The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 151
After all, we hadn’t fought the sand orcs in the past month.
We didn’t flee from them.
They were nomads, and while there were many orcs in their tribe, their numbers weren’t that great.
So, meeting them wasn’t a common occurrence, and even when we did, it was around the oasis, so we chose to avoid them.
Our current goal was reconnaissance, and we didn’t want to cause a ruckus by fighting the sand orcs unnecessarily.
However, that’s all ending today.
I intended to take over this place today.
“Doesn’t your expression look bad?”
Artina muttered as she got off her skeleton horse.
Our forces seemed to intimidate them more than frighten them.
The reason was easy to guess – most of our soldiers were undead, just bones, so it was likely that they saw us as useless as food.
“If we fight, it’s just a loss. So, it’s unavoidable.”
In other words, fighting would only result in losses. Therefore, it was understandable that they wouldn’t like us.
They’re cannibals, after all.
However, they shouldn’t have made such an expression.
“They should either flee or prepare to fight desperately.”
It’s not a matter of willpower. For them, it’s a matter of survival.
It seemed that they didn’t feel much sense of crisis, despite living in the barren land, probably due to their large size.
As I mentioned earlier, they’re top-tier predators.
And the ones here seemed to be quite large, even among the sand orc tribe.
Just looking at them, I could see that they had over 300 warriors.
You shouldn’t underestimate them just because they’re 300.
They’re not ordinary orcs, but sand orcs.
Even if they couldn’t fully utilize it, those who could inject a small amount of mana into their bodies were capable of enhancing their physical strength to some extent.
Therefore, their attitude could be seen as a form of confidence.
Of course, their overflowing confidence wasn’t bad from our perspective either.
“Gagar, Valdur, Orie.”
-Please give us your orders!
As I listened to their responses, I smiled lightly.
“As fast as possible, don’t let a single one escape.”
-As you wish!
-Of course!
This time, we had to annihilate them as quickly as possible, without leaving a single one behind.
So, I strengthened the undead in front of me in large numbers and brought out some of the corpses I had hidden away.
Anelis also followed behind them, with Kerio by her side as her guardian.
The gathered orcs looked down at the undead and charged forward.
Compared to the undead, the orcs were larger in size and number, making my undead look like candles in the wind.
But it was completely different.
The two sides clashed, and the orcs’ faces were filled with shock.
The skeleton warriors blocked the orcs’ attacks with ease.
In the midst, Valdur smashed an orc’s skull on the right flank and advanced.
The skeleton warriors followed behind, maintaining their formation.
It seemed like they were going to devour the orcs by rotating from right to left.
Miracle priests and skeleton mages supported Valdur.
Orie controlled them, while also flying directly into the sky with his specters to attack the orcs.
“Even if they’re large, the desert orc tribe alone can’t stop us.”
It was an expected result.
I turned my gaze to the blue-haired lion-like beasts.
They, especially the leader, the lion, were baring their teeth, looking at the undead’s strength.
As I stared at them, they also turned their gaze to me.
The lion bared its teeth, growling at me.
It seemed to sense that they were next.
Then, Kayla stepped forward, staring at them.
“Beasts like them….”
There was no one besides her by my side.
Arina had already hidden her presence, aiming for the orc leader.
She seemed to be thinking of taking care of it herself, not liking the situation.
I stopped Kayla, who was scowling.
“You’re right, they’re just beasts. There’s no need to get emotional about it.”
They were strong beasts, but according to my expectations, even Valdur wouldn’t be confident in defeating them alone.
Their numbers were small, but I had never seen a monster that surpassed them as an individual during my month-long exploration of the barren lands.
No wonder they were apex predators.
Of course, I hadn’t seen the full power of the barren lands yet.
It was like fighting the desert orc for the first time, but I hadn’t encountered any friction with the monsters in the underground yet.
There could be stronger monsters deeper down.
However, I wasn’t afraid.
I scattered the corpses around me and immediately activated the prepared magic.
A massive werewolf with blue fur sensed the threat and charged towards me.
< Chapter 144 ﹥ 6 Classes
“Do you really need to use that much?”
I responded with a calm face to Kayla’s question.
“Wasn’t it quick enough?”
“That’s true, but I could have handled the blue-furred werewolf myself.”
The temporary stronghold consumed many corpses.
Kayla seemed to regret wasting them like that.
To a necromancer, corpses are resources.
Even if I didn’t turn them into undead, they had various uses, and it was a waste to use them unnecessarily.
“For now, we have a lot in stock, but we’ll need to continue fighting while building the tower. In that situation, your temporary stronghold was a reliable bulwark that would block crisis situations.”
That was true. With my temporary stronghold, I could have annihilated a whole desert orc tribe by myself.
And I still had more to spare. Even in the 5-class era, I was capable of it, and now I’ve regained my peak strength, or rather, objectively speaking, I’ve surpassed my peak strength.
It didn’t make sense that I couldn’t handle a desert orc tribe even without undead.
Even as a necromancer who relied on undead, that was the case.
So Kayla’s words were undoubtedly correct.
However, my thoughts were slightly different.
“I still have enough corpses to use twice more. With what we’ll obtain this time, it’s fine.”
“This time, you’ll make them into Death Land, right? And it’s better to have more insurance. Even if it’s okay for now, this is hostile territory.”
“Instead, we avoided unnecessary battles, didn’t we?”
A massive wall stretched out in the middle of the desert.
A greatly amplified powerful magic.
Although my temporary stronghold wasn’t that big compared to an oasis, it was noticeable and couldn’t be overlooked.
In reality, when I built the temporary stronghold, the monsters on the outside gave up and fled.
The monsters here, especially the predators, had scavenger properties, so they would have coveted the dead desert orcs or blue-furred werewolves, but they chose to flee, allowing us to avoid unnecessary battles.
However, Kayla’s opinion seemed to differ slightly.
“Even that was a bit of a waste. Gagar and Valdur, Oriega fought better than expected. Even if the outside monsters had attacked us, we could have handled it.”
I asked Kayla with a wondering heart.
“…Do they covet even their corpses?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Kayla asked back, as if it was strange.
“Over the past month, I’ve realized that this place isn’t as easy as it seems. Without the master’s undead-handling abilities and the artifacts of the void and dimensional fragments, it would have been impossible for us to handle this entire place with our current strength.”
That’s why I’m trying to build a tower and use every trick in the book.
“I don’t know how many crises we’ll face while building the tower. Even after it’s built, it’ll be the same. We might regret our choice later.”
“I guess so. If it becomes that dangerous, we’ll choose to flee.”
“That’s right. You’re not the type to push yourself that far. But I don’t think you’ll give up on this place either.”
At that time, Kailla, who had discovered something, was staring at the wall of the temporary stronghold with a stiff expression.
The runes were slowly being inscribed there.
This wall, created by the temporary stronghold’s construction, was literally a product of magic.
Magic products were generally not permanent and would usually collapse over time, releasing the magic.
However, there was an exception.
The underground dungeon built in the former territory of the Owlan Viscount, which had a death zone installed in front of it, was still being maintained to this day.
Of course, it was originally designed to operate semi-permanently.
That’s how it started.
However, the temporary stronghold construction used this time was executed without prior preparation, so it was necessary to fulfill several conditions to maintain it semi-permanently.
One of those conditions was the inscription of those runes.
As the magic was poured into the runes, which were densely packed on the wall, and simultaneously concentrated for a single magic, the arrangement began.
The range was set to center around the temporary stronghold, avoiding the oasis area.
Additionally, the desert ogres lying nearby were also included.
It was a natural choice to utilize their corpses.
Several magics were used in sequence, eventually completing a single magic.
[Transformation]
The desert ogres’ death site was transformed into a death zone, and the temporary stronghold was transformed and strengthened, refining the magic’s form.
Although it became a death zone, unlike in the past, the corpses did not immediately rise as undead.
With the transformation and strengthening of the temporary stronghold complete, and the ominous energy of the death zone overflowing, the target magic was finally achieved.
[Construction, Underground Mausoleum]
The magic overflowing from the death zone converged into a single point, absorbing the corpses of the surrounding desert ogres as well.
The strengthened and transformed wall of the temporary stronghold slowly sank, and the condensed death zone seeped into the underground mausoleum.
Then, a small earthquake occurred, and a small shrine-like structure slowly emerged from the ground.
The shrine’s floor had a staircase leading underground, and the interior was filled with magic, making it impossible to see inside from the outside.
“It’s a building. An underground mausoleum, to be exact.”
A kind of underground communal tomb.
“…I can barely feel the magic.”
“Can’t you feel it if you move away from the entrance?”
It was that kind of place.
“…Can I go in?”
“I don’t recommend it.”
There was nothing special.
The interior was a vast space with numerous rooms divided in detail, spreading out like an anthill.
And within that space, there were coffins packed tightly together, containing undead, which would open on their own and come out when completed.
“And hunt the living.”
By dragging the corpses killed into the underground mausoleum and placing them in the coffins, the blood, flesh, and souls would become the magic to maintain the underground mausoleum, and the bones would transform into new undead, capturing new lives.
“The size is equivalent to the entire domain of the temporary stronghold I built. Although we can’t utilize all the corpses due to the lack of them, we’ll slowly expand.”
“…You can use it for that purpose as well.”
“You can’t even attempt it without being 6-class.”
To be exact, only those who had reached 6-class could attempt this magic.
If you don’t have knowledge related to Necropolis and ash-colored architecture, you can’t even attempt it, and you need to sow the seeds in advance when creating a temporary stronghold using magic.
I was able to attempt it because I met all those conditions.
“If it weren’t for Elosett’s artifact, it would’ve been tough.”
Magic is too demanding.
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If temporary stronghold construction and Elosett’s artifact didn’t amplify magic simultaneously, I wouldn’t have been able to attempt it.
“Then, what about the tower…?”
“If that were the case, wouldn’t the royal family have asked for construction materials?”
Of course, it’s not entirely impossible.
If you accumulate black water and black bones for around 10 years and have a mountain of corpses and a year’s worth of preparation time, you can create a tower with magic alone.
In theory, ash-colored architecture can create a Necropolis if you have corpses, magic, and magical knowledge and skills.
However, there’s no legendary black magician who has done such a thing.
Even the Demon King wouldn’t do something so inefficient.