Ranks were the system's way of averaging an individual's overall combat ability. For this, the system took into consideration both the individual's stats and his or her skills. However, ranks were not very accurate in determining the strength of an opponent.
The first reason for this was that the classification of a rank was very broad; this meant that even if two individuals had the same rank their strengths might not be the same. As an example, if two swordsmen of rank 3 were to face each other, the swordsman who had the higher level or better combat skills would be stronger than his opponent even though they both had the same rank.
The second reason was that the ranks of the system were based on a standard parameter of general power and not individual.
Let's take Bairus as an example. Originally the Semi-lich had been listed as a rank 4 monster because of his ability to use high-level magic and necromancy. In fact, his skill in controlling necrotic energy was what gave him an overwhelming advantage against the rest of his enemies.
If a wizard or a warrior of the same rank had faced Bairus he or she would probably have been killed by the semi-lich's spells which were charged with necrotic energy, which was deadly to living beings.
However, being undead, Marcus was not affected by the necrotic energy, so Bairus was never able to make use of his full power. This made it much easier for Marcus to defeat the semi-lich.
Aylinor on the other hand was ranked as rank 5 thanks to his high level of mastery in entomancy, which made him capable of controlling a large army of monsters. In addition, he could also use multiple spells related to poisons or diseases, making him more powerful than mages of the same level.
In a normal situation, Marcus would never be able to defeat Aylinor so easily even if he was immune to the priest's poison spells and diseases. But right now Aylinor's MP was almost at rock bottom and he had no monster he could use to attack and defend himself.
'Why? What's a necromancer from the 3rd realm doing here?!' When Aylinor realized that Marcus was not only capable of using necromancy, but that he was also a wizard of the 3rd realm his face turned grim. Anger, madness, and pride left him and he was overwhelmed by a very different emotion.
"You... Why does the church of the living corpses meddle in the affairs of the church of the deadly plagues? Do you plan to violate the agreement?" Aylinor asked. Now that things had turned this way his best option would be not to continue the confrontation.
In Genaerrsis there were multiple dark cults and evil churches that worshipped demons and dark gods. All these churches and cults were controlled by the five great dark churches. Each of which worshipped one of the five calamities as its main deity.
These churches were: the church of absolute destruction, the church of primordial chaos, the church of the endless abyss, the church of deadly plagues, and the church of living corpses. But even though each church had tremendous power and influence, there was still a clear gap between the strengths of each church.
Among them all, the church of absolute destruction was the most powerful. As for the church of deadly plagues, they were only below the church of primordial chaos which in turn was below the church of living corpses.
"Agreement? What are you talking about?"
"Please don't play dumb with me." Aylinor said as he stood up. This time his tone of voice sounded much more calm and cautious than before. " The non-aggression pact between the five great dark churches! Where we agreed to cooperate and not fight each other! By attacking me, you're violating the agreement! Aren't you afraid of the consequences?"
Aylinor was only a priest of the disease, a lower-middle ranking member of the church hierarchy. So in such a situation, he would have to show respect for a member of a church that surpasses them in strength like the church of the living corpses, even if this person had a slightly lower rank than him in the hierarchy.
However, Aylinor had already crossed the point where he could apologize or beg for mercy. Moreover, Marcus had already expressed his intention to kill him on more than one occasion. Therefore, the only thing Aylinor could do was to use the agreement between the churches to persuade Marcus to stop their confrontation.
After all, the consequences for violating the non-aggression agreement were not something to be taken lightly.
"Yeah, about that... I'm not a member of the church."Marcus replied nonchalantly.
"What?!"
"That I am not a member of the church of the living corpses. In fact, I never was very religious, to say the least. I told you before; I only came here to kill you. What the 'five great dark churches' and you do is none of my business."After saying that Marcus began to prepare another spell. Now that the moonlight reflector pendant had been damaged by the necrotic energy Aylinor had no way to defend himself.
The moment Marcus said those words; Aylinor turned completely pale. He began to tremble and a cold sweat broke out all over his body.
The reason why out of all the five great dark churches, the church of the living corpses ranked second in power was not only due to their ability to control the undead, but also due to their capabilities to control necrotic energy, which gave an overwhelming advantage over other kinds of mages.
In addition, almost all members of the church were high-level undead or powerful necromancers who had multiple spells and skills that made them immune to curses, instant death magic, poisons, and diseases.
For all these reasons, it was that, although necromancy spells weakened during the day and that the undead were weak against holy magic or other types of skills, it was that the church of the living corpses was able to occupy the second place among the great dark churches.
As long as his magic was not affected by solar energy or holy magic, a necromancer would be able to face an opponent from a higher realm than his own on equal terms and could even overcome him.
Previously, although weakened, Aylinor was confident that he could kill Marcus with ease. But now things have changed.
After Marcus used his necromancy spells, the layer of energy covering him that suppressed the necrotic energy emanating from his body had ceased to take effect. So Aylinor was able to determine Marcus' true strength.
Although Marcus was only a wizard of the 3rd realm, the fact that he could use necromancy spells gave him a great advantage over Aylinor who was a wizard of the 4th realm capable of using plague magic. Only now the priest had realized that his opponent could not only face him on equal terms but could also defeat him.
Perhaps if Aylinor had realized this a little earlier things might have been different. But it was too late.
Both his poison spells and magical diseases were ineffective against Marcus. Even his locusts that were capable of devouring a person in a matter of seconds and were also resistant against elemental spells had been consumed by the flames charged with necrotic energy.
'Is this how I'm going to die? Murdered by a mere vagabond necromancer?!! Without even fulfilling my mission. Without receiving the blessing of my goddess?!' At the thought of this, the fear the priest felt vanished and a deep rage came over him. So much wasted effort. All the work took him months of planning. He was so close to completing it and it was all going to end like this? "No, no, no, no, no, no, no...NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT! I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS!!!"
"GYAAAAAAAAH!!!" Aylinor's mouth opened several times wider than was humanly possible and he let out a horrible shriek that could destroy the eardrums of anyone who heard it. Even Marcus was forced to interrupt his spell when he heard the priest's cry.
* Tremble tremble tremble tremble *
The ground began to tremble and shake. A few moments later, tens of humanoid creatures over two meters tall (6.56ft) that had dozens of heads, which were worms as wide as a human arm, began to emerge from the ground.
In a matter of seconds, more than a hundred Naragor parasitic worms had crawled out of the ground, interposing themselves between Marcus and the priest. Aylinor smiled and looked at Marcus; his eyes were bloodshot and his face was covered in sweat.
"You actually forced me to use my minions... I was planning to use them to... Well, I guess at this point it doesn't matter anymore."These were the religious zealots under Aylinor's command, however, he had used them as test subjects so that he could create a new modified subspecies of Naragor parasitic worm.
However, Aylinor was saving them to use for other purposes and had never intended to use them in combat, and especially not against someone like Marcus. " KILL HIM!!!"
Hearing Aylinor's order, the closest parasite worm wasted no time and immediately ran towards Marcus.
'Hmph. They finally arrived.' Just as the parasite worm's huge fist was about to hit Marcus' face, he moved his body slightly to the side, and in that instant…
*Whoosh Bam!*
A gigantic centipede, 1,5 meters (5 ft) wide and at least 7 meters (20 ft) long, missing several body parts, came out of the darkness and charged at the parasitic worm, which flew several yards into the air until it crashed into the rubble of a house.
A few seconds later, more than two dozen creatures emerged from behind Marcus, approaching the battlefield. The troop of creatures consisted of giant zombie spiders and ants, skeleton warriors and archers, corpse beasts, and there were even two large skeletons.
"What?! Where did all those undead come from?!"Seeing the troop of undead Aylinor couldn't help but be surprised. He hadn't sensed the presence of this undead before. " Don't tell me... You were hiding them outside of the village all this time?!"
Earlier on his way to the village, Marcus had encountered a large number of monsters that were part of Aylinor's army. But he had killed them quickly and without much difficulty. But it had not ended there.
After killing more than two dozen monsters, Marcus had decided to turn the corpses into undead with the idea of using them to escape in case things got out of control.
So after arriving in the village, Marcus had ordered the undead to stay nearby, to prevent Aylinor from detecting them. But now that things had turned this way Marcus had no reason to keep his undead hidden.
"Hmph.So what if you have a couple of low-level undead as backup?! My modified parasite worms are superior in strength and numbers! Even if you put up any resistance, you will still die tonight!" Shouted Aylinor. The priest no longer felt fear for Marcus and instead, there was only hatred and contempt.
Marcus had created his undead using the spells [Reanimate Corpse] and [Create Lesser Undead.], which, unlike spells that summoned undead using only pure necrotic energy, required corpses as raw material.
The advantage of these spells was that their consumption of necrotic energy was much lower than summoning spells and that undead created from corpses were usually much stronger than summoned undead of the same level.
However, the strength of the undead was limited not only by the type of corpse used but also by the strength of the necromancer.
Although Marcus' mastery of necromancy had almost reached rank 3, he could only create undead below his rank. So all undead under his control were only rank 1 and 2.
On the other hand, Aylinor's parasitic worms were all monsters of rank 3 almost 4. Furthermore, while the priest had over a hundred worms, Marcus had less than thirty undead.
"Really? And what happens if I do this?... Reinforce Undead, Fear Aura!" At that moment, a torrent of necrotic power erupted from Marcus' body, spreading across the battlefield and showering the undead under his control, who immediately seemed to become stronger and more aggressive.
...
{The skill [Fear aura] has been successfully activated}.
...
{All living beings with hostile intentions within a 50m(54 yards) radius of the user suffer the effect of fear}.
...
{Under the effect of fear, the stats of all living creatures at rank 3 decrease by 30%. The stats of living creatures in rank 5 decrease by 1%}.
...
{As long as the skill is activated, the user's MP will be continuously drained}.
…
After spending several months in the jungle Marcus had made use of the [Fear aura] repeatedly. As a result, the power and range of the skill had greatly increased compared to when he was at level 1.
Thanks to this the strength of the parasitic worms had been greatly reduced so Marcus was able to narrow the gap between them and the undead under his control. Unfortunately, the skill level was still too low for a rank 5 like Aylinor to be affected.
*Weng Weng*
The air around Marcus distorted and a blanket of dark energy began to emanate from his body giving him a dark and sinister appearance. This change did not go unnoticed by Aylinor either.
"Quickly kill them!" After Marcus activated the [Fear Aura], Aylinor immediately ordered his parasitic worms to move. Even if they were under the effect of fear, the worms did not hesitate and charged at the group of undead.
' Already Started? Whatever, I always wanted to do this... Attack!'
In the next instant, both sides crashed into each other resulting in the start of a bloody battle. Marcus did not stand still either and immediately charged towards the army of parasitic worms. However, his target was not the worms, but Aylinor.
Although he seemed to have the advantage, the truth was that Marcus was very close to reaching his limit.
[MP: 1009/3735]
"I have to get this over with as soon as possible." Marcus currently had less than 27% of his MP left, while Aylinor still had 15% left; So the priest still had almost 2,800 MP.
From now on it was a race to see who would run out of MP first. And Marcus was at a disadvantage.