Chapter 161
Army of Corpses
Even though they had been putting on a brave front, Erin and her friends were at a very bad disadvantage. Not only were they surrounded on all sides by Desmond’s undead soldiers, most of them had lost a good amount of their combat capabilities. Due to the town’s restrictions regarding the gases it was covered in, the group had been forced to leave a lot of their weaponry behind. Not only that, but some of them, like Arkay, were left practically defenseless from this, too. Only those with unarmed combat skills could fight this time.
Not only were their options for defending themselves limited, but Desmond was also a very skilled necromancer. He might have only summoned simple zombies, but the amount was still staggering. Had it been anybody else, they would have been overwhelmed a long time ago already.
Erin new that in order for them to survive, they needed to either get away from the zombies or take down Desmond himself. Whether necromancers or any other magician that summoned creatures to their aid, the things they summoned would either disappear or crumble once the summoner themselves was killed. The problem was that with zombies coming from every direction it was impossible to go after the necromancer himself.
“Alright, think about it. There has got to be some way for us to win this,” the redhead mumbled to herself, as she cut off a hand from an approaching zombie before kicking it away. “I need to get back to the warehouse, so I can go after the necromancer. If we could just open a path there… But would I be able to get to him fast enough, before everybody else gets killed by the zombies?”
Not only was there no way for any of them to get back inside the warehouse, but finding a way to the roof might take too much time for the ones left to deal with the zombies. There was also the risk that even bigger threats could be waiting inside, ready to ambush those who were looking to harm the master of the undead creatures.
What they needed was a direct and fast line to Desmond, like a fast elevator of sorts. This of course wasn’t available, until Erin had an idea that made her eye go wide.
“Durge! I need a hand over here!” the redhead called out to the orc as she moved closer towards him. “Can you throw me to the roof!?”
“Throw you!? Are you kidding me!?” Durge asked, shocked by the suggestion. “Doing something like that might get you killed! Besides, you’ll be facing against that guy all on your own! There has got to be a better idea than that!”
“Well, if you can think of one, I’d like to hear it!” Erin argued. “If you don’t have one, then I suggest we go with what I just suggested, because we can’t just stay here and fight these things forever!”
The orc looked troubled as he kept hitting at the zombies that were approaching them, killing or pushing them away. Much to his displeasure, he couldn’t think of any better idea. They needed a fast solution to their predicament and Erin’s idea, as crazy as it was, provided them with one. He just hoped that he wouldn’t end up regretting going along with it.
“Alright, we’ll do it!” Durge said as he moved closer to the redhead in order to enact her plan. “Just be careful, okay!? We don’t know what that guy might have prepared for you up there and I doubt he himself if a pushover! He is probably a tough son of a bitch himself!”
“Trust me! I’m well aware of the risks!” Erin said. “But we need to do this, if we want to get out of here alive!”
The orc nodded, before suddenly grabbing one of the zombies by its feet and swinging it around a couple of times at the other undead creatures. This cleared the area somewhat so that he could properly throw Erin at her destination. Once there was enough room, Durge threw the zombie he had used as a temporary weapon away and grabbed the redhead by the back of her cloak. With a mighty swing, he sent her flying through the air and towards the roof of the warehouse.
To say that Desmond hadn’t been expecting one of his targets to get thrown at him would have been an understatement, as he was completely caught off-guard by what happened. One moment he was staring down at his opponents with a cocky smile, the next thing he knows is that he has to throw himself to the ground in order to avoid getting hit by a human projectile.
Erin herself flew over the necromancer, before crashing down on the roof of the warehouse. The redhead was holding her face as she got up with her whole body practically burning from pain. Despite this, she simply glared at the assassin that had forced her to such an act and she was going to make him pay for doing so.
Even if she was livid, Erin was smart enough to not let her anger completely consume her. Once on her feet, she quickly looked around in order to make sure that there was no one else there that would pose a threat to her. Seeing as how there was only Desmond, the redhead went back to planning the very painful vengeance she was going to enact on him.
“What do you say now, asshole? You were talking all high and mighty just a second ago! Don’t tell me you’re out of things to say!” Erin said as she walked towards the necromancer, every movement causing pain to spread through her body. “Guess you should have taken my advice and left us alone! Now you’re going to pay for that!”
“D-Don’t you start acting up just yet! Did you really think that all I could do was summon zombies to do my bidding!?” Desmond asked nervously as he took out a large combat knife and held it at the ready. “You don’t get to become a top assassin through being a one trick loser! If you come any closer, I’ll show you just how fearsome I can truly be!”
“...Then what are you waiting for? Come at me,” the redhead said with a smirk, causing the necromancer before her to tense up. “You can’t do that, can you? Otherwise you would have already charged at me.”
“W-What are you talking about!? Of course I can!” Desmond argued, his nervousness showing even more. “I am more than skilled enough to-!”
“That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it!” Erin said, shutting the assassin up. “You can’t come at me with the intent to kill, because of your orders!”
“...How did you know?” Desmond asked.
“Your colleagues were a bit too talkative for your own good. They pretty much let it slip that they wanted me alive,” the redhead explained with a small grin. “I might not be any kind of a combat expert, but I can’t help but imagine that taking someone alive is a lot harder than simply killing them. Especially when it comes to someone like you, whose powers revolve around death.”
“There are still ways for me to-”
Desmond was cut off, as Erin suddenly came rushing at him, swinging her knife at him with all of her strength. Even if she had nowhere near the same level of strength as Ryle or Durge, her training and combat experience had granted her more than enough power to put her above regular people. Even when the necromancer managed to bring up his own knife to block the attack, the blow carried enough strength to shake him to his core and push him back.
Due to where he had been standing at the time of the attack, Desmond was almost pushed off the edge of the roof, but he just barely managed to keep himself in check. However, even if he managed to save himself from falling, he wasn’t ready for what came next.
With her opponent still shaken from the attack and focused on not falling, Erin was able to use the opportunity to shoot ice magic from her hand. Unlike fire, it wouldn’t ignite the gases in the air and was thus safe to use. The spell struck the necromancer, encasing his lower body in ice and leaving him immobilized.
Seeing his lower half covered in thick ice, Desmond desperately tried to free himself by hitting the ice with his knife. He knew that he was vulnerable to any incoming attacks and needed to get out as fast as possible. The necromancer’s struggles were in vain, as he was only able to take small chunks out of his cold encasing and was soon faced with another attack.
Having successfully robbed her opponent of the ability to move freely, Erin rushed towards him again with her knife at the ready. Desmond tried to protect himself, but wasn’t able to put up a proper defense in time. The redhead’s knife cleanly cut off his hand, causing him to scream in pain as his hand and weapon fell. Knowing that there was no need to show mercy, Erin then plunged her weapon into Desmond’s chest, right at the spot where his heart was.
For one small moment, the necromancer stood still with wide eyes, before glancing down at the blade buried in his chest. After that he simply slumped down in silence, signaling his death.
As soon as the necromancer stopped moving, the zombies down below also stopped in their tracks. Without the magician providing them with magical energy, all summoned undead creatures would return back to being lifeless corpses. That was the end of their battle against their latest assassin.
Or that’s how it should have been at the very least.
Instead of simply falling down lifeless like they should have, the zombies had merely stopped in their tracks. They were all standing around, almost as if waiting for an order of some kind.
“Uhh… Erin!? Did you kill the necromancer over there!?” Lexton asked in a worried tone, as he looked at the surrounding zombies. “These things aren’t reacting they’re supposed to!”
“I stabbed him through the heart! That should have killed him!” Erin said while looking at the zombies in confusion, before placing her fingers on Desmond’s neck. “I feel no pulse from him either! He is dead for sure!”
“If Erin says that guy is dead, then I believe her!” Ryle said. “Maybe it just takes a while for them to-”
Before the blonde could finish her hypothesis, one of the zombies standing before her lunged at her with its mouth wide open. It was only thanks to her quick reflexes that she managed to avoid getting bitten, as she delivered a powerful kick to the undead creature’s chin that broke its neck.
Almost as if woken up by the one zombie that moved, the other zombies resumed their attacks at their prey. It was like nothing had happened at all.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
As this was happening, Erin was beginning to panic. Her whole plan had been to end the battle quickly by killing the necromancer right away, but that had somehow failed. As if to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating or something similar, she went back to check on Desmond’s body. Just like she had previously determined, he was completely dead. So then what was causing the zombies to move?
However, when she was checking the dead necromancer’s body, the redhead started to realize some things that she had missed. For starters, Desmond didn’t have a gas mask on him, which was weird since wearing one was necessary in order to stay alive in Gasrick. As she began to inspect the body further, she started to notice things that were even weirder. Considering how he had just died, his body should have still had some level of warmth to it, but it was ice cold, like he had been dead for some time already. When she looked at the wounds, they didn’t bleed the way they should have normally. It was almost like the necromancer himself had already been as much of a corpse as his zombies.
Just as Erin was starting to realize what this meant, Desmond suddenly started to chuckle. He soon looked up and stared at her with the same arrogant smirk that had been on his face not too long ago.
“Took you by a surprise, didn’t I?” the necromancer asked with a smile. “I do have to say that you took me by surprise, too, but you are nowhere near my level. I will give you credit, though, you have gotten much farther than most people. Not that it makes much of a difference.”
“You… How are you alive!?” the redhead asked in shock. “I stabbed you through the heart! You should be dead already!”
“Stupid girl… That only works on those who are actually alive. Stabbing a heart that has already stopped breathing is completely pointless,” Desmond explained as he finally freed himself from the ice encasing himself. “This town is honestly the perfect battlefield for me. Most things that could actually kill me here are not suitable due to the nature of this place, essentially making me unbeatable. I truly am lucky today.”
“...No way. You’re an undead yourself!?” Erin said, finally realizing what she was up against. “This whole time you weren’t actually alive at all!?”
“Oh, I’m very much alive! Just not in the sense that most would think!” the assassin quickly said. “I suppose you haven’t heard about dead bodies being brought back to life through fluctuations of natural magic energy, though? If you have, then there’s your explanation.”
The redhead cursed herself in her mind. She was well aware of the natural undeads, including the ones that would develop actual personalities. Such beings were referred to in the lore as “deadborns.”
“Seems like you actually know what this is about then. That’s good. Ignorance is always such a painful thing,” Desmond said with a smile, before the centipede tattoo on his body began to suddenly move around, like it was alive. “You know, I wasn’t lying when I told you that creating simple zombies was the only thing I could do. While most people use the most basic forms of necromancy, I have developed my skills in a far more intriguing manner.”
Suddenly, the centipede tattoo that had been moving around the necromancer’s body shot out of the arm that had its hand cut off. The tattoo then proceeded to connect with the severed hand, allowing it to move and grasp the knife it had dropped. It was soon floating in the air, suspended by the centipede tattoo that now resembled a whip or a snake.
“I don’t simply make dead bodies rise up and fight on my behalf. I’ve learned to manipulate dead cells specifically. It allows me to do things like this with ease,” Desmond explained with a smile of arrogance on his face. “How about it? Care to try fighting me again? I can assure you that you won’t be so victorious this time. Not that you were in the first place.”
image [https://i.ibb.co/cXH2PkN/Ch-161-Pic-1.jpg]
Truth be told, Erin was not feeling confident in regards to her chances at victory. The opponent she had thought would be simple to beat had suddenly proven to be a much more dangerous opponent than they had imagined. Had Desmond just been a simple necromancer, there would have been numerous ways for them to defeat him, but finding out that he was actually an undead made things infinitely more difficult, given the circumstances they were in. The redhead specifically lacked the better tools she could use in order to defeat undead creatures. Even if her knives could get the job done, it was going to be a lot harder. With Desmond having far more deadly tricks up his sleeve that they were just discovering, what she had might not be enough.
Despite the disadvantageous situation they were in, Erin held her knife at the ready. Even if their struggles were to be ultimately futile, they would still fight back with all their might.
Just as Desmond began to use his new whip-like limb to strike at the redhead, down on the street, Arkay had noticed something strange. Due to having prominent magical abilities, the cat boy could sense magical energy flowing in his surroundings. When concentrating on certain places, he could tell just how much magic had been poured into a certain spot. While he hadn’t noticed it earlier, the activation of the necromancer’s ability had caused him to pick up on something.
Much like any object that had magical energy brought into it, summoned monsters also had traces of magic within them. This included zombies and other undead creatures brought up by necromancy as well. However, the amount of magical energy within a summoned being was always smaller than the summoner themselves. This was because the summoner needed to provide their creature with constant energy in order to keep them around.
Upon inspecting Desmond, Arkay realized that there wasn’t enough magical energy within him for summoner. Even if the amount was larger than the surrounding zombies, it was nowhere near the scale and actual summoner should have. Instead, it looked more like Desmond himself was a something that had been summoned.
Upon realizing what this meant, the cat boy’s eyes went wide. They could battle as long as they wanted, but there would never be an end to it. The true necromancer that had brought all these zombies had been somewhere else all this time.
“ERIN! HE’S NOT THE NECROMANCER!” Arkay shouted, getting the attention of the redhead and everybody else. “THE PERSON CONTROLLING ALL THESE CREATURES IS SOMEWHERE ELSE!”
“Huh!? What do you mean!?” Erin asked.
“The person you’ve been fighting is some sort of a undead puppet, like the zombies! He doesn’t have the amount of magical energy necessary to keep up this horde!” the cat boy explained. “The person before you is probably just a specially crafted undead creature that is used in order to distract enemies from the real necromancer!”
The redhead looked at Desmond, or the being claiming to be Desmond, with utter disbelief in her eye. Almost as if to confirm Arkay’s claims, the person had an irritated look on his face.
“Dammit… Guess he figured it out. Oh well. It was going to happen sooner or later,” the fake necromancer said. “It’s just as the kid said. This is not the real me. This was just some thug that died from a sickness that rotted his left eye. Still, thanks to the body being fresh, I could preserve it and use it as a substitute to fool people. Pretty clever, if I don’t say so myself. It helps when you have corpses that still have intact vocal cords that haven’t rotted.”
“Then… if you’re not the actual assassin, where is the real you?” Erin asked.
“Did you think that I was going to tell you that?” the fake necromancer asked with a chuckle. “You have to be incredibly naive to think that!”
The zombie that had pretended to be Desmond then swung his whip arm at the redhead. She managed to block the attack, but another soon followed after it at a much faster speed. This cut the side of her leg, hindering her movement. More attacks soon followed with some of them being blocked, while some left her injured.
Erin cursed as she knew what this was. Much like all the other assassins, Desmond was also trying to take her in alive, so he was just trying to wound her until she couldn’t move. Once that was done, she could be easily captured and brought to the Overlords, most likely so that she could face the same type of torment Stacey had.
The redhead tried her best to advance forward, so that she could take the fight directly to the zombie she was fighting. However, the differences in range and skill were making that nearly impossible. Not only could her opponent swing his weapon from a distance, but the attacks were so relentless and precise that it took all she had to try and block or avoid some of them. Unless there was a significant change soon, she wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
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Back down at the streets, most of Erin’s friends were pushing back against the surrounding horde of zombies that were coming at them. Even though they hadn’t been overrun, the constant fighting had taken its toll on them, as they were all showing signs of exhaustion. Not only that, but some of them had even been bitten by the undead creatures, which caused their movements to slow down even further. While there was no worry over being turned into one of the undead monsters like in the movies Erin had seen, being slowed down created more than enough problems in their situation.
As the fighting continued, Lexton, who was hiding behind the physically stronger members of the group, was trying desperately to think of a way out of the mess they were in. Even though he still had two golems at the ready, he wasn’t willing to use them just yet. This wasn’t because he was trying to be a cheapskate or anything like that, but because he needed to be absolutely sure that using her creations would lead to a result that was beneficial for them. He had learned many times through his life as a con artist that simply trying to rush through obstacles could lead to a much bigger mess than before.
Suddenly, an idea came to him and he turned towards the other person hiding from the combat alongside him.
“Arnie, you said that you could see the magical energy within these things, right!?” the kobold asked the cat boy. “Do you think you could trace where the necromancer that controls these things is!?”
“It’s possible, but not from here!” Arkay replied. “In order for me to do that, I need to be able to actually see where the magical energy is coming from! I can’t do so from this spot!”
“If it’s a matter of perspective that’s the issue, then I can fix that,” Lexton said as he pulled a vial out of his jacket. “This should be able to do it.”
Pouring the liquid that was inside the vial on the ground, it soon began to react and grow. In just a couple of seconds, one of the kobold’s golems was standing in the middle of the group. After giving his creation some basic instructions, the golem proceeded to pick up Arkay and lift him up in the air. This was Lexton’s idea for giving the cat boy a better view of their surroundings.
“Can you see where the real necromancer is now!?” Lexton asked.
Looking around, Arkay was able to get an idea where the magical energy was flowing from. This was more difficult than simply seeing it manifest within a spell or an object as it was more faint, but it was still possible. What also helped was the large amount of zombies that all needed to be provided with a steady stream of magic, as it made the trail of energy more visible.
After looking around for a few seconds, the cat boy was able to figure out the general direction the magical energy was coming from.
“It’s coming from there!” Arkay shouted as he pointed at the general direction. “If we go that direction, I should be able to pinpoint the exact location!”
“That’s all I needed to hear!” Lexton said. “Durge! Zeldana! Ryle! Move out of the way!”
The three did as they were instructed, allowing the kobold’s golem to run through the zombies, thus creating a pathway for them to get out of the horde’s encirclement. Once they got away from the undead horde, Lexton instructed his creation to put Arkay down, before turning his attention back to the zombies that were coming towards them.
“Why are we stopping!? The necromancer shouldn’t be far!” Arkay asked. “If we move fast, we should be able to catch up to him!”
“That’s true, but not with these things chasing after us,” Lexton replied as he pointed at the zombies. “It won’t do us any good to find the guy, if we are going to have these to deal with at the same time. You’ll go chase after the necromancer with Ryle, while the rest of us hold these things back.”
The cat boy was about to protest, but hand on his shoulder from Ryle cut him off.
“He’s right, Arnie. The necromancer is probably going to have a bunch of tricks up his own sleeve that we can’t handle, if we have to worry about a bunch of zombies chomping down our asses at the same time,” the blonde said before turning towards the kobold. “Mind if I ask why you chose me for this role? Not that I mind, of course…”
“Not only are you one of our better fighters, but you’re also the fastest. That’s why I hope that you two will be able to finish this, before we get overrun by the zombies,” Lexton explained. “But most importantly, if we do get overrun, I’d rather not have to spend my last moments with an absolute troglodyte like you.”
“Good to know. I’ll make sure to take my sweet time dealing with the creep behind all of this,” Ryle said sarcastically. “You guys take care of yourselves and we’ll make sure to put an end to this! Come on, Arnie!”
“R-Right!” the cat boy replied.
“Hold up! One more thing!” Lexton suddenly said before handing Arkay his last remaining golem vial. “I’d hate to send you out there with no way to defend yourself. Use this to take the bastard down.”
The cat boy nodded, before going back to Ryle. The blonde then picked him up and carried him on her back, as she dashed away in search of their hiding opponent.
“...Alright, you two. This is going to be the toughest battle of our lives,” Lexton said as he addressed his two remaining companions while looking at the approaching zombies. “Are you two ready to face it?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Durge said as he cracked his knuckles. “Let’s show them what we’re made of.”
“Yeah. Let’s show them all the bits they find tasty, so they can pick out the most delicious parts in order to enjoy them to the fullest! Sounds like a fun idea!” Zeldana said sarcastically. “I’m not really feeling this plan of yours, Lex! Wouldn’t it have been better to go with all of us after the necromancer, instead of sending just Ryle!? You know she’s a moron, right!?”
“Trust me, I am well aware of her intellectual shortcomings, more than anybody else. However, when the situation calls for it, she always does what is required of her,” the kobold explained. “Besides, she’s with Arnie, so I don’t think she’ll be messing around. Idiot doesn’t want to look bad in front of him.”
“That’s for sure… Although, I can’t help but feel you might have another reason for sending her away,” the elf suddenly said with a small grin. “I’m thinking you might have sent her away in order to keep her safe. She’ll have a much better chance at getting out of here alive, while we are getting eaten by the zombies.”
“Now why the hell would I ever want to do that?” Lexton asked.
“I don’t know. You two seem to be always going at each other, like you can’t leave the other one alone. And there was that time you rushed after her, when you thought she was in danger,” Zeldana explained with her grin growing wider. “I think you just wanted to get your secret crush away from danger!”
“WHAT!? THAT’S NOT-!”
image [https://i.ibb.co/QQd0hq2/Ch-161-Pic-2.jpg]
“I don’t know… She has a bit of a point. It does seem like you two like to interact with each other quite a bit. Not to mention, you are younger than her, so in that sense she could…” Durge said thoughtfully, before looking at Lexton with wide eyes. “Are you two perhaps-?”
“One more word. One. Freaking. Word! If I hear even one word that eludes to your disgusting ideas, I will personally feed you two to the goddamn zombies!” the kobold said angrily. “Now shut your mouths and get ready to kill some undead!”
The three of them turned their gazes towards the approaching horde of zombies. They could only hope that Ryle and Arkay were able to take down the necromancer quickly or it would be all over for them.