Transmigrated as a Ghost

It was only a few days after Marcus and his companions reached the capital of the Draayer Empire that hostilities with Umbrashnuls broke out.

A small settlement on the edge of the empire's territory that was close to the disputed chamber filled with valuable resources was attacked.

The message that the Umbrashnuls were trying to send was clear when only a single person from the village was left alive to report what had occurred.

They were on the warpath and intended to destroy the Draayer Empire to the point that the enemy state could no longer pose any threat.

On the same day that the news of the attack reached the capital, Relia came by to gather Marcus, Lyra, Roxene, and Quillon.

It was time for them to pay back the favors that they owed.

"How fast do you want us to intervene? I could make it to the front lines today if I went on my own." Marcus said, knowing that his unique abilities allowed him to circumvent the winding terrain of the Darklands.

"I appreciate the offer, but that won't be necessary. This is a war, and while your four are important to our victory, you're still only one piece of the overall strategy." Relia replied.

She then pulled out a map and explained where they were planning on holding the line.

They did not have an exact number, but there were tens of thousands of Umbrashnuls marching towards them.

Being entities of living shadows, they were very adept at stealth and often incorporated assassinations into their attacks.

It was difficult for those without specialized skills to detect the higher-level ones, so the Draayer army had to be careful with how they deployed themselves.

Not everyone in their military were vampires that could shrug off most mortal wounds.

"We've also received word that the Umbrashnuls have mercenaries adept at hunting vampires with them. We don't know much yet, but I expect many of them to know light, curse, destruction, and blood magic. Those are typically the most effective types against us." Relia explained.

This did not come as a surprise, as the empress had already mentioned that that the Umbrashnuls had prepared assassins to use against her and her top vampire retainers.

It was obvious that they must have had some reason to finally commit to an all-out war.

If it remained that neither side could finish the other off, the war would only accomplish is destroying the areas that the two nations called their home.

Marcus originally thought that they would be moving with the rest of the army, but Relia led them to the position that they would be taking.

As a small group they could move faster, and there was no point in risking information about them leaking to the enemies.

It was possible that the Umbrashnuls knew that a group of powerful outsiders had been allowed into Draayer Castle a few days ago, but it would be almost impossible for them to have learned about any of their abilities.

And the empress wanted to keep it that way until the real fighting started.

So, Marcus, Lyra, Roxene, and Quillon followed behind Relia for several days.

They were using a roundabout path to reach the battlefield to avoid detection, but the extra distance would hardly slow them down with how fast their group was.

However, on the third day, when they were within around a hundred kilometers of their destination, Marcus suddenly sensed something hiding on the path ahead.

Only an instant after he noticed, Lyra, Roxene, and Quillon did as well.

Knowing Relia's senses were not quite as sharp as his own, Marcus grabbed her and halted her momentum.

"There are enemies up ahead. Thirty-six of them. I can't see them, but I know that they're hiding in the shadows."

Before Relia could even say something response, several shadows a couple kilometers away started racing towards them.

It seemed that the team waiting to ambush them had caught on to their stealth having been seen through

"I'm going to use some light magic, stay behind and support us from the rear." Marcus said, taking charge now that they were in a combat situation.

Relia did not try to argue or posture for authority.

She knew that her role was mostly to serve as a guide rather than get into battle herself.

Her level was not low by any means and she was strong compared to most people in the world, but she could not measure up to monsters like Marcus and his companions.

The four of them sat at the top of their respective levels.

"Let's see how this works on them."

Marcus held his hand straight up and a small sphere of light manifested in his palm.

A moment later, it flew high into the air and then exploded in a radiant burst. Covering the entire area in light as if the sun had suddenly appeared down below the earth.

This was only the tier three solar flare spell, and while it normally only lit up an area incredibly brightly, Marcus was interested to see how it would affect being made of shadows.

It turned out to work better than he had expected, as what appeared to be moving shadows stopped in their tracks the moment the light appeared.

To his surprise, forms that looked a lot like people started popping up out of the ground, with most of them covering their faces and screaming.

It seemed that though the Umbrashnul were composed of shadows, they had physical forms as well.

Marcus examined them and noticed that they had pointed ears similar to elves, even if they were not nearly as long.

Their body shapes were also interesting, seeming to hold little uniformity besides a few features like their ears.

Some of them had four arms, while others none, but instead a pair of wings like a bat's sticking out where arms normally would be.

Still, they were all clearly Umbrashnuls.

While they may have come in many shapes and sizes, the presence of their life energy was just as similar to each other as any pair of humans walking on the street. Of that, Marcus was certain.

'Their skin is also dark grey, and it looks like shadows are trying to crawl around them at all times, but the light is keeping this contained to only small parts of their bodies that are keeping their own shadows from being entirely snuffed out.'

Unlike some of the vampires, the Umbrashnuls seemed to have not developed any means of counteracting bright solar light.

Marcus knew that Relia protected herself from daylight by wrapping a layer of mist around herself that refracted the harmful ray away from herself.

It was not strong enough to stop most light magic, but it worked well on the light of the sun.

After a few seconds of struggling, the strongest of the Umbrashnuls stood up and cast a spell.

Every shadow in the area for several kilometers started to unnaturally and coalesce towards her.

Soon they had wrapped around all of the Umbrashnuls and created a dome that blocked out most of the light of Marcus' solar flare spell.

They were not able to fully merge with the shadows again, but their entire body's became engulfed and Marcus could only occasionally see bits of their armor or skin beneath the roiling shadows.

Swiftly they all advanced as one, aiming to overwhelm the enemies that had crossed their paths with their superior numbers.

'The strongest is only level sixty-one. They're not particularly dangerous to us. Let's use the opportunity to figure out how they fight and what works on them and what doesn't.' Marcus said to Lyra, Roxene, and Quillon over telepathy.

They all nodded and put some distance between each other so as to not get in their way.

The tunnel they were in averaged around seventy meters wide, so there was plenty of room so long as they did not all stand in a line.

Predictably, the leader headed directly for Marcus, undoubtably pegging him as the most dangerous since he could sue light magic.

Several shadowy bolts formed around the none Umbrashnuls charging towards Marcus and started firing at him.

Individually, each attack was nothing special, but as a whole, they were quite powerful.

'Radiant scales.'

Using the tier five defensive spell, Marcus watched as each of the shadow bolts connected with the nearly invisible floating scales of light around him.

Every time one was hit, they flashed and the shadows were dispelled.

Since he was just standing there and waiting, it was not long before the first attacker reached him, and the shadows around them swirled like blades and slashed towards him.

Just like the bolts before them though, Marcus' radiant scales flashed and nullified the shadows.

'They're simply far too low level to break through my defenses. Still, I've at least confirmed how affective light magic is against them and their main attack.' Marcus thought, standing still and allowing his opponents to wail on his magic shield while he analyze their powers.

Eventually, one of them got fed up and sunk back into the shadows.

The bright light in the area meant that it was impossible for them to stay this way for long, but they never planned to.

Marcus was caught a bit off guard when the Umbrashnul reappeared from his own shadow, seemingly to have bypassed his radiant scales.

'No, they do look a bit torn up. They must have forced themselves through and taken some damage for doing so.'

Still, it was an impressive trick, and one that would definitely be very dangerous in a fight against more equal combatants.

However, Marcus was twenty levels higher, and his race was of a vastly superior quality.

He caught the blade descending upon him and smacked the Umbrashnul with his arm clad in only a small layer of mana.