Chapter 222
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 222
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 8: The Bait (3)
Jin saw the sun setting outside the window.
It was a day tinged with a faint sense of foreboding.
It wasn't just a hunch.
The air felt heavy and humid, oppressively damp overall.
It seemed like rain might fall at any moment, but no storm was brewing.
Even he, with all his experience, had rarely encountered anything like this.
"The yin energy is thick."
The peculiar aura possessed by the departed.
It inherently sapped the vitality of the living and steered every possibility toward misfortune.
Undead not created by necromancers were usually born from grudges, making them aggregates of negative energy.
And right now, this village was crawling with them.
"This beer's bitter."
Jin set down his mug after a sip and peered out the window again.
Without any premonition to guide his sight, he couldn't see them directly, but as a Sword Master, he could sense even wraiths if he focused.
Unless they were pinnacle-tier undead of overwhelming power.
What had appeared here were fundamentally low-grade undead.
'He'll handle it fine.'
Jamie had rolled up his sleeves to resolve this incident.
What good would it do for a ghost-blind man like him to step in? So he sat there, nursing his beer idly.
Besides, who would he even be helping?
Jamie Welton was a sorcerer and, at the same time, a saint of the Pyro Church.
To all the dead, a saint was an existential nemesis.
"Chewing on these dry snacks is help enough."
Muttering to himself, Jin nodded in satisfaction.
At that moment, pattering footsteps rushed up from behind.
It was Nilba.
"Need anything?"
She always checked tables for empty plates and asked like this.
His mug was drained, so she'd come running. With a dried snack in his mouth, Jin replied.
"I'm good."
"Yes, sir!"
She was a bright girl.
The yin energy was a pernicious force that directly afflicted the living, leaving everyone gathered here in poor condition.
Some even muttered things like, "My health's this bad because of that cursed family."
Jin chewed his snack thoughtfully, then called out to Nilba.
"Hey."
"What do you need?"
The cute girl dashed over like an arrow.
Jin chuckled beneath his mask and asked.
"How long have you been working here?"
"Me?"
Nilba pondered the sudden question, tapping her lips with a finger before answering.
"About two years now, I think."
"Got it. Off you go."
"Phew—what, I thought you were ordering more. See ya!"
Nilba let out an adorable huff and scampered back to the counter.
Jin watched her retreating figure, then turned back to the window.
The sun had fully set, and night had fallen.
"Time to maintain my weapons."
Jin left a few coins on the table and headed to his room.
Whoooosh—
Wind swept across the open field.
The sky had grown pitch black.
The poor Pibion household couldn't afford candles, so they turned in right at sunset.
But sleep wouldn't come easily tonight, so Jamie had preemptively cast a slumber spell.
Ensuring everyone could fall into a deep, worry-free sleep.
And guarding the ramshackle house were three undead.
"The yin energy has thickened."
The eldest, Raiza, spoke calmly.
Azad and Ashtar nodded, hands drifting to their weapons.
"This... the yin here's no joke."
"Not just one or two, huh?"
In an instant, the field brimmed with an immense wave of yin energy.
The three undead steeled themselves, preparing for battle as best they could.
Raiza sent a message to Jamie.
But trouble arose.
"...Master isn't responding."
"No way."
"Something happen to him?"
"No way!"
Azad repeated himself, but the inflection was worlds apart.
The first carried disbelief; the second, utter dismissal.
Ashtar eyed Azad and remarked.
"Senior's got some real talent."
"Shut it, punk. Still no contact, bro?"
"Yeah."
Raiza sent signals repeatedly, but no reply came.
Then.
The sound of wind rose again.
All three turned toward the field simultaneously.
Azad let out a sharp hiss.
"Tsk... that the ones?"
"What, you asking me?"
Ashtar clicked his tongue at the translucent horde filling the field.
Every one wore tattered armor, limbs mangled—ghosts all.
"Fascinating."
Raiza muttered with genuine interest.
Azad turned to him.
"What's fascinating? I'm about to suffocate here."
"How do you kill the already dead?"
"You little shit, why do you keep nitpicking everything I say?"
"It's fun."
"If you can't shut up. Might smash your head in, bro."
"It'd just regen, so pointless, senior."
Ignoring their banter, Raiza addressed Azad's question.
"Think about it. They're all in standard ghost forms. Remember what Master told us."
"...Said there'd be a necromancer."
"Exactly. So why are they so pristine?"
If controlled by black magic, they couldn't maintain such intact ghost shapes.
They'd be warped somewhere, eroded by black mana.
They knew this better than anyone, sustained by Jamie's own black mana.
Besides, the enemy black sorcerer was leagues below their master.
"Why are they primal grudge spirits?"
"No idea. For now, we protect the house's occupants."
With no contact from Jamie, it was right for them to handle his role.
"This'll be fun."
Ashtar grinned and leaped forward first.
Azad jabbed a finger at his junior.
"You there! That ill-mannered punk dashes off before his seniors!"
"Quit yapping and follow."
"Hey, bro!"
Raiza ignored Azad and shot toward the field like a bullet.
Azad chased after, bellowing from behind.
The three reached the field in moments and landed.
Last to arrive, Azad confronted the other two.
"I'm seriously about to flip! You two going too far?"
"Focus."
"Focus up, senior."
"Grr, you bastards. Just wait."
Needled by both, Azad ground his teeth and glared ahead.
The ghost legion shuffled forward in a daze, slow and aimless.
Ashtar drew his sword with a gleeful laugh, licking the blade as he murmured.
"Been a while since a proper slaughter."
The murderous ghost Ashtar.
Born of the bloodthirsty Kala tribe, he was a killer who'd claimed countless lives before Jamie captured him.
And now, empowered by Jamie's black mana, he was far stronger than in his human days.
He widened his murder-filled eyes and quipped.
"Wonder if ghosts count for slaughter."
"This punk's babbling like some fifteen-year-old brat?"
Azad, digging in his ear, dismissed him like he hadn't heard.
Ashtar shot him a glare, mood soured.
"Read the room, senior."
"You stop clowing and prep for battle. Talking slaughter."
"Guess I gotta start with senior..."
"I said both of you, stop."
Raiza gripped daggers in both hands, his face stern in warning.
Their skills were evenly matched, but Jamie had granted Raiza command authority.
All undead under the Defying Heaven sect were bound to obey him.
Except for Lich Nevro alone.
Azad and Ashtar had no choice but to comply.
"Damn it."
"Get ready for payback later."
"Says you."
Azad and Ashtar adjusted their stances, shoulder to shoulder.
Raiza smirked at the approaching ghosts.
Individually feeble, but their numbers were no small threat.
"Don't let a single one near the house."
"Any plan?"
Azad asked, and Raiza replied, one dagger held forward, the other reverse.
"Wipe them all out."
"Got it!"
"Slaughter time!"
The three undead plunged into the midst of the ghosts, rampaging wildly.
Jamie stared at the figure standing amid the thick fog.
Clank—the sound of metal clashing rang out.
The rattle of iron armor.
Fog obscured its form, but that hardly mattered.
Right now, Jamie was quite perplexed.
"...What in the world is this?"
Black smoke burst through the fog.
It engulfed his ankles and passed.
Jamie thrust his right arm outward. The fog began to part, drawn to his hand.
Even so, the black smoke lingered, but the opponent's shape was now clear.
"I've been completely off the mark."
Black smoke endlessly seeped from the armor's joints.
The sleek, glossy black plate shone like it had been well-oiled.
The helmet had thin Y-shaped slits, but no facial features were visible.
Only faint glows leaked from the gaps.
He'd assumed it was a black sorcerer.
A necromancer puppeteering ghosts.
"First time I've seen a case like this."
Jamie addressed the entity clad head to toe in black armor—a Death Knight.
"Who'd have thought a naturally spawned Death Knight was behind this incident."
He scanned his surroundings.
A formidable aura originating from the Death Knight enveloped the area in a barrier.
It was on another level entirely.
Death Knights ranked high among undead, powerful in their own right. And this one surpassed anything Jamie knew.
Why would something like this target the Pibion family?
'Did the coup faction send a Death Knight to eliminate the knight captain's wife and child?'
Seeing it up close only highlighted the absurdity.
He didn't know the full story, but if this thing was after them, they stood no chance of survival.
"Thorough, aren't you?"
Jamie quietly drew his sword as he sensed the presences of more ghosts multiplying around him.
They all bore the soldiers' forms from before—wounds everywhere, armor on the verge of falling apart.
Like remnants of a unit wiped out somewhere.
Jamie questioned the Death Knight.
"But why show yourself to me? Your target is quite a ways from here."
The Death Knight offered no reply.
Whether it couldn't speak or simply wouldn't, he couldn't tell.
One thing was clear: it hadn't come here for casual conversation.
"Won't answer, then..."
Mana gathered in Jamie's hand.
"Guess I'll have to make you."
He knew better than anyone how rare a naturally born Death Knight was.
He had no idea why it had presented itself personally.
"I'll make you mine."
Acquiring a Death Knight would make his undead legion far stronger.
Jamie's eyes flushed purple.
And then.
"...You!"
The skull necklace around the Death Knight's neck glowed purple and floated slightly into the air.
But the purple light didn't turn toward Jamie.
The Death Knight clenched the skull tightly.
The purple seeped into him.
His eyes ignited with purple glows.
"Must... carry out... orders..."
The Death Knight bowed its upper body slightly, extending its left leg far back.
Then it gripped the hilt of the sword at its waist.
"Any foe... blocking... the path..."
Black mana erupted like an explosion.
"Will be severed."
Jamie murmured at the sword rising before him.
"Never even imagined this."
He grinned at the incoming purple black mana hurtling his way.
"Turning my own power against me."
The Death Knight's blade rose to his chin.
Jamie's purple glow intensified fiercely.
"What a commendable fellow. I'll make you mine, no matter what."
The two surges of black mana clashed.