CHAPTER 378: Aftermath
"Is everyone alright?" I asked while looking around.
"Yes but her death magic could have been bad. If she had targeted me instead of Hatsumi I am not sure what would have happened." Helena said.
"Maybe we should train more against your type of magic, Koyuki." Skadi suggested.
I nodded. "And I need to find better ways to deal with undead. Most of my spells are useless and I can't control them unless they are unclaimed."
"At least you managed to get a few of them in the end." Cassie said.
"Unfortunately the new acquisitions are not the same quality as Koyuki's undead." Kaito stated.
"True, they are a bit more expensive. I have to look more closely at the spell but I am unsure if I want to keep them. The old lady would have been interesting, it is a shame that she was hostile. Did you see that hand move? Somehow she had control over a disconnected body part." I said.
"Kaito has a floating head, maybe it was the same principle?" Helena suggested.
I shook my head. "No, Kaito's connection is based on his air affinity, something she did not seem to have. Further, Kaito's spell is complicated because it exists in both parts of his body. If he lost an arm he could not do anything with it. It would damage and weaken him because only the head is meant to be disconnected. My best guess is the old woman had her spell concentrated somewhere and her body was not a complete part of her. Maybe she was possessing it somehow? Sadly I know little about incorporeal undead."
"Wait, you mean she could be a ghost and still around?" Helena asked.
"Well, she was devoured. That should kill an undead but as I have said, I am not familiar with her type. I can't tell you for sure that she was a ghost, she might be something I am simply unaware of. It's a shame that Gronir isn't here." I replied.
"Undead are frustrating to fight, I prefer enemies with blood." Hatsumi stated. "I will need to work on how to fight something like her. Perhaps I should carry a weapon as well? A hammer would have been nice to crush her."
"That is a good idea." Skadi said. "A hammer will help you to get more out of your strength runes. I prefer an axe myself but you have your blood claws for stabbing and slashing so a hammer might be ideal to cover your weakness."
While we were discussing the fight we searched the area and the dead. The wagon had been carrying clothing and we found a bit of coin. We also found a dead horse nearby. The harness had been cut in the attack and the horse had broken loose and bolted. It did not get too far before it fell to the undead goblins. Interestingly it had not been raised by the old woman so it was a usable corpse.
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Thankfully we had enough rope to attach the wagon to Garm and take it with us. We also loaded the non-goblin corpses and hoped someone would be able to identify them. The wagon and its contents did not belong to us and should go back to the family of the deceased.
Next we piled up the corpses of the former undead which I could not use and had not been eaten, then we burned them. It was never a great idea to have fallen undead lying around, they still contained traces of necrotic mana and could be bad for the wildlife. Then we cleared the tree from the road and finally got moving again.
The incident had taken some time and it was already dark when we returned to Rovik. As our group entered the courtyard we were greeted by Hans.
"You are back late, did you run into trouble?" He asked as we dismounted.
"Yes, there is a problem Daddy." Helena said.
"A problem? What happened?" He asked.
"Crawlers, there might be a new nest near the surface." Helena replied.
Hans grimaced. "Damn, tell me everything. Come inside everyone, the Helgurds and Countess Ashburn are here. They will be interested in your story as well."
We entered the dining room where Brittany was discussing something with Astrid. She stopped and looked at us as we entered.
"Cassie! It's good to see you again. I have to say the Helgurds are delightful people and we have been discussing new trade opportunities for our county. Oh, but where are my manners? Greetings Skadi, Koyuki and Helena."
"Mother." Cassie replied.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Lady Ashburn." Skadi said.
"Oh, no reason to be so formal, you are practically family at this point." Brittany replied.
"It's good to see you all." Lothar said.
A round of greetings followed before we all sat down around the table, then we told them about our day. Hans looked grim when he heard what we had found.
"Damn, I need to send troops immediately before the crawlers find another exit. Thankfully you have dealt with the undead, that is one less headache. I will have my men go over the bodies and see if they can identify them." Hans said.
"Troubling, I am unfamiliar with crawlers but they sound nasty. How costly would it be to exterminate a nest?" Brittany asked.
"Regular soldiers need special shields to block the acid and crawlers are hard to kill with a crossbow. Since they can walk on the ceiling a spear wall has a hard time containing them and a lot of mages run into magic fatigue before you even reach the nest since there are so many crawlers. Sometimes they can break open a new tunnel and ambush your forces from the rear. Containing them is usually easier than going for the nest." Hans explained.
"What about an army of undead?" Brittany asked and everyone looked at me.
"Oh we have used necromancers against them. They usually have fatigue issues as well if they try to combat raise all the crawlers, there are just too many of them. And undead themselves are not immune to acid. The raised dead crawlers have some resistance but when they become undead they are not immune to the acid attacks anymore, only somewhat resistant." Hans explained. "You would likely need a proper army of undead to begin with."
That was an interesting problem. I wondered how long I could raise crawlers until I got too tired? It was certainly not a question I wanted to have answered in the field.
"We will contain them for now and see if they move deeper into the mountains again. It will mean pulling more troops from the nightshade watches and it means my crackdown on the new drug might suffer but it can't be helped. Hopefully I won't need to ask Duke Winston for help." Hans said.
"I might be able to offer some assistance, since we are all allies now. And Koyuki is travelling to the Barkworths next, are you not? I would not ask them for direct assistance but you can establish better trade relations, or acquire some of their wood for weapons." Brittany proposed.
"We are going to expand our caravan business and start a formal trading house, backed by House Ashburn." Astrid announced. "We can help you transport goods, if needed."
"We are starting a trading house with noble backing?" Skadi asked, looking at her parents.
"And it's all because you seduced a noble, good job by the way." Lothar said with a grin. Astrid smacked him on the head which made him grin even harder.