Chapter 77
The Lord of the Dead had notable lieutenants.
Their strength varied, but the Death Knight they had previously encountered was one such higher-ranking being.
On the frontlines, they were the ones who broke through the Watchmen at the very front.
And in contrast to the Death Knights, there were others who wielded formidable magic, brought down frost, schemed, and turned the tides of battle—truly terrifying foes.
Those were the necromancers.
'... Still as repulsive-looking as ever.'
Erich let out a bitter smile as he looked at the accursed necromancer who had given him such trouble before his regression.
He hadn't expected to encounter one in such a place, but from the moment he learned of the existence of a cult, he had already suspected the appearance of this being: a necromancer.
They were beings who delighted in lifting those mired in the pits of despair, giving them hope and making them eternal slaves.
Of course, in most cases, even that pit of despair was something bestowed by these very beings.
Secretly granting despair and then pulling people out to get what they want—that was the trick of these cunning fiends.
From that perspective, the situation in the 6th Fortress was the perfect environment for one of them to rampage.
Erich leveled his sword at the creature and shouted.
"Do not fall back! I'll handle it myself anyway."
—... You say you'll handle me?
The necromancer's eyes gleamed white. Amid the pale sclera, yellow pupils stared at Erich.
Somehow, he looked a bit surprised.
Was it surprising that Erich showed no fear upon seeing him?
Or was it Erich's declaration that he would fight him that was unexpected?
Either way.
Still, even Erich's words couldn't stop the hands of the Watchmen from trembling as they gripped their swords.
Even those who had fought countless barbarians struggled to face such a monstrous sight.
Not only was the necromancer's appearance grotesque, but in reality, a necromancer was not a mere dead.
Being an entity crafted meticulously by the Lord of the Dead, his power could not be ignored.
But that was in the future.
Erich had formulated a hypothesis.
'Why did the Lord of the Dead not immediately rise up and attack the Great Wall before?'
There were hundreds or thousands of Death Knights who had breached the Great Wall.
There were hundreds of necromancers. If that army still existed, frankly, it would be hard to even stop them if they invaded right now.
But the Lord of the Dead had waited for the right moment—when the Watch was at its weakest, and they themselves at their strongest.
Therefore, Erich naturally concluded:
'They also needed time to grow their strength.'
So even if he confronted a necromancer here, they would not be able to wield omnipotent power like before his regression.
Erich's eyes shone crimson as he scanned the creature over.
"... So it's as I thought."
The frost energy emanating from him was undoubtedly stronger than the one they met in the cave.
Still, he was not at the incredible level of necromancers from before the regression.
Having measured the necromancer's power, Erich shouted,
"Keep your distance from it as much as possible!"
"... And you?!"
Gustav glanced between the necromancer and Erich with wide eyes. Erich responded succinctly,
"I'll take care of that thing."
At his words, the necromancer's expression twisted like a demon's. The frigid frost of the dead spread in all directions.
The fortunate part was that the necromancer was keeping his distance, so as not to freeze Joseph with 'frost'.
If that was the case, as long as he was surrounding these people, he wouldn't approach. Erich decided to split the battlefield.
"Gustav! Franz! Frederick! Barnes! Take them out!"
Leaving those words behind, Erich surged forward. The dead swung their arms at his sudden assault.
—Tat!
Dodging lightly, Erich dove into the midst of the dead. A straight crimson line traced through the mob of white dead.
Charging through, Erich pierced his way forward. His first target was Joseph.
'That necromancer must have a reason for wanting to keep this man alive.'
Joseph, seeing Erich approaching in the blink of an eye, drew his sword. The researchers around him prepared to fight as well.
Erich seemed to clash with the researchers, but then, sliding effortlessly, he appeared behind them.
—Shreeeeek!
"Guh!"
"Urk!"
Erich quickly cut down the three men who blocked his path. Joseph tried to resist, swinging his sword desperately.
—Thud!
In an instant, Joseph's arm was severed, and he screamed as if his vocal cords would tear.
"Kyaaaa!"
But Erich did not stop. He cut down the remaining researchers behind, and broke through the area Frederick was covering.
"Frederick! I leave it to you!"
Frederick quickly sealed the gap left by Erich's exit. At the same time, Watchmen attacked the dead on all sides.
The rear would be subdued easily at this rate. Erich fixed his gaze on the necromancer.
—... Insolent creature!
White energy gathered to either side of the necromancer. From thin air, beautiful ice crystals exploded in the air.
—Shraaaaash!
A red line appeared across Erich's cheek. Though it was only a graze, even the passing shards could shred flesh as easily as paper.
The necromancer exuded frost's energy, turning the ground to ice. In an instant, the ice spread toward where Erich stood.
—Crackk!
But Erich's movement did not stop. His sword traced the edge of the encroaching ice. Golden flames followed the path he cut, creating a thin line of fire.
The line held back the spreading ice with a faint blaze. Erich leapt atop it.
All at once, his sword gleamed golden again as he swung it through the air.
—Whoosh!
A vivid golden line burned into the necromancer's arms, erupting in fire as soon as it touched the dead flesh.
However—
As the necromancer's white eyes burned with intense radiance, the flames were snuffed out instantly.
—... What a peculiar power. Painful and burning, but that is all.
Erich narrowed his eyes. He had expected it not to end easily, but to counter so quickly—
'As I thought, this won't end simply.'
Now, white energy gathered in several of the necromancer's arms. Erich's focus shifted rapidly.
—Boom! Bang!
Suddenly, spikes of ice shot up from the ground. Everywhere Erich evaded, the necromancer's spells chased.
Dodging busily, Erich slashed several times toward the necromancer.
As before, the latter instantly smothered the flames and prepared another spell.
But this time, Erich closed the distance quickly. Moving faster than expected, Erich slashed diagonally, passing the necromancer.
—Thunk.
The necromancer's sharp gaze turned to Erich. One of his six arms had fallen away.
The first two slashes had been feints. While the necromancer prepared for them, Erich accelerated with even greater speed and severed an arm.
Erich clicked his tongue with regret.
"Tsk. I was aiming for the side."
He already knew the creature's weakness: the exact spot where all its power converged in his vision—the 'core' that all mages use.
A mage who takes heavy damage to that spot cannot use magic and becomes powerless—even a dead one.
'Of course, a proper necromancer would likely have several cores.'
Erich had already seen through that point. The necromancer before him now was notably weaker than the peak necromancers he'd known before his regression.
He recalled that those necromancers had about five or six cores, but this one had only one.
With a single precise strike, he could incapacitate it. Nevertheless, the necromancer gave Erich no respite.
Unpredictable barrages of ice battered him, sharp spikes attacking from wherever he'd dodged.
Covered in frost, the creature could not be approached safely without aura, making him even more troublesome.
But Erich evaded each of his suppressions, parried where he couldn't, and blocked the spreading frost with circulating aura.
—Shraash!
Another arm fell. The necromancer quickly surrounded himself with ice spikes, but Erich had already pulled back some distance. He spun his sword, flicking away blue blood from its blade.
On the white snow, blue blood from the dead splattered. With fewer arms, the necromancer's spellcasting greatly diminished.
Their duel continued. Erich kept aiming for the core, but the necromancer, instead of letting his core be hit, sacrificed his own arms.
Finally, having severed two more arms, Erich again pulled back. Still, the necromancer's pallid face wore an air of leisure. He grinned, baring pale fangs.
—Your movements are impressive. You'd make a useful Death Knight.
"What's a guy with barely any arms left going to do?"
—The bodies of the living and the dead are not the same. Such things are just numbers.
Now, the necromancer's power surged from its core and extended toward the severed arms, similar to how he spread frost.
But, the next moment, the necromancer's face twisted. Dismay seeped into his retreat.
—Wh-why!
Erich curled his lips in a smile. There was nothing surprising about the necromancer's actions.
The dead and the living are not the same. The dead could regenerate their bodies endlessly.
But Erich had already confirmed what his power of flame did to the dead: touching them with golden aura stopped their regeneration.
Since he severed the arms with a sword infused with golden aura, proper regeneration was impossible.
Now the necromancer's eyes widened, as if he'd realized something.
—That power, could it be...!
Panicking, the necromancer wildly cast spells. Rising spikes and shards of ice filled the air chaotically, blocking vision.
But even then, Erich could read the strands of murderous intent with his own eyes—
—Woom.
—so it was impossible for any attack to hit.
At the same time, two tense strands of intent.
Erich quickly traced their trajectory, charging straight for the necromancer.
—Whoosh!
Once more, his sword blazed with golden aura. Even when the necromancer, in final desperation, rained down ice spears from above—
Erich deflected those as well and stopped at the necromancer's side.
A single, clean stroke.
Erich remained frozen in that posture as he finished his swing. The red-hot blade melted falling snow, dripping clear water.
—Thud thud thud.
With that single slash, Erich cut through not just the remaining arms but even the core's location. The necromancer's pale body was sliced in half and collapsed.
He had used a fair amount of aura to cut through the tough flesh of the dead—
But felling a necromancer meant a lot. One appearing this weak proved that Erich's theory was correct—
Viewed differently, it also meant he could face and handle the weakened dead earlier than in the previous timeline.
Leaving the collapsed necromancer's remains, Erich glanced over his shoulder.
The few dead who had held out also lost the necromancer's control and their ranks collapsed.
They became husks, left only with the instinct to bite humans. Even then, Joseph was being bitten by the very dead he had commanded.
"K-Kyaaa!"
But then, through the midst of the flailing dead, one man powered through in a frenzy—
Erich knew that it was Barnes. His hate-filled charge toward Joseph would not stop.
Barnes instantly cut down the dead biting Joseph and then grasped Joseph's throat amid them.
Though Joseph's life was about to flicker out, Barnes' sword, raised high, paused briefly.
It was the moment a long-held feud could finally be settled here.
However.
At that moment, Barnes met Erich's gaze. Suddenly, Barnes' sword trembled, and instead, he turned and cut down the dead who were charging Joseph.
—Shraash!
Finally, with the unconscious, agonized Joseph in tow, Barnes seized the man by the scruff.
Of everyone, surely Barnes was the one with the most anger toward Joseph.
Still, it seemed he had chosen to defer his personal revenge for now.
"Because the commander hasn't given the order yet, is that it?"
Erich murmured softly.
"... Principle is principle. Always the same, that one."
—Clack.
Yet, even as he spoke, Erich's expression was not displeased.
As the frost mist of the necromancer slowly cleared, the frozen ice sheets reverted to powdery snow.
With that, Erich bowed and plunged his hand into the necromancer's chest, now devoid of its white radiance.
What he pulled out was the necromancer's now lifeless core. The cracked gem-like core oozed blue blood, drip by drip.
A smile crept across Erich's lips. This would prove quite useful later.
Having defeated Joseph and even captured the necromancer, they had, in effect, preemptively dealt with forces that would otherwise have bolstered the enemy into a massive army. All that remained was to uncover their backer.
Of course, there were still unsolved mysteries and decisions had yet to be made about those destined to become dead.
"First, shall we celebrate today's victory?"
Erich's gaze turned to the triumphant Watchmen and to Franz's dead, now intoxicated with victory and slaughtering the remaining dead.
Now, it was time to decide the fate of the 6th Fortress members who had nearly turned into the dead.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】