Chapter 210
Crack.
‘Hmm. Is this all there is?’
Raul sheathed his greatsword behind him as he watched the Death Knight turn to dust. Having taken down five Death Knights, he didn’t find it particularly challenging. While they were said to be tougher to deal with than when they were alive, at their core, they were just knights.
Considering that an expert-level knight posed no threat to Raul anymore, it was fair to say he wasn’t worried. By now, the battle was over, and cleanup efforts were well underway.
“Impressive skills. As expected of the Ashton household’s swordsmanship, I suppose?”
Duke Hansley approached, dragging what looked like a large ragged object with one hand.
“What is that…?”
“Oh, this?”
Thump. Clatter.
As Hansley threw it lightly, a corpse that looked like a mummified skeleton with a thin layer of skin left over it rolled across the floor.
“A lich. Probably the commander of this undead army.”
A lich was a mage who had become undead through forbidden black magic to enjoy the powers of immortality. They were usually high-ranking mages of at least the 6th Circle, and ancient archliches could even possess the skills of an 8th Circle great sage.
“Did you happen to find the ‘phylactery’?”
“Oh, you know well about liches. Well, I didn’t deal with the phylactery, but since it’s in this state, it should be quiet for a while.”
A lich hides its heart (the phylactery) somewhere away from its body to maintain its immortality. Even if its body is entirely destroyed, it will eventually resurrect over time, so to fully annihilate a lich, one must destroy the phylactery.
As Duke Hansley mentioned, the moment the lich fell, the undead army collapsed. Some of the surviving undead seeped into the ground, while the spectral monsters who had been floating in the air flew off somewhere in the canyon with eerie cries.
What remained on the battlefield were the corpses of the undead, their used weapons, and the ‘mana stones’ that were the cores of high-ranking undead.
However, with the mana stones contaminated by dark energy, they needed to be purified before they could be used properly….
‘Undead monsters are not very profitable after all.’
Although the bones of medium-sized or larger monsters tainted with dark energy were valuable crafting materials that mages coveted, they were very few among the countless undead.
Considering the skeletons and zombies that weren’t worth much, the profit-to-investment ratio was inevitably low.
‘Well, it’s not my problem to worry about.’
Raul picked up the remnants (mana stone and dented breastplate) of the Death Knight he had defeated and stowed them in his inventory before turning away from the battlefield.
***
Clop, clop, clop.
Fifty knights on horseback rode roughly along the blood-stained muddy path.
“Master had all the fun by himself again. Why did he even bring us if he was going to do that?”
Jake smacked his lips in disappointment and swung his greatsword at empty air.
“I wanted to participate in the wall battle too; it’s a shame.”
Josh chimed in, agreeing with Jake. Raul chuckled softly.
“It seems everyone’s itching for a fight, huh? Don’t worry, there will be plenty of battles ahead, so don’t get too impatient.”
Raul’s party was leaving the wall, heading to the forward base.
There were three forward bases in total: Alpha, beta, and Gamma. The further along they went, the deeper they ventured into Corpse Road. The Supreme Commander and the highest-ranking officers had their headquarters at the frontmost Gamma base.
“Lord Raul, do you really intend to head straight to Gamma base?”
Baron Carlo, the captain of the Silver Bear Knights, asked. He had joined Raul’s group along with thirty Golden Bear and Silver Bear knights dispatched by Count Ashton for the rescue.
“That’s the plan. We can’t afford to waste time.”
After the battle, Raul managed to have another private meeting with Duke Hansley. Through their conversation, Raul learned about the current situation at the wall and the approximate circumstances that led to his brother Lawrence’s disappearance.
‘How ironic. To think it’s related to that place.’
Raul had hoped to avoid getting involved in the main scenario as much as possible. He disliked being dragged around by the unsavory element known as ‘scenario compulsion’.
So unless absolutely necessary, he had focused on matters benefiting his fief and family.
‘The appearance of the hero party, Lawrence’s disappearance… it feels like everything is intertwining.’
From the circumstances, it seemed that his second brother Lawrence had gone missing in a dungeon beneath Corpse Road. If Raul’s hunch was correct, that dungeon was likely related to the ‘Ancient Seal.’
In any case, Raul was hurrying partly because of his brother Lawrence but also due to the situation at the wall.
‘Given the scale of this undead wave, there should be some time before the next wave. But if another wave hits before we reach Gamma base, we could be stranded.’
Currently, Corpse Road was experiencing unusually frequent and massive waves of monsters, and despite the efforts of the three forward bases to thin their numbers, monsters were often reaching the wall.
“If the horses don’t get adequate rest, it could delay us even more. Plus, it will take at least three days to reach Gamma base. Can we camp out in this situation?”
Carlo’s concerns were valid. Even though the party was traveling on a cleared path and consisted solely of mounted troops, the horses needed rest too. Moreover, camping out on Corpse Road, where undead could pop up at any moment, was no easy feat.
“Haha, baron, it seems you’ve become quite the worrier. There’s always a reason behind what the Master does, so you don’t need to worry too much. You’ll be in for a big surprise later.”
Jake boasted, thumping his chest. Baron Carlo merely shrugged.
*
Having left the fortress early in the morning, Raul and his party were approaching Forward Base Alpha by the afternoon.
“My gosh. We’ve reached Alpha base already…”
Baron Carlo had a look of disbelief on his face. The distance from the wall to Alpha base was roughly 100 km. Even for well-trained warhorses, carrying heavily armored knights, it wasn’t a distance they should have covered in half a day.
“Do you trust us now?”
Jake grinned, and the baron could only nod slightly. The radiant aura that Raul emanated was aiding not just in battle but also in their march.
“We’ll bypass it directly.”
Normally, they would stop at Alpha base to replace their tired horses or restock supplies, but Raul leisurely passed by the fortress. There were murmurs from the soldiers on the wall, but he paid them no mind.
After continuing their forced march for a few more hours, the sun was setting.
“Halt. We’ll camp here for the night and move on in the morning.”
No matter how urgent it was, marching at night in an area where undead appeared was reckless. Undead became significantly stronger at night, and the frequency and level of their appearances increased.
“Then we’ll set up camp.”
Baron Carlo commanded his knights, but Jake stopped him.
“There’s no need for that. The Master has already prepared a place for us to stay.”
“What do you mean?”
As the baron was about to question him, a thudding sound came from behind him.
“Hurry up and get ready!”
As Josh urged the knights on, large stone blocks began to pour out of the inventories of the First Knight Order members.
“What—.”
The knights from Count Ashton’s house, who hadn’t experienced such things with Raul, watched with wide eyes, stunned by the sight. And this time, the members of the First Knight Order didn’t even need to move much.
Whoosh.
With a small wave of Raul’s hand, the large stone blocks floated into the air and found their places by themselves.
Thud, thud.
In just a minute, Raul and his party were surrounded by a small fortress.
“Everyone, step back.”
When Raul gestured, the knights retreated towards the wall.
Swoosh, thud.
“Gasp!”
Baron Carlo couldn’t help but exclaim. Raul made a few gestures in the air, and before they knew it, five neat, rectangular wooden buildings had materialized within the stone fortress.
Thud.
Not only that, but even a stable for the horses appeared at one side of the wall.
“How… how is this possible? How did you build houses with just a wave of your hand…?”
Baron Carlo, his eyes wide with astonishment, asked. Raul smiled faintly and responded.
“It’s just a very large spatial expansion pouch with houses stored inside. Nothing to be too surprised about.”
Even though Raul said it nonchalantly, the baron could only blink in disbelief. In reality, this was a travel technique created by combining a few psychokinetic and magical abilities.
The trick was to shrink the houses using the miniaturization ability (C-rank psychokinesis), then use preservation magic to maintain their form and store them in a subspace (B-rank psychokinesis).
Later on, it became a combination often used by player parties.
Once the cozy campsite was set up, the party used Raul’s techniques to install simple alarm magic through Rabel, allowing them to spend the night comfortably.
By repeating the process of marching and camping, Raul’s party managed to reach Forward Base Gamma in less than two days.
Clang! Clang!
“Push them back!”
“Aim for the heads!”
Before them was the sight of their allies in the midst of battle.
“Should we intervene?”
“No, it seems unnecessary.”
It appeared that a patrol team was engaged with a small group of undead. Moreover, there were more than ten such locations, and among them were other troops passing by without any concern.
A scene where the phrase “life is a battle” seemed perfectly apt.
“Hyaah.”
Raul’s party passed through these battle zones and finally entered Forward Base Gamma.
*
“Welcome, Viscount Raul.”
After a brief inspection, they entered the base, where a knight was already waiting to greet them as if he had been informed in advance.
“Sir Crinas, wasn’t it?”
“Oh my! How do you know my name?”
Crinas of the Golden Bear Knights, surprised, looked at Raul.
“I remember seeing you several times at the main house a few years ago. You’ve worked hard on this dispatch.”
“It’s nothing. I feel responsible for not properly assisting the second young master….”
“How could that be your fault? Let’s move to the campsite first.”
Around twenty knights dispatched by Count Ashton were stationed at the frontline Forward Base Gamma. They were under the command of the army headquarters, so they weren’t responsible for Lawrence’s disappearance.
Initially, they were there as part of a mandatory dispatch, while Lawrence operated voluntarily with his escort knights.
Creak.
The Ashton camp was large and meticulously maintained. Even though the dispatched knights and Lawrence’s escort knights totaled fewer than forty, the campsite was large enough to accommodate a hundred people.
‘This is the power of wealth and influence….’
Compared to the shabby camps of other families, it was clear they were receiving special treatment. The very act of being given a separate campsite was a form of privilege.
Count Ashton not only dispatched additional knights beyond the mandatory quota assigned by the state but also sent a certain amount of donations to the wall every year.
The count had been aware of the wall’s importance since participating in the great war with the Empire.
‘It’s natural since they cared more about the wall than the royal court.’
As a result, the name of Count Ashton might have been forgotten in the kingdom’s capital, but the situation was completely different at the wall.
At Porta, the entrance to the wall, soldiers and mercenaries often bowed their heads in respect upon seeing the crest of the Ashton household.
“Is Viscount Raul de Ashton here? The Supreme Commander seeks your presence.”
Being summoned by the headquarters immediately upon arrival also highlighted the influence of the Ashton household.
‘It’s time to meet him then?’
The ‘Iron Wall Knight,’ who steadfastly protected the wall for decades.
A meeting with Duke Julius, the Supreme Commander respected by all knights across the continent, was imminent.
(To be continued)