Pope William’s Light of Angels covered the entire continent. Hundreds of thousands of people looked up to the sky in fear and admiration. There had been many wars against necromancers, and every single war caused immeasurable damage. No one wanted to be alive to see a war against necromancers.
Light magic was the natural enemy of death magic, and Priests of Light would always be the deciding factor in how long the war would last. Without Priests of Light, necromancers might have already won the war. The importance and contribution of Priests of Light were undeniable. This was why the Church was able to gain respect and support in such a short amount of time and grow to be one of the largest religious organizations in the world.
Priests of Light were often treated like saviors during these wars. However, after centuries without a war against necromancers, the Church had become lax in its selection of priests. Some priests believe that they were saviors even though they had never fought in a war and should be respected and feared because they were the ones who kept the world safe. Without a war to display its power, the Church could not expand as quickly as before. This war could be the key to expanding the Church.
Sentient beings were not afraid of in-fighting, because whenever they are facing a common threat, they will band together against it. No matter where a man’s loyalty lay before, when he faced a common threat, he would trust and fight alongside all the other men against the threat.
This was because a common threat presented a common fear. No one wanted to become a zombie, even though a zombie’s lifespan was longer. Sentient beings were afraid of death. They were afraid of disappearing. The most important thing to a man wasn’t his life. It was his thoughts, his memories, his experiences. If these things could be preserved, no one would be afraid of death.
Those who chose the path of death magic feared the same thing. Every necromancer wanted to become an arch-witch because an arch-witch’s lifespan was longer than any other sentient being.
That night, the entire world stayed wide awake. Those in power found themselves busy like never before. The Holy Mountain where Pope William resided was even busier. Ambassadors from every nation flocked there trying to get help from the Pope and to seek out potential allies.
Like everyone else, Anfey did not sleep either. He was even more nervous than most people because he knew that he had already made the necromancers his enemies. He knew that the necromancers must be furious about his part in defeating Annunciata. If the necromancers really did want to hunt him down, he had nowhere else to run. He couldn’t fight against a political machine, and the Necromancer Union was one to terrify every single political machine.
The first major news arrived at dawn. General Augustus of Blackania City arrived at Blackania City through a transmission portal and took control of the city. Scarlet of Shansa Empire led her army away from the border and sent a messenger with a peace treaty. When facing such an enormous threat, wars were not acceptable.
Other news arrived soon after. Necromancers began to mobilize their members. In the past, necromancers would all band together and form a single, massive army. This huge army would sweep across the land, killing and pillaging as it went. The necromancers knew that the entire world was their enemy, and dividing up would mean defeat. However, this strategy had a major flaw. Creatures created with death magic move very slowly. Whenever people heard about necromancers, they would resort to scorched earth tactics. They would take everything they could and burn everything they couldn’t, leaving nothing for the necromancers. Then they would flee the scene.
To fight against necromancers, people would form small teams and employ guerrilla warfare. Mages and priests were the most important part of these teams. They can kill many more zombies in a short time. Then the team could flee the scene knowing that the necromancers were too slow to catch them.
After a few months, the necromancers would be too weak to pose a major threat. Then the nations would amass a great army and attack the weakened necromancers. This was why the necromancers could not gather large armies the way they had done during the first war.
The necromancers tried a similar tactic by sending a few necromancers into a large city to scout for information and ambush the people. However, powerful people were everywhere during those wars, and they could recognize necromancers at a glance. The necromancers could not get out in time and would be killed. Slowly the necromancers realized this was not the best tactic.
This time, however, the necromancers had picked a brand new tactic. They divided up their numbers, sending smaller groups of necromancers to dozens of different locations at the same time. One such battlefield was at Tumen Commercial Union, where there was little military defense and high traffic. Another was located in eastern Shansa Empire, another in northern Ellisen Empire. One was in Transverse Mountains, where the necromancers had already attacked a handful of mercenary groups. Another was in Greenwich, a small kingdom on an island offshore, and communication from the kingdom was lost.
Soon, the third piece of news arrived. Yolanthe had ordered the release of Shansa soldiers. Shansa Empire had already paid reparations and hadn’t caused that much damage. Maho Empire had been delaying the release of prisoners, but now it could delay no longer.
This order made the situation in Violet City more difficult. Anfey and Urter were still in the middle of exploring the labyrinth. They couldn’t send their own people into the labyrinth to die.
More news arrived at noon. The empire had ordered its more experienced soldiers and generals to communicate with each other and figure out a plan against the necromancers.
The necromancers’ new tactic was much more effective than their old one. When the necromancers occupied a new city, they would split again and head off to new locations. It was a fast and effective way for them to spread out throughout the entire world.
The old tactic was out-dated. Humans only had so many top level powers, and there were hundreds of battlefields. Top level powers needed to work together when fighting necromancers. If a master swordsman or an archmage die at the hands of necromancers, the necromancers would have an invaluable addition to their army.
Scorched earth was out of the question as well. Too many villages were caught off guard by the necromancers’ new strategy and couldn’t escape. The necromancers were not dangerous in small numbers, which gave people hope. People thought perhaps they could defend their homes and families. However, the death toll was very high, and the necromancers’ army grew with each death.
In the past, the necromancers had focused on the armies. This time, they avoided army camps at all cost. They focused on the weaker cities and villages. Against a large army, a small team of necromancers would be wiped out in minutes. Now, the necromancers’ army had grown too great.
The most terrifying thing was that none of the creatures created by the necromancers were afraid of the sun. Even the weakest skeleton could step into sunlight with no problem. Pope William had already sent out a warning and an example. In the past, a Holy Light spell from a Priest of Light could kill several dozen zombies. In a small village in northern Ellisen Empire, the spell had injured those dark creatures but did not incapacitate them.