Chapter 12: Necromancer of the Mine (4)
12
Whoosh!
The torch Dunkel lit illuminated the dark mine cave.
Splattered blood and claw marks were scattered everywhere.
The mine that had once been the financial lifeline of the surrounding villages now looked no different from a dungeon.
“There’s a stench of corpses.”
“That’s right. And corpses that move.”
As he said that, Dunkel took the lead.
According to the mine’s structural map we received from the village chief, the path from the entrance was a single road.
Following that road led to a cavern from which multiple paths branched out.
“Kiiiiii…!”
Just then, a voice echoed from deep within the cave.
“Young master.”
“There’s not just one or two.”
As I said that, I drew demonic energy into my hand.
Most of the souls spread throughout the mine were trapped inside zombies.
But having heard hauntings from all around, I opened a summoning gate without hesitation.
[Brunoni, answer my call. I grant you bodies to crush your enemies.]
The moment the short incantation ended, skeletons emerged from three summoning gates.
They looked enraged, as if they might leap out at any second.
They were the souls that had been sacrificed in this mine.
“To block undead with undead….”
“It’s the most efficient method. The more we take down, the more allies we gain.”
I said that, but the unease on Dunkel’s face did not fade easily.
“You said you’d trust me. Then trust me to the end.”
Saying that to Dunkel, I sent the three skeletons forward.
Clack! Clack!
The skeletons generated war shields that covered their upper bodies.
Perhaps alerted by the sound of their footsteps, the cries of zombies began drawing closer.
“Kiiiiii….”
“Krooooo…!”
There were five.
After confirming the zombies shuffling toward us, I issued an order to the skeletons.
“Charge.”
At that command, the shield-bearing skeletons rushed forward in unison.
“S, skeletons are running…?”
“The Dalton mercenaries said the same thing. Is it really that surprising?”
As I answered the wide-eyed Dunkel, the charging skeletons mercilessly smashed the zombies’ bodies with their shields.
Crunch!
“Kieeeek—!”
“Kraaaa—!”
The shrieks of zombies and the roars of skeletons.
As the two undead collided, the voices of other zombies echoed from deeper within.
“Judging by the sound, about forty entities. We’re at a numerical disadvantage.”
“Counting the ones we just smashed, that makes it forty-five to five?”
Saying that with a shrug, I approached a zombie staggering around after losing its legs and reached out my hand.
Pzzzt-!
Black demonic energy extended from my hand, seeped into the zombie’s body, and just like before, blue flames wrapped around it.
“Normally I’d let you pass on peacefully, but the situation doesn’t allow it.”
As I said that to the blue souls rising from the zombie’s body, they nodded as if they understood.
“We need to save the others who were captured together. Sorry, but you’ll have to cooperate.”
After saying that, I formed hand seals and created five additional summoning gates.
“Young master. Don’t tell me…?”
“I convert subdued undead and make them allies. It’s basic tactics when Necromancers fight each other.”
Even as I answered Dunkel’s exclamation, my hands continued forming seals and runes.
Rumble…!
Alongside the three skeletons leading the way, five more skeletons rose and reinforced their formation.
“That makes it forty to ten. With about a fourfold difference in power, this should be manageable.”
After saying that, I ordered them to head toward the central cavern.
“Dunkel, run!”
“Yes!”
Eight skeletons smashed aside the zombies blocking the way.
As we followed them deeper inside, a small light began to appear at the edge of our vision.
“Torches.”
“That means it’s not just undead.”
As I said that, the skeletons that had blown away four zombies holding the entrance charged straight into the cavern.
Koo-kwang-!
“For low-grade undead like skeletons to be this strong…!”
Seeing them, Dunkel trailed off, stunned.
The skeletons moved in perfect unison, as if they were a single entity, constantly changing formations.
Their movements were far more refined than those of the villagers who had been fighting zombies just moments ago.
Shrrrk-!
Eight shields intertwined, forming a hemispherical barrier.
Passing through the safe zone created by the skeletons and entering the cavern, the entire mine came into clear view.
“Th, this is…!”
“It’s beyond imagination. That Necromancer bastard.”
Saws and hammers, countless tools and surgical instruments.
On both walls of the Necromancer’s workshop, created over two months, countless test subjects were displayed.
“Aah…. Aaaah…!”
“Kill me, please kill me…!”
The screams that had been almost drowned out by the zombies’ howls finally reached us.
The voices of the Necromancer’s ‘test subjects’ hanging on the walls.
They were horrific sights, their bellies split open yet barely clinging to life.
“Young master. What in the world is this…!”
“To create powerful thralls through the Art of Half-Souls, you need high-quality bodies.”
I spat the words out as I looked over the grotesque forms of the test subjects hanging all around.
Someone was missing an arm.
Someone else a leg.
Someone a heart, someone their organs.
All of the test subjects hanging on the walls were alive, each with a specific organ extracted.
“Oh my? I didn’t expect you to find your way here so quickly~?”
A snake-like, slithering voice echoed through the cave.
Turning my head, I saw a red-haired woman slowly walking out from one of the tunnels.
“And to think you’re a comrade who uses the same necromancy, I’m truly delighted.”
“Comrade?”
“Oh my, excuse me. Was that a bit unpleasant for Lord Leinrant?”
Saying that, the red-haired woman smiled at me and lifted the hem of her robe as if it were a dress, offering a bow.
It was an exaggerated, theatrical gesture, as though mocking the fact that I had walked in here of my own accord.
“I am a Necromancer, Pale.”
The imperial-style greeting, the imperial army insignia, and the robe she wore.
Seeing the robe imbued with mana, my suspicion turned into certainty.
“You’ve enchanted your robe. That’s an item only permitted to the Imperial Guard Division.”
Imbuing mana into soft materials rather than armor was an exclusive specialty of the Empire.
That made it certain.
That Necromancer, Pale, was affiliated with the Empire.
“Oh my, you have quite a sharp eye?”
At my words, Pale’s eyes narrowed.
A sinister light flickered in her faintly visible pupils.
She had murderous intent.
“Look at those eyes. Must’ve been some sensitive information?”
“Very sensitive. No one must kno~ow that I’m from the Empire.”
As Pale said that, Dunkel barked out angrily.
“Why on earth would the Empire do something like this?!”
“Something like this?”
At Pale’s shameless question, Dunkel’s expression grew even harsher.
“Wasn’t it enough to capture Northerners and turn them into undead, that you’d commit such atrocious acts?!”
Shouting that, Dunkel pointed at the test subjects she had created.
“Why on earth would the Empire target the North…!”
“Ahh, so that’s what you were getting at.”
But what came back to such a Dunkel was a languid sneer.
“They’re weak, so we toy with them. What other reason would there be?”
A flat, casual tone, as if talking about today’s weather.
“W-what…?”
Mocking the speechless Dunkel, Pale raised her hand.
Thud-!
Footsteps rang out.
It was on an entirely different level from the sounds the zombies in the cave had been making until now.
“This sound is….”
As images of the corpses and test subjects strewn everywhere crossed my mind, Pale’s voice reached me.
“Do you know what it is? Lord Klein.”
So she really had been watching through the zombies.
With an enraptured expression, as if savoring her new masterpiece, Pale spoke to me.
“My greatest masterpiece is being born~!”
Along with Pale’s shameless words, a roar shook the entire cave.
“Kwaaaaaaaaah—!”
Together with dozens of undead, a monster burst forth.
“Now that you know I’m from the Empire, I can’t let you live.”
Pale’s voice, drunk on the feeling of victory, rang down.
A massive body that looked at least five meters tall.
Monstrous strength, wielding an entire minecart rail ripped out as a blunt weapon.
And dozens of eyes embedded in its face.
“This is insane…!”
With Dunkel’s wide-eyed shout, it strode forward in great steps.
“Now! Cyclops! Crush everything!”
At those words, the five-meter giant and the undead charged all at once.
“With this, I’ll turn the bloodline of Leinrant into test subjects…!”
“You think I’ll just let you?”
The eyes of Pale, now revealing her true intentions, gleamed with greed.
I cut off her anticipation-filled words as I shouted.
“Dunkel!”
“Yes!”
But Dunkel, who was guarding me, was a commander-class knight.
Stepping forward at once, Dunkel poured mana into his sword and struck upward at the Cyclops.
Tukwaaang-!
With a thunderous boom, the Cyclops staggered back several steps.
“Oh my?”
An explosive sword that caused a shockwave by detonating condensed mana at a single point.
As Dunkel’s signature technique unfolded, Pale frowned as if taken aback.
“He might look mild, but he’s the commander of the Red Carriage Knights.”
“Red Carriage? Don’t tell me, Duke Douglas’s…!”
A line of unease surfaced on Pale’s face.
The moment I sensed it, I sneered at her.
“A third-rate Necromancer like you, I could kill with my eyes closed!”
Crunch-!
The shallow composure Pale had been wearing shattered at my words.
Commander-class knight.
Recalling the weight of that title, Pale ground her teeth and issued an attack order to the other undead.
“Everyone, charge! Overwhelm them with numbers and tear off all their limbs!”
Hearing Pale’s command, the undead picked up speed.
Bang-! Twa-bang-!
Dunkel relentlessly pressured the Cyclops with shockwaves.
After confirming the undead rushing toward him, I grabbed and lifted a stake we had prepared in the village.
“The Order’s Sun Cross? What is that….”
A small stake stained black.
Seeing it, Pale frowned.
“You don’t even know the ‘Black Stake’? You need to relearn necromancy from the beginning.”
Thud!
With a short sneer, I drove the black stake into the ground.
The prototype of the sacred body, sacred image, and holy water spoken of by the Order.
An item made by combining three materials symbolizing flesh, form, and soul.
As I poured demonic energy into the black stake, I smiled at Pale.
“You’re fucked, you piece of trash.”
With those words, the stake embedded in the ground shot up in an instant and exploded.
Two-woong-!
The black stake turned to ash and vanished, and an immense blast of wind shook the entire mine.
Kuuuuuu-!
Kwa-rrr-!
A roar so loud that some sections collapsed, unable to withstand the vibration.
“Cough! So that’s all it was, just a shockwave. With something like this, my undead—!”
It was the moment Pale, having barely regained her senses, said that and pushed herself up.
“…Huh?”
The dozens of undead she had summoned had vanished without a trace.
Thud-!
It wasn’t just the hundreds of zombies.
The skeletons I had summoned that were mixed in among them.
And even the Cyclops that had been following Pale’s orders.
From the bodies of all the undead, the souls were ripped out, and the remaining flesh began to scatter white into the air.
“Wh-what is this. How…?”
“Doesn’t seem like this is the time to be wondering that?”
I cut off Pale’s muttering as she stood there completely dazed.
As Pale stared at me with a blank expression, Dunkel’s blade was leveled at her throat.
“From this moment, your person is detained by Leinrant. If you resist—”
“Interrogation? You think I’ll submit quietly?”
Cutting off Dunkel, Pale immediately bit down on something in her mouth.
Crunch!
“Damn it, a poison capsule in her mouth…!”
Dunkel hurriedly grabbed her mouth, but Pale was already vomiting black blood, mocking both of us.
“Go ahead and dig all you want. You won’t be able to find… any… thing…!”
After saying that much, Pale’s breath ceased.
“Damn it—!”
Bang-!
Seeing her limp corpse, Dunkel struck the ground in frustration.
A perfect silencing, like a lizard cutting off its tail.
It was clear the Empire had trained her thoroughly.
“At this rate, we’re back to square one. Even if we take her clothes and insignia…!”
“Claim they were seized, stolen, forged. They can come up with excuses endlessly.”
As I responded to Dunkel, I looked at Pale’s limp corpse.
“She must’ve thought that once she died, we wouldn’t be able to find out anything. That even if necromancy was used, she’d just become a mindless zombie, so it’d be fine.”
Though I spoke in an even tone, a fresh smile was drawn across my face.
“That’s why I told you. You need to relearn necromancy.”
Saying that, I bit my finger and drew blood.
The blood mixed into the black demonic energy glowed red as it traced a return circle and a binding circle.
“The Art of Half-Souls isn’t a form of necromancy that only creates zombies.”
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