The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

71. Keep Fighting, But Don’t Die.

The Undead’s eyes, which shone with a maroon light, gradually changed to show a different color. Their eyes were blue now.

The Undead had great resentment and evil, but that could be changed according to the will of their commander. Davey had gotten rid of the Undead’s fierce hostility toward the living and had instilled blind loyalty.

Davey’s control spread abnormally quickly, because he had some help. Although the staff was normally used with elemental mana, devil mana was ultimately also a type of mana. The staff was slightly less effective with devil mana, but its overall ability wouldn’t drop from a legendary level to an ordinary one.

In a short period of time, Davey could see thousands of Undead taking over the city and hundreds of new ones coming under his control.

The dominance of the high-rank necromancer was strong; however, even that powerful dominance was bound to weaken as the number under his control decreased by over a hundred thousand.

“You seem like you need weapons.”

The Undead were mostly empty-handed. Those wielding weapons were using abandoned and broken ones. As for the skeletons, they were holding bone swords that had seemingly come from their own bodies.

Davey didn’t think the skeletons would be of much help as their basic stats were low and even their weaponry was lacking.

After some thought, Davey said, “First, let’s divide you up. All the ones who turned into the Undead because you were infected or died recently go over to the right. The rest of you, move to the left. I’m giving you five seconds. Move!”

The Undead began moving at the simple command. They had no intelligence nor reason to analyze or defy the controller’s command; they simply existed and acted blindly when given a command.

Watching the Undead part like waves, Davey could clearly see just how many people had been sacrificed and brought back as the Undead.

—The infiltration is no joke… This is much more than I expected.

“Well, since it happened out of the blue, you can’t blame them for the number of Undead skyrocketing. Hey, all the monsters and animals go to the left.”

Once the animals and monsters assembled to the left, Davey stared at the human-like zombies and skeletons. Then, he snapped his fingers.

At the same time, two black magic circles expanded and covered the surroundings.

As the magic circles spread, some of the Undead fell to the ground as if having lost their strength. These people were victims who had been turned into the Undead after being infected by diseases caused by the takeover.

Davey didn’t need their help as well; they were constantly suffering in endless pain without being able to enter the cycle of reincarnation, because their souls were still under control, so they weren’t of much use.

Davey was only satisfied after dissolving the magic that formed the Undead and helping the freed ones enter into the cycle of reincarnation with a revival magic circle. That was a magic spell that required devil mana.

The Undead had lost their lives in this awful situation, becoming monsters that couldn’t die despite not being fully alive. It didn’t sit right with Davey that there was no one who would mourn their deaths. Even if they had never seen each other before, he could not ignore their sorrowful faces as a necromancer who interacted with souls.

“Everyone, get on it. Your painful memories will all be gone once you are on your way to reincarnation. I’ll pray for you, so you can live a better life next time.”

The black energy flowing out of Davey slowly enveloped some of the Undead. Then, the off-white figures working around him dissipated into powder at once. All the spirits looked different, but they expressed one shared emotion.

[Thank you.]

It was gratitude. Although dark and devil magic were both developed as weapons for war, it didn’t change the fact that the ability still stemmed from pure research and the desire to save people. There was no such thing as a power that was purely good or evil.

Davey watched the city become silent as countless Undead disappeared instantly, then glanced at the bone fragments they had left behind. He commented, “Oh, right. Let me borrow your bones before you leave.”

The still bones floated into the air together and rotated to create sturdy spears, swords, and shields. This was the best choice under current circumstances, so as to increase the power of the Undead, who had poor weapons.

—Aren’t there too few of them? Is the situation going to be okay?

“It’s okay. It’s not like I made the Undead anyways.”

All Davey had to do was capture more of the Undead if he needed more people. The Undead were running rampant everywhere, so he could get more of them at any time.

Davey put on a robe and a plain mask that covered his entire face. He had prepared this outfit in advance.

At the same time, the Undead began moving like they were going to execute Davey’s will for him.

“Run and don’t stop. Destroy everything you can see.”

Davey already had a destination in mind.

* * *

Davey began to see a messy but consistent march. The pathway leading from the mountain fortress to the large forest where the ancient ruins existed was crowded due to the Undead’s march.

“About twenty thousand of them… I was right; it’s just testing the waters.”

The Undead’s numbers increased even at this moment. It was clear that their numbers would keep growing even while the allied army would only grow tired.

—That is only natural since they have not fought against a high-rank necromancer before.

Perhaps the allied army not knowing that they would only be more disadvantaged as time passed was to be expected.

“Yeah.”

This was going to be the first battle after the allied army’s participation. They would fight at a significant disadvantage, because the allied army had to abandon their comrade as soon as they were bitten or cut. This was not the case for the original Undead.

—But they must have made preparations for it, since they already know about that. Unless they are idiots.

“Let’s ignore them.”

If Davey engaged in guerilla warfare with the Undeads that he controlled right now, he could destroy the allied army and delay their advance. However…

“There’s no reason for me to do that.”

—If you can save lives, it is better to save…

“Perserque, I told you; there’s a good chance that this kind of thing will keep happening.”

—...

“If I don’t display my prowess from the beginning, such incidents will keep happening. This isn’t just a warning to that Saintess candidate lady.”

—If that is what you want.

Previously, the Undead had separated into groups to repeatedly invade different mountain fortresses. In fact, the 20,000 Undead that Davey was staring at were also going to one of the eight mountain fortresses. They confidently advanced forward as if they were unstoppable, feeling completely relaxed.

Davey silently turned away and began moving toward the one who had created and was controlling all the Undead. He would have needed to go through the bothersome process of breaking into the ancient ruins if they were inside, so it was somewhat of a relief that they were not.

A few hours had passed since Davey had embarked on this journey. He ignored and passed the entire Undead army that was beyond his control. He and his own Undead army could soon see a giant tower in the vast forest of rotten trees. The tower was well camouflaged from a distance, so Davey only noticed it when he got much closer.

—This place was originally a plain, not a forest.

The necromancer had chosen this region for war and it became the land of the dead.

—[Necropolis], a 7th circle spell that can amplify a necromancer’s power, the core, by more than ten-fold with its existence alone…

“Are they waiting inside? How arrogant.”

It seemed like the high-rank necromancer already noticed that Davey had taken a few thousand Undead from his army of a hundred thousand. The necromancer also opened the path leading to them as soon as they realized that Davey was coming this way; it was almost like they were taunting him, telling him to come if he dared.

Advancing the Undead army with a flick of his hand, Davey took a step forward. At the same time, he felt a weak vibration run through him.

A creepy voice rang out in the forest.

—How dare you come here so brazenly when you have stolen my army, you rookie necromancer? Although it is only a part of my army, I will compliment you on stealing control over them.

The voice could not be heard, since it was delivered through the will. It made Davey feel like his mind was going to be taken over if he didn’t focus.

“I have to solve this as soon as possible and go treat the patients.”

Rinne, who had accompanied Davey here, was remaining at the treatment center in place of Davey. She was a golem, so she picked up on information very quickly. She was probably treating patients according to the manual Davey had left behind without trouble.

1924/20000

The number grew quickly, which was a good indication of progress. However, Davey had come to the battlefield to accelerate the situation, because it would take weeks to fulfill that quota at the current rate the war was progressing.

It was a relief that treatment given by Rinne or even the doctors of the coalition who had received Davey’s teachings were included in the deal.

“Do Liches these days not show their face even when a guest has arrived?”

Davey’s voice wasn’t loud enough to be heard from the tower, but he didn’t think for a second that the necromancer wasn’t listening. With his mild provocation, some devil mana that had been spread all around the necropolis began to dig into Davey’s body; the necromancer’s irritation had come alive to penetrate him.

However, Davey’s devil mana grabbed the foreign devil mana entering the body and ate it up like it had been waiting for this moment. If he accurately understood what his devil mana was saying, through both devil mana merging together, it would be saying…

The devil mana was quite simple to understand.

The necromancer began releasing part of his main army. They came to the conclusion that Davey could not be stopped with a simple taking-over of the mind.

Dozens of Undead poured out of the large holes on the sides of the huge stone tower. Not only that, but giant Undead monsters or armed skeletons also began running out of the large door on the necropolis’ lowest floor.

Bone Wyverns that boasted their huge size and giant skeleton knights who rode them suddenly appeared. They were all Death Knights powerful enough to release [Aura Blade].

—Approximately fourteen Death Knights at Master-level… There are many more than was reported. And there are a lot of Undead giant monsters that would require dozens of people to defeat just one of them. Davey, you’re going to be wiped out quickly with your army.

“Then, we should strengthen our side too,” Davey said calmly. He pulled out Blue Ribbon and twirled it in his hands. He stared directly at the tower before saying, “I will tell you my goal before I enter. I don’t know who you are.”

The Death Knight that was riding the Wyvern swung its sword at Davey as the beast jumped down from its high vantage point. It knew that Davey was the one leading the opposition army.

“I don’t know what you want or why you are playing this game of war.”

The heated and sharp [Aura Blade] slashed across the air, threatening to bisect Davey. However, he pulled out Red Ribbon with his free hand and lightly slashed the air in retaliation.

At the same time, the Bone Wyvern lost its balance. Its tough skeletal wings had been cut in half.

Then, Davey jumped toward the falling Death Knight and stepped on it.

Although they did not have the skills of a Master, they were high-rank Death Knights.

Blocking the skeleton’s counterattack with ease, Davey pierced its face with Blue Ribbon and crushed it into the ground.

Even if they were a Death Knight, they would not be able to withstand Blue Ribbon, a sword that held the power to destroy the authority of immortality and had an advantage over demon-types.

Davey lightly shook his hand and retrieved Blue Ribbon after easily taking care of a Death Knight.

Crushing the Death Knight, who immediately collapsed on the ground in pieces, Davey pointed his sword at the additional ones that were charging toward him. He said, “If you want to conquer the continent, then bring it on. I can only tell you to do whatever you want.”

It was the alliance who had rejected Davey’s help and chose to get all defensive.

“However, it will be a completely different story if you are taking over areas that have what I need.”

—What are you trying to say, intruder?

Davey felt the necromancer’s voice grow a bit wary, as if they had noticed Blue Ribbon’s threatening level of power.

“As of right now, you will move according to my intentions. Stop this war game and fight to the death…until I grow tired from treating patients and collapse.”

—Nonsense!

“But if you do not, I will find out where you are.”

“And I…”

As Blue Ribbon floated and slowly moved through the air as Davey’s voice trailed off, a white light of holy power burst out from his fingertips.

“I will crush you in any way I want.”

[8th level Holy Magic]

[Blessing of God]

The Undead who followed Davey began to tremble as a wide area of holy magic spread out from Davey, who was in the middle. Some of the Undead began burning in flames, unable to withstand the divine luminosity. It was funny to use holy magic here when both his army and the enemy’s were the Undead, who were extremely weak against it.

There were always more convenient methods, just like how Davey received God’s curiosity rather than love.

[Daphne’s 9th level Final Holy Magic]

[Repent]

The desires of the Undead were Davey’s; therefore, his repentance would be theirs. There was no better reinforcement for his army and no worse debuff for them. If their basic stats were lacking, he just had to buff them to match up to the opponent’s.

Ignoring the rapidly changing atmosphere, Davey cast an additional spell.

[8th level Holy Magic Attack]

[Rod of God]

Following Davey’s fingertips, a white flash of light fell from the sky.