Chapter 130: Chapter 112: Tracking All the Way_1
After packing their belongings, they set off again, following the unsteady corpses deeper into the forest.
They did not light any torches. As a mage, Ann had cast a night vision spell on them. Even in the pitch darkness of the night, they could see clearly as if it was daytime. This brought great joy to the mercenaries who had initially questioned why they had to bring along a fragile lady. Now, they thought…
It was indeed more convenient to have a mage on board.
“What the hell is this?”
Following behind the corpses and watching the charred bodies wobbling in the snowfield, Cliff couldn’t help but complain. Just seeing walking corpses at night was horrifying enough, advancing with them was a scenario from nightmares.
“What do you think, Ann?”
Duanmu Huai, who was still leading the group, scrutinized his surroundings, then turned to the bundled Ann in his arms and asked her opinion. She furrowed her brow, thought for a while and then shook her head.
“I’m not sure, this kind of magic is strictly forbidden in Manaria. However, manipulating corpses does seem more like necromancy…”
“Can we deal with it?”
“Fire magic should work in most cases.”
Duanmu Huai nodded, not saying anything else. His war hammer, imbued with the holy power of Sigma, was more than capable of dealing with a necromancer.
Thus, they followed the walking dead for almost half the night before Duanmu Huai finally stopped.
“It’s just up ahead.”
He spoke in a low voice to the rest of the group. Upon hearing Duanmu Huai’s words, they all paused.
Duanmu Huai lifted his head. Through the scope on his helmet, he had a clear view of the scene ahead. In front of Duanmu Huai, a dilapidated carriage brimming with bodies swayed on the mountain road. It was a scene of despair as the bodies writhed and wailed like tormented souls. A figure wrapped in a tattered robe sat on the carriage, clutching a withered magic wand and a small bell which he routinely jingled. Surrounding him, countless corpses converged from all directions.
Duanmu Huai explained what he saw to the others, causing them to gasp in shock.
“So many corpses? What is it planning to do?”
“A typical necromancer could not possibly command this many corpses!!”
At this point, Kevin also furrowed his brow. As he stated, necromancers in this world do have the ability to summon spirits and raise skeleton soldiers and zombies. However, most necromancers have limitations in this respect — in other words, there are restrictions in terms of the number of corpses and the time they can control.
The current situation, where a necromancer could collect the dead — and even the living, almost without limitations, was almost impossible to conceive.
“Whether it’s possible or not, this is what’s happening.”
Duanmu Huai never concerned himself with theoretical problems. In many movies, scientists mainly argue about whether something is “impossible”. But, if they argue that something is impossible, they better provide an explanation.
No matter what, in this world where gods truly exist, nothing is impossible. Duanmu Huai was more concerned about whether it would be better to chop this necromancer up.
“It might not be that easy.”
Kevin shook his head. According to Duanmu Huai’s description, the carriage alone was transporting countless corpses. In addition, skeleton guards and cavalry, even necrotic witches, were protecting the area around the carriage. Charging through with their current force was tantamount to seeking death.
“I….I’ve heard about…”
However, a member in their group, a mercenary, was pale as a sheet.
“I’ve heard….about the legends of these night-walking corpses. There’s a tale about an old necromancer who would gather corpses all over Imperial territory. Everywhere he went, he would jingle his bell, rousing all the sleeping bodies in the tombs to follow him. If anyone dared to stop him, they would become one of the bodies… People don’t know why the old mage does this. Some say that it’s part of a pact he made with a powerful entity…”
“Alright, so he’s a professional graverobber.”
Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes.
“Don’t worry, if I say we will fight, then I am confident.”
“Since you are confident…”
Speaking to this point, Kevin fell silent for a moment.
“So, let’s give it a try, but, we must capture the necromancer alive. I have something to ask it.”
Since the employer had spoken, the others, even if reluctant, had to continue moving forward as per Kevin’s instruction. Soon, they arrived in a forest not far from the caravan. They saw dozens of skeleton soldiers carrying longspears on both sides of the carriage. Behind them were death knights riding skeleton horses, and necrotic witches floating on either side, their blasphemous whispers driving the corpses onto the carriage like herded animals.
Duanmu Huai simply watched all this quietly until the last corpse was loaded onto the carriage. Then, he nodded to Ann.
Already impatient, Ann leapt up at Duanmu Huai’s order. Raising her hand high, a huge magic circle appeared above the caravan as she moved. Then, a fireball that seemed to burn like the sun emerged, illuminating everything before them.
Seeing this, the necrotic witches by the carriage were taken aback. They hurriedly raised their wand in an attempt to dispel this terrifying magic. But at that very moment, Ann forcefully cast downward, and with her action, the fireball descended from the sky, directly bombarding the center of the carriage.
The exploding fireball swallowed the entire caravan. Most of the nearby skeleton soldiers and death knights were not spared. Everything around was engulfed in fire, burning fiercely.
All the mercenaries were stunned any this sight, their incredulous eyes on Ann. It seemed like they never expected this young girl to possess such powerful magic. But before they could marvel any further, Duanmu Huai already stood up, grasping his war hammer, and darted out from the forest.
Following Duanmu Huai’s furious roar, the others also clenched their weapons tightly and charged out along with him.
At the same time, the undead guarding the carriage also detected Duanmu Huai and the others, hastily turning their weapons to initiate a counterattack.
Just as Duanmu Huai dashed out from the forest, a death knight riding a skeleton horse was already charging toward him. However, Duanmu Huai did not even bother to block, aggressively sprinting forward. He instantly shattered the skeleton horse along with the death knight into pieces, and he left the finishing off to the others behind him.
He had only one target!
With his momentum unchanged after pulverising the death knight, Duanmu Huai continued to surge forward, bulldozing through the skeleton guards’ defense line like a runaway lorry, right into the burning pile. The enormous carriage loaded with a large number of corpses had become a large bonfire, with flames reaching for the sky. However, not even this scorching fire could make Duanmu Huai retreat. He sprinted right into the burning pile, surging on. Soon, Duanmu Huai saw a battered skeleton moving slowly within the nearby flames, trying to reach out for a black bell not far from him.
Seeing the black bell, a cold light flashed in Duanmu Huai’s eyes, and he strode over, snatching the bell from the ground. At the same time, another system prompt appeared before Duanmu Huai.
[You have obtained the holy artifact ‘Soul Summoning Bell’]
Seeing the system prompt, Duanmu Huai finally breathed a sigh of relief. That’s one of the reasons why he advocated attacking immediately. After all, upon discovering the holy artifact, Duanmu Huai was naturally keen to retrieve it.
But it’s not over yet.
Duanmu Huai stowed the bell, then grabbed the skeleton that was trying to turn and flee. He directly pulled it out of a bonfire—the poor old necromancer seemed to have only defended half an attack, its lower half completely shattered, and only the upper half was still wobbling there, Duanmu Huai caught it in one swift move.
Meanwhile, Kevin and the other mercenaries had cleared the undead around the carriage. After all, the undead need mages to command them, and when the mages are struggling to save themselves, their combat prowess is undoubtedly compromised.
“This guy is the culprit.”
Duanmu Huai walked out, holding the necromancer that was left with only half a body.
“So what now? Shall we kill it?”
However, just then, Kevin stood out. With a smile on his face, he looked at Duanmu Huai.
“Could I have a little chat with it?”
Duanmu Huai pulled off the necromancer’s wobbling pair of skeleton arms and threw it to one side. Kevin walked over. He whispered something to the necromancer, and the necromancer replied a few words, then burst into insane laughter—suddenly falling silent.
Kevin got up and pulled out the longsword that pierced the necromancer’s skull. Then, with a solemn expression, he walked up to Duanmu Huai and looked at the crowd.
“Gentlemen, it seems our duty is far from over.”