After watching Nivar order the execution of the woman she had begun to suffocate, a smile appeared on my lips. It was a reminder that despite how rarely I used the undead, they were chillingly effective weapons and tools I should make more direct use of.

Once the woman was dead and pounded into the ground, and Nivar was back atop her pet the two began to move again. But now they weren't the only agents of mine that were inside of the town. There were, in fact, more of my servants than inhabitants of the town within the town at this point.

I quickly shifted my mental vision, scanning the area for other servants. Of the corporeal servants at my command in the area, I was consciously made aware of the fact that this particular army was fairly even in its ranks. There were equal numbers of zombies and skeletons, which were the most populous of my servants in the town, and then a much smaller number of other corporeal undead.

Wrights, mummies, vampires, and creatures like hungry hands were some of the other bodily undead servants who were merely hunting down and butchering the living. And I could tell that they were quite effective at it. Thanks to and through them I could hear the screams of the living. And it was a fun sound to be able to hear.

I quickly scanned the whole town and found that already many living people had been killed. That warmed my heart to know, since I was attempting to embrace my role as a god of calamity, eldritch horrors, and death, on Salifinos if nowhere else.

The truth was, that the delight my servants felt as they were bathed in the blood of the living was affecting me too. I felt an echo of it, and since so many undead were on Salifinos, exterminating living mortals, even an echo of their emotions was significant.

________________________________________________

Another servant of mine who was in the town and contributing to its destruction was a dark elven vampire. This servant hadn't particularly distinguished himself during the battle in the reptilefolk encampment, but currently he was rushing headfirst to confront the town's guards.

The town's guards were a handful of human men who wore light armor, held simple shields, and had shortswords in their other hands. They were a gruff group of men who had spent years training and defending their community, and they boldly dashed at the undead, corporeal and incorporeal alike, who had invaded their town. They were afraid, but there was something admirable in their ability to overcome their fear enough for them to rush headlong into battle.

I didn't know if they knew much about the undead. There weren't many necromancers on Salifinos, and most of them were eldritch abominations, which meant many mortals most likely either never saw the undead or only saw them shortly before their lives ended. So in the eyes of the town's guard, even guards on the frontier and frontlines of the war, odds are the monsters that there were attacking them and their friends was a never before seen class of terrifying monster.

I watched, grinning sadistically as my vampiric minion's dashing enabled him to close the distance that separated him from the guards. He was equally happy and reached out with his claw-tipped hands. The guard closest to him attempted to stab into him with his sword, the weapon giving him a slight reach advantage, but the vampire was too fast and narrowly dodged the weapon all while moving close to the guard and using his claw-tipped fingers to slice through the guard's light armor. The blow was quick and light, but it also successfully damaged the guard's armor.

"Heh. You're doomed." The vampire muttered, in the language of his people. The human didn't understand it, and growled in anger in response. Instinctively the human man could tell he was being taunted and his pride didn't let him take that and stay silent in the face of it.

He pulled back his blade and was attempting to ready another blow when the vampire surprised him by leaping at the militia-man. The guard was too close to be able to dodge the unusual technique and was instead hit, full-force by the vampire's muscled form. The vampire proceeded to force the guard to the ground, causing the man to land flat on his back.

"I am so... damn... thirsty." The vampire growled, a sadistic smile on his lips as he did so. He knelt on top of the guard and his scarlet eyes flashed with hunger. Each time he spoke his teeth were revealed, including elongated canines that were common to the kind of undead monsters he happened to be.

As soon as he was done speaking he hurled his mouth at the guard's exposed neck and began to bite the guard's soft neck. His fangs immediately penetrated the flesh of the guard, and the man began to wail in pain. The guard would only suffer for a few moments, but while he was suffering he was enduring excruciating pain as his most precious bodily fluid was stolen from him.

The guard wasn't alone, but the other guards couldn't reach him. Even though they were close, other undead monsters were backing the vampire. Skeletons and zombies, as well as wraiths, had closed in on the battle and began to engage the other guards who normally would have prioritized rescuing their friend.

Not that it would have mattered, the guard was dead, fully drained by the vampire in a matter of seconds. The vampire's personal vice was gluttony and it powered his ability to drain life from the living in a speedy manner. The guard was fully deceased rather quickly, but that wasn't even the end of the guard's existence. Vampires didn't just kill their victims.

The guard's corpse began to moan, and his eyes began to vibrate. His moan had an unnervingly erotic component to it and was definitely the sound of a man having a pleasurable experience, and not a corpse becoming something far more terrible than just a dead body.

Not far from them, a skeleton and a guard exchanged blows. The guard was quickly learning that trying to stab a skeleton, who lacked both flesh and blood, wasn't a great tactic even when his blade actually connected with one of the monster's bones. Meanwhile, the skeleton's axe was a fantastic weapon against the living guard.

In other parts of the town the violence was far more one-sided. The town had little over one hundred people. It was amazing that it had twelve guards, or that it had had twelve guards and now had eleven. That number wouldn't be that high for long.

I pulled myself away from an up-close observation of the battle and instead took on a bird's eye view of the conflict. In doing so I saw the dozens of incorporeal, flying spirits that surrounded the town. I learned, over the course of a few minutes of watching them that they were vulture-like in attitude and swooped down on any mortals who attempted to flee the town.

Wraiths and ghosts hurled themselves at any children who managed to escape from their homes unaided, and that number was surprisingly small. Only five children lived in the town, an impossibly small number even given the town's small size.

It was this realization that made me stand up and teleport myself to this town. In an instant, I went from standing in my tower to standing at the edge of the town, where Nivar and her pet had wreaked havoc, minutes ago.

Elsewhere my servants were causing mayhem, but this far from the battle only the slowest undead were still active. I could see them in the distance, entering houses and exploring them.

________________________________________________

This town was already largely wrecked. The air smelled of death and of blood and was filled with screams, wails, and the sound of distant battle. Houses that I could see were visibly damaged, most not quite as much as the house Nivar had attacked, but many had broken windows, shattered doors, and bloodied walls. Thanks to my vision I could see both distant battles and also countless bodies.

"I suppose I should explore..." I said, curious to see if I could figure out why this town had so few children. My theory was that the mortals here tried to send their children away since this town was situated on the frontlines of a savage war. This theory was one I believed was possible since this particular town lacked a sizable defense, and relied on militiamen who were being easily wiped out by my servants. That said, I wanted to find out for sure if I could.

I took my first few steps onto this new world and would spend the next few minutes exploring the town's outskirts. It was during this time that my horde would advance into the town and proceeded to successfully exterminate the town's populace. Each death brought a macabre smile to my face, and the final death brought the biggest smile. It marked the completion of the quest to acquire the second tier of influence over the subdomain of necromancy.