Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Spendthrift Necromancer (39)

Festival (1)

Meat roasted amid enormous flames. Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs alike. Every race gathered together and stuffed food into their mouths.―Gruk! Pork delicious!

“Ahhh! You called this canned beer? This stuff is absolutely amazing!”

Even with nearly eight thousand people eating and drinking to their hearts' content, the food showed no sign of running out.

Kim Minwoo was also sitting near the bonfire, chewing on meat.‘Not bad.’He'd brought plenty of seasonings like salt and pepper, so the meat had been seasoned well.

He looked at the Elves.

They did eat meat, but their race naturally preferred fruit and vegetables. Perhaps because of that, every one of them seemed to be holding a banana or an ear of corn.

Fortunately, they appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Then…….

His eyes met Elise's while she nibbled on corn. She rose and approached him.

“This is delicious. I'd like to try growing it when the weather warms up.”

“Then read this.”

He handed her a book explaining how to cultivate the seeds.

Gates were fragments of other worlds.

Naturally, their languages and writing systems differed completely, yet spoken communication still worked.

The same applied to words written in books. Except in certain special cases, most text and speech were automatically translated.

This book even had plenty of simple annotations to make it easier to understand. Elise opened it and nodded.

“Interesting. There are many kinds of seeds I've never seen.”

“They're from another world.”

“Is your world peaceful?”

“To some extent?”

“……

I'm a little jealous.”

“This place will become that way too.”

Because he would clear it.

At those words, Elise's expression darkened slightly.

“We may be able to defeat the Apostle. But the Witch and the Ice Dragon…… exist on a completely different level.”

“I know.”

“Can we really defeat beings like them?”

“There's a saying in my world. Nothing is impossible.”

Literally.

Every Gate had a method of being cleared. And there wasn't necessarily only one path to that clear.―Cold Dragon wants cold land. Wicked Witch wants fresh corpses. Ice Dragon freezes. Witch gets corpses.

He recalled what Bektar had told him before.

The Witch wanted corpses.

The Ice Dragon wanted frozen land.

They shared benefits, so naturally they'd been all smiles together.

They must have gotten along wonderfully.‘Until now, it was win-win for both.’But now?

With the entire land frozen and living creatures dying everywhere, could the Witch really remain happy forever?

If the cold continued like this, eventually every living thing would be wiped out entirely.‘The benefits are shifting to one side.’The Ice Dragon was still profiting enormously.

But the Witch would gradually stop enjoying herself.

Because the supply of corpses would shrink.‘That's probably why she started the purge.’There were fewer and fewer corpses left to harvest, so she was making one final sweep.

Desire was the starting point of every fracture.

And the current situation.‘Is perfect for poking at the Witch's desires.’The Witch and Ice Dragon.

If both joined forces, the situation would obviously become extremely difficult.

But if he only had to deal with one…….‘Much more manageable.’First, though, he had to kill the Apostle.* * *“W-What?”

Belitas blinked.

He was that bewildered.

When he'd heard they were holding a festival, he'd become certain of victory.

He thoroughly reinforced the fortress's defenses.3 days.

Their food should be gone by now.4 days.

Surely they'll come today.5 days.

The festival is still going?6 days.

There are already more than fifteen thousand Orcs? If we go out now, we'll be the ones getting surrounded.7 days.‘How long are these bastards going to keep partying?!’They were insane.

He received a report that the Orc population had surpassed twenty thousand.

And it wasn't as though they were rationing food stingily either.

Those gluttonous Orcs were being fed until their stomachs were ready to burst.

Yet somehow the festival continued!

Each passing day, the Orc horde grew at a terrifying rate.‘Now we can't even go outside.’Cold sweat ran down Belitas's face.

The Orcs might be far lower in level than the fortress troops, but numbers eventually overwhelmed everything.

Without the fortress, defeat was guaranteed.‘If this festival lasts just two more days…… we won't be able to stop them.’Five or six thousand were now arriving every day.

Once the Orcs surpassed thirty thousand, even the fortress wouldn't save them.

Damn it!

Asking the other Apostles for help was problematic.

Every one of them was a rival competing for the Witch's favor.

Even if he bowed his head, there was no guarantee they would send meaningful aid.‘No choice.’He had to ask the Witch in the central region for help.

That was still better than losing the fortress.

Belitas raised the crystal ball in his robes.

When he injected dark mana, it began glowing.

“G-Great Witch. This lowly servant Belitas has contacted you because there is something I must report.”―What is it?

At the playful voice, his body trembled.

The Witch's personality was colorful.

Put another way, it was fucking awful.

She could be laughing pleasantly one moment, then suddenly rip a subordinate's head off the next.

Remembering that made this the last thing he wanted to report, but…….

Belitas squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.

“The Orcs have risen. Their numbers have already reached twenty thousand, making it impossible to launch a punitive expedition.”

―And what have you been doing all this time?

“……

My apologies. This is entirely my failure. If the Witch would lend me only a little strength…….”―I'll send the Spectral Knight Order. That should be enough, right?

Spectral Knight Order.

One of the Witch's finest knight orders, infamous for leaving nothing but corpses wherever they passed. They were an elite legion of tremendous power.

Hope entered Belitas's eyes.

“Yes! More than enough! I will sweep away the Orcs and offer the glory of victory to the Witch!”―I'm hanging up.

The crystal ball went dark.

Only then did Belitas breathe a sigh of relief.‘If the Order rides through the night, they should arrive in about three days.’The Orcs were numerous, but holding out that long wouldn't be a problem.

A smile finally appeared on Belitas's face.* * *[The number of Orcs under your command has exceeded thirty thousand!][Title, ‘Baby Commander,’ changes to ‘Professional Commander’!]

Commander title.

A title obtained by commanding large numbers of subordinates, with the effect of increasing the morale of troops under your command.‘Thirty thousand really makes a difference.’Morale +15%.

A title that would shine in large-scale battles.

And that wasn't the only change.[‘Takunda’ is appointed the 3rd Ten-Thousand Commander!][Takunda evolves from Orc Chieftain to Orc Great Chieftain!]

Every time another ten thousand Orcs gathered, one of the chieftains evolved into a Great Chieftain.

The growth followed seniority.

First, Urkan.

Second, Dekum.

And now third, Takunda.

Each grew larger, their muscles swelling grotesquely.

Urkan's growth was especially striking, perhaps because he had been the only boss monster among the original chieftains.He now looked like the very definition of a war machine.

Preparations were complete.

“The festival ends today! Now, we attack the fortress!”―Orc! Orc!

The morale of the Orc army, stuffed to bursting and supplied with mountains of equipment, was soaring through the heavens.

Thirty thousand Orcs.

There was also limited support from the Elves.

One hundred archers joined them.

Boom, boom!

Several Orcs carrying drums struck them powerfully.

The army began marching toward the fortress.

Six hours of travel.

A massive fortress appeared in the distance.

Its walls stood roughly 15M high.

Chimeras, Wraith Knights, Black Mages, and Necromancers crowded atop them. Minwoo established a temporary position and examined the enemy composition.‘Around three thousand total.’But that excluded the troops the Necromancers could summon.

Including those, the fortress defenders would easily exceed five thousand.

And in quality, the enemy held an overwhelming advantage.

The Orcs' average level was currently only 151.‘Doesn't matter.’There was no such thing as victory without sacrifice.

He had come prepared to bury around ten thousand Orcs during the assault.

Orcs carrying huge numbers of ladders snorted heavily.

They looked ready to leap into a sea of fire the instant he gave the order.

Then…….

“You filthy insects! Do you really think you can oppose the Witch and survive?!”

A booming voice thundered from atop the wall. A human with a long white beard was shouting loudly.

“……

That man is Belitas. An evil Necromancer who killed thousands of lives and earned the Witch's recognition for his power.”

Elise whispered from nearby.‘So that's what he looks like.’He looked like an ordinary old man.

Apparently there was more to this Necromancer than met the eye. The man shouted triumphantly.

“Even insects like you must have heard the name of the Spectral Knight Order! Soon, the Knights of Death will come to take your heads! Bwahaha!”

The Orcs merely snorted at those words without any significant reaction.

The Elves were different.

“The Spectral Knight Order……!”

“They're coming?”

The Elves' pupils trembled violently with fear. Only Elise managed to maintain her composure.

“Are these Spectral Knights strong?”

“……

They're one of the Witch's direct knight orders. Whenever there was a difficult battle, they personally took the field. No one survived before their blades.”

So they were that difficult.

Minwoo snorted.‘Interesting.’Gate difficulty was variable.

That was especially true for Hidden Gates. Every choice could alter the difficulty.

If the Spectral Knight Order was really that powerful, the Gate's difficulty should have changed the moment they began coming here.

Yet the Gate remained B-rank.

Even the Enemy Alert Level hadn't changed.

It remained at 31.‘One of two things.’Either the Spectral Knight Order hadn't left at all, or they were coming but had no intention of fighting.

One thing was certain.

The Witch intended to use the Apostle as a disposable pawn.

Until now, Minwoo hadn't been certain how close the relationship between the Ice Dragon and Witch really was.

But now he had an answer.

These two.

Weren't very close.

Once you considered what abandoning the fortress meant, it became obvious.

If the fortress fell?

The north grew warmer.

The Ice Dragon's influence weakened.

Living creatures flourished again.

The Witch regained a source of corpses.

If they were truly inseparable allies, there would be no reason to act this way.

In the end, theirs was only a loose relationship connected by mutual benefit.

That was why she could stab him in the back without hesitation.‘Still pretending to keep up appearances. Guess she's wary of him.’She hadn't withdrawn the fortress troops.

She was also technically sending reinforcements.

That was probably an excuse she could use with the Ice Dragon.

We tried to defend it too, but there was nothing we could do.

Something like that.‘Perfect for driving a wedge between them.’Either way.

Unfortunately for Belitas, who was shouting so confidently right now, there was a very high chance that no help was coming.

“Assemble them!”―Orc!

They brought out the prepared equipment.

Catapults the Dwarves had personally built after studying the blueprints.

The Orcs had brought every individual component and began assembling them.

Soon, five enormous catapults stood upon the battlefield.

They didn't even need to destroy the fortress with them.

If they merely drained the defenders' mana, they'd already have earned their value.

“Fire!”

Enormous boulders flew toward the fortress.