Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 84

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 84
Domain Underground Prison.
Torches flickered against the stone walls, and the damp air pricked at his nostrils.
The condemned man was shrieking.
“P-please! Save me! I’m innocent! Innocent, I tell you!”
Innocent, my ass. This wretch had robbed three settler families, murdered the fathers who resisted, and left a trail of bodies in his wake.
The trial had been fair; the death sentence, just.
Tay watched without expression.
Partan nodded to the executioner standing ready.
A scream tore through the air.
Then silence.
A heart still beating lay in the executioner’s palm—extracted by magic, it would pulse for a time even outside the body.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Blood dripping, the heart was placed upon the altar.
One.
The same process repeated nine more times.
A murderer. A serial rapist. A man who had burned an entire village for sport. A child trafficker. All of them condemned to death by law.
Ten hearts lay upon the altar.
All of them still beating.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
Tay stepped back and spoke.
“As. We’re ready.”
Shadows writhed.
As appeared, and the hearts responded.
Red particles rose from the ten hearts—as if blood were evaporating, the life essence scattered into the air as fine motes.
And every particle was drawn into As.
As’s body swelled.
Human-sized. No—larger than human. A towering form nearly two meters tall filled the underground prison.
Tay looked up.
This was the first time he had seen As like this.
Long, slender limbs.
Skin black as pitch. A pair of horns curved backward from the skull.
And most striking of all—a ring hovering above the head. A crimson halo of blood rotated slowly, like an aureole crowning As’s crown.
‘So this creature… wasn’t just an ordinary Imp butler after all.’
As Tay turned this thought over,
As closed his eyes.
Silence fell for a moment.
And then—
“Found it.”
The voice held an eerie resonance.
It sounded as though a single speaker were overlapping with many voices all at once—an alien timbre, utterly unlike As’s usual tone.
A chill crept down Tay’s spine. Was this the true extent of As’s power?
As’s body began to shrink.
The towering two-meter form collapsed back to its original diminutive size in an instant, and the blood halo vanished. As was an ordinary Imp butler once more.
“It is indeed a Necromancer.”
As spoke in his usual soft voice. The eerie echo from moments before had vanished entirely.
“The creature resides deep within the mountain. In the depths of the Domain Northeastern Mountain Range.”
As pointed in the indicated direction.
“We’ll have to deal with it.”
Tay said quietly.
“They will be preparing as well. My search will have been detected.”
“Tsk. What a tedious affair.”
Tay clicked his tongue and turned around.
“Partan.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Partan answered at once, his expression already steeled with resolve.
“Prepare the forces for deployment.”
“Yes, sir!”
Partan’s reply was crisp.
* * *
A deep cave in the mountains, located in the Domain Northeastern Mountain Range.
Something opened its eyes in the darkness where no light reached.
Two points of light pierced the gloom and blazed.
They were not eyes.
They were flames of a spectral fire burning within an empty skull.
The form—bone with only a thin layer of skin stretched over it—was sinister and profane.
It was a thing halfway between human and skeleton, belonging fully to neither.
Desiccated skin clung tightly to the bone beneath, and the fingers were nothing but exposed bone joints.
Without lips, the teeth were always bare, and where a nose had been, there remained only a hollow.
The Bone Wizard.
A sorcerer who had chosen undeath rather than face mortality.
It resembled a Lich in some respects, yet was incomparably unstable and fragile by comparison.
A Lich seals its soul perfectly within a magical vessel and reconstructs its body from pure magical force—the highest tier of undead.
The Bone Wizard, by contrast, was an imperfect transformation.
The soul remained unanchored, the body inadequately reconstructed.
Naturally, undead had their own hierarchy.
If there existed supreme undead such as Liches and Death Knights, then lesser grades must follow below them. The Bone Wizard occupied precisely that tier.
High-tier Undead, one might say.
It was common knowledge that when a sorcerer of the Fifth or Sixth Class became undead in this fashion, such was the result.
Only a Seventh Class or higher could achieve true transformation into a Lich; those below attempting it forcibly became Bone Wizards instead.
The cost was steep.
Forced into undeath, a sorcerer could not bring their full power to bear.
A Fifth or Sixth Class sorcerer who became a Bone Wizard typically fell to Fourth or Fifth Class strength. Moreover, if the body was shattered, the soul was torn asunder and obliterated.
And yet.
Originally a Fifth or Sixth Class sorcerer, even at Fourth or Fifth Class strength, it remained formidable.
The Bone Wizard rose from where it sat, its frame of bone and mummified skin creaking.
“I sense the presence of a demon’s power.”
Its voice—dry and cracked—echoed through the cave.
“Have you found me?”
It had sensed As’s use of Exploration Magic mere moments before.
Demonic power carried a distinctive resonance that any sensitive sorcerer could detect.
The flames in the Bone Wizard’s eye sockets flickered.
“No matter.”
The Bone Wizard raised its hand.
Movement stirred deeper in the cave. The sound of bone striking bone. The scrape of sinew sliding across itself. Wind whistling through gaps like a dying breath.
Undead were stirring to life. This creature too had been a sorcerer long active as a Necromancer. It had assembled considerable numbers of undead servants.
“I shall offer all the inhabitants of the Domain as sacrifice.”
The spectral flames in its eye sockets burned brighter.
“And consume their essence to restore my imperfection.”
It would devour every life in the Domain.
By consuming all of them—their vitality and their souls—it would supplement its flawed transformation.
Its will radiated outward in waves.
It believed that with sufficient life force and souls absorbed, elevation from Bone Wizard to Lich might be possible.
The throng of undead followed in the Bone Wizard’s wake.
It began to descend the mountain.
Toward the Maker Barony.
* * *
Raising an army.
It sounds simple enough, but the reality is far from it.
For an ordinary lord to prepare for mobilization takes at least several weeks.
Soldiers must be mustered, equipment inspected, provisions gathered, carts requisitioned, supply lines secured, command structure established.
An army of human soldiers must be fed, housed, treated for wounds, kept in good spirits. The saying that half a war is already won before a blade is ever swung exists for good reason.
But.
Tay’s army was composed largely of the undead.
Skeleton Soldiers require no food, no rest, are immune to disease, and their morale never falters.
Equipment inspection? When a bone weapon breaks, attach a new bone—simple as that (though recently he had been shifting toward bone-crafted arms rather than metal ones).
Supplies? Load a wagon with spare bones and repairs can be made on the march.
Only the human soldiers required provisions.
And even then, only enough for five hundred men to eat for roughly a month. Because that was the total number of human troops being mustered this time.
And so.
In four days, the preparations for departure were complete.
A speed that would have shocked any ordinary lord.
Five hundred humans. Ten thousand Undead.
A total force of ten thousand five hundred marched toward the Domain Northeastern Mountain Range.
Partan commanded the five hundred human soldiers, while Tay directly dominated the ten thousand Undead.
Rant came along as well, of course. If the enemy was a Necromancer commanding High-tier Undead, Rant’s three-class Dark Magic might be necessary.
During the advance.
The enemy came into view after half a day’s march.
* * *
At the base of the mountain range.
A wide expanse of dead, withered trees stretched out before them.
The grass had turned black, and necromantic power rose from the ground. An Undead Field had already formed.
“This… It seems he’s made quite thorough preparations here?”
The Bone Wizard had evidently stayed in this place for a considerable time.
And standing in the center of that Undead Field was the enemy.
The Bone Wizard.
Behind him, an army of Undead arrayed in formation.
Their number reached several hundred.
A far smaller number compared to Tay’s ten thousand. Yet Tay’s eyes narrowed.
‘All Mid-tier Undead confirmed.’
Skeleton Soldiers. Ghouls. And deformed Undead of unknown origin.
Not a single Low-tier Undead among them. All Mid-tier or higher.
A single Mid-tier Undead possessed the combat strength equivalent to four Low-tier Undead. With several hundred all at Mid-tier level, it was a formidable opponent in terms of raw combat power alone.
And beyond that, the Bone Wizard himself was a High-tier Undead. Originally a fifth or sixth-class mage, so his magical firepower could not be ignored.
‘Quite strong, this one.’
Tay stepped down from the skeletal carriage, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
‘But I’ll win.’
Several hundred against ten thousand.
No matter how strong the Mid-tier Undead were, they could not overcome a numerical advantage exceeding twenty-fold.
‘Numbers trump all.’
Tay folded his arms and looked down upon the battlefield.
* * *
The Bone Wizard was bewildered.
From beyond the Mountain Base, he saw an army approaching him.
“……What is that.”
The specter within his hollow eyes wavered.
Skeleton Soldiers. Medium Skeleton Soldiers. Column upon column of armored Skeleton Soldiers bearing bone blades filled the Mountain Base.
Their number.
Seemed to have no end.
Thousands? No. More than that.
“So many…… Undead.”
The Bone Wizard’s dry voice trembled.
It had been months since he established himself in this mountain range.
He had known the enemy possessed a considerable number of Undead, but to this degree?
It was an impossible sight. No matter how powerful a Necromancer, he could not dominate so many Low-tier Undead. There were limits to magical power and mental fortitude.
For that to be possible.
“Is he also…… someone who has obtained an artifact?”
In the Bone Wizard’s hand, a Black Gem glowed with ominous light.
A Black Gem the size of a fist.
Necromantic power swirled within it. This was the artifact the Bone Wizard possessed.
It was this that granted the Bone Wizard the ability to dominate Undead, and the power to spread pestilence.
The Black Mage Blacksmith Is Too Easy
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Automaton G
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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