The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 181
And there was someone who seemed to be a holy knight, working together with them in unison.
“A priest is attacking the village…?”
Artina murmured, looking incredulous.
“They must think they’re on some kind of holy crusade or something. If not, they wouldn’t go this far, even if they are clergy.”
Anelis’s words made Artina nod, but she still gazed at the priests with a skeptical eye.
Well, it’s a religion, after all. It’s not like they’re monsters or bandits, but a religion that’s grown to this extent wouldn’t normally attack a normal village so brazenly.
At the very least, they would claim to be fighting for justice.
But the scene before us looked far from just.
There were already many casualties.
The villagers and what appeared to be mercenaries were desperately fighting back, using shields made of wooden planks.
However, the difference in military strength and quality was significant.
The wooden planks seemed sturdy, but it was hard to tell how long they would last.
There were already several dead villagers, and compared to them, the attackers were quickly retreating to receive treatment from the priest whenever they were injured.
Among the mercenaries defending the village, there were some familiar faces.
They were people I had seen during my time living in Doriem, and we had exchanged a few words.
I didn’t know their exact abilities, but judging from how they were fighting now, they didn’t seem to be lacking in skill.
Not exceptionally talented, but…
“Anelis.”
“Yes.”
“Take out a few of them. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Yes.”
Anelis calmly took out an artifact and naturally nocked an arrow.
A clear aura erupted from the arrowhead, and after a brief aiming process, Anelis fired the arrow.
Although the distance was considerable, Anelis’s arrow seemed to say, “That’s not a problem,” and pierced the head of an attacker who was assaulting the village.
They were well-equipped, but they couldn’t defend against an arrow imbued with aura.
The attackers’ morale began to waver.
The bishop drew a boundary around the priests in an instant, and the commander, who seemed to be in charge, turned his head towards us.
It was an unexpected attack, but somehow, they had detected our direction.
However, it didn’t matter much. Anelis didn’t seem to care, firing arrows and killing two more people.
The commander hastily shouted and sent a few mercenaries from the rear to our location, and they rushed towards us on horseback.
Artina, riding the Phantom Steed, charged towards them, while I ignored the approaching enemies and pointed my staff at the distant corpses.
[Animate Dead.]
Three soldiers rose from the dead, becoming zombies.
The people around us were terrified, backing away from the undead.
“Necromancer!”
The bishop and the commander glared at me with hatred in their eyes.
“Deal with the zombies first!”
At the commander’s shout, the surrounding soldiers rushed forward, but these were no ordinary zombies – they were the ones I, a mage, had created.
Although I used the same magic, the power of the spell differed greatly depending on the level of the user.
And I had strengthened them further.
Tick-tock.
The three zombies didn’t defend against the soldiers’ attacks.
Since they only had their heads pierced, and they were wearing full-body armor, I knew that ordinary attacks wouldn’t penetrate their skin, so I prioritized offense over defense.
As a result, the zombies took the enemies’ attacks and counterattacked, beheading them.
Of course, the zombies didn’t stop there.
They charged towards the living, and a massacre began around the perimeter.
The priests hastily cast buffs on their allies and sprinkled holy power that was toxic to the undead, but that was no match for the zombies under my control.
Instead, the dead humans revived as zombies, wreaking havoc on the surroundings, and the invaders were thrown into chaos and fear.
“Why! How could this be, holy power!”
The additional zombies that appeared didn’t receive my strengthening, but they were still a disaster.
I had set the zombies’ defense to prioritize offense, making them undead, and although they were slow-moving without my strengthening, they couldn’t be killed unless they reached a certain level, so the invaders chose to retreat instead of fighting the zombies.
However, not everyone escaped unscathed.
Crash.
“What the…! Fall back for now!”
The commander and the bishop, buffed by the priest, stepped forward and beheaded the zombies.
‘Expert Army.’
It was clear that the zombies I created were for massacring civilians, not for fighting strong enemies.
But it was too late.
I had already scattered the zombies, and I ordered Anelis to hold off the two.
Anelis faithfully followed my instructions.
Additionally, I had somehow turned the people Artina killed into skeletons.
The horses became skeletal horses, and the skeleton warriors, riding the skeletal horses, charged towards the priests.
Although they couldn’t fully control the skeletal horses at a warrior’s level, they could charge, and that was enough.
“What the…!”
The bishop hastily returned to the priests’ side, while the commander fought alone, reducing the number of zombies.
However, the number of zombies that kept increasing was more than the number of zombies that died, so there was a limit to what I could do alone.
The villagers on the wall and the mercenaries were not fools, and they poured all their attacks on the invaders, who were in a state of confusion. Eventually, the commander, who thought there was no answer, shouted.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
“Where to?”
I immediately tapped the ground with my staff.
Then, a black wall made of magic appeared, blocking the invaders.
The terrified invaders struggled, but it was meaningless.
Even the commander lost his spirit, and the priest and paladin resisted until the end, but it was also meaningless.
I killed all the invaders except for the priest, paladin, and commander, and collected their corpses.
When we approached the village, the villagers and mercenaries looked at us with fearful expressions.
“You dirty heretics! You even brought the dark wizard… Just as the bishop said!”
“Shut up. You people who claim to worship God are attacking a civilian village and talking big.”
Athena, looking annoyed, shut the mouths of the prisoners.
At that time, one of the mercenaries spoke up.
“Is that… Lord Do-inha?”
“Do-inha?”
“You’re the one who was active in Doriellem… And isn’t that person next to you, Kaila-nim? Didn’t you leave for another place?”
As I recognized their faces, they also quickly recognized me.
The moment they knew my true identity, the village gate immediately opened.
We received a warm welcome and entered the village, and when I said I came to support Doriellem, cheers erupted.
I could hear the latest situation in the territory through the Doriellem-affiliated mercenaries.
“It seems that the territory that supports those guys has increased, and their power has suddenly grown. Originally, the battle was centered around the territory’s borders, but now some of the front lines have collapsed.”
As a result, some of the special forces entered the territory and were plundering villages and attacking supply lines.
“Then there’s a possibility that other villages will be attacked as well…”
“There is a possibility. However, since they prioritize destroying supply lines, it’s likely they’ll focus on that.”
“I’ll have to investigate.”
The commander, priest, and paladin.
The paladin and priest were somewhat tight-lipped, but the commander was not.
As a mercenary, he had lost his subordinates and thought he had no choice but to surrender, so he revealed as much information as possible in exchange for his life.
Of course, I didn’t let him live after getting the information.
I obtained the expert’s corpse, which was a great gain.
Since the Phantom Steeds were all undead, I planned to use them to create Skeleton Knights this time.
“I’ll have to mass-produce Knights under Entin’s command with these expert-level corpses.”
It seemed that I could supply enough undead horses as well.
After extracting all the information, I also took care of the priest and paladin.
Although I couldn’t gather much information from the Goddess cult, I was able to learn one thing.
“As expected, they sent fanatics down.”
It seemed that their faith was not ordinary, given that they didn’t easily open their mouths even under brutal torture.
It’s just that the target is the Goddess of Light, so it’s like that.
“It seems the situation on the front lines is quite bad….”
“Still, we have to meet the Lord first.”
I announced my participation and made my demands.
It took a considerable amount of time to gather information, so I spent a day resting and then headed directly to the central castle of Doriarem.
The villagers were worried, but they didn’t have the money to hire me, and I was going to solve the fundamental problem, so I couldn’t stay.
“Even if I had the money, there would be no point in staying here.”
Naturally, the central castle of Doriarem, where the Lord resides, was already in a state of war.
As we approached, warning shots were fired from a distance, and I shouted while looking at the castle.
“I am Do In-ha, the officially recognized black mage of the Rineta Earl’s family! I’m here to support Doriarem on behalf of the royal family and the Rineta Earl’s family!”
As soon as my shout was heard, a commotion erupted inside the castle, and a soldier rushed out from the castle side.
He was a Doriarem soldier, and I knew him by face.
“It’s been a while.”
“Ah, it’s really you, Do In-ha.”
The soldier immediately replied.
“I’ll let them know right away.”
As soon as our identities were confirmed, the castle gate opened immediately, and we received a grand welcome, albeit with a small number of people, thanks to our previous reputation.
The soldier who guided me rushed over and delivered the Lord’s message.
“The Lord wants to see you immediately.”
“That’s expected.”
I was led to a place where the Lord was not alone.
There were Colmail, the head of the Doriarem Mercenary Branch, and Ottrioka, the head of the Doriarem Magic Tower Branch.
And there was Roskere Doriarem, the Lord of Doriarem.
The three most important people in the center of Doriarem’s territory were all gathered.
There were no guards, but there were a few people who seemed to be escorts.
“Are they all at the front lines?”
The military strength we brought wasn’t that great either.
Most of it was deployed to the front lines, and yet they were still being pushed back.
It was clear that Doriarem’s situation was not good.
“It’s come to this despite our initial success.”
The enemy was receiving certain support, so there was nothing we could do.
I knew that Doriarem had been in a superior position in the middle of the war, but… it was a bit disappointing.
The Lord of Doriarem, Roskere, stood up first to greet us.
“It’s really grateful that you’re here in this difficult time for our territory.”
“It was possible due to the will of the royal family and the Rineta Earl’s family. I also had the justification of being a mercenary guaranteed by the Doriarem Mercenary Branch.”
“Really, it’s fortunate. Who would have thought that Colmail’s choice would come back like this…?”
The Lord’s indirect praise made Colmail smile awkwardly.
He looked quite exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept well.
Of course, that was the same for Youngju and Ottrioka, the director of the Magic Tower.
“However, is this all the support we have? Or is there a separate backup team? I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t heard any news about it.”
“The support is from us.”
A faint sense of disappointment appeared in Youngju’s eyes at my words.
I understand.
While it’s true that our abilities are exceptional, this is war.
From noble mtl dot com
Although we can have a significant impact, it’s rare for a small number of people to turn the tide of war.
The abilities he remembers us having don’t reach that level of exceptionalness.
Suddenly, my eyes met Ottrioka’s.
‘They’ve taken it to the next level.’
Whether it’s due to the results of their research or the frequent battles they’ve been through, he’s now at the 6th Class.
Honestly, I thought the chances of him rising were low, but it’s an astonishing achievement.
Perhaps that’s why he’s realized my abilities.
“Magician….”