The Necromancer Who Was Despised – Chapter 176

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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​​“And Master has become an Archmage, not just a mage. This is only natural.”

“…You said an Archmage is comparable to a Master, right?”

“Generally, yes.”

While their paths were different, they were considered equals in terms of power.

It was common knowledge that only a Master could kill an Archmage, and vice versa.

A Master had the advantage in a one-on-one fight, but a prepared Archmage was a formidable opponent, one that even Masters avoided.

Even after the battle ended, he didn’t dismiss the Zombies.

He had a use for them.

‘Gagar…’

It had been a while since their connection was severed.

He still vaguely remembered Gagar’s last known location, so he used the Zombies to search the area.

And there, they found traces of Gagar.

Fragments of his armor.

That was all.

His soul had completely dissipated, making resurrection impossible.

His companions fell silent, recognizing the armor fragments.

“Can we revive him…?”

He shook his head at Athena’s question.

He had been prepared for this, but it was still a loss.

It was the first time he had lost such a powerful undead.

While he felt a pang of regret, he had made his peace with it.

After a brief moment of silence in Gagar’s memory, he led the nearly two thousand Zombies towards the oasis.

“Stay back.”

They would only be in the way.

Having already eliminated and converted all the nearby monsters into Zombies, his companions readily agreed.

He first created a resting place for the Zombies.

Two thousand black tombstones erupted from the ground in a seemingly random pattern.

Each one was a resting place for a Zombie.

While it was a tedious process, assigning a Zombie to each tombstone, it wasn’t particularly difficult.

Once that was done, he began constructing the Silent Walls, just like he had at the main base.

However, while the basic structure was the same, the details were different.

Unlike the walls at the main base, which had absorbed the surrounding constructions, he didn’t intend to consume these tombstones.

And there were no other constructions to absorb.

They had all been destroyed during the attacks.

There were no bone walls or Bone Walls here, no bones buried underground, and most importantly, there was no Tower of Ghosts.

Therefore, these walls were less formidable than the ones at the main base.

There were no Shadow Beasts either.

But they were sufficient.

There were now two thousand tombstones, each containing a Zombie, connected to the Silent Walls.

The black tombstones resonated with the black walls, and the individual connections he had with the Zombies began to fade.

However, the Zombies remained.

They now drew demonic energy from the Eternal Resting Places and the Silent Walls.

And since they had their own tombs, the demonic energy required to maintain their existence decreased significantly.

‘A Zombie fortress.’

Two thousand Zombies, each with its own tomb, were now bound to the Silent Walls.

They would absorb the naturally generated demonic energy, recover, and emerge from their tombs at night to hunt monsters and offer them to the walls.

‘The walls will then either create new Zombies from the corpses or absorb them, converting them into demonic energy.’

It was a variation of the underground tombs.

That was an accurate assessment.

He had adapted the concept of the underground tombs to create these walls.

While he would have preferred to build a proper fortress, he had only had time to master the basic structure of the walls and adapt them to his own methods.

Moreover, due to the urgency of the situation, there were several shortcomings.

The expansion rate was still limited, and it was much slower than the underground tombs.

While the Zombies were powerful, they weren’t as strong as the ones he created directly.

He had bound the Zombies to the Silent Walls and added two thousand tombstones.

Therefore, the walls were the core of this structure.

He intended to build similar walls and tombstones at the third oasis.

It was sufficient for now, and as he grew stronger, he could reinforce them, eventually transforming them into true Zombie fortresses, comparable to the one at the main base.

He placed Gagar’s armor fragments at the center of the walls.

As the walls, a rudimentary Zombie fortress, were completed, his companions rejoined him.

“Two thousand Zombies will be maintained indefinitely?”

“Yes. They’ll rest during the day and hunt at night. Of course, they can still move during the day and defend against attacks.”

Naturally, not all the Zombies would be active at night.

Some would remain to defend the fortress.

“It’s like an underground tomb.”

“I used them as a reference.”

While the walls had their limitations, their adaptability was a significant advantage, allowing for various modifications.

He had compensated for their shortcomings with unconventional methods.

That’s why he considered them incomplete, while the dragon, viewing those unconventional methods as strengths, deemed them sufficient.

Golun was staring at the armor fragments.

-I didn’t get to talk to him properly. It’s a shame. But I admire his dedication to fighting for you until the end.

Was he imitating him?

Golun bowed his head slightly in a gesture of respect, and the other high-ranking undead followed suit.

“Sometimes, they seem more human than undead.”

It was true that high-ranking undead, with their developed egos, displayed such tendencies.

“We’ll rest here today and leave tomorrow.”

“What about the Phantom Steeds?”

“Hmm…”

There were Wyverns at the other oasis.

While he could handle them, it would be troublesome.

“I’ll give it a try.”

Athena looked pleased, and Kayla also seemed to be looking forward to it.

With plenty of undead to stand guard, they were able to rest peacefully within the Zombie fortress.

A large number of monsters attacked before dawn, perhaps unwilling to relinquish the oasis, but the Zombies rose from their tombs and repelled the assault.

They suffered minimal losses.

The walls immediately replenished the fallen Zombies with demonic energy.

The demonic energy consumed in the process could be easily replenished by absorbing the corpses of the slain monsters.

He had designed it that way.

Of course, since he was present, he simply replenished the demonic energy himself.

Waking up early due to the attack, he received the Hippogriff corpses from Athena and sent them into the dimensional fragment.

He intended to create the Phantom Steeds inside the dimensional fragment, seeking the dragon’s guidance.

“Go, go, Do Inha! You can do it!”

He stared at Athena, who was shouting nonsensical encouragement, and she sheepishly looked away, embarrassed.

However, she kept her fist raised high in the air.

He shook his head and entered the dimensional fragment.

-Do you think I’m your assistant?

“You said you would cooperate.”

-That’s true, but…

“This will strengthen our forces. And that will help you achieve your goals.”

-…You’re not wrong, but it’s strangely irritating.

“Let’s prioritize practicality over sentimentality. Now, tell me what you know.”

While the dragon’s words were merely advice, and he would have to adapt and recreate the methods himself, it would save him a significant amount of time.

He knew the basic method for creating Phantom Steeds.

However, he couldn’t guarantee he could create high-quality, flying steeds immediately.

Using Hippogriff corpses would make the process easier, but research was still necessary, and he wanted to shorten that time and ensure success by seeking the dragon’s guidance.

The dragon sighed, seemingly resigned to his assertive attitude, and began to share its knowledge.

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His plan to leave that day failed.

They were only able to depart the next day, but he and a few others were now riding Phantom Steeds.

They had driven the monsters away from the oasis Baldur had been defending, and Athena and Kayla, now mounted on Phantom Steeds, had rained down destruction on the Wyverns.

They had practiced during their journey, and by the time they reached the oasis, they were capable of basic aerial combat.

Of course, it was only basic, and they were no match for the Wyverns in a proper dogfight.

However, they had been able to eliminate the Wyverns easily thanks to him.

He had bombarded the Wyverns with curses, and since they had sacrificed other attributes for flight, they were particularly vulnerable to curses.

Weighted down, weakened, and slowed, they struggled to even stay airborne, let alone fight, making them easy targets.

However, the Phantom Steeds, despite their ability to fly, weren’t without their drawbacks.

“Flying is nice, but fighting is difficult. It’s a good thing I can use this for mid-range combat. Otherwise, it would have been a headache.”

Athena said, touching the Wind Dragon’s Fang.

“They’re more suited for mages than warriors.”

Kayla also pointed out the limitations of the Liches.

“That might be true if the enemy doesn’t have any powerful mages, but they make easy targets if there’s a way to attack them. I wouldn’t take that risk.”

Even non-mages could find ways to target them.

“They’re not completely useless. I like that they’re silent. And even just hovering slightly above the ground makes them incredibly difficult to deal with.”

“Being able to ignore terrain is a huge advantage. Our expectations were simply unrealistic.”

Judging by her use of “our,” she and Kayla had apparently shared their fantasies.

The Phantom Steeds couldn’t maintain stable flight after taking a certain amount of damage in the air.

Aerial combat was practically impossible unless they completely overwhelmed their opponents. If they hadn’t been able to slaughter the Wyverns so easily, they would have been better off fighting on the ground.

Kayla and Athena had sparred in the air, and they reported that unless they could defeat their opponent in a single blow, even a single exchange could be dangerous.

He had witnessed several near-collisions during their sparring sessions.

‘They said these weren’t meant for humans.’

They would be much more effective for high-ranking undead like Death Knights.

But even then, there were limitations.

As Athena had said, even Death Knights primarily used their flight to gain a positional advantage, attacking from above or using the terrain to their advantage.

Even they rarely flew high into the sky.

“They’re not as good as I imagined, but flying is fun, so it’s fine.”

“Even this is incredible. Thank you, Master.”

He shrugged at their comments.

Baldur had benefited the most from the creation of the Phantom Steeds.

He received a Phantom Steed for himself, and his Living Armors received the Skeletal Steeds.

While it was a small number, they now had a cavalry unit.

And they could still fight on the ground, allowing for more diverse tactics.

He hoped this would compensate for the loss of one of their members.

“What are we going to do with the Wyvern corpses?”

“…Just store them for now.”

Turning them into undead wouldn’t be very effective, as they wouldn’t be able to fly properly.

And even if he could make them fly, he wasn’t sure how useful they would be, considering the Phantom Steeds’ performance.

‘It would be better to focus on turning Entin into a Knight Banneret.’

He decided to leave the Wyverns for now, as they didn’t have any effective offensive capabilities.

After reclaiming the third oasis and transforming it into a Zombie fortress, he sighed in relief.

‘I’ve regained control over the Barren Lands.’

While it would be more challenging due to the increased number of monsters, he had also grown stronger, so it wasn’t a concern.

Once he sealed the gate and redeployed Golun to the second oasis and Baldur’s party to the third, they would regain stability.

As time passed, he would eventually gain complete control over the Barren Lands.

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