Assassin's Chronicle - Chapter 178

Chapter 178

Chapter 178: Surges of Death Magic

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

"It’s alright, I already destroyed it with magic," Anfey said .

"Necromancers can sense everything through the zombies . You don’t understand, Anfey . We are exposed already," Riska said, frowning . He pushed himself up and glanced around nervously .

"We’re not exposed . "

"How can you be sure?"

"It’s a long story . Sit and eat something . "

Anfey made himself very clear . Something had happened, and they were not exposed, though he didn't want to tell them why . Suzanna and Riska trusted him, and both relaxed visibly .

After a quick meal, the three of them meditated to wait for the sunrise . The night breeze had no effect on the rotten smell in the forest, but the sun was the bane of anything dark and unclean . As the sun rose higher in the sky, the rotten scent dispersed .

Riska sighed and looked much more relaxed . "It’s a miracle the smell didn’t kill us," he said .

"You still lack training," Anfey said with a smile .

"Still?" Riska repeated with a frown . He felt the things he experienced in the last few days were much more interesting and dangerous than what he was used to . If this wasn't training, then what was?

"Have you ever been to prison?"

"No . "

"You will see true hell in a prison . The air there is always foul, and the ground covered in feces and urine . You won’t find a single clean space on the ground . You can find at least a dozen lice just by scratching your head . Even rats are rare, because for the inmates a rat is a good meal . No one wants to let the rodent go . People eat the lice as well . " Of course, Anfey wasn’t talking about modern prisons . He was talking about medieval prisons he had only read about in books .

"Really?" Riska asked . He was a commoner, but he was lucky enough to become Saul’s student and was not familiar with terrible things like this .

"You’ll know if you ever find yourself in a prison . "

"How did you know? Have you ever been to a prison?"

"No, but there are a lot of rumors . "

"It can’t be true," Riska said, shaking his head . "Surely a normal man would go mad in a place like that . If prisons are all like that, no prisoner would survive . "

"You are underestimating how strong a person’s will to live can be . Humans can survive in environments much worse than that . "

"How?"

"Go see for yourself if you don’t believe me," Anfey said .

"Don’t curse me," Riska said with a shake of his head . "I don't ever want to see it for myself . "

"He’s telling the truth, you know," Suzanna interrupted . Her expression was unreadable . "Riska, you have never seen the prisons the nobility set up . I have seen a man, his body bound by a dozen chains, immersed underwater for years . When they pulled him out, his body was covered by maggots, but he was still alive . "

"Stop, stop!" Riska jumped up and shouted . "Stop it . That is disgusting . "

Suzanna turned and glanced at the sunlight on the forest floor . "Should we get going?" she turned and asked Anfey .

Anfey frowned and cursed Riska for interrupting Suzanna’s story about her past . Now it would be hard to make Suzanna talk again . He stood up slowly and said, "Alright . Let’s get moving . "

The three of them had stopped for the night, but the zombies had not . However, the zombies left an obvious track behind . The thick surges of death magic on the forest floor were a clear indication of the direction of the zombies’ trek .

Anfey and Suzanna were dashing through the forest, while Riska was following in the air . The two on the ground were going so fast that Riska found himself falling behind at times . Riska tried to warn them, but Anfey just smiled and did not say anything .

As the three reached a nameless mountain, Anfey waved his hand to stop Suzanna and Riska . However, he didn’t need to stop them . They already felt strange and were stopping .

From the other side of the mountain, surges of death magic reached them . Normally, surges this strong could be felt hundreds of miles away . Neither Suzanna nor Riska felt anything until they were up close .

"They have a senior necromancer!" Riska exclaimed quietly . Even though his voice could not be heard by people on the other side of the mountain, he still spoke softly . "There has to be a large magic kekkai that hid all the surges . "

"It’s your turn now, Riska," Anfey said . "The necromancers won’t feel the magic surge of Eyes of the Sky, right?"

"Highly unlikely," Riska said . He waved his hand and conjured Eyes of the Sky . The mountain appeared as if it was right in front of them, but it was still about a dozen miles away . With the mountain as a coordinate, Riska was able to focus the Eyes of the Sky with only two tries .

Anfey had already prepared himself, but he was still shocked when he saw what was happening on the other side of the mountain . He didn’t know what kind of a kekkai it was, but it was powerful enough to block out even the sunlight . The kekkai was surrounded by white fog, and the entire backside of the mountain was obscured by the fog . Under the fog were thousands of zombies, all packed into the same, small area . If all the zombies were once mercenaries, the necromancers must have attacked more than one mercenary group .

Other than the zombies, there were also a dozen normal looking men in black robes . They were patrolling the zombies . The middle of the kekkai was covered by thick, black smoke, and the Eyes of the Sky could not see what was in the fog .

"I need to rest," Riska suddenly said . He sounded exhausted .

"What?"

"I don’t know what kekkai that is, but I can't hold on anymore," Riska said . He took a breath and relaxed, and the images in the Eyes of the Sky quickly disappeared .

"Even you don’t know what kekkai that is?"

"I know nothing about death magic," Riska said . "I've never fought necromancers, either . Maybe Suzanna knows something . "

"I don’t know anything, either," Suzanna admitted .

"Riska," Anfey said after a few moments of silence . "Tell me, what do you think the necromancers want?"

"It could be a lot of things . Maybe they want to take advantage of the zombies’ power and taint this place, turning it into a graveyard even the Priests of Light cannot clean . "

"What good does that do to the necromancers?"

"It will give them advantages we don't have," Riska said with a grimace . "Remember how Hagan summoned a behemoth using the creature’s bones . If bones of creatures similar to behemoths end up in the necromancers’ hands, they can summon a bone behemoth . The behemoth Hagan summoned can only last for a few minutes, but a bone behemoth is a dark creature like ghost dragons . It is immortal . "

"Anything else?"

"There is at least one senior necromancer . Maybe they want to create some killer zombies . It’s unlikely though . Killer zombies are difficult to control, even senior necromancers may not be able to control them . "

"Is that it?"

"Maybe they want to collect surges of death magic and create a Death Magic Crystal in preparation for the necromancer’s ascension . "

"Ascension?"

"Necromancers need the taint of a large amount of surges of death magic to advance in rank . As long as there are enough crystals, they can even…"

"Guys, something’s wrong!" Suzanna suddenly called . "Listen . "

Anfey frowned and waved his hand . The three jumped into the trees and held their breath, listening to their surroundings .

There were sounds of branches snapping, but it was faint, and whatever was making the noise must have been far off .

Anfey glanced at Riska, who released the Eyes of the Sky quietly . A team of eight necromancers and twenty zombies walked out of the kekkai and were heading away from them . Zombies were clumsy creatures, and did not know how to avoid obstacles . They could not feel pain, and did not care if they were stabbed by branches and thorns . Those zombies were what Suzanna heard .

"What do they want? To find more mercenaries? Aren’t there enough zombies already?" Riska said, frowning .

"Why don’t they move at night? Zombies are much more powerful at night," Suzanna murmured .

"They cannot hide themselves during the night . Sunlight can kill zombies, but it can also mask their trail . Their greatest enemy becomes their ally," Anfey said . "We can't let them go on with this senseless murder . We’ll follow them . " The threat would be too great if more zombies were created . No matter what, Anfey could not allow the necromancers to continue on with what they were doing .