Making some noise

[Northern edge of the empire]

Ignoring the fearful looks of the surrounding civilians as she followed the new additions to her army out of the village, Melidra briefly glanced toward the third of the army that was wise enough to accept her offer. Though still weakened by the death energy she had her skeleton dragon spew, her careful control over it kept the damage to the life force of all those who submitted to her at a recoverable level.

The men and women foolish enough to follow Kallus however had now doubly contributed to her power. While her own strength had profited for the life force of both groups, even if the manaless people she spared barely had an effect, the dead would now also march against their former lords. The living on the other hand were left in the village along with enough food to sustain their addition to the population for two years, something that was barely even a cost for Melidra.

Keeping her eyes on them for a few moments as she mentally went through everything that happened to make sure she wouldn't leave any evidence once Nyriod wiped their memories of her. Only once she went over all possibilities that came to her mind did she step over the border of the town, leaving her draconic subordinate to his work while she marched ahead.

Barely a few minutes after she set out, she sensed the appearance of a presence she had anticipated. Reacting calmly as a surge of spatial energy by her side followed its appearance, she stopped Lara as Darganth teleported toward them.

"I assume everything went smoothly?" He asked as he appeared near them.

"We had to improvise a little but otherwise yes." Melidra answered him, "And what about the others?"

"Still busy, though I doubt for much longer. Only Vagha and his group are lacking behind a bit, but once they played around enough they should be able to get it done quickly."

Responding with an acknowledging nod, Melidra let her gaze wander across her army in silence. For a moment, she simply watched the horde of mostly skeletons as it reached a worn-out crossroad that still carried clear marks of the human army marching through. But where these marks came from the road that lay in the toward the right when leaving the village, her forces turned leftward.

"How long do you think we'll have to whittle down their vanguard before we can finally go back to the original plan?" Melidra asked as she watched her undead turn their march away from the center of the spread-out human army.

"No idea, it could be a couple more months when they just continue like this."

Seeing the frown that formed on her face in response to those words, Darganth could only shrug helplessly.

"It's annoying, I know. The last time I had to show patience in dealing with an enemy was so long ago that this universe probably didn't even have life yet. But apart from Neandra and the dragons that are with Irsyr we only have Venrie, Torrak, and Odylia as emperor-level combatants, with the latter two even having to work together. With Irkus still having its avatar I thus can't risk attacking without knowing that we won't run into a trap."

"So you hope that they abandon whatever plan they now have and consolidate their forces again?"

"No. I hope that we can make them believe that their plan is working and that they follow us. After all, two can play this game they are trying." Darganth said with a slight grin.

Listening to Darganth's words, Meldra's lips curled up into a hopeful smile. Her presence this far south left the peninsula vulnerable and while she didn't believe that the beastmen kingdoms knew where she came from nor that they had the capabilities to invade after the campaign she had waged against them, this wasn't something she wanted to leave in the hands of fate for much longer.

"And how are you going to bait them?" Melidra asked.

"Yldra and I will go in a moment and draw some attention. The reason why I'm here is that I'll need your new army there to leave some tracks that can be followed, though it can't be too easy. Something like spots where necrotic energy decayed the land, then we could create a connection by using a bit of death magic during our attacks."

Listening to his plan with a low hum, Melidra briefly fell into contemplation at his suggestion.

"That should be doable. Maybe we could even engineer for some of the nearby vanguard units to stumble across a few scattered groups of them, that should make it harder to miss." Melidra mused out loud, "Oh, and I'll contact Nyriod in a moment. Instead of just hiding me I'll have him fabricate an entire fake story, that should sell it better that we want to stay hidden."

"That's actually a good idea, Yldra and I might copy it." Darganth said.

Shrugging indifferently in response to his words, Melidra briefly turned her focus to her right. Raising an arm, sent a short burst of necrotic energy into the field on that side of the road before turning her attention back to the conversation without even waiting for the impact.

"That should give them a good first lead if they pass through the village." She said with a satisfied nod.

As she spoke, the bolt struck the early first rank rat that had been weaseling its way through the knee-high crop stems. In an instant, the half-a-meter-long beast collapsed to the ground and its body started to decay, quickly followed by a few meters of ground around it turning gray and dusty. With it, the crops growing on it followed the creature's fate, withering in moments before ultimately tilting and sinking to the ground.

"With the dead beast here that shouldn't raise any suspicions, at least normally." Darganth said as he watched Melidra drain most of the necrotic energy back toward herself.

"Maybe I get lucky and encounter a stronger one where it wouldn't look strange to lose a few skeletons." Melidra said, thinking out loud.

Hearing her thoughts, Darganth nodded along to the idea.

"Then I can leave the rest to you?" He asked.

"Absolutely."

"Then I'll see you at the gathering point." Darganth said, letting a folded map appear in his hand and holding it out for Melidra to take.

"I'll be there."

Hearing her confirmation, Darganth unfurled his wings. Stopping for a moment and waiting until Melidra marched a few more steps forward, he catapulted himself into the air a moment later. Carried by rapid beats of his wings, he quickly rose until he vanished in the white clouds that hung overhead.

Looking after him for a few seconds, Melidra simultaneously continued marching forward. As she did, she let her thoughts wander to the future. Only a few years ago she was a nobody and then later rotting in the cell of a crazed mage, now she was leading a horde of undead against the human empire. With that in mind, she couldn't help but be simultaneously worried and excited for the years to come.

While she was busy with her thoughts, Darganth broke past the clouds and found himself hovering next to Yldra.

"Have you already been waiting long?" He asked, slightly surprised to find her already there.

"No, a minute at most."

"Then you're almost two minutes earlier than expected, did your training give you such a boost?" Darganth asked impressed.

Yldra shrugged slightly in response to this, clearly as surprised with the development as he was.

"Apparently. Maybe I should've tested it before, but during the fight in Ilnori, I barely felt different aside from having more mana so I just forgot about it. But considering that I just went two layers of space deeper than my previous record I might just have made too little of an effort, apart from his resilience he was barely a threat after all." Yldra admitted.

"Well, he did take out two of Jennia's split bodies." Darganth said.

"Yeah, in retrospect that might've been on me. I'll have to apologize for that later."

As Yldra said this, she simultaneously started gathering her mana. With it, her figure became shrouded by the blazing beacon of spatial energy that started to form before her outstretched arm.

Cutting off the small amount of mana he almost constantly channeled into his eyes as this beacon was a blinding light of silver to his elemental sight, Darganth waited patiently as she conjured up a portal.

Within a few minutes, a ripple spread out from Yldra's hand. Distorting space as it spread through the air and formed a flat circle about three meters in diameter, it briefly created an effect similar to that of a disturbance in a calm pond of water before revealing the other side of the portal. There, a far less lush landscape revealed itself, with a formation of multiple thousands marching merely a few hundred meters from the portal.

Seeing her success, Yldra turned to Darganth as she spoke, "Then let's go."

"After you." Letting Yldra step through the portal first, Darganth pushed himself forward with a beat of his wings a moment later, passing through the portal and instantly arriving next to her on the small hill to which it led.

As he stepped through, only a slight shimmer was visible at his destination due to the type of portal Yldra had used, shortly followed by him appearing out of thin air amid the ripples. Furthermore, the portal and Yldra had remained completely undetected by even the mana users among the soldiers, creating confusion and panic among them when Darganth's presence suddenly appeared on their mana sense.

"You're popular." Yldra remarked with a smirk as she watched about two dozen mana signatures flare up.

"Then let's give them a show they won't forget."

Stepping forward with a grin on his lips as he spoke, Darganth started gathering his mana in preparation for a dragon's breath. With each step he took toward the small army, his surroundings grew heavier as his dragon's authority spread and weighted down on it.

Opposite of him, the army was meanwhile frantically shifting the direction their formation faced. Under the orders of a mana user hovering above their formation, the archers, supply wagons, and other supporting units quickly moved away from the hill, leaving the heavily armored soldiers of their accompanying infantry to fill the gap. The cavalry meanwhile hurriedly charged ahead, joining most of the mana users in placing the rest of the formation in their shadow by closing in on Darganth.

Seeing his opponents reorganizing, Darganth wasn't going to let them do so uninterrupted. Abruptly jumping into action, he dashed forward, practically flying through the air as his momentum carried him over a hundred meters in a straight line through the air. Sailing over the approaching half circle of mana users and cavalry, his body became suffused with a silver and azure glow as he shifted back to his true form.

Immediately a large stretch of the army was blanketed in the shadow of his wings. Freezing in terror as the sun vanished from their sight, the army was caught unprepared when Darganth's breath attack erupted a moment later.

Impacting amid the densely packed wagons, his attack instantly tore apart the army's entire stockpile of supplies in a blast of pure devastation. Centered around the impact, an explosion of silver and azure tore through the area. Shattering space and time in its wake, it ripped all matter within tens of meters apart and left only desolation in its place.

Not stopping there, Darganth's breath continued for a handful of seconds and drilled into the ground. Each time it met a physical resistance, the soil was supercharged with energy before the beam tore deeper, leaving further explosions to erupt with each centimeter it dug down. With each explosion, the earth above it was catapulted into the air, sending its upper layers raining down on the army and leaving the ground below them to rapidly collapse into a crater.

Ending his breath a few seconds into this apocalyptic scene, Darganth didn't linger to watch and instead turned to circle back toward the army. As he did, the first retaliatory attack came flying his way, with a beam of ice erupting from the hands of the hovering mage and striking his back, leaving only a harmless sheet of ice on his scales that shattered with the slightest movement from him.

Immediately he snapped his head up, leaning it into his neck to focus his gaze on the man while still turning. Quickly spotting his target, he tracked him for a moment before abruptly catapulting himself forward even faster the moment he turned fast enough. Leaning to return to a horizontal position as he shot forward, Darganth left the man no chance to react before his multiple tonnes heavy body slammed into him at an absurd speed.

Feeling nothing as the mage's body burst apart on impact and only sensing the disappearance of the man's presence, Darganth focused his attention on the cavalry and mana users while turning his path back in their direction. Pushing more power into his dragon's authority, he first sent the horses into a panic, causing them to reel up and run away, dragging their riders along or leaving them lying on the ground hoping to not be trampled in the chaos.

The mana users meanwhile evaded any trouble from this with relative ease, with the mages rising into the air and the aura users slamming any of the unfortunate animals that headed for them to the side. A few higher-ranking ones didn't even need to do that as a solid stance was everything they needed to endure the impact of a charging horse, allowing them to ready themselves to meet Darganth's approach.

As such, when Darganth aligned his flight path toward them once more a few seconds later, he was immediately greeted by a glowing arrow shooting straight at him. Meeting it with a slash of his claws, he tore through the veil of energy that surrounded it with ease and accurately cut the, in comparison to him minuscule, projectile in two.

Before the woman who had fired this arrow could even draw a second one, Darganth already crossed the two hundred meters separating him from the group. Surprising them as he catapulted forward even faster than he had before, he left them barely any time to react before his claw slammed into the ground half a second later.

Smashing into them, his fists were accompanied by the sonic boom of his burst of speed, its thundering boom only adding to the sight of the ground being blasted apart by his physical might. Caught in its area of effect, half a dozen mana users and multiple times as many of the still-prone cavalrymen were either squished by his claw or vanished as they were crushed by and buried under the soil that was sent flying by it.

With this strike, Darganth caused a crater multiple meters deep to form on the side of the hill. Slowly touching down with his three other legs on its edge, he raised his head and neck and let his gaze wander over the terrified mana users who were standing frozen and staring at this result.

To his surprise, he noticed two among them had managed to break out of their stupor and overcome their fear even with his gaze lingering on them. Meeting his gaze, the first one to so roared in defiance as the glow of aura formed around him.

Watching with some amusement as the man jumped into the air a moment later, his sword raised high and with a massive amount of mana flowing into it. Just as he was about to raise his claw in preparation to slap him aside the moment he came into range, this aura user slashed his sword down.

In an instant, a multiple dozen meter-long construct replica of the man's weapon appeared around it, its form starting in a vertical plane around the original's pommel and reaching all the way past Darganth. Perfectly following along with the original's swing, it thus came crashing down on Darganth's shoulder.

Watching this, Darganth didn't try to defend himself and only watched the attack with narrow eyes. But just as the man's expression already brightened in elation, the construct shattered into thousands of fragments as it struck Darganth's scale.

Chuckling mockingly as he watched his opponent's expression drop to despair, Darganth spoke with a booming voice, "Are you missing a miracle you hoped for or what did you hope to achieve by stretching your aura avatar beyond the limits you can sustain?"

Listening to his words with a pained expression, Darganth's opponent could only glare back in response while weakly plummeting back to the ground. With his mana pathways too strained to even keep his aura active beyond a small part of his chest and back where the heart was due to the overexertion of forcefully pushing half his mana pool through them in under a second, he couldn't do more even as Darganth's open maw snapped close around him.

Feeling the aura user being crushed by the muscles around his throat and then pushed down toward his stomach by their wave motion and the suction force in his gullet, Darganth waited patiently for a few seconds until he started to feel the man's mana being extracted and added to his own, refilling his reserves and ever so slightly strengthening himself.

Only then did Darganth turn his attention to the woman who had also overcome her fear, allowing him to still barely catch it as Yldra's tail appeared behind her humanoid form and slammed the woman into the ground. Unfortunately for her, though she had recognized that attacking him was futile, instead of fleeing the archer had attempted to take Yldra hostage, with the expected result just having played out before Darganth's eyes.

Following this, Darganth took a look at his surroundings before turning to Yldra, "Looks like the first step is done."

Nodding, the dragoness raised an arm immediately after his words. Pointing toward the largest crowd of mana users, she unleashed a dozen beams of death magic that wound through the air. Arcing toward her targets, the twisting streams of black energy each latched onto one of the humans in the group and rapidly drained them of their life force.

Within a second and before any one of the other humans could react, where once living men and women stood were now zombified husks. Without hesitation, these creatures threw themselves at their former comrades, swinging swords and clawing at any living creature that came into their reach.

At the same time, Darganth shot into the air, briefly gliding around the side of the hill before quickly rising with a single beat of his wings and landing near Yldra. Towering on the top of the hill that was barely any larger than he was for a moment, Darganth spoke to her a few seconds later, "Ready?"

"Yes."

Turning away from the fight where three of the undead she had created were already destroyed, Yldra leaned forward slightly before pressing off the ground and jumping into the sky. With it, she returned to her true form amid a sliver glow, sailing through the air with her wings unfurled a moment later.

Following after her with a second of delay and catching up to her far more massive form with rapid beats of his wings, Darganth soon flew side by side with her as they headed for their camp, leaving what remained of the human vanguard behind.