Modern World Warlock-Chapter 321: Necropolis Expansion
After Netherius intentionally allowed Alice and Claudia to escape from his grasp, he grabbed Isidor's unconscious body and cast a spell that teleported him back to his residence.
The Onyx Cartel had different mansions all over the western area of Novaria, and their residence at Limsa was located on the edge of the death's ichor that corrupted the city.
Since the death's ichor was a creation of the necromancer, it shared a piece of his consciousness, which allowed Netherius to see any area that had been corrupted by it. Moreover, he could also warp his body through the ichor and teleport himself.
When Saturio was defeated by Zac and Curtis, the necromancer considered warping himself to the area to protect his subordinate. However, he knew very well the type of warrior that Saturio was.
Out of all the Death Knights under his command, Saturio was one of the few who didn't need to have his memory deleted or altered. The barbarian joined the necromancer so that he could continue fighting, and surprisingly, Netherius respected his wish.
Nonetheless, the fact that one of his strongest Death Knights had been defeated by someone other than Dante slightly irked the necromancer, as he truly didn't expect the other mafia members to be that powerful.
As Netherius entered his residence covered in death's ichor, two female undead servants approached him and bowed politely, only to get ignored by Netherius, who dropped Isidor on the side of the yard.
"Hmmm, you two, come here," Netherius beckoned the two servants, who followed his orders like puppets.
The servants approached the necromancer, their faces devoid of any expressions, and were stabbed by Netherius' naked hands, absorbing the souls inside their bodies and turning them into energy.
As the bodies of the undead servants flopped lifelessly on the ground, Netherius' hands produced an eerie green glow that he pressed against Isidor's body, creating a beam of shadows that shot upwards into the sky.
When he was finished casting his spell, Isidor was still unconscious, but the necromancer looked satisfied with his work and left him lying on the corrupted grass.
"Now, let's see how the rest are doing…" Netherius muttered to himself, closing one eye and projecting his vision somewhere else in the city.
After he witnessed Saturio's fight, the necromancer kept an eye on Zac and Curtis and figured out the rough location of their checkpoint.
Netherius planned on sending a surprise attack their way, and while their undead wouldn't be as strong outside the ichor's boundaries, he deduced that the people working there were not as capable as the ones scouting the city.
When he spotted Alice and Claudia in a completely different district, Netherius smiled, respecting their decision not to return to the checkpoint yet.
"Hmmm, where could Radeon have gone?" he kept muttering to himself, searching for the location of his Death Knight.
The last time he saw Radeon, he was fighting against Megan, Lindsey, and Irina, but after the netherlord cast a spell that produced a massive explosion, he couldn't find his body anywhere.
Netherius knew that Radeon wasn't dead, or he would have felt something. However, after projecting his vision into numerous areas of the city, he couldn't find his body anywhere.
"I suppose it's time to expand…" Netherius continued, leaving the matter of Radeon aside for the moment.
When the necromancer walked to his backyard, dozens of necrotic cores hovered a meter above the ground. Each core was no larger than a basketball, and as the necromancer grabbed two in each hand, wings made of bones appeared behind his back.
Since the mansion was located on the edge of the corruption, there was a large district right beside him that was still clear of death's ichor—but not for long.
Thousands of citizens had evacuated, but getting everyone out of danger was an impossible task, especially in big, modern cities.
As Netherius landed on the empty but clean streets, he threw both necrotic cores high in the air and pointed his palm at them, making them shatter and releasing a black mist that began covering the area.
The few unfortunate individuals who hadn't evacuated died after a few seconds of inhaling the mist, and as the death's ichor expanded, the victims began turning into zombies and ghouls.
The necromancer chuckled with satisfaction. Even though he had his enemies prowling inside his territory, he felt like he couldn't be stopped.
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On the checkpoint where the NSS was gathering intelligence, a suited man ran towards the agents, exclaiming that the ichor was expanding.
Marcus, the chief of operations for the NSS who was present at the scene, ordered a group to help move the residents further away from the city.
A few minutes later, Zac and Curtis arrived at the checkpoint, with Curtis carrying the redhead on his back.
The two of them were covered in blood, bruises, and cuts, and as soon as the agents spotted them, the team doctors promptly approached them to treat their wounds.
"Ah, we are fine… We already healed ourselves a bit," Curtis commented to the doctors, who were perplexed to see that the man was telling the truth.
They weren't aware that they used a healthstone, and Curtis decided not to mention it, so he made up an excuse and said that there was a doctor in their team who helped them.
None of the agents believed the blond, but they also couldn't do anything about it since they didn't have proof, so they simply let the matter go.
"We have another big problem at the moment…" One of the agents commented, catching Curtis' attention.
"What is it?" The blond asked, and the female agent flushed a little when he approached her, even though he was dirty and bloody.
"A-all of our cameras stopped working, and we can't communicate with anyone inside the necropolis…" The agent replied.
"What about outside of it?" Curtis pondered.
"The signal is weak, but we can still communicate with the other groups that are stationed on the edge of the ichor…" she replied.
'Hmmm, could there be some sort of jammer in there?' Curtis thought, placing a hand on his chin as he started coming up with a new scheme.