The Necromancer Who Was Despised

Countless monster corpses were sucked into the ground.

I felt Tinosus supporting me.

“Slowly.”

The extracted magic was sucked into them, and one by one, neat graves began to rise.

Next, the gravekeepers revealed themselves one by one.

Draug.

As one of my main forces, they would manage these undead as gravekeepers in this place.

Since they didn’t consume monsters, they weren’t very large.

Next, a pure white building rose before the neat joint grave.

A structure made of bones, with a roof, and humans wearing robes and praying, looking down at the ground.

However, their hands were made of bare, fleshless bones.

A church to comfort the dead.

As the church was completed, the surrounding structures became fully affiliated with it, and one by one, the undead inside the grave began to reveal themselves.

Low-ranking undead like skeletons or zombies, and even Living Armors and Flesh Golems, began to emerge from the ground.

Meanwhile, Specters in the sky let out eerie cries as they fell to the ground.

Next, the Durahans rose and controlled them, and finally…

The church door opened, and an undead emerged from within.

This undead, which emitted a powerful aura, different from the other undead, looked around and then gazed at me.

It then approached me, slowly kneeled down, and…

“Master.”

Rich.

“It’s really done.”

The first lord of this fortress, who would sweep across the land, had become the commander and owner of this place.

◈ Development

The lord created this time, Rich, was not an ordinary undead.

His appearance didn’t differ much from a regular Rich, except for the shape of his robe.

This was something that could be changed at will, so there was no external difference.

“It’s just bones anyway.”

But these were not ordinary bones.

Dragon Bone.

To achieve this, Tinosus had decided to provide some of his own bones.

“It’s okay, we can restore them later, right?”

Originally, this would take a long time, but with infinite magic, time compression was not difficult.

The five lords would be created in this same way.

The first lord created this time, Hypnos, was a being created by adding Dragon Bone to a priest’s corpse, and would control the undead affiliated with this fortress.

At the same time, he would obey me indirectly, being affiliated with me.

I could tell that the magic was successful just by the fact that he acknowledged me as his master.

“He’s quite strong.”

Just by the aura I could sense, it was beyond Death Knight.

Of course, as the master of this fortress, Hypnos controlled all the power within.

Even if I called him Master, he didn’t have a Mana Heart, and with just one corpse, he created a Death Knight and five mages, not to mention an undead dragon, which was an unparalleled feat.

By the way, the two Dark Elf warriors didn’t even know that the dragon was used.

“It’s a success.”

“The number of undead is a bit lacking, though…”

“That’s something time will resolve.”

This place was also a site where undead could be created by killing and collecting the corpses of those who belonged here.

So, even if the number was lacking for now, it wasn’t a big problem.

“It’s just a matter of getting past the initial stage.”

Since we were close to the entrance, it wasn’t too dangerous.

I inspected every nook and cranny of the fortress to check for any mistakes.

Although we didn’t make any mistakes during the process, it was our first time attempting this type of gray architecture with other mages, so we were a bit anxious.

Fortunately, the fortress turned out well and seemed to be well-maintained.

“The interior might be a bit rough, but we’ll figure it out.”

We had sufficient labor power.

If we needed materials, we could either supply them separately or find them ourselves.

While we were preparing all this, the road was steadily being completed, so we moved on to the second location and repeated the same process.

The only difference this time was that the undead we created was a Lich, a magic user type, not a priest.

It was a monster that could use at least 6-class magic freely, similar to a mage.

And that was just with the dragon’s blood mixed in.

Honestly, I wanted to put dragon’s blood into all the undead.

But that was obviously impossible.

“It’s unbearable.”

The lords couldn’t leave the castle in the first place.

One of the reasons they controlled all the power within the castle was that they needed an enormous amount of magic to maintain themselves.

Although I created the lords of the castle and was stronger than them, they couldn’t survive without my help.

“That’s why they need me, and it’s a necessary risk.”

Without my help, they would disappear in a few months due to magic deficiency.

So, they had no choice but to kneel before me and swear loyalty.

That’s why I had to give up on creating an undead with dragon’s blood.

“Even if I make it the right way, it’s still too expensive…”

Especially if the performance was good, the maintenance cost would be even higher.

It was difficult, especially for humans.

“I said it was possible, but…”

Of course, it wasn’t possible now.

To be certain, I would need to reach 8 classes, and to be absolutely sure, 9 classes.

…8, 9 classes seemed to be the names of someone’s dogs.

To be honest, the reason I couldn’t be confident in the 8th class was because of the corps commander, myself.

In retrospect, I, Tinue, was an undead created from a dragon’s body.

I had used a corpse as a whole, but…

“Anyway, Dark Elf’s skills are truly unmatched.”

Tinue didn’t need to say anything.

As someone who’s lived two lives, I felt like I was falling behind the most.

No, to be honest, I was indeed falling behind.

My growth rate was incredibly fast, and my talent was undeniable, but those who had come before me had lived too long to catch up in just a few years.

“It’s not like I can’t catch up even if I combine my two lives.”

Especially, Yeriya’s skills were truly unmatched.

The tower she created with her soul didn’t even use the shadow of the soul, and it seemed like she was utilizing the remnants of the monsters’ souls to the fullest.

Even Tinue was slightly surprised, saying it was like time had flowed differently.

“Technically, she’s made significant progress.”

Those who could manifest magic with just their willpower were indeed impressive, but Tinue had learned various dark magic in his current state, which made him realize that Yeriya’s skills were extraordinary.

According to him, she used the remnants of the soul left in the corpse like a crystal.

I had never thought that the remnants of the soul had such value, and I was quite surprised.

Indeed, it was remarkable.

After completing the second fortress, our current trade route had reached the midpoint.

We were at a point where we could build the third fortress, but…

“I think we should delay it.”

“Yes.”

“Then, how about we start again from the entrance?”

‘Entrance?’

It seemed like he was referring to the interspecies alliance side, not the barren land side.

“We’ve made some progress on that side, too.”

I had confirmed it myself, so it was certain.

“Yes, then let’s start from there.”

The reason we weren’t building the third fortress near the midpoint was simple.

The lord of that place… would become a special one.

Not an incredibly powerful undead, but someone who would control other lords.

So, we would have to complete the other four places first, and then the order would come back to us. In order, it would become the fifth and final fortress guarding the trade route.

Before heading to the interspecies alliance, I stopped by a place we were currently developing to check the situation.

Mutre welcomed us warmly and replied that there were no difficulties, saying that the monsters’ attacks were fewer than expected.

“Fewer monster attacks?”

“Yes.”

It was inevitable that the monster attacks would increase as we went deeper, and we had prepared for the worst.

But somehow, the attacks were fewer than expected.

“…I guess we’ve killed enough of them.”

Recently, we’ve been constructing fortresses while recklessly hunting monsters to compensate for the lack of corpses.

The number of monsters has drastically decreased, and due to our presence, they’ve abandoned their territory and fled, naturally ensuring the safety of our party.

“I didn’t think it would be this effective…”

I didn’t expect our actions to have such a significant impact.

Instead, I thought the difference would be negligible, but it seems our actions have surpassed even the concept of revenge.

“Do you think it’s just a natural disaster?”

No one thought of avenging natural disasters.

I wonder if similar events would occur in different circumstances.

“After all, if we consider the number of monsters we’ve killed, it’s only natural that we’d surpass a natural disaster.”

It’s not mindless destruction, but rather violence exercised to kill, so the actual damage would be inevitable.

The scale may be unknown, but the wasted power is undeniable.

“Still, let’s not be complacent. Remember what happened at the Ovallan Viscountdom?”

“…Yes.”

Ovallan Viscountdom.

It’s where we first became active, and the pioneer land that was destroyed by the Monster Wave.

Currently, the dungeon I used remains underground in that area.

Back then, it wasn’t just Ovallan that was destroyed by the Monster Wave.

“All pioneer lands were destroyed.”

Monster revenge.

That’s why we can’t afford to be complacent and think we’ve driven them away.

I’m not building fortresses for nothing, and I didn’t accept Tinos’ opinion lightly, aware of the risks.

It’s necessary.

Fortunately, my warning seemed to have an effect, as Mutren nodded with a slightly tense expression.

I felt a bit apologetic. I wanted to provide the safest working environment possible, but it wasn’t possible.

“Still, we’ve prepared enough countermeasures.”

If a major crisis were to occur on our side, Mutren would be safe.

I had given Entin a separate order, instructing him to prioritize Mutren’s protection in case of an emergency.

After checking the work situation, we headed towards the Inter-Species Union.

We had just built the third fortress and stopped by the Inter-Species Union, where we met an unexpected person.

“Nice to meet you. Are you Do In-ha, sir?”

“…That’s correct.”

“I’m Uskatiya, affiliated with the Guardians of the World Tree.”

Guardians of the World Tree.

No, it wasn’t necessary to mention the organization’s name.

I subtly turned my gaze towards my party.

Tinos had a slightly intrigued expression, while the two dark elf elders, Bert and Pret, had a slightly stiffened face.

As for Yeriya… her expression was perfectly neutral.

The one who had brought the dark elves to their current state was an elf.

And… the person in front of me, claiming to be affiliated with the Guardians of the World Tree, was that very elf.

They had longer ears than humans, similar to dark elves. No, to be honest, the only difference between them and dark elves was their skin tone.

Their eye colors were different, but that was just an individual difference.

Generally, Dark Elves were of a dark lineage, and Elves were of a bright lineage, but even that wasn’t an absolute distinction, differing from skin tone.

Uscatia, like an Elf, was quite beautiful and smiled brightly as she looked at me.