With a dull thud, a muffled impact sound echoed from Marcus's groin area.
"Ahahaha..." Marcus's face remained unchanged, but he erupted into crazy laughter, then glared at Rody, whose face was turning red and almost suffocating, and roared, "Rody, the bird-shooter of Koro, the genius of bird-shooting, do you think I'm deaf? Do you think I've never heard about your penchant for kicking in the groin? You idiot, did you think I'd be like blacksmith Hendel and let you shatter my testicles? I had a metal groin protector made. Did you think to see me curled up on the ground in agony? Dream on! You're just an idiot, a fool who doesn't even understand how he's going to die! Ahahaha!"
Rody struggled desperately, but Marcus's hand, like a vise, was clamped tightly around his throat.
Marcus's face was contorted with excitement, his eyes filled with a twisted desire to end a life, his nostrils flared, breathing heavily like a bull. He did not hurry to strangle Rody but instead tortured him, loosening his grip when Rody was about to suffocate, then tightening it again. This control over another's life exhilarated him to the point of howling with joy and immense satisfaction.
Soon, Rody's eyes rolled back, his limbs stiffened, and he passed out.
"Ahahaha, my little lamb, you can't die so soon. If you die, where will I get my ten gold coins? If you die, what about the two wooden frames I had made just for you? They were meant for your stake..." Marcus let go of Rody, slapped him a couple of times, checked his faint breathing, and seeing that Rody was not yet dead but also not conscious, began to look for a rope to tie him up.
Suddenly, a dagger plunged into Marcus's back, causing him to shrink down. Turning his head, he saw a sinister skeleton standing behind him, wielding a bloody dagger. Marcus couldn't understand what was happening, then felt another stab in his ribs. Turning back, he saw Rody, his face filled with murderous intent, holding another bloody dagger.
Just moments ago, Rody had no dagger; where had these daggers come from?
Marcus couldn't fathom why a skeleton would attack him, but the stabbing pain in his back and ribs left him speechless, slowly collapsing to the ground in agony. He felt his strength draining rapidly, the pain from the rib wound was unbearable.
He wanted to scream, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out.
In his last moments, he saw the cold eyes of Rody, the eyes of a hunter watching his prey struggle in death.
After Marcus was completely dead, Rody finally vomited, emptying his stomach. It took him a while to stand up straight. He was not a heartless killer or a necromancer intent on turning all life into his minions. He was just a young man struggling to survive under the crushing wheel of fate.
Rody had Nicholas, his Dark Servant, drag Marcus's body into the forest to wait for nightfall.
Marcus was dead, but there was another person who needed to die – his wife, Emma. If she lived, she would surely seek him out and even run to the castle to inform the guards if Marcus did not return home for a day. Without eliminating Emma, Rody wouldn’t get far before being captured, leading to certain death.
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Emma deserved to die, not only for humiliating his mother but also for attempting to poison him with toxic bread. Although Rody harbored murderous intent, the thought of killing Emma, a woman, made his hand tremble. Was this the beginning of his downfall? It seemed he would end up killing more people, ultimately leading to his and his mother's death at the stake.
But now that Marcus was dead, leaving Emma alive would be foolishly merciful.
Roddy gritted his teeth, forcing himself to calm down. Holding the crystal skull, he began to meditate using Nicholas's body. When he felt ready, he attempted to cast necromancy magic: "Dark Servant" through Nicholas's body. Black light orbs coalesced in Nicholas's bony hands, transforming into a black skull, and shot towards Marcus's body. As it quickly disappeared into him, Marcus's corpse slowly stood upright. On his forehead, too, was a blood-red 'S' symbol, signifying the successful necromancy contract. Marcus had become Roddy's Dark Servant.
Roddy was both shocked and elated; this was his first active attempt at casting necromancy magic and it was successful. Despite feeling extremely drained of mental energy, the joy of success brought an extraordinary sense of fulfillment.
The once fiercely aggressive Marcus, who had sought to kill him, was now completely transformed into his undead slave, ready to be commanded and ordered at will, without betrayal or complaint, only eternal loyalty and obedience. This feeling of exhilarating success made Roddy increasingly fond of necromancy magic.
"Marcus, you will be called Zombie 2," Roddy decided. He noticed that Marcus's body was very stiff, not typical of a zombie, but rather a slow response to his mental control. Evidently, controlling a flesh-and-blood corpse was far more difficult than just a skeletal frame, which is why necromancers prefer summoning skeletons over zombies.
Because Marcus's body was too large and Roddy's magical ring had limited storage capacity, he couldn't accommodate such a large corpse. Roddy had to wait until nightfall, then use his mental power to guide Marcus step by step out of the forest and towards his home. Roddy did not want to stay too close to him, fearing that someone might inadvertently see them and become suspicious. However, with his mental control range limited to only a few meters, it was impossible to be discreet, which worried Roddy a lot, fearing that all his efforts might be in vain.
"How come you're so late? Did you kill that little bastard? Weren't you supposed to capture him? Why are you covered in blood? Is that the bastard's blood? Now it's all ruined, there goes the ten gold coins!" Emma opened the door quickly to let Marcus in, while complaining.
Marcus entered the house silently, his movements wooden. Emma quickly shut the door and whispered to Marcus, "Go and capture that little bastard's mother before she runs away! No, I'll go. I see you eyeing her breasts and butt all the time. If I let you go, you'll just take the chance to sleep with that bitch. Remember when you hurt your foot peeping at that bitch bathing? You think I don't know? You eat something first. Once I bring that bitch back, you go get the money right away. She's worth five gold coins. Once we get the money, we leave... Is that little bastard really dead?"
Just as she was about to leave, Marcus suddenly grabbed her from behind. "You dog of a man, getting excited at the mention of that bitch. When I spread my legs for you, you don't even look at me, you dog bastard. Now you want it, well I'm not giving it to you!" Emma was angry, trying to shake off Marcus's big hand, but suddenly felt his grip tightening around her neck, the immense force suffocating her, and the shadow of death instantly enveloped her heart.
She struggled fiercely, but the vice-like grip on her neck only tightened. Eventually, she urinated and defecated on herself, her eyes rolled back, and her tongue stretched out, dying painfully from suffocation.
After a while, Marcus finally threw her on the ground. He then clumsily opened the door, and Roddy, holding back his breath and nausea, rushed in. His hands trembled uncontrollably. Seeing Emma's ghastly death, his stomach churned, and he vomited sour water. Releasing Nicholas and holding the crystal skull, trying his best not to look at Emma's horrifying death, Roddy forced himself to calm his fear. He continuously gathered dark magic power, preparing to cast "Dark Servant."
After many failed attempts, Roddy finally succeeded in transforming Emma into a Dark Servant despite the severe mental exhaustion. Unable to control it any longer, he forcibly stuffed Emma's protruding tongue back into her mouth and closed her unblinking eyes. He then put away Nicholas, closed the wooden door, and ran back to his cabin.
"What's wrong, my darling? Is someone chasing you?" Roddy's mother was startled by his pale appearance.
"No, nothing... I'm fine! Mom, Mom..." Roddy, remembering Emma's unblinking eyes and protruding tongue, shivered all over, clinging tightly to his mother, seeking some comfort. Having killed two people to survive, though both deserved death, the nause
"No, nothing... I'm okay! Mom, Mom..." Roddy, shivering all over as he remembered Emma's unblinking eyes and protruding tongue, clung tightly to his mother, seeking a bit of comfort in her presence. To survive, he had killed two people. Although they deserved death, the nausea and terror he felt after killing were something he had never experienced before.
"Don't be afraid, my dear, Mom is here, don't be scared!" Roddy's mother, not understanding what had happened, was deeply pained to see him so terrified. She hugged him tightly and continuously kissed his forehead, hoping to ease his suffering.