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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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‘The place I made as the backdoor has a narrow path. The distance is also quite far.’
I injected a large amount of magic into the specter and sent it to the surface, and after a considerable amount of time, the specter returned.
‘Looks like there aren’t as many as I thought?’
Judging by its behavior, it seemed there were monsters, but not to a severe degree.
I definitely felt it was okay to venture out now.
I instructed Mutre to dig a path here, and two days later, when I heard the news that the path was completed, I gathered Athena and Kayla.
By the way, the reason it took two days was because they had to be extremely careful as there was a high possibility of the building debris collapsing above.
They also had to be wary of the monsters on the surface, so it couldn’t help but be even slower.
Considering the situation, even two days was fast.
“Is it true that we’re going to explore the surface?”
“It’s Thea’s suggestion. She said she wanted to secure additional food in advance.”
“Thea did? Well, the food isn’t unlimited. I was slowly wanting to see the sunlight too.”
“I’m a bit worried. There were formidable ones during the wave…”
It was understandable to be worried, as there were not only groups that moved together like orcs, but also individually strong ones like trolls and manticores.
“Well, it should be fine. I increased the number of undead by one, and I also sent the specter in advance to check.”
“Ah, the Warrior? Was it called No. 2? Is it okay to name it like that?”
“It’s fine since it doesn’t have a sense of self.”
For higher-level undead with a sense of self, it was necessary to give them separate names.
By the way, the specter also had a high possibility of developing a sense of self if it continued to grow steadily.
The surface, which we ventured out to after a long time, was in a terrible state.
Only a handful of buildings in the castle maintained their shape to some extent, and there were countless unattended corpses everywhere.
Some places had bone piles, as if they had been used as food, and a considerable number were left half-decayed and abandoned.
“Kee?”
Just then, a goblin rummaging through a rotten corpse noticed us and expressed curiosity.
It was instantly dealt with by Kayla’s hand.
“Ugh, it looks really bad.”
Athena blocked the entrance we came out from and spoke while looking around.
However, my thoughts were different.
‘It’s not bad?’
It’s not that I think the massacre or humans being used as food isn’t bad.
From a warlock’s perspective, the surrounding environment wasn’t bad.
‘I won’t even need to generate magic, if I do it well, I might be able to create a guardian force.’
The amount of undead that a warlock, especially a low-level necromancer, could carry around was limited.
However, dungeons were different.
The dungeons of wizards were spaces so dangerous that they couldn’t be carelessly entered even after the owner died.
The total amount of power a wizard could exert varied depending on their preparation.
Unlike warriors who can exert relatively even power in any situation, wizards are beings whose power is extremely amplified in the space they have prepared compared to normal times.
The current environment is the same.
As I mentioned earlier, the number of undead I could maintain and carry around was limited, but assuming I tied the undead to this land, I could maintain dozens of undead.
‘There are a lot of corpses… and they’re filled with negative emotions because of the terrible deaths.’
I thought they would have disappeared after quite some time, but it didn’t seem to be the case.
This level of land was an environment where it wouldn’t be strange at all even if earth spirits were naturally created.
In other words, it was an environment that warlocks like.
‘Usually, these negative emotions are used to extract magic… but I don’t need to do that.’
The undead summoned by being tied to the land also had limited areas they could move in, and the total amount of magic didn’t naturally recover but had to be recharged when consumed, and although the possibility of evolving into higher undead was slim, being able to deploy dozens of undead as guardians at my current level was a tremendous advantage.
And it was something I had originally planned to do.
Above all, safety was important.
Therefore, I naturally planned to create guardians to protect the dungeon.
‘I was going to spread magic in the area and pollute gems to create an artificial environment…’
It wasn’t an easy task, so I thought it would take a long time.
Especially polluting gems was quite a difficult task.
But now there was no need to do that.
Therefore, I couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t bad from my perspective.
Especially…
‘That place… is really the best.’
It was the place where the mercenaries from the merchant union had settled in the past.
I led my companions to check it out just in case, and it felt like I had found a treasure trove.
‘Well, the equivalent of two villages’ worth of humans were brutally executed, and all sorts of negative emotions overflowed as the castle collapsed, so it’s not strange for it to turn out like this.’
Moreover, since the corpses of the mercenaries, who were quite strong, were also abundant, the average level of the undead would also be high.
“The equipment… was taken by the monsters?”
“That’s probably right. Orcs and goblins use weapons.”
While I was calculating to what extent I could create the land of the undead, Athena and Kayla had a short conversation and examined the surroundings.
“Fortunately, it seems there are no monsters settled around here. …It feels bad to be used as a food storage though. But Teacher, you’re quite composed.”
“If you think about it, we eat monsters too. It’s no different from that.”
“…That’s true. Giant Ants are also monsters. …But still, since they’re humans, there’s a bit of repulsion…”
Just then, Kayla’s expression suddenly hardened.
“Master, Athena.”
“We need to hide.”
At her words, we quickly moved.
We moved towards a building that still had some shape left and hid our bodies in the ruins.
“It’s a flying monster. It doesn’t seem to be a manticore, but…”
“…There it is. Hmm? Its appearance…”
I also turned my head in the direction of Athena’s gaze and couldn’t help but harden my expression.
“…Hippogriff.”
“Hippogriff? Wait a minute, if it’s a hippogriff…”
‘The Siglen Count’s family.’
It seemed they had succeeded in taming the hippogriff.
And if the reason for patrolling this area was…
‘They… haven’t given up on Mutre yet?’
Well, he’s a precious dwarf slave.
There’s no way they would give up so easily.
‘This is going to be a headache…’
If they found out we were alive in this area, even if they didn’t launch a large-scale attack due to the burden of the monster wave, there was a possibility they would send a small elite force to grasp the situation.
‘I can’t clash with the Count’s family at my current level.’
Even if I succeeded in creating the land of the undead here, if a knight order decided to invade, there was no way I could stop them.
A great lord like the Siglen Count’s family wouldn’t be strange to have several knights at a level not inferior to Kayla, and there was also a good possibility they had ties with Masters.
Although Kayla had grown to a level incomparable to the past, she had barely reached the advanced level.
She would become greater in the future, but that was a possibility, not the current reality.
‘Athena has barely reached the low-level or is about to…’
Moreover, there was also a magic tower in the Siglen County.
The power of a great lord combined with the help of a magic tower?
‘We must never be discovered.’
We watched the hippogriff with a highly tense air, and the hippogriff that had circled the sky a few times slowly began to return to the Siglen County.
“…For the time being, active activities on the surface are prohibited. And monitor the movements of the hippogriff as much as possible.”
“…Okay.”
The two, who also recognized the seriousness of the situation, nodded with a tense air.
In that way, for several days, we took turns monitoring the sky.
Hunting, which was the original purpose, was out of the question.
If we were discovered while out hunting, the loss would outweigh the gain, so we had no choice but to give up hunting and take turns checking if the hippogriff was coming.
It seemed to come for reconnaissance for about three days after we first came to the surface, but after that, we could confirm that the hippogriff didn’t appear even after two weeks had passed.
‘It never came down to the surface.’
In fact, I was worried that we might be discovered because of the goblin we killed on the first day, but thanks to it not coming down, we were able to get by without any problems.
There were a few dead monsters anyway, and the sight of one goblin corpse wasn’t unusual.
If they had seen it up close, they could have sensed something strange by seeing the traces of being cut by a sword, but they didn’t seem to be able to make such a detailed distinction from a distance.
‘In the end, the one making the judgment is human.’
Even if the hippogriff could distinguish it with its eyes, if humans couldn’t see it, it was no different from not seeing it.
“Will it… not come anymore?”
“It would be nice if that’s the case…”
“We should slowly start hunting too. Otherwise, we’ll have no choice but to reduce the food rations.”
I had no intention of doing that.
The internal order of the underground dungeon had finally been established.
If we reduced the food rations, the foundation could be shaken.
“…Since it hasn’t appeared for more than ten days, let’s start moving. It’s highly likely that they’ve been searching since before we came out, and have given up now.”
If they had started reconnaissance after repelling the monster wave and gaining some leeway, they would have been checking since before we came to the surface.
In that sense, it could be considered that they had checked for an even longer time than just four days.
Still, it was not good to let our guard down.
I told Baldur to have those in training take turns monitoring the sky.
After handing over the sky surveillance, the first thing I did was spread the traps Mutre had made.
It was the easiest way to exterminate the Giant Ant’s nest, but it required large-scale movement, so it was pushed to a lower priority.
It wasn’t time to relax yet, so I didn’t want to show any significant movement.
There was a high possibility of leaving traces.
Instead, what we did was direct hunting and massacring the villages of other monsters.
‘They also have food.’
They don’t store it in large quantities, but it’s not like they have none at all.
When I received a request from the lord before, it was impossible to do because the scale was too large, but now we only needed to feed a little over twenty people, so it was sufficiently possible.
The main target was goblins.
At least they ate things that overlapped with humans.
Plants, fruits, and things they could hunt were also okay for humans to eat, so they were the easiest targets.
Especially since they were weak, they also knew the habitats of edible plants and fruits, so it was a good method to annihilate their villages after finding out about them, as it would create a stable foundation for securing food.
‘It’s a bit unfortunate that looting monsters is a way to survive.’
When I said we would track and loot the goblins, Athena showed a slightly perplexed expression, but soon nodded as if she understood.
“Got it. If that’s what’s necessary, we have to do it. Thea did say it was getting urgent.”
“With our current strength, we should be able to loot orcs as well.”
Indeed, Kayla had grown, the number of undead had increased, and Athena could also pull her own weight now.
Therefore, Kayla’s words weren’t wrong, but I shook my head.
“What goblins eat is closer to what humans eat than what they eat.”
Orcs, which were entities that shouldn’t be touched in the past, had now become a level where we didn’t deal with them because of poor efficiency.
Honestly, I felt a bit emotional.
When deciding on the prey and thinking about creating a new map of the area considering the power structure that had changed due to the monster wave, I suddenly felt a sense of regret.
‘There must have been people who mainly gathered in the castle…’
There must have been places only they knew.
But they all died, so there was no way to find out.
‘It would be nice to include this in the map too.’
If we knew where fruits were mainly located and where edible plants grew, it would be a great help in improving the food situation.
Even if the power structure of monsters changed, this wouldn’t change much unless something drastic happened.
In a hurry, we first exploited the goblin village that was discovered first, and over the next few days, we created a new map of the area.
We also hunted animals that got caught in traps or stood out in the middle, securing the stability of the underground dungeon.
Even if the animals ran away, Kayla couldn’t be shaken off, so there was no difficult process.
On top of that, we discovered a new Giant Ant nest that had settled in this area and wiped them all out, so we were able to additionally secure a small amount of food.
It was less than twenty, but since the number of people was small, it was a number that couldn’t be ignored.
“It didn’t appear today either.”
“Good work, Talos.”
Talos was one of the three men receiving combat training from Baldur.
The names of the three were Talos, Melice, and Vergil, and since they had received combat training even before the monster wave occurred, they had fairly good skills.
Of course, none of them knew how to use mana, and their skills were inferior to even one of my skeletons, but it wasn’t meaningless given the nature of my underground dungeon, which lacked combatants.
‘Usually, they’ll serve as escorts when the residents go out, and in case of an emergency, they’ll just buy time.’
Even that was sufficient.
“With this much, wouldn’t they have just given up?”
I nodded at Athena’s words and answered.
“It seems so. There hasn’t been any sign of them recently.”
With this much, it was about time to seriously consider making this area my territory.
‘Should I start working on the land of the undead that I had put off?’
As time passed, I could see the grudges left on the land decreasing, but I couldn’t recklessly move, so I had no choice but to endure it.
‘…That place seems to be deepening in grudges though.’
It was the place where a large number of villagers were executed.
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