Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Necromancer Hunt (3)
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[Such a sinister mana is emanating from in there. This is the place!]
Just as Igzard said, a demonic mana pulsed from within the cave.
It was an evil aura rarely felt even in the northern Winter Mountains.
“Everyone, form up as you’ve been trained!”
At my raised voice, my subordinates moved swiftly.
A battle formation suited for combat in tight spaces.
I took the lead, with Edwin and Lotus flanking me on either side.
Behind them, the squad members were positioned according to their skill levels, and finally, Lieselotte guarded the rear.
“We’re breaking through the undead guards! Follow me!”
“Yes, Captain!”
Blocking our path inside the cave were bone golems pieced together from skeletons.
As the most skilled, I stepped forward to confront the bone golem head-on. Edwin and Lotus followed to support me.
[Wipe them out!]
Crunch! Crack!
The most frustrating thing about fighting undead was that you couldn’t take them down with a single strike to a vital spot.
Precise attacks exploiting openings were inefficient, so it was better to unleash a barrage of powerful, brutal blows to smash them completely.
“Hah!”
“Hup!”
After I carved a massive gash into the bone golem’s torso, Edwin and Lotus charged in and hacked it apart.
While the Grade 2 Knights and squires finished it off, I led Edwin and Lotus to the next bone golem.
“Sir Sion! There seems to be a cleverly hidden switch over here!”
“Activate it, Lieselotte!”
“Is that safe?!”
“They wouldn’t hide a trap switch that cleverly!”
“You’re right!”
Lieselotte, who had been watching the rear, punched the wall. With a thud, a door opened to my right.
The evil aura grew stronger, so it looked like a shortcut.
“Good work, Lieselotte!”
“You owe me a reward later!”
We roughly cleared the bone golems and rushed through the newly opened door.
It led to a downward passage, and after descending for a while, a vast chamber appeared.
“There are several rooms here. This must be the necromancer’s workshop.”
“Sir Sion, should we look for the relic casket?”
“Wait a moment.”
I stayed vigilant, scanning the surroundings.
Gercuius wouldn’t have left this place unguarded.
[Both sides!]
The moment Igzard warned me, pitch-black armored knights burst out from left and right.
Without hesitation, I moved right. Edwin was on the left, so I trusted him to handle that side.
“Uuuuugh...!”
Clang!
The moment our swords clashed, the space around us shook.
These weren’t ordinary undead.
“Death Knights...!”
Lotus cried out in alarm.
“High-grade undead made from holy knights! Damn it...!”
I recognized the armor—it was the kind worn by the Purgation Knights.
Once white, now stained black, but these were definitely made from them.
“They’re probably stronger than they were in life. Be careful.”
“Got i—ugh!”
Edwin groaned as he blocked the Death Knight charging from the left.
Lotus, Lieselotte, and the others rushed to help, but it didn’t look easy.
‘These guys still find Death Knights tough.’
The key difference between a Death Knight and a regular skeleton soldier was how it maximized the circles the knight had in life.
A Death Knight’s chest held a restored version of its original circles, brimming with evil mana.
It used that mana to strengthen its body, making it more powerful than in life.
‘I’ll take this one down first, then help.’
Whoosh! Slash!
The Death Knight even wielded sword aura, with output rivaling a 6th-circle knight.
Probably a 5th-circle knight in life, now boosted to 6th-circle as a Death Knight.
‘But still, just an undead.’
Its attacks were fast and sharp, but it couldn’t match human flexibility.
I ducked low to evade, then slashed its femur with a blade honed for maximum cutting power.
“Uuuuugh...!”
The Death Knight wailed grotesquely and staggered.
Seizing the moment, I unleashed colorless Crimson Lotus, severing its legs and arms, then its neck.
[It’s silenced for good!]
I moved quickly.
Confirming Edwin fending off the Death Knight’s onslaught, I flanked it.
“Sir Sion!”
“Fall back.”
As Edwin retreated, I crossed paths and swung at the Death Knight.
Its wrist, gripping the greatsword, flew off.
“Edwin, hit it together!”
“Yes!”
Whoosh! Slash!
Matching Edwin’s rhythm, we unleashed a flurry of attacks.
Soon, the second Death Knight shattered into pieces and collapsed.
“You’ve improved a lot, Edwin.”
“You’re the impressive one, Sir Sion!”
I’d stepped in because it looked dicey, but Edwin’s swordsmanship talent was unmatched in the 13th Unit.
With more polishing and increased mana, he could become one of the top five in the Holy Knight Order.
“No more... right?”
“Stay alert, just in case.”
After felling the Death Knights, we thoroughly searched Gercuius’s workshop.
We found various materials and tools he’d used to create undead, but no relic casket.
‘Igzard, sense anything?’
[Hmm, now that we’re close, it’s harder to pinpoint. The dense sinister mana everywhere makes it tricky to get a direction.]
‘Useless.’
[Hey, hold on. Let me focus harder.]
Igzard fell silent.
He seemed to be concentrating fully.
‘But... the relic casket aside, where’s Ashurai?’
Dietrich said Ashurai was placed in an underground lake deep in the cave.
But no path to an underground lake was in sight.
‘I’ve never been inside here myself, so I wouldn’t know.’
Maybe we hadn’t come the right way.
Perhaps we should’ve gone straight instead of the secret passage.
As I scanned around with those thoughts, Igzard spoke up.
[Hey! Below us!]
‘Below?’
[That’s why it was hard to track! There’s massive mana right under our feet!]
I crouched and touched the floor.
Damp earth. But channeling a bit of mana revealed it wasn’t thick.
There was space below.
“Everyone, fall back.”
“Huh?”
“Get distance from me. You might get caught in it.”
After ordering my puzzled subordinates, I took a deep breath.
Then plunged my sword into the floor.
‘Igzard!’
[Got it!]
In that instant,
Igzard’s energy within me burst forth.
To others, it looked like I’d released sword aura from my mana, but it was actually Igzard’s vast energy.
It poured from my blade into the floor, spreading outward...
“Ah...!”
My subordinates’ panicked cries rang out.
The ground collapsed, and I fell through.
[Careful!]
‘Don’t worry.’
I balanced in midair and landed precisely.
“Captain!”
“Are you okay?!”
“I’m fine. You all wait up there.”
Reassuring them, I looked around.
No sunlight reached here, yet the space glowed with a soft light.
‘Beautiful.’
A vast emerald lake underground emitted a faint glow.
Stepping into the lake, I scanned the area.
In the center was a complex mechanical device.
[There!]
‘Yeah, I see it.’
Demon Spirit Sword Ashurai was there.
And Gercuius’s relic casket too.
‘Looks like he was siphoning the lake’s mana through Ashurai, feeding it to his relic casket to power his undead control.’
[Seems that way.]
Anyway, opening that device, retrieving Ashurai, and smashing the relic casket would end it all.
With that thought, I waded deeper into the lake.
* * *
Ruthless flames devoured the bones.
An attack that would incinerate ordinary life in agony, but undead monsters made of bone alone were immune.
Yet Dietrich kept pouring out magical infernos.
“Ugh...!”
Gercuius groaned.
His high-grade undead, each bone coated in mana, were being neutralized in the blaze.
“Your flame magic... it’s burning through even the defensive spells I granted my undead!”
“Don’t underestimate me, Gercuius.”
Dietrich spat coldly as he prepared his next spell.
Exhausted from chaining powerful magic, he tried not to show it.
“The legion I poured twenty years of effort into... how is it falling to you alone...?”
“Well, from what I see, it doesn’t look like a legion worthy of twenty years’ investment.”
“W-what?”
“Building an undead legion requires a lot. You must’ve slaved away here alone producing them.”
A necromancer could make a hundred basic undead solo, but scaling up got burdensome.
You needed at least a few assistants, yet Gercuius had done it all himself.
“Why didn’t you reassemble your old subordinates? I recall they weren’t completely wiped out twenty years ago.”
“Ugh...”
“Eaten by forest monsters? Or... did they betray you, refusing to follow anymore?”
“Ugh...!”
“My guess hit the mark, huh.”
Revived by the relic casket’s power, Gercuius had probably announced plans to regather his forces and rebuild an undead legion in the western great forest.
But they refused to follow, so in rage, he slaughtered them all.
“Makes sense. You were risking a lifetime making undead in the woods. And your ‘superior’ was a lich who abandoned humanity.”
“Shut up!”
“They picked the wrong master. They should’ve served... someone as great as my lord.”
“Enough nonsense...!”
Provoked, Gercuius wildly swung his hand.
The surrounding undead charged Dietrich in disarray.
So chaotic they collided and tangled.
Dietrich seized the opening.
“Huh...!”
Using flight magic, he slipped through the undead ranks.
Overexcited, gaps had formed in the bone barrier protecting Gercuius.
He aimed a spell right there to snipe him.
‘It won’t be fatal, but it’ll deal solid damage...!’
Dietrich had no intention of killing Gercuius here.
If he did, the soul would return to the relic casket, alerting him that the holy knights were after it.
Unsure what power soul-state Gercuius held, but no fatal blows until the casket was fully destroyed.
‘Just enough to disrupt his control over the surrounding undead...!’
With that thought, he hurled sharp ice spears.
“Hm?! This is...!”
Suddenly, Gercuius’s eyes widened in panic.
Then his body was pierced clean through by the ice spear.
“Huh...?”
Now Dietrich panicked.
He hadn’t expected a direct hit.
But he quickly realized the anomaly.
“This...!”
Gercuius slumped, impaled on the ice.
His body was already an empty shell.
* * *
Suddenly, Igzard shouted.
[Above us!]
I’d already sensed it.
The evil aura from overhead...!
“You rat bastard!”
Through the hole I’d made to descend, a black shadow dropped down.
No form. A being that shed its physical body, sustaining only a spirit-like mana form.
“Gercuius, is that your true body?”
The Archbishop Gercuius whom Dietrich had been fighting.
He’d noticed the break-in and rushed here, abandoning everything.