The Shadowed Legacy Of The Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 101

Unlike the brave Brand, the soldiers were trembling with fear.

“Good heavens. Not only people but even animal carcasses are coming out?”

Ahead of the human corpses, the dogs raised in the village were walking, zombified.

This showed how skilled the black magic sorcerer was in handling these undead.

“Eek! There are too many!”

Seeing the soldiers terrified, Zibeck, realizing this wouldn’t do, asked Azadin.

“I wish to use the Hammer of Judgment magic, but do you have a hammer to use as a medium?”

“How about this?”

When Zibeck asked for a hammer, Azadin took one from his saddle, examined it, and then rummaged through them to find a rusty and worn one.

“………”

“You don’t need a good one to use as a magic medium, do you?”

“It’s urgent.”

“Oh, really! I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve been a bit careless with my gear!”

Azadin set aside the hammers and maces in good condition and handed Zibeck the rusty, chipped, and heavily damaged ones.

‘The fact that he’s even choosing in this situation.’

Zibeck was dumbfounded by Azadin’s obsession with the condition of his equipment, but he grabbed the hammer.

Zibeck was fed up with Azadin’s hoarding tendencies, but he also chose the rusty and bad ones first and cast magic on them with his origin.

“Subdue those who defy righteousness. Light of the King!”

-Hammer of Judgment!

As Zibeck threw the hammer, it flew in an arc, emitting a dazzling light, and then plunged to the ground. A wave of light spread in all directions, and the bodies of the undead that it touched began to burn slightly.

“Kaaak!”

“Kieeeek!”

The undead writhed in pain and collapsed. Then, from afar, the power of magic surged. The black magician had cast some kind of spell.

The undead suddenly howled like beasts toward the sky, then charged with a speed that was incomparable to their slow pace just moments before. The sight of dozens of undead going berserk and charging was truly horrific.

“Eek!?”

“Ugh!”

The soldiers were horrified by the sight.

“Hold your spears and maintain formation!”

Zibeck, putting his words into action, grabbed a spear himself and stood with the soldiers. A small number of spearmen, hardly worthy of being called a formation, formed a line against the wave of undead.

And then the wave crashed down.

“Focus!”

The soldiers and the knight barely regained their senses and began to act according to Sir Zibeck’s orders. They thrust their spears at the undead that were rushing at them menacingly. As everyone’s attacks converged, one undead was impaled on a spear, thrashing as it charged.

“Eek!”

“Ah! It won’t come out!”

The spear was stuck in the undead and wouldn’t come out. Meanwhile, other undead were swarming in.

“S-save me!”

Some soldiers even tried to abandon their spears and run away. But Zibeck grabbed his horse’s reins and turned, and the horse kicked an undead away with its hind legs. The undead was sent flying backward by the massive warhorse’s kick.

“Hup!”

Sir Zibeck thrust his spear into an undead that was attacking his horse. He twisted the spear, lifted it, lightly pulled out the embedded blade, and then thrust it again, showing them how it was done.

“Again!”

At Sir Zibeck’s command, the soldiers and Brand grabbed their spears and reorganized their line. Then, they easily repelled the undead that were quickly swarming in with thrusts that they had failed at just moments before.

“Hmm, impressive.”

Azadin was impressed as he watched Zibeck fill the gaps in the soldiers’ formation, creating opportunities for them to thrust and retrieve their spears.

Every time Sir Zibeck swung his spear, the undead fell. This knight was indeed no ordinary person. His leadership was also remarkable. He maintained a calm demeanor even in the face of the undead’s attack, which would make most people lose their minds with fear. All of this showed that Zibeck was no ordinary paladin.

‘Well, I knew Zibeck would be skilled since he’s so stoic. Sir Brand is the surprising one.’

Old man Sir Brand, who claimed to be a scribe, was strangely strong. Come to think of it, when they escaped from the bandit den, he was swinging a heavy iron bar by himself, and it didn’t even seem heavy.

Since he had such immense strength, he handled the long spear with ease. His skill was even better than the soldiers. No, the soldiers were struggling to pull their spears out of the undead’s bodies.

“Now, the subordinates need to do well.”

Azadin waited, expecting Ismail and Midiam to perform. Sure enough, after a while, he heard whispering from the nearby bushes. Midiam was talking to him through magic.

[Azadin! I found the caster. But…]

“But what?”

[There’s that Naga woman next to him, right?]

“……?”

Shati frowned when she heard that.

“I heard that.”

[Can you bring her over?]

“Sure, I’ll go!”

Azadin asked Zibeck to cover his back, and he slipped away to the side.

“Then, Shati, shall we go together?”

“Wait a minute. Is the necromancer here one of our Nagas?”

Midiam didn’t say the word Naga, but just confirming that Shati was listening was enough to guess.

“It seems likely? What are the Nagas thinking? Even though Count Salasma is dead, do they still think of this place as their own territory?”

“I don’t know either. I’m just a commoner.”

Shati said that, rolling her eyes. She seemed to be figuring out how to escape, but there was no way she could escape from Azadin.

“Don’t think useless thoughts and follow me, Shati.”

“Damn it. I even healed you.”

“I’m grateful for that.”

Azadin moved, being careful not to let Shati escape.

*********

According to the myths of the Kurt gods, Kanak, the god of the Orcs, gave his children, the Orcs, a great gift so that they could dominate all other races and stand at the pinnacle.

He gave them strong bodies with well-developed muscles, superior intelligence, strong ambition, and even magical talent, as well as a long lifespan comparable to that of elves.

However, as these gifts accumulated, problems arose. As a result, most Orcs did not even live past the average human lifespan.

The problem was the muscles among Kanak’s gifts. Because they were so prone to building muscle, most Orcs suffered from starvation. Their bodies were too inefficient.

Moreover, despite their muscular bodies, their endurance was terrible. They had too much muscle, which reduced their endurance. No matter how much blood the heart pumped, the muscles consumed all the oxygen and nutrients in the blood, so Orcs always suffered from cardiopulmonary failure. In the end, most of them died of heart failure before the age of 40.

The Orc necromancer here, Scott McGreene, was sitting in a wheelchair to overcome such limitations of the Orcs. This wheelchair had embalmed muscles attached to it, which moved automatically according to his will, allowing him to minimize the use of his body, countering the Orcs’ constitution of building muscle even when they were just breathing. However, to make a living, he couldn’t avoid using his body even when riding the wheelchair.

“What the hell are you doing, Orc?”

His employers, the Nagas, complained.

“Are you wasting time on a mere human paladin?”

“Just sitting idly in the rear.”

It seemed that the employers were dissatisfied if he just sat in his wheelchair.

‘These stupid racists. I’m working so hard, yet they can’t stand me just sitting still?’

In Scott’s view, these Nagas were racists who lived by their own self-importance. Among the Kurt pantheon [a collection of gods], the vassals of the Kurt gods, the Nagas believed without a doubt that they were the greatest and most superior. To them, Orcs were just servants with a few useful skills, good to hire.

“You eat like a mountain, what are you doing? Hurry up and bring out the Divine King’s Scripture!”

“You told me to deal with the intruders! No, some of you tell me to deal with the intruders, and some of you tell me to bring out the Divine King’s Scripture. Which one should I follow?”

Scott had turned the residents of this place into undead and even swept away Count Rantark’s army into undead to manifest the copies of the Divine King’s Scripture hidden in various places around the world.

This alone was a great achievement, but the Nagas were impatient and kept giving conflicting orders.

“An Orc who eats like a mountain dares to complain to his employers?”

“Enough, just bring out the Divine King’s Scripture first!”

“No, you have to deal with the intruders! The intruders might be after the Divine King’s Scripture!”

He wished they would decide whether manifesting the Divine King’s Scripture or dealing with the intruders was the priority.

However, Scott leaned back in his wheelchair as much as possible, being careful not to build muscle, and also regulated his breathing.

‘If I breathe too much, muscles will grow in my organs. Then my lifespan will shorten.’

Scott focused his mind, controlling himself as much as possible. The wheelchair moved on its own through necromancy.

“You’re pissing me off, you snake-headed bastards. Don’t tell me to do this and that, just pick one. Huh? Isn’t this mess happening because your command system is a disaster in the first place?”

“Hey, look at the way this guy talks to his employers?”

“Do you want to skip dinner today?”

“…How petty. Fine. I’ll deal with the intruders first, okay?”

When Scott prioritized dealing with the intruders, the Naga who had insisted on it boasted, but the other Naga glared at Scott. It was clear that he was resentful for ignoring his orders and listening to another Naga.

‘Damn it. How unfair. You’re so great, Nagas. Aren’t you being too harsh as employers? Would it have been better to work with the Mezeri apostles instead of these guys?’

Scott sighed and cast a spell to strengthen the undead and launch an offensive.

“Okay, is it over now? If you’ve dealt with the intruders enough, let’s hurry up and focus on manifesting the Divine King’s Scripture.”

The Nagas believed that the intruders were few in number, so if they attacked with the undead, it would be over soon, and they urged Scott. But Scott’s eyes widened.

“Wait! They’re fighting too well?”

“What?”

“That’s… the intruders are dealing with the undead too well.”

“What are you talking about? They’re still alive after we threw all those undead at them?”

“It seems like they’re paladins from the King’s Church. They’re the opposite of the undead.”

“Really? All the paladins these days are weak.”

“These guys seem like the real deal! It seems like you guys need to step up? You need to show off the skills of you great snake-heads?”

Scott demanded that, but the Nagas just stared blankly at each other.

“You’re just a worker, and now you’re trying to order your employers around?”

“You eat so much that it’s hard to keep up with the supplies, so you should earn your keep, Orc?”

“No, are you telling me to go out there and defeat the intruders? Why do you think I’m in a wheelchair?”

“No, that’s… the undead here are controlled by your necromancy, right?”