Boom!
A brilliant detonation took place.
In the ensuing darkness, the explosion lit up the atmosphere and diverted it away from the battlefield. Shalen detonated the RDX hidden inside her body.
Tia Taheel and her group of rankers were caught in the blast because of the suddenness of the attack. They thought that they were finishing off Shalen when it was the other way around.
"Aaaargh!"
Tia managed to escape the blast somehow. In the moment of life and death, she used the ranker beside her as a meat shield. She let the Adept-ranked ranker from her guild die to escape the sudden death sentence she was subjected to.
***
Even Goro was stunned as he felt the blast behind him. He was buying his time fighting because he didn't want to fight all out against a human doll. After all, he didn't want to fall prey to the follow-up attacks of the masterminds behind this thing.
However, he looked at Oslo's body with vigilance when Shalen detonated herself. He estimated that Eren and his team could use the same trick to get to him as well.
It was already too late to save Tia and the others. Goro knew that his retreat from Oslo could be used against him. So he focused on Oslo and decided to use his main spells.
Oslo had been using various artifacts against Goro to gain an edge. He could tell that Oslo's battle prowess had been compromised. But his corpse made up for it using various alchemy items that enhanced his speed, agility, attacking powers, and spell potency.
It was also to be noted that Goro was very skilled at handling his chained sword even though he was a full-fledged summoner. The guy wasn't a glass cannon like most summoners get tagged with. He could handle himself mana-e-mano against anyone of his rank without using his summoning spells.
Goro wanted to play it safe. But the blast of RDX changed things for him. He crouched and touched the ground with both his palms before casting his summoning spell.
Army of the dead!
Goro cast his summoning spell before fleeing from the approaching Oslo. As Goro's spell took effect, a distinct death-like mana pulse spread throughout the area.
A death miasma was summoned into existence. The sounds of the ground cracking at various places and bone breaking could be heard. Oslo was soon surrounded by the newly formed skeletons of humanoids and mana beasts.
Skreeeee!
The undead attacked Oslo as soon as they were summoned. Some even started attacking him while the white bones that served as their mortal shells were still manifesting. The bones creaked and the sounds of twig snappings could be heard as one form of undead fought with another form of undead chasing him in a group.
Goro stopped running when he had established a sufficient distance from Oslo. He raised his hands to operate on his summoned creatures. Some of them started attacking the human doll with fire-element spells. Some skeletons launched wind-element attacks at him.
Goro was merely the medium for the creatures' spells. His necromancer class allowed him to summon the dead rankers' mortal forms.
Some of the skeletons he had summoned belonged to the rankers he had chosen for himself and saved their mana signatures in his collection. And some skeletons belonged to rankers and mana beasts who had died in the vicinity.
The bones and dead flesh over the skeletons were formed into existence using Goro's necromancer mana. Depending on when the summoned creature died, the quality of its summoned form will vary. The more recent the death, the better the resurrected creature's quality will be.
Most of the summoned creatures were recently deceased members of Goro's team. The detonation of the RDX had got them good. But it looked like their job wasn't over.
Goro did not have any remorse for using his members as his summoned creatures. He felt that they should feel honored because he was punishing the reason for their death using their summoned forms.
Of course, Goro could not summon the forms of Shalen and Oslo even when they had technically died. He figured that was because of something their handler had done to them.
Goro was excited. Fighting a summoner was already rare. He felt even more confident about the possibility of fighting a necromancer. The guy assumed that the things Alephee had done to Shalen and Oslo's bodies were a form of necromancy. Even if she was not a summoner and belonged to a different class of necromancy, Goro was looking forward to her arrival on the battlefield.
Necromancy wasn't a very popular subject on the continent of Anfang. It was considered a cultist path by most establishments and as such there were severe restrictions on its use.
Of course, the normal rules didn't apply to a prominent organization like that of House Remus. Still, it was very difficult for Goro to acquire knowledge regarding necromancy and train himself in it. If it wasn't for his mentor, he would have given up on pursuing the path.
Goro kept on progressing his knowledge as a necromancer by mixing himself with cultist organizations and studying old paths of magic in the shadows. He mostly kept to himself and rarely left his clan's estate. House Remus would only use him when they wanted to launch purging missions against a group of people it found uncomfortable to deal with using normal methods.
Goro acted as the clan's cleaner. In return, he was provided with security and resources by his clan. After attaining the Adept rank, he truly started to see the limitless potential of his class. It looked like he could cast any elemental spell if he managed to summon the right undead.
The most remarkable thing about his class was the fact that no matter which side was subjected to casualties, he could use it to increase his battle potential. Recent deaths on the battlefield gave him a huge boost.
The more carnage on the battlefield, the more prosperous Goro's domain of death would be.
