Never Die Twice - Chapter 21

Walter Tye’s teleportation spell didn’t bring him to Nastrond, but to his old sanctuary, deep below the shop. None could teleport directly to the city itself, and while most of his equipment had been transferred deeper underground, there was one exception.

“You look terrible, human,” Beli the fiend mocked him as the necromancer entered his prison. He alone, among the furniture hadn’t been moved to Nastrond yet. “What, some adventurers roughed you…”

The demon froze, as he realized he didn’t face a man.

For with his health drained, and emotions in shamble after his encounter with Hel, Tye’s mask of humanity had slipped away. The goddess’ wounds had somehow temporarily disabled his [Deathmask]’s Perk, which gave him the appearance of life.

His true undead self was now exposed for all to see, and it terrified the cocky fiend.

For Tye looked hungry.

The flayed, crooked fingers of his left hand violently slammed the demon’s head against the back wall. “[Lifedrain]!” the [Ankou] snarled, furious, and starved for life.

The fiend let out a scream, as his years were stolen at an accelerated pace; his lifeforce drained to repair the deity’s damage. While it would have only taken a short session for Tye to recover from flayed skin, a goddess’ touch was not so easily erased; the [Ankou]’s body, his soul, craved more. His flesh burnt with a hunger that could only be quenched by consuming life itself.

When finally, Walter Tye regained a human appearance and soundness of mind, it was to find his wounds healed, and Beli drained to death. The pressure had been too much, even for a creature like him; the corpse had aged thousands of years, the fiend’s flesh decaying into old dusty bones.

You have fully refreshed your HP and SP. [Beli, Underside Fiend]’s soul has been added to your [Death Coach].

When Tye calmed himself, he looked at the demon’s fossilized bones with distaste.

There went his trusty meal. He would have to find another food source.

Tye immediately cursed his impulsive reaction and vowed never to lose control again. He hadn’t had an episode like this for years, and they always brought him back to the early days, when he was nothing more than a ravenous predator prowling the night. While [Ankou] were a powerful kind of undead, this event reminded Tye that his current shape was a faulty, intermediate step towards perfect immortality.

Curse that goddess and her cursed touch. Not only had she marked him like a beast, to be hunted for her pleasure, but she could hijack his [Proto Naglfar]. Could she block it? No, not even a goddess was omniscient, nor could she afford to focus all her efforts on one person. While Tye’s Great Work would defeat her in the end, he wasn’t Hel’s only enemy.

Still, the mere fact that she could cancel his spell infuriated him. As he had expected, Tier VIII was not enough. He needed to upgrade his spell to tier IX, perhaps even X. To create a magic that not even Hel could disrupt.

Tremors from below brought him back to reality, as did the sound of alarms.

Summoning his [Mask of the Forsaken] and gear to him, including his [Black Scepter of Apophis], the sorcerer cast the necromancy spell [Ghostform] to turn intangible. He flew through the stone walls, reaching the caves of Level Two to find vampire rats moving east en mass.

“What’s happening?” he asked the critters, the animals telepathically linking themselves to the necromancer’s mind.

The hive mind of Many-Swarm transmitted to him memories and real-time images of undead forces clashing with Calamity Cultists, all over Level Two. As Tye had expected, the [Antlions] had dug galleries to allow other invaders, namely raving lunatics with torches and pitchforks, to slip in; the madmen had used two main passages to invade the Dungeon, mostly from the east.

Obviously, they had triggered his [Runes of Madness] and assorted magical traps, the symbols turning the weak-willed [Antlions] against their humanoid handlers. This had made the invaders easy picking for the goblins, who held the line until Hagen arrived to reinforce them.

In another cave, Spook slaughtered a pack of horse-sized wolves and serpents in droves alongside undead warriors. The mummy had shed so much blood that his whole body had turned red. What did the cults hope to accomplish by sending such weaklings to their doom?

Unless… they sent their weakest troops first to test the defenses, keeping their most powerful servants for later?

If so, they had misjudged Tye’s defenses. Or perhaps his plan had worked well, and they thought the necromancer gone, the undead unable to raise more of their own. That would also explain why they attacked the area now; a full assault on a dangerous dungeon regularly raided by adventurers would have brought attention.

A new vision, from a different rat further into the tunnels, confirmed it. It turned out that the galleries led to the forest of Brocéliande, and to a whole encampment of cultists.

More precisely, the invaders had set shop in the swampiest area of the forest, amidst mud and dense vegetation; far, far away from prying gazes. And what a motley gathering it was! Some were human cultists or slaves, whose will had been crushed through charm magic, but most were monsters. Snake-like or amphibian humanoids, a flock of winged harpies, enormous goblins called [Bugbears], manticores and savage beasts, animated trees, a few ogres…

They even had a green-scaled, twelve headed hydras with them, chained like a pet. What a kind gift, just when Tye was looking for one.

Still, Many-Swarm had counted at least two hundred hostile creatures in the area. How did nobody notice this small army creeping inside the region without sounding the alarm? Tye sensed powerful magic at work, even through his rats’ eyes. Hag magic.

A coven.

The rat turned to a witch hut in the middle of the camp, resting on four organic legs. The necromancer identified it as a rare breed of House Mimic, a monster capable of taking the shape of a walking house.

The cultists all wore strange thorn pendants, with the symbol of two serpents intertwined into the form of an S. He knew this to be the symbol of Loki, but one snake was stylized into representing Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent; and the other reptile had the head of a wolf.

“Can you get inside the hut?” Tye asked the rat hive mind.

“Not invited,” it ‘replied,’ more with feelings than words.

“Then keep an eye on the area, and memorize the smell of each creature for later. Do not reveal your position.”

Ending the psychic contact, the necromancer moved towards Hagen’s location, where more cultists would arrive soon.

“[Hellgaze],” Tye began casting buffs on himself, his eyes turning into fiery pits and symbols appearing on his skin. “[Elemental Veil], [Fallen Auspices], [Death Siphon], [Runeskin], [Rune Reflector].”

[Hellgaze] would allow him to see through illusions, and terrify those crossing his gaze; [Elemental Veil] protected him from elemental attacks, while [Fallen Auspices] increased his stats. [Death Siphon] would drain the lifeforce of anyone dying near him, while [Runeskin] increased his damage resistance, and [Rune Reflector] would send weak enemy spells back at the sender.

Crossing the tunnels, Tye entered a large mine similar to the one where his decoy had fought the princess of Avalon. A second wave of monstrous cultists invaded the underground hall through galleries, only to meet their end at the hands of the defenders. Hagen and Duke formed the vanguard, while the goblins skewered enemies with arrows. The goblin leader, Boneater Who-Hears-The-Gods, empowered her skeletal bow [Heartseeker] with fire magic and incinerated any cultist slipping past the undead elites.

“Thirty?” Hagen asked, his mace disintegrating a human cultist in a burst of dark magic.

“Count for yourself,” Duke replied, disemboweling a werewolf that came screaming out of the tunnels.

At the back of the mine, one of Tye’s alchemical cauldrons spewed gas-producing slimes at the enemy, to no avail. Unlike human adventurers, the monstrous cultists had the unnatural resilience needed to inhale the gas safely…

Or they had the Academy’s antidote. He would need to dissect a few to be sure.

“[Death X],” Tye cast upon floating among in the cultists’, slaying seven men outright and startling the rest. His arrival bolstered the morale of his troops, who fought even more fiercely.

However, the happiness was short-lived, as a tsunami of black thorns broke through the tunnels, shattering stone and forcing his soldiers to disperse.

“[Dire Wilting].” Tye’s spell caused the moisture in the thorns to evaporate, instantly turning the plants to dry dust. This however widened the tunnel and allowed a new wave to pour inside the mine.

The new force was more impressive than the previous, composed of animals and half-beasts. A band of Bugbears, huge, brown-furred goblins, attacked with short swords and daggers, alongside eight shambling zombies. A group of beasts composed of giant snakes and centipedes, mutant crabs, and a nimble panther backed them up.

“It is, as they say, your funeral!” Hagen commented, wreathing his mace in biting cold before crushing a bugbear’s face. Meanwhile, Tye smiled beneath his mask. It had been so long since he had flexed his arcane might and unlike with the princess… he didn’t have to hold back.

Casually using his [Undead Mastery] Perk to enslave the mindless undead, Tye turned them against their living allies before supporting his troops with instant death spells. Duke, fueled by a hunter’s instincts, slew the panther with a well-placed strike while slimes hindered the vanguard and the goblins remained at the rear.

Clearly a [Druid] at work, Tye thought, as he observed the enemy troops’ composition. Maybe a [Dark Magician] or a [Mind] magic specialist too, considering some of the cultists seemed [Enthralled]. He knew Calamity Cults often used spells to break down the wills of others, brainwashing them into worshiping their masters.

They all fell in short order, Tye casually finishing the last bugbears with [Death X].

“Forty-six?” Hagen asked Duke out of the blue, surrounded by corpses.

“Forty-two,” the [Zombie Lord] complained, drenched in blood.

“Fifty-one.” The undead looked at the goblins’ leader, Boneater Who-Hears-The-Gods, who raised her bow with pride. “Fifty-one.”

“There are hundreds more above, and they have better troops,” Tye said. Not to mention, the sheer numbers advantage. “Blow up and condemn these tunnels. I will go to the surface and disperse them.”

“Alone?” Hagen asked, aghast.

“Alone,” Tye confirmed, before floating through the ceiling. If a hag coven was involved, he couldn’t risk his troops getting caught in the magical crossfire.

Flying to the surface and through the woods like a haunting specter. He felt some kind of magical barrier hinder him, but easily powered through and circled the cultist camp.

The necromancer raised his scepter and called upon one of his deadliest spells. “[Enhanced Firestorm].”

A massive incendiary cloud exploded in the middle of the encampment, burning everything in its midst. Goat pens turned to charbroiled ashes, men became burning skeletons, and monsters ran away while flames consumed their flesh. Panic spread through the camp, as cultists either fled screaming or tried to mount a futile resistance. Protected from the flames by his own magic, Tye landed amidst the devastation and bombarded everyone with lightning.

He felt his SP reserve go down at an accelerated rate, and so activated his [Ring of Bloodletting].

You can draw upon 300 HP, either to heal yourself or fuel spells.

He could draw upon his own lifeforce by using his [Bloodspell] Perk, but with Beli dead, he could no longer recover HP easily.

The elephant-sized hydra managed to break its chains, and unlike the cowardly cultists, charged straight through the flames at Tye. The necromancer looked up at the creature, glaring at it in straight in the eyes. “[Gorgon Gaze].”

The hydra turned into a stone statue, Tye keeping it for later.

When the smoke settled, the encampment had become an ashen desert, and his fire was spreading through the surrounding woods.

Only the witch hut remained intact, shielded from the flames by swirling, magical winds. “Get out, witches,” Tye warned. “Before I burn down your shack with you inside.”

For a moment, it seemed he would receive no answer; and so the necromancer raised his scepter.

The second he did, wind blew over the swamp, carrying maddening whispers and strange sounds. Words that tried to ingrain themselves into his mind, bypassing even his innate resistance to such curses.

[Charm] and [Madness] negated by [Robes of the Forbidden Rites].

The skies darkened out of nowhere, rain falling to extinguish his furious flames. Steam covered the swamp like a faint white mist, making it look utterly ominous.

“Naughty Lichboy,” an old woman’s voice came out of the house, as the door opened. “You would burn an old, frail witch’s only house?”

If anything, Tye had to admire their sense of theatrics.

As he had suspected, the hut’s inhabitants were a coven of three hags, each of them horrible in its own right. The first was a three-meters tall, half-giantess hunchback, a horrible figure with blue skin, glowing yellow eyes, long sharp teeth, and claw-like fingers. She wore a bloody wolf pelt and two bracelets made from children’s fingers around her hands.

The second was a green-skinned woman, younger than her fellows but just as terrible; her long fingers crackled with lightning and her long black hair floated to the winds. She wore a ragged midwife’s dress and smirked at Tye with green, rotten teeth.

The last member of the trio was a corpse-thin, grey-skinned woman with grasping, bloody talons for fingers, and goat horns emerging from below long black hair. Vicious and intimidating, she wore a robe made from a flayed nymph’s skin and had encrusted a shining ruby on her forehead.

The giantess was a [Grendel], a ravenous child eater; the lightning user a [Cailleach], a storm hag; and Tye recognized the last one as a [Night Hag], the most dangerous kind, with power over dreams. Each was a powerful opponent individually, but all three at once… creatures of the [Hag] race grew stronger when forming groups of three, combining their magic for a variety of effects.

Such as weather manipulation.

“Old you may be, frail you are certainly not,” Tye said, as the trio faced him with a mix of hunger, wariness, and curiosity. “Black Annis, Jenny Greenteeth, and the last one must be Loathly the Dream-Eater.”

“Oh, such a well-educated young warlock,” the hunchback hag, Black Annis, swooned in pleasure. “He has heard the stories.”

“All of them are scary and true,” Greenteeth Jenny cackled.

“I did not know you formed a coven, though,” the necromancer replied, believing that these murderous hags operated independently. At least they did, according to the royal bounties on their heads. “Nor that you had allied with a Calamity Cult.”

“Oh, we ally with no one.” Loathly the night hag smirked, her teeth wolflike fangs. “We always lead and we sometimes serve.”

As he suspected, each one represented a different Calamity. The storm hag probably served Jormungandr, the grendel Fenrir, and the last one Loki.

“The Calamities possess great and terrible magic, and to learn we must bargain,” Black Annis explained, rubbing her hands. “Maybe we can make a deal. You wish to learn more than you know, and we must set up shop in this place too. An oath given we never betray.”

“You take me for some naive peasant?” Tye replied, aware of their reputation; although the set up shop too comment bothered him. Why was the first group to try diplomacy the only one he couldn’t trust? “This place belongs to me. Leave or die.”

“Maybe we do not.” The smirk on Loathly’s face only widened further, like a wolf smelling weakness. “It is our son you would welcome.”

Their son?

It couldn’t be…

“Three mothers.” Tye narrowed his eyes behind his mask. “Medraut once told me that he had been raised by three mothers.”

“T’was us, although he rejected the path the Three set for him,” Loathly confirmed. “But he came back in death, for what he missed in life. Children always come back to their mothers.”

“Does he know who I am?” Tye asked, his fingers clenching around his scepter.

“Loathly’s cards told us when we arrived,” Jenny rasped. “We saw your true face and your black heart in our stew. No teeth nor warmth. Only darkness.”

They knew.

It must have been powerful divination to learn this information, especially without his knowledge. Tye had to assume they could spy on him anywhere, anytime.

“I will allow entry only to Medraut, but in your case, there will be no salvation,” the necromancer said, gathering his magic. “If you have seen my face, then you must carry this knowledge to the grave.”

“Secrets we shall take, but not to Helheim,” Jenny warned.

“Cook your rotten flesh with salt, we will.” Black Annis licked her lips.

“Unless a pact we make,” Loathly said, “share this root, its powers, and woes.”

They definitely knew too much.

Still in [Ghostform], Tye pointed his scepter at them and unleashed a mighty fireball in their direction. The hags joined their hands, and a wall of force sprung before them, stopping the projectile dead in its tracks.

“Insolent boy, did your mother never teach you to respect your elders?” Loathly laughed maniacally, as thunder echoed across the skies. A mighty thunderbolt descended upon the necromancer, while black, thorny vines sprung from the ashes. “[Blackthorn]!”

Nature itself turned against Walter Tye.

Protecting himself from the lightning with a [Spirit Shield], the Ankou cast [Dire Wilting] to kill all plants around him, although his spell failed to harm the hags. Yet more thorns sprung, combining into the shape of human-sized golems.

“[Deathlord Aura]!” Tye unleashed a wide pulse of necrotic energy around the area, the cultists’ burnt corpses rising up as mindless undead. Walking corpses engaged thorn golems in a ferocious battle, one between life and death.

Fitting.

The hags tapped into their coven magic even more, the clouds shining with magic. The thunder grew so deafening, that the entire forest trembled.

“[Blizzard], [Accelerated Hasten].” As his speed increased, the necromancer unleashed an arctic whirlwind from his ghostly fingertips, freezing the plants in its way and piercing through the hags’ shield. Since the witches were probably too high-level for instant death spells to work, Tye would kill them the hard way.

Jenny the storm hag reacted first, whipping up a swirling wind barrier around the coven to protect them from the icy attack. While it worked, it also forced her to break the coven’s hand-holding, and thus their magical link.

While shielded, Loathly the night hag hastened herself, while the third member of the trio charged straight at Tye. She tossed skeletons and golems out of her way with immense strength, her mouth frothing like a wolf’s and her nails radiating curses.

Drawing upon his ring for the extra reserve, Tye used his intangibility to fly above Black Annis before she could touch him, her hands clawing the air. “Kiss me, boy!” she mocked him, the necromancer retaliating with a burst of flame to her face.

While Loathly transformed into a murder of crows to pursue him in the skies, Jenny tried to summon a mighty air elemental. Unfortunately for her, Tye activated his scepter’s ability and redirected the spell while enslaving its target.

Charisma check successful! You [enthralled] the summoned [Primeval Air Elemental]!

A mighty, living tornado appeared near the witch hut, drawing bones and ashes into its vortex; yet it attacked its surprised summoner, throwing Greenteeth Jenny against her own house. The building let out a screech and its door morphed into a maw, engaging the air elemental in combat.

Rain turned poisonous, killing trees in droves while mighty thunderbolts descended from the heavens. Instead of striking at random, though, they seemed to focus entirely on Tye. The necromancer summoned a fiery shield around himself to repel Loathly’s crows while struggling to dodge the lightning.

On the ground, Black Annis cast arcane projectiles at him, perhaps hoping to hit Tye while intangible. Instead, his [Rune Reflector] sending back the attacks right at the sender.

“I will teach you to dance, boy!” Unable to reach him, the crows fused back into Loathly, except she now rode a black pegasus with flaming hooves; unlike Tye, the unnatural weather did not affect them. The night hag tried to dispel his protections, the necromancer negating her attempts with [Counterspells]. However, the relentless assaults from all sides forced him on the defensive, as the storm began to pile up magical hail in addition to acid raindrops.

You are taking passive [Frost] and [Acid] damage.

Realizing he couldn’t keep it up forever, Tye fired a [Spirit Burn] at Loathly, transforming part of his lifeforce into a howling specter. The hag and her mount dodged the attack, but this gave him enough breathing room to circle her. “[Death X]!”

While Loathly ignored the attack, her mount was instantly slain and fell down, taking his rider with him. On the ground, Jenny had managed to slay her own elemental, although it had destroyed the animated house before dying. By now, all golems and undead had killed each other, allowing her to rush towards Black Annis unhindered.

Flying above the two, Tye unleashed a fireball in their midst to keep them apart. He had to prevent them from casting spells as a group. Jenny’s fingers crackled with lightning, while Black Annis formed a shadowy sphere in her hands.

“[Blood Puppetry].” Sensing the storm hag’s blood moving under his control, Tye telekinetically moved the fluids—and all of Jenny Greenteeth—in the path of Black Annis’ attack.

The hunchback hag’s eyes widened in horror, as her shadowy blast hit her ally instead of its intended target and disrupted her own lightning spell. “Sister!”

“[Toxic Rainbow]!” Exploiting her surprise, Tye fired a rainbow-colored ray at Black Annis with his scepter, hitting her in the forehead. The hag let out a snarl of pain, as the magic blinded her and poisoned her flesh with supernatural venom. The necromancer then focused his full attention on her stormy ally, manipulating her body like a doll.

“Sister, ru—” Jenny tried to shout a warning, but Tye forced her mouth to shut and commanded her to attack her own ally.

“You wanted to hold hands, did you not?” the necromancer taunted them, before forcing the hag’s fingers to move. His blood doll seized her fellow witch’s head like a piece of fruit, and rammed her thumbs into her eyes.

The storm hag struggled against the mental control, but Tye forced her to maintain her hold over her screaming ally. He felt the warm blood run down his hands as if the witch had become an extension of his own senses.

Having survived her crash, the hastened night hag rushed at her sisters’ rescue. “[Curse of Treachery].”

A powerful curse hit Tye head-on, disabling both his intangibility and fire shield. Losing control of his flight, he hit the ground head on, his control of Jenny slipping away. The storm hag released her ally and whipped up the winds.

Briefly reasserting his control over his blood doll, Tye cast [Open Wound] on her before she could spellcast. Dozens of wounds opened all over the storm hag’s skin, blood pouring through all the orifices; she cried torrents of red tears and coughed bile in agony.

Unfortunately, this left him open to Loathly, who splattered him with an acid sphere. The substance burnt through his robes and skin, the two spellcasters engaging into a projectile duel.

“I can’t see…” Black Annis screamed, covering her blinded face with her hands while charging at Tye. “But I can smell you!”

Her claws lunged for his mask, and with Loathly flanking him with magic, all Tye could do was raise his scepter to defend himself. Black Annis’ hands sent his staff flying, and then her fist shattered half his mask and sent him flying backward.

The necromancer’s back hit the remains of a thorn golem, and when he regained his footing, the witches had regrouped.

“Time for a spanking, Lichboy!” they snarled at once, magic coursing through their bodies and gathering into Loathly’s forehead ruby. “[Ruby Gaze]!”

The ruby transformed into a crimson eye and fired a deadly beam through Tye’s chest. His magical protections were instantly dispelled, the light entering from one end of his body and coming out the other side. Pain spread through his torso, as a dark hole shed smokey darkness instead of blood.

Massive damage reduced by [Kiss of Hel].

Walter Tye saw red at the notification, his mind overtaken by his wounded pride.

“One more time, sisters,” Loathly ordered, the coven gathering their magic. “[Rub—”

“[Bloodspell]!”

A powerful burst of raw arcane power propelled the witch trio backward, a crimson aura swirled around an enraged Walter Tye. “[Crimson Lightning]!”

His fingertips unleashed a torrent of red lightning on the hags, forcing them apart. Only Greenteeth Jenny avoided taking any damage, due to her natural immunities.

“[Pain Spell],” the necromancer cast on Jenny, magically forcing all her nerves to flare up at once. With the only hag immune to lightning brought to her knees, the necromancer decided to give the witches a taste of their own medicine. “[Crimson Lightning]!”

This time he fired two bolts with each hand, one sending Loathly flying backward, the other making Black Annis collapse. The stormy winds battered Tye , but he didn’t care, frying Black Annis again with a thunderbolt.

“[Crimson Lightning]!”

And then another, making her blood burn.

“[Crimson Lightning]!”

And then another, until her dead, smoking corpse stopped moving.

Like an incarnation of death, the [Ankou] turned to his next victim. Using [Blood Puppetry], he telekinetically brought Greenteeth Jenny within melee range, forced her mouth open, and shoved his left hand down her throat.

“[Muspelflame]!”

The fireball detonated inside the hag’s mouth, incinerating her. Tye tossed the charbroiled corpse aside, before focusing on his final victim.

Shaken by the brutal demise of her sisters, the night hag still seemed determined to hold her ground, her ruby shining bright.

A current of magic spread through the air, and Tye glanced at the dead witches’ corpses. Black Annis and Greenteeth Jenny had returned from the dead, as green, fiery ghosts hovering over their own remains.

Banshees.

“Undead, against me? Me?” Tye’s dark laugh echoed with the storm. “[Undead Mastery].”

Charisma check successful!

You [enthralled] [Jenny Greenteeth] and [Black Annis].

Their free-will crushed, the two specters turned their attention unto their sister, hitting her by surprise with lightning bolts and shadow spheres.

“Your turn,” Tye told Loathly, summoning his scepter back to his hands while she struggled to defend herself against her own coven.

Cowardice winning over her desire for revenge, the night hag slammed her bloody fingers against her ruby. “[Dream Wish]!”

A flash of bright light illuminated the ashen clearing, and Tye’s red lightning bolt hit only the ground. The storm dispersed, the magic in the air dispelled.

The last witch had escaped, fleeing back to her master’s side.

After capturing the survivors and gathering the corpses for future raising, Tye had the tunnels condemned, the petrified hydra dragged underground, and the cultist camp inspected. Unfortunately, the magical duel had destroyed anything of value.

“Chief, you have a hole in your chest,” Hagen said, as they waded through the ashes. “Just saying.”

“Gather the surviving cultists for a [Lifedrain] session,” Walter ordered, his mood still soured. It should allow him to heal, although he needed to find a more permanent food source.

“Well, with luck they will have learned the lesson,” Duke said with contempt.

“I doubt that,” Tye replied with a frown. While the victory had somewhat allowed him to relax after Hel’s visitation, he knew this had been but the first battle in a larger conflict. At least they could revive the dead to both gather information and replenish their defenses.

Congratulations. For besting the [Dark Trinity Coven] in a spellcaster battle, you earned two levels in [Loremaster]. You earned the [Spell Tattoos] class Perk.

+40 SP, +1 SKI, +4 INT, +1 CHA, +2 LCK.

[Spell Tattoos]: You learn how to inscribe magical [Spell Tattoos] on your flesh and that of others, granting them additional magical abilities.

He had finally reached level 60. His old mentor Asclepius would be proud.

As for the hags, he had bound their spirits into small, grotesque dolls hanging around his belt before they could free themselves from his [Undead Mastery]. Once he caught the last member of the coven, he could add her to this collection and perhaps tap into their innate magic.

The necromancer had to find her fast. Every second she lived increased the risk that she would reveal his identity to the world. As for what she said about Medraut…

“I hate to say this, but we have to assume Medraut will not prove the ally I expected,” he told his elites. Tye had the gut feeling that the Pale Serpents’ destruction had changed his old friend for the worse. “Cultists will attack again, and this time they will not underestimate us.”

“I figured as much.” Hagen nodded. “There’s other news we must discuss, chief.”

“Indeed.” the necromancer nodded. Hel, most importantly. “I also need to study Nastrond; the events you reported to me are worrying.”

Two months until the next Convergence.

They better make full use of them.