Supreme Monarch

Chapter 65: Negative Corruption

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In the demon king’s castle, standing before an invisible wall was six figures, one of which laid flat on the ground and Jarret couldn’t believe his eyes. He had just imagined Kaz falling face-first just like the chief and the scene in his head had played out almost exactly as he had imagined it.

He tried to control his expression but that was broken when Raz and Lora lost it. Raz was holding his stomach from laughing too hard and Lora did little effort to hide her amusement.

The only ones not laughing seem to be Gail and Tarka who had almost exhausted themselves being on high alert the entire trip with Gail rubbing her eyes having missed the show and Tarka not caring much for the scene. Jarret was finally able to control himself as he didn’t want to disgrace himself before Lord Ty. He walked through the barrier and the others finally got themselves together and followed him, Jarret turned his head around and to his surprise, he found no one there, aside from the two sentries in the tower waving at them, he also didn’t see anyone near the barrier.

He had expected to see Lord Ty and captain Cronoff standing there with Lord Ty’s hand through the barrier but he was not. He decided not to dwell on it anymore and just head into the castle where they met Albert and he took them to a room on the ground floor of the north wing. The room was of moderate size and just like the rest of the castle it was splendidly designed.

The room had several empty cabinets in it, and two long metal tables that formed the shape of an ‘L’ in the center. Albert then asked them to leave the dead scouts there. They were also to meet up with Azar later and give him the full details of their mission.

He told the others aside from Jarret to leave first, Lora felt a bit curious about the bodies but the creepy feeling she felt previously caused her to leave without any arguments. Gail on the other hand was exhausted and just left listlessly behind Jin and Raz who was also trailed by the hovering Tarka who seemed to have recovered some energy already. Albert then sealed the room and Jarret brought out the bodies from his small storage box.

The two deathly pale corpses laid on a long table in the room and Albert proceeded to inspect them thoroughly. They were a contrasting pair of tall and short men, both demons. One was not so thin but wiry, he was dressed loosely like a magic caster and he was a bit short for a demon around 5’5. He had green spiky hair and green eyes that were still open most likely because he died so suddenly.

After inspecting his body they found a small storage box that was easily forced open by Albert. Generally, only the owner of a storage box could use it unless they permitted someone else. 

However, they could still force through the encryption depending on the person’s strength. Obviously, Albert was a formal demon lord so forcefully opening a small storage box was easy.

The box contained a few robes, ordinary magic staff, and scouting equipment. It also held weapons that probably belonged to the other members of his scouting party, like swords, axes, and gloves.

The other body was a tall well-built man with short black hair and a short beard. He had grey eyes and just like the other one they had ordinary-looking features. The guy had a large battle-ax still frozen to his hands and going by just the look, it was well made, probably an extraordinary magic item.

Albert made a rough inspection on their clothing and appearance, before activating his skill and proceeded to make another round of inspections before Tyler walked into the room with the three girls in tow as they were quite curious about what had happened and Tyler had no reason to deny their curiosity. He may also require their inputs and advice so why not.

Jarret immediately fell to one knee upon seeing him enter the room and Tyler tried to stop him but failed. Once he had gotten the greetings out of the way he went to see what was so strange about the bodies. As he got closer Tyler felt something strange oozing off the body and froze. He activated his magic vision only to almost facepalm himself.

He had figured it out, it was him, he had somehow killed two people he didn’t even know existed and had wasted everyone’s time worrying about what happened, there was even a chance that these two were not the only ones.

Albert saw the look on Tyler’s face changed slightly and understood something. “I was planning to report what I just learned but it appears Lord Ty has already figured it out with just a glance.” Tyler was wondering what the hell this guy was going on about again when Albert suddenly continued.

“Well, I supposed I should explain this to the others, with your permission of course.” Tyler nodded quickly as he was also interested in what this old guy had to say. Albert happily continued as he had spent a lot of effort trying his best not to miss anything in other to impress his master. 

“Well, starting from their origin, they wore the insignia of the Zorak family, one of the Great Five. I am not sure why there are only two of them but, I think something major happened in the Darknar forest sometime within the last week, and one of the four kings that ruled a section of the forest died.”

“This had left a vacuum of power within the forest and the other kings are trying to take more territory for themselves before another king is born within the next decade.”

Rain and Liz’s face darkened when they heard those words as they had a good idea of what happened. Tyler was fascinated by the story of the four kings and wanted to hear more on that but unfortunately, Albert had already moved on so he would have to ask him later. 

“My guess is, they had sent the other scouts to report the matter in person to their direct supervisor. When something so important happens, it is the policy of the scouts to report in person as the current communication spells has a range limit.”

“This might also be bad for us as well since we don’t know when this had happened exactly and when the scouts had left. So we can only guess the time it will take for reinforcement to arrive which would lead them to discover us.” Albert said with a frown.

Although they had the advantage of winter and the protection of the magic barrier. If a large force from all five families came and surrounded them, they would be like mice in a cage awaiting their deaths, even with magic they couldn’t survive here forever without relying on any outside resources.

“As for these two, I know they died instantly from a combination of a mental attack and a lethal dose of negative energy as you’ve noticed already.”

He walked over to the bodies and continued. “Moreover, their bodies are still giving off a strong dose of negative energy which amazes me. I know some spells corrupts their targets with negative energy but for it to not only kill them but leave such large amounts of negative energy residue, it must’ve been a spell beyond the level of mortal understanding.”

Tyler felt flattered and embarrassed as he heard that. He wanted to take credit for it but felt awkward about revealing the actual Tier of the spell.

If he said he had done this with a tier-one spell he felt they would think he was just trying to brag which might lower their impression of him. He decides to wait until Albert was done before he said anything.

“Their bodies seem to be intact since it was frozen but I don’t think they can be revived since their bodies are suffering from negative Corruption.”

“Negative Corruption?”

Tyler wanted to ask but he hesitated and was elated when he heard Liz ask the question instead. “Yes, I have only heard of it myself, this is the first time I am seeing it in person. From what I heard there is a place in the south, it was one of the main battlefields in the war with the humans a thousand years ago. Apparently, because of the large amount of death there, the place was filled with enough negative energy that it corrupts anyone who dies there now, turning them into the undead.”

“Really?” Liz spoke again seemly fascinated by the new information she hadn’t heard of yet. She only knew what Rain told her and Rain only knew what her brother told her so they were quite interested in anything they weren’t aware of.

“I have only heard rumors so I’m not certain but, with these corpses almost busting with negative energy, I think we would find out sooner or later. They are not too strong so even with the increase in strength from being undead I’m sure I can handle them myself. I think there is a chance they turn into something incredible with the amount of negative energy they possess and might even possess some intelligence. We could gain valuable information from them like that.”

“Do you have a way to control them?” Tyler finally spoke unable to contain his curiosity. “Er… My apologies, my Lord but I don’t. However, since they are the undead without a master to force them, even without the ability to feel fear, they would not dare attack a superior being like yourself that is beyond their comprehension, with that we just have to keep them locked up until we find a way to control them.”

Tyler wasn’t sure about the whole comprehension thing but he didn’t think too much about it. He was interested in knowing if he could control the undead, and since he was the one who created them(indirectly) maybe they would naturally be obedient to him. Perhaps he could also create an army of the dead or summon them.

“Umm, how long does it take for them to turn.” The person Tyler had almost forgotten was in the room spoke this time.

Her voice was pleasant to hear and Tyler was wondering why she didn’t speak often. Erin asked the question because she could see everyone thinking and she didn’t feel comfortable not knowing when the corpses would suddenly start moving. Rain smirked and asked teasingly. “Is a demigod scared of the dead.” She brought her libs close to Erin’s ear and blew. Erin shrieked adorably and Tyler almost lost his composure.

He cleared his throat drawing attention back to the matter at hand and Albert answered. “I am not sure either, but I think it would be within a day or two, although I think if we expose them to more negative energy they would transform immediately.” Rain and Liz immediately turned to look at Tyler and he could feel their gaze locked on him.

It was only natural they knew what had happened as well, after all, they had been a recipient of the same spell.

Albert was a bit confused by the reaction of the girls and even Erin seemed to be in the know. In the end, it was only him and Jarret that appeared clueless. His question was soon answered by Tyler’s next words and he realized that every thing that had happened till now, must’ve been a part of his plan and he already knew what was happening in the forest. That meant he had eliminated one of the four kings by himself.

Tyler strolled forth with his hand in his pocket as he tried to look cool and spoke nonchalantly.

“Alright then, let’s create some undead.”