was not Netherkin? All the years of preparation, all that struggle to collect materials; instead of summoning the creature he wanted, he instead managed to summon another creature that was being chased by his target? The thought of it made him want to cry.
What terrible luck!
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