The Necromancer Who Was Despised

Two out of the six were half-seduced and couldn’t stick together, so there was no chance they could get revenge on me, even if they died.

So I had to change the situation by playing an active role in this battle.

‘The distribution I mentioned is important, but it would be necessary to survive and pretend the betrayal never happened.’

If I don’t receive the distribution here, I’ll definitely feel resentful and bitter. Especially since they think it’s because of their momentary mistake, it would be even more so.

But come to think of it, even if I don’t receive the distribution here, they were once a party with a bright future.

Once they can resume their activities, there is a possibility that they will do well again.

If they were smart, they would have no choice but to prioritize surviving and pretending the betrayal never happened, rather than the distribution.

That’s why they showed such determined expressions.

‘Well, if they don’t get the distribution, they’ll naturally resent us, but still, the difference in power and position is clear, so they won’t be able to express it outwardly.’

Of course, I had no intention of letting those guys, especially the four who would stand in the front line, live, so there was nothing to think about regarding the distribution.

‘Aneliris will pay for the price of temporarily joining us, Mana Breathing Technique, and Aura Enhancement if there is a problem with the party, and Tildi will pay for the price of erasing the traces of other religious relics.’

Tildi flinched as we entered the temple.

Compared to the central hall, it was much less, but she must have realized that the interior was filled with divine power.

She seemed to flinch, feeling something different from her own.

Cereo and his party, except for Tildi, were surprised to see the bones of numerous Minotaurs that we had seen.

‘Fortunately, they’re still okay.’

Of course, it wasn’t about Cereo and his party.

What I was concerned about was the Minotaurs I had raised as the land of death, but fortunately, it seemed that there was no problem yet, although the interior of the temple was filled with divine power.

‘It consumes a lot of magic power, but it’s less than my recovery amount.’

Ignoring Cereo and his party’s reaction, I headed straight to the central hall.

I took out all my undead just before entering the entrance, and Cereo and his party were a little surprised to see my specter, but when I opened my mouth, they began to focus on my words.

“As you know, what you guys have to do is hold on until Kayla takes care of one guardian.”

I was still talking down to them. They seemed to be a little afraid that I would continue to talk down to them even in this overwhelming position.

Especially since I was a warlock, it seemed that they felt that emotion even more.

“It won’t be easy. I will support you, but it will be very limited. Because they’re warlocks, they tend to attack me first.”

I can’t fully support Cereo and his party in order to protect myself. Of course, I don’t intend to do it at all. If I didn’t support them, Cereo and his party would have died in the hands of the guardians at once.

No matter how much I think of them as meat shields to kill, I also have to use them until Kayla defeats one of the guardians.

In short, it means that I have to use them as efficiently as possible, even if I kill them when I kill them.

It was because Kayla couldn’t handle the guardian at once. Of course, it was also because I couldn’t handle one guardian alone.

‘Damn light beam.’

I couldn’t help it because of that attack that I couldn’t react to.

If they hold on well until Kayla takes down the guardian, which is unexpected, I’ll forcibly adjust the speed, but the chances of that were very low.

By the way, the fact that the guardians attacked me first was never a bad thing from Cereo and his party’s point of view.

Surely enough, a glimmer of hope appeared on the faces of Cereo’s party.

‘That means the danger is dispersed.’

Of course, even so, every single blow from the Guardians was a matter of life or death for them.

“Then, please hold out as long as you can.”

Cereo’s party answered with a resolute formation.

Kaila was the first to step inside the opened entrance of the hall, with the undead Minotaurs and Cereo’s party lined up in formation.

‘…Damn. It’s definitely having an effect.’

I could feel my mana consumption increasing in real time.

Of course, most of it was because of the Minotaurs.

Fortunately, it was still bearable.

The Guardians reacted as soon as we entered.

Kaila immediately charged at one of them, and Cereo’s party started to approach the other Guardians a bit late.

The familiar beams of light shot out from their heads, and the two of them sniped different Minotaurs.

‘As expected, they react to magic first.’

They were moving while holding up their shields, but the power of the beams was strong.

With a loud bang, the two Minotaurs were pushed back and fell to the floor.

The shields themselves were mostly intact, but they couldn’t properly absorb the shock that was inflicted on their bodies.

That was the limit of the zombies.

Thanks to the fact that they couldn’t properly absorb and release the shock, the arms of the Minotaur zombies were half torn off, and their bodies were so badly damaged that they were visibly broken.

The faces of Cereo’s party turned pale.

It seemed like they had realized why they were needed.

‘…It’s better to abandon them.’

The Minotaurs who had been hit by the initial attacks were in a very bad condition.

That’s why I decided to abandon them.

To be exact, I was planning to use them for a different purpose.

It was only after the first beams of light had passed that I and the rest of the rear guard entered.

In the meantime, Kaila had stuck to the Guardians like before, attacking them one-sidedly.

‘It seems their learning ability is non-existent or below average.’

It seemed similar to when Kaila fought them before.

If they had learned her movements or attack patterns after fighting her once, it would have been quite tricky, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.

As I stepped inside, the Guardian that Cereo’s party was holding back and turned its gaze towards me.

I tensed up a little, but I quickly started to prepare my defenses, knowing that it couldn’t use the beams consecutively.

The Minotaurs gathered in front of me, forming a wall, and Skeletons 1 and 2 stuck to my left and right.

Baldur was also guarding my side as a last line of defense.

Since they couldn’t see or react, I had to put up a barrier in advance.

I assigned the Living Armor and the Specter to the second row, close to Cereo’s party.

Athena also joined the formation.

She was practically a free agent, and she could either stick to Kaila’s side to deal with the Guardians more quickly or help out Cereo’s party if they got overwhelmed.

In fact, her actions were entirely up to her judgment.

My preparations didn’t stop even after Athena left.

We gather the fallen Minotaurs from the first wave and prepare magic using their corpses.

[Bone Wall]

[Bone Armor]

We quickly complete the spells since we need to use them before the lingering magic disappears due to the divine power filling the hall.

The Minotaur corpses split apart, separating the bones and flesh.

The separated bones reassemble, forming a wall of bones before me, and some detach and attach themselves to my body.

It’s temporary, but it should be enough to block one attack, judging by its strength.

My vision is limited, but I had to take that into account.

Tildi and Anelis look slightly relieved at the sudden appearance of the bone wall.

It seemed they were also afraid of the beam of light from the first attack.

In fact, Tildi had cast a protective barrier around herself and Anelis, and she still looked uneasy.

For the record, I didn’t have a protective barrier, but it couldn’t be helped since a protective barrier made of divine power greatly interfered with my magic manifestation.

I cast reinforcement magic on the Living Armors and Skeletons after finishing all these defenses, and only then did the Living Armors start to properly support Cereo’s party.

While we were setting up these defenses, one group of Zombie Minotaurs was destroyed by the Guardians, and Cereo’s party continued to be pushed back as they circled around.

“Cereo, fall back!”

“Arahad! Don’t block it directly! Stall as much as possible and minimize damage!”

“Dammit, what kind of attack is this?!”

One of the shield warriors, Rabid, had one of his arms hanging limply.

Tildi chanted and shouted.

“Grant peace to the young lambs. [Light Heal!]”

Rabid’s condition gradually improved, but his recovery was slow, as if it wasn’t a simple injury. It was also a low-level spell to begin with.

Of course, I can sense that too.

‘Did he break a bone or something?’

In the meantime, I also used my Aura of Death, and thanks to it, the influence of the hall’s divine power on the undead weakened.

I didn’t go this far during the first battle since it was a scouting mission, but this time, it’s different. I had to use every card I had.

“Ugh… .”

However, my Aura of Death had the opposite effect on Tildi, and I could see that her healing had weakened.

Indeed, the compatibility between a dark mage and a priest is the worst.

But it was worth it.

My undead started to move much more actively as they began to be less affected by the divine power.

‘Our side won’t be getting healed anyway.’

I had thoroughly set up my defenses, and with Tildi’s abilities, she wouldn’t be able to accurately heal the moving Artina and Kyla.

I didn’t know about Cereo’s party.

Anelis wasn’t just standing around either.

She was trying to suppress them somehow by shooting arrows, but the Guardians effortlessly blocked her attacks.

She seemed quite resentful, but she couldn’t just stand around doing nothing, so she kept shooting arrows in succession.

They had almost recovered on this side, but even so, the ones fighting in front of me were once her comrades. It seemed she couldn’t just watch them die, even though she had insurance.

It was an ambiguous attitude. But as a human, that was normal.

The Guardian’s gaze openly turned towards this side.

Of course, it wasn’t because of Anelis’s arrows.

The guy fighting Kayla was too busy blocking her attacks to even spare her a glance, but the one fighting Kereo’s party was a different story.

“Fall back! Use the Minotaurs as shields!”

While a battle raged over there, I was just standing there with my defenses up, recovering my depleted magic and occasionally supporting my Living Armor.

But even that was enough to help Kereo’s party survive.

Specter wasn’t just standing around either. He was constantly keeping the Guardian in check, and in terms of effectiveness, one Specter was about equal to Kereo’s entire party.

“Gah!”

“Eek!”

Annelace and Tildie shrieked.

The Guardian must have been more annoyed with us, because it fired another beam of light our way, and another one of our Minotaurs was hit by the beam and smashed into the wall behind us.

The sight of it clearly shook the two of them, Anelace’s fingertips trembling slightly.

‘I expected this.’

I had expected this much.

That’s why I wasn’t shaken.

I calmly reorganized my forces and braced myself.

When I checked on Kayla, I could see that the Guardian now had wounds all over its body.

They had used the beam of light on her too, but it seemed like Kayla had dodged it without any trouble.

‘Athena is… ‘

Not moving.

Kereo’s party hadn’t fallen yet, and Kayla was still locked in combat.

Groan…

While Kayla’s side was gaining the upper hand and advancing on the Guardian, Kereo’s side was slowly, but surely, being pushed back.

The number of Zombie Minotaurs was rapidly dwindling.

The Living Armor was doing its best, but whenever it clashed head-on with the Guardian, it would be unable to move for a while, and in the meantime, the Minotaurs were being picked off one by one.

Specter was slowing it down, but the fact remained that they were still being steadily whittled down.

Kereo’s party was drawing its attention, but that didn’t mean much.

In reality, the Zombie Minotaurs were no different from their own lives.

If they weren’t there to take the attacks for them, Kereo’s party would have to block the attacks themselves, but even Livid, their shield-wielder, couldn’t withstand a single blow properly.

One of his arms was completely shattered, and although Tildie supported him and healed him, it took a long time.

I guessed it must have been a hairline fracture.

The regeneration speed was noticeably slower than my Living Armors’, so once the Minotaurs were all dead, their lives would be as good as over.

Slowly, their faces filled with despair.

In every moment of crisis, they had somehow managed to save them, but in the end, they had used up all ten of their Minotaurs.

“…H, help!”

“Please help us! If this keeps up…!”

Kereo’s party’s shield-wielders and the spearman Plena quickly called out for help.

Anelace and Tildie looked at me with anxious expressions.

They were already afraid that I would abandon them.

It looked like it would still take some time for Kayla to defeat the Guardian, so I deployed five more Minotaurs to the front lines.

Their faces lit up.

‘But it’s just buying time.’

Simultaneously, another beam of light flew in, and the number of Minotaurs protecting me was reduced by three more.

However, I remained calm.

‘It’s okay.’

I use the fallen Minotaurs to further strengthen the wall that I had created.

‘I should intervene a little more.’

In the meantime, I began to expand my scope, focusing not only on the Living Armor but also on the Minotaurs that had been sent as support.