Ch.8989. Necromancer (1)

The beginning of the incident was quite simple.

“If I do this like this…”

-CRACKLE-BOOM!!!

“…Ah. I miscalculated the force. Again, let me try again…”

Having completed a new piece of equipment—a wand about 30cm long—designed as a countermeasure against the undead, I was spending time practicing celestial magic that I still hadn’t quite gotten used to.

Thanks to Corin’s Mystery, I could use celestial magic that controls weather and lightning with reasonable proficiency, but the level of celestial magic I was currently focusing on was quite difficult.

Celestial magic, which involves resonating with higher dimensional planes and borrowing their power, is the most difficult type of magic among all celestial arts.

Setting aside the mental and spiritual burden it places on the caster, if you don’t have an aptitude for it, resonance itself is impossible.

Even for me, with my aptitude enhanced by a staff, this type of celestial magic was difficult to cast from the very beginning.

However… despite that, I didn’t stop practicing.

[“…Therefore, descend.”]

-CRACK-BOOM!!

To properly fight the undead—natural enemies of druids—mastering magic based on celestial power was absolutely necessary.

Not only does it provide holy attribute attacks that melt the undead like ice cream on a hot summer day, but the astrological principles of celestial magic can also grant special effects like “guaranteed hits.”

And then…

“—Master! Enemies, enemies!”

Suddenly, an urgent voice from Corin, who had gone out to scout the surroundings, reached me.

“Corin? Enemies? Did you say enemies?”

“Yes! Corpses are walking this way! So many of them!”

From what Corin was saying, it seemed like there was a mass appearance of corpses… that is, undead, outside the Tarask.

…Of all times, just as I was preparing countermeasures against the undead, a mass undead appearance phenomenon—something that would never naturally occur unless the environment had gone completely mad—was happening.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. Could this situation possibly be the result of someone’s deliberate intent?

Normally, I would have dismissed it as “just a coincidence,” but given the timing, I couldn’t shake off my suspicions.

As my unease—not quite suspicion yet—was gradually growing…

[I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand. I’m truly sorry, Gregory.]

“…Could I ask for an explanation?”

[Yes, I’ll explain everything.]

As Sophia transmitted her thoughts to me as if she had been waiting for this moment, I requested an explanation while trying my best to maintain my composure.

And… the answer I received was something even I could understand to some extent.

[‘The Desert of Death’ is too dangerous to visit just because of a connection. So, the prophet tried to bring the calamity in advance to prevent fate’s mischief as much as possible…]

“…So that’s what this was about?”

“Calamity,” a concept that remains in my memories from my previous life, is a theory originating from the Eastern Continent in this world. To summarize it briefly, it’s a term that expresses “bad things that happen to you” from a fatalistic perspective.

And there’s a limit to the total amount of such “calamity.” Although it varies from person to person, the total amount of calamity, which is generally measured in yearly units, is essentially fixed. Magic users from the Eastern Continent devised a method called “calamity division” to utilize this concept.

It’s a technique to prevent all calamities within a specific period from striking at once by triggering smaller disasters caused by “calamity” in advance.

To put it bluntly, it’s a kind of workaround that divides upcoming misfortunes into installments to deal with them.

Of course, since knowing about calamity tends to intensify its malignancy, she probably couldn’t tell me about the calamity division to ensure its effectiveness.

And if this was Sophia’s situation… the doubts and suspicions I had harbored could be more or less resolved.

[I’m sorry. But if I didn’t do this…]

“No, Sophia. I understand. Going through this once now is probably better than having something truly terrible happen later. I’m really okay with it.”

Comforting Sophia, who seemed to think her actions deserved reproach, I picked up my newly crafted wand and got to my feet.

“Reproaches can wait. Let’s move first.”

[…Yes.]

For now, dealing with the undead that seemed to have gathered due to the influence of the “calamity division” was the priority.

※ ※ ※

When I left “Nature’s Hut” to assess the situation and briefly merged with the otherworld of the small Aleinos Forest,

My eyes, now possessing a wide field of vision similar to a third-person view in a game, caught sight of fairies fending off the invading undead.

“Shoot! Shoot!!”

“Die, you shall!!”

“Unforgivable, this is!!”

Under the command of Fairy Princess Tristia and her high fairy subordinates, the fairy corps hid their bodies in bushes and tree gaps, continuing to fire magical bullets as if shooting projectiles.

The fairies’ magical bullets, which originally had the impact of a baseball bat swing, were enhanced under the high fairies’ command, gaining sufficient lethality and destructive power.

However… the undead fighting the fairies were no pushovers either.

-Clatter, clatter.

-Thud-thud-thud…!!!

The undead attacking our group’s Tarask were mostly skeletons, but these skeletons were far from ordinary… far from those that naturally emerge from abandoned corpses.

Generally, skeletons arising from corpses use the weapons they wielded in life, while skeletons “generated” in the air by necromantic energy typically wield rusty one-handed swords or clubs.

However, the undead now in my sight—the skeletons—clearly had an appearance distinct from those.

The skeletons at the front, though simple and crude in structure, were armed with mass-produced-looking crude shields and spears.

Also characteristic was that they formed battle formations under the command of “sergeant skeletons” (tentative name) positioned throughout, showing movements that clearly indicated someone’s intelligence.

Of course, it wouldn’t be strange for such a scale of skeletons to have a higher-tier undead awakening and leading them, but even considering that, their movements were clearly in the realm of abnormality.

Typically, high-ranking undead commanding armies move with considerable obsession or hatred as their driving force, and therefore, no matter how excellent a military leader they were in life, they cannot fully exercise their living rationality.

They say that upper-tier undead can maintain their rationality, but there’s no way Sophia wouldn’t have foreseen a crisis severe enough for upper-tier undead to appear.

Therefore, I suspected that behind these undead… this skeleton army… was none other than a necromancer.

These wizards, who practice necromancy or spirit magic, are evil mages who deal with “necromancy,” the twisted offspring of “soul magic” once researched in the Desert of Death.

Necromancers, who manipulate necromantic energy, souls, death, and the undead, can cast their spells regardless of the sorcerer’s survival, which is why there are plenty of living necromancers openly walking around in this world.

…Of course, it’s only natural that necromancers are all treated as cultists.

Anyway, if a necromancer is behind that undead army… I should probably prepare.

Necromancers, broadly speaking, belong to the realm of “wizards”—practitioners of magic who acquired their abilities.

Even if a wizard learns necromancy and transitions to becoming a necromancer, they don’t lose the ability to use their previously learned magic.

Therefore, as I was about to launch a preemptive strike to assess the necromancer’s magical capabilities…

“…Gregory, the prophet will begin now.”

“Can you do it?”

“Of course.”

Seeing Sophia step forward confidently, I retreated to make room for her and prepared for the next attack…

[“…Celestial Wind!”]

After completing a not-so-short incantation, Sophia unleashed a gust of wind imbued with sacred celestial energy through celestial magic.

The blue-white wind gushing from a portal opened in the air swept through the skeleton army.

While it would be just a strong wind that slightly stings the skin of humans or ordinary living beings, it was a catastrophic attack for the undead, whose essence touches the impure.

-Whoooosh…!!!

Right after the sacred wind passed through the undead. The powerful holy energy contained in the wind swept away the skeletons, and in the wake of this attack, only traces of purified and annihilated skeletons remained.

The higher entities like skeleton sergeants barely survived, but they couldn’t prevent their bodies from crumbling, and in that weakened state, magical bullets mercilessly shattered the undead’s entire bodies.

As the entire undead army of about 1,000 was annihilated in one breath, with the ashes of what were once skeletons scattering everywhere…

-…Step, step, step, step.

The culprit behind this incident, the necromancer, revealed themselves, flanked by undead guards on both sides.