Dragon Gods Reign

[Destroyed Village]

Trying for a second time to find the mana she had just absorbed, Melidra once again only found the same strange energy inside what should be her mana pool.

Normally this would make a mana user panic as the mana pool, as its name suggests, is supposed to hold mana and no other energy. Elemental energies, even if in diluted forms, simply can't be contained by it. Their pure forms go even further and destroy not just the person's mana pool and often their body, but all physical matter near them. And while there are still some other energies similar to mana, their use isn't widespread and thus few know of their existence.

But Melidra knew nothing of this and thus wasn't aware of the strangeness of the situation from a normal mana user's perspective. Furthermore, she had other problems that quickly prompted the decision to run before the approaching soldiers reached her. Hoping to repeat her previous successful escape, she hastily chose a direction.

Rushing through the small town, she ran straight towards the woods she had arrived from. Even though this also was the direction where the approaching humans came from, in any other direction she would run over flat grasslands or former farmland where there was little cover.

But just as she passed the last house, she abruptly stopped as the first soldiers broke through the treeline a few dozen meters away from her. Cursing, she turned and was just about to run in the other direction when a small explosion blocked her path and forced her to stay still.

Slowly turning around and trying her best to seem none threatening, she internally frowned as three mana users blocked her path into the forest. She had no idea which rank and order they are at, but it didn't matter much as they were too powerful for her in all possible cases.

And they seemed to also know this, with neither of the three being particularly vigilant of her. The mage didn't bother casting a shield around him despite wearing only very light armor while the two aura users hadn't even drawn their weapons. Their armor was at least somewhat better, wearing a metal breastplate, they also seemed confident in their defenses as the rest of their body was only covered with normal cloth clothes.

“To what do I owe the presence of the esteemed soldiers of our great kingdom?” Melidra asked politely, hiding her annoyance at the situation with a fake smile.

“We came here to investigate something. You wouldn't know of any sudden changes earlier today that we might be interested in, or?” The mage asked, completely skipping over his previous spell.

“No, I don't. As you can see, this village has been reduced to rubble and the most change it sees are probably the occasional travelers like me using it to rest.”

Snickering in amusement at her answer, the three mana users gave their subordinates an order that was inaudible to Melidra.

Attempting to use their distraction, she was just about to turn around and sneak away when the mage's shout stopped her.

“Where do you think you are going?”

Gritting her teeth in frustration, she forced herself to remain polite and answered, “I doubt my presence would be anything but a hindrance so I plan to vacate the area.”

“Ah, the lady wants to leave.” One of the aura users said mockingly, eliciting laughter from all three, “And why would we allow that for an undead like you?”

With this Melidra's expression sank. Reacting in an instant, she turned around and made a run for it. And to her surprise, no spell came to stop her though she soon realized why.

Running around the corner of the first building, she barely managed to dodge the sword that threatened to decapitate her. This saved her from that fate, but just a moment later she felt a blunt force impacting her side.

Throwing against the wall of the house by the sudden shield bash, she didn't have time to react as two arrows ripped through her skin just a second later.

Dropping down, she took a few seconds to recover from the attacks, time the soldiers luckily gave her.

Slowly standing up while ignoring the projectiles stuck in her abdomen, Melidra trusted her undead physiology to keep her alive. Studying her attackers, she kept calm and tried to find a way out of the encirclement.

With two heavily armored soldiers standing near her, one less armored one from whom she could feel at least one magic item a bit further away, and two archers standing fifteen meters from her, she felt slightly hopeless. Her experiences during the past week made her relatively sure that they couldn't defeat her, but they also taught her that she was in the same position.

And with the other soldiers putting her on a time limit, she knew she had to act fast. And with no better idea, she chose the direct option and recklessly charged for the gap between the wall and the armored man on her right.

This unexpected move surprised her attackers, allowing her to move far enough that the archers couldn't fire without risking hitting their allies. So with the situation reduced to a one-against-one, she put her full attention on the soldier before her.

Seeing that he was remaining steadfast even in the face of her approach, hiding behind his large shield and keeping his sword ready to strike back, she jumped to the right at the last moment. Slightly bringing him off balance as the impact he braced for never came, he failed to react as she ran past him.

Bracing herself for the two arrows she knew would strike her any second, she was already expecting to have overcome this group when her foot suddenly became pinned to the ground. Turning around during her fall, she stared at the man with the magic item in shock, something he was clearly delighted to see.

Feeling two arrows lodging themselves into her leg, pinning it against the ground even further, she hit the ground with full force. The magical binds around her ankle soon started to slowly fade, giving her one last glimpse of hope.

Putting all her strength in her free leg, she pushed forward despite the searing pain coming from the arrows that slowly ripped larger and larger chunks out of her flesh. By the time she managed to stand up, her leg only consisted of bone and some bits of flesh and skin.

At the same time, the three mana users arrived, amused at the sight of her desperately trying to escape.

“Hey, shoot her other leg. Let's see what she will try then.” One shouted to the archers, a command the two executed after a moment of hesitation.

This was followed by a wave of disappointment from the group as Melidra didn't howl in pain or try another escape as they had hoped but had only gritted her teeth and stopped struggling in resignation.

A moment later she felt another series of pinches from her back as dozens of arrows lodged themselves into her flesh. This was quickly followed by a wave of disappointed boo's from a part of the crowd when she didn't react to them

“Bring me some wood, I will try something else.” The mage shouted.

“Sir, is that really necessary?” One of the soldiers said, clearly hesitant to follow the order.

He directly received harsh glares from all three mana users, though when they noticed the surrounding men tending to support him, these became less angry and instead condescending.

“Useless bunch, fooled by her appearance. Just because she looks human doesn't mean she isn't undead so don't hesitate. Or did you forget what her kind does once unleashed on a region?” One of the aura users reprimanded the soldiers.

And while some were swayed by this, a surprising number of them remained steadfast in their opposition.

“But can't we at least give her a clean end? For all we know she could be an innocent woman that was turned so just give her a quick end.”

Before the man even finished this sentence, some other soldiers started joining and voiced their support.

Clearly frustrated by this, the mage clenched his fist as he listened to them with gritted teeth. Watching the unrest grow larger with each passing second, he only held on for half a minute before his frustration exploded.

“Enough!” He shouted, a wave of mana accompanying his voice, “I won't stand this from a bunch of fools who can't distinguish an undead from the living and won't even take our word for it. Another word of protest and you can accompany her in her fate.”

Following this outburst, the voices quickly stopped though few were truly convinced. Most had served under the three for some time and they believed that just declaring someone an undead to brutalize her was something they would do.

And considering that lower undead had little to no intelligence, something that clearly didn't fit in Melidra's case, while higher undead would be able to rip them apart with ease, they were sure of that conclusion. Even those that didn't join in had these thoughts, though they either didn't care or even supported such actions.

“Tsk, you mana users just can't stop the power from getting to your head.” One murmured slightly too loud, expressing the thoughts of most of them.

Overhearing these words, the mage acted without hesitation and with an outstretched arm, he fired a bolt of lightning at the man. As he was a normal soldier, it easily seared through his armor, leaving a burning hole there before electrocuting the man as well as leaving a singed hole in his chest.

This sudden event caused the surrounding soldiers to jump back in fear, with a handful lifting their weapons toward the three mana users.

“Will someone finally bring me some wood!” The mage shouted, completely ignoring this commotion he caused.

This time there was only little hesitation, with one man instantly rushing towards the nearest house and grabbing one of the least burned pieces of it. He was just about to give it to the mage but the latter stopped him, instead setting its tip aflame before pointing towards Melidra.

“This will also do well in convincing the rest of you cowards, burn her. I want to see how she fares against the typical weaknesses of her abominable kind.” He said.

Under the accusing gazes of about a third of the soldiers, the man walked towards Melidra. Just as he reached her, he noticed the sadistic grins that some of his fellow soldiers had, making him hesitate for a moment.

But this internal debate of whether he wants to be lumped in with these people was abruptly cut short when he saw their gazes starting to shift. Silently conveying their readiness to attack him if he hesitated longer, his self-preservation instincts spurred him to act as he wasn't sure the three leaders would intervene.

Dragging Melidra up by the neck, he steeled his resolve before pressing the flames against her abdomen.

“ARGH!”

Screaming in pain, Melidra started to claw against his arm and face in an attempt to free herself. But despite her struggles, she was unable to free herself, leaving him free to repeatedly burn multiple parts of her body. Initially, her scream prompted some of the soldiers to try and intervene, but a single glare from the mage quickly made them fall back in line.

Slowly her screams became less pronounced, the burning pain starting to become dull as she grew accustomed to it. But even then her struggling never stopped, her fingers harmlessly scratching against the man's armor until they started to bleed.

This continued for minutes until she suddenly felt her fingers meeting nearly no resistance. Looking up in surprise, she saw them dug into her attacker's shoulder, shocking both of them. Noticing the black, cloud-like energy around her hand and arm, Melidra realized the source of this change.

Reacting faster than him, she dragged her hand along his upper body, tearing a deep cut in his chest plate and body, killing him nearly instantly as she also hit most of his organs. As the rest of the soldiers were still in shock from this, she felt a rejuvenating wave washing over her as a cone of similar white smoke started to exit his entire body before coalescing into a concentrated stream that entered her heart.

Feeling what should have been her mana pool clearly for the first time, she saw the energy making its way through the black smoky mass and joining a glowing white orb at its center. Seeing it grow and feeling her body healing and growing stronger, a smile crept onto her lips and she looked at the nearest soldier.

“Fuck, she can absorb life force!” One of the two aura users shouted.

This shout fell mostly on deaf ears, with the sudden turn of events having brought chaos to the entire group. Some, especially those who were already dissatisfied, used this opportunity to run. But most started drawing their weapons, shouting wildly in an effort to coordinate with the rest.

“She is healing, stop her!” “Go for the legs, go for the legs!” “Idiot, undead fighting means decapitating.” “We need to kill her quickly.”

Amidst all these shouts and more, Melidra felt an uncanny sense of clearness in her mind, allowing her to efficiently pick her next target. She could now see an aura of sorts around each soldier, telling her how strong his life force was, or at least she guessed so from the aura user's words.

Picking the strongest source near her, she didn't hesitate for a moment and rushed towards the man. And even though the three mana users had life forces quite a bit above those of the regular soldiers, with the two aura users being another step above the mage, she kept it to the other soldiers.

Easily driving her hand through the armor just as she did against the previous one, she felt it sink into his chest before the life force started to flow toward her. This time she could watch it with more focus, seeing that the moment the last bit left his body came a bit after he had stopped breathing.

Once she was finished she slowly stood back up, inspecting her body only to find it to be completely healed. Now that she had a moment to think she also noticed a complete lack of remorse for killing a person, putting it off on account of being an undead.

Suddenly feeling another stream of life force entering her body, she was ripped out of her thoughts just to see it coming from a heavily wounded soldier nearby who had been trampled by his fellows. Seeing a couple of other similar cases nearby, she noticed the man closest to her losing life force far quicker than they did.

Reminding herself to investigate this later, she turned her attention toward the three mana users.

“I truly just wanted to go my way in peace and now look where your actions have brought us.” She said with a sneer.

“Ha, you think this changed anything?” The mage answered her, amused by her words, “That we will see.”

With those words, he conjured a sphere of electricity that floated above his palm, while the two aura users drew their weapons and got ready to fight. Melidra answered with the only thing she knew, pushing more of her black energy into the cloud surrounding her hands.