Rise of the Supreme Necromancer-Chapter 69: The Power of a Third Rank Cleric

"As expected, they are ready to meet us. I doubt we will get the luxury of sudden attacks again anytime soon," said Aleric, looking at the distant walls of Frinstoun. "Although we timed the march to come here at night, the people who ran from our way have long told everyone about us. Or maybe it was the inquisitors."

The walls here were a little taller than the walls of Oakdale, and the castle standing in the center of the city looked larger as well. It was clear that Diawale was a richer county than Oakdale, and in normal circumstances, the walls of this city would’ve been full of well-paid soldiers.

Today, however, only a fraction of them were standing on the walls. Just by counting (which Aleric was doing better and better with each day of practice) their torches, he could tell that there were at most six hundred men. They were shouting commands and preparing to withstand the assault of the undead.

Like most Aleshat soldiers, these were mostly armed with spears or swords. Spears were an especially popular weapon choice because they were simple to use and great against both horses and infantry. But they were even worse against the undead than swords.

"Be careful, Master Fenn," said Samuel, who was standing next to Aleric, without his horse. He pointed a finger at the towers above the city’s gate, "Look. The defenders of the city have ballistas. An arrow from something like that would probably immobilize even me."

Aleric raised his head and saw it, too. A pair of massive crossbows was placed above the towers. Each of them required several people to arm, but their arrows were the size of Aleric himself.

He tensed, but they were too far away from his army to shoot.

"How precise are these things?" Aleric asked.

"Now, in the dark? Not much. If they hit anything important, it will be from pure luck."

Aleric nodded and raised his staff. He was about to command the advance when he sensed something ahead...

Light!

"They are there," he said, squinting. Although it was far away, he thought he saw four people who were dressed differently from other soldiers. "The inquisitors. I can sense the Light in them—it’s powerful! At least one of them has to be a cleric, and they probably also have enchanted items... Samuel, as soon as we get in range, I want archers to try to snipe them."

"Yes, master."

Aleric raised his staff. "Now—attack! Split the army into both sides of the gate and place the ladders. Black Riders, stay behind—you will be the reserve."

His command flew over the entire army with Aleric’s magic. With battlecries of his undead servants and the howls of the few surviving wights, the undead ran toward the wall as fast as they could. Many of them were also carrying ladders that they crafted on the way there.

Samuel was leading the charge with his sword raised high. Undead were too loyal to Aleric to care about high spirit, but it was still an inspiring sight for anyone who could see in the dark.

Aleric directed his horse to follow at a much slower pace.

Soon, a pair of giant ballista bolts flew at the front of the army, each piercing several skeletons at once. Some were shattered, others merely skewered and pinned like insects with a needle.

But the rest of the army ignored the problems of five skeletons and just walked around them.

Then, Aleric saw dozens of tiny lights on the wall. There, archers took arrows with oiled cloth bound to them and lit them from nearby braziers.

Realizing what it meant, Aleric directed his horse to stop before he was in the arrows’ range.

"Raise your shields, everyone!"

A volley of burning arrows flew from the wall. It was an orange river in the night sky—a beautiful, but deadly sight.

The arrows peppered the approaching undead and lit the night. The oil from them set the clothes of the undead and their shields on fire. The sight of fire spreading over zombies was inspiring for defenders!

But seeing their efforts, Aleric just smirked.

His soldiers continued to advance, mostly ignoring this onslaught. Those whose things burned just threw them aside. But even oil arrows couldn’t easily ignite a human body. Neither preserved flesh nor old bones were easily flammable.

The only advantage the defenders got was that they could see their enemy slightly better.

’I don’t even need to bring out the Ghost Blade yet,’ Aleric thought, watching this. ’But I must look out for them...’

So far, the inquisitors hadn’t acted, and it was worrisome.

By this point, his own archers got close enough to shoot. Following Aleric’s previous orders, they released a volley of arrows in the direction of inquisitors and the soldiers near them.

However, shooting above a wall was hard—the defenders simply hid behind the portcullis.

Then, Aleric felt more Light being channeled. A second later, there was a white flash on the wall, and Light flew through the archers on the wall.

They released another volley of burning arrows. But this time, each arrow was also imbued with a spark of Light!

And because of the previous volley, they were aimed better. Instead of shooting randomly at the undead hordes, the archers purposefully tried to hit Aleric’s zombies.

And many struck their marks.

The arrows that hit only shields or the ground didn’t do anything. But if an enchanted arrow struck a zombie, it would explode in a flash of flame!

Light energy of the spell and the Dark energy destroyed each other, creating heat that let already-existing fire rapidly spread over all the clothing and hair of the zombies.

This much fire was enough to debilitate a zombie! And with the initial damage from Light magic, many zombies struck by enchanted arrows were destroyed on the spot!

Even the luckier ones suffered: their Dark magic became so weakened that they fell and couldn’t stand again.

Aleric watched this with wide eyes.

’Is this... the power of a third rank cleric?’