The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 150
I’ve also been employed in the war zone.
-However, this experience is separate from my current ability as an undead. If I were still alive, I wouldn’t have been able to command like this.
He calmly said that he was able to move freely because he was connected to them directly and indirectly, and he didn’t have a strong sense of self, so he could move according to his intentions.
Additionally, he felt more at ease because he didn’t have any fear.
-It’s also because the ruler created me as a high-ranking undead commander.
Thanks to that, my command skills turned out better than expected.
“It’s still surprising that you handled the soldiers so well in the first battle, though.”
-It’s because of the ruler’s exceptional abilities. It means I was well-made to fulfill my purpose.
Although it was close to flattery, it wasn’t entirely wrong.
Indeed, Gagar was a well-made undead.
Not only was his individual combat ability excellent, but he also had a considerable level of skill in commanding troops. It was impressive.
After collecting the bodies of the nine red-eyed hyenas, we continued to venture into the barren land.
Gagar continued to excel in subsequent battles.
He successfully hunted not only the red-eyed hyena pack but also the gray panther and the steel rhino without any support, and the skeleton warriors suffered almost no losses in the process.
Even if they were severely damaged, they could be restored with a small amount of magic, and as they gained experience, they showed a faster and more victorious performance when encountering the same monsters.
When I judged that there was no need to test him further, Oriye and Valdur’s team began to support Gagar, and they explored the barren land together, matching their pace.
We explored the barren land for about a week.
-We’ve found it, master.
The first oasis.
We might have thought that we arrived later than expected.
Honestly, if we had moved in a straight line, we would have arrived in about three days.
However, we didn’t move in a straight line.
To confirm the distribution of monsters and the terrain of the area, I chose a slightly detouring route, which made our arrival at the oasis a bit late.
Considering the circumstances, it was still a relatively fast pace of one week.
This was possible because I had some information, including a map created when the Renneta Earl’s family once swept across the arid land, only to lose their stronghold and retreat due to the emergence of new monsters.
The map showed the terrain at the time and the approximate location of the oasis.
Although it was an old map, the location of the oasis wouldn’t change easily, so I had a rough idea of where it was.
Of course, not everything was marked on the map. Most of the more detailed maps were lost during the retreat, and this one wasn’t even the latest version.
Therefore, there were many blank spaces that needed to be reconfirmed, and the distribution of monsters would certainly be different from back then, which was why I chose this route.
“I need to see it with my own eyes.”
“What about the monsters?”
“…There are many. Especially, there are desert orcs living around here.”
Desert orcs.
Unlike regular orcs who settled down, these guys were half-nomadic.
They didn’t have the exceptional intelligence of mixed-species orcs like the horned orcs, but they had stronger bodies than regular orcs and were even more ferocious.
“Since they don’t settle down, once they catch wind of something, they’ll really chase after it relentlessly.”
I knew that if we found the oasis, there was a high chance they’d be there.
Maybe they’d be moving from one oasis to another, replenishing their water supply.
That would be the case for other monsters as well.
Taking control of a water source in the arid land meant constantly fighting against the monsters that regularly visited this place.
Taking control of an oasis all by oneself or with a single force was extremely difficult.
“Let’s share Ori’s vision.”
I immediately shared Ori’s vision and was able to directly confirm the oasis.
“It’s quite large, isn’t it?”
With this much water, we could even farm the surrounding area.
The water from the oasis wasn’t something humans could just drink casually.
Boiling it was a given, and we needed to go through a thorough purification process.
“It’s like a parasite nest.”
The monsters and beasts living here had adapted to the environment and had strong bodies, so they might be okay, but humans were different.
Even if we knew the risks, we couldn’t do anything about it.
“Will it be okay if we become experts?”
By that time, I thought even a moderate parasite wouldn’t be able to exert much power internally.
“But I can handle it with my magic.”
I didn’t think a weak parasite could withstand my magic.
The oasis was a place that could develop into a city, so it was essential to secure it.
Of course, I didn’t plan on making this place a city for humans to live in.
I would build a tower, but I wasn’t going to create a city-like place.
The oases in this area, including this one, were water sources, and many monsters would inevitably gather here. If we couldn’t take control of it and utilize it, the monsters would attack me to take it back.
I would let them naturally attack the Black Tower, and then I would annihilate them and grow my power.
Because of water, I would receive endless challenges, and that would become my strength.
“What do you think? Should we attack, or should we just confirm for now?”
Ori’s words made me ponder briefly.
Although there were quite a few large desert ogres, excluding them, there were no threatening guys.
However, if all those things were to target me alone, the story would be different.
Of course, the possibility of that was low. They didn’t have any sense of camaraderie, after all.
‘…We won’t attack.’
Let’s just confirm for now.
-Understood.
We’ll confirm three places according to the original plan and then make our move.
Just then, a group of animals was approaching the oasis.
‘…They were there too.’
They were wild horses I had never seen before.
They were cautiously approaching the oasis.
‘Is that… catchable?’
A skeleton horse.
The materials needed for it were in sight.
<Chapter 143﹥ 6 Classes
After a brief moment of consideration, I decided not to hunt them.
To be exact, I decided not to rush over and hunt them right away.
‘It’s enough to just confirm.’
The area around the oasis had many restrictions, but there wasn’t a full-scale battle.
If a disturbance were to occur, things could get out of hand, so everyone was being cautious, and if we were determined to fight, we would have cleaned up the area around the oasis with a sweep of our arms.
‘In the first place, there aren’t many knights who can use skeleton horses…’
Warriors can’t utilize skeleton horses properly.
Only knights can use them properly, but there are only three of them.
And all of them were assigned to guard the castle.
‘It would be nice to have a few…’
Gagaru could use them, and Nana and Kyle could use them well too. Anelis would also be fine.
Baldu could coordinate with the elite Living Armors, and Atina would find it difficult to fight while riding a skeleton horse due to her combat style, but it wouldn’t be bad for transportation.
‘I won’t catch them all, but I’ll catch a few.’
There were a considerable number of them, almost a hundred.
‘There are young ones too, but it doesn’t matter since there are so many.’
If the number of knights increases, it would be good to catch some and distribute them later.
It wouldn’t be difficult to allocate one skeleton horse to each knight, even if they didn’t have any affinity for dominance.
I shared what I saw with my party after releasing the shared vision.
No one objected to my plan to confirm the other two places first and then attack.
We headed towards the next oasis, and so we wandered the parched earth for a whole month.
We checked on the castle’s situation and sent news, and Atina even went to the desert’s shield once. Additionally, we hunted a few wild horses to create skeleton horses and secured our transportation means.
It wasn’t difficult to make a saddle by processing the bones.
When we first used the skeleton horse as a transportation means, Kyle’s eyes sparkled, Atina looked a bit uneasy, and Baldu didn’t show any particular change in expression, but he didn’t seem to dislike it either.
“…”
Kyle touched the undead horse given to him and felt quite pleased.
“Is it easier than you thought? It’s just that we can’t use it in battle…”
“I also can’t use it in battle.”
At first, Artina was worried, but after actually using it, she seemed quite satisfied. Valdure, on the other hand, was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t use it in battle.
“I was worried since I’ve never ridden a horse before, but it listens well and isn’t difficult to ride at all.”
Lack of riding experience was not a problem.
Of course not. This wasn’t a real horse, but an undead one. It was designed to adapt to the user and obey their commands, making it superior to any ordinary horse, except for its skeletal appearance.
It was necessary to adjust to the horse’s movements and rhythm, but expert warriors like themselves wouldn’t struggle with that.
He thought that if he had known how good it would be, he would have made one as soon as he reached level 6.
Anelis looked quite burdened when she received the undead horse, but she couldn’t refuse something given to her, so she just kept saying thank you.
“Where do you plan to build your tower?”
Kyle asked after they had explored all three oases.
“The second place we went to.”
It was located quite deep in the desert, but not exactly at the center of the barren land.
The first oasis they arrived at was only about three days away from the desert’s shield in a straight line, whereas the second oasis they discovered would take about a week to reach even if they moved in a straight line.
The third oasis was about five days away from the desert’s shield in a straight line, located west of the center of the barren land.
“That place is closer to the center.”
“Do you plan to head towards the center?”
“There’s something I want at that place.”
The location where the dragon’s corpse was buried. That was precisely the center of the barren land.
A massive hill like a mountain at the center.
Below it, the dragon’s corpse lay sleeping.
If possible, he would have liked to build a tower on that hill, but it seemed difficult given the circumstances.
The terrain was not suitable, and securing the oasis was also necessary.
“It’s okay, we can just excavate it. With the dimensional fragments, it’s not hard to bring it over.”
He needed to secure the oasis properly to start building his power from there and eventually dominate the entire barren land on his own.
Reaching level 6 wasn’t enough to dominate the barren land alone; he needed a bit of trickery.
That way, he could maintain his special status, free from anyone’s interference.
“Fortunately, the surrounding terrain isn’t bad either.”
If he had thought otherwise, he would have targeted a different oasis.
His party headed towards the second oasis they had found, and assessed its military strength.
-There’s about one desert orc tribe nearby. But… it seems there’s also a group of blue-maned lions.
“Are they a pride?”
-Yes, there are over ten of them.
A pride refers to a group of lions led by a single male, accompanied by several females.
They were also taking care of their still-growing cubs.
“Is there only one male?”
Normally, a pride has only one adult male, but in rare cases, there may be nearly fully grown males remaining.
The male lion is responsible for the pride’s military power, so if there are more males close to adulthood, the overall military power changes.
It was necessary to know this.
By the way, the female ones are not weak. However, the male ones are truly powerful monsters that use mana, so we need to be even more cautious.
Depending on the situation, Kaila might need to take action.
“One of them… that’s about right.”
-There are many other monsters scattered around the oasis, but those two species are the closest and most likely to cause trouble.
We weren’t ignoring the monsters on the outskirts, but compared to those two, they weren’t something to be feared.
After taking a short break and checking our status, we headed towards the oasis.
The beasts and some monsters that saw us tried to flee.
Thanks to us having slaughtered many monsters in the area recently, some of them seemed to have taken notice of our presence.
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By the way, those guys are closer to being predators.
Real predators don’t flee easily to protect their territory.
Since monsters recover quickly, they become even more aggressive.
As we approached, the sand orc’s camp became busy.
From their perspective, it was a sudden attack. They were resting and filling up on water, wary of the blue-maned lions, when a human army led by the undead suddenly appeared.
“Grunt.”
The orc leader, who didn’t seem to like us, glared at us and let out an unpleasant sound.
They didn’t seem to know much about us.