Wolfe took the sessions with the Servants five minutes at a time but continued all night once he realized that the bond they had made with him actually changed their entire mana system.
The curse, if that’s what it was, permeated their entire body. It wasn’t just a mark on their necks. The more he worked on increasing their mana flow limit, the stronger the bond got, and the more their mana veins changed.
With his efforts, they were becoming more like him, able to pass energy into their whole body and let it flow freely through them and not just channel down set pathways and into their aura to cast spells.
The amount he could draw through or push to the Servants was ten times what he could with any of the other Witches who were Bonded to him, but as he accidentally learned the first time he tried, the process left them a quivering mess on the floor.
It also didn’t help improve their abilities the same way that it increased his own. No matter how they tried, they couldn’t store any amount of mana, and they couldn’t use what was moving through their body to affect themselves.
The moment they tried to control any part of their aura or mana, the porous nature of their mana veins changed. The veins absorbed the excess mana and returned to a hyper-inflated state while their bodies did their best to transform the rest to improve their aura.
“It is like my whole body is on fire.” Mio grimaced after attempting to cast a spell for the first time while her body was full of mana.
“But look how fast his power is flowing into your aura. You’re going to reach your potential in no time. Only a few more nights like this, and you’ll be where it took us months to reach.” Ella informed her.
Wolfe felt the power in the barrier beginning to drop rapidly and turned his sight to the battle, increasing the sensitivity of [Detect Hidden] to see through the walls.
Thousands of undead were at the front lines, being mowed down by the defence team, but the soldiers weren’t willing to risk getting into close combat to drive them back.
“Wait here and try to sleep. I’m going to drive the zombies off the barrier, and I’ll come back after I’ve explained to Lieutenant Priya that I kept you up all night talking so you don’t get in trouble.” Wolfe told the Servants while he led Cassie and Ella out of the bunkhouse.
Reiko was on duty, and he could sense that Mary was using magic, so she must already be fighting. Stephanie jumped up on his shoulder as he ran to the barrier and took in the full situation.
A horde of skeletons, led by a floating undead with a book in his hands, had charged their portion of the line. The rapid drop in the shield was from his spells, not the skeletons, and Wolfe watched as a dozen lightning bolts streaked from the creature’s hand and into the wall, wiping out a third of the energy reserves in an instant.
Around him, dozens of skeletons crumbled and then reformed after he cast the spell, and Wolfe suddenly saw the nature of the problem.
The creature could drain the skeletons’ power to attack and then wait for them to revive since mana deprivation wouldn’t truly kill them.
With that in mind, Wolfe drew everything he could without involving his Witches and cast a gravity wave to throw the skeletons back and give the defence a break.
A fifty-meter-wide swath of the enemy flew back hundreds of meters as Wolfe experienced the true power of having Servants.
With their changed mana veins, he could pull power through them as if they were five more copies of himself, casting powerful magic that he alone couldn’t manage.
He would just need to keep training them and take the time to properly apologize for today because he was certain that the side effects would leave them immobile for quite a while after the battle had ended.
But the fight wasn’t over. Wolfe quickly filled the reserve on the barrier and then sent a barrage of his own [Lightning Bolts] at the leader of the undead.
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm
Wolfe breathed a sigh of relief at the sight, just as a spell from the leader of the undead bypassed the barrier and seemed to resonate with the Inheritance magic in Wolfe’s body.
The feeling was incredibly familiar. It felt like when Wolfe was using his own magic, not the same as when he was channelling mana to the Witches for them to use. It felt somehow right and natural, words that he didn’t really associate with an undead spellcaster.
If his suspicions were correct, the undead might have been a Magi in life and retained some of his magic power even after death.
As the feeling faded, a spell description scrolled into his thoughts.
[Control Servants] allows the free use of Servants without backlash. Servants’ access to Witch Magic is blocked while active.
[Magi Bloodline Assimilation increased]
The notification startled Wolfe. Did the undead leader just give him a present? He couldn’t see any other option, he had felt the spell hit him, and then knowledge of this Unholy Spell appeared in his mind.
Was it a sign of respect? Or did the undead think they were on the same team, trying to destroy the Witches? From the Undead Leader’s point of view, it could very well look like they had accidentally attacked an ally who had a cadre of witches under their command.
That was a problem for later. For now, Wolfe channelled mana to every nearby defender and all five of his Witches, who were either helping restock Arrows or healing defenders.
From the chatter, it was clear there were more spell casters in the horde, and they had thrown Flaming liquid over the wall, burning dozens of soldiers who couldn’t use magic.
“What in the seven hells was that? The Demon showed up and just tossed the undead army across the battlefield and forced them to leave without a fight. That’s not natural. I have half a mind to call the inquisition back to find out what’s going on here.” The leader of the unit camped on their west side was shouting.
“Would you prefer he stayed in camp and did nothing like a good little Familiar while your unit died?” Priya yelled back, and the other Lieutenant began marching their way with a group of her Witches.
“Where do you think the [Unholy Smite Barrier] came from? Or all that extra power that keeps it topped off? He might as well be on every shift.” Priya continued.
“Demons can’t be trusted. We just saw it. He’s in league with the undead.” The other Commander countered.
“We all know that thing leading the Undead force is intelligent. As soon as it realized it would take too much to win, it left to find another target. I’ve already warned the other lines.” Priya told her.
“Calm down, you two. Attacking the leader was the right call, and we all know it. It’s the best way to drive off the undead, and today it saved a lot of lives.” The leader of the unit on the East side of their camp interjected, stepping between the two.
“Just keep that filthy Demon away from my unit.” The angry leader muttered, then turned to leave instead of arguing any more with her allies.