Volume 23 Chapter 5: Canyon of the Death Knight

Weed hunted over 45 Barit monsters.

Running down the slopes of the canyon on his Phantom horse, every slashed dealt a precise killing blow on these Barits!

“Who is that Death Knight?”

“I don’t know. Choosing to be a combatant rather than an Undead summoner and still coming this far. Does anyone know that guy?”

“I think I’ve seen him in Kapua. There was a ghost knight that made monsters s.h.i.+ver just by looking at him. Could it be him?”

“Oh! That ghost knight.”

The Necromancers stared down at Weed’s action from the end of the canyon, admiring his movements.

Sword rotated freely in his hand as he slashed every Barits in his way.

On a horse, the knight’s charge was one of the most useful skill available.

The skill increased the attack multiple times thanks to the additional speed and weight.

However, attacking with a sword or skill while riding on horseback at full speed was extremely hard.

And this was not a flat plain, but a canyon with uneven surface.

One needed a perfect balance between the riding the reckless horse and measuring the attack distance to the enemy.

This was difficult even for players who chose to be knights and spend thousands of hours practicing horseback riding.

“How can he fight so well?”

“It’s like he has eyes at the back of his head. That’s absurd.”

“His combinations of skills and dynamics, word can"t describe it. I am really curious about who that person is.”

Horses weren’t always helpful.

Even if your charge attack was successful, it created a backlash.

If the backlash couldn’t be withstood, there is a chance of falling off from the horse.

If heavy armour were worn when thrown off the horse, the impact caused confusion or paralysis status so it could become highly dangerous.

To fighting like that on a horse… The Necromancers were amazed.

It looked as if they were watching a beast.

Barit was a tough monster.

They were big as a bear, these aggressive monsters lived in a herd and their level even exceeded 350.

With their excellent instinct their sense of combat was outstanding making them difficult to hunt.

Most hunting parties avoided facing groups of Barits exactly for this reason.

But Weed, he charged the Barits with no fear or hesistation.

In the battlefield littered with Undeads and Barits, he fought with most optimal movement.

Of course these Barits were dangerous and often inflicted serious damages but Balkan was someplace close from here.

Due to this the effect of Death Aura was more powerful allowing him to fight continuously as it constantly regenerated his health.

After defending the canyon for the third time, Necromancers were finally able to catch a break with the coming of the dawn as the number of monsters appearing dropped.

As Weed was coming up the canyon riding on his horse, Otem spoke to him.

“Hey, excuse me.”

“Yes?”

Weed answered with his face still covered by his helmet, this was out of courtesy since his face was just a skull.

It was not only him, most Necromancer players concealed their body with robes. It made for a pretty weird scenery.

“Not many people chose combat related cla.s.s… you are very nimble. Do you like fighting in such manner?”

“……..”

Weed was not used to complements.

‘Is he saying that I fought well? I shouldn’t have stood out so much, it’s going to affect how much items I can pick up.’

In his conscience, he only picked up items from monsters he defeated himself.

But to be honest, he did kill plenty of near dead monsters.

Under the canyon it was a cl.u.s.ter of mess and craziness that attacking Barit one-by-one with full health was an impossibility.

So fighting the Barits that were distracted by the other Undead, the curses and Corpse Explosion spells flying about helped immensely.

He didn’t know exactly which Necromancers decided to help him but calculating the mana use, there were about two.

While he was charging in between the Barits, they frequently summoned Bone s.h.i.+elds or Bone Walls to block the incoming attacks.

Truthfully many of the Barits he defeated were already near death.

In return there were many other Barits that were left stuned in his wake that he couldn’t finish off.

Regardless he was on the constant look out for the boss Barits to kill.

Since he was fighting down the canyon, it was different from Kapua village where it was impossible not to stand out.

“I observed the whole thing.”

“……….”

“You seem pretty strong. Wouldn’t it be convenient to join forces in this canyon?”

Otem suggests to team up and fight together.

One of few female player Harien also chimed in.

“That’s right. You should join us there won’t be any harm in it. We could use some help and it looks like you need some summons there too.”

It seemed that as Weed was a combat cla.s.s rather than a summoner they did not think he was part of the compet.i.tion, with their expression lacking any jealousy or anger.

In this canyon co-operating with others was key to successfully completing the quest, also the Necromancers need to be on the constant look out for corpses to raise up a first rate Undead.

Usually Necromancers tried their best to recruit any level of mercenaries, even low-level ones at a high price. Even so as Necromancers had bad reputations in general it was hard to recruit mercenaries.

They did this as if someone could fight for them in the front line it was a tremendous help to them.

It was same for Weed, with monsters swarming all over the canyon it was hard to block everywhere.

Though it was called a canyon, in terms of size it was only wide enough to allow seven chariots to pa.s.s at one time. And if he was to fight alone even after 24 hours of non-stop fighting, it would not be enough.

With the monsters also flinging arrows and stone at him, it was too much to handle alone.

“In the best interest of defending this canyon, I think it would be best to help each other. You never know what is going to happen next, so why not team up?”

Even Jeanne was saying her piece, so Weed could not refuse the offer.

“Alright.”

Deploying the Undead equally it was agree that Weed would fight freely just as before.

Necromancers weren’t fit for a party in the first place and this method allowed the best tactic considering the geographic features of the canyon.

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“Uuhihihihih.”

Zabrin arrived at Kapua village equipped with items from the Hermes Guild.

“They sure have a lot of items.”

In Hermes Guild’s safe there were piles of rare and cursed items.

Zabrin was in a state where cursed items were useful so he picked the most effective ones.

A ring that reduces luck by 140 but protects the user against specters, armor that spreads rotten mephitis in a body, necklace that creates mana and strength by sacrificing health and a denture for skeletons!

It was too bad that he couldn’t take everything he wanted but these items for Undeads were truly excellent.

Zabrin managed to double his weak magic power.

Even the rod he was holding was an item specifically for Necromancers!

It made the summoned Undeads rough and fast while shortening their lifespan but in here where corpses were plentiful, it wan’t a problem.

‘Now it will be a bit easier.’

Joining the Hermes Guild was truly an excellent choice.

Siding with a guild of terrifying strength, power and authority came naturally.

Even after he was promoted to a ghost, Zabrin did not stop partic.i.p.ating in quest using Undeads.

There were so many items he could get if he could just be qualified for it.

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“Arrg!

Geomchi287 fell down on the ground.

“I lost again.”

The match that started with Geomchi505 continued on with higher ranking trainees partic.i.p.ating but they continued to lose.

Sword Master Ash’s Sword-cloning skill!

Once it was activated, the player’s body multiplied up to 40 times.

It was hard to distinguish the real from the fake bodies, as the clones had mana and about 15% of the original’s strength.

It was a fantastic skill proving the reason for player’s eagerness to get a hold of the Sword Master’s skill.

Every time Ash won, he spoke.

“To master my skills, you need supreme swordsmans.h.i.+p. You have met the qualification. I shall teach you my Sword-cloning skill.”

It was an unbelievable offer.

Though they could not defeat Ash, they lasted a long time against him. With their combat response, instinct and weapon skill they met the qualification to learn the Sword-cloning skill.

Geomchis also respected the strong.

“If you will teach me I will learn it.”

No reason to refuse someone who was willing to teach a strong skill!

Geomchi5 fought Ash evenly.

After a while of attacking the clones who had low life, he struck a direct hit on Ash.

Though he succeed slas.h.i.+ng Ash with his sword, Ash’s unbelievable defense and life made barely a scratch.

However, Geomchi5 wasn’t an idiot that only touted his strength.

Before he became an instructor he spent all his teenage year fighting.

When he reached his twenties the fight became life or death battle so he knew how to fight well.

‘Damage the real one to weaken the clones.’

CLAAAAANG!

Geomchi5’s sword clashed with Ash’s blade and continued to slide down.

The moment the swords clashed and joined, he twisted his wrist in a split second and crushed Ash’s blade.

Not even a legendary sword’s durability would survive when a thick sword pressed pa.s.sed it.

In reality, it would be fine as long as it was not completely broken but this was Royal Road.

And then he pressed the attack!

“You are truly an amazing swordsman. I would like to remember your name.”

“I am known as Geomchi5.”

• DING!

Geomchi4 inflicted critical strikes six times in a row.

Geomchi3 left a hole in Ash’s armor.

They chose different methods of reducing Ash’s life so they could take care of clones faster.

They all acknowledged Ash after their fight.

“That guy is really strong. No matter how many times I hit him, there is no mark.”

“Yes hyeognim. His stamina is endless.”

“Even without his skill, it would be hard to win against him one on one. Unless you level up 200 more times.”

Ash always managed to adjust his strength and fight them on an even level.

If he didn’t do so, they wouldn’t even be able to clash their swords with Ash.

“But I don’t think it will be impossible to beat him.”

Geomchi487 spoke after fighting Ash.

His sword and armor have become like rags.

It reached a point where the swordsman had to fight with his bare fists.

If all the Geomchi’s jump on Ash at the same time, no one could promise if Sword Master Ash could survive.

When hunting a high-level monster with a guild or party, it was obvious double up on the enemy.

All kinds of blessings and rear supports from clerics were compulsory.

But these Geomchis fought one by one fairly and were satisfied with it because their opponent was a swordsman.

“Well, we had a good time. Anyways, I think had enough rest. Let’s get back to swimming.”

Geomchis jumped into the sea to start swimming across to the Northern continent.

They received an ardent farewell.

They became really close enough to catch and eat fishes together.

“Farewell. Please you my skills to good use.”

“We won’t use our swords on those weaker than us.”

But they didn’t reveal what was going on their minds.

‘I need to beat this guy someday… But I don’t know where this is.’

‘Next time I am definetly going to kill you with my sword.’

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Co-operating with the other Necromancers, Weed was able to defend the canyon successfully for the eleventh time.

The contents of the quests kept changing bit by bit but the main objectives always remained the same, to defend the canyon.

‘The central station of Undead Legion is located behind here.’

By getting information from the quests, Weed was able to a.s.sume its whereabouts.

As reinforcements came sometimes from their central station of the Undead Legion.

Weed raised himself as a front line fighter ever since he was a skeleton.

That was why he didn’t have a high expectation for the Undeads.

But as battles continued, he was given underlings.

“Please give your command, lord!”

Every time he made received an achievements, nearby Death Knights, Dullahans and Skeletons were swearing their obedience to Weed.

With every successful quests, either his rank got promoted or he obtained a Death Knight.

“Hmm!”

Weed had zero attachment to his Undead underlings.

No matter how much you raise them, it’s over once they die.

“It’s a dog eat dog world.”

Thus, Weed’s true colours came out.

“Fight in the front line. Do not step back. Fight until you crush them. Kill them all!”

“Yes, lord!”

“We will follow the lord’s command.”

“We will carry out the orders of the commander of the dark army.”

With Undead underlings in front of him, Weed killed monsters left and right.

“Attack, attack, attack!”

The tactics he would often employ was no where to be seen here.

He just encouraged the battle onward.

The fiercer these monsters and Undeads fight, there were more chance of rich hunting opportunities.

These Undeads could be revived by Necromancers players anyways and there was the Undead Legion nearby so there was absolutely no need to value them.

All he did was ordering them to fight fiercely but something suddenly happened that even Weed didn’t expect.

Compared to when Weed was a sculptor, these commanding skills didn’t activate fully.

But now that he was a Death Knight a type of a knight cla.s.s, his commanding ability increased by 100% with the activation of its effects.

“Lord, I offer you my loyalty.”

“Everyone, attack on the order of our commander!”

More and more Dullahans and Death knights swore their loyaty to Weed.

With that the Undead army, on Weed’s orders, managed to take down monsters with monstrous strength.

The Undead could only show their full potential while attacking.

There was no doubt that the summoned Undeads from the Necromancers and the reinforcements from the Undead Legion made the bulk of the army.

But under Weed’s presence, the entire Undead army became a whole new force.

They were so loyal to Weed that they carried out his orders immediately.

“Death Knights, fall back.”

“Falling back my lord!”

Weed instructed a withdrawal.

As soon as the Death Knights withdrew, the heavily wounded Barit leader swung around its whip insanely.

“You are mine!”

Weed satisfied his selfish interest and desires!

Just like other stats, a sculptor had uniquely high charisma, leaders.h.i.+p and fighting spirit.

Though the Emperor of the continent’s seal was active he did not bother to stack up the effect by taking out the Demon Sword of Kolderim or the Horn of Treserk.

So far, Weed collected almost every good item drops possible in this hunts and quests.

He could just imagine what could happen if he put all these high value items on auction!

But for now, he decided to wait.

‘I’m not wasting these on the Undeads!’

Power increased proportionally to the equipment. Weed didn’t even need to use the Lion’s Roar skill, these Undead who lacked intelligence followed his command loyally.

They did whatever Weed told them to do and gave their loyalty even after the monsters vanish.

Before Weed came to the canyon, not every quest was successfully accomplished.

When these monsters broke through the defence line and entered the Undead Legion’s central station, the quest failed and fame and reputation decreased.

When they were begging in their minds for strong allies, Death Knight Weed arrived.

They had no expectations of him so they were amazed at Weed’s fighting skills.

When they had free time to gather mana by meditating once they were done with their duties of summoning more Undeads, strengthening the defensive line with bones or using Death Plant spells, they all watched Weed’s actions.

Every time Weed gave a command, the Undeads responded as fast as possible.

He desperately resisted against these monsters with his Undead underlings!

He was truly a king of Undeads! Or could it be said knights of knights?

The horse riding knight! Whose cla.s.s was characterized by strong defence, attack, loyalty and honour.

It was amazing to see him lead such battles even though Undead had very low intelligence.

“GULP!”

“Wow, amazing.”

“How can he be that strong? Was he originally a Death Knight?”

“If he commanded humans rather than the Undeads… There is a no doubt that he would be able to control tens of thousands soldiers. If someone like him initiate a siege warfare, it would be a sight to see.”

Undeads listened to Necromancers fairly well.

Even if their leaders.h.i.+p or charisma were low, the summoned Undeads had to listen to them.

But still, they didn’t understand complicated instructions such as battle formations.

In contrast, Weed fought even while considering the dullness of the Undeads.

A combined force of Death Knights, skeleton archers and a skeleton mages.

Using them to their individual strength and taking them deep into the enemy line, he would use them remorsely as a sacrificial goat to shoot spells and arrows at full power.

Chasing after the retreating Barits and instilling fear into them.

The focus in attack, baiting of enemies and demolis.h.i.+ng anything in their advance… The whole thing proceeded very fast.

Having experienced many large scale battles, his usual tactics melted into his attacks.

“His really amazing.”

“With a person like that how far along the quest could he go?”

Necromancers were half jealous and half curious at the same time.

No one knew when the Undead Legion’s quests end.

The only thing that was known was that by succeeding more quests, the rank in the Undead became higher.

Looking back, they were gradually given more important quests. How far would it go on for?

There were so many Undead summons and Undead related skills that these Necromancers players haven’t been able to master yet.

Necromancers were considered a sin and with whole schools of guilds were called to bring them down, the only magic that could be learned was the ones recorded in books long time ago.

But being in the Undead Legion, depending on the achievement they received gifts from Balkan which sometimes contained Undead related spells.

It was after all Balkan Demoph who mastered every Undead related spells.

Players wanted to meet the legendary Lich.

Therefore while there was a great compet.i.tion between the Necromancers, it was Weed the Death Knight that was making the greatest achievements.

“I am beginning to slowly hate this guy…”

Gruzed casted spell near where Weed was fighting down in the canyon.

“Corpse Explosion!”

Corpse Explosion at close range could inflict damage several times the value of the health of the corpses.

Casting the spell on purpose and seeing how strong Weed was, he was confident the spell wouldn’t kill him.

‘Have a taste of this.’

A spell casted purposely on Weed to inflict a huge damage on him.

But it was as if Weed knew that already, he hid between the Barits and avoided all the damage from the explosion.

The awesomeness of Weed hunting bravely even with corpses exploding!

Weed was aware of the hunting methods among the Necromancer players.

To supplement the reducing manpower, Undead needed to be summoned endlessly to replace the number from the increasing number of corpses.

But with corpses piling around him and not being raise up as Undead again, he was on a caution and when the spell was activated, he hid between monsters right away.

It was an obvious event for Weed, who hasn’t been welcomed for a quite a while due to his superiority.

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While continuously defending Killizar canyon, Weed’s quest changed with it.

“The babysitting never ends!”

Because it didn’t have a deadline, Weed didn’t care about the Undeads.

“Fight, no charge, charge!”

After giving a command, he actively attacked the Barits with a squadron of Death Knights and Dullahans.

Undeads around him collapsed but he didn’t feel anything for them.

‘They can always be revived anyway.’

Once Necromancers players re-summoned the collapsed Undeads, they could be revived.

If that happens, they were no longer Weed’s subordinates but he didn’t feel a smidgen of sympathy for them.

Who gave a mind when this place was already filled with Undeads?

“I want to follow orders from you commander.”

“I heard about your reputation and came from the Undead Army. I, the Death Knight Tedra, want to fight with you.”

He accepted every incoming Undeads.

“Now I understand the commander’s orders.”

“I lost myself in the rage while fighting but I will prioritize commander’s orders from now.”

Weed’s army comprised of 142 Skeleton Archers, 57 Elite Skeleton Archers, 11 Dullahans, 29 Big Dullahans, 9 Death Knights and 24 Elite Death Knight bodyguards.

Considering the enhancement caused by Balkan’s Undead blessing spells and Death Aura, it was a significant force to be reckoned with.

It was similar for in the canyons, as the time pa.s.sed more and more players appeared and the number of Undead that was summoned increased.

Barits were tough but as number of one-man army Necromancers increased, their hunting rate became extremely fast.

Except for the players that just turned into Necromancers in Versailles Continent, every other long time Necromancers was gathered here.

• DING!

A party quest for players in the canyon!

Weed and the other players wondered how far these chained quests from Undead Legion would go.

‘Wouldn’t it lead to unbelievable rewards?’

‘Maybe I can learn forbidden Undead summon spells or dark magic from Balkan himself…’

‘It would be nice if I could get a unique Undead from the Undead Legion!”

Necromancers wanted high-level Undead summon spells or a unique Undead that could be summoned anytime like Van Hawk.

“As the quest difficult is so high, I suggest everyone need to team up now.”

The gathered Necromancers voted Jeanne as their leader and captain for the expedition.

“Having given me the responsibility for this difficult quest I will do my best.”

“With Jeanne-nim in charge, I’m feeling relieved.”

“First of all, I believe we should all decide on the time.”

They decided to start the quest nine days later, when most Necromancers were able to connect.

They also talked to remaining players in Kapua, helping them out so many players could join them 9 days later.

They didn’t waste any time waiting till the agreed for the quest. Jeanne, Otem, Harien, Goshu along with some players went on ahead to scout out the Furgol’s habitat.

Their plan was to target the spam the Furgol’s habitat with as many people and Undead as possible!

It seemed simple but nothing more could be done.

Weed heard about this later but he could not find fault with the plan.

‘High level players sure know how to take care of themselves.’

Until then, all he has to do is keep himself busy with hunting.

‘With so many gone scouting my share just become bigger!’

__________________________________________________________

Kaaaa-ak!

Kerururararara!

In the mountains and forests pretty far away from Morata, it was filled with monsters.

Some players from Morata came to hunt in a party but no one dared to go deeper. High level adventurers gave it a pa.s.s as they were only interested in dungeon explorations which brought in treasures, fame and experience.

As monsters in the mountains or forests reproduce, they came down to the village, sacking and degenerate public order.

But one day the monsters have been hit by a bolt out of the blue.

Several living sculptures such as a Bingryong, Wyvern and a Phoenix started their hunt.

“They are yummy.”

The monster devouring savagery.

“They give a lot of money as well.”

No one could resist the allure of money.

“We must survive.”

They cared about their safety especially.

When Arpen Empire still existed in the past, there were many Sculpture Lifeforms around the continent.

As time pa.s.sed, they lost their origin, became monsters or settled down as a new race with new culture.

Some didn’t prosper and disappeared all together.

With such history behind them, these Sculpture Lifeforms put everything into their growth to save themselves.

“Gol Gol Gol Gol, I’m here!”

Riding on Yellowy, Gold Man appeared to the place where Bingryong, Phoenix and Wyvern were.

“Gold Man!”

Wy-3 came first and welcomed it rubbing against its face.

Wy-3 a.s.sumed it lost his memory after being reborn but Gold Man embraced the Wyverns with joy.

“It’s nice to see you Wyverns again, Gol gol gol.”

In fact it was all an act to fool Weed that he lost his memories.

While these Sculpture Lifeforms were having a touching reunion, Wyvern sharp eyes noticed the change in Gold Man’s appearance.

“Gold Man’s eyes have changed.”

It was bigger than before. It even had double eyelid.

It was a special reward from Weed for throwing his body out to save him.

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Necromancers scouting the Furgol’s habitat came back.

“This will not be an easy quest. It’s not a habitat. It’s a kingdom.”

They said it was a fortress protected by warriors, guards, magicians, shamans and the great Furgol king as well.

“It was built on a cliff. Climbing all the way up will be impossible for the Undeads.

One thing good about the Undeads was that as long as there were corpses, their numbers could be infinite.

However, not only was it hard to revive completely shattered Undeads that fell from the cliff, they would have to climb back from the start.

It was a quest where Necromancers had to initiate a siege warfare and take the fortress!

“For now, it’s impossible we should find another method.”

Jeanne and Necromancers were in a serious discussion.

At a time like this, Weed just watched as usual.

‘Do just enough, just follow what others are doing!’

If he shows great abilities, he would be a.s.signed to a tiresome role.

“I was just lucky.”

“I have some power to control Undeads. But all these Undeads lack intelligence so anyone can do this much.”

“Me? Fighting in the front line? Not at all. I was just supporting standing beside so many Undeads. Even if my horse-riding skill and attack looks strong, it wouldn’t be a match against the might of a united Undead.”

Even though they saw it with their own eyes, by keep repeating disparaging remarks and his weakness it was hard to acknowledge him seriously.

To be honest, these Necromancers thought Weed was a great Death knight but they thought he could only achieve this thanks to their summoned Undead.

Weed cleverly used modesty to avoid any tough duties!

Their debates continued.

“Can’t we collapse the fortress completely with a spell?”

“I only developed Undead summoning spells, Corpse Explosion and curse spells…”

“Anyone here with high level attack spell or dark magic?”

“I don’t have a strong enough spell that could collapse a fortress or destroy walls…”

Necromancers were able to learn dark magic.

But the moment they learned it, it came with many penalties.

Among them was high notoriety and faith reached zero.

Reputation and morality went into the negative, and it was also possible to partially lose wisdom and intelligence.

The process of mastering dark magic was unique compared to other magic.

As proficiency in dark magic increase by using live animals as offerings, notoriety increased while other stats decreased as dark magic level advanced.

Necromancers already had several side effects just by Undead summons. It was rare to find a Necromancer players with dark magic.

“I did learn dark magic up to level 2…”

“That wouldn’t be of any help in a large scale battle. Is there no one with more powerful dark magic?”

Out of 43 Necromancers, only 12 knew dark magic.

A simple dark magic was good enough for enhancing their Undead summons so they learned it.

But there were only two players among them that could use it directly in battle and inflict some damages.

“I guess we have no choice but to bring all our Undeads and fight.”

“If someone reaches there and bait them, maybe these Furgols will open the gate and come out.”

“That would make things much easier… First, let’s set up a time and when most Necromancers are gathered then we will all go.”

With no one a.s.signing any role, Weed just stood and watched.

He could raise blacksmith skill by creating siege weapons but it wouldn’t be very useful at this point.

He could gather all the necessary material around here to build it but on one could operate the siege weapon.

There were too few Necromancers and it was not like they could make their Undead handle the siege weapon.

Skeletons had low intelligence and they only move on their instincts. They were completely useless outside battles.

Dullahans didn’t have their heads in the right place. They move around with their heads in their hands so it was impossible to aim for them.

Death Knights with their, relatively speaking, high intelligence would be useful but they were busy enough leading the other Undeads into battle.

On top of that, once the siege weapons were built, there was a problem with logistics.

Necromancer’s critical weakness was that they lacked any decent s.h.i.+elding magic, so these siege weapons were vulnerable to enemy spell fires.

Siege weapons were completely useless if there is no one to operate it or protect it.

In general, a siege warfare was a battle where the attacking side was at a disadvantage by three fold.