Necromancer After that, Serea chatted with Julian for a little while longer, during which Serea got a general understanding of his situation. Julian was the steward of the Qili family. Because he had gained the trust of the Qili family and Avril, he had come to the Otto Empire to manage a branch of the merchant guild. Originally, he did not need to personally escort the caravan, but as this shipment contained particularly important goods, he had come along. They had already completed their transaction with the goblin tribe and were ready to return, but unexpectedly, they were attacked by a necromancer. In order to protect the goods, julian was injured, and then they were ambushed again by the Undead here, which led to the scene just now. At this point, the Little White whom she had sent out to scout suddenly sent back a message—a large group of Undead was rushing toward their location. Because Serea was worried that Little White would be exposed, she didn't let na stay to observe in detail and had na return immediately. After receiving this intelligence, Serea turned to Julian and asked, "Right, let me ask: that necromancer is chasing you, correct?" "That should be the case." "Alright, then. To show my sincerity in cooperating, let me help you handle this problem." As Serea spoke, she was quite interested in seeing the strength of an orthodox necromancer from this world. Julian had intended to refuse after hearing this, but after glancing at the powerful Undead followers beside Serea, he nodded and said, "If it won't cause trouble for you or the young lady." "Trouble? That's nothing. Just take it as me doing it for the sake of your Boss and your young miss." Serea said, then she glanced at the Skeleton Warrior who had yet to recover. It just so happened that one of her Undead follower slots was open, and this Skeleton Warrior was level 23—higher level than even Little Black and the others. Although na was just a regular unit, the level was impressive, and after upgrading na with her Plague Graveyard, Na could become a Bronze Elite. And right now, this Skeleton Warrior was leading na's master straight here. That would save Serea the trouble of looking for him. After all, this region would be her development territory in the future. Letting a necromancer occupy her land? In your dreams... "System, are you sure that necromancer doesn't know what's going on here?" System: Yes, host. Your spiritual connection to the Undead followers is the highest level of connection and allows you to receive feedback from your Undead. Regular necromancers, however, cannot receive information back from their followers—they can only send one-way commands through ordinary spiritual connections. "Alright, then we'll just wait and see if he dares to chase after us." And speaking of the devil, as Serea was conversing, a massive flock of birds was startled in the distance. Through the gaps among the trees, one could vaguely see slow-moving black shadows far away. "Not bad, pretty quick action." Serea commented, then issued a command: Twelve Skeleton Cavalry hid themselves on the high slope at the rear, followed by over thirty Skeleton Warriors clad in battle armor. "So, everyone, do you want to stay and watch, or would you rather retreat for now?" Serea asked, and Julian and the others naturally understood her meaning. As non-humans, they were bound to be wary of humans—a wariness heightened by this 'Lord of Undead,' who clearly had a shrewd mind. "Great Lord of the Undead, we will take our leave for now." Julian said, and Auna echoed, "Then Uncle Julian and everyone, follow me back to the tribe for now." "Alright, I wanted to talk with the Boss anyway." Julian replied, planning to discuss matters concerning Lady Avril with Aruka. If possible, julian hoped to help Lady Avril bring Aruka and Auna back—even seeing the family reunited for a moment would be enough. The Xiyun Merchant Guild's guards withdrew, and Serea had already instructed the Skeletons to withdraw for now. Although the power to control the Undead was considered 'orthodox' in the Holy Dragon Empire, too strong a force would easily attract others' attention, so Serea had to be cautious. After everyone left, the shadowy figures in the distance gradually drew near, but Serea calmly sat atop the carriage, with Celia standing closely beside her. The enemy was here! ...... On the other side, the necromancer Leklis was leading his Undead followers through the jungle—a mighty force of several hundred Undead. Most were zombies, over two hundred of them, which he had "collected" from the adjacent jungle; there were plenty more like them in that jungle. There were also about twenty Skeletons he had painstakingly cultivated. He was feeling quite anxious at the moment, because his ambush target had gotten away. That was a mission entrusted by the Church—he had to intercept those goods. To capture them, he had lain in ambush in the jungle for three whole days! But after finally waiting for them, he ended up only wounding their leader and a few followers—he didn't capture a soul, and the goods were gone too. How was he supposed to explain that to the Church... Right now, he could only pin his hopes on "Talius." The Undead named "Talius" was his best subordinate. Leklis couldn't count how much material he had wasted just to cultivate such an underworld Undead. Currently, his "Talius" was lying in ambush further up another road. The merchant guild party, in order to evade him, had turned back; if they wanted to return to a human town, they would definitely take the road where Talius was waiting, and with their leader wounded, talius should be enough to deal with them. However, leklis couldn't shake off a vague sense of unease, which made him even more anxious—to the point that he had to hurry over himself and see if Talius had intercepted those humans. The answer would be revealed soon; leading the Undead straight through the jungle, leklis was about to reach the spot where "Talius" was lying in ambush. He could clearly sense that his Skeleton Warrior "Talius" was just up ahead—very close now. Standing in the forest, looking down the path, leklis indeed saw an abandoned caravan. The goods were right there—success!... Hm? But as he looked at the charred corpses on the ground, leklis frowned. And at that moment, a voice rang out. "You got here rather quickly." Hearing the voice, leklis looked up at once and saw two masked young girls. "Hm? Humans?" Seeing these two girls suddenly, leklis became immediately alert because he could tell that they had clearly been waiting for him. "With so many Undead following you, you must be the necromancer, right?" "......" Leklis felt that something was wrong, because not only did these two girls know his identity, but if they did, why hadn't they fled? "So what if I am? Who are you two, then?" Ever cautious, leklis asked. Serea replied calmly, "You could say we're peers. I heard there was a necromancer roaming these parts, so I came to take a look." "You're a necromancer, too?" "What? Don't I look like one? How about now?" Saying this, Serea removed her mask, revealing the exquisite face of a young girl. At this, leklis was only a little surprised by her appearance, but when he sensed the power of death emanating from her, he was first shocked, then regarded the girl with great wariness. (To be continued)