Your Not So Ordinary Villain

Xenos led the attack as the enemies finally breached the barrier. Maius used his magic to cast a protective spell to the warriors to minimize the damage that they would receive. The first clash was pure chaos.

The loud clanging sound of colliding metal and the screams and groans filled the air. Even the sound of weapons piercing through a body was audible enough to be heard. The smell of metallic blood started to fill the atmosphere and the smell of something foul did not escape their senses.

The warriors stabbed and slashed away at the enemies, who did not care for any defense, only to be surprised by what oozed out from the wounds they created. It was black and it damaged the weapons that were stabbing them. One of them was able to behead an enemy and as the helmet fell off from the head, a rotting head was revealed.

This discovery made the warrior stagger back with a surprised look on his face. Eventually as the battle continued, they began to understand that the barbarians they were facing were already corpses. For them to be able to stand up must be due to magic.

Maius was carefully looking around the battlefield for any signs of the mage that was controlling the corpses but he couldn't detect them. His mana was limited because he had been using it to preserve the lives of their warriors. He also slowly floated down until he landed on the ground.

He took deep breaths to regulate his breathing and to have a better control of his mana. It was all over the place and it was exhausting for him to do this all by himself but he had no choice. Since he couldn't find the mage who was controlling the enemies, he focused all of his senses into the battlefield.

After the warriors realized that their enemies were attacking recklessly, they became more confident with their attacks. Xenos was also in a killing spree because they were actually fighting the dead. Although it came as a shock at first, they still managed to recollect themselves and fight once again.

They razed the ground with their weapons and beheaded all the enemies that came their way without mercy. They were ecstatic because the enemies were so easy to defeat. Not long after they managed to defeat half of the army but during this time, Maius felt fatigued.

In that moment he retracted his mana for a second to reorganize himself. When the mage who was controlling the corpses saw that the red mana disappeared from the battlefield, he then used his ace. A thousand of strings that were attached to the bodies that were already on the ground were pulled taut.

Maius felt the change in the air and immediately raised the barrier once again. He did not think twice to let his mana surge out in the shortest amount of time possible. The bodies of the enemies started to move and attacked aggressively. In an instant, the warriors were surrounded with mangled and dismembered bodies that were still moving.

"Xenos!" Maius shouted and with that, the leader sprang into action. He did not hesitate to slaughter everything that was threatening to kill him.

They did their best and yet the bodies just kept on standing up even if it was sliced into two. They became unsure of what they should do because no matter how they slashed, the enemies just kept on attacking them even while crawling on the blood covered ground. It became a never-ending battle for all of them.

Maius did his best to aid them and protect them as much as he could but even he himself was reaching his limit. He could only grit his teeth and continued without the time to take a breath. While sending mana shields that covered the body of the warriors, he was also busy with attacking those that were slipping their grasp.

The mage who was hiding away from them observed their situation. He was silently watching from afar and was making adjustments according to what he was seeing. His eyes twinkled when he saw that the mage behind the red mana was weakening.

Although his face didn't change that much, his eyes said it all. With the mage weakening, he could proceed to the next step of his plan. It was not enough. He wanted to see Maius devoid of any mana that way he could make sure that he would die.

The bodies of the barbarians started to fuse in the ugliest manner there could be. The strings that were holding them moved them all into one place. The black blood that was dripping from those corpses were wiggling and acted as the connector of the bodies.

Slowly the bodies merged to become one and created a monster that the warriors hadn't seen before. It was a giant corpse that was staring down at them. There was even black blood oozing out from his body that made the ground even blacker. The smell of rotting corpses became more prominent in the air.

The warriors shuddered in fear as they looked up at the monster that could crush them with one stomp of his feet. Xenos cursed under breath after the monster appeared. He gripped his sword tightly and alighted from his horse. He looked back at his warriors and at the monster they were facing.

"Archers! Get ready!" He did not hesitate to command, whether they were ready or not, he still needed to lead the way. "What are you doing? I said archers, ready!"

His second command prompted the warriors to load and pull their bows. Xenos looked at the monster and in a heartbeat, he commanded them to release their arrows. Hundreds of arrows flew in the air and midway to their target, the arrows were covered with red mana.

Maius who had been watching all of that from the side still made an effort to support them. He coated the arrows with his mana and when they made contact with the giant's body, all of it exploded. The monster grunted and swatted the fire that was on his oozing skin.

Xenos noticed the monster's discomfort. "Maius, we need fire!" He shouted towards the man who was looking in their direction.

Maius nodded as he extended his arms towards the direction of the monster. A ring of fire appeared around it and in the blink of an eye, it rose to the sky. The fire successfully trapped the monster and with clenched jaws, Maius made an effort to tighten the wall of fire.

Blood started to flow from his nose but he stood still and used his left hand to support his stretched right arm. Big beads of sweat started to trickle down from his forehead down to his face as it dropped to the ground. His body was shaking as he squeezed out all of the control that he had to narrow the fire even more.

The monster started to grunt and fight the fire that was enclosing him. It tried to break through it but Maius made sure that the fire was as tough as an earth wall. The monster did not stop though even if the fire was eating at him already.

After a full minute of struggle, Maius narrowed the fire wall even more until it squeezed the monster and burned it completely. When the fire was extinguished, the monster was also nowhere to be found. The warriors cheered when they saw that they already won the battle.

While cheering and with their guards all down, they did not notice the shadow that kept getting closer to Maius. Lunaira's mage stood there with a faint smile on his face as he watched them celebrating. He swayed and almost fell down but he was caught by one of his subordinates.

"You've overworked yourself again sir," she commented. She shook her head at how far the man was willing to go in order to assist the leader.

"That's true. So, I will be demanding Xenos for a break once we return to town." Maius responded followed by a hearty chuckle even though he was weak.

His mana was depleted from the fight and in order for him to replenish it, he would need a vacation. He couldn't even remain standing because his body was affected by the lack of mana. Thankfully, this subordinate of his managed to catch him.

He was about to relax when his body was suddenly flung to the side. He fell to the ground with a thud and he pushed himself up to see what was going on. The subordinate who was holding him was defending against a person who was trying to get past her barrier.

He gritted his teeth and pushed himself up with all the intention of helping the woman. The moment that Maius found his balance he felt something piercing through his stomach. He looked down and saw that a bloody sword was sticking out from his stomach.