The Necromancer Who Was Despised

“Light a fire! Light a fire!”

Meanwhile, the zombies I raised were attacking them, following the scent of the living.

They were getting trampled and crushed by the horses, and on top of that, the zombies were attacking them.

That’s not all.

I observed the chaos from a distance and sniped the ones who were still resisting.

“Eeeek!”

Dagger throw.

They can’t see a thing, but I can see just fine.

Since no one was watching, I freely activated my magic, so unlike them, I could move freely in the darkness.

‘Well, night is also the time for black magicians.’

Since black magicians are so widely ostracized, we have no choice but to get used to moving in the dark.

‘I’ve never been chased away since becoming a black magician, though.’

I was always locked up in the dungeon under my teacher.

But it’s true that I’m used to moving in the dark.

Magic has an affinity for darkness, to begin with.

The battle was bound to be one-sided.

“Hey, that’s a zombie! A necromancer!”

One of them figured out my identity and shouted, but there was no way to handle the situation.

No, instead, his shout only amplified the fear.

The few still alive tried to run away at the mention of the necromancer.

‘Absolutely not.’

I couldn’t let them escape.

I threw a dagger at the back of someone who was trying to escape.

I raised the one I killed as an animated dead and harassed them so that they couldn’t escape the chaos.

There were even some who couldn’t tell fighting friend from foe and ended up each other.

The first to escape the chaos were the horses.

A couple died at the hands of the mercenaries, and the rest managed to escape.

Next were the relatively low-level zombies. Of course, they didn’t escape on their own, but were killed by the mercenaries.

The zombies were originally weak, but they managed to play an active role using the darkness and confusion. Even so, they had their limits and were eventually defeated by the mercenaries.

In the end, the only ones left swinging their weapons at each other were the mercenaries.

“Stop! Stop fighting!”

Someone belatedly realized they were fighting each other and shouted.

Only four humans were left alive. One of them was in a state where he could die at any moment, and the other three were wounded all over.

“Damn it… What the hell happened. Where are the attackers? Didn’t someone say there was a necromancer?”

“There wasn’t… There wasn’t. I definitely cut the zombie… .”

“Did they just send the undead and watch from afar?”

“P-please… Spare me… Spare me… .”

“Fire. We need to light a fire. Hey! Flint! “Can someone find flint!”

No one moved at the man’s shouts.

Of course, they didn’t. Who would want to move in such a dangerous situation?

The necromancer might still be watching.

No one wanted to risk their lives in such a situation.

So they just kept talking about flint without anyone actually moving.

Instead, it felt like watching a comedy sketch as they tensed up at the slightest sound.

So I decided to light a fire for them.

Whoosh.

“Finally… “What the, who are you?”

“The one you’re looking for.”

I immediately gave a signal, and a zombie that had been waiting immediately went after him.

The third zombie, and the last one I created using my remaining magic.

I didn’t just stand there either.

I also attacked another one.

With the advantage of surprise, the poor condition of my opponent, and the difference in skill, subduing him was easy.

One mercenary remained.

Shiver.

He was trembling pitifully with his weapon still raised.

“Are you going to resist?”

“W-will you spare my life if I surrender?”

“If you answer my questions honestly, I might let you live.”

“… Y-yes, I surrender.”

“No, you crazy fool! He’s a dark wizard… !”

I stepped on the wrist of the man who was shouting while collapsed on the ground.

“Kuaaagh!”

“Can’t you understand the situation?”

I said while looking down at the man who was lying face down with a torch in my hand.

“You’re the ones who trespassed on my territory.”

“Th-this is the domain of Count Siglen.”

“Well, it’s closer to an uncharted territory. And even if this were Count Siglen’s territory… ”

I said with a small smile and a condescending tone.

“I’m the one in effective control.”

“… I apologize. I didn’t know this place belonged to a wizard.”

“Well, it doesn’t make me feel any better that you’re apologizing now. By the way, how long are you going to keep holding onto that weapon? Are you trying to fight?”

“I-I’m sorry!”

Clang.

He immediately dropped his weapon and prostrated himself on the ground.

“So, what are you guys doing here?”

“W-we’re…” w-we’re chasing someone.”

“Someone? “Who are you talking about?”

They hesitated at my question, but when I stepped on the guy who was pinned down again and asked, they spilled the information in a panic.

They had no idea that I was one of the people they were after.

It was understandable considering the circumstances. It was still dark even though I had lit the torch, and they couldn’t have imagined that there would be a dark wizard among the fugitives. They seemed to be in a state of panic until just now, even now, so they probably didn’t have the presence of mind to recognize me.

‘Well, I’m not a noble, and they must have been preoccupied with dealing with the Langviranks.’

From their perspective, the people they needed to be wary of were the Langviranks and their subordinates.

The only one they might have recognized was Kayla, who was the only woman.

I looked like an easy target from the outside.

I wasn’t particularly offended by that.

‘It’s best for a dark wizard to remain inconspicuous.’

I was benefiting from the fact that they weren’t paying attention to me.

The information I found out was more important than I expected.

‘Are these guys out of their minds?’

It was a plan on a much larger scale than I had imagined.

“Didn’t you say you would spare my life? I’ve told you everything! I’m not lying! That’s all I know!”

“I don’t think you’re lying. But I only said I might spare you, I didn’t say I definitely would.”

“… Damn dark wizard bastard! I should have never trusted a dark wizard! You’ll become a slave to the demons even after you die! You’ll never be free!”

“Well, I don’t have a contract with any demons, so that’s not going to happen.”

I pierced the vital points of the surviving mercenaries while laughing at their words.

“Keuk.”

After I dealt with them all, I thought about what to do with the zombies.

‘Ah. That’s right.’

It would be nice to raise at least one as a skeleton, but I’m out of mana and my preparations are a mess.

The biggest problem is that I don’t have the staff to amplify my power in my hand right now.

So I decided to deal with the corpses and zombies in a different way.

First, I ordered the only surviving zombie to ‘consume’ the corpses.

I recovered my mana little by little while the guy was feeding on the corpses, and as soon as my mana surged, I cast a reinforcement spell on the zombie.

A zombie created hastily with Animate Dead can’t be used for a long time.

That goes for this one too. As I am now, I can’t make it move permanently, and its actions will soon stop.

The way to extend that time is to have it consume dead or living beings, and in addition to that, I made its body grow a little bigger by eating corpses through undead reinforcement.

Thanks to that, the zombie was able to consume nearly ten corpses on its own, and it was even able to absorb all the zombies that were once its brethren.

The completed zombie was nearly 2m in size, and its physique had also increased, making it look quite intimidating.

‘Considering how much it ate, the efficiency is terrible.’

This is enough.

I immediately cut off my connection with the zombie, and the zombie, whose connection with me was severed, collapsed on the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

I immediately used black magic on the corpse that had been a zombie.

[Decay]

All the mana I had recovered was sucked out, and soon the zombie’s body quickly decayed, leaving only small bone fragments before it all vanished.

‘As expected, it doesn’t last long because it was made in a hurry.’

I ground the bones into powder and put them in a small pouch.

It’s a bit of a hassle to make, but it’s a nice bonus from the process of disposing of the bodies.

‘Before, I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have enough mana, but now I can.’

Since it’s bone powder, it’s compatible with skeletons.

‘Not bad as a reinforcement material.’

I took it since I was planning to make one more skeleton anyway.

Besides, judging from the situation, this is likely to be the last time I get the reagents.

‘Even if I have the money, I won’t be able to get it through trade anymore.’

According to the information I got from the mercenaries, the Obalan territory is finished.

Even if the monster wave doesn’t happen, it’s as good as over.

It’s not that there’s no chance of a counterattack, but considering the current state of the territory, the chances are slim.

‘It’s ridiculous. To think that the fall of the territory is because of me.’

To be exact, they seized the opportunity because of me, and the territory is falling because of that opportunity.

‘Now that I think about it, this world is really crazy.’

Since a small amount of power is directly linked to survival, they act irregularly without hesitation.

The mercenaries actually knew the whole story of this incident.

To be honest, I was surprised that they knew so much in detail when I was extracting information, but since they had committed such a large-scale incident, they said that they had given most of the information to the mercenaries so that they could respond as flexibly as possible when something unexpected happened.

Thanks to that, it was very easy for me to grasp the whole story of the incident.

First of all, as I had overheard before, the merchants operating in the Siglen County led this attack.

To be precise… the merchants’ guild of Siglen county planned to bring down Kuman of Orwaran barony, a newly rising merchant.

‘Well, Kuman has been riding on the back of Baron Orwaran in the first place, so they’re one and the same.’

To bring down Kuman, they also needed to bring down Orwaran barony.

The process of Kuman making an enemy of the merchants’ guild was also funny. Kuman, who had made a connection with Marquis Matop through the Hippogriff Gun, seemed to have used this opportunity to try an aggressive expansion, and in the process, had a conflict with the merchants’ guild.

Unlike other new merchants, Kuman had the backing of Baron Orwaran, and since the Orwaran baron family had recently received favor from the Siglen count family, it seemed the merchants’ guild had been pushed out of the competition.

‘He certainly has the ability.’

Even though he had backing, the fact that he had gained the upper hand against the merchants’ guild, who had established themselves in Siglen county first and wielded influence, proved that Kuman’s ability was excellent.

According to the mercenaries, the merchants’ guild had even tried to absorb Kuman, but Kuman had refused.

‘That’s where it all started.’

Feeling a sense of crisis, the merchants’ guild planned Kuman’s downfall for their own survival and power.

The merchants’ guild had a fairly long history. Therefore, there were many people connected to them within the Siglen count family, and it was said that through them, they found out that the Orwaran baron family had borrowed a dwarf from the Siglen count family.

Using this, the merchants’ guild, who planned to bring down the territory itself, recruited mercenaries to deal with the knights, who were Orwaran Barony’s greatest strength, and one of the mercenary groups they gathered was the one I had defeated.

‘They hired mercenaries with high credit and good equipment for as much money as they could, and promised them a big reward.’

In addition, they made a huge investment because they were on the verge of collapse.

Those many warhorses had been prepared by the merchants’ guild.

They thought that they would have enough power to deal with one knight, then take the dwarf and hide it for a long time.

‘A little over a month after the contract period, they planned to spread the rumor that Orwaran had lost the dwarf, and as soon as that reached the count, they would hand over the dwarf as if they had found it.’

It was a simple and obvious trick, but it was bound to work.

There were several connections with them within the count family, and for whatever reason, the dwarf returned safely to the count, and at the same time, it became clear that Orwaran had borrowed the dwarf and lost it, so Orwaran lost the count’s trust, and Kuman lost his backing, becoming no different from other new merchants.

In that case, the merchants’ guild would have no choice but to benefit. That’s because the difference in scale is so great.

As a result, things went as the merchants’ guild wanted.

‘There’s something even worse.’

If, by any chance, this raid failed and the dwarf safely entered Orwaran barony… the merchants’ guild planned to do something crazy.

It was said that they planned to blockade Orwaran barony for a month, up to half a year.