Necromancer Of The Black Bible (134)

Uooh-

The moans escaping from the corpses made the situation even more desperate.

Viscount Grovebern, watching the situation from the center of the army, pressed his throbbing forehead.

‘Damn it!!!’

All predictions had missed the mark.

He had lost his two strongest commanders and his only magician, and even the thousand vanguard units he could trust were gone.

What was even more shocking was that the dead had risen as corpse soldiers and were slaughtering their allies.

‘What should we do now!’

As he thought this, one of the commanders approached and shouted.

“Viscount! You must take cover!”

“Here? How!”

There were already only their own troops in every direction.

That was inevitable because corpses were attacking from the front and rear.

As they retreated, the soldiers crowded into the center.

“I’ll clear a path.”

“You?”

Grovebern looked at the commander again.

Commander Alex.

He was the youngest among the commanders, but possessed excellent judgment and quick reflexes.

That was why he had been recently promoted to commander.

Alex gripped the shaft of his spear tightly and said.

“Follow closely. If the Viscount survives, there will be a next step.”

“Understood.”

Grovebern nodded. Alex immediately turned and swung his spear.

“Kyaaah!”

A soldier collapsed, coughing blood with a sharp scream, but Alex shouted with a resolute expression.

“Everyone, move aside! Anyone who blocks the way will be cut down!”

Frightened soldiers stepped back one by one, but Alex did not wait.

He spurred his horse and sliced down those who hindered him one by one.

Grovebern rode after him.

Alex’s spear was relentless.

Though many soldiers had followed him until then, he mercilessly cut through them and pressed forward.

Grovebern followed him and shouted.

“Clear the way! Scatter! If you bunch up, you’ll die!”

He shouted desperately, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the soldiers’ screams and other cries.

Then Alex, who was ahead, stopped.

“Why aren’t you advancing?”

“Viscount.”

Alex turned with an embarrassed face and answered.

“It seems this is as far as we can go.”

“What?”

Alex did not answer Grovebern’s question and moved forward.

Looking closely, someone was standing in front of Alex.

A faceless phantom knight.

Mounted on a terrifying skeletal steed, he blocked the way.

Grovebern quickly looked back, but only a desperate scene unfolded.

Charred corpses were killing soldiers in an irresistible onslaught.

Where the screams were unusually loud stood revived commanders.

Gerhardt of the Iron Wall and Krause the Red Wolf.

Having risen as corpses, they unleashed even more powerful attacks than when they were alive, slaughtering Grovebern’s soldiers.

What was more despairing was that the dead soldiers rose again as corpse soldiers.

Not long after the battle began, the battlefield already contained more corpse soldiers than living ones.

‘At this rate, it’s over.’

At that thought, a light breeze rose ahead.

Ssak-

Like the wind, the approaching ghost knight cut Alex, who had stood in the way with his spear, slicing through the shaft as well.

Then he leapt lightly off his horse.

Grovebern could only watch the scene.

Alex’s severed body slowly disintegrated, and the ghost knight trampled the heads of the soldiers before him as he approached Grovebern.

And then.

Ssaak-

An even lighter breeze than before swept up.

Soon Grovebern’s consciousness faded to black.

The war was completely over the moment the commander died and rose again as a corpse.

Until then most soldiers had fought with polearms, but afterward they lost morale and began to flee.

But even that was not easy.

Among the corpse soldiers were about a thousand mounted ones, and they chased down and killed those fleeing with their backs turned.

The southwestern plains of Viscount Grovebern’s domain were stained entirely red by that day’s battle.

Grovebern’s five thousand soldiers were reborn intact as Natasha’s undead troops, and after the battle they slowly marched toward Brandstein Castle.

Natasha and Verdin rode side by side and talked from the rear of the group.

“I used to be afraid of war… but I don’t think so anymore.”

“Because we won, isn’t it?”

“Well…”

Natasha thought for a moment, tilted her head, and continued.

“Even before, in the wars I saw following my father, we always won. Still, I was scared. The bleeding, the screaming, the dying.”

Natasha’s eyes glittered as she nodded.

“Right. War was scary because people died. They weren’t related to me, but I didn’t like them dying. But now I feel differently about death.”

Verdin didn’t answer and gazed at Natasha blankly.

She spoke with a slightly flushed expression.

“Death is not the end. It’s just the beginning, and above all, the dead become our family, so I feel at ease.”

“…I see.”

Verdin agreed with her words.

When alive, death was a frightening thing.

They thought it meant everything ended and returned to nothingness.

Because they knew nothing about what comes after death, they were blindly afraid.

No matter the chivalry, because death is feared, people swear oaths about the life they have left.

But existing in this dead state greatly changed the concept of death.

It felt less like fear and more like a new opportunity, a kind of chance to be with everyone else.

Verdin looked at his translucent hand and began to speak.

“Life and death. Which one is real?”

“What do you mean by that?”

To Natasha’s question, Verdin flipped his hand over and answered.

“The living must die, but those of us already dead have no reason to die again, right?”

“True… that is true.”

Natasha scratched her chin and thought.

Verdin’s point was correct.

Those who have already died cannot die again.

The owner of the Ethereal Gate, Damian, can annihilate them, but that annihilation is a completely different concept from the death of lifeforms that presupposes a lifespan.

“We will not necessarily be annihilated. Then what lies at the end of death?”

No one could answer Natasha’s question.

Verdin was silent, and even Damian said nothing.

As the silence lengthened, Natasha and Verdin’s thoughts deepened.

Life and death.

Why do humans live and die?

And how, despite being dead, could they continue to be active like this?

If there were a god in this world, why did he create it, and why make humans live?

Everything was a question.

They knew there was only one person who could answer these questions.

Ironically, he was keeping silent at that moment.

And so they arrived before Brandstein Castle.

Black storm clouds began to cover the sky here as if Laerin, watching from somewhere, kept guard.

Rumble-

Kwararak-

Thunder and lightning shook the heavens and earth.

The chief guard protecting the castle saw them and gave orders.

“They’re the enemy! Close the gate and draw up the bridge!”

The soldiers began to move in perfect unison.

At the same time, the bridge over the moat slowly began to lift, and the gate beyond it started to close tightly.

They rained arrows, but none of them struck anyone down.

Cannons on the walls were then prepared.

Verdin had no intention of standing idly by.

“I’ll open the gate.”

Before Natasha could respond, Verdin advanced toward the castle alone.

The guards raised the bridge as quickly as possible, but Verdin was faster. Two streams of Sword-energy he fired cut the chains raising the bridge on both sides in turn, and the gravity-pulled bridge soon fell limply to the ground.

Verdin unleashed three more blasts of Sword-energy at the gate and dashed forward like the wind.

The gate soon swung wide open.

The undead legion led by Natasha killed all the living and welcomed them as new comrades.

It took only an hour to seize Brandstein Castle.

Thus Natasha and Verdin took Viscount Grovebern’s domain into their hands.

Laerin, who had watched from start to finish as Natasha and Verdin took Viscount Grovebern’s domain, could not help but doubt her eyes.

‘How could they…’

Laerin knew Viscount Grovebern and his army well.

Including Konrad, the Chief of Staff and powerful magician, Gerhardt of the Iron Wall, and Krause the Red Wolf.

And likewise brave commanders and five thousand well-trained elite soldiers.

Knowing their strength, she had moved from the start in the direction of cooperation.

But Viscount Grovebern’s forces were conquered by those two in just one day.

Everything had unfolded exactly as Mother Cirrhnua had said.

<No one will die. Now go and tell them this: a surprise attack will come around the third rooster’s crow tomorrow morning, and its scale will be five thousand. If you just tell them to prepare for this, they will take care of it.>

Recalling her Mother’s words, Laerin quietly closed her eyes.

‘All the words came true. I must go tell Mother.’

Laerin quietly moved her steps.

Wrapped by Sylphs, no one could see her.

At the same time her body felt light enough to fly.

With the Sylphs’ help, Laerin entered a cave in the forest.

There the surviving villagers were waiting for her.

“Laerin! We’ve been waiting for you!”

“What happened? What about Grovebern?”

“Did they really leave?”

“They’re not hiding outside the forest, are they?”

“Is that sister and the ghost knight okay?”

Children and adults fired questions at once, but Laerin answered each without annoyance.

“It’s been resolved. Grovebern’s army has retreated. Lady Natasha and the ghost knight are safe. You may go out and resume your activities now.”

The survivors’ faces brightened at Laerin’s reply.

“Can we really go outside?”

“Yes.”

Laerin nodded again, and soon the survivors went out, offering thanks.

After they all left the cave, Laerin moved on again.

To the deep chamber where her Mother’s heartstone lay.

Laerin hurried and soon arrived at the chamber’s entrance.

As she was about to enter as usual, a shadow appeared from somewhere and blocked her path.

“Hm?”

Laerin casually lifted her head and soon met the eyes of a strange man.

A man with red eyes.

Within the depths of those eyes, a shimmering green glow rippled.

Just as she felt that green light was somehow familiar, the man’s voice sounded.

“From here on, the adults will converse, so would you step aside?”

A voice she could not refuse.

Hearing it, Laerin had no choice but to step back.

The man leisurely stepped forward and stood before Cirrhnua’s heartstone.

He was Damian.