Create Undead.
It was a 3rd-Tier Magic, one that used a corpse as the medium to create undead, turning them into the caster's slaves.
Once, in the world of Overlord, a magic caster named Khajiit had used this very magic to create one hundred and fifty undead from corpses in E-Rantel's graveyard, and with the aid of a magic item called the Orb of Death, he tightly controlled that entire army of undead.
Now, Riezel used the same magic.
By applying the Metamagic Enhancement, Over Magic, he forcefully elevated this originally 3rd-Tier Magic all the way up to the highest 10th Tier.
*Zing—*
In an instant, a magic circle spread open beneath the stone coffin, but this magic circle was not like the earlier Wish Upon a Star, which had a three-dimensional, multi-layered structure. Instead, it simply expanded across the flat ground, appearing plain and unremarkable.
Yet the moment this magic circle appeared, a surge of astonishing negative energy burst forth from Euryale's body, dyeing the entire magic circle a vivid crimson.
"Not good!"
Riezel, his expression shifting slightly, scooped up the unresponsive Lizbeth and flashed away from the altar.
In the next second, the harmful negative energy quickly spread, covering the entire altar and making it tremble faintly.
"Wha-What happened? Master!" Lizbeth finally snapped out of her daze, hurriedly crying out.
Riezel did not answer and only watched the altar with a grave expression.
Over there, the eruption of negative energy seemed endless, as though hell itself had been opened, erupting like a volcanic explosion.
Seeing this, how could Riezel not understand?
'Looks like I screwed up...'
Create Undead was a 3rd-Tier Magic, a low-tier magic that should never have produced such a sight or such momentum.
It should be noted that the undead generated by this magic were normally nothing impressive—skeletons, zombies, or at most a ghoul or a living corpse. Only if the corpse serving as the medium was of extremely high quality could a more advanced undead possibly be born.
Naturally, Riezel did not want the dignified queen of the Hero Clan to turn into some ugly thing like a zombie, which was why he had elevated Create Undead to the highest tier, hoping to produce a high-tier undead.
Now, it seemed that Euryale's corpse and soul had both become such a high-quality medium that the fully enhanced Create Undead had created... a monster.
Riezel's eyes glimmered with a transparent light as he stared fixedly at the center of the eruption, seeing the storm of negative energy whirling around the stone coffin, continuously pouring into Euryale's body.
Now, the woman who lay inside the coffin had opened her eyes—a pair of scarlet pupils glowed like blood.
In that moment, Riezel clearly felt himself forming an unseen link with the presence in the coffin.
It was the bond between creator and creation, where the creator could command the creation, which was the very purpose of magic like Create Undead—to produce undead to be used at one's will.
However, this control was not absolute.
Just like Khajiit, who had needed the Orb of Death to control more than one hundred and fifty undead, every caster's control had limits, both in number and in strength.
One could not expect a necromancer, not even at Level 10, to perfectly control a Level 100 top-tier undead.
Likewise, without special skills or items, when the strength or number of the undead exceeded the caster's capacity, control would become unstable or fail altogether.
Now, Riezel was in exactly that situation because, to his shock, he found that his control over this newly created undead was extremely unstable. In other words, the power of the undead being born had already faintly surpassed the limits of what he could command.
Riezel had indeed created a monster—a monster that even someone at Level 7, who had mastered development abilities like Mage and Magic Chant, who wore Morgan's ring, and whose MAG had reached SSS-rank in every level, could not completely control.
"..."
At some point, the storm of negative energy in the coffin ceased.
Yet in the silence, the air became unbearably heavy—so heavy that Riezel's face stiffened, and Lizbeth felt as though she could no longer breathe.
*Pa—*
With a faint sound, a flawless hand, white as jade, stretched out from the coffin, pressing on its edge as Euryale slowly lifted her body.
Her appearance had not changed—or rather, she looked even more bewitching and beautiful than she had in life.
As soon as she rose from the coffin, her jewel-like scarlet eyes turned toward Riezel and Lizbeth, and the instant they met those beautiful, gemlike eyes, both of them fell into a daze, their pupils losing focus.
In the next second—Lizbeth aside—Riezel abruptly regained his senses, his expression drastically changing.
'Charm!'
More precisely, it was the Mystic Eyes of Charm, a special ability of vampires capable of dominating another's mind.
Its manifestation told Riezel one thing—Queen Euryale Reinnail had turned into a vampire, and not just any vampire, but a high-tier vampire.
For him, who was usually immune to mental interference, to have been charmed even for a second, her Mystic Eyes of Charm were clearly far beyond Shalltear Bloodfallen's own Mystic Eyes of Charm!
Just as Riezel reached this conclusion, the woman in the coffin vanished.
"!!!"
Riezel carried the entranced Lizbeth and leapt aside without hesitation.
In his urgency, he even unleashed Sun Breathing and the explosive technique of Thunder Breathing, flames bursting beneath him as his body turned into a streak of fire, flashing away at incredible speed.
Yet a figure, ghostlike, silently caught up and appeared before him.
*Pu-chi!*
In the next instant, blood sprayed.
"Ugh!"
Riezel groaned, as if struck by lightning, and was blasted backward.
Just now, one of his hands had risen instinctively to block, and now, it was torn and bleeding.
'Fast!'
Riezel's face shifted again and again before finally sinking completely.
In just the blink of an eye, he had been wounded—wounded by the vampire who had melted into shadow and approached soundlessly.
Before him, Euryale reformed into substance—her pale jade hand dripped with blood, or more specifically, Riezel's blood.
Euryale tilted her head curiously at the sight of it, then extended her soft tongue to lick her sharp fingernails clean.
At once, her gemlike scarlet eyes brightened, and the way she looked at Riezel changed.
It was the gaze one gave to a delicious meal.
It was the gaze one gave to a beloved treasure.
From that look alone, Riezel knew—he had become her prey.
In the next moment, Euryale vanished again, silently, without a trace, chilling his very bones.
"Stop!" Riezel shouted instinctively, his pupils shrinking.
*Swish!*
Euryale instantly appeared before Riezel—her body froze in place, her slender hand reaching toward his chest, halted right before his heart.
Had Riezel been a fraction of a second slower, that hand would have pierced his chest, ripped out his heart, and sent blood gushing from the cavity.
"???"
Euryale blinked her eyes, surprised that she had stopped simply because Riezel commanded her.
*Whoosh!*
Taking advantage of the moment, Riezel sprang back like a coiled spring, widening the distance.
Seeing this, Euryale pushed aside her doubts for now as her figure steadied, seemingly ready to attack again.
"Don't move!" Riezel barked another order, making her freeze once more.
Even though this halt lasted barely a second, even that second left the newborn vampire puzzled as she tilted her head, looking utterly confused.
Clearly, she had no idea why she obeyed Riezel's commands.
Although brief, she had undeniably followed him—this seemingly delicious human standing before her.
Evidently, she had no understanding that she had been reborn because of him, so as the creation, even if only for a moment, her control still lay in his hands as her creator.
"Stand there and don't move. Did you hear me?"
Riezel gave the order coldly, his tone carrying undeniable authority as he desperately tried to stabilize the wavering control.
Even though confused, Euryale did not fiercely resist—perhaps out of curiosity, or perhaps because of some unknown instinct, she remained still, her jewel-like red eyes fixed upon Riezel.
"Haahh…"
Riezel finally let out a breath.
Now that it had come to this, what was he supposed to do next?
A headache began to throb in Riezel's mind.
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