Chapter 147: Unusual Invite.

Black miasma shot out of Damien’s body and spread in all directions, rapidly covering the frozen ground around him. The frost-bats closest to him immediately flinched away from the dark mist, their wings beating frantically as they tried to put some distance between themselves and the strange presence.

But they didn’t run.

Their hunger was stronger than their fear. They had already surrounded hundreds of humans, and despite the arrival of two powerful Dormant ranks Awakened, they were still determined to feast on their prey.

Then dozens of figures began to emerge from the miasma.

The undead slowly stepped out of the darkness, their bodies appearing one after another until a small undead army stood behind Damien. At the forefront was the undead priest, gripping his ritual staff as he stared silently at the frost-bats.

Damien glanced at the undead Therizon before pointing toward the colony.

"Show me what you can do."

The undead Therizon spread its enormous wings.

Its body suddenly became tense, and the next instant, it opened its beak and released a soul-destroying screech that reverberated throughout the frozen surroundings.

The sound struck the colony like a sonic boom.

The frost-bats immediately lost control of their bodies. Their flight became completely disorderly as they slammed into one another and the surrounding walls. Many crashed into the frozen surfaces with enough force to crush their bodies, killing themselves on impact.

The younger frost-bats couldn’t even withstand the attack.

Their bodies remained standing where they were, but their heads simply exploded from the sheer force of the sound.

The survivors watched in stunned silence as the horde that had nearly overwhelmed them only moments ago descended into chaos.

But the undead Therizon wasn’t finished.

Its enormous body suddenly vanished, fusing into space before reappearing directly in the middle of the colony.

Its talons shot outward.

Several frost-bats were caught before they could react, their bodies crushed between the Therizon’s claws as it tore through the colony with terrifying speed.

"Everyone!" Jackson called out. "This is our chance. Let’s show them what we can do."

His voice cut through the battlefield, and for a moment, the exhausted survivors seemed to snap out of their hesitation, now the opportunity to strike back was right in front of them. The crowd roared angrily, weapons were withdrawn, and the survivors surged forward, joining the fray with whatever strength they still had left.

The entire battlefield instantly became chaotic.

Blades swung through the air, weapons collided with the frost-bats’ bodies, and the creatures screeched as the humans finally stopped giving ground. Damien’s undead attacked as well, rushing into the swarm without any hesitation. Unlike the living fighters, they didn’t care about injuries or exhaustion. Their only purpose was to kill whatever stood in their way.

Andrea glanced skeptically at Damien. "Your mood seemed to have changed for the better, I wonder why?"

Damien shrugged. "These frost-bats could make fine additions to my undead legion, this is simply a business opportunity I cannot pass on.".

Together with Damien and the remaining fresh human fighters, the battle ended in no time at all. The frost-bats had been dangerous while the survivors were afraid, but once Damien’s undead joined the fight, their advantage quickly disappeared. The creatures were slaughtered in large numbers.

To Damien’s dismay, however, the moment half of their colony had been killed, most of the remaining frost-bats fled. Damien watched the swarm disappear into the darkness, his expression becoming slightly sour.

There went a perfectly good opportunity.

He sighed lightly, accepting the loss, but then he felt a figure bump into him from behind. Damien turned in annoyance, expecting an undead to have carelessly walked into him, but then froze.

It was a young girl, slightly younger than he was.

She had unique pink hair, short and silky, framing a delicate face. Her skin was as fair as snow, perhaps almost sickly so, and her bright eyes seemed almost unnatural, as though there was a small light shining within them. She looked like someone who had no business being anywhere near a battlefield, yet there she was.

The girl opened her mouth, seemingly struggling to put the words together.

"Ahh. Sorry Mr Damien, the undead. Sir, I... I was. sorry."

Her voice was soft enough that Damien almost wondered if he had heard her correctly. Then she looked down at her own feet as though they were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world and ran away.

Damien watched her retreat.

She didn’t get very far before walking up to Ryan, she forced herself to converse with him despite her obvious shyness. Ryan, naturally, appeared perfectly comfortable with the interaction.

Damien couldn’t help but smirk lightly.

"What are you smiling at?" Yuri asked as she approached Damien.

Damien’s expression immediately returned to normal.

The battle was already over, and the cleanup was being handled by Damien’s undead. The corpses of the frost-bats were being dragged away while the surviving humans finally took the opportunity to sit down and rest.

Damien snapped out of his thoughts.

"Who’s the pink-haired girl?"

Yuri glanced over in their direction before answering. "That’s Allen. She’s not really a warrior, but her ability is very helpful. It saved our lives countless times before we were strong enough to protect ourselves... what’s wrong?"

Damien shook his head. "Nothing really, just curious, that’s all."

Yuri continued looking at him for another second, clearly unconvinced, but she didn’t press the matter.

Before she could say anything else, the undead priest came over and dumped another pile of dead frost-bats at Damien’s feet.

Damien immediately got to work.

One by one, the corpses were revived, their dead bodies twitching before blackened energy brought them back under his control. Soon, the sound of beating wings filled the passage as more and more frost-bats took to the air, circling above Damien and adding themselves to his growing legion.

By the time he was finished, there was a colony of well over a hundred frost-bats flying around him.

Damien felt satisfied.

The only thing ruining his satisfaction was the shrinking of his Therizon.

Yuri could see that something was bothering Damien, although she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. She had spent enough time around him to know that his expression didn’t always tell the whole story.

"Damien, Andrea wants you to join them."

Damien followed her gaze toward the very front of the group.

There was nobody else there except Ryan, Elias, Vincent, and Andrea.

Damien looked at the four of them for a moment, his expression becoming thoughtful as he considered why Andrea wanted him there.