"How is that possible?" Genevieve was equally puzzled. She had not expected to find anything here, thinking that it might just be a ruin or a gloomy city after being occupied by the Revarents for hundreds of years.
However, the holy city was still beautiful and looked alive, shining brightly behind a glass wall that shielded it from the surrounding Undead. Sonata and Genevieve noticed that an undead fortress surrounded the city, making it even more bizarre.
"This town is not like the Revarent village we've been through," remarked Genevieve.
"That's right. See the fortresses that are supposed to belong to the Undead?" Sonata pointed to the fortresses in front of the city, which were clearly not built to protect it. All the cannons were facing into the city, and the imps that guarded during the day were all facing it as well.
"In the past, we had understood that Algrad within the Revarent siege would have been destroyed a long time ago. But here they have been fighting alone all this time," Sonata observed.
Despite the city's pristine appearance, it showed signs of a previous battle only in the area between the city and the Revarent's fortress, with potholes, scorched trees, and metal scraps from rusted weapons and armor. It was as if artillery and the undead army could not touch the city at all.
"Is it not a trap? If not, it's quite funny," exclaimed the young man. He eagerly looked around for more information, but unfortunately, their current position was high enough to be seen all over the place without getting too close to the fort.
"Are you planning to break in?" Genevieve asked with concern. She was confident that the Sonata could survive, but whether she could be a counterweight was another story.
She wanted to improve and usually thought about ways.
If she was not a burden, a good person like him should pay more attention to her.
"Then let's clear the fortress first."
"Was that really alright?"
"I have a plan."
Having made the decision, Sonata immediately took action. He discreetly monitored the movements of the fortress until he spotted his target. After a few moments that Sonata disappeared, he returned with a middle-aged man.
The man had deep-set eyes, and he was tightly bound and had a cloth in his mouth to stop him from talking. He looked nervous and uncertain about what was going to happen next. Sonata nodded at Genevieve, who understood what to do. She removed the cloth from the stranger's mouth.
"I am a low-level Necromancer. Even if you capture me, it's not worth it to keep me as a prisoner." But Sonata already knew that. He did not select those who appeared to be leaders.
"I want you to demonstrate your Necromancy skills. Show me all the magic you know for creating Undead, controlling them, and returning them to corpses."
"Do you...do you want to become a Necromancer?" The stranger was unsure of Sonata's intentions.
"Do what he said," Genevieve threatened with a shout. After traveling with Sonata for several days, she had learned to be less imposing in front of her enemies. As she grew stronger, her quiet, unassuming demeanor could become something entirely different.
"I can use magic to create low-level zombies or skeletons, but I cannot control or dispel someone else's undead, especially if the Necromancer who created them was of a higher level than me."
"Make it look convincing," Genevieve snarled, brandishing a knife to his throat. She did not need Sonata's intervention to intimidate him. "Time is running out, and I can't guarantee what will happen."
**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------**
The Necromancer, whose name they did not bother to ask, followed them desperately as they made their way through the area, using his powers to reanimate the plentiful carcasses they encountered. Sonata watched him and immediately mimicked his technique, which proved successful.
"Why can you just see it and imitate it?" she asked.
Sonata's Zombie Squirrel effortlessly dispatched the rat zombies created by the Necromancer's spell, despite being only half their size. This was a testament to the superior level of Undead under Sonata's control, which reflected his heightened abilities as an undead user.
"Next, try using control magic to command these undead squirrels," Sonata said.
However, the spells for controlling the Undead did not work as expected. It was clear that zombie squirrels were even more powerful than the Necromancer himself.
The pair moved to a different location to continue their experimentation. There, they encountered a large cat that had been reanimated as a skeleton. The skeletal cat attacked them as soon as they entered its territory, but Sonata was able to quickly take control of it using her magic.
This time, the Necromancer was not surprised by Sonata's abilities. He had already realized that he was simply observing and mimicking his techniques. However, he was astonished by the vastly superior results he was able to achieve.
"At this level, you should be able to control all common Undead," he said humbly.
"What about the atypical ones?" Genevieve asked, seemingly able to read Sonata's mind.
"It doesn't work on vampires. They only obey the vampires who created them. There are also special Undead, like Erfez, that were created by Dark Jester. They have high intelligence, so they cannot be controlled with magic."
The Necromancer continued to share stories that he thought Sonata and Genevieve would find interesting. Even without Sonata's unique talents, Genevieve could tell that he was a skilled storyteller. He knew how to make himself valuable to them and increase his chances of survival.
"Your information is very helpful," Genevieve said.
"Will you let me go?" the Necromancer asked.
"After we destroy the tower, we can discuss it," Sonata replied.
Although there were other Necromancers within the fortress from whom Sonata could have mimicked special powers, he chose to take control of someone instead. He instructed Genevieve to hide and wait for his return.
The lightning strike began at nearly 3am, a time when Revarent did not think anyone would dare to attack. The Undead, bolstered by the darkness to their full strength, were used by Sonata to steal control for himself through magic. Just by launching his attack, he had already controlled nearly a hundred Undead and was accelerating rapidly.
The Sonata tested whether he could control the vampire and found that what the Necromancer had said was true. Unfortunately, he could not get them to work, so Sonata decided to kill them all.
Less than an hour had passed, and the fortress with thousands of undead was completely wiped out. Sonata did not want to risk the hundreds of undead he was controlling, so he sent them back to the dead with another chapter of magic that would prevent them from ever being resurrected.
At the end of the story, Sonata and the captives returned to Genevieve in hiding as planned. She was not surprised to see him return unscathed and had even prepared a late-night meal for him.
"Congratulations, everything went according to plan," she said, handing him some hot soup. Sonata wanted to scold her because he told her to hide, but she seemed to concern about cooking for him. However, he appreciated the warm meal on a cold night.
"Uh… what's about me?" the middle-aged Necromancer interjected. He noticed that they had not discussed his fate yet.
"I want to let you go, but please think of a way to keep yourself away from revealing our plan," Sonata teased. He thought that even if this guy went and did something, it would not be a problem. By now, the Revarents must have known both his face and his abilities.
"I'm going to quit everything, flee into the Prewood Forest, and never contact the Revarents again."
Hearing this, Sonata laughed quietly to himself. This was exactly what he had expected. Before storming the fortress, he had already made contact with Doc because he assumed that this prisoner had no other choice.
"I already told my friends... If you go to Atezia or hermits, I'll make sure you're safe. But if you don't..."
"I'm not going to cause trouble for anyone else. I only came here to survive. The Revarents made the general public view us as one of them. Wherever I go, it's difficult. But if there's a choice, I don't belong with the Revarents," the Necromancer confessed.
After discussing a few more details, the Necromancer hurriedly excused himself, promising that after he picked up his family, Sonata would never see him in Revarent again.
"You're so kind," Genevieve said, sitting down beside Sonata and staring at him with strange eyes that made him feel awkward. He had to look down at the soup in his cup instead of meeting her gaze.
"No, if I see him with the Revarents again, I just kill him," Sonata shrugged indifferently.