"Stand up, vermin." With a snap of Lith's fingers, the two marauders' corpses came back to life, sending the whole room into a panic.
"Last chance. Face against the wall or die." Most of the slaves took those words as their cue. They tossed away the food trays they were holding, jumped off the lap of their masters, or just stopped standing like dolls and rushed to the nearest wall.
Whoever tried to stop them was struck by an ice bullet in the middle of the forehead and raised from the grave.
"You can't be serious!" One of the leaders, a muscular man almost 2 meters (6'7") tall, stood up with an indignant expression on his face and a huge enchanted great sword in his hand.
"Mage or non mage, there's thirty of us and just one of you. You can't hope to come out of here alive!"
"And you shouldn't have roasted a whole pig." Lith's reply made no sense until the dead beast stood up from the giant silver tray it was resting upon with red glowing eyes. It crashed the apple in its mouth and jumped at the burly man's throat.
Fear and surprise got the best of him, giving the undead pig the moment it needed to bite its prey's neck. One fell and yet a few seconds later two stood up.
Some of the marauders couldn't stand that madness anymore. Taking advantage of the distance from the mad Ranger, they jumped against the nearest window in an attempt to save their own lives.
They landed on the snow covered ground with thick glass shards piercing their exposed skin. They gritted their teeth to withstand the pain and the cold invading their bodies when the groups of undead that Lith had left on watch obeyed their master's order.
Three against one wasn't a fight but a massacre. The first undead would aim for the limbs, the second would stab at the chest, and the last would make the head roll. Blood spurts stained the pristine snow while painting the outside of the building red.
The dining hall was silent, so the sounds of battle and gurgling death cries resounded like thunder.
"I'm not alone, by the way." Lith explained with a smirk.
"All your comrades who are not here didn't run away, they joined my cause. I made them an offer they couldn't refuse." He pointed at the undead that now stood in front of the slaves ready to protect them.
The female leader glanced through the window behind her making a quick estimate of her odds of survival.
'He is still just one man. Superior Necromancy is not something a greenhorn can learn. Once the Ranger is dead, his minions will be stringless puppets.' She thought.
"There's no need to fight. We managed to reach an agreement with your predecessor, I don't see why it should be any different this time." She said while gesturing under the table, giving the other leaders the order to step away from the windows and take out their wands.
Lith had no idea what the signals meant, but thanks to Life Vision he didn't miss the sudden appearance of the Alchemical items.
'Be careful, those wands are military grade. Maybe even a goodbye gift of their late associate.' Solus said. 'With a blue core you can overpower weak spells, but the peak of tier three is still beyond your abilities.'
Lith spread his arms, one aimed towards the marauders and the other towards their leaders, releasing a barrage of ice shards. The attack was so sudden that the occupants of the front rows died before having the opportunity to react.
Only some of them were lucky enough to be unwillingly shielded by their companions and managed to flip the tables to use them as makeshift shields. The three remaining leaders dropped to the floor the moment Lith moved a finger, saving their lives by the skin of their teeth.
"How the heck does he do it?" The last man among the leaders yelled to be heard above the noise of shattering glasses and the thumping sound of ice piercing the wood.
"No chanting, no signs, and his projectiles are able to curve in mid air!"
"It's a War Mage, you idiot." Instead of wasting her time whining, the female leader was wearing her armor as fast as she could.
"We must have stumbled into a rich kid with tier four rings. Just one of them is worth more than this miserable pile of flesh and wood we call village. This is a blessing in disguise. If we kill him, the three of us are set for life. Dead men don't get any share, if you catch my drift."
Greed lit the eyes of the three leaders, who changed their wands from lightning to ice. The words "collateral damage" and "friendly fire" suddenly had a nice ring to them. They raised their arms and heads above the vertically flipped table, ready to open fire.
While they were discussing, Lith had stopped his spell. He Blinked behind the tables, catching the terrified criminals by surprise and stealing their hearts. Literally. His arm pierced their chest, leaving behind a blood core that turned the fallen into his faithful servants.
The undead would kill everyone on their path, taking position right in front of the slaves to protect them at any cost. Lith hadn't forgotten about his promise to Solus. Her wish was their command.
When the leaders came out of their hiding spot, their men had been decimated. They shoot at Lith, only to watch him Blink away while their darts created more corpses. The dead keep rising, forming a barricade that stopped any stray bullet.
"Thanks. Your help was unnecessary, though. I would have killed them anyway. You are the only ones I need to spare for interrogation." Lith appeared behind the leaders, making them flinch.
They turned around, but he only needed a flick of his wrist to cause a spiral fracture in their wand wielding arm with spirit magic. The Alchemical tools fell onto the ground while their owners writhed in agony.
Pain blurred their vision with tears they couldn't stop.
"How did you do it?" The woman didn't feel blessed anymore.
Her arm was twisted from the wrist to the shoulder. All she had worked hard for years was crumbling in front of her eyes and the corpses of her followers were staring at her with deep hatred. It was like they were blaming her for their demise.
"Magic." Lith replied with a second flick that broke the remaining arm in the same manner. The only reason why Lith had wasted so much time talking was to weave all the spells he needed, keeping them ready at a second's notice.
The three surviving marauders remained limp on the floor. Without arms, without soldiers, and surrounded by monsters led by an even more monstrous Ranger, they felt that any further struggle would be pointless.
Only after checking that no one of the slaves was about to die and that all the bandits were dead, Lith released his Necromancy spell. He then called his handler to give her a full report of the events.
