Every player in the battlefield that is stepping on or in the area of the cursed ground are losing 1 health point per second. The Arch Lich Malus' Life Drain may not be strong if it only drains that much but he even drains the life that flows from his own undead that numbers in the hundred thousand.
The players thought that the Life Drain would end in about a minute but they were severely mistaken. The Arch Lich continued to sap the life out of them like it finally became a passive skill. There was a great drop in the Arch Lich' mana though as the previously limitless mana pool suddenly started dropping.
The Arch Lich swept its hand and bone spikes emerged from the Necropolis itself. The bone spike tried blocking the chaotic elemental sphere that Emrys redirected but it was not enough. A flash of fire, a sudden blast of strong wind, boulders and even ice shards would come out of the chaotic elemental sphere to destroy the area.
The Arch Lich held out his skeletal hand once again and the broken bones or other parts of undead are drawn to him. He then piled up the undead parts once more and this time he used five of his liches and death knights as a catalyst. An enormous magic circle appeared at the Necropolis and another skeleton dragon appeared.
The skeleton dragon now became the meat shield or rather a bone shield that took the brunt of the whole attack. The power behind the chaotic elemental orb is so powerful that the skeleton dragon emitted a pained cry upon hit. Not only did the skeleton dragon immediately disintegrate after being hit but parts of the Necropolis caved in or is destroyed.
That was not the end though as the chaotic elemental sphere exploded a few seconds after disintegrating the skeleton dragon. The explosion not only erased all the undead in the Necropolis but also the soldiers and players who managed to get inside. The explosion was bright and loud that it emitted a shockwave that sent people flying.
Once the loud explosion subsided, the only figure standing inside the now ruined Necropolis is the Arch Lich Malus. Even the Arch Lich Malus was not totally fine despite not being directly hit by that attack. The Arch Lich Malus now lost its right arm and some of the clothes in his right side are burnt.
If the Arch Lich Malus was already terrifying to look at before then now it could only be described as horrific. The paladins of the Church of Light that bound the Arch Lich also perished in the explosion which is why the latter is no longer bound to his location.
Despite getting greatly damaged, the Arch Lich has still half of his health and is continuing to regenerate due to the Life Drain still active.
The good news is that there are no longer undead getting revived at the Necropolis but the bad news is that the Arch Lich Malus has finally lost his sense of reasoning to a certain degree. The Arch Lich Malus started hurling spells of different attributes to random locations in the battlefield.
Since the Arch Lich is now five meters tall, the spells that he fired also increased in the area it could damage. The undead left in the battlefield no longer pose that much threat as the higher tier undead has been almost decimated but there was still the issue of the Life Drain.
The priest players or any player that could use holy magic tried to purify the cursed land but the effect is only temporary. The cursed ground will just go back after a few seconds it is purified. To make the cursed ground disappear permanently, they should either kill Arch Lich Malus or purify the entire land in one fell swoop which is impossible.
To purify the entire land area that became cursed land, all the popes of the holy churches must conduct the most powerful purification type spell 'Sanctify'.
The only choice that the imperial army has right now is to kill the Arch Lich faster than the latter could drain their life force. The imperial army are starting to lose morale but reinforcements suddenly arrived. The reinforcements that arrived are the ones who were in the first battlefield. Some arrive on foot while some arrived on their mounts.
The morale of the imperial army started to climb up and Pope Pristina increased it further by giving the whole army a buff and even healing everyone injured. She did become rather faint after the process or rather she faked the act of fainting to gain sympathy for giving her all.
"Everyone! With the Blessings of the Goddess of Light, we shall purge this land of the undead!" The captain of the royal guards shouted as the army became lively once more.
As the Arch Lich no longer held an army due to suddenly becoming berserk, it did not take long for the united might of the imperial army to kill him. The imperial army started focusing their spells and attacks on the Arch Lich Malus. The Arch Lich Malus did not last long upon the barrage of attacks from the imperial army.
The Arch Lich Malus dropped to 10% health in a span of an hour. This was very quick despite the Arch Lich continuing the spell Life Drain. The Arch Lich Malus could no longer hold the imperial army by mere spells that could be fired off quickly. The Arch Lich Malus could not even cast powerful spells freely because he would get interrupted whenever he starts chanting.
The Arch Lich Malus' last struggle was to use his large mana to deal non-elemental magic to the surroundings. The Arch Lich Malus successfully blew the imperial army members that are close to him but that just made him an easy target.
"Illuminate!" Pope Pristina shouted as her scepter twirled in front of her and released a thick beam of white light.
The beam of pure white light disintegrated the body of the Arch Lich in a span of one second. The beam of light receded and the Arch Lich Malus was no more. Not even a part of his bone was left from the Pope Pristina's attack. The imperial army was so drunk in victory that the players did not bother to check if there was a system notification that stated that the Arch Lich Malus has been slain.
The players also did not check because the ranking for the contribution has still to be calculated. They already received the experience points but it was a mere trickle due to how many participated in the subjugation of the Arch Lich Malus. The priests prayed for the peace of the spirits of the deceased.