Night of the Soulless Heathens – 101



#101. Nightcrawler 3

The soldiers were indignant when a boy who still looked young openly criticized them.

“Hey this kid?”

They cannot rush in because the Paladin Zibek is in front of them but they are already plundering civilians. The eyes of the humans who have tasted blood are bloodshot and shining. If Zibek were not there they would have attacked Ismail.

Ismail snickered at their attitude and swung the sword at his waist. It was so lightning-quick that the soldiers were angry at Ismail but they just watched him slash their lower abdomens with the sword.

Instead of blood and entrails necklaces rings and silver utensils rolled out of the soldiers’ stomachs.

“….”

“You have a lot of luggage while running away to survive.”

Jebeck also complained.

“Ah that’s it this is…..”

“If we just leave them alone they will turn into stones. Even precious treasures will become stones when buried in ruins so let’s use things properly…”

Those who have never been educated become strangely eloquent when they defend themselves. Jibek laughed.

“Let’s go back to our campsite and discuss things. Let’s take some fish too.”

*********

“The garrison was also attacked by the undead?”

“Am I right? It’s because the light of the King’s Flower is fading.”

When Brand heard the story he was proud that he was right.

“No there must be a specific magician.”

Zibek disagreed with Brand’s opinion.

“Unless a warlock intentionally creates the undead and attacks them such organized movement would not be possible.”

“But that is too much of an omnipotent dark magic. Normally necromancers can only move enough undead to count them on their hands. But to create so many undead and destroy an army? That would have been impossible when the light of the King’s Fire was still intact.”

“…Okay let’s say the light of the King’s Flower is fading.”

When Jibek listened to Brand’s stubbornness the soldiers who were listening were shocked. Didn’t the paladin admit that the light of the royal flower was weakening?

“By the way what about these soldiers? They are disgusting looters.”

Ismail asked Azadin who was picking at the fish. Azadin looked at Ismail while crunching the fish with the bones intact.

“Do you want to kill me?”

Get notified for updates: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

“What?!”

“You bastards! What do you think we are!”

The indignant knight tried to draw his sword but Medium was the first to act. She kicked the knight in the stomach with her front leg as he tried to draw his sword. At the same time she pulled out his sword and held the tip of the sword to his throat.

Before the other soldiers could move Ismail’s sword and arrow were already aimed at their necks. As the arrowhead touched their necks and tore the flesh blood began to form droplets around them.

“Stop. Don’t kill me.”

“….”

Shati who was watching the sight stuck out her tongue.

‘Oh my goodness. The Jeonryung clan is truly renowned. Even the brats are this fierce. It would be impossible to run away. I can’t even dream of stealing the Shinwangjinseo that this brat has.’

“You killed the people of Salasma and plundered their wealth didn’t you?”

“No it’s not that we killed or stole it….”

“We just brought what others killed and stole.”

“How much effort must have gone into making this much gold and silver? I couldn’t stand seeing their efforts go to waste…”

“Just as each grain of grain contains the sincerity of the farmer isn’t each piece of gold and silver filled with the sincerity of the miner and refiner?”

‘If you can’t speak you won’t be hated. I don’t understand why people who are obviously ignorant are so good at making excuses.’

Azadin sighed and passed judgment.

“You guide us to your beachhead garrison.”

“Huh? I don’t like poetry!”

“That’s going to die!”

Even at those words Azadin snorted.

“There are undead all over the back anyway. If you just go back you’ll die.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Last night Count Lantaric’s army was attacked by the undead and defeated. We fled from there.”

“…!?”

Zibek clicked his tongue as he watched Azadin lie again as if he was breathing. The problem is that it is not completely wrong. He appropriately mixes lies and truths to break the soldiers’ will to resist.

“Hmm.”

“Your army has already devastated the area around Salasma. There are no intact villages nearby. And if there are intact villages? There will be soldiers of Count Salasma there. Will they spare you? So do as I say.”

“Oh I understand. Then I will guide you to the bridgehead.”

“good.”

“Excuse me who are you?”

“Donner Ana?”

“If it’s Donair-nim…”

“Are you talking about the captain of the Lantaric Guard?”

“I heard you’ve been doing that weird thing lately.”

It seemed that they knew not only who Donair was but that he was a spy doing dirty work for the Count.

“Yes. You could say he is higher than that Donair.”

“….”

As a watching Jebeck I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. In a situation where it wouldn’t have been strange for him to wield a knife he improvised and lied without even licking his lips.

Join our discord and ping me to update more chapters. Discord: https://discord.gg/93rmBjgP6B

Of course since it was a situation where they were completely overwhelmed by force they could go out confidently but judging by the way they fooled the soldiers they are just good at lying.

‘He’s incredibly clever when it comes to lying. How can someone like him be so sincere when it comes to saving the people?’

Zibek found himself once again impressed by Azadin.

“Oh I understand.”

“We will guide you. But we are also very tired and need to rest.”

“okay.”

Azadin gave permission for the soldiers to rest and spoke to Brand.

“Then let’s cancel the crossing. The undead will be swarming in the water too and we won’t be able to cross using something like a raft made of planks.”

Originally Azadin and his party had planned to rest for a while gather planks from the area make a small float and attach horses and goats to cross the river. The Kora River is originally a large and wide river but due to the recent drought in Salasma the water volume has decreased significantly so they thought they could cross it with a simple raft.

However if a corpse thrown into the water becomes an undead it will walk on the riverbed and kill anyone crossing the water so if you try to cross it on a raft or something the boat will capsize.

“There must be a proper boat at the bridgehead garrison. Let’s secure it and cross the river. Or maybe we should take down the mastermind controlling the undead.”

*********

It was night when the soldiers’ spirits were restored.

“Are you telling me to go fight the undead in the middle of the night? That’s reckless.”

The soldiers protested but Azadin looked back and frowned.

“There’s no time. The undead are coming from behind and tightening the siege.”

“yes?”

“Rather this time is better. The opponents are not just undead. They are a mixed force of living sorcerers and undead. In that case taking advantage of the darkness of the night will help distract the enemy’s attention.”

Azadin observed the undead’s strategic movements and concluded that they were not just naturally occurring but were being deliberately controlled by some sorcerer.

At night the undead become stronger but the caster’s vision and perception abilities become weaker so it was thought that it would be more advantageous to move at night. However this idea was wrong from the beginning.

“Azadin.”

Medium clicked his tongue after seeing the foresight.

“A reconnaissance magic similar to that of a foresight swarm is being deployed.”

“okay?”

“Yes. There is a dead bird flying.”

A dead crow was flying in the sky scouting the surroundings. If you approached it without caution you would be caught right away.

“That’s quite a lot. A powerful necromancer? Perhaps an orc.”

When Azadin mentioned orcs the people trembled in fear.

“You mean those smart monsters?”

“….”

“Wait a minute. I can’t just ignore that.”

Nagain Shati puffed out her chest and shrugged.

“We are smarter.”

She claimed that her race of Nagas were more intelligent than the Orcs. Of course she did not reveal herself to the soldiers as they did not know her true identity.

“Oh yes. I guess so.”

Azadin ignored Shati’s words and cocked an arrow on his bow.

“Shooting an arrow? Wait a minute. You’re going to hit a bird flying that far away?”

The soldiers guiding the way were terrified. It was a day with a bright moon but their sense of distance was poor. They couldn’t even hit a target that was moving on the ground like a person so how could they hit a one-foot crow that was flying in three dimensions?

However when Azadin fired an arrow a crow flying overhead was hit by the arrow and fell down.

“…?”

“What what?”

The soldiers were really amazed at the skill with which he shot and knocked down the little crow. Azadin didn’t stop there but continued shooting arrows shooting down all the birds flying in the sky.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Isn’t this kind of archery skill something that only a herald clan can do?”

“….”

Jibek smiled bitterly.

“Okay then shall we go?”

Azadin raised his hand and pointed the way.

“Medium Ismail. Go north to the right and wait in the forest over there. When the black magician comes over here to observe with his own eyes he will be visible over there.”

“yes.”

“All right.”

Ismail and Midiam walked towards the ambush point that Azadin had set.

“Then what do we do?”

“Well it has to be bait.”

“yes?!”

“Let’s shake off some of the undead.”

As Azadin spoke undead walked out of the garrison.

Just a moment ago the corpses of Count Lantaric’s soldiers who had been garrison soldiers their men and the corpses of the residents in even worse condition were walking in a disorderly manner.

The number of those corpses is considerable.

“It’s like an army from hell!”

As he spoke Brand stood beside the soldiers holding a spear.

“Are you okay old man?”

“Don’t worry. We have to do something.”

Brand said so and faced the undead army.