The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 196
Chaos erupted.
Lucches quickly countered my magic.
Kailra, sensing the gap, swung her sword in an instant, but Lucches easily parried the attack and counterattacked.
Kaang!
Kailra calmly blocked the attack with her shield and returned to a defensive stance.
“Do you intend to intervene in this honorable duel?”
Lucches shouted towards me, and I responded calmly.
“Don’t you usually look down on honor, and only seek it when it’s convenient?”
And that so-called honor wasn’t something I valued much either.
No matter how much I prioritized honor, it held no significance.
The royal family fully supported me, and I had reached the level of a mage; no matter how honorable my actions were, the label of a black magician would never disappear.
If the situation called for it, I would pretend to care, but here, there was only the enemy, so there was no reason to bother with such things.
Therefore, I didn’t care about the duel or the cooperation at all.
I calmly prepared the next magic, and Lucese moved to somehow knock down Kayla.
It seemed like Kayla was prioritizing me, but since Kayla wouldn’t take her eyes off me, I had no choice but to target Kayla first.
[Weaken]
[Slow]
[Restrictive Shadow]
[Energy Drain]
[Black Hand]
[Life Drain]
I chose curses that mainly hindered the opponent’s movements and drained their energy and physical strength.
Like a master, I resisted most of the curses and unleashed a fierce attack on Kayla.
However, it was clear that Kayla was getting annoyed, occasionally sending me angry glances.
Although most of the magic didn’t work, I didn’t think of giving up.
If it didn’t work once, I’d try multiple times.
After all, I couldn’t defeat Kayla with such attacks.
Since Kayla couldn’t resist the curses forever, time was on my side.
‘If I can just land one hit, that’s it.’
Even if Kayla didn’t fall, if time passed, the undead knights would join forces with the imperial knights and cavalry to take down Kayla.
If that happened, I’d have to face not only the curses but also the undead knights, so to be honest, Lucese was in a desperate situation.
It wasn’t for nothing that I had tried to conquer the Prioga Grand Duchy with just the two of us. I had that much confidence.
As the prolonged curses and Kayla’s iron-like defense wore on, Lucese became increasingly anxious, searching left and right.
The main forces ultimately failed to maintain their formation, and the chaotic battle I had hoped for unfolded.
The dead mercenaries and heavy infantry turned into zombies, attacking our allies, while my undead, though weak, continued to revive and charge at the enemy without hesitation.
The mages eventually ran out of mana and couldn’t control their golems and dragons, so the skeleton mages occasionally used magic against the heavy infantry.
The priests, with their remaining divine power, kept blessing and restraining the undead.
The stationary holy knights were also holding off the approaching undead.
The clash between the knight orders was also becoming more favorable for us as time passed.
The first clash was a surprise attack by Kayla, and since our main forces were focused on evading, there were no significant losses on either side. However, that wasn’t the case from the second clash onwards.
In one clash, dozens of humans and over half of the undead knight order fell.
The difference was that the humans mostly didn’t get back up, while the knight order, having received my magic, revived and stood up again.
It was clear that the most crucial horses were getting exhausted quickly.
Originally, cavalry didn’t always ride at full speed. They controlled their pace, considering the horse’s stamina, and often moved without riding when not in battle.
Moreover, in actual combat, they didn’t charge at full speed from the start. They increased their speed gradually, only reaching full speed when the enemy was within a certain distance.
The problem was that our horses were all undead, with infinite stamina.
Since they were always riding at full speed, their timing was often off, and as a result, their stamina was dropping even faster.
We had already completed our encirclement and were charging, while they were still in the process of encircling.
By the third or fourth clash, it would be a complete massacre.
Therefore, Lucese had no choice but to launch more daring, risky attacks, while Kayla slowly observed and searched for openings.
Undoubtedly, Lucese was more skilled and experienced than Kayla, who had just become a master.
With a single sword, Lucese pushed forward, holding both sword and shield against Kayla.
The consecutive attacks didn’t cease, and Lucese preemptively blocked Kayla’s counterattacks.
His movements were also unpredictable.
He was so fast that he left an afterimage, and his bold attacks didn’t give Kaila an opening to counterattack.
At the same time, he responded sharply to my curse and magic.
With his experience matching his level, he mechanically executed combat amidst the chaos.
However, he couldn’t maintain that pace forever.
“My reaction is slowing down.”
Moreover, Kaila was getting more comfortable, occasionally interrupting Lucerse’s flow.
Chaos!
It seemed like he was reading my attack timing, and at the same time, a shadowy hand slipped out and grazed Lucerse’s ankle.
Originally, Lucerse would have countered with magic, but thanks to Kaila’s interference, he couldn’t.
“I need to be careful too.”
I had completely read his magic timing.
In other words, if I didn’t have Kaila, a reliable vanguard, I would have already allowed Lucerse to approach.
Of course, my main focus was on the undead, and magic was secondary.
However, that didn’t mean I could neglect magic.
That was something to worry about later.
For now, Kaila was keeping Lucerse at bay, so there was no need to change anything.
“Thanks to Kaila.”
Lucerse was also reading my magic timing, but Kaila’s constant interruptions, whether with his sword or magic, made it meaningless.
“I know when the interruptions will come, but we need to knock them down anyway.”
I knew, but it was frustrating.
In the end, Lucerse dodged my magic and retreated, opening his mouth.
“…I admit it. I’ll lose like this.”
His expression showed that he didn’t want to admit it, but his words were different.
“Thinking about the back… is just greed.”
Whoosh.
A blue flame erupted from his body.
“…Mana? No, is it aura?”
“Try to endure. I don’t know how long you can last.”
Kwaang!
The ground he stepped on caved in with a loud noise, and in an instant, his figure disappeared.
Chaos!
However, Kaila somehow managed to block Lucerse’s attack.
Only…
“Kuhk.”
The difference in physical strength was significant, and he was pushed back.
“Block?”
His surprised expression was followed by a swift action.
“Kaila!”
I called out Kaila’s name and used a black veil on his body.
The explosion sounded again, and the black curtain shattered like a glass window.
Although I had used it hastily, the attack was too strong.
Fortunately, I managed to block the attack with a shield, but Kayla couldn’t hold her ground.
Her body was sent flying backward.
I quickly cast a spell before Lucessa could chase after her.
[Evil Spirit’s Chain]
A gray, translucent chain burst out of thin air, attempting to bind Lucessa.
It was a 7-class spell, prepared in case she tried to escape.
No matter how strong she was, it was impossible to break free from a 7-class spell so easily.
However, my prediction was wrong.
She charged towards me as if she didn’t care about Kayla at all, and the direction was different, causing the chain’s position to shift slightly.
I was shocked to see her easily escape from the chain’s range.
The distance wasn’t far, but at her current speed, it was meaningless.
This was dangerous.
I immediately built multiple walls and opened a dimensional rift to retrieve a corpse.
My plan was to use the prepared corpse to create a corpse explosion and overcome the crisis.
However, her speed in breaking through the walls was faster than I expected, and Kayla’s response exceeded my expectations.
Bang!
“…How…!”
Kayla, who had been sent flying, rushed back at an incredible speed and blocked my path.
“Is that high-speed movement?”
It was much faster than before.
“Perhaps, with the master’s specs and the right foot’s abilities…”.
My thoughts were cut off.
I quickly retreated, and Lucessa tried to chase after me again, but Kayla blocked her way.
A fierce battle ensued, and in the end, Kayla managed to stop Lucessa.
“Huff, huff…”.
Lucessa’s shoulders heaved greatly.
It seemed that her physical abilities had increased significantly, consuming her stamina rapidly.
It was astonishing.
Kayla, who had just become a master, had managed to stop Lucessa, a skilled master, even though she was at a disadvantage.
Of course, objectively speaking, Kayla was at a disadvantage in the previous battle.
Even if she had used high-speed movement, it would have been the same. If Lucessa hadn’t been caught off guard, she would have eventually adapted to Kayla’s speed and pushed her back again.
Of course, Kayla wouldn’t have been defeated one-sidedly, but in the end, she would have lost to Lucessa.
However, the fact that Kayla had stopped Lucessa’s rampage was undeniable, and that alone was proof of Kayla’s abilities.
“I think I went wild with Mana Heart. I ignored efficiency and poured mana into my entire body. It seems that the mana and aura flowed together because I couldn’t fully transform the mana into aura.”
Lucessa’s face distorted at Kayla’s words.
“Although the efficiency was poor, it might be helpful in certain situations. I learned something good.”
“Don’t make me laugh! You think fighting is a joke…!”
Sizzle.
Kyle didn’t listen to Lucese’s words until the end.
The crown prince’s words, “Bring me back to life,” came to mind, but it seemed she thought it was better to kill.
I’m the same. I’ve pushed through all sorts of unfavorable situations and reached this point. Killing is safer, after all.
As I looked at the Undead Knights, I could see Entien hunting down the knights of the ducal family.
The ducal family’s cavalry and knights had already lost their speed and formation, and were being slaughtered one-sidedly.
The main camp was in a similar situation.
“It seems like all the good image we’ve built up until now is going to disappear.”
I shook my head at Kyle’s words.
“There’s no need to be too good. Anyway, I’m a dark mage. There’s a limit to being too good, and if we make a mistake, we’ll be seen as weak when we head to the royal road.”
Being cruel to the enemy isn’t a big problem.
No, being ruthless is actually right. At least, that’s what I thought, and Kyle didn’t seem too shaken even after I had caused a massacre.
Of course, there’s a line that must be kept.
“Since we’ve removed the main force, let’s spare the lives of the remaining castle and village survivors as much as possible. We’ll use our military power to pressure them and make them surrender.”
“That sounds good, but I’m not sure if they’ll surrender easily.”
“Then we’ll have to show them our power.”
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We just won’t massacre them like before.
“Should we take care of the priests and knight-class… Ah, should we bring the priests with us?”
I remembered the anger Cornerbin, the archbishop, had shown towards the Land of Gods.
Boleri had been unable to hand over the priests, but if we brought a large number of them, they might be pleased.
After all, the remaining priests wouldn’t be that high-level anyway.
At that moment, Yeriya appeared from within the dimensional fragment.
“It seems like the door opened, so I came out. Nothing’s wrong, right?”
“Yes. We were in danger, but it’s been resolved well.”