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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Orie glanced at the Living Armors, then smiled.
-It’s different now, so it shouldn’t matter. Cereo seems to be a bit disoriented, but we’ll correct that gradually. Hmm, you can act as you did in the past during battles. Your combat style is heavily influenced by that time, after all.
Annelise glanced at me, and I nodded, giving her permission to follow Orie’s instructions.
It was true, and it was what I intended to do anyway, so I didn’t say anything further.
‘It seems she’s reading my intentions…’
She couldn’t read my mind completely.
However, as my undead, it was natural for her to understand my intentions, and she seemed to be actively utilizing that ability.
‘Indeed, she’s quite useful, despite the burden.’
Burden.
That was correct.
After she became fully active, I realized I couldn’t increase the number of undead under my direct control.
A Wraith Queen wasn’t easy for a 5th circle necromancer to handle.
It wasn’t impossible. And I wasn’t an ordinary 5th circle necromancer, my mental strength had once touched the 7th circle, so controlling her wasn’t too burdensome.
‘That would have been the case if it was just her.’
However, that wasn’t the case anymore.
Including her, there were six high-ranking undead with distinct egos.
Furthermore, I was directly controlling two Centurions and a Bone Golem.
‘It’s a delicate balance.’
I could safely increase the number of undead.
Creating more and placing them under the Centurions’ command wouldn’t be a problem.
However, I couldn’t place them under my direct control.
Even now, I was maintaining a precarious balance.
I was seriously considering placing the Bone Golem under a Centurion’s command.
However, that would reduce the effectiveness of my valuable meat shield, so I was holding off for now.
We formed a basic defensive formation and continued forward.
Contrary to our expectations, we didn’t encounter any immediate attacks, even after venturing deep into the area where we found bloodstains.
However, we remained vigilant.
Rabid and Arahad, the Living Armors with shields, led the vanguard, followed by Flana, the Living Armor with a spear.
‘Or rather, Elite Living Armors.’
Kayla and Baldur positioned themselves near Flana, ready to intervene, and I stopped Athena, who wanted to scout ahead, placing her behind Kayla.
While using Athena for reconnaissance was a valid strategy, it wasn’t necessary with undead forming the vanguard.
Annelise and I were in the rear, escorted by Nenson, Lengvin, and Cereo.
Orie floated silently behind me.
As we went deeper, the walls began to change.
‘These murals seem strangely familiar.’
They were similar to the ones we saw in the cave behind the waterfall.
It was proof that the map was accurate.
At the same time, I could sense a faint but growing presence of divine power.
And when we reached a certain depth…
Clank
The vanguard stopped, and everyone tensed.
We hadn’t misheard.
Something was moving further inside.
Clank, Thud. Thud, Thud.
We instantly shifted into combat formation.
“There’s more than one!”
Judging by the footsteps alone, we knew there were multiple entities.
The thudding sounds grew louder and more frequent.
“Stone? Are they statues?”
The loud, heavy footsteps belonged to moving statues.
Moreover, they all radiated divine power.
‘Living Armors powered by divine power, and moving statues…’
The Earth Mother Religion, not magic, but a religion.
It was clearly no ordinary religion.
“Be careful when defending.”
Baldur nodded at Kayla’s words.
They were undoubtedly heavy, and their movements didn’t seem slow, indicating considerable power.
Furthermore, they were imbued with divine power…
I quickly used Aura of Death and enhanced my undead.
‘Fortunately, the passage isn’t very wide.’
With Rabid, Arahad, Kayla, and Baldur blocking the front, it would be difficult for them to break through.
Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud!
Perhaps sensing the strong demonic energy from Aura of Death, the statues accelerated.
As expected, they seemed intent on killing us.
‘Is it the demonic energy? They’re quite agitated.’
The statues charging towards us, filling the passage, were certainly intimidating.
The vanguard braced for impact.
They lowered their stances, channeling demonic energy and mana, shields raised.
Crash!
A deafening roar echoed, shaking the passage.
The amplified sound reverberated through the confined space, causing Annelise to flinch.
As a dark elf half-blood, her hearing would be more sensitive. It was an understandable reaction.
However, she quickly recovered, firing her first arrow.
It flew swiftly, piercing one of the statues that had collided with Rabid.
‘That’s fast.’
Perhaps due to the artifact bow, the arrow’s speed was exceptional.
Bows were heavily influenced by their quality, and the power of an artifact bow was undeniable.
Annelise’s skill in wielding it was also commendable.
Flana, from the second rank, thrust his spear, impaling another statue that failed to defend itself, shattering its body.
[T/N: remember it’s undead no.1 so it’s a male not actually Flana from earlier in the story]
Unholy Aura flickered around Flana’s spear.
‘The vanguard… held their ground well.’
Despite the deafening roar and the force of the impact, the vanguard remained unscathed.
It was an expected outcome for Kayla, and Baldur was also quite stable.
Having learned the fundamentals from Kayla for years, his foundation was solid, and in terms of stability, he surpassed even Athena.
While Athena’s talent and my support had allowed her to surpass Baldur, he was superior in this aspect.
It was Baldur’s strength.
Furthermore, Rabid and Arahad, having become high-ranking undead, had grown in size and power, and with their newly formed egos, their ability to utilize their bodies had dramatically improved.
Therefore, the vanguard not only withstood the powerful attacks but began to counterattack.
Slash, Crash!
Dense Aura enveloped Kayla and Baldur’s swords.
They struck down the first wave of statues, crushing those that fell.
Even after being shattered, parts of the statues continued to move.
Even the one Annelise had initially pierced continued to twitch, despite Rabid’s follow-up attack.
Athena quickly provided support, finishing off the downed statues, and in the process, she identified their weakness.
“Cores! They have cores! Located in their chests!”
Fortunately, their location seemed fixed.
With Athena’s information, the vanguard’s momentum shifted.
Their attacks, now aimed at the cores, became even more effective, and any statue that fell didn’t rise again.
‘Annelise is accurate too.’
She skillfully destroyed the cores in their chests without hindering the vanguard.
-Aren’t you going to join the fight?
Orie asked.
“Well, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
They were fighting well, and my curses were limited against these statues, so I didn’t see a need to intervene.
Using powerful offensive magic in this narrow passage was risky, and as statues, they weren’t something I could recycle even if they were destroyed.
-Then may I join?
“Hmm. If you wish.”
Actually, the Wraith Queen, Orie, wasn’t a good match against these statues.
Objectively, she was a worse matchup than even me. A Wraith’s primary attack methods were illusions and energy drain.
She could induce unconsciousness, manipulate dreams, and even exert some physical influence.
As an evolved Specter, her power and versatility had increased, but illusions and curses wouldn’t work on these golem-like guardians, and draining their divine energy would be detrimental to Orie, an undead.
Therefore, her physical attacks were her only viable option, and I doubted they would be very effective.
‘She has other attack methods, but they’re not suitable against these opponents.’
They were particularly weak against divine power.
However, Orie seemed to have a different idea, and I gave her permission to act as she pleased.
With my approval, Orie immediately took to the air, overlooking the statues from above.
Then, she waved her hand.
She exerted physical force. As expected, it was far stronger and had a wider range than when she was a Specter.
Moreover, it was a ranged physical attack.
The statues in the middle staggered, and one by one, they began to stumble into each other.
An artificial bottleneck.
Orie created it in this confined space.
Thanks to this, the vanguard quickly eliminated the remaining statues, then turned their attention to the tangled mess, counterattacking.
‘A counterattack…’
A bottleneck created by the tangled statues in the narrow passage.
It gave us time to regroup and seize the initiative.
Orie continued to toy with the statues from above, preventing them from regrouping, and some, noticing her presence, threw their weapons at her.
The weapons, imbued with divine power, could harm Orie if they landed.
However, Orie wasn’t foolish enough to be hit by such attacks.
Instead, she openly mocked them from above, manipulating the battle to our advantage.
After eliminating all the statues, I checked on my companions; no one was even injured.
It was a clean victory.
I ordered a short rest, then had the undead clear the path of the shattered statues.
“It’s certainly helpful having more diverse support in the rear.”
Kayla responded to Athena’s mutterings.
“It increases our firepower. Master’s support alone was significant, but having more options and different approaches is definitely beneficial.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to imply Master’s support was lacking.”
“I know. Master couldn’t deploy all of his undead due to the circumstances.”
“That’s true. And Orie is Master’s undead as well.”
Orie bowed her head slightly at Athena’s words.
“While powerful mages are valuable, having archers for pinpoint support and mages for supplementary magic makes combat much easier.”
-Thank you for the compliment.
While Orie wasn’t a mage, she had similar qualities.
Annelise, realizing she had been indirectly praised, breathed a sigh of relief.
Even I thought her performance was commendable.
Of course, the artifact and magical power played a significant role.
‘Perhaps because her magical power was formed using my demonic energy, she seems to be slightly affected by Aura of Death.’
She seemed oblivious due to her nervousness, but I could see the subtle influence.
Of course, the amount of demonic energy I provided was minuscule, and she wasn’t my undead, so it would be difficult to notice… but it was significant.
‘If I play my cards right, she might even be able to receive my enhancements.’
Of course, it was just a possibility.
Moreover, she wasn’t undead, so forcefully enhancing her could put a strain on her body.
The reason this was so peculiar was that the demonic energy I provided was pure, unrefined.
While it could be slightly influenced by my inscription, it was negligible…
‘Did something change when I absorbed the dimensional fragment…?’
It seemed I needed to investigate further.
While I was lost in thought, Kayla was praising Baldur and giving him advice on how to improve.
Once they finished, I declared the end of the break, and we continued deeper into the ruin.
As we progressed, the space gradually widened, revealing more of the ruin’s interior.
Perhaps the statues we had defeated were the guardians of this area, as we didn’t encounter any more for a while.
The surroundings brightened, to the point where our luminous stones were no longer necessary.
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