The barrier sealing the energy fluctuation was almost broken. The clone tasked with maintaining it had been destroyed by the shockwave. Norris risked exposure.
Realizing the formidable nature of his opponent, Norris knew he had to take risks. He created two more clones, and then another, making three clones in total.
Warriors, though focused on their body, still possess formidable souls—the body and soul feed each other. While not able to rapidly process large information on the spot, it gives them heightened instincts. Whatever situation has been encountered is forged as instincts.
Instinct is just the mind's silent calculus, too rapid for reason to articulate.
Norris was trying to beat those instincts.
Three Norrises ran towards the warrior. Norris stayed at a distance, making symbols and gestures while mobilising mana—indicating a spell.
The sight of Norris casting a spell was frightening to the warrior. The warrior unleashed another energy blast—this time far less potent and delivered through the sword.
A semi-circular dark beam hit two of the Norrises, destroying them. One luckily escaped. He stomped the ground.
In a blink, he was right in front slicing towards the clone. Norris, at a distance, was still casting. He needed to disrupt it.
Shockingly, this clone got hit by his strike. But it didn't disappear. Instead it touched him. He feels weak all over. And loses consciousness.
---
Norris, disguised as a clone, had managed to escape seemingly by luck but that was not the case. His mana sense coupled with data gotten from fighting had made him predict— Sacrificing two clones while he stayed in the safe zone.
Norris, disguised as the remaining clone, seized the opportunity to get close to the warrior.
With a swift motion, Norris touched the warrior, using his "Vampiric Touch" (3rd-level) spell to suck the energy out of it. Dark, pulsating energy flowed from the warrior into Norris, creating a visible stream of power transfer. The warrior's strength began to wane, its body losing energy at a very fast pace, making it disoriented. Norris augmented the spell, making it achieve more than what it normally could.
The Vampiric Touch was aimed at the energy of the undead, and it was largely successful because of the warrior's poor control of its energy, allowing the spell to bypass the undead's magical resistance.
Norris realized the warrior was still fine, despite his attempts to drain its energy.
As a sublimated being, the warrior's energy was too vast to absorb.
Norris figured that if he delayed any longer, the sublimated warrior might get used to the state of losing energy and might counterattack—which was very dangerous as he was practically touching the warrior, a fatal distance. This was far from a mage's comfort zone.
He promptly decided to seal the warrior by forming a stable loop that used the warrior's own energy as an energy source to bind him. The Sealing Array spell was designed to draw power from the warrior, creating a self-sustaining loop that kept the warrior immobilized.
The array glowed with an intense blue light, its runes and symbols pulsing as they absorbed and redirected the warrior's energy. The temperature around them dropped further, and the air grew heavy with the concentrated mana.
Norris knew this method wouldn't work for mages, as they could easily use their energy to disrupt the seal. Warriors with excellent control of their energy could also potentially escape. However, having fought the warrior and seen firsthand its energy control, Norris was confident that this particular skeleton warrior could not escape the seal.
The air around them crackled with energy as the sealing array took hold. The warrior's energy was redirected and contained within the runes and symbols of the array.
The skeletal warrior's movements slowed, its energy being continuously drawn into the loop. The low hum of the array resonated through the ground, creating a stable and powerful binding force.
Finally, the warrior stood motionless, its energy nodes locked within the array. Norris had successfully sealed the sublimated warrior, ensuring it could no longer pose a threat.
---
While feeling victorious, Norris was not happy. His heart was heavy instead, as the warrior's behavior was out of the norm. A sublimated skeletal warrior not wanting to escape was unusual, and if it had wanted to, Norris was not sure he could have kept it under control.
Although Norris quickly sealed it, giving it no chance to flee, Norris had dominated the fight. It was perfectly sensible for the warrior to bolt.
To get answers, Norris decided to use a spell way above his level, "Control Undead."
This spell could only be used effectively by a legendary mage.
To use this spell, Norris needed the use of spellcasting materials and other variables to increase the success of the spell working.
He needed to add an elemental component to make sure the spell was very targeted, a catalyst to enhance the spell's effectiveness, and make a personal sacrifice to provide the necessary energy boost.
Carefully, Norris drew the intricate symbols on the cracked ground using a small, delicate brush dipped in a special ink that shimmered with magical energy. The atmosphere was tense, the air heavy with mana. As he worked on the array, Norris channeled his magical energy into it. The array began to glow with a faint, eerie light, casting long shadows on the desolate landscape. The temperature dropped further, the cold seeping into his bones as the array took shape.
Norris's mana perception allowed him to sense the flow of energy within the array. It felt like a steady stream, drawing power from the ambient mana and concentrating it within the symbols and runes.
Determined and focused, Norris gripped a spiritual crystal shard tightly and chanted the incantations necessary to activate the spell. He could feel the raw power of the Death Realm flowing into him. With determination, Norris sacrificed a small amount of his mana, feeling a brief but intense drain on his life force. His voice was steady, but his mind raced with thoughts of the potential backlash.
Finally, Norris activated the custom array he had created, intricately designed to channel and enhance the spell's effects. The array's glow intensified, and Norris felt a surge of power as the spell took hold, linking his will to the skeletal warrior.
The warrior's movements slowed, its resistance waning as the spell asserted control. Norris's heart was still heavy, but he was determined to find answers. With the warrior now under his command, he could finally uncover the truth behind its unusual behavior.
---
Finally, the seal took hold, the warrior's energy dissipating. Norris stood victorious, but his curiosity remained unsated. Seeking answers, Norris decided to interrogate the warrior's spirit. "Why did you come here to fight?" he asked.
The warrior's spirit responded, its voice like a rusty gate. "To eat... for evolution."
Norris raised an eyebrow. "Evolve?"
The warrior's spirit hesitated. "Grow stronger."
Norris sensed desperation behind the warrior's words. "What drives you to evolve? Is it desire for power or something else?"
The warrior's spirit responded flatly. "Evolve."
Norris's eyes narrowed, a likely situation crossed his mind. "You're avoiding the question. It seems like an oath that restrains you from answering certain questions."
The warrior's spirit remained silent. Norris pressed on because, while sublimated undead should be as many as stars in the Death Realm, their evolution is usually like creating gu with the king gu becoming intelligent and sublimated. Whatever was done during the process of evolution usually contributes to the final form. This skeletal warrior instead revealed sophistication unlike the randomness and chaos of evolution. The warrior's structure looked more sophisticated, arousing his curiosity and wariness.
"Tell me about your structure," Norris demanded.
The warrior's spirit answered, "I have an evolved skeletal frame that's as hard as metal and use armor as a node to carry more energy, with runes on the bones aiding in the energy flow."
Norris's eyes narrowed further. "This doesn't seem like wild evolution. Instead, it's more like a standard template," he thought. The standard template easily revealed a sort of organization behind the warrior.
So he continued to asked more questions. From its answers, he determined that the warrior was under an oath because it unconsciously or consciously denied revealing information about the organization behind him.
Having gotten the answer, Norris brought out a contract to bind the undead in an oath to avoid divulging any information about their encounter. The undead's answers and the standard template indicated an organization, and Norris, as the victor, decided to show mercy as a sign of goodwill to whoever sent the warrior.
The warrior's spirit nodded in compliance. Norris sensed the oath taking hold, securing his trust. With the oath in place, Norris released the warrior from his control, leaving it sealed and powerless.
He kept his distance, turning to leave. As he hastened to his temporary abode, he disrupted any attempts that might be made to track him. Although he felt uneasy, his sense of security skyrocketed the nearer he got to his haven as his backlash for using his worn out soul to cast spells in high intensity battle would come to bite him soon and being out in the open with unknown enemy chasing you brought a whole sense of crisis to Norris.
---
The reference to "gu" and "king gu" comes from a concept in Chinese folklore and mythology, where "gu" refers to a type of venomous insect or poison that is used in dark magic or witchcraft. The "king gu" is the strongest and most dominant one, having absorbed the others' essences. This process is chaotic and unpredictable, leading to the creation of a powerful yet unique entity.
In the context of the story, the comparison is used to illustrate the typical chaotic and unpredictable nature of undead evolution in the Death Realm, where the final form is often influenced by various random factors.