The Necromancer Who Was Despised

“Well… It’s better to have it.”

Athina was no longer a slave, and Kyla’s magical brand had also disappeared, but the same was not true for Baldur.

In order to bring him along legally, I, his master in name only, had to carry a ‘whip’ that could control his magical brand.

It felt a little awkward to have it back, but Baldur had returned the whip to me without any change in expression.

As a result, the means to activate his magical brand was in my hands.

“Where are you going? Is the first thing you’ll do registering as a mercenary?”

I shook my head firmly at Kyla’s question.

“The direction will be the same, but there’s somewhere I need to stop by first.”

“Where is that?”

“The dungeon of the black magician.”

Athina flinched at my words.

“You don’t mean this place, do you… ”

“Of course not. And besides, it’s incredibly far away.”

I said with a slight smile.

“It’s near the neutral zone.”

“… Isn’t that too dangerous?”

“I said near, I didn’t say inside the neutral zone. Don’t worry. “I know my life is precious.”

There was an artifact I needed there.

“But if it’s near the neutral zone, wouldn’t we have to go through the Ashlyn Kingdom?”

Crossing borders was a troublesome matter.

Although it shouldn’t be difficult since we all belong to the Six Kingdoms Alliance…

“If so, it’ll be difficult for us to cross easily. Our identities aren’t clear in the first place. How about we register as mercenaries, build up a track record, and get a guarantee from the guild before we go? “

Registering as a mercenary in the mercenary guild wasn’t that difficult.

There were many who had identity cards. To begin with, since Kuman was an illegal slave trader, it wasn’t difficult to collect a few usable identity cards from the abandoned ones.

My origin wasn’t from a ruined and abandoned territory, so there were no problems.

The problem was that it was difficult to cross the border with this identity card.

No matter how much we belong to the Six Kingdoms Alliance, crossing borders was a different matter from crossing territories within the country.

‘It’s easier compared to other countries.’

What Kayla was talking about was that our identities weren’t clear.

Even if we can’t cross the border, it’s possible to register with the mercenary guild, and with our skills, it won’t take long to build up a track record. Based on that, getting a guarantee from the guild is the safest way to cross the border.

“No, we can just go straight there. We won’t cross the border.”

“Didn’t you say it’s near the neutral zone?”

“We’ll go through the Monster Forest.”

The Monster Forest connected to the Great Forest.

Compared to the Great Forest, it was full of low-level monsters and was smaller in size, but that was only in comparison to the Great Forest. Its absolute size was bigger than any kingdom.

The Kingdom of Supetra, and even the forest in front of the pioneering territory, was the Monster Forest, and it continued up to the Kingdom of Ashlyn.

And here, it was connected up to the neutral zone.

“There’s no need to go to the Ashlyn Kingdom. It’s closer to Ashlyn than Supetra, but since we don’t plan on entering the kingdom anyway, we don’t need an identity.”

“If we cross the Monster Forest, isn’t it too dangerous?”

“Well, it’s definitely dangerous. But it’s not impossible, right? We’ll focus on escaping.”

“…If we meet a large-scale orc tribe and the path is blocked, we’ll have to go around a lot. In the worst case, we could waste several months there. Is it worth taking that much time?”

“Hmm, well? It won’t take that long, right? A month at most?”

“…It’ll take a month just to get to the Ashlyn Kingdom from our current location through a proper path.”

It was obvious that it would take longer if we went through the Monster Forest. However, the month I was talking about was the period of time it would take to raid the Necromancer’s dungeon and return to the Kingdom of Supetra, so Kayla must have thought it was strange.

“There’s always a way.”

Kayla tilted her head in curiosity at my confident attitude.

“What are you going to do…?”

“Let’s see for now.”

I led the group and visited a place that was once a human territory.

“Isn’t this… the trolls’ territory?”

The trolls barked at us as soon as we appeared and guarded us.

“Kill all but ten of them. Oh, and only keep the strong males alive.”

There were many of them, but they were no match for us.

I didn’t need to use my strength at all. Even though only Kayla, Atrina, and Baldur came out, it didn’t take long to deal with them.

I used magic on the terrified trolls that had been captured alive.

[Charm]

With the help of a 4th class and a powerful staff, I controlled ten trolls.

“Put the luggage here. Each of you choose one and ride it.”

“You’re going to ride a horse?”

“Yeah. They’re sturdier than you’d think.”

“… How long will the charm last?”

“Not that long, but they’ll stop if you keep walking anyway. It doesn’t take much magic, either.”

You’ll need to walk them about every 2-3 hours, but it’s not impossible. You can tie them up completely when you sleep or rest near another horse village.

“… Riding these will make our travel speed much faster, but… ”

“I’ll make them run until they’re half-mad and exhausted to death.”

It’s animal, no, monster abuse, but I don’t know.

‘Now that I think about it.’

We kill them because we’re short on food, we seek them out to kill them because they’re a threat, and lately, we’ve been inducing them to die cruel deaths to gain magic.

I don’t feel guilty enough to run them to death.

I’m a black magician, and by Earth’s standards, I’m evil no matter how you look at it.

In a crazy world, it’s hard to survive without going crazy.

‘If only I had overwhelming power, I could at least pretend to be good.’

But I’m not strong enough for that, so it’s impossible.

“Will they know to avoid dangerous guys over there?”

At that moment, it seemed like Artina noticed something strange as she loaded the luggage onto the horses.

“Hey… what is it? Why are they like this? Don’t tell me they’re in heat?”

“That’s right. In that state, they’ll run until they find a new herd of horses and die.”

They have excellent senses of smell, so they’ll pass through the territories of other monsters as quickly as possible or avoid them altogether.

‘They’ll chase after the scent of their kin and run endlessly.’

Since horses exist all over the Monster Forest, it won’t take long to get to our destination.

‘Especially in the forest, they’re faster than horse mounts.’

It will take a while since we have to take turns resting and can’t go in a straight line, but it’s incomparable to walking.

Besides, we’re not coming back this way.’

After we clear the black magician’s dungeon, we’ll go straight to the nearest territory of the Supetran Kingdom, so the calculation of about a month wasn’t false.

“… Ugh, it’s a little creepy… ”

“Bear with it. They won’t go crazy enough to attack humans. “I’ve adjusted it moderately.”

They don’t go crazy with members of the same sex, either.

That’s why I specifically instructed them to spare only the males.

‘If the situation becomes serious, I’ll have no choice but to abandon them.’

I also kept ten of them alive in case of stamina issues or if they turn around.

As soon as we got on the horses, I manipulated them to make them run fast.

I didn’t make them run at top speed since I wanted to use them for as long as possible, but it was still plenty fast.

“… “They’re pretty sturdy?”

“They’re monsters, after all. “I wish I had a ghost horse or a skeleton horse, but unfortunately, I can’t make them at my level.”

You need to be at Class 5 to make a skeleton horse and Class 7 for a ghost horse.

‘I might be able to manage one somehow, but four would be tough.’

That’s why I chose this method.

The party was surprised at how well the horses ran, and I repeated the process of disposing of the old horses and resting when we found the next horse village, then attacking their village the next day.

Of course, when we came across a large town that was difficult to deal with or when the distance was too short, we forcefully changed direction to get a little more use out of the old mounts.

“Ride north along the outskirts as much as possible.”

Since we had a compass, determining the direction was not difficult.

As a result of riding and changing mounts almost fifteen times, we were able to cross the border.

Of course, for safety, we used the depths of the forest when crossing the border area.

In the process, we encountered two orc tribes that had been at war a long time ago, but we were able to narrowly avoid getting involved.

“… There really are a lot of mounts.”

Athena looked a little surprised as she watched the countless mounts we encountered.

In fact, there were hardly any cases of mounts dying from exhaustion.

That was because we would find new mount villages before that happened.

There were even times when they would appear to warn us of the scent of an invading tribe and end up becoming our mounts.

As a side note, the mounts that were no longer useful became our food or were simply killed and left in a corner of the forest.

After crossing the border and changing mounts two more times, I was finally able to reach my destination.

“… It looks like there are no development sites here. The walls are all made of solid stone. They’re so high.”

“That’s because it’s close to the neutral zone. That’s why we can’t go in there.”

The security is that strict.

If we showed a commoner’s ID from Schpetran, we would be sent straight to prison.

“That’s a little disappointing. I’m starting to miss decent food.”

It took about twenty days to get here. It’s understandable to be missing it by now.

‘Since we’ve been so focused on traveling.’

“There’s nothing to see there. “This way.”

I led the group deep into the forest.

As we moved, following my memory for directions, we soon discovered a fairly large lake.

Several beasts and monsters showed war and fear as they watched us.

As it was a water source for the area, it was a place where many creatures visited.

“Catch just one. “Anyone will do.”

Following my instructions, Kayla captured a wolf.

Since there was no need to keep it alive, I killed it immediately and took the body with me.

Then, I headed north from the water source, and soon found a large, twisted, dead tree.

“… It’s big.”

“This is it.”

“Huh? “This is the dark wizard’s dungeon?”

This is the place I found last time.

I had fled from the Schpetran Kingdom to the Ashlyn Kingdom, and since it was near the neutral zone and many people avoided it, I had been active in this area.

This was the place I had found at that time.

‘Even though it’s a dark wizard’s dungeon, the difficulty level isn’t that high.’

That’s because the dungeon master is dead.

‘Perhaps it was due to a failed experiment?’

On that subject, the rewards were pretty good.

It was because of the memory of that time that I started searching for dark wizard dungeons, and after several successful explorations, I had made quite a bit of money.

‘Those were the few moments in my life when I truly saw the light.

But of course, it all ended in ruin.

When I was brimming with confidence, I discovered a new dungeon, and it just had to be my teacher’s dungeon.

That’s where I became a slave to the Demon King.

I shook my head to dispel the memories that were flooding back, then headed for the back of the withered tree.

Then I tore open the corpse of the wolf I had just caught and splashed its blood on the tree.

The tree absorbed the blood and slowly began to open an entrance.

My party seemed a little surprised at the sight.

“If we keep doing this, it’s only a matter of time before we’re discovered…” .”

“It won’t open if there’s someone inside.”

“… Is this the dungeon of a former comrade, by any chance?”

“Hmm… “Something like that.”

I didn’t feel like explaining in detail, so I gave a vague answer.

I led the party into the dungeon.

As we entered, the dungeon entrance closed, and I lit a lantern and said to the party,

“For a dungeon of a black magician, it’s not that difficult. Just watch out for the traps. “The owner is already dead.”

The traps are a clever mix of physical and magical traps, but that’s about it.

Originally, it was supposed to be a much more difficult dungeon.

However, the original owner of this dungeon was a guy who specialized in summoning monsters, and his defenses were also based on summoned monsters, but funnily enough, when the summoner died, most of the monsters were desummoned.

That’s why the difficulty plummeted.

Since it was a dungeon that I had discovered, my memory of it was quite vivid.