Re: Evolution Online

Liam decided to ignore the smug dragon lady for now and instead paid attention to his newest minion as he continued with his demonstration of creating an undead army.

He was extremely curious to see if his undead could control other undeads. Because if that was the case, then he could increase the army under his command by leaps and bounds.

However, even after a few minutes had passed by, this still did not seem to be happening.

"Hmmm… what's wrong?" Liam asked Kouske, who was wearing an unsightly expression on his face.

"Something is not working," Kouske replied with bitterness. He was failing when he was alive, and now, even after death, he was still failing. It made him want to pull out his nonexistent hair.

"I can see that. What exactly seems to be the problem?" Liam was losing his patience, and he directly went next to one of the undead creatures, bringing it back with him to the spot where Kouske stood still.

"You cannot bring this under your control?"

"I am trying. Master." The guy begrudgingly replied.

On the side, the draconian princess had already started laughing.

Liam sighed. He could tell that something was off the moment he saw that smug smile on the woman's face. "Care to explain?"

"Ba ha ha ha! I can't! My stomach is going to burst!"

Liam's face twitched as he watched the woman buckle down and laugh some more. In front of him, Kouske was still bitterly failing.

Wondering what the hell was going on, Liam decided to jump into action. He already got an idea about the basics, so there was no need to waste time anymore.

He raised his hand, and the next second…

The red pillar in the distance trembled, and waves and waves of nether started coalescing. The dense corroding energy gathered in the sky like black clouds of an endless stormy day.

For a moment, the entire landscape reeked of death and destitution. The density of nether in the air had shot up to such an alarming level that even the dragon woman was forced to stop laughing.

She blinked and looked around with her mouth agape.

The next instant, an even more glorious scene unfolded in front of her.

Out of nowhere, black rain started pouring from the black clouds up above. This rain drenched the numerous undead creatures standing around, completely enveloping them from top to bottom.

If the hundreds of undeads in the area were puppets, then the nether binding all of them shot back to Liam like threads to the master puppeteer.

"Come on!" Liam bellowed as he commanded the entirety of the nether in the area all at a time and willed the undeads to respond to his call.

For a second, everything became still. A vague silence spilled and spread as all the undeads were frozen solid.

The draconian princess trembled slightly as she watched on with gold swimming in her crimson eyes. Was he really going to do it?

She could feel her heart thudding against her chest with excitement filling her up. Just how high was this human's nether affinity?

How could he possibly achieve this feat without as much as lifting his finger, especially in his current condition?

Even though Liam did not disclose it to her, she was well aware of just how injured he currently was. But even with the injury… he was able to do this much?

Then that could only mean…

With an audible gasp that slipped out of her mouth without her realizing it, the draconian princess watched, wondering if the human being with whom her fate was inexplicably intertwined was really going to achieve the impossible.

Black swirls continually encapsulated and swirled around the undeads. Seconds ticked by as both Kouske and the draconian princess stared wide-eyed.

However… even after a couple of minutes… nothing really changed.

Tch. Liam clicked his tongue in disappointment, letting out a big breath of air. He had tried the best he could, but the undead creatures were absolutely unmovable.

"Ok. I give up. You tell me what is happening." He turned around to ask the dragon woman, who no longer seemed to be laughing or joking. To Liam's surprise, she was staring back at him with an equally serious expression.

Oh? He then realized what might have happened.

"Well?" He shrugged. In all honesty, he didn't want to publicize his nether affinity too much or, for that matter, any other specifics about him, but there was only so much he could hide.

More than anything, he did not want to compromise his growth just for the sake of this one person. After all, there were several equally monstrous individuals behind him.

"Why are the undeads not responding to me?" Liam asked again, side-stepping the obvious.

"You nasty brat! Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"...."

"Fine." The draconian princess quickly surrendered as she was far too excited to fight with the stubborn man she was bound to. "I don't mind sharing some common sense."

"It's very pathetic to watch you and your minion commit mistakes that even children from the more respectable realms wouldn't."

Liam's face darkened. "I am listening."

"Someone has already placed their mark on these undead creatures, so not anyone with an affinity to the nether could command these weaklings, not even if that person was you. Do you understand?"

"Oh?" Liam's interest was piqued. "A mark? By any chance, could you mean a literal mark?"

He pulled the undead he had dragged earlier closer to him and examined the being from top to bottom, or rather its skeletal structure with small bits and pieces of flesh hanging here and there.

Grunt. The creature gave a guttural noise as it tried to move away, only to waddle in the same spot uselessly.

"Hmmm… just a normal humanoid being… perhaps an elf or some other similar creature… back when it was still alive, that is… there is nothing really special about it."

Liam did not find anything significant until his eyes landed on a small cross mark at the bottom of the creature's skull.

This was only barely a mark and could be easily mistaken for a scratch considering that the creature was scratched up and banged up in a million places, with certain parts even broken.

However, once he honed in on that spot, he could tell for sure that this particular scar was an anomaly. He could even vaguely feel a different kind of nether pulsing from it.

"So this is why I was not able to control these guys… I understand now." Liam nodded.

"Yup." The draconian princess also mumbled.

And just as she thought that he was going to give up on this idea, all of a sudden, Liam once again commanded the nether swirling around them.