The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years

Book 2: Chapter 344

(TL: 9/10)

The cave Lukas and the others were staying in was quite far from the cave Snow was supposed to be in.

The fact that the nearby trees and grass were still alive was the best indicator of this fact.

The area around the cave with Snow, where Nix had gone wild, only had ashes and smoke left.

Although they were moving as fast as they could, they also made sure to remain careful. Nevertheless, Peran couldn’t help but open his mouth after a while.

“…that’s strange. I don’t see any undead.”

“The death energy in the forest is also thinner.”

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As if he agreed, Torkunta added.

It was as they said.

Even after travelling for more than an hour, they hadn’t seen even a single undead.

At first, it could be said that they were expertly keeping their traces hidden. But this was different. As Torkunta said, even the unpleasant death energy that had drifted like fog in the forest was beginning to clear up.

The fact that they didn’t encounter any undead didn’t reassure them. On the contrary, it increased their vigilance and curiosity even more.

Nevertheless, they didn’t have time to carry out further investigations.

Deciding to move a bit more openly, they soon reached the point where they could see the river in the distance.

“I will use Fly to take you guys over.”

“Let me do it.”

Fwoosh.

Wings of red flames sprouted from Nix’s shoulders.

Peran, who had been thoroughly harassed by those wings, couldn’t help but flinch slightly.

When he saw this, Torkunta grinned widely and flapped his wings once again.

“Are you scared? That’s cute, it’s not like you.”

“I’m not scared.”

With a shake of his head, Peran denied those words.

Suddenly.

Lukas, who had been calmly looking at the river, suddenly frowned.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“Something is flowing downstream.”

At those words, Peran and Torkunta turned to follow Lukas’ gaze.

After a while, their expressions changed.

“Those are…”

“Hmm.”

It was the corpses of the undead.

It was more than just one or two.

There were a lot. Too many to count. The undead, which they couldn’t find anywhere in the forest, were flowing along the river as though they had been placed there.

“…hnn.”

“What?”

When he heard Peran’s soft grunt, Lukas asked.

“There are sword marks on each of those corpses. It must have been Lady Snow’s doing.”

“Did she take care of all of these undead on her own…”

Lukas looked at the almost endless flow of undead corpses.

Peran nodded with a bright expression.

“Right. She is capable of something like this. Maybe she didn’t really need our help.”

“…”

“We should hurry. She might be in a situation where she is too heavily injured to move.”

…Was that really the case?

Lukas couldn’t make such optimistic assumptions like Peran.

It was his bad habit to always consider the worst when thinking about possibilities, but that wasn’t the only reason.

He had a strange feeling as though he was missing something…

“Those undead guys… are really rotten.”

Torkunta clenched his nose as he spoke with a disgusted expression.

“What?”

“I’m saying that at least dozens of hours have passed since they were returned to death. In other words, it’s been at least a few days since that woman named Snow killed them.”

“…!”

Lukas’ expression hardened.

When Nix had been causing a fuss because of her mental instability, the scale of the damage was large enough to burn down a small city.

In other words, it would have been impossible to miss the disturbance no matter where in the forest you were.

…Reserve energy.

If Snow had even the slightest bit of reserve left, she would have immediately noticed the disturbance and dragged herself over to help.

But Snow never appeared.

She failed to make an appearance even when Lukas, Peran, and the Swordnaz were on the verge of death.

This could mean one of two things.

Either she couldn’t afford to.

…Or.

“…”

Lukas stopped thinking about the other possibility.

There was no need to consider the worst case scenario right now.

In any case, even if he didn’t want to, he would have to check for himself.

His gaze turned to the cave past the river.

* * *

There was no need for them to be careful as they crossed the river since Nix burned down all the trees in the area.

The only thing left in the surrounding area was a layer of ash on the ground, so there was no need to worry about hidden undead.

Thanks to this, they were able to reach the cave in a short span of time.

Whoosh-

The sound of wind blowing could be heard from within the cave.

The stench it carried was so powerful that the others didn’t need Torkunta’s keen senses to be affected by it.

Lukas and Peran couldn’t help but cover their faces with their hands as the powerful smell assaulted their noses.

“There might still be undead here.”

Lukas agreed with Torkunta.

Peran nodded before creating a ball of light that floated in front of them. The dark cave was immediately lit up.

They stepped forward.

The floor of the cave was covered in moisture, making it slippery, and the tepid air was damp.

Lukas realised that this was a limestone cave.

Suddenly, a ghoul, which had been lying in the shadows, jumped out at them with its claws outstretched.

Peran was a bit surprised by its appearance, but he didn’t panic and instead fired an Ice Arrow at it.

Puk.

The ghoul, which was stabbed through the eye, didn’t make a sound. Its body simply collapsed to the floor with a soft thud.

“…I guess I should say as expected. This is just the entrance, but there are already ghouls here.”

“There might be more lurking in the shadows. How about I just shoot out my breath? All of them will be burned alive. No. They’re undead, so they would be burned dead.”

Torkunta made an offer with a vicious smile, but Peran shook his head firmly.

“No. Lady Snow might be in this cave. If you make a mistake, you might implicate her as well.”

“…”

Torkunta frowned for a moment before finally opening his mouth.

“That woman, I think she’s probably a corpse by-”

“Torkunta.”

Lukas interrupted him.

Torkunta might be arrogant, but he was also smart. When he finally realised why Lukas interrupted him, he closed his mouth with a dissatisfied expression.

“For now, let’s progress carefully. We don’t know where the enemy might appear from.”

“Right.”

They slowly delved deeper into the cave.

The sphere of light illuminated their surroundings, but it couldn’t shine into the cold, empty eyes of the undead corpses around them.

…Corpses.

There were countless corpses.

The corpses that he and the Swordnaz had made.

The corpses that were swept away by the river.

The corpses that piled up like garbage in the cave.

“…”

When he thought of those corpses and looked at them, Lukas gradually grew angry.

“Why are you getting so angry?”

As if he felt the anger that was slowly rising within Lukas, Torkunta asked him. This guy really could be observant when he wanted to be.

As he had this thought, he responded simply.

“I really hate Necromancers.”

“Hmm. If I remember correctly, we have been working with Diablo for about a year.”

“…”

Peran, who was walking ahead of them, glanced back at those words, but he didn’t interrupt their conversation.

Now that he thought about it, Lukas realised that he still hadn’t gotten the chance to have a proper conversation with Peran. But he didn’t think he would let it go.

This was true for both Peran and Lukas.

However, for now, their top priority was to check Snow’s safety, so both of them continued to keep their mouths shut for the time being.

“I thought he was a Black Wizard.”

“Necromancer, Black Wizard? Is there a difference?”

They were different. Very different.

Lukas didn’t hate black magic in itself.

Although it was different from magicology, it couldn’t be denied that it was a branch that had been derived from it.

Moreover, he always thought that their hidden desire, their quest for truth, and their obsession with mana was a commonality they shared with Wizards.

That was why he acknowledged Diablo.

In that past, although he had the body of a Lich, he mainly fought using black magic.

“Necromancy is different.”

“How is it different?”

“—because necromancy is the worst insult to the dead.”

This time, it was Peran, who was walking at the front, that responded.

Torkunta’s gaze turned to his back.

“It is far more unforgivable than digging up a corpse and beheading it. It is the greatest insult to the dead.”

“I don’t understand. Aren’t they already corpses? What pride is there to insult on flesh that can no longer move and simply waits for the day when they decay into nothingness.”

That was the view of Torkunta, who was a monster, a Drake, and a King.

Even after hearing these views that differed so greatly from his own, Peran didn’t get upset.

Instead, he continued to explain in a calm tone.

“Perhaps what you said isn’t entirely wrong. But what makes necromancy so terrible is the fact that reviving the dead inflicts indelible wounds on those who were close to them during their lives.”

It could be a lover, family member or friend.

Lukas listened in silence.

Surprisingly, Peran’s views were similar to his own.

Was it because the young man who admired ‘Lukas Trowman’ and sympathised with his ideal in the past still remained inside Peran?

Or…

…Suddenly, Torkunta looked over to Lukas and asked.

“Did that ever happen to you?”

“What?”

“Did anyone you know ever become an undead?”

“No.”

Although Lukas replied immediately, there was indeed a similar case to that.

The Green Dragon Isola.

Lukas recalled the scene of the Dragon, who had been his Master in the past, with just his head remaining, attached to the body of a sea serpent.

Of course, strictly speaking, that was a chimera instead of an undead, but Lukas still felt unbearable rage at the fact that someone had insulted his master’s body like that.

That’s why he wasn’t actually sure.

How he would feel if someone turned someone he knew personally into an undead.

“Ah.”

When he heard Peran’s soft exclamation, Lukas put aside his thoughts and looked ahead.

After a long while, the dark tunnel opened into a large cavern.

—An underground cave.

Stalactites hung from the ceiling, and there was an ankle deep pool of water on the ground.

But it was the mountain of hundreds or thousands of undead corpses that truly gained their attention at that moment.

“…that.”

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In the meanwhile, Torkunta seemed to discover something else and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Turning his head, Peran followed his gaze.

“…Lady… Snow?”

His voice was muffled and cracked.

(TL: I was going to add another chapter after this, ya know 10/10. But ending it short just seems so funny to me. So, the mass release will end here at 9/10.

Also, I won’t post any chapters on the 2nd either, to give you more time to bask in my greatness ^-^.

But maybe, just maybe, I’ll also release another bunch of chapters on the 3rd too.

Happy April Fools ^-^.)