His sword cleaved easily through rotten flesh and bone. In an instant, a zombie with its arms outstretched to his neck lost its head. He turned around and decapitated another undead in a single stroke. Then another. He continued this five times, accurately beheading every zombie within his range.
There was no follow-up to the undead’s movements. They were rendered completely powerless with just one strike of his blade. This allowed him to mow them down far faster than anybody else who was participating in the defense of the town.
“Sir Matthias. The people on the other side of the smithery are having trouble. We should move there.”
“Right. Got it.”
Tolg was also there with him. He served as a mobile mage who assisted the various teams in the area with his magic. He would occasionally deliver news of which places needed more hands and sometimes guided the other mobile teams to new positions.
Currently, the entire fighting force of the town was sent out to deal with the undead. Quite excessive for a fight against low-tier monsters, right? Well, everybody expected there to be at most a few hundred of them at first. Nobody thought that thousands would appear. And it didn’t look like their numbers were thinning anytime soon. Even the Church, despite their issues underneath their feet, had sent out several high-level clergies to assist the adventurers and knights outside. It was a concerted effort that involved most of the combat-able groups in town.
Matthias plunged his sword at the chest of a zombie he knocked away from an adventurer. Just like that, the undead died for a second time. The adventurer he rescued, a young scout judging by his armor, looked shocked that a zombie could be dispatched so quickly. But he shrugged his attention away by running off to the next area.
His prized sword worked on the undead. He knew that much from early on. If he wanted to, he could wipe an entire block’s worth of zombies and skeletons in one go. However, there was a reason why he couldn’t do so, and it came from two discoveries he had chanced upon.
As it turned out, Demon Culling’s effect also worked against regular magic. He was utterly shocked when he saw the sword’s trail of light destroy an already-completed earthen wall a mage had made. At first, he thought it was just a coincidence; the mage must have dispelled the wall in surprise when a beam of light came his way. However, after that happened, the mage tried to reconstruct the wall. He failed.
The land affected by Demon Culling couldn’t host magic anymore. At least, not for a short while. After a minute of being baffled by what happened, the land became usable for magic again. Just in case, Matthias tried to replicate what had happened using his spells. He created a torrent of water on the ground and then used his sword on it. Sure enough, the pillar of water disappeared, and he could no longer use spells on that patch of land.
While he wanted to know why that happened, he decided to push that mystery for his future self to solve. He had more urgent matters to attend to.
To stifle the appearance of new undead, the Church’s clerics erected a large barrier that encompassed the entire town. It wasn’t strong enough to purify the taint in the area, but at least it weakened the low-tier undead by reducing their aggression. And that was where Matthias’ issue lay. What if he inadvertently dispelled that barrier by using his sword? While the area he could affect was a mere fraction of the size of the barrier, he was still afraid that he would do something to it. A lot of people were relying on the barrier to maintain an advantage against the massive undead horde. The worst-case scenario was that they would lose the moment it disappeared.
That was why he held himself back. And besides, the adventurers weren’t pushovers. With the support from the church, he hasn’t heard of a single fatality among them yet. Things were worse for the knights though, as there were already a few of them who had turned. But that was to be expected. They were good against their fellow humans, but monster extermination was an adventurer’s forte.
“Why are there so many, anyway? Did we have that many buried bodies?”
Even so, there were too many of them. Skeletons and zombies, albeit low-ranking, kept crawling out of the ground unceasingly. The soil looked like it had been bombarded by a thousand cannons. There was also a nauseating stench in the air. While he could easily block it out with magic, the memory was already there.
“Unlikely, but not impossible I’m afraid,” Tolg replied. “This may have been a battlefield in the past. That could explain the number of bodies. It’s also possible that…”
“...? “That”?”
Tolg looked like he snapped out of a trance and evasively said, “No, it’s nothing.”
Matthias tilted his head. He recalled what the town lord said about the beastkin. It wasn’t like he trusted Tolg completely. Everybody had things they wanted to hide, but that didn’t make them bad people. He kept secrets from Manna as well, and he knew for a fact that Manna had hers as well. But… there was something in his gut that told him that Tolg was involved in this incident in a manner deeper than what he made it seem.
At the very least, Matthias was sure that his desire to help people was genuine. Seeing Tolg run over someone in need and place his own body in the way of a zombie’s teeth showed him that.
All he needed to do was to reign him in if he did something suspicious. After learning that Demon Culling could cancel magic, his confidence in his matchup against magicians skyrocketed.
“There’s a relic that can multiply the number of undead raised from corpses in legend. Perhaps that’s what is causing this?”
“But nobody’s seen that relic for a few hundred years.”
“There’s been a few counterfeits circulating recently. It breaks after a while, but it does its job.”
“You think one’s being used here?”
“It’s the most exciting possibility.”
Those were some strange words to come from him. Matthias thought that he was starting to reveal his true colors at first. But when he turned his head, he saw that Tolg still had a look of complete seriousness and anxiety on him. Rotten blood and guts covered his cloak, which gave it a putrid stench and appearance. His rough fur was wet with whatever fluids had managed to cling to the strands. In a word, he looked miserable. Yet, there was still a fire in his eyes as he eagerly scanned the ground for any other undead that might crawl out.
He was simply trying to lighten the mood.
Matthias chuckled lightly.
“You’re right. A fight against a guy using a lost relic sounds fun, even if it’s fake.”
They continued defending the area for a while until the bodies had started piling. Due to the limited number of mages capable of using fire, as well as the need to ration mana, the adventurers had to resort to using oil to cremate the disabled zombies. Otherwise, it would become difficult to fight if they had to keep minding their footing. The skeletons’ bones, meanwhile, didn’t pose any problems, so they left them littered on the ground to save themselves the effort. They could always clean those up another time.
“Honestly, taking care of these things is harder than actually fighting them,” one of the adventurers joked. As expected, with enough holy water to go around, and with the assistance of the church clerics, none of those stationed in that area were seriously hurt. That fact lightened their mood and despite the carnage around them, everybody had a relatively well-off expression on their faces. There was hope after all.
Matthias stood at a distance away from the others. Besides the zombie horde rising from the ground, there were three more locations that he was concerned about. First, there was the Church. Only prominent people were allowed to be entombed there, and some of them were powerful individuals. People with a certain level of ability made for great material to make undead with. Even though his knowledge of the topic was purely from books, he was aware of at least that much. That was the reason why most high-ranked adventurers preferred to be cremated when they died. But the catacombs were different. Because of the strong barrier around the place, turning into an undead there was dramatically less likely. That was why rich and powerful people, whether they were nobles or vain adventurers, paid for a spot so they could be entombed while preserving their forms. And that was where the problem lay. If Matthias was right, then the reason why the Church wasn’t deploying all of its clergy was that they haven’t resolved their issues yet.
The next problem area was the graveyard. As the place where most of the townspeople were buried, they thought that it was going to be ground zero of the disaster. And if the situation inside the town was already like hell, then it was certainly worse over there.
“They still deserve the reprieve, Sir Matthias. Let them enjoy it.”
As usual, Tolg was very considerate of everyone. All Matthias could do was nod and agree.
But still, what was with the amount of undead? It was an abnormal amount that a “forbidden relic”, remote of a possibility as it was, should barely be able to sustain. And what was the point? Was it a legitimate attempt at attacking the town? If so, then it was poorly done. The perpetrator should have known how strong the combatants there were. Though it was just a town, it was still large enough to be close to the scale of a city. And since it was a dungeon town with a second awakening nearby, the number of adventurers that took up residence had almost doubled. He didn’t have a clue at that point.
As for the third area…
“Matt.”
Finally, the voice he had been waiting to hear.
Manna’s voice was like an echo. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. As a beastkin with unnaturally-sharp hearing, Tolg freaked out over it and warily scanned his surroundings. Matthias shook his head and replied.
“How’re the kids?”
“They’re fine. I took them deep inside the sewers between two massive slime pits. I also put a few traps around them.”
He smiled. As usual, Manna was efficient in her work. But unlike usual, she took quite a bit of time coming back. He decided to ask her about it as an offhand remark, without any real motive because he trusted her. But when Manna explained what had happened, Matthias became rooted where he stood in shock.
“The town guard captain?”
Tolg frowned upon hearing it.
“Are you sure?”
“Yup. Jelyn confirmed it.”
“And the three… “sacrifices” ... they’re Soleil’s previous party mates that she was accused of killing?”
“Now that’s just a guess. I don’t know them, but it’s probably not a coincidence.”
She had a point. Everything just lined up perfectly. And the thing is, the town guard didn’t leave a good impression on him in every sense. They just acted like a bunch of dumb thugs. But the “captain” was at least a level above his men. He knew that the forest was the perfect hiding place. After raising hell inside and outside the walls, everybody would be too busy defending the town to send a scout team to the forest. For all they knew, the necromancer was likely hiding inside the town instead. Perhaps he was just unlucky that the events proceeded as they did at a secluded corner of the slums.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Anyway, now that the necromancer is dead and the ritual circle has been destroyed, everything should start to calm down now.”
“Probably.”
He looked towards Tolg for confirmation. The latter nodded.
“It’s subtle, but the energy is slowly dissipating.”
That was good enough for him.
Still, there was something that disturbed him. He can’t quite describe what it was, but it was there. Maybe he was being paranoid. But after everything that had happened, he would prefer being prepared for anything.
“Anyway, Manna, head over towards the guild and make a report. Maybe they’ll reorganize the teams or something.”
Everybody had been spread extremely thin by the incident. Even with the adventurers, knights, clergy, and what few town guards left that were willing to fight working together, they couldn’t cover everything. That was why they had decided to follow the town lord’s suggestion to evacuate the townsfolk towards the inner areas. There, they could concentrate their efforts to defend the populace. As for the others, they set up holding points throughout the town to thin out the horde.
If only Soleil was out there with him, then they could be more mobile and assist more people. But when he asked one of the receptionists who was acting as a messenger, he found out that she was sick and bedridden at the guild.
What the hell? Why did she pick that time to catch a fever?
Still, the town was way too large. If the guild had a better idea with that development outside, then they should be notified as soon as possible.
Manna grunted unhappily. But Matthias couldn’t leave his post. He was the only one there who could kill the zombies reliably. Unfortunately for them, there was no fire mage or clergyman assigned to that area. Meanwhile, even if the guild did not discriminate against beastkin, Tolg was just a stranger to the town. Nobody would believe him.
“Fine,” she relented. The silence that followed was the only indication they had that she left. Tolg calmed down noticeably afterward.
“... Your friend truly is excellent. I couldn’t find out where she was even when she was talking.”
“You’re damn right she is.”
It was no secret that Matthias was proud of his partner. For him, a compliment to her skill wasn’t different from praise for both of them.
While he wasn’t arrogant enough to think that there was nobody better than her, he was quite sure that Manna was one of the strongest among those her age. Perhaps it was his influence as a hero? He didn’t know. But for sure he was extremely lucky and blessed to have her.
Anyway, that was the end of that topic. They finally had some time to themselves to digest the details of what had happened outside.
The part that was most concerning was the identity of the necromancer.
“Why was he out for Soleil, though? Is it just because she’s beastkin?”
“That’s your other party member, correct? The one that soloed the undead drake. Then I could think of one possibility.” Tolg fished a piece of jerky from his cloak and took a bite before continuing between mouthfuls. “I think that necromancer wanted to use her as material. Strong individuals create strong undead. Someone on par or possibly even stronger than an undead drake could become at the very least a B-rank zombie. She would be near-unkillable here, with the land tainted and littered with the undead. Her undead self would feed on the death of the populace and become even stronger.”
Tolg’s words were laced with anger. Matthias could feel it through his seemingly calm demeanor. He recalled the time in the cave when Tolg lost his cool after discovering the girls who were harassed and murdered. Though he was noticeably less nonplussed at that moment, he was still agitated enough to bare his fangs at the necromancer who had already died.
But… something still felt off.
“You know a lot about necromancy, huh?”
Tolg stopped chewing and stared at him. His slit eyes took on the glow of the nearby pyre. There was a kind of meaning behind them that Matthias couldn’t quite understand.
Matthias’ knowledge of the forbidden arts was from academic books. They were written by a renowned necromancer who had worked for the neighboring empire. Instead of seeking power through the act of enslaving the dead, he simply sought knowledge. With financial support from the empire, he advanced the studies and even published his discoveries with the hopes of removing the stigma that all necromancers had, as well as demonstrating that even necromancy could be used for good. However, his books were used against the people instead. In grief, he pleaded with the emperor to burn all of his books before he took his life in his laboratory.
But it was inevitable that some of his books would remain.
Matthias had never been interested in performing necromancy. He was simply curious. His old world predominantly believed that death was the end, after all. That’s why he committed his time to learning all he could.
What about Tolg? The good necromancer had lived over three hundred years ago. By that time, his books were not only scarce but also illegal contraband that was required by law to be surrendered. The empire, which had become a flourishing region through his contributions, faithfully followed his last will and offered generous monetary compensation for those who reported or surrendered them. Not only that, but he was also a beastkin. Matthias didn’t like generalizing, but it was difficult to believe that he was able to afford it, much less catch a glimpse of it.
Tolg sighed. Then, surprisingly, his snout twisted into a smile.
“That’s good. You’re cautious. That’s right, Sir Matthias. You shouldn’t trust me, or anybody you don’t know. They might just stab you in the back,” he laughed the matter off. “But, please don’t worry. I’m here to help you and myself.”
… And that was the only thing he said about the matter.
----------------------------------------
Another emergency suddenly came up.
One of the runners suddenly shouted that the town gates, which were supposed to have been defended by the remaining town guard, had been overrun with undead.
Manna had mentioned that there was a large number of undead outside the walls. However, he didn’t think they would be able to breach the heavy iron portcullis. Without thinking, Matthias left his post and headed towards the nearest gate. Tolg followed him. But despite his earlier words of caution hidden in praise, Matthias still felt comfortable with exposing his back to him. He could deal with whatever the beastkin did when it came to it. His immediate concern was to stop the undead and prevent them from surrounding everyone.
But by the time he came to a stop, it was already too late. He couldn’t see a single living soul left on the walls. Instead, there was a wall of rotten flesh and bone standing in his way.
“Tolg?” he half-screamed, half-pleaded to his rear. The beastkin replied disappointedly.
“... There’s nobody left. Everyone’s dead.”
Supposedly, a couple of dozen people were stationed at each of the four gates in town. They were composed mostly of the town guard and a party of low-ranked adventurers. The lack of meaningful firepower allotted there was because there shouldn’t have been any big issues defending those points. All they had to do was to pour holy water, which had been provided aplenty by the church, down from the walls every time the undead had clustered too densely by the gates.
But instead, they found that the gate had been raised, not destroyed. Then, they saw the corpses of the adventurers hanging down the walls. None of them had been turned into a zombie, likely because they had drunk holy water as part of their preparations. Lastly, the large crates of holy water were beside them. Matthias and Tolg leaped up the sheer wall and saw that the contents had been destroyed. The blessed liquid had already been absorbed into the packed earth that made the floor.
“This was done on purpose, Sir Matthias.”
The portcullis was operated by a lever at the top of the wall. There were weights on both sides of the structure. As such, being closed was their default position. But since they were raised, then that could only mean someone had deliberately opened the gates and let the undead in.
Matthias immediately realized who the culprit was… or rather, were.
“The town guard… huh?”
“Most likely. I can’t see any other corpses nearby.”
A vicious curse escaped his mouth.
Matthias released the portcullis, which smashed into a group of undead below, then rang the alarm bell nearby. But there were already way too many of them that had entered. Those would have to be taken care of first. He had a feeling that it wasn’t the only gate that was breached, so he had to act quickly.
Perhaps the most prudent course of action was to sacrifice the city and concentrate all of their efforts on protecting the civilians. If so, he could put the maintenance of the barrier out of his mind and let his sword run wild.
But then, Tolg suddenly grabbed his arm.
“Sir Matthias,” he called. “The taint on the land. It’s becoming stronger again.”
“What…?! I thought Manna had killed the necromancer already?”
“... I know. But… I’m not lying. Perhaps… there’s a second one?”
He felt his blood go cold.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw the graveyard erupt in flames.
… and the guild sink into the ground.
"Manna...?"
----------------------------------------
The soil was burnt black. All of the headstones had melted into lava. Numerous patches of fire dotted the desolate land, turning it into a scene not unlike what people thought hell looked like.
Mie was used to the smell of molten rock and scorched earth. And honestly, she kind of liked it. The scent was like applause by nature for her mastery over the most destructive element of fire. But, at that moment, she didn’t have the right mindset to appreciate it. She was way too tired. Her limbs felt like they were filled with lead. The sweat on her body was hot and didn’t do its job of cooling her down. She felt searing pain between her breasts.
She heaved. But the air refused to cooperate. Every breath felt like a punch in her chest. There was a taste of blood in her mouth, and a terrible fever was assaulting her senses. All she wanted to do at that moment was to collapse for an entire day.
Her mana was severely depleted. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from fainting. Until then, she would desperately push her body to stand.
She blew air from her lungs. Flames still erupted from her mouth. Good. She could still fight. Everyone else could, as well. But they all looked worse than her.
Nail still had his spear. However, at that time it also served as a crutch. He was covered in wounds. One of his eyes had been split open. But, he was still alive.
Ujel was also still standing. Technically. Because of the nature of her abilities, she had elected to kneel on the ground to continuously cast a barrier. That was the only thing that was keeping them from being overrun. Kilo and Egan stood beside her protectively. But they, too, looked as battered as Nail or worse.
“What the hell,” Nail panted. “Nobody told us that there were… royal guards buried here… We should demand more money later… or a free vacation.”
Admirably, he was still trying to lighten the mood. Mie appreciated that a lot. But a good sense of humor wasn’t something that could pull them out of their predicament.
Royal Guarders – four stood before them. They were what awakened when a knight dressed in magical armor turned undead. A single glance was all it took to see that they were special… and powerful. Each of them wore a full set of golden plate armor. On their hands were swords glowing with an eerie light. Instead of rotten eyeballs, their eye sockets partly hidden underneath their helmet contained a piercing orb of red light. And they were… disciplined. They were trained. They were far from the mindless undead that flailed their weapons around. Instead of acting separately, their movements were coordinated and planned. They knew when to retreat and when to take the initiative. It was not unlike fighting against a group of skilled knights.
But they were still undead. They had no consciousness. Originally six when they appeared, Mie had already succeeded in burning down two of them to ashes. But that alone already took everything out of her. She didn’t know if she could do it again four more times. The armor must be enchanted against fire, she thought.
“Are you okay, Mie?”
Nail avoided looking at her. Instead, he kept most of his attention on the enemy. But she knew that that wasn’t the only reason. Breathing flames hot enough to penetrate the protective magic on the armors had caused her clothes to burn away as well. Mie’s body was completely exposed to the wind and dirt. But she didn’t mind. It helped her cool down faster.
“Yeah. Sure. Got a mana potion?”
Egan nodded and threw a vial filled with azure-blue liquid to her. When she drank it, she felt the potion burn her throat. It was painful. Intoxication was also starting to set in. Nobody was supposed to go through over ten vials of that stuff within a short period. But there she was, with seventeen vials under her feet. And the one she just drank made it eighteen.
For a moment, she felt a moment of lucidity take over. But then, she vomited.
That was already the third time she puked. By then, only the potion and the last dregs of her stomach acids were left. That was fine, though; the potion had already worked. But nobody asked her if she was fine. Nobody had stepped in to help her up. She had already answered that she was fine earlier. She wiped her mouth and pulled herself upright.
“You know,” she muttered. “This is all obviously a distraction, right?”
She realized that that may have been the case a short while ago. It was right when one of the gate bells rang and a loud crashing noise came from the direction of the guild. None of them had seen what had happened, but for the bells to ring in the middle of an already-ongoing crisis could only mean bad things. They were already fighting such strong undead, though. So, where was the mastermind behind all of it?
“Yep. I’m actually… insulted.”
“Even now… those kids will beat us to the punch…”
Nail laughed painfully. Mie saw his hands tremble on the spear shaft. She knew that he was also reaching his very limits. If he fell, then all of them will die. He must have known that as well. Warriors knew their bodies the best, after all. Even so, he was smiling.
“They better hurry up, then. I’m pretty tired. Gonna crash on the floor in maybe an hour.”
“I’ll beat you to it. I’mma pass out in thirty minutes.”