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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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‘Why the merchants?’
I hadn’t thought about it deeply, but at a glance, I had speculated that it was either an act by the Count’s family who didn’t want to lend the dwarves or people sent by another pioneering territory.
However, surprisingly, the culprits seemed to be merchants. Moreover, those affiliated with the Siglen County.
‘And it seems they aren’t the only ones chasing us…’
I didn’t know what had happened to Rankbink and the attendants.
Even if I hid the existence of these people, it would become meaningless.
‘I should just get rid of them all… and use it as a means to raise vigilance.’
To be precise, I planned to use it to pressure Banis’s psyche.
Instead of hunting beasts, I chose to hunt humans and remained hidden until they set up a temporary camp and fell asleep.
Although the weather was quite chilly, I had experienced much worse than this before.
‘This much is nothing.’
We couldn’t even light a fire in fear of being discovered, yet those bastards brazenly lit a fire, noisily assigned night watch shifts, and fell asleep.
I remained still without moving until then.
As the first night watch fell asleep and the second night watch couldn’t resist drowsiness and drooped their head…
Only then did I start moving.
They were too careless, perhaps not expecting to become prey themselves.
“Krk…”
They underestimated our abilities.
‘If Athena were here, it would have been much easier.’
She was more suited for this kind of work than me.
But it’s not like I couldn’t do it.
The night watch with a blade stuck in his throat trembled and died on the spot.
Vrroom.
The horses reacted first to the sudden attack, even before the humans.
I immediately extinguished the bonfire.
With almost no moonlight, the temporary camp was engulfed in complete darkness.
“What’s going on? What’s happening!”
“Ugh… I just fell asleep, what now…?”
Some reacted urgently to the sudden commotion, while others were still groggy, unable to grasp the situation.
I raised the one I had killed as a zombie and immediately headed towards the horses.
On a pitch-black night, humans who couldn’t use mana couldn’t even discern what was right in front of them.
“Graaah…”
“Damn it, it’s an enemy attack! Get up now!”
“Enemy attack?”
“Who the hell…? There shouldn’t be any strong monsters around here?”
As expected of those who had been active in the neighboring Siglen County, they seemed to know the monster distribution in this area.
Because of that, they were even more careless, convinced that there was nothing that could threaten them, and they didn’t anticipate my surprise attack at all.
I moved to where the horses were and released all of their horses.
Thud!
“Hihihihing!”
“Damn it, they’re targeting the horses! Stop them!”
Someone shouted upon hearing the sound, but there was nothing they could do in a situation where everything was dark.
And they were wrong.
I had no intention of killing these horses.
I stabbed the horses’ flanks or hindquarters with my sword, and the horses neighed in pain, starting to run amok.
Even if they were trained warhorses, they wouldn’t endure the pain of a blade piercing their body without a rider.
It was impossible for them not to run wild when they were attacked like this while resting, not in the midst of battle.
I guided the horses to charge towards the mercenaries, and as a result…
“Aargh!”
“Block them! Block theeem!”
“Where are they! Who are they!”
“Light, light the fire! I said light it up!”
In the meantime, the zombie I had raised was attacking them, chasing the life force of the living.
Not only were they trampled by the horses, but even a zombie was attacking them.
That wasn’t the end.
I observed the chaos from a distance and sniped those who were still resisting.
“Aaaaagh!”
Dagger throw.
They couldn’t see anything, but I could see very well.
Since no one was watching, I freely activated magical energy and could move freely in the darkness, unlike them.
‘Well, the night is the time for Warlocks, after all.’
Warlocks were always subjected to so much rejection that we had no choice but to get used to moving in the dark.
‘Although I was never chased after becoming a Warlock.’
I was always locked up in a dungeon under my master.
Still, it was true that I was accustomed to moving in the dark.
In the first place, magical energy was friendly with darkness.
Therefore, the battle was bound to be one-sided.
“Zo-zombie! It’s a Warlock!”
Someone among them identified my identity and shouted, but it was already a situation where they couldn’t do anything.
No, rather, his shout only further stimulated their fear.
A few who were still alive tried to flee upon hearing the word Warlock.
‘Absolutely not.’
I couldn’t let them escape.
I threw a dagger into the back of the one trying to flee.
I raised the one I killed like that with Animate Dead and continuously harassed them so they couldn’t escape the chaos.
Some of them even fought among themselves, unable to distinguish friend from foe.
The first ones to escape the chaos were the horses.
Two or three were killed by the mercenaries, but the rest managed to flee.
Next were the relatively low-level zombies. Of course, they didn’t escape of their own will, but their movements ceased at the hands of the mercenaries.
Although they were originally low-ability zombies, they played a significant role by utilizing the darkness and confusion. Nevertheless, they had their limits and were eventually subjugated by the mercenaries.
In the end, the ones who swung their weapons at each other until the last moment were the mercenaries.
“Stop! I said stop!”
Someone belatedly realized they were fighting among themselves and shouted.
Only four humans survived. One of them was in a state where he could die at any moment, and the other three also had wounds all over their bodies.
“Damn it… What the hell happened? The attacker? Didn’t someone say it was a Warlock?”
“No… No one’s there. I’m sure I cut down the zombies, but…”
“Did they just send the undead and watch from afar?”
“Sp-spare me… Spare me…”
“Fire. We need to light a fire. Hey! Flint! Someone find some flint!”
Despite someone’s shout, no one moved.
It made sense. Who would want to move in such a dangerous situation?
The Warlock might still be watching.
No one wanted to take the risk in that situation.
So they only kept talking about flint, but no one actually moved to find it.
Rather, when they sensed movement from somewhere, they immediately tensed up. It felt like watching a comedy skit.
Therefore, I decided to light a fire for them.
Whoosh.
“Finally… Who are you?”
“The one you’re looking for.”
I immediately sent a signal, and a zombie that had been on standby targeted the guy’s back.
It was the third zombie and the last one I created using my remaining magical energy.
I didn’t stay still either.
I also ambushed another one of them.
With the advantage of a surprise attack, coupled with the enemy’s poor physical condition and the difference in skill, subduing them was an easy task.
One mercenary remained.
Tremble, tremble.
The guy was trembling pathetically while holding a weapon.
“Are you going to attack?”
“If-if I surrender, will you spare me?”
“If you answer my questions well, I might spare your life.”
“…I-I surrender.”
“No, you crazy bastard! The enemy is a Warlock…!”
I stepped on the wrist of the guy lying on the ground and shouting.
“Aaaargh!”
“You don’t seem to understand the situation…”
I looked down at the fallen guy while holding a torch and said,
“You’re the ones who intruded into my territory uninvited.”
“Th-this is the territory of the Siglen County.”
“Well. Isn’t there a strange pioneering territory closer? And even if this place is part of the Siglen County’s territory…”
I smiled slightly and spoke in a condescending tone.
“I’m the one in effective control here.”
“…I apologize. We didn’t know this was a magician’s territory.”
“Well. Even if you apologize now, it doesn’t appease my mood. By the way, how long are you going to hold that weapon? Are you trying to fight?”
“So-sorry!”
Clang.
The guy immediately dropped his weapon and prostrated on the ground.
“So, what kind of bastards are you?”
“We-we’re… uh, chasing someone.”
“Someone? Who are you talking about?”
At my question, they hesitated, but when I asked again while stepping on the guy lying on the ground, they started spilling information in a frightened state.
They had no idea that I was one of the people they were chasing.
They might know the level of impression and attire, but even though I had lit a torch, it wasn’t very bright and still quite dark.
They never even imagined that there would be a Warlock among the fugitives, and they were in a state of half-panic until now, no, even at this very moment, so they had no presence of mind to recognize me.
‘Well, I’m not a noble, and they were too busy focusing on Rankbink.’
From their perspective, the individuals they had to be wary of were Rankbink and his subordinates.
The only one they might recognize was Kayla, the sole female.
I might have looked like a mere henchman on the surface.
I didn’t particularly mind that they didn’t pay attention to me.
‘It’s best for a Warlock to remain unnoticed.’
Thanks to their lack of attention, I was reaping benefits like this.
The information I obtained was more important than I had expected.
‘Are they out of their minds?’
It was a plan on a larger scale than I had imagined.
“You said you would spare my life. I, I told you everything! It’s not a lie! That’s all I know!”
“I didn’t say you lied. However, I said I might spare your life, not that I would definitely spare you.”
“…Damn you, Warlock bastard! I shouldn’t have trusted a Warlock! You will become a plaything for demons even in death! You will never be liberated!”
“Well… I don’t have a contracted demon. So it won’t go as you wish.”
I mocked his words and pierced the vital points of all the surviving mercenaries.
“Kuhk.”
After disposing of all of them, I considered how to handle the zombies.
‘Ah. There was that method.’
It would be good to raise one as a skeleton, but I had used up all my magical energy, and the preparations were a mess.
The biggest problem was that the staff that amplified my power wasn’t in my hands right now.
So I decided to handle the corpses and zombies in a different way.
First, I ordered the sole surviving zombie to “consume” the corpses.
While it was devouring the bodies, I gradually recovered my magical energy, and as soon as it was replenished, I cast a strengthening spell on the zombie.
Zombies hastily created with Animate Dead don’t last long originally.
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