Bab 21: ARISE MY ARMY
Once the Undead finished looting everything they needed, they worked like inexhaustible ants setting up equipment from Electric Boat and the Steel Mill. As it stood, the Blast Forges would melt into slag if they tried to use Vritra's Fire Seed.
At Electric Boat, every single Power Tool, and even a few Submarines that were in construction were pulled through. They were piled in a corner as at the moment the Undead were deconstructing the Blast Forges and other Industrial Equipment.
In the meantime, his Undead Blacksmiths were in the process of melting the many tons of Pig Iron in Underworld Death Flames and Vritra's Dragon Fire. That Dragon Steel was then hammered out into parts which were used to replace sections of the Blast Forge which would need to survive extreme magical pressure and heat.
Constantine who was watching all of this watched as just the setup was taking a while. Just the setup was going to take probably an entire day. Medusa felt it was taking too long so she told Constantine.
"You're going to need more Undead."
Constantine knew it was true as just 5,000 Undead was not going to be enough to do all of this work on four giant Battleships, and several stolen Nuclear Submarines, and manage the production of Dragon Steel.
"I will need a lot more."
Vrirta flicked his tongue as the Undead were scattered as they worked.
"You got any good places to get more corpses?"
Constantine thought about it before he knew of a place that had more than enough corpses. He would be able to raise as many as he needed and keep more in reserve.
"Verdun, France."
Medusa turned her head when she heard him.
"Verdun? A good place for a Necromancer. While WW2 was when three Demigod sons of Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus fought for control of the world, WW1 was still just as brutal. Plenty of corpses that were never recovered."
Constantine nodded as Verdun was a Battle that lasted almost a year without end. 700,000 casualties, and 300,000 dead. Many are still on that cursed battlefield and that is just the kind of place a Necromancer is a king."
With a thought, his Black King Armor began to grow around him until he was encased in his Abyssal Armor. He waved his hand and he opened a Dragon Gate to Douaumont-Vaux, France the location of the largest gathering of WW1 dead.
Of course, if he needed more he could always go to the Paris Catacombs since at that place over 6 million corpses were stored. He just didn't need that many and he might not even be able to resurrect that many.
When the Dragon Gate opened up, he and Medusa walked through. When they stepped out of the gate they did so at Verdun, France where one of the worst battles of the First World War took place.
It was now a tourist spot so there were people who were visiting the place. None of them could see him since he always dragged the Mist thick around him. He, Medusa, and Vritra were nonexistent to these people.
Though for their own sake, he raised his hand and cast a Nightmare spell causing the visitors to feel like they were at the risk of death. It did not take long for them to start fleeing in terror and he gave them the time to flee.
"We are mean to them aren't we?"
Constantine shook his head.
"No, this is a kindness compared to what many other Necromancers would have done. They would have been killed and added to the Undead Hoard. At least this way they just get off with a spook that will go away in time."
Constantine started walking toward the Ousery where the corpses of almost 130,000 German and French troops were kept. As he, Medusa, and Vritra approached, Vritra began to flick his tongue as he could see them.
"The souls of the dead, not all passed on in peace. So many remain here."
Constantine nodded.
"Their negative emotions and their final grievances cause them to cling to where they died. What a sad state of affairs."
As they continued to walk more and more of these spirits who seemed to wander without aim began to take note of him. One by one they began to fly around him moaning and trying to get his attention.
Some even made the mistake of trying to bind themselves to him, but the instant they touched his armor they started to burn causing them to pull their hands back in agony.
"Look don't touch."
That seemed to be enough of a warning so the thousands of ghosts began to fly after him. Some of them were flying around Medusa who from the look of it didn't mind.
"This reminds me of the Hundred Years War. I acted as an assassin for the French, much like I am now. I would turn entire battalions to stone with a gaze."
"I didn't know that, did a Demigod kill you?"
Medusa nodded.
"A Knight who only told me he was Sir John, son of Heracles. He cut my head off and I didn't reform from Tarturus until the late 14th century. I missed the rest of the Hundred Years War as a result. It was all about luck and I didn't have the best luck. As you already know."
"Sorry."
She shook her head.
"Don't be."
He chuckled as he made it inside the Necropolis where the bones were located. When he made it inside, he held his hand out and brought out his Black Sword. Here, the souls of the dead were like a swarm flying around the massive amount of dead bodies.
'I knew it would be a lot, but this seems like too much.'
Constantine made it to the viewing window and he sliced the wall open in a triangle shape. To pull it out, he sunk the claws of gauntlets into the stone before he tore it out. He tossed it away before he walked inside the Ossuary where 130,000 skeletons were located.
When Medusa stepped inside and looked at the giant pile they were standing on she paused.
"When you say it out loud, 130,000 is a lot, but when you see it, it is even more eye-opening."
Constantine kneeled and grabbed a skull off the pile of bones. He looked into it before holding it up.
"To be, or not to be."
Vritra flicks his tongue as one of the Spirits starts to moan in anger at his skull being used like that. Constantine drops the skull into the pile before he steps back. His helmet disassembles exposing his face.
He takes a deep breath feeling the aura of death around this place. The Spirits of War, almost 100,000 swarm in a cyclone above him which he can see. He spreads his arms wide as he begins to gather a vast amount of his Divine Energy.
A deep black aura began to surge from him flowing into the ghosts flying around him. Medusa stepped back a bit to give him space while Vritra stuck around his neck. The ghosts started to to roar as their spirits began to take a deep dark coloration.
Constantine raised his Black Sword which began surging with his Divine Energy. He gathered his power for several tense moments before he stabbed his blade into the ground.
"ARISE MY ARMY! SERVE THE KING IN BLACK, THE SOVEREIGN OF DEATH!"
Purple and Black Veins of Power surged into the skeletons which began dragging their souls or any soul that was nearby. The Ghosts began to enter bodies at random and one by one, Divine Energy flowed through the skeletons which began to reform.
Some of the bones were fragmentary and they fused with other bones to make skeletons. Constantine stayed kneeling as he continued to channel his Divine Energy into the skeletons.
His Dragon Heart was thumping away producing more energy as he was expending a massive amount. Vritra even began to use his energy to give Constantine some extra if he needed it, but it didn't seem like it was necessary.
Constantine stood up and tore his sword out of the ground before walking out of the ossuary. He watched as the dead of Verdun rose back as Undead. He was desecrating their deaths, but when one was a necromancer, that was a small price to pay.
Medusa and Vritra watched as a swarm of blackened skeletons began to emerge. While 130,000 were laid to rest, only 100,000 were brought back either because the bones were too damaged, too fragmentary, or there were not enough souls.
Regardless, these 100,000 skeletons were going to be reduced down to a much smaller number when he started combining and fusing undead to create a stronger Undead. As it stood, these Undead were mediocre and only a temporary solution to his need for free labor.
Constantine sighed in exhaustion as raising this many undead took almost all of it out of him. He would be fine in a couple of minutes as he just needed a bit to catch his breath. Medusa walked over to him and held him up.
"You pushed yourself to bring back this many didn't you?"
"Yeah, but it was worth it. I will need to have my mages work on them as this many skeletons aren't good for much of anything."
He stood up tall as his reserves of energy were back to around 30%. That was enough for him to walk around, but he was feeling lazy.
"Vritra, can you open the Dragon Gate this time?"
"No problem."
With a flex of his magic, Vritra opened the Dragon Gate which Constatine walked through. Medusa did the same followed by the Undead army that Constatine resurrected. When he stepped into his workshop, he saw that his Undead were still working on getting things ready.
"Listen new comers, you are going to join the many crews and offer your assistance. The orders of the Mages, Knights, and Blacksmiths are as important as if they were mine. Chop, chop. Get to it."
With his order given, the 100,000 skeletons split up to join the many work crews. It was going to be slow at first getting things started, but when they did get rolling, things would be quick.
In the meantime, Constantine waved his hand and he pulled up a large black throne from his shadow which he sat on. Hecate had made it for him and he took it with him when he left. Once he was seated, he yawned before leaning back.
"I am taking a nap, wake me if anything important happens."
Vritra returned to his soul state as he liked to rest in Constatine's soul. When he arrived, he dragged all of Constantine's Divine Weapons to himself and wrapped them around them. Their energy would feed him and he would feed them.
While the two of them decided to rest, Medusa sighed as she decided to keep an eye on things.
"Enjoy your rest."
Constantine didn't respond as he started snoring. In the meantime, his vast Undead Army started to get into the groove of things. With four Iowas, several stolen Submarines, and three blast forges to man, the added numbers were a necessity.
Constantine ended up sleeping for four hours and when he woke up, work was starting to pick up pace. When he stood up from his throne, he saw that Medusa was walking around giving orders to the Undead who were working hard.
It seemed 105,000 Undead was more than enough to complete the construction of the three Dragon Steel Blast Forges and Magitech Power Tools. He could see that several Undead crews were starting to take apart the USS Missouri, USS Wisconsin, USS Iowa, and The New Jersey.
With the aid of the MagicTech Power Tools and Undead might they could take apart the ships piece by piece. The steel armor of the Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa was then melted down in the Blast Forges with Underworld Death Fire Seed and Vritra Fire Seed.
This then turned regular Steel into Dragon Steel which was then poured into molds before it was forged by the Undead Blacksmiths. The Blacksmiths were using the new skeletons as assistants to help move the many tons of metal that needed to be forged and enchanted.
He could see as his Knights cut away huge chunks of the New Jersey's armor to be smelted down and recast. Its Nine, Sixteen Inch Guns were also being removed before they were taken apart to be made out of Dragon Steel.
That was just the Armor and main guns, and not counting the Twenty-five-inch secondary guns, or the Anti Air Guns all over the ship. In the 80s, it even received Tomahawk Cruise Missiles as part of the modernization project.
Everything had to be removed, and the ship had to be cut open to remove the boilers, and even the wiring that remained had to be ripped out to place the new Pressurized Nuclear Reactor.
The stolen Reactor had to be stripped down, rebuilt with Abyssal Steel, and properly installed in New Jersey. This was just four hours in and it would take a long time even with 100,000 Undead on the job.
"Everything on the New Jersey needs to be rebuilt as it's mortal materials are not enough."
Medusa popped up next to him with a burst of speed.
"That is not counting the crews that are taking apart the Submarines that got stolen."
He saw that several thousand Undead were doing that.
"I can't wait to see the finished result. To speed that up, I might as well finish on the Time Dilation Field."
While the project of making the USS New Jersey a mix of Magic and Technology would take a while, it was going to be worth it. Plus, he had plenty of disposable skeletons to feed to the Reactor.
'Recycling at its finest. Time to set up that formation and set this to the back of my mind. It will take a while.'
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
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