The energy seeped into the ground, and countless skeletons, both human and animal, emerged from below. Their mouths were agape in a silent scream, fighting their way out of mud and roots.

Several hands grabbed Lith’s feet and ankles with an iron grip. In a few seconds he was surrounded by a small army of undead, each emitting an ominous aura that sent a cold shiver down his spine.

Lith knew they posed no threat to him. A single lesser undead was nothing more than an annoyance, even that many couldn’t harm someone like him. Worst case scenario, he would simply take off and attack them from the sky, leaving them no possibility for retaliation.

But his body seemed to ignore all that knowledge. The only things he felt from their shiny red eyes were innate fear and revulsion.

He kept his cool, keeping those emotions sealed in a corner of his mind, while exploiting that contact to use Invigoration on them and understand how did Kalla manage to do it.

Lith discovered that each of the skeletons grabbing him had now a small red mana core.

Invisibles to the naked eye, countless tendrils of energy departed from it, keeping all the bones together and allowing them to move and feel. Unlike normal cores, though, they had black stripes, pulsing and growing every time the undead moved.