The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 197
“That’s good. Hmm, but there are a lot of corpses, aren’t there?”
“If you need them, take them.”
“Can I really?”
“There are a lot, so go ahead.”
Yeriya looked around and said, “Hmm… This is a battlefield, after all… If it’s a large-scale battlefield like this, it’s a bit of a waste to just leave it like this.”
“Is there a use for it?”
“Yes. A battlefield where thousands of humans die isn’t that common. Hmm, yes. If it’s this scale, it might be okay.”
“What do you mean?”
“Tinus-nim has prepared a lot so far, and with you and me, it might be possible.”
I made a puzzled expression, and Yeriya asked with a curious face, “Don’t you know who Tinus-nim is?”
If Yeriya was calling someone “nim” at this timing… There was only one possibility.
“Was the dragon’s name Tinus?”
“Didn’t you know that until now?”
I didn’t know.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Did you ask?”
“…….”
There was nothing to say.
◈ Conquest
Since I needed some preparation, I left Yeri in charge and moved to conquer other castles.
If I had to take out Tinus’s corpse, I would have hesitated, but there was no need, and I even said it wasn’t necessary.
“I’ll just follow up on Tinus’s preparations and finish the job.”
Only, I couldn’t delay too much.
I could suppress the vengeful spirits and negative emotions on the battlefield, but if too much time passed, they would dissipate or change, making them unusable for my purposes.
“I said it would take about a week.”
As long as I did it within that timeframe, it would be fine.
“Enough.”
If the main force was intact, it wouldn’t be a problem, but if it was annihilated, it would be a different story. Even if I could resist a bit, if I showed my true strength, the other castles would open their gates on their own.
“Isn’t it a pity?”
Kaila asked me while we were heading to the fourth castle.
“What?”
“The knight corps members.”
I had taken Luceres’s corpse and even turned his spirit into a shadow to keep it.
However, I left the corpses of the other knights from the ducal family there.
If I had revived them, the size of the undead knight corps would have more than doubled, so it was a shame to give up on that.
“Is that so? Entin’s dominion has its limits, anyway. Increasing it further would be difficult.”
“If you create a second knight corps, that would be enough, wouldn’t it? You’ve secured sufficient materials, after all.”
It sounded like she was talking about Luceres.
It was indeed a correct statement.
However, I shook my head.
“Anyway, the war will continue. This isn’t the only opportunity. And even if I add another knight corps, it would be a significant power, but it wouldn’t compare to the legion commander.”
I could have asked if I couldn’t create a second dragon later.
However, that would be the same for the second knight corps.
Anyway, the Six Kingdoms Alliance would eventually clash with the Empire, and I would ultimately participate in that war.
So, it ultimately came down to what I prioritized first, and I chose the dragon.
“I see.”
She seemed to accept my words, looking curious.
The lord of the fourth castle we arrived at was initially in denial, wondering where the main force had gone and why undead creatures were invading his castle.
However, after seeing Luceres’s head, he soon became desperate and knelt down.
“If you resist, I won’t kill the civilians.”
Of course, this didn’t apply to experts like them.
The lord’s mental state seemed to shatter, causing a brief commotion in the castle, before the gates slowly opened.
I led Entin and the elites into the castle, quickly conquering it, and then dragged out the nobles and priests before sealing the castle.
After taking away their equipment and killing the experts, we left some undead behind, so it seemed like there wouldn’t be any problems with the blockade for a while.
We slowly took over the remaining castles one by one, heading towards the most important one, the main castle of the Gong family.
If we occupied this place, the other castles would practically resolve themselves.
It was unclear whether the news had spread or if our connection with the main army had been cut off, but the main castle was already prepared for defense, anticipating an attack. However, despite their preparations, they were no match for us, who had lost our main army and were left with only a few stragglers.
The soldiers couldn’t hide their fearful expressions, and the mercenaries looked like they wanted to abandon everything and flee at any moment.
Indeed, the undead army was terrifying, even just by appearance.
Even in peacetime, people feared and rejected the dark mage, and now, in the midst of war, they had become our enemies, which made their fear even more unimaginable.
I held up Lucese’s head, just like I did at the previous castle, and shouted for them to surrender.
Since many people in the main castle knew Lucese’s face, the shockwave spread even more strongly.
Shortly after, a fully armed man and a few knights who seemed to be his guards appeared on the castle walls.
“…….”
He stared at me, or rather, at Lucese’s head in my hand, for a long time.
The man, who seemed to have been staring at me for an eternity, finally spoke after taking his eyes off Lucese’s head.
“The Prioga family will not yield to a dark mage. Even if everyone dies, we will not surrender.”
With his declaration, the knights drew their swords.
‘Is he the lord?’
As I thought about it, Master Lucese was known to be the lord’s brother.
I didn’t know what their relationship was like, but it was clear that Lucese was the face of the family and their greatest military power, which made the lord’s actions understandable.
After the lord’s declaration, the soldiers tried to shout and overcome their fear, while the mercenaries’ faces were filled with despair.
It was natural, considering that mercenaries and regular soldiers couldn’t have the same mindset.
But that didn’t change the outcome.
The undead army, which our main army couldn’t stop, had destroyed the castle gates with the help of our golem and dragon, and the regular soldiers who tried to block the entrance were annihilated by the undead knights.
The mercenaries abandoned their weapons and surrendered as soon as the gates were breached, and the lord of the Prioga family fought to the end, but was eventually caught after all his guards died.
Surprisingly, the family members had already escaped, but they didn’t get far and were caught by the undead knights.
The lord tried to commit suicide, saying he couldn’t die shamefully, but it was futile.
After the lord was caught, everything went as I had expected.
Every time we arrived at a castle, we would open the gates and surrender, and just like before, we would remove the nobles and priests, disarm them, and take care of the experts before sealing off the castle.
After occupying all the castles, I asked Kaila to hand them over to Prefect Praphen and headed towards the place where Yeriya was waiting, leaving only the undead knights behind.
“Right on time.”
Yeriya smiled and greeted me as I appeared.
“I said it would take two weeks, and it took exactly two weeks.”
That was true. If I had met Prefect Praphen directly, it would have taken longer.
“But your companion isn’t here?”
“I had them move separately to match the timing.”
“Hmm, really? Then we should handle this as quickly as possible. There’s no need to show this to other humans.”
That was true. The dragon was my trump card.
“Preparations… seem to be complete.”
It was clear that the place, which was once a battlefield, had become a cursed land.
“Bring out Tinus-nim.”
At her words, I opened a dimensional fragment and adjusted the exit to a suitable location, using the Undead Knights to move his body.
Tinus seemed to have grasped the situation as soon as the dimensional fragment opened.
“-You’re not as capable as Yeriya.”
“…Yeriya-nim is only focused on this place.”
“-That’s a lame excuse.”
“I’m the one who carried out the war.”
“But you were going to abandon this place, weren’t you?”
Yeriya smiled and said,
“If I hadn’t come out, wouldn’t the Skeleton Knights have increased even more?”
“……”
There was no denying the truth.
In reality, I didn’t know as much about Tinus’s preparations to become a dragon as Yeriya did, and it was impossible for me to create an environment like this.
There was a reason. The corps commander was a long-term goal, and the continental situation was too urgent, so I was focusing on that.
“-You’ve worked hard, Yeriya. With this, it’s possible to become a dragon, at least.”
“It’s only at the 7-class level, though.”
“-My contractor is only at the 7-class level, so what can I do? But at least we can do something in this desperate situation, so it’s enough.”
I felt that the distance between the two of us had narrowed significantly in a shorter amount of time than I thought.
“Then let’s start right away. Come this way.”
Yeriya led me to right in front of Tinus and said,
“This entire place is a kind of magic circle. You wanted to make Tinus-nim a dragon, and Tinus-nim also wanted that. The magic was sufficient thanks to your special power, but there wasn’t enough time to fill the entire body with magic.”
That’s why she had brought me in to do the job.
It wasn’t something anyone could do.
Of course, that wasn’t the only purpose. She herself was a great power.
“There’s also something Tinus-nim had prepared. It’s a bit more complicated.”
It was to prepare for the future without wasting potential and to make it possible to use a little more power when becoming a dragon at the current point in time.
“Of course, the fundamental thing is to fill the entire body with magic. The idea is to solve that at once and make it possible to become undead right away. You’ll open the path with your spirit and continue to put magic inside.”
“-If we use multiple spirits as a basis and raise our level, it won’t be difficult to become a corps commander immediately.”
“…Is this amount of spirit enough to perform such tasks?”
“-I’ll use the powers you’ve accumulated so far.”
“The powers I’ve accumulated?”
“-Are you saying I just left the powers abandoned inside the dimensional fragment?”
It seemed that I had also extracted negative energy from the corpses I had used to raise my quality or store for later use.
I hadn’t felt anything strange about using those things, so I had just taken them as they came… I didn’t pay attention to the things that were naturally discarded.
That’s why I hadn’t noticed until now.
“Wasn’t it impossible to do anything while trapped?”
“-You’ve been accumulating magic in my body little by little. It’s just that I used that to naturally absorb it. That’s not difficult.”
“…Is it trapped, or is it a dragon?”
“-That’s obvious.”
It seemed to be one of Tinus’s preparations.
However, there’s a slight problem with that.
“What’s going on?”
– I’ve overprepared a bit.
“…What?”
– It’s not that your dominion is insufficient, but if you want to make me your legion commander, your current dominion won’t be enough. Even if you give up all your undead, it’ll still be a bit lacking.
“Then, becoming a legion commander would be meaningless, wouldn’t it? Existing alone without a contractor…”
– Of course, I have a solution ready.
As Yeriya gestured, a faint light began to emanate from Tinus’s body.
“This is…”
– It’s a seal.
“…What?”
– To be exact, it’s a polymorph variation. It’s a way to limit your power by transforming a dragon’s body into another species, reducing your burden. Yeriya has directly engraved the concept onto my body.
“Even so, won’t your fundamental nature as a dragon remain unchanged?”
– I didn’t know that. It’s not for nothing that I called it a seal. It will seal your power and simultaneously reduce your burden.
Even so, becoming a legion commander wouldn’t be a problem.
– However, this is a polymorph-based seal, so once it’s undone, it can’t be reapplied.
“If your true form is revealed, it’s over.”
– You’ll be in danger. Of course, that situation won’t arise, but I’ve also prepared for that.
From noble mtl dot com
“This is complicated.”
– Having power beyond one’s control is a given. This much effort is only natural.
It’s amusing that I didn’t do much for that effort.
I’ve shouldered all the burden to become my own legion commander.
– Whatever happens, some of my species will change during the process of becoming undead, but don’t worry about it. I’m telling you in advance.
Although my species will change, having legion commander-level power will remain the same.
What’s important is not the appearance but the ability.
– If you grow further in the future, you’ll be able to handle your original form as well.