After he unleashed the massive red cloud, or best described as a mist, Clayton absorbed the Life Essence of around a hundred men.
Absorbing so much essence all at the same time had an overwhelmingly positive effect on him. The amount of power he held at the palm of his hand, or his entire body, was so accelerating that it could kill an elephant on the spot. He was alive, because unlike an elephant, he was meant to absorb Life Essence, no matter how great the quantity was. He was like a black hole when it came to the matter, and could probably even absorb the Life Essence of thousands of men if he had the chance!
As the mist retracted, and floated towards his body, he saw what remained of the brigade. What used to be two-hundred men that he was supposed to fight, was now half of that, and he was quite confident that he could kill the rest of them if he tried to.
The remaining men were scared to approach him. Even from a distance, he could see the fear in their faces as they retreated, and regrouped with the rest of the army.
Clayton guessed that there were a total of nine-hundred enemies remaining. Whoever sent them here had not been greedy, and sent a small army just to deal with a bunch of Monks, with simple religious Followers of Thaleena, the Goddess of Forgiveness. He found this confusing for a few reasons.
The most obvious reason was that no sane King, or any man in command would send hundreds of people just to kill sixty Monks. It didn't make sense.
Then he suspected that this army was meant to kill him off, as he was proving himself to be quite powerful in battle, but that didn't make any sense either. He had experimented with his magic before, draining the life of small critters just to see where it gets him, but he never drained the life of a man before, not until today, so no one could've known how powerful he was, as he didn't even know himself up until today.
This attack seemed inherently random. It was an overkill, and he was still confused, but he didn't care to explore the matter further. It wasn't like his enemies were going to tell him what was going on.
Clayton walked towards the army, breaking one skeleton after the other through every step. The mist he used on these former men and women to drain their Life Essence was so powerful that their remaining skeletons were like old, dry branches. It was no different from walking through a pile of crunchy leaves.
The enemy were shitting themselves. They were throwing everything at him as they backed away.
Thunderbolts, fireballs, spears, arrows, and he could even feel these tiny nails bashing into his skin. Combat Magic was extensive, so he wouldn't be surprised if someone started hurling boulders at him as well.
However, he did not back down. Fire couldn't hurt him for long, most spears and arrows missed him, and even if they didn't, he pulled them out of his body, and healed himself within seconds. He even took a spear to the head. It hit his brain, but still nothing.
The amount of Life Essence he drained today, made him essentially invincible for the moment. He would need to get hit hundreds of times, be it by steel or fire, and maybe then his accumulated essence would dwindle.
Thunderbolts seem to toss him a few feet back, but he always recovered.
When the enemy saw him regrow his severed leg within seconds, they simply gave up. They thought that some sort of God had come down here to punish them, and they were not ready to deal with that.
Half of the army fled, and the other half got busy fighting the surviving Followers of Thaleena as they finally made it out of the chapel.
Clayton aimed to get as close to the army as possible to finish what he started. He wanted to unleash what he began to call the Life Draining Mist, and deliver his final decree, but then he was interrupted by something.
An odd voice popped up in his head, and then a weird, thick and black book materialized in front of him. As the book opened by itself, the soft, feminine voice in his head introduced itself.
[Hello, Clayton.]
[I am the 3x Cloning System. I've been roaming this world for decades, looking for a host that's worthy of the benefits I can offer.]
[Your recent acceleration in the dark arts of Fleshmancy caught my attention. I could feel the fluctuation of energy you caused, and so I decided to embed myself in your soul.]
"What are you, a demon?" He blurted, confused, but mostly enraged. "Get out of my body, demon, there is no space for you here!"
[I am not a demon, Clayton, I am here to help you achieve ranks beyond your imagination!]
"Sounds like something a demon would say," He doubled down. "I already achieved ranks beyond my imagination, I just grew my leg back, for goodness' sake. What could you possibly offer me that your puny mind might think would interest me?"
[I didn't think I had to prove myself…]
Seconds later, Clayton saw a few of the skeletons rise from the ground. Ten of them, to be exact. They started moving around, and better yet, they started regrowing some of their flesh, to the point where they almost looked like they were alive! They were close to being considered zombies, undead walkers, but their movements were swift, they had their swords up, and looked around as if they were trying to pick a target. They were not clumsy like the average zombie would be.
"You're trying to impress me with Necromancy?" He scoffed, "I am beyond Necro-"
Before he could finish that sentence, the ten undead people tripled in numbers! What used to be ten, was now thirty, and this happened in the blink of an eye!
"Oh…" He grunted, "How did you do that? I didn't see any other bodies rise."
The lady in his head did not answer. Clayton was then shocked to see the numbers multiply for the second time. What was thirty, turned into ninety undead soldiers, and judging from the way they were looking at him, he figured that the undead soldiers were either going to attack him, or, they were awaiting his command!
"By Thaleena!" He exclaimed, "What are you doing, demon?!"
[Are you impressed now? Did I prove my worth, naked man?]
[I'm called The 3x Cloning System for a reason, Clayton. I can help you clone undead armies, and by clone, I mean I can make three soldiers out of a single skeleton.]
[Are you ready to show me your respect, or should I look for another host?]
"No, stay," He finally budged, "I don't understand your magic, lady, but I do have vengeance to exact. My family was killed for reasons I cannot fully understand even after all these years, and I think I'm done trying to understand it. I cannot forgive a sin that had no clear motive, so it's time to shed blood. Can you help me with that? Can you help me punish the people who killed my family?"