Chapter 7

007

The next day, Todd gathered the bodies of the dead horses. The villagers found it suspicious that the horses, which had been brought in safely during the night, had suddenly died, but he managed to gloss over it.

He had to haggle to buy two pack horses, but thanks to the village chief's deafening roar, the argument didn't drag on for long.

About half a day after leaving the village, a stone bridge came into view in the distance.

It was indeed on a grand scale, worthy of its name "Great Bridge."

Todd marveled.

"Building such a delicate bridge in such a remote area is quite astonishing, isn't it?"

Karina, who was scanning the bridge's outline, had a somewhat indifferent look.

"Judging by the style, it's from the era of the Sun Empire, and from the name 'Osvalduin Bridge,' it was probably built by dwarves obsessed with boasting about their achievements."

"…Have you seen things like this quite often?"

"Considering the tower we're staying in was built during the Sun Empire era, it's filled with things that would make your eyes pop out more than a bridge."

Her tone was full of pride in the place she belonged to.

Well, the mage tower, the starting point for mages, was indeed magnificent. In comparison, the place where Todd first opened his eyes in this world was...

"We can't go any further from here."

At Soren's shout, the carriage stopped.

Even though he held the reins tightly, the horses kept emitting anxious whinnies.

"…It seems they've spotted us. Let's get out here."

The movements of the creatures on the bridge became noticeably busier.

From a distance, it wasn't noticeable, but upon closer inspection, stakes and fences had been set up in various places on the bridge to block access. They were crude but had a certain sophistication.

The skulls hanging from the fence rattled in the wind, and the jawbones, woven with moss, looked like they were grinning. Since they weren't neatly stripped of flesh, maggots and spiders crawled over the rotten entrails and scraps.

Near the bridge, half-eaten corpses and the bodies of drowned people washed up on the riverbank lay scattered. The air was thick with the smell of fish and decay.

"Shit."

Soren cursed.

Soon, a particularly fat creature waddled out from among the others.

Despite being draped in rags made of moss and leather, fat oozed out uncontrollably from the gaps.

From the rough outline, it was identifiable as an old woman.

Everyone frowned, but Soren shuddered especially.

Her yellow eyes, visible through the wrinkles, scrutinized Todd and his companions.

Karina, reacting to the overt hostility, tried to channel her magic, but Todd stopped her.

Shaking his head, Todd whispered.

'Not now. Prepare the biggest spell you can.'

It was unclear what the necromancer was planning, but Todd stepped forward, passing by the group.

"Descendants of Aurgelmir! We have no intention of causing trouble with you! We merely wish to pass through here!"

"Hey, even if that's the case, shouldn't we be selective about who we talk to? There's no way those stinky creatures will respond to us..."

Ignoring Piet's objections from behind, the old troll woman replied in a hoarse voice.

Soren couldn't help but sigh in disbelief.

"Sure is the end of days. Now even trolls can speak."

Todd pointed to the carriage behind him.

"The carriage is loaded with food far fresher than any rotten meat. If you let us pass, we'll give it to you."

The old woman cackled, and a small iron cage hanging from her side swayed. The frogs inside wriggled.

Sniffing with her bulbous nose, the old woman spoke.

Todd, though he was a veteran, didn't know the dietary preferences of the game's mobs.

Glancing back, he saw Karina muttering incessantly.

It seemed they needed a bit more time before the negotiations broke down...

The old woman, stroking her pointed beard, grinned.

"Will you give it to us, then?"

Wine?

Raising her fatty arm, the old woman pointed at Soren.

Her ugly eyes narrowed.

A preference for bald heads.

Her aesthetic sense was twisted in many ways, like a monster's.

Soren, who was pointed out, reacted as if he were in a competition.

"Damn it! No way! I won't do anything like that! I might consider it if it were a man!"

Everyone was speechless at the sudden confession.

Then Piet, standing beside him, asked quietly.

"So, would you have considered it if it were a male?"

"What do you take me for, old man! I have eyes! I'm not the kind of guy who would roll around with a monster with three layers of pig fat on his belly! Maybe if it were a delicate young boy!"

Piet, silent for a moment, muttered.

"Maybe it would be better to just throw him and go..."

"Damn you!"

Before Soren could grab Piet's collar, Todd declared firmly.

"That person is part of our group. We can't do that."

"Black mage sir!"

Ignoring Soren's emotional outburst, the frowning old woman licked her thick lips.

When she struck the ground with her staff, the trolls began to charge, howling.

Their awkward gait was comical, but their large size made their footsteps heavy.

For a moment, Todd had forgotten that trolls were monsters that even a dozen strong men would find hard to kill.

Soren and Piet were frightened when they saw such creatures charging in a group.

Todd's back, standing still, seemed to the group like he had given up.

"This... This doesn't look good..."

"Sir Mage, can you at least cast a spell—"

Karina's lips were still muttering, as her spell wasn't complete yet. She was sweating profusely, focused on her incantation.

The distance between the trolls and them had narrowed considerably.

Their grotesquely deformed faces were clearly visible.

"Damn... I shouldn't have been greedy for money I didn't deserve..."

The bell jingled.

"Rise."

Ding.

"How tragic to die in a foreign land, and even more so to become a monster's meal after death?"

She called out.

Can't you hear the anger of the aggrieved?

To them, it might have been just a lump of rotten meat, a satisfying meal.

From the bones they spat out, the half-digested flesh, the intestines strung up on the fence, to the eyes they defecated, all gathered together.

The whispers of the scattered remains intertwined.

The cry of someone who didn't want to die, which had been echoing beneath the surface, rose through the mouth of the necromancer.

A decayed face lifted its head.

A corpse thrown into the mud, thinking it would ripen with more decay.

【Kyaah...!】

A troll struck the face of the risen corpse with a leg bone it held.

The rotten head burst like a watermelon under the brute force.

The trolls easily crushed the charging corpses.

The enraged corpses tangled with the trolls.

They scratched, bit, and screamed.

Every time the trolls struck with clubs or kicked, the corpses, which were more like scarecrows, were flung away, but Todd continued to chant.

"Those who have sunk to the bottom of the water, do not despair. Hear my voice and overcome the barrier of the mortal world."

Ding, ding, ding!

The corpses that the trolls hadn't eaten responded to Todd's call and continued to rise.

In the midst of the chaos, a troll that had its testicles bitten off let out a terrible scream.

The wound quickly grew, and it was bitten again. In a rage, it burst one of them like a balloon, but another attached itself.

In the end, they tore everything apart in a fit of anger. Even if they accidentally tore off a comrade's arm, it would grow back. Since the arm was already torn off, they swung it around.

It was a battle of the undead and the regenerating monsters, a chaotic struggle.

The trolls' swings of their clubs gradually slowed as they became exhausted.

However, they couldn't keep fighting like this. The corpses around the bridge were almost all used up, and Todd's magic power was running low.

The five trolls had knocked down over a hundred corpses.

Moreover, the troll necromancer was still standing behind, merely observing the situation.

Todd's body was also reaching its limit.

He tried to steady his swaying body with his willpower.

Finally, one of the trolls, having torn away the corpses, glared at Todd with a club in hand.

Thud, thud!

Though his speech was slurred, his appearance, covered in torn flesh and blood, was terrifying.

Even a slight touch from that massive body would tear the necromancer's frail flesh like paper.

But if he retreated, the group might attract the trolls' attention.

In this life-or-death moment, Todd calmly fiddled with his necklace and replied.

"Oh, that would hurt quite a bit, wouldn't it?"

The troll was so close that the debris stuck in his yellow teeth was clearly visible.

Then, a clear shout came from behind.

"Step back!!"

Without hesitation, Todd leaped to the side.

The troll, eyes bulging, was about to strike with his club.

But something was wrong.

His skull should have been shattered, but why was the club nowhere to be seen, and why was the troll moving away?

The troll let out a bewildered scream.

His body was already floating in the air.

A blazing flame jet had sent his heavy body flying.

Boom!!

The troll's body, which had been slammed into a corner, was half-melted and slumped.

Above Karina's wildly swinging hair, over twenty fireballs were floating.

As she waved her hand, the swift flames cut through the air, striking the trolls.

Despite their tenacity, the trolls thrashed wildly in the flames.

However, the blackened areas only bubbled and burst, not regenerating as before!

The trolls, with their tails on fire, hastily jumped into the river.

That was what Todd had been waiting for.

Todd, who had been lying down, eyes lit up.

As the trolls jumped into the river, bloated faces suddenly appeared, rising to the surface.

【Keeek!!】

If there are corpses on land, there are drowned bodies in the water. Even if they were slow on the surface, they wouldn't be called water spirits for nothing.

The relentless corpses targeted the burned areas.

Unlike before, the trolls, whose regeneration was nullified, were overwhelmed by the tide of corpses.

Already heavy, they couldn't shake off the charging corpses and sank.

The swollen river, swollen by days of rain, surged fiercely. The sound of the water seemed to echo the cries of the dead.

The surface, which had been splashing with white foam, soon calmed down, and red bubbles rose, gradually turning murky.

The troll necromancer continued to watch as her kin were devoured alive.

Todd, who had risen, asked casually.

"Are you going to keep posing like that? Your subordinates are all dead, you know?"

The old woman replied calmly.

Todd clicked his tongue.

"Huh, not subordinates but children? Do you give birth to them like you're defecating?"

Suddenly, looking at the excrement smeared on the fence, he understood.

"Well, I guess it doesn't make much difference to you."

Karina, frowning, shot the remaining three fireballs.

Seeing the flames, the old woman struck the ground with her staff.

A totem made of logs fell from the sky, blocking Karina's spell.

Swish...!

Karina, startled, tried to continue her incantation, but...

Crack?

Crunch.

The old woman broke the legs of the frogs in the iron cage, and Karina spat blood.

"Karina!"

The old woman, who had already taken out three frogs from the cage, pulled out their legs one by one or pressed their eyes.

"Ah, my eyes!"

"Ugh!"

Soren, who had tried to charge with a dagger, rolled on the ground, and Piet's leg was twisted in an odd direction.

"Ugh, ugh... cough!"

Karina, eyes wide open, resisted the curse, but when the old woman pulled out another front leg, she rolled her eyes and thrashed.

Karina wasn't the only one preparing a spell. The old woman had secretly arranged curses that they hadn't noticed.

Especially for a mage, cooking and eating her might increase her magical power.

Of course, the bride she had chosen wasn't ready to be served yet.

Since the bride didn't need eyes, there was no need to lift the curse immediately.

"Have you never heard the saying, 'Don't eat it, give it away'?"

The old woman's eyes widened.

She had clearly consumed the sacrifices, yet the man in front of her was still talking normally.

Tilting her head, the old woman grabbed a frog.

Squish...!

The frog let out a terrible scream as it burst in her hand, but Todd's expression didn't waver.

The old woman hesitated.

Todd, looking at his suffering companions, replied.

"Fast-acting. A hex that can penetrate 5th circle resistance is not bad. Not bad, but..."

The necromancer's green eyes flickered.

This was unbearable.

"At least if you're going to use a soul-binding hex, you shouldn't do it near water. To counter the backlash, reindeer blood is the best sacrifice."

Todd, clicking his tongue, opened his eyes wide.

"Killing (煞) can come back to haunt you if you use it recklessly. Aren't you afraid?"

Shamanism is more complicated than magic.

The compatibility with the surrounding environment and the variety of materials used vary greatly depending on the spell.

But if you memorize all the variations for different situations, theoretically, you can be flexible enough to handle any situation.

Shamans were somewhat cult-like in their popularity because of this.

Feeling this charm, the second character he maxed out was a shaman.

On the other hand, the novice in front of him seemed to have already revealed her bottom line.

Crunch, crunch!

The old woman, in a panic, broke all the frog legs in the cage and threw them on the ground, stomping on them.

Todd was unharmed.

Crucially, the spell only worked on living beings whose souls and bodies were normally connected.

As proof, the necklace Todd wore kept blinking.

There was no need for Todd to reveal this.

He just felt a bit nostalgic seeing another shaman and decided to engage a bit.

The old woman, grinding her teeth, growled, holding her staff.

To her, Todd, who looked scrawny, could be easily crushed in close combat.

"Hmm. You're coming out with a pork cutlet hammer."

All the corpses in the vicinity had been used up.

Except for human corpses.

Ding.

"By the command of the necromancer Todd."

The tone was much more authoritative than when he called the corpses.

This time, he bound them with blood, not tears.

Moreover, if they were bound by blood relations, it was even more effective.

"Stand up."

【Oh, ugh. Mo... mom.】

Green flashes melted from the eyes of the waddling trolls.

Todd, grinning, pointed at the old woman.

"Go to your abandoned mother!"

【Ugh! Mo... mom! Hug me, please!】

The corpse trolls ran with their arms wide open.

Indeed, blood relations should be like this.

The heartwarming scene of family love almost brought tears to his eyes.

But it seemed her arms were too small to embrace her overly grown children.

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