Weed found a cave to hide in with little difficulty. A cave that was not artificial, but natural. It was a hole that spewed lava when the tectonic plates collided.

If you went deep into the underground territory you could see lava flowing, emitting immense heat. Though there were monsters like dolphins and spearfish jumping out of the lava, Weed didn’t look for very long.

“No, who knows if just looking at them could burn me then there’s no way I’d want to fight with those guys!”

Golden Bird was confused and wondered why Weed was staring at him so intently.

“If I were as free as a bird, it would be a convenient way to scout. After all, flying would be much easier.”

Using Golden Bird as a reference, Weed created a new piece. Covered in volcanic ash; dark as night; a creature that blended with the current environment: he made a crow.

“Sculpture transformation!”

Weed’s body suddenly shrunk and doubled over. Feathers sprouted over his body and his mouth transformed into a sharp beak; his beady eyes turned jet black like coal.

• In this form you will not be able to use your current equipment.A small winged creature will suffer a penalty when wearing heavy equipment.
• Wearing heavy equipment has severely impacted your current agility
• If you do not maintain the minimum amount of strength and agility it will be impossible to walk or fly.
• The effect of sculpture transformation has lowered knowledge and wisdom to its lowest point. However, agility has improved for quick flight

His current stats were impacted as it imitated a bird completely, all feathers and no brain.

Weed wanted to test out cawing once.

“It’s stuck in the AH Ah Ah Ah AAH.”

It was a very irritating, unpleasant noise that frightened golden bird a little, annoyed Yellowy, and made Geumini wince in resignation.

“Anyways, I’ll just scout around for a bit.”

A crow is not suited for battle. Even worse, it’s beak can’t be used for writing, and it is unable to use any kind of equipment.

“Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.”

Weed did a small series of steps to adapt to his new body. He sat down and stood up again, then folded and unfolded his wings. As a small crow, there were a number of things to adapt to. After staggering around for about 10 minutes in that awkward body, he seemed to get the hang of it.

“Well, I think it’s time to try flying.”

Weed sped up the vacant lot like a plane taking off.

*Da da da da da da da da*

Weed lifted off from the ground as he scooped up the empty air under his wings. It was unstable, but he finally left the ground, flying as a crow. It was awkward but successful.

Digging with his wings into the air, he soared higher and higher. From his place in the sky he could pick out firedrakes that circled around. Unfortunately, Weed was too weak to fight them.

He was great in battle, and would have easily prevailed in his human form, but as a crow he would surely die, as his current a.r.s.enal only included a beak attack. After one strike of that move, it would all be for naught; as he would instantly receive a counter strike. He would not be able to escape after attacking.

He adjusted his wings and changed direction. His goal was to look at the monsters’ formations. Almost every monster here could be called a natural treasure.

The video on the Royal Road homepage called this area a ‘really dangerous neighborhood’. Weed did not cry out, he slowly nodded his head back and forth, wary of his surroundings.

Since he changed to a crow, the highest points of Las Phalanx that could not be seen from ground level, came into view. Las Phalanx wasn’t an isolated island. The big and wide volcanic region, the unfreezing river, and the other parts of the glaciers were all connected.

Between Las Phalanx and the glaciers there was a buffer zone covered with snow and some hills.

“You’re either too hot or too cold.”

Both sides of the border had high-level monsters. On the glacier side of the island, monsters were often ready and willing to engage in a fight against the monsters that poured from underground on the other side. It was an area of strife that this half hearted crow wanted to be nowhere near.

“I have to find an Armenian pirate…”

Scouting as a raven in the nearby terrain was difficult. Hot air rose out of the mountain and the fire drake circled the volcanoes. The landscape was a valley full of cracks and coves where lava flows. In one area with several cracks, there was a unique old tower. A stone tower, drawing 20 meters high, was set in an area that was relatively untouched by the volcanoes.

“What’s that over there?”

Weed cautiously flew to the tower. There were monsters all around the tower spires, but they didn’t care about a crow so he arrived at the entrance to the tower in safety.

At the entrance to the tower, sculptures of the monsters in Las Phalanx had been vividly created. Since the Emperor’s death, the empire had disintegrated. Invasions spread across the continent and the empire was split up falling into chaos, leaving the pieces he made scattered.

With his pa.s.sion for art and beauty, any person who had a piece was reluctant to give it up. In Las Phalanx, one could easily find all of the precious metals of the Versailles continent. Sculptors can turn those precious metals into living metal statues. So they mostly escaped during the split of the continent.

Before Weed arrived, the only person who knew of this place was the Emperor Geihar Von Arpen. Every sculpture was at a high level. But when they arrived at Las Phalanx even the advantages they had as pieces of life were not enough against the monsters of the natural environment, and they lost their lives. The tower was the legacy created by the pieces who came here. Anyone who creates sculptures would be convinced.

Geihar Von Arpen’s pieces of life. Weed had made five Magnum pieces.

‘In the Versailles continent, there is still no better sculptor than the emperor.’

The evidence was what he was touching right now. Weed admired the view for a while, then went up the tower.

“Call Death Knight”

The area in front of Weed s.h.i.+mmered and Death Knight appeared in front of the pitch black crow.

“Master, now that is a rare appearance, but it fits nicely.”

“It fits for now.” Weed said in response to Death Knight’s comment.

He sent Death Knight down to the entrance of the tower. The door had been created so that it could only be opened from the outside. There was a dangerous bell in the corner that he could ring, but he was fearful of the monsters it’d attract so he left it alone.

On each floor there were scary looking knight sculptures posed to attack. The sculptures actually seemed like a threat. They were covered in a thick crust because of the years of acc.u.mulated dust or perhaps it was the ma.s.sive earthquakes that made the ceiling give off a fine powder. The number of monster seemed to be huge.

“Perhaps they are monsters that once lived in the past?”

There were insects and sea monsters in large numbers! Each of the kingdom’s soldiers, knights, and n.o.bles looked vividly real. At the top of the tower there was a small comfortable sculpture of a fire. Even after a long time the bronze and gold of the sculpture was still intact, making it forever ablaze.

Numerous carvings depicted historic n.o.bles and the like with a dreary radiance. Instead of legendary pieces, there were numerous fine and masterpieces, while there were only 4 magnums. While staring at the historic sculptures Weeds art stat increase by a total of 189 points. Sculpture skill had increased by 8%. It was a tremendous reward.

“But the people who left such great pieces might be nearby.”

Unfortunately no matter how much he searched the ruins of the tower he could not find any signs of the ones who created the sculptures inside. However he did find the bodies of 6 big pieces made of metal and crystal displayed in one place. Weed left the tower of the sculptor’s inheritance and started to search around Las Phalanx again.

When he investigated the other parts he found more created sculptures. However they were badly damaged by the lava and monsters and were far from their original appearance. It was an unimaginable scale. To find the sculptures he had to fly high to remain safe from the monsters but he could still see sculptures all the way in the mountains in the distance.

“But the way of the sculptor seems to follow down the same path… there’s some gold!”( He means the better you get the larger the statue you can make)

Even the smaller sculptures would take a lot of manpower just to lift them. It was necessary of course to get a closer look at the price of the sculptures. It takes a strong attachment to work, for mere pennies. Through the sculptures a rough path could be picked out when they first arrived. This land seems to stretch on forever!

The trail disappeared with the land in the distance. The third largest peak, filled with Drakes and Chaos warriors, came into view as the crow moved through the dangerous mountains. In the mountain’s valley, abandoned mines with unknown entrances supported by really old posts sat undiscovered.

“Think carefully…. Where would a sign of the Armenia Pirates be.”

He had to find a sign of the Armenian Pirates. If he only thought about where they sailed he couldn’t find them, but it could narrow down the scope of the search.

“Maybe they did not come up the unfreezing river and instead walked over by landing in the glacier region.”

Reconnaissance of the glacial boundary! Because it was so cold, frost formed on his beak and wings, but he keep up his meticulous reconnaissance. Thanks to this he was able to distinguish traces of human remains near the glacial area.

The place where the remains were, was barely visible thanks to the monsters that walked over them and covered them in snow. However the places that had many footprints clearly revealed evidence of frozen pirates!

The Armenia pirates had gone through over there. The pirates’ trail was hard to differentiate from the land but it was clear they moved from the snow filled region.

Several skeletons were shown where the snow filled skeletons left off into Las Phalanx. Where the Armenia skeleton bones were found there were also their last belongings. The pirates that headed over the seventh highest peak of Las Phalanx seemed to be mostly dead. They moved toward where the monsters mostly stayed.

“Straight from the glaciers to the monster’s dens. They must have tried to reach a place somewhere nearby.”

It was a very rough scout, but Weed deemed it was impossible to approach any further. The monsters would have shot him down. Weed flew back to the place where Geumini and Yellowy were. He undid the sculpture transformation and turned back into an undead skeleton.

“Geumini.”

“Gologologol, what did you need me for this week? You must know I believe in you the most,right?”

“So what?”

Even though he abandoned the sculptures for a long time intimacy had increased. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

“Get ready for battle. Call Death Knight!”

“Master, I’m ready to fight anytime.”

Death Knight was also summoned. Geumini riding Yellowy escorted by Death Knight were equipped with a wide a.s.sortment of basic equipment.

Sculptural Understanding Advance level 3 had considerable advantages. Besides various curse magic and escort golems, production of every undead went up as well.

“Okay, Undead Summoning is Intermediate level 7.”

Alcohol was useless in his transformed state so this was as far as he could get for benefits. Thanks to the sculpture transformation the majority of his skill of raising undead had improved, while his main attack skills had greatly reduced.

“I think its time to start hunting.”

Weed looked at the rest of his set up before turning to Van Hawk.

“I have no brother more reliable than you brother Hawk, you go first.”

“I get it master.”

Death Knight did not say a word as he walked toward the front. Weed’s hunting laws are usually different when Death Knight comes to the forefront to fight.

“Leaving everything to death knight in the front and fighting behind his back, I’m not use to this fighting style …. Well, it’s no big deal.”

One of the top thing’s to revitalize was the attributes of the job. Producing curses from the back!

“Dark Speculation!”

Around Death Knight’s body distinctive shadows jumped out of hiding places. Access a Weapon! Diet and Exercise! (T/N -.- he’s testing out his skills on Death Knight but I have no idea why the author insist on using these weird references)

The shades that jumped out of the shadows started to attack Death Knight. Deer and chubby bats that were level 300 started to come out at the sound of the battle. Then 6 horses and 5 dogs and a whopping 23 cats came out.

“Master, your command.”

“The darkness descends, corpse soldiers attack!”

Death Knight swung his sword all over the place to prevent their approach and attack, hurling away the ones who came close away as they railed at him. However among the common monsters there were several uncommon:Tair Badgers.

The Tair Badger quickly glued their body to Death Knight. Their saliva had a sticky mucus like quality that stuck to death knight like a kid playing with glue. It was toxic, and strong enough it melt the bones off your flesh, but the potent poison was of no avail to death night.

‘I think their physical attack power is weak compared with their level. Their saliva can suppress Death Knight’s movements. Then they attack him with attacks too fast for him to avoid. Considering Death Knight’s defenses he can hold out for a while.’

The Tair Badger attacks were quick enough that it made it difficult to dodge, along with the movement sealing mucus, it was too much of a burden to deal with all at once. a.s.sa.s.sin, adventurers and explorers have navigation skills. But no matter how much you scout you can’t find out everything hidden. For example, the hostilities of Tair Badgers. It was better to throw Death Knight out there as bait instead of charging in like a fool. Weed pulled out the Fallen Saints staff and started summoning.

Necromancer’s declaration. Before a full-scale fight, use the top tier spells to increase your powers. If your magical proficiency is high enough, then it can even increase the effect of unique techniques. Some Tair Badgers turned and attacked Weed, even when they were near death or severely weakened.

The 10 Tair Badgers attacked his body with spit shots, scratches and bites. Weed’s bones made sounds as they absorbed the attacks.

“The fateful bitterness doesn’t feel. A narrow sight! The confusion and suffering is endless. No end to the pain! Even at dawn, just do as they do and fall in a deep tired sleep. With deep stinging in his eyes and yawning come forth. Increase in Fatigue!”

“Every inch of the body is tickled. The disease of the blood occurs! The body is rotting away from the corrupt air, spreading to anyone who drinks it in. Summon Poison mist”

A huge number of subsequent curse magics were summoned continuously. Weed had summoned up to 4 instantaneous curses a minute. In order to prepare a magic curse he has to constantly recite the exact summoning spell. But Weeds cursing did not falter for even one second.

During the battle he placed curses on the creature that attacked him and the sculptures of life fighting. There was a delay when using curse magic. The effect of using many curses in a row lead to considerable drop in magic concentration.

When the magic concentration drops the spell is more likely to fail, and the spells get considerable weaker. But all the blessings and curses were still recited properly so they worked.

Due to the curses, the Tair Badgers were noticeable weakened. Weed drew a long breath as one of the Tair Badgers stuck to Death Knight and died. He immediately ordered.

“Corpse Explosion!”

The front of Weed’s eyes suddenly grew cloudy, like cataracts in adults. Even if his wisdom and knowledge was very high for the moment he had still used too many high level spells.

“Chek, chek, chek!”

The Tair Badgers now had a new enemy for their animosity. There were only two left on Death Knight. The other Tair Badgers flew off as they joined up and came to attack Death Knight/Weed. Due to the effects of the curse they were noticeably slower. They b.u.mped into each other as they flew up and down in the air.

“Geumini, bow and arrows!”

“GoloGoloGol!”

Geumini shot a bunch of arrows from the high elf bow that went straight for the target! For example an African bow. The arrows are made from blessed stones and sprinkled with holy water to produce the best results when they are released. The spirits in action are a very beautiful sight, but the Tair Badgers had very little resistance, being just six meters from fight.

“Golden Bird, you go ahead and fight too!”

But the Golden bird only sat and preened its feathers. Weed had not been recognized with a measure of acceptable intimacy so it did not help with the battle. There was a bit of golden light s.h.i.+ning up from the ground.

“Gologol, from the earth sparks will rise.”

Pillars of fire suddenly erupted from the ground. Only Guemuni who had a 100% fire resistance could exert his full potential in the battlefield now.

However in the extreme heat a little bit of gold was melted away. Geumini, who was fully intent on saving his lord, started to advance through the fire. But as he moved forward, the Tair Badgers pierced through the fire. The monsters in Las Phalanx have very strong fire resistance.

The Tair Badgers that had been hit by the initial explosion fell to the ground wrapped in flames, but then they casually flicked off the flames like they were annoying flies, and nonchalantly kept flying.

More than 15 of them pierced the air, flying toward their enemies. At the moment the Tair Badgers arrived, Weed pushed Geumini to the side as a diversion.

Weed sword’s was quite accurate, but with the excess use of magic his eyes were clouded making the enemies hard to hit. Also most of his fencing skills had been turned into curse skills or skill to summon the undead. The liches’ strength and speed in battle was considerably lower.

Each one of the seeds turned to different colors as they bloomed; yellow, pink, blue... The petals, long and sugary, gave off a sweet refres.h.i.+ng scent as they spread. Packed in a small s.p.a.ce, they emitted light, and soon after came an explosion!

Weed’s vitality decreased. Here in Las Phalanx even if the monsters had a weak body they had a devastating fighting style. Though the Tair Badgers had weak physical attacks, they exploited the weak points. But they did not expect the advantages of being a lich. If one exploits the advantages of being undead then they can be number 1 even in Las Phalanx.

***

The Kingdom of Haven’s captain of the second fleet Drinfeld! The Hermes Guild’s admiral headed toward the starting areas in the port.

“On Ipia Island a ghost fleet was spotted with a Lich aboard as the captain. Chances are high that it’s him….”

Drinfeld, the naval admiral, was covered in black with a sleek hip outfit and a feather in his hat. He gave a sharp click with his tongue.

“What kind of quest can’t be done by this military, Earl!”

Drinfeld thought as he stroked his mustache.

He had heard about the old rumors of Weed from CoM. Nevertheless, Weeds exploits in Royal Road made the blood boil.

“But he is not a true man from the sea. From sea to sea, no matter how big, he is just another fish to fry.”

No matter what kind of quest he was doing it didn’t matter, Drinfeld would proceed. Out of the Brent kingdom the second fleet sailed with 37 large sailing s.h.i.+ps to demonstrate their gall.

“In Royal Road the first one to catch Weed will be me.”

The column of users that followed Drinfeld was about 1,200 people! The navy command was focused on ability and growth so all the people were strong in one-to one duels as well. Every one of them were undisputed powerhouses.

***

“Golo golo golo.”

Gemuni was deliberately pushed, but this just recovered any fallen intimacy.

‘Master cares if I live or die. He doesn’t just abuse us. He would even turn into a mangled tree for me!’

Weeds thought process was that the value of Gold was more valuable than the materials and ingredients on Bingryong. With that in mind he chose to save Gumeni the moment the enemies revived.

“Master hang in there! Gol golo golo.”

Gumeni rushed the Tair Badgers in order to save Weed.

With Death Knight there, two more Tair Badgers died. Death Knights level was much higher, but the Tair Badgers moved fast; whirling from side to side to avoid their attacks was not easy.

Most of the Tair Badgers intensely attacked Weed. When he used the move corpse explosion he attracted the most aggro. They would have continued to spit Dymond flower seeds at him, but Weed rolled on the ground.

The fire might have doubled the Tair Badgers attack but with the G.o.ddess of the Earth blessing still active, it did not do much damage.

After being barely scratched Weed came up brandis.h.i.+ng his staff. The Tair Badgers attacked the bones of his shoulders and neck with viscous bites.

But Weed activated the exquisite defense skill “Stone Skin”. The skills that were gained and considerable strengthened during the Hero’s tower. Double hard!! Bones that can cut nails. What about their teeth?

The Tair Badgers continued to chew on the solid stone bones. The other two also locked their teeth in Weed. Noticing this Weed said,“I’m rather lucky.”

Biting meant they wouldn’t be shooting more flower seeds at him. Weed put his left hand or his torso where he felt the pain.

“Life drain, Mana drain.”

He aimed at the fiercely biting Tair Badgers. Weed raised his arms at the same time. He sucked in both the mana and the life force from his attackers. The attack severely damages the attackers leaving them too weak to attack properly. Even when losing so much of it’s health and strength, the Tair Badger didn’t stop chewing. It’s eyes slowly lowered as more of its life was drained by the moment.

“I failed to pick up the item during the corpse explosion. But the power of death can be used like this too.”

The Tair Badgers refused to give up chewing to avenge their fallen comrades.

*EM Mo moo moo moo moo*

Suddenly Yellowy roared and rushed over. Weed watched at the Tair Badgers received the attack en ma.s.se. Due to the attack by Yellowy, several Tair Badgers attacks could be avoided for a while. Weed was grasping at them with both hands and continuing to absorb their health and mana. And also many of them had been struck by Yellowy. Indeed many of them were rolling on the ground now shortly before death!

“Master."

Geumini took out a blue sapphire he had been carrying.

“Gem Destruction!”

The gem shattered and blew out a magical wind.

“Sapphire Dust!”

The fine chipped sapphire dust started to blow around. The light blue wind started to attack he Tair Badgers!

“Pretty solution.”

The Geumini’s magic dealt a severe blow to the Tair Badgers. The Tair Badgers were frozen and could not fly and were lying on the ground! The Tair Badgers had some magical resistance living in Las Phalanx but none against ice magic. But the Tair Badgers chewing on Weeds body persisted; they did not know how to fall. Weed was also stuck under this ban.

“I am this judge. If you want to partic.i.p.ate in this battle then….”

He started to grab at the clinging Tair Badgers in their frozen state.

“Life drain, Mana Drain!”

Crazy biting! The Vitality of the Tair Badgers was on the weak side but they had high defense and tremendous endurance. The attack from the Tair Badgers persisted until they died. If not for the stone skin absorbing most of the damage, he would have dropped a long time ago.

Even with the Stone Skin skill, it was barely tolerable to Weed; a warrior without high defenses would never be able to endure!

Weed’s life force increased about 5%; there was an increase to a stat! In order to get this increase you had to risk your life. Death Knight, Yellowy, and Geumeni got rid of the remaining 8 enemies. Weed’s health was 5% and mana 8%; he had been hit all over.

Because the Las Phalanx was too hot the freezing restriction was quickly released and then his concentration and recovery rate went back to normal. It was a difficult first fight but it was difficult pleasure. With a sweaty smile Weed started to perform some magic.

“May you live and come back to this land. Come back to this place, a dark and corrupt land. Do not disappear. In the law of darkness engraved to you. Undead rise!”

From the ground, dead Tair Badgers rose and soared. The wings were Broken and its’ necks were at a strange angle but the Tair Badgers were alive (well undead). They had half of their original vitality and 1/3 of their original attack and defense power. Weed wearily went by the Tair Badgers with Death Knight and turned them into undead too. By the end of the fight he had gain a whopping 25 Tair Badgers. He made 3 air columns out of the undead Tair Badgers.

They will be a little more nimble now and will obey commands with absolute certainty . Using curse magic on the undead gave blessings. Now the real battle of the Necromancer could begin.

Weed, and Death Knight went back to the place where the Tair Badgers first pounced on them on the shadows. And were attacked by 15 more of them. But this time the situations had changed drastically.

“Fight! The enemy is upon you!”

Weed fell straight back into battle. While watching the battle he poured out curses and several magical attacks. Undead summoning casts wherever they fall, the sides are silently flipped. Death Knight was much freer, dealing destructive power with his strong sword skills as he tears up the Tair Badgers. Geumeni was able to properly support from the ground by shooting arrows. The 25 undead Tair Badgers fell once or twice in battle, but they produced corpses and were quickly able to be resummoned. Infinite recovery and reproducible goods! This really did seems to be one of the top jobs. Weed fought five more groups and gained 89 undead Tair Badgers. Indirect hunting gets far less experience. But the Speed is different. Driving two groups, he was able to split any incoming forces and hunt and track them using organization.

“I dedicate you to our glory. Form your sword with black.”

After collecting some bodies He summoned several Skeleton Mages and a few skeleton knights. Now you could say he leading an undead legion.

“No time to summon the zombies as well.”

After the following battle he collect the Tair Badgers bodies and baked them together after a little rain. The Zombies turned out like the cheesy kind that walked slowly, but they had acidic venom and high defense.

Using the correct undead is very important. Their bodies were even intact because they had been made out of the best looking Tair Badgers with the highest efficiency. In one night of continuous hunting, Weed had an enormous increase in his undead army.

He had 89 Tair Badgers, 55 Skeleton Mages, 20 skeleton Knights, 40 baked zombies, and 5 horses. It took a certain amount of work to maintain all that undead, but the skeleton knight, mages and zombies were a bit easier than others because they were cheap. A Mana recovery + 10% speed ring, plus a 55% Mana mantle, plus a 20% recovery rate increase from the bracelets; the treasure of the Nifleheim kingdom. All were worn. Plus he had the Critical blessing from the G.o.ddess of the Earth which added an additional 40% to his Mana. IT was definitely powerful enough to keep up with the undead legion.

In the first day of the hunt he gained 27% experience. The next day he gained 29%. The Undead summoning skill and the Skeletons origins were being perfectly displayed and adapted for fighting for the first time. But in distinction Golden Bird stay far away circling from atop. The only thing that could be seen was Weed’s moving forces.