The Necromancer Who Was Despised

It was a chilling moment.

It was a moment when we could lose 1.

I immediately ordered 2 to retrieve 1’s body.

Meanwhile, the Specter attracted the attention of another Guardian.

‘…If the power of that beam is that great…’

We couldn’t attack the Guardian with just the undead unless I helped at close range.

“Can you sense that beam?”

“…It’s possible.”

She seemed to think for a moment before replying.

“I might even be able to dodge it. Blocking it… seems difficult.”

She said that since she now knew of the first attack, she could react to it, unlike when she didn’t know it existed.

However, unlike Kyla, she doesn’t use a shield, so she said blocking it would be impossible.

‘Come to think of it, if I tried to block it with the Dragon’s Fang…’

I would inevitably take great damage from the explosion that would occur at close range.

There was no other choice but to dodge it.

In other words, it meant that Athena couldn’t protect me instead of Kyla.

‘The Specter can only serve as a distraction…’

Even after slamming its head, it couldn’t deal much damage.

‘If only Athena could join…’

It was possible, but the risk was too great.

Meanwhile, Kyla had succeeded in cornering one of the Guardians.

Then, the Guardian that had been struggling with the Specter rushed towards Kyla to save the other Guardian.

The Specter tried to interfere, but it couldn’t stop a determined opponent.

Kyla, who briefly checked my side, immediately stopped fighting and ran out of the hall.

“It’s stronger than I thought. It seems difficult to take it down alone in a short amount of time.”

I nodded at her words and replied.

“It’s tough for me too unless I go out there myself. But getting close…”

“There’s no one to protect. …I don’t think Baldur will be able to react properly.”

“I think so too.”

In the end, if I were to go out, I would have to protect my own body, but black magic excelled in attack magic, while its defense magic was poor.

Of course, it’s not like I don’t have any defensive magic that I can use now.

‘Even 1, who was supported by me, could only withstand one attack. It can protect me, but then I won’t be able to strengthen the Skeletons.’

If so, there would be no reason for me to step forward.

“This is quite annoying.”

“Use the Careo party as bait.”

Kayla said at that moment.

“Won’t that be no help at all?”

“A few might die, but it will buy us some time. There are a lot of Minotaur corpses, so if you mass-produce temporary undead, you’ll be able to hold out for a while. In the meantime, I’ll deal with one of the Guardians and join you.”

In short, it meant using Careo’s party as a meat shield whether they lived or died.

I made a slightly surprised expression because I didn’t know Kayla would say something like that.

However, Kayla had an indifferent expression on her face.

‘Well, since she used to operate in the underworld… ‘

She said she wanted to be a knight, but being a knight isn’t such a clean profession in the first place.

The most important virtue for a knight is loyalty, followed by force.

Therefore, it seemed natural to Kayla to put me at the forefront.

“We have to shut their mouths anyway. Judging by the level of the Guardians, whatever they get here won’t be something ordinary.”

I thought that was probably the case.

“Our level isn’t low, but we aren’t at the level where we can take over the ruins and protect it.”

In other words, it meant that even if we took what we could, it should never be revealed.

“It’s true that human greed is endless.”

Athena also frowned and said.

It seemed like she was thinking about the likes of Kuman or Baron Awallan.

Athena, who had been thinking for a moment, nodded and replied.

“If they become a threat to us… we have to shut their mouths.”

She didn’t look like she liked it very much.

However, it seemed like she thought she had to accept it for the safety of the party even if she didn’t like it.

“Of course, if you consider your reputation, you should avoid it….”

“Should we just recruit some of them? Like Tildina… or maybe even Anelise. They seem like they’d come over to our side. They’ve been friendly towards us. …Though I don’t like Anelise. “

“Tilda… well, she’s a priestess, so I don’t know. There are quite a few priests who would give up their lives for their religious beliefs….”

“Well, it might be easier instead. Even though it’s a takeover, he’s a priest who serves the Goddess of Light.”

Athena made a puzzled expression at my words. However, Kayla was different.

“Ah, I see. I didn’t think of that.”

“Once we’ve taken everything we can from here, if we tell them we’ll destroy all traces of the temple, they’ll probably cooperate. This isn’t their temple.”

The Goddess of Light does not recognize other gods. In short, it could be said that it was a religion that believed in one God.

However, other religions do exist in reality. Therefore, the Goddess Religion, which believes in the Goddess of Light, had the characteristic of being extremely hostile towards other religions.

‘The reason why they call it the Goddess Religion and not the Religion of Light even though the Goddess of Light is their main deity… it’s probably a stepping stone to not recognizing other religions.’

If it was called the Religion of Light, people might think it was equal to other religious sects that symbolized something else, so they called themselves by a broader name so that they could be the only ones who came to mind when people said ‘Goddess’ .

Therefore, if their faith was strong, it was possible to recruit them by offering such conditions.

When I told her about that background, Athena nodded as if she finally understood.

“Is that so? Hmm… it would be perfect if we could recruit Anelise as well.”

‘Anelise, huh… ‘

Certainly, if we recruited Tilda and Anelise and then dealt with the rest, and if those two testified, the chances of my reputation being damaged would be low.

On top of that, if we gave them proper compensation as a consolation, we might even receive praise.

‘…Let’s deal with Anelise slowly after we’ve taken care of Careo.’

It wasn’t a bad idea.

Besides, once I got my hands on Anelace, I could dispose of them whenever I wanted.

‘It’ll take time, but it’s certain. Besides… It’s not like I brought this up first.’

Honestly, I liked the idea a lot.

I pretended to deliberately for a moment before nodding my head.

“Certainly, considering the future, it would be better to do as you say.”

“We should at least try.”

However, even if we used them as meat shields, subjugating the Guardians wouldn’t be easy.

‘Since they prioritized attacking me.’

It would be a very annoying battle.

“They won’t cooperate easily.”

“We’ll have to be a bit forceful, but if we promise to share the rewards, some of them will come over.”

Of course, he only said that, but he didn’t seem to intend to actually give them anything.

“I’ll persuade Tildie.”

There was a way to persuade him.

“… “I’ll talk to Annelace.”

“I’ll let her stay in our party for a while. If necessary, I can use the Mana Breathing Technique or Aura Cultivation Technique as bait.”

“… Are you planning to hand over Master’s vision?”

“Of course not.”

I was planning to hand over something I had, or something I could take from Kereos.

However, it seemed like I wouldn’t even need to do that.

When we returned to the base camp.

“Let go, let go! “Let me go!”

“… “You’re here.”

I could see the bound Kereos and his party, and Baldur standing with wounds all over his body.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

As I spoke, I glanced at Kyla.

She might have instructed them to do something in advance in case I tried to get ahead of them.

However, Kyla also looked flustered.

Fortunately, it seemed like she hadn’t crossed the line.

‘Excessive loyalty can be toxic.’

To be precise, when excessive loyalty becomes distorted and runs wild, it becomes a problem.

This time, even if Kyla had acted on her own, it was a situation that could be handled, but it would be a different story later on.

If she had acted on her own this time, I wouldn’t have let it slide.

“They tried to escape. I’m fine. It’s just minor injuries.”

‘They tried to escape?’

I glared at Kereos’ party.

Then, I saw Kereos’ party hanging their heads.

Even the spearman, Flayna, who had been screaming at us to let them go, shut her mouth when I appeared.

“Is that true?”

“Pathetic,” Kereos replied flatly.

“Why? Were you planning to sell the location of the ruins?”

Kereos didn’t respond.

Instead, it was Annelace who spoke up.

“That’s not what he meant. He was just afraid that Inha might hurt us…”

“…Considering the value of the ruins, yes. We were scared.”

Tilde picked up where Anelace left off.

She, too, looked ashamed.

“To be precise, Flyna brought it up first. Labid and Arahad agreed, and Kereos seemed to reluctantly accept.”

To my surprise, Balder seemed to be well-informed.

When I asked how he knew so much, he said that he had overheard them talking, even though they were trying to be discreet.

‘Well, it is a cave, despite being spacious…’

The space was limited.

And when it came to that, Balder was an expert. His senses were bound to be different from ordinary people’s.

If they had been careful, they might not have been caught, but it seemed like luck wasn’t on their side.

“After confirming that Kereos, their leader, had been taken down, I counterattacked. That was when they were trying to pull in Anelace and Tilde.”

It seemed that the two of them had tried to stay behind.

Perhaps that was why they hadn’t been seriously injured.

Still, they were Kereos’ comrades, so they were bound together.

“Hmm… Desertion in a situation like this…”

I stroked my chin as I looked at Kereos.

“You may have intended to save your own skin, but that action could be interpreted in many ways.”

“…My apologies.”

When a party moves together in unity, trust is extremely important.

And in this case, it wasn’t just a matter of working together; I had hired Kereos’ party.

In such a situation, they had betrayed their client and fled?

It was tantamount to say that they would never work as mercenaries again.

No matter how much of a black magician I was, they had crossed a line.

They would be shunned by fellow mercenaries and clients alike.

‘Even if their motives are understandable.’

But as I said before, the mere suggestion that they intended to sell the location of the ruins was enough to shatter even that excuse.

Honestly, Kereos’ actions couldn’t be justified with a few words.

‘What on earth gave them the guts…’

Did they think they could go back to the Mercenary Guild and try to sway public opinion?

‘…If their only goal was to survive, they might have been able to sell the ruins and use public opinion to stay alive.’

But in the end, they had failed.

“Originally, I was going to discuss whether we should take our time and raid it ourselves due to its high difficulty, or whether we should work with you all under the condition of sharing the rewards.”

That was a lie. I had intended to use them, by force if necessary.

To make some of them my accomplices and then dispose of them legally. But they didn’t know that.

I could see the realization dawning on their faces.

High difficulty, performance distribution.

It seemed like those words had touched the deepest desires in their hearts.

Of course, they must have realized that if it was dangerous enough for our party level, they might not be of much help.

A comprade could die.

However, such an opportunity doesn’t come easily.