The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 176
Since each had its own grave, the amount of magic consumed to maintain their existence decreased significantly, and they no longer needed to consume large amounts of magic like before.
‘Zombie Fortress.’
The approximately 2,000 zombies, each with their own grave, were affiliated with the silent fortress.
There, they naturally generated magic, absorbed it to recover their bodies, and at night, they would emerge from their graves to hunt the surrounding monsters and offer them to the fortress.
‘The fortress would either turn those monsters into new zombies or absorb them to convert them into magic.’
In a way, it was like a different version of the underground mausoleum.
It wasn’t a mistaken thought.
The hint I got from there was used to combine the fortress.
Although I wanted to create a proper fortress, I could only apply this since it was the only framework I could master in a short time.
Furthermore, since I had rushed to create it, there were many shortcomings.
The limitations of expansion still existed, and the speed was much slower than the underground mausoleum.
Although the zombie’s level was high, it was still inferior to what I had created myself.
I had affiliated the zombies with the silent fortress and added 2,000 graves to it.
Because of the stronghold, it’s the main body.
I planned to build a stronghold and a mausoleum in the same way as the third oasis.
For now, this is enough, and if I develop further, I can reinforce it, making it a real zombie fortress that rivals the main base.
I placed the fragment of Gagar’s armor at the center of the stronghold.
As the stronghold, though imperfect, was completed, my scattered companions returned to me.
“Are you saying 2,000 zombies will keep going?”
“That’s right. They’ll rest during the day and go hunting at night. Of course, they can respond to daytime attacks as well, since they’re not completely immobile.”
It’s obvious that not all zombies come out at night.
There were still people left to defend the fortress.
“It’s like an underground tomb.”
“I referenced that.”
Although the stronghold was lacking in many ways, it had the advantage of being expandable, allowing for diverse applications.
In a way, it was like making up for its shortcomings with a clever trick.
That’s why I said it was lacking, but the dragon thought that trick was actually an advantage, so it wasn’t bad.
Golrun was gazing at the central armor fragment.
-We couldn’t even have a proper conversation. It’s a pity. Still, I think it’s cool that it fought for its master until the end.
Is it following me?
Golrun quietly paid respects to the armor fragment, and the other high-ranking undead followed suit.
“Sometimes, it’s like it’s not an undead, but a person.”
Indeed, once they reach a certain level, they develop a sense of self, and that’s exactly what happens.
“We’ll rest here today and leave tomorrow.”
“What about Phantomsteed?”
“Hmm…”
I mentioned that there’s a wyvern over there.
We can handle it, but it’ll be quite a hassle.
“Let’s try it.”
At my words, Atna showed a pleased expression, and Kayla also revealed a hint of expectation.
There were many undead guarding the perimeter, and since we were inside the zombie fortress, we could rest well.
There were instances where a large number of monsters attacked at dawn, thinking they could take the place, but the zombie fortress’s zombies rose up to block them, and there were no significant casualties.
As soon as they fell, the stronghold’s magic supply revived the fallen zombies.
The consumed magic could be replenished with the corpses of the monsters we defeated.
I designed it to be that efficient.
Of course, since I was right there, I just replenished it myself.
Due to the dawn attack, I woke up early and had Atna take the hippogriffs’ corpses into the dimensional fragment.
I planned to create the Phantomsteed inside the dimensional fragment, and that was because I wanted to try it with the dragon’s advice.
“Aja aja! Do it! You can do it!”
I gazed at Atna, who was spouting nonsense, as if she was ridiculous, and she turned her head, looking embarrassed.
However, she didn’t lower the fist she had raised high in the air, shouting encouragement.
I shook my head and entered the dimensional fragment.
– You think I’m some kind of assistant, don’t you?
“If you need me, I’ll cooperate fully, okay?”
– That’s true, but…
“This is about strengthening our power. If my abilities increase, it’ll be a huge help to your goals, don’t you think?”
-…That’s not a wrong statement, but it’s somehow annoying.
“Let’s pursue practicality over sentiment. If you know something, tell me.”
Of course, his words were advice, and it was up to me to actually do it and improve my methods.
However, it was clear that his advice would greatly reduce the time needed.
Of course, I knew the basic method of creating a Phantom Steed.
But if I were asked to create a perfectly made, sky-flying creature right now, I would have to shake my head.
Using the corpse of a Hippogriff would increase the chances of success, but research was still necessary, and I wanted to get Dragon’s advice to reduce the time and complete it with certainty.
With a confident attitude, Dragon let out a sigh and began to reveal the things he knew.
◈ Mage
The goal of leaving that day failed.
I could only depart after the day changed, and instead of riding a Skull Horse, a few of us, including me, could ride a Ghost Horse.
We drove out the monsters at the oasis guarded by Valdur, and Artina and Kail rode Phantom Steeds to recklessly fell the Wyverns.
Throughout the journey, we tried this and that, and by the time we arrived at the oasis, we could manage basic aerial combat.
Of course, it was still a basic level, and compared to the Wyverns, it was far from sufficient.
But even so, we could easily handle the Wyverns because of me.
I cast all sorts of curses on the Wyverns, and since they flew in the sky, they couldn’t resist the curses properly.
Their bodies became heavy, their strength decreased, and their movements slowed down, making aerial combat difficult, and massacring them wasn’t that hard.
However, having a flying Ghost Horse or Phantom Steed wasn’t all advantages.
“It’s good that we can fly, but fighting is tough. At least we can engage in mid-range combat thanks to this, but if not, it would’ve been a headache.”
Artina said, touching the dragon’s fang.
“It will be more helpful to a mage than a warrior.”
Kail also pointed out the limitations of Rich.
“If there’s no high-level mage on the opposing side, it’s fine, but if there’s a way to attack, it’s a good target. I wouldn’t take such a risk.”
There were ways to attack even if you weren’t a mage.
“It’s not entirely useless, though. I like that it doesn’t make a sound. And we don’t need to fly high; just a little aerial movement will make it extremely difficult for the opponent.”
“Actually, being able to ignore terrain is a huge advantage. What we imagined was too unrealistic.”
It seemed that Kail and I had unfolded our imaginations.
From the start, Phantom Steeds couldn’t maintain stable flight if they received a certain level of shock in the air.
Aerial combat was almost impossible unless you overwhelmed the opponent, and if we couldn’t massacre the Wyverns, it would’ve been better to fight on the ground.
Kail and Artina tried aerial combat, and if they didn’t get knocked down in one hit, they said it was still very precarious.
In reality, whenever they clashed swords in the air, it was a breathtaking scene that happened several times.
“I said it wasn’t an undead that humans could use.”
They said that even a high-level undead like a Death Knight would be much better.
However, there were still limitations.
Artina said that even a Death Knight would use terrain to its advantage, flying slightly above the ground to attack from a superior position.
The Death Knights also couldn’t fly high in the sky.
“It’s not as good as I imagined, but it’s still fun, so it’s fine.”
“Actually, just this much is already amazing. Thank you, Master.”
The two of them shrugged their shoulders.
The one who benefited the most from creating Phantom Steed was Valdur.
I had the Phantom Steed, and my subordinates, the Living Armor, received the skeletal horses we used to ride.
Although there were few, they could take on the role of cavalry.
And since we didn’t have to fight on the ground, we could implement various tactics.
We made up for the loss of one person with this.
“But what about the Wyvern’s corpse?”
“…Let’s just store it for now.”
It’s not like we could make it fly properly even if we turned it into an undead.
Even if we made it fly, honestly, it’s questionable where we would use it, just like the Phantom Steed.
“It’s better to think of Entin as a knight instead.”
Since Wyvern didn’t have a proper attack method, we decided to leave it alone for now.
After conquering the third oasis and succeeding in zombie fortification like the second one, we let out a sigh of relief.
“With this, we’ve secured a similar level of dominance as before.”
Although there were more monsters now, I didn’t care since I had grown stronger.
If we sealed the gate and placed Golun in the second oasis, and Valdur’s group in the third oasis, we could regain stability.
As time passed, we could almost control the barren land.
Thanks to resolving the immediate crisis, we gained some leeway, and so we took a short break before heading towards the Dragon Rare.
After a long time, we took out Mutr from the fragment of the ancient temple, and he opened the entrance to the Rare with an expression of liberation.
Golun, who couldn’t enter due to its size, guarded the entrance.
We passed through the familiar place we had already cleared and headed towards the heart of the Rare.
“I heard it’s below here. It can’t be opened unless you’re the one, so you have to force it open.”
It wouldn’t be easy, but we didn’t need to worry about the back.
A massive shock wouldn’t affect the gate.
So Kylla used her maximum power to continuously strike the ground, and when her mana was almost depleted, the entrance finally opened.
“…It’s huge.”
As we entered, we saw an enormous space with two gates overlapping.
One gate was responsible for randomly pulling monsters from the large forest, and the other was responsible for scattering the summoned monsters all over the barren land.
We had to block both of them.
“I wonder why I can’t break it even with my current abilities.”
The size was enormous, but the stability was ordinary.
It seemed like sealing it was the right choice.
“I’m worried that if we touch it carelessly, something might go wrong.”
Even though we only saw the gate created by the dragon, we could indirectly understand why the dragon was so arrogant.
I immediately raised El-osett’s staff.
The sealing method wasn’t difficult since the dragon had taught us.
When the magic was activated, countless black chains were created, binding the two gates respectively.
With this, there would be no more additional summons of monsters in the barren land in the future.
“Let’s go back.”
“Is it already over? Is it that easy?”
“It’s easy because the conditions are met. We didn’t even detect the gate’s existence here in the first place.”
“…That’s true.”
The person who created the seal method also told us about it.
Moreover, the seal method was at a level that ordinary magicians couldn’t use.
It was only possible to end it easily because several difficult conditions were met, but if even one of them was off, we would have been in a very difficult situation.
Muttering to himself, Valdur opened his mouth again, looking at me.
“I want to go protect the third oasis right away.”
“Right away?”
“Yes.”
Valdur shook his head at the suggestion to take a break.
“We can’t let the zombies wipe out the surrounding monsters.”
It seemed that Phantom Steed had been born for me, and Skull Mage for the Living Armors, and they were determined to protect the place they couldn’t protect before.
“I understand, but we don’t have the Blood Lake now.”
Of course, we couldn’t use the Blood Lake properly back then either.
But it’s different now. There won’t be any sudden summoning like before.
From noble mtl dot com
If necessary, we could provide support, and if not, we could make an escape possible.
We also planned to reform the Blood Lake like a stronghold.
Even if I didn’t intervene, we could make it work easily, and we also planned to maximize its efficiency.
Despite my explanation, Valdur didn’t change his mind.
In fact, the other Living Armors also agreed with Valdur’s opinion.
And through the Living Armors, I could indirectly understand Valdur’s thoughts.
‘…Regret, self-blame, and revenge.’
They were feeling regret and self-blame for being weak and unable to fulfill their duties, and for losing their comrades while fleeing.