Ch.126The Road to Scofield Plains (3)

# Undead.

The term refers to the group that zombies belong to, those that approach with groans and shambling movements.

Literally an army of the ‘not dead,’ these forces of death are controlled by evil necromancers and seek to devour everything in sight to transform the living into the dead.

From skeletons assembled from pieced-together bones, to zombies with bodies infected through curses or bites, to ghouls—twisted and malevolent creatures.

And finally, various deformed beings created through processes too horrific to even describe…

Their terrifying and grotesque appearances can steal the sanity of conscripted soldiers and topple even the mightiest cities in an instant.

And now, the five of us are charging into an evil lair where tens of thousands of troops lie in wait.

To purify the unholy and condemn the wicked with the light of the sun.

“It won’t be an easy battle, party leader.”

“I know. Lucia! Casia!”

“What is it?”

“You two take down the bats. We’ll handle the ground.”

“Got it!”

I assigned Lucia and Casia to anti-air defense.

With my wife and I handling the ground forces, and Simon providing overall support, we could sufficiently repel the mindless undead hordes.

The real threats were the ghouls mixed among the zombies and skeletons looking for assassination opportunities, and the giant bats swooping down from the sky to kill us.

Even if evil spirits appeared, Simon and I with our sigils could stop them, so having Lucia and Casia secure the skies was the more efficient choice.

“Simon. Conserve your spells as much as possible. You’ll need to face the necromancer when they appear.”

“Understood.”

Counter spells with spells.

This was practically common sense among adventurers.

After all, those who best understand spellcasters are other spellcasters.

It was similar to how fighters like myself can instinctively assess an opponent’s combat ability by observing their muscles and movements.

With Simon’s high level of spellcasting, he could at least buy us time against even a powerful necromancer, and if the situation looked hopeless, we could retreat.

Though I am a knight, being a knight doesn’t obligate me to fight to the death.

“By the way, I’m not sure how strong these zombies are.”

“Well… think of them as having human strength but charging without feeling pain or fear. Too easy to call difficult, but too difficult to call easy.”

“Hmm. Adult strength?”

“Children can’t withstand the infection. Dead children… get ‘recycled.'”

“…”

The strength of adult men and women is difficult to quantify precisely.

Even when I was much younger, I survived by fighting against robust adult men, so from my perspective, zombies should be easy opponents.

Especially since street thugs often had dulled pain receptors from drugs or alcohol, making them difficult to incapacitate in one blow unless you cut off their heads or tore off their limbs.

In that sense, I’ve been fighting zombies since childhood.

Though I’ve never faced zombie hordes of this magnitude before.

“Honestly, zombies aren’t much of a threat. Their teeth or fists can’t penetrate your armor. Same goes for Raisha’s chain mail. Even my cloth armor would give zombies trouble.”

“So then?”

“The real threats are the necromancer himself, the evil spirits he commands, and combat-capable monsters like ghouls.”

I nodded.

If we focus too much on clearing the minor enemies, we might not have enough strength left for the mid-bosses or final boss—a situation requiring careful management of our stamina.

Moreover, since I still can’t control my aura well, I might fall asleep in front of the necromancer if I’m not careful.

“Simon. You said you can use 10 spells, right?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“Well, when do your spells recharge?”

“Depends on usage. One or two spells might take an hour or two, but if you use all 10, you need about 12 hours of rest.”

“I see… Then let’s find a good position before entering the village—somewhere we can cast spells on the village without being noticed.”

“Ah… I see what you’re planning.”

My plan was to unleash spells first, apply long-lasting buff spells to ourselves, then rest to recover spell capacity.

This technique, known as “revolving,” is commonly used by parties with spellcasters, particularly buff-specialized mages whose spells last longer than their recovery time.

And our sage knows many buff spells.

“Don’t you have any spells that can burn the enemies?”

“I do, but the range is short. This commoner’s magic isn’t that powerful. I can’t hurl massive boulders at a distant village.”

“That’s unfortunate. But it’s fine. We can manage with buffs alone.”

I said this while guiding my horse along the winding mountain path.

The party followed me without complaint, and our warhorses, including Bruiser, were climbing the rugged mountains with ease.

It’s fascinating how terrain can be so varied—a mountain range right before open plains.

*

“Good. This place will do.”

This spot overlooking the village contained a broken, forgotten villa.

The villa, seemingly destroyed by monster attacks and left abandoned, appeared habitable enough for the night. Below the villa was a steep cliff that provided a clear view of the village.

“I feel an ominous energy… Hold me, master.”

“Fear not. You too have received the power of the sun.”

I embraced my trembling wife tightly as I looked down at the devastated village.

The streets crawled with undying corpses, hunched over and dripping with saliva and blood.

The town center, once homes, now transformed into slaughterhouses—burning and collapsed.

And scattered everywhere were signs of resistance, trampled by ghouls roaming about.

“Damn it. Look at that.”

“Is that…?”

“A revenant. Half-physical, half-spiritual monster. Even if you kill its body, the soul remains and fights on tenaciously.”

Necromancers manipulate the power of death.

While human souls normally go to the Four Gods or the Sun after death, those who cannot or will not accept death can resurrect themselves through extreme will—these are revenants.

They harbor intense hatred toward the living and must feed on the living to maintain their miserable, unholy “life,” which is why they easily pledge loyalty to necromancers.

But I possess a sigil that can bind them, and two swords forged with the power of the sun.

I have no reason to fear them.

“Don’t worry. I have the sigil.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. A sigil called ‘Seika’ that can bind and attack spiritual entities.”

“That’s fortunate then.”

“Plus, I have a sword made of orichalcum. When morning comes, they will witness the power of the sun.”

Simon chuckled at my words, then cast 10 buff spells on us.

The buffs focused mainly on mobility and stamina, as our strength was already sufficient to tear apart average adult men with our bare hands.

With enhanced mobility to break through encirclements and stamina to maintain intense movement without tiring, I clenched and unclenched my fist, accepting the foreign power gradually being absorbed into my body.

Sting!

“Argh?!”

Suddenly, intense pain shot through my entire body. I writhed in agony briefly before the pain subsided, leaving me confused as I stood up.

“Master! Are you alright?”

My wife hurriedly supported me, while Simon placed his staff against my head and said:

“The overlapping buff spells seem to have conflicted with your aura. It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry.”

“Wow. I think this is the first time I’ve seen the boss exaggerate pain.”

“Hehe…”

“Exaggerate? It really hurt.”

“Okay, I believe you.”

After experiencing this vaccine side effect(?) from the interaction between my aura and magic, I instructed my party members to set up tents and light a campfire. As I watched the tents being erected and the fire blazing, I thought:

The children who once lived in that village probably dreamed of embarking on adventures like this someday, but they met a terrible end before even reaching adulthood.

Watching the neighbor trying to kill them, seeing their parents torn apart by monsters, and finally ending their lives in extreme pain and fear—how can we console the souls of these children?

I pray that the light of the sun will wash away their pain.

And I yearn for tomorrow’s rising sun to avenge their deaths. In the name of Nariakira, we will give peace to those bound by death.