The Necromancer Who Was Despised – Chapter 184

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

 
There was no one in Jutus who could oppose him, and his undead forces steadily grew, as planned.

He destroyed the Goddess Religion’s temples in the captured villages, rounded up those associated with the temples, identified the devout followers, and eliminated them, raising them as undead.

He also made sure to tell them to abandon their faith in the Goddess of Light.

While this could potentially create more fanatics, he wasn’t willing to stay silent.

As the captured villagers were gathered in the largest of the conquered villages, Kayla asked,

“There are quite a few of them. Are you planning to send them all to Lineta?”

“Yes. Honestly, I’d like to take even the people from the main castle, but that might be too much for the territory to handle.”

He had essentially said he needed more people, despite Kayla’s implication that there were already many.

Of course, it wasn’t that he actually needed more. There were enough people here to populate two villages.

And this was after he had killed a significant number of them. There had been a surprisingly large number of devout followers in this territory, effectively a domain of the Goddess Religion.

Despite their lack of divine power, he hadn’t spared them, as he had initially intended.

While they likely feared him, he wasn’t concerned, as he wouldn’t be seeing them again after handing them over to Lineta.

Surprisingly, none of them seemed to harbor any resentment towards him.

Perhaps, from their perspective, he was a force of nature, a natural disaster.

He had never seen anyone hold a grudge against a natural disaster, so they were likely just hoping to survive.

“It will be troublesome transporting so many people.”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult with the Skeletal Steeds. We can plunder food and carriages.”

Doriem wouldn’t object to that.

In fact, he would request additional resources from them if necessary.

“…You seem to have become bolder since becoming an Archmage.”

“I don’t think so.”

He didn’t think he had changed much.

He was simply able to do things he couldn’t do before due to his lack of power.

In the past, he had been forced to be cautious and subservient due to his weakness, but now, others had to tread carefully around him.

He had the power to demand what he needed. He had earned that right.

While he still needed to be careful around the royal family, he didn’t have to be as cautious as before.

“By now, they should realize I’m a bigger threat than Doriem…”

He now commanded a thousand Skeleton Warriors, fifteen Mummy Priests, five Draugr, and he had even created a Bone Golem.

While he still only had two Skeleton Knights, they should be aware that the situation was escalating.

“…Unless they’re willing to abandon their territory, they’ll come for us.”

“Their slow reaction suggests the Goddess Religion’s influence is significant.”

For the Goddess Religion, Jutus and the surrounding territories weren’t essential conquests.

While they would gladly take them, their primary objective was to weaken the kingdom.

It seemed they were willing to cause as much chaos as possible since they couldn’t conquer Doriem, let alone hold Jutus.

The lord of Jutus, despite his allegiance to the Empire, wouldn’t abandon his territory.

Therefore, he would have to send at least some of his forces.

Athena was currently scouting the area.

‘I’d prefer it if they sent their entire army.’

While it would mean abandoning the front lines, it was the only logical course of action if they didn’t want to lose their territory.

And fortunately, they seemed to have decided to target him first.

Jutus’ entire army was marching towards them, abandoning the front lines.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

It was a welcome development.

If he eliminated their main force, the request from the royal family would be effectively complete.

He had intended to finish the request quickly, and he had already achieved most of his objectives.

He had created a large number of undead from human corpses, significantly improving his skills in undead creation.

He had expanded his forces, gathered the people Prina had requested, and if he completed the request and returned safely, it would be a perfect outcome.

And Jutus’ main force was filled with potential Knight-level undead.

There were over ten knights, and if he included the mana-wielding mercenaries…

‘I can create over thirty.’

That would be enough to form a proper knight order.

And he would acquire numerous other corpses as well…

He hadn’t had the opportunity to create this many undead from human corpses in his previous life.

While he wasn’t completely inexperienced, his former master had lived in seclusion, making it easier to acquire monster corpses, so he had mostly practiced his magic on monsters.

That had continued in this life, and he had created more undead from monsters than humans.

Therefore, this opportunity to legally practice on a large number of humans was particularly beneficial.

He had been able to freely experiment with methods he hadn’t been able to try before.

Of course, there was still room for improvement.

He had only just become an Archmage and needed more practice.

That’s why he intended to eliminate Jutus’ entire army.

And he would claim all their corpses.

“They’ve completely abandoned the front lines?”

“Yes. Their entire army is heading this way.”

Athena confirmed she had seen it with her own eyes.

They were slow, but decisive.

“They’re willing to engage us in a direct confrontation, despite knowing our strength… they must be confident in their priests.”

“Probably.”

Warlocks were vulnerable to divine power.

It was common knowledge.

While he was a rare exception, their judgment wasn’t entirely wrong.

“They probably believe they can defeat us if they commit all their forces, even if it’s a little late.”

And if possible, they wouldn’t give up on attacking Doriem.

With continued support from the Empire, it wasn’t impossible.

They had already managed to breach Doriem’s defenses and cause chaos within their territory, so the Empire wouldn’t withdraw their support.

Though the royal family wouldn’t stand idly by either.

‘Of course, that’s assuming they can defeat me with minimal losses.’

They didn’t know.

His undead were more resistant to divine power than those of other necromancers.

While they would still be weakened, it wouldn’t be crippling.

And with his support… even that weakness would become insignificant.

They would be facing an immortal army, impervious to divine power.

“Should we go out to meet them?”

“Meet them?”

There were villagers here, essentially prisoners of war.

It would be troublesome if they tried to escape or cause a commotion during the battle.

Kayla agreed, and Athena shuddered, seemingly imagining the chaos.

“Annelise, I’ll give you command of a Centurion. Stay here and manage the villagers.”

“Yes.”

While she would be helpful in battle, managing the prisoners was also important.

He couldn’t assign this task to Eryan, as he still seemed to harbor some lingering loyalty towards Jutus.

After giving Annelise command of some of the undead, he led the rest, along with his companions, to intercept the enemy army.

They met them halfway between Jutus’ main castle and the front lines.

The enemy didn’t seem surprised to see them.

They were an army, after all.

While they might not have noticed their movements initially, they would have realized they were approaching.

Reconnaissance was a basic military tactic, and the enemy would have scouts deployed.

He had seen a few observing them from a distance.

He hadn’t bothered eliminating them.

He didn’t care if they were prepared or not, as long as they didn’t flee.

As they faced the enemy army, a priest stepped forward, seemingly their representative.

“Hmm, you seem more capable than I anticipated… but your confidence is misplaced.”

It was an elderly man, his pristine robes adorned with the insignia of a bishop.

“Bishop Boledi…”

Eryan recognized the priest.

A bishop… he was a high-ranking figure.

“What a strange army.”

Despite being composed of knights, soldiers, and mercenaries from Jutus and the surrounding territories, their representative was a priest.

It wasn’t an alliance, the nobles had effectively surrendered to the Empire.

Bishop Boledi, seemingly hearing Eryan’s voice, looked at him and said,

“Eryan. I heard you defected. And now you’ve joined forces with a necromancer? How pathetic.”

Eryan didn’t respond, simply glaring at the bishop with contempt.

They clearly weren’t on good terms.

Losing interest in Eryan, Bishop Boledi turned to him.

“You’re a powerful necromancer. What is your name?”

“Do Inha.”

“Ah, so you’re Do Inha. I heard you were in Lineta… you’re far more powerful than I expected. When did you reach 6th circle?”

Bishop Boledi chuckled.

“You’re quite impressive. But your confidence is misplaced. You’ve achieved too much, too soon. It seems you’re favored by demons.”

“Perhaps.”

Perhaps because he was a priest, he couldn’t accurately gauge his power.

He had partially concealed his strength, but it was still disappointing that a bishop couldn’t sense it.

“I’ll have to eliminate you before you grow any stronger. I didn’t want to come here, but… it seems it was a wise decision after all. A blessing from the Goddess.”

It felt more like a monologue than a conversation, so he decided it wasn’t worth listening to anymore.

They were all going to die anyway. He might as well get it over with and collect their corpses.

He sent the Draugr and the Bone Golem forward.

Hundreds of Skeletons marched behind them in perfect formation.

“…Tsk.”

The bishop clicked his tongue and retreated into the ranks of the human soldiers.

“Stop them! Hold them back as long as you can! They’ll crumble soon enough! Show them the power of the holy army!”

‘Holy army?’

It was absurd.

While they had a significant number of priests, their forces were primarily mercenaries. Calling them a holy army was ridiculous.

He wasn’t sure if the bishop was serious or if it was just political posturing to maintain control over the mercenaries.

But it didn’t matter.

The mercenaries at the front obeyed the bishop’s orders and moved to intercept his undead.

“Hold them back!”

“They’re just big brutes! Just hold them for a moment! The priests will take care of them!”

Perhaps due to their experience as mercenaries, their response was swift and effective.

They tried to restrain the Bone Golem by throwing ropes with stones attached, and several large mercenaries focused on tying down the Draugr.

Other mercenaries formed groups to block the Skeleton Warriors supporting the Bone Golem and Draugr.

Bang! Clang!

Perhaps driven by the bishop’s words, they focused on restraining the undead instead of trying to destroy them, and the priests gathered together and began to sing.

A hymn. Or rather, a chant.

It wasn’t an ordinary song. It was infused with divine power, a classic, albeit simple, form of divine magic.

And it was particularly effective against undead.

Undead were weakened by divine power. A sufficiently powerful chant, performed by a large group of priests, could even purify and destroy undead.

It wasn’t completely ineffective. The undead’s movements slowed noticeably as the chant continued.

“Good! The priests are…”

But that was all.

While they were slightly weakened, it wasn’t enough for the ordinary mercenaries to defeat his Skeleton Warriors.

Mercenaries fell, and those restraining the Bone Golem and Draugr looked bewildered.

“W-why are they so strong?”

“The chant… it’s not working?”

A look of surprise crossed the bishop’s face.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

[Your Text Here]