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He can only sigh and surrender with that level of stubbornness. Athos conjured up the undead mass raising and turned everyone into undead. The black chains invaded their minds without resistance, as the demihumans were yearning for it. Even before their bones completely darkened, their minds had already been corrupted.

The skeletons regained their senses and immediately knelt before him.

“Haah... Are there any other prisoners in these mines?” Athos asked as he ceded control of the demihumans to the female minotaur so she could answer him.

“No...they’re all...here, patriarch.” The female minotaur replied. There were a total of 130 goblins, 146 kobolds, 34 minotaurs and 15 orcs, including those outside the mines when Athos invaded.

Honestly, they were more than Athos expected. The mines were much larger and deeper than he had thought. The power of the demihumans was also surprising. Most of the goblins and kobolds were in the first layer, with a few in the second layer, but all the orcs and minotaurs were in the second or third layer, with the female minotaur in the fourth layer.

“I don’t have equipment for you at the moment, so you should gather tools to fight.” Athos suggested and the goblins and kobolds obeyed, but the minotaurs and orcs remained in place.

“We don’t need...these tools...to fight...our bodies...are more...than...enough.” The female minotaur spoke on behalf of all.

“I see. Well, other than this guy there’s nothing here for me, so let’s go.” Athos spoke, turning the ogre into an undead and leaving the mines. Incidentally, the ogre skeleton was only in the second layer, so it wasn’t as strong as Athos thought.

.....

Outside the mines, the hawks from the hives were waiting for him with all the skeletons behind them and the corpses on the ground. Athos lifted all the corpses before looking in the direction the soldiers were dragging the corpses of the two minotaurs as he watched.

There was a ditch a few dozen meters from the mines filled with rotting demihuman corpses. Athos used the vision of death on all of them, but with the exception of the two minotaurs, everything else was useless.

‘Unfortunately, I don’t have time to carry more corpses. I’ll leave them behind and come back for them after I’ve taken the keep. Athos thought as he lifted the minotaurs. He checked his own core and realized that he was not yet ready to form a new layer.

“I had already accumulated enough life force to form a new layer when I was in the villages, so all the 8,000 people I killed after that must have brought me closer to the third layer. How many more do I need to kill to form a new layer?’ Athos wondered inwardly, but found no answer.

He soon stopped thinking about it, as he had a simple way to solve the problem. Kill more people and turn them into undead. “We’re going to march a little to the west and meet up with the rest of the army. From there, we’re going to storm the platinum fist stronghold.” Athos spoke to the demihumans around him, who quickly began to obey.

Halfway there, Athos turned to the female minotaur as if he had just realized his mistake and asked, “Hey, what’s your name again?”

The female minotaur froze when she realized her mistake and immediately prostrated herself on the ground. “My most... sincere apologies... for my mistake... my name... is Vanilla... patriarch.”

“Oh. The pun was good, but it’s a shame it doesn’t work anymore.” Athos spoke, looking down at his dark bones.

“Pun?” Vanilla repeated confused. She didn’t know all the words of human language, so the joke went unnoticed.

“Well, never mind.” Athos spoke and they spent the rest of the walk in silence. It took a few hours of walking before Athos reached the army.

“Master! I was worried!” Emilia screamed as Athos approached, looking for wounds all over his body, despite knowing he would be healed by now.

“You worried us, master. Why risk it alone instead of meeting with others?” Gaius also approached him and asked.

“Well, the metal mines wouldn’t attack themselves and if we tried to attack it after we took the fortress, it was likely to be empty when we arrived.” Athos responded as if it was the logical thing to do, but his subordinates strongly disagreed with his logic.

“Even if it was the right thing to do, it was still very reckless.” Emilia complained, but Treevor got between them angrily and interrupted the conversation.

“Can we resume the march? The chief’s recklessness is chronic and incurable, so it’s no use trying to talk. And from what I can see, he seems to have gotten some good soldiers.” Treevor spoke and ended the discussion.

“My lord, there is something I want you to see.” Emilia spoke walking away and getting into one of the carriages, before returning carrying a cloth-covered spear. She removed the cloth slightly and showed it to Athos.

“Where did you get that?” Athos asked in disgust, the spear’s overflowing light element causing a strong repulsion. The spear had long ago stopped radiating light, but the pure element of light still sent goose bumps on his skin.

“It’s the general’s spear. He intercepted us as we tried to flee and we ended up fighting. We lost the hive hawk skeleton, but we managed to steal his spear and kill his familiar.” Emilia explained proudly.

“Hoo...” Athos sighed in surprise and patted her head to congratulate her. “You did very well, I’m glad you survived. Save the spear for now, I’ll try to corrupt it when I have time.” he ordered.

Vanilla’s demihumans and soldiers mingled among the army as Athos assumed his command position at the center of the army. They resumed their march and half an hour after dark, reached the fortress.

**********

In the Iron Fist Stronghold a few hours ago.

“,,,This is a disaster.” Astrus said disappointed, seeing the desperate expression on the faces of the mages in front of him. They were court mages who specialized in runesmithing and they had just finished assessing the damage done to the control room. He was completely healed, but his pride as a general was in tatters.

“Unfortunately, it cannot be fixed right away, General. The control pedestal was completely destroyed and the undead that exploded damaged all the runes on the walls. None of these were destroyed, but their effectiveness was severely reduced.” The mage reported in a sad voice.

“Is there anything that can be done?” Astrus asked. He knew very little about magic, so he ignored the wizard’s explanations.

“As I said, there is nothing we can do now. Even if the pedestal were rebuilt and enchanted again, the new runes would not be linked to the runes around the walls, they would be unable to activate the wall barrier.”

“We need to undo all the runes in the room and rebuild the pedestal, before runesmithing it all over again.” The wizard sighed at the end of the sentence, thinking of all the work they would have to do. He envied the order mages who knew how to repair and add runes to already crafted items.

The order kept its secrets in absolute secrecy, despising court mages as a cheap imitation of their own organization. Court mages didn’t have as many talented members or nearly limitless resources as the order seemed to have, so they were far behind when it came to magical research.

“Get to work then. I have other things to take care of, so I must leave for now.” General Astrus withdrew before hearing an answer. As he walked towards the stairs, he looked out the window and saw the entire fortress.

Until yesterday, the fortress was incredibly lively, regardless of the time of day. Soldiers worked 12-hour shifts, so there were always soldiers off-duty looking for entertainment and merchants looking to make a profit.

Now, most of the fortress was ruins. The acid clouds corroded the market, destroying most of the merchants’ products. The deaths in the market were small, but the damage was gigantic.

The armory was also almost completely destroyed, so several soldiers were unarmed in case they came under attack. Ballista ammunition was also lost, so with the exception of those already close to the walls for emergencies, they were out of ammunition.

But the biggest loss was in the garrison. Nearly 500 soldiers were trapped inside the rooms before the screams woke the others and they managed to successfully escape, and 137 of them died, with 74 with serious injuries. Soldiers able to manipulate mana broke through the walls of the rooms using their skills, but it took some time as the garrison was an emergency shelter and its walls were sturdy.

The acid cloud released at the training ground was the most harmless, but it moved towards the walls and destroyed several catapults and ballistae. The fog of darkness also caused severe damage to the interior of the fortress. Although he had dispersed some of the fog as he descended the stairs, much had already spread through the halls.

An entire floor where the civilian officers slept was destroyed, their bodies consumed by the darkness to dust. Several patrolling soldiers were also killed, but most fled down the opposite stairs and were saved.

...The truth was that the dust came from the wooden bunks, but the general had no way of knowing that.