"Sorry, I'm a bit tired."
"Berkel's last words? He's waiting for me? What kind of nonsense is that?"
I asked back while opening the contract parchment, but there was no reply.
"No, hey! At least finish what you were saying before you disappear?!"
This is driving me crazy.
This is the problem with giving them free will.
Seriously, what kind of Death Knight says only what he wants and vanishes?
"Ah, screw it. I'll catch him later and pry it out of him."
No matter how much I shouted for an answer, it was pointless.
And I didn't have time to waste arguing.
"Klein!"
While I was grumbling like that, Stella returned from deeper inside the arena.
"I brought what you asked for. So what do we do now?"
"Hand it over. I'll take care of the rest."
The original reason I came here was to increase my undead forces.
I held the vessel toward Anghel's floating head in the sky and spoke.
"The Dullahans that appear around here. They're your men, right?"
— M-my men...?
My tone when referring to the Dullahans clearly annoyed him, but Anghel reluctantly admitted it.
Well, what's he going to do about it?
I'm holding his heart, after all.
— Originally, they were knights who guarded the tomb alongside me. But as time passed...
"Their minds couldn't endure it. And eventually they became wraiths."
Anghel answered my words with silence.
"The souls should be around here."
I placed my hand against one of the murals on the arena wall.
It depicted mounted riders galloping across vast grasslands.
A work that revealed this desert had once been a lush prairie.
Pachut—!
As I poured demonic energy into the mural, a reaction immediately followed.
Krrrrrr...
Black smoke spread out from the mural.
Soon after, headless riders began emerging one after another from the walls of the colosseum.
"Their core nuclei are badly worn down. Without reinforcement, they'll disappear completely."
After assessing their condition, I immediately began filling their bodies with demonic energy.
Tuwhaak—!
An enormous contract sigil rose around the gathered Dullahans.
There were roughly a thousand of them.
Runes representing each existence were engraved one after another, peeling away the murky shadows wrapped around their souls.
— Ahhh...
Some of the riders let go of the swords they had been carrying.
Riders of the prairie who had run for so long their spirit bodies had worn away.
Once their wraithification was undone, the souls that had cast aside their decayed bodies slowly rose into the sky.
Pasusususu...!
Nearly half of them followed that same path.
"So around five hundred chose to remain."
Unlike the exhausted ones, these souls still desired battle and glory.
They engraved their names upon my contract sigil and were being reconstructed into new spirit bodies.
"Uh... so..."
After silently watching the scene for a moment, Stella asked me,
"So what you just did was actually a good deed, right?"
"You caught on pretty quickly, Sister."
Over five hundred headless riders had newly inscribed their names into the contract.
"Good. This side is more or less finished."
I nodded while looking over the runes representing their existence.
"Now it's your turn."
As soon as I said that, I held out the contract sigil toward Anghel.
— You want to make a contract? With me?
"Of course. Unlike them, you can't return anymore."
Unlike the others, who had become wraiths due to resentment, Anghel was a mage who willingly became undead.
The moment he separated his soul into the Life Vessel, he lost his chance to return.
"If you want, I can destroy the vessel and let you disappear instead. What'll it be?"
I said it with a mischievous grin, and Anghel let out a hollow laugh before replying.
— You're frighteningly good at cornering people.
Naturally.
How many years do you think I've spent as a necromancer?
Thinking that, I began carving runes into Anghel's Life Vessel.
Tststststs...!
Demonic energy pouring out from the heart gathered together and formed lines.
It was the process of severing the connection to his original body and linking the vessel to a new spirit body.
"Alright, you build the circuits yourself."
— Very well.
If a Death Knight's spirit body was mass-produced, then a Lich's spirit body was practically custom-made.
The necromancer only provided the framework.
The rest had to be constructed by the mage personally.
That was because every caster had different numbers of circles and different arrangements of mana circuits.
Paaaaat—!
A brilliantly shining burst of mana light erupted.
And what finally appeared was the form of a skeleton cloaked in a black robe.
"Mm, this turned out way better than before."
It had been a while since I last created a mage's spirit body.
Thankfully, it seemed my skills hadn't rusted.
"With this, our forces finally look complete."
Feeling satisfied, I unfolded the soul map connected to the Banshee.
Over a hundred knights wandering through the desert as if being chased by something.
They were the knights of Count Terein who had followed me.
"Shall we go catch the rats trapped in the snare?"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it—!"
The faces of the knights running through the desert were deathly pale.
"Count! What is going on?! To think something like that exists...!"
"Just focus on getting back to the castle!"
But Count Terein himself was no calmer.
'I thought she was just a maid. Who could've imagined she was such a monster...!'
The reason these knights were crossing the vast desert on foot—
was because of that damned shadow still chasing them even now.
Crunch! Crunch!
Countless mouths stretched out from the sprawling shadow.
Those things were devouring every horse they had ridden while continuing to approach them.
"Aaaagh—!"
Slash—!
A knight's sword infused with mana sliced through the shadow.
But even that was meaningless.
Tuwhaak—!
New shadows sprouted from the severed parts and continued pursuing them.
'If it wanted to kill us, it could have done so long ago. Yet it keeps chasing us...!'
Count Terein realized it instantly.
That monster was toying with them.
Slowly. Leisurely.
Until the desert heat killed every last one of them.
Tututututu...
Just as despair made their bodies tremble—
"Th-those footsteps!"
"Someone's coming!"
At the distant sound of galloping hooves, hope returned to several knights' faces.
"There are many of them, Count! At least...!"
"Yes. Around five hundred."
Judging from the sound and direction, they were approaching from the direction of Felician.
Either a patrol from a nearby tribe or Felician cavalry.
"Whichever it is, there's hope."
Somehow, they had to join up with them and return to the castle.
"As long as we make it back to the territory, we can gather all the soldiers and deal with that monster...!"
Just as Count Terein thought that while grinding his teeth—
the sound of hooves grew closer and closer, and a massive dust cloud rose in the distance.
"Th-they spotted us!"
"Over here! Over here—!"
The knights waved frantically toward the dust cloud, hope returning to their faces.
But only for a moment.
"Uh... uhh...?"
"Don't tell me that's...!"
The instant they saw the figures approaching them, the knights' hope turned into despair.
"Dullahans...!"
Shadow horses clad in demonic armor.
Headless riders equipped with heavy plate armor.
Hundreds of Dullahans were approaching them together with the shadows.
"Damn it all...!"
"We're completely surrounded!"
No matter how skilled they were as knights, they could never outrun galloping horses.
The Dullahans surrounding Count Terein and his knights simultaneously raised their spears.
"Oooooh!"
Then, as if greeting old friends,
a voice emerged from the shadow that had been chasing them.
"Young Master, welcome back!"
The moment that bright voice rang out—
— Are you seriously saying a Leinrant heir can't ride a horse?
"Shut up! What am I supposed to do if it still doesn't work no matter how hard I try?!"
A brief scuffle broke out among the Dullahans.
"Hey, Anghel! Catch me!"
— You spent all that time acting cool, only to ruin everything at the end.
After the commotion settled down behind them—
Shrrrk!
The undead crowd parted to the left and right, and a silver-haired boy walked forward.
"Y-Young Master Klein...!"
On one side stood a Death Knight clad in armor.
On the other stood a mysterious undead figure draped in robes.
"What... is this...?!"
After gauging the power radiating from them, Count Terein was horrified.
To think a single necromancer was controlling undead of this level.
"Ugh, my back hurts. I can't do this twice."
As Klein spoke casually, a shadow rose beside him.
"Hehe!"
The monster leaned its face affectionately against the young master.
Klein glanced over the appearance of the gathered knights.
"You didn't eat any people like I told you, right?"
He asked while patting the monster's head.
"Yes! I did well, didn't I?!"
"Yeah, good work."
At the monster's answer, the knights' faces turned even paler.
Like I told you.
In other words, Young Master Klein had known they would come and prepared that monster in advance.
'Does that mean we were dancing in the palm of his hand from the very beginning...?!'
They thought they had cornered him perfectly.
Use the scavengers to lure him into the desert, then abduct him.
They had even prepared enough knights in case of unexpected situations.
This was absurd...!
"Count Terein Talik. That's right, isn't it?"
Klein spoke while looking down at Count Terein.
"One of your knights was mixed in with the assassins who came after me."
Though Klein was seeing Count Terein for the first time, he made no effort to speak formally.
"And now you've brought your entire knight order to hunt me down?"
Like the imperial dukes always did, he wore an arrogant gaze.
The corners of his lips twisted into a mocking smile.
"At this point, there's no need for excuses."
Srrng—!
The count drew the sword at his waist.
If Klein had pressured them with sheer numbers, there would've been no chance of victory.
But now Klein himself had stepped onto the front line.
'If I break through the two undead guarding him, I can kill the caster and reverse the battle.'
He was a man who had lived his entire life as a gambler and a renowned knight.
He had faced countless crises like this before—and every time, he had overcome them spectacularly.
"I shall teach you the law of the desert, Young Master Klein."
"Go ahead."
At Klein's approval, the count continued while pointing his sword at him.
"The victor gains everything, and the loser loses everything. That is the order of the desert."
"...."
At the count's declaration, the other knights also drew their swords.
'Even if they outnumber us, it's only around five times our force!'
'As long as we deal with that monster, we can break through...!'
With nowhere left to retreat, fighting spirit filled their eyes.
They too were veteran knights who had survived countless life-and-death battles in the desert alongside Terein.
Rather than fear, excitement and tension made their blood boil.
"So?"
Young Master Klein accepted the count's words with an amused smile.
"If you win, I'll vanish in the desert, and your side will safely continue to your next destination."
Though there was nothing left inside there anymore.
Klein thought it, but did not say it aloud.
"But if I win, I shall claim everything you discovered within the royal tomb."
The desert sands leave behind no traces.
Even if one killed the child of an imperial duke, it meant nothing without evidence.
After all, people dying in the desert were common throughout Terchin.
"Now then, here I come! Klein Leinrant!"
Overwhelmed by fear and tension he hadn't felt in ages, Terein launched himself forward.
Shwaaaak—!
Closing the distance in an instant, he swung his sword straight for the young master's neck.
"I'll step over your corpse and claim what lies beyond—!"
The moment the count looked at the blade that had nearly reached Klein and became convinced of his victory—
"Anghel."
The undead standing beside Klein had already stretched out its hand toward Terein.
TukwAAAAANG—!
An explosion thundered across the desert.
When the knights finally regained their senses, they could not believe their eyes.
Thudududuk!
Chunks of flesh and bone fragments scattered through the air.
They were the shattered remains of Count Terein, who had charged so bravely just moments ago.
"C-Count...?!"
"N-not even a trace left behind...!"
The knights' swords trembled in shock.
A knight whose body had been reinforced with mana—destroyed in a single blow.
It was beyond all common sense.
Something impossible.
"At this level, there shouldn't be any problems even in Felician."
From the moment the count charged until he exploded into pieces,
Young Master Klein never once touched the hilt of his sword.
Rumble...
"...!"
"W-what is all this...?!"
Once the Dullahans blocking their vision with horses and spears moved aside, the knights' faces turned deathly white.
Shrrrrk—!
An army of Skeletons surrounded them on all sides.
At a glance, there were well over forty thousand of them, all aiming crossbows at the knights.
"I suppose, since you're a knight order, you thought you could somehow break through."
As Klein raised one hand, the Skeleton crossbowmen simultaneously aimed at the knights.
"If that were possible, I wouldn't have bothered coming here myself."
The moment he said that, arrows began raining down from every direction.
Even bodies strengthened with mana could not withstand tens of thousands of quarrels.
And when the undead legion finally withdrew, all that remained behind was a heap of blood-soaked corpses strewn across the desert.
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