Chapter 75

"Shall I introduce myself? I am Manji, one of the Eight Sages of the 'Flute-Blowing Devil.' My lord, adventurers, if you kill me, this disturbance will cease. I am the source of all the undead that cover this city. Of course, that's only if you can do it."

Manji, a strange old man accompanied by five undead soldiers including Yunos, spoke loudly. His face, covered in wrinkles and spots, wore an abnormal smile. Manji seemed to be in a cheerful mood, as if he were about to start a show.

The adventurers of 'Dancing Sword,' who were in the office, stood there with their mouths agape, unable to form words. This was because one of the undead soldiers guarding Manji was Yunos, the guild master they had been searching for.

The charisma, dignity, and strength that Yunos had in life were now gone. His eyeballs were clouded with gray spots, and his pale tongue hung out of his mouth carelessly. His back was severely hunched, and his face lacked any vitality. His entire body proclaimed that his life had been compromised.

"Y-Yunos-sama...?"

Fando and the other adventurers of 'Dancing Sword' were in despair at the sight of Yunos. Robin Hood calmly glared at the undead Yunos and then shifted his gaze to Manji standing behind him.

"Controlling all the undead in the city at once? It's impossible for an individual to perform such a grand magic that can start a war."

In response to Robin Hood's words, Manji laughed cheerfully.

"While I have distributed the Death Purple Crystals to my subordinates to spread, the original source is my power... the power of my grimoire, the 'Book of Gailof.'"

Saying this, Manji took out the black grimoire, the source of his power, and held it up. He had deliberately revealed himself to the enemy, announced his name, and exposed his greatest weapon. Manji clearly looked down on the adventurers of Balaira and was toying with them.

"Besides being an excellent medium for necromancy, it can activate forty-two high-level necromancy spells in a simplified form and has the authority to summon thirteen spirits of the underworld. It is the living proof of Gailof, the alchemist I revere, who is known as the worst in human history."

"G-Gailof!? That Gailof!?"

Fando exclaimed in surprise. Manji smiled contentedly at his reaction.

In the Legion Kingdom, only infants would be unaware of Gailof, the worst alchemist in human history. Gailof was an alchemist in the now-defunct Argolos Kingdom two hundred years ago.

Argolos Kingdom was the only country among the eight countries in the western part of the Vormilia continent at that time that advocated peace. Due to its lack of resources and inexperience in warfare, the weak Argolos Kingdom decided to form an alliance with the neighboring Hain Kingdom to avoid the annexation that would result from the intensification of the Eight Kingdoms Unification War. This decision was made to prevent the unnecessary death of its citizens.

However, Gailof, one of the royal alchemists at the time, manipulated the royal family to betray the alliance with Hain Kingdom in the worst possible way, thereby inciting conflicts between neighboring countries. To compensate for Argolos Kingdom's overwhelming lack of military strength, Gailof pushed forward the development of necromancy, which was taboo due to ethical issues, and used it to effectively counter the superior countries.

Gailof increased his own power through subsequent achievements, puppetizing the entire royal family to interfere in politics, and carried out cruel oppression and exploitation, heartless public executions and torture, and pathological surveillance and management, ignoring the dignity of the people. He almost single-handedly transformed the peaceful Argolos Kingdom into the worst military kingdom. When Gailof himself died in battle, everything collapsed, and internal rebellions broke out. As a result, Argolos Kingdom became the kingdom with the most casualties in the Eight Kingdoms Unification War, both internally and externally, and it is estimated that Gailof indirectly killed ten million people.

The black grimoire that Gailof used as his weapon is said to be the one in Manji's hand. If the Book of Gailof in Manji's possession is genuine, then his claim that he can control the undead on a city-wide scale alone is not at all questionable.

Robin Hood immediately fired an arrow at Manji. The three arrows, neatly passing through the gaps between the five undead, aimed for Manji's body. Before they hit Manji's distorted head, a headless dual-sword armored knight suddenly appeared and swung the sword in its right hand, breaking all three arrows with one stroke.

The ancient black armor belonged to the spirit of the underworld, Dullahan. Spirits are beings from another world, and mages can summon and control them under specific conditions by communicating with the other world and forming a contract. In this case, Manji has inherited the contract with the spirit that Gailof formed through the grimoire by using the grimoire.

The figure of the Dullahan, after finishing its sword swing, disappeared in a black mist. It had not returned to the other world but had hidden itself to protect its summoner, Manji.

"Hehehehe... There's no need to be so hasty. I'll give you a fight. Whether you're worth my effort or not, we'll see."

As Manji spoke, the five undead soldiers began to move. The black eyes of the lead, clouded Yunos, moved irregularly, looking in different directions.

"No, I, I won't die! I will get everything! I, I, Aaa, Aaa, Aaaah!"

Yunos raised his sword to the ceiling and, with an extreme hunchback, charged at Robin Hood. The undead form can retain the self if the amount of mana and the strength of will remaining in the corpse are sufficient. Yunos did not retain his full self, but his obsession from life had distorted and remained.

"Robin Hood, you must die, die, dieee!"

"You're the one who's already dead!"

The arrow Robin Hood fired pierced Yunos's face. The impact made Yunos's head sway violently, and an ominous sound came from the neck bones that exceeded their range of motion. However, Yunos's feet did not stop. He closed the distance to Robin Hood with his head twisted and swung his sword wildly. The movements were rougher than in life, but they were incredibly fast, clearly surpassing his speed in life.

"Die, die, die!"

Robin Hood ducked to avoid the horizontal slash, stepped to the left to avoid the vertical slash, and deflected the third attack with a knife he had hidden in his sleeve. He then countered the thrust by striking the tip of the sword with the tip of the knife, neutralizing it.

(No good. At this range, all I can do is defend...)

"Wind, carry me."

As soon as Yunos spoke, a magic circle appeared at the tip of his sword. Despite being indoors, a sudden gust of wind blew. Yunos rode the wind and attacked Robin Hood, who was off balance. The movement lacked finesse but was powerful and fast.