Today, Aldred found out something new. Apparently, his undead could be killed, but they would revive after a few seconds. Though this limitation sucks, at least his undead would not reduce no matter how many times they were killed. It would be sad if Milet was killed. He was his only Gold Rank undead.
Though another one would be added right now.
"Arise."
Black mist formed around the corpses. At first, the mist was pushed fiercely, but it violently engulfed the corpse. Soon after, a huge leg stepped out of the black mist. The giant velobra lowered its neck to the ground, seemingly bowing to its master.
Bacon and his friends were simply shocked at the sight. For years they had explored the continent, seeing its magic and wonder, but they never seen something like this before.
"Can you talk?"
The velobra simply hissed, but Aldred understood him.
"From now on, your name will be Nicky."
The snake softly hissed.
"Why I named you Nicky? That's because you look like an anaconda."
The snake hissed in confusion.
"Don't think too much about it. You are Nicky now."
Nicky bowed his head and accepted his fate. It glanced to the side and noticed a small creature was looking at him. Nicky thought it was a snack and wanted to take a bite until that small creature slapped his face with a long bread.
"Hey, what was that for?"
"Pongo!" he shouted before leaving.
"Weird penguin. Okay, all of you can return now."
His undead bowed and disappeared.
Bacon approached and looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Aldred, did you just turn that monster into your undead?"
"Yep."
Bacon still couldn't believe what he had just seen and heard. His experience as an adventurer kicked in. He shouldn't be too surprised about this. The world was vast. Some could only scrap for trash, while the rare ones had it all. Like this boy here. He turned a powerful Gold Rank monster as undead. If he killed more monsters in the future, wouldn't he create an army with them?
It was such a scary possibility.
Bacon smiled and tapped Aldred's shoulder. "I will be relying on you from now."
Aldred smiled. "It should be me who said that. You know a lot more about this treasure, and your experience as an adventurer will surely make our life easier."
Bacon laughed. "I am nothing compared to you."
The others agreed with that. They all felt like they were nothing if compared to Aldred. It was bitter to admit, but that was the truth of the matter.
The caravan continued their journey. They stopped by a nearby river to replenish their water supply. Actually, they didn't need to do that, because Aldred's divine dimension had unlimited supply of water, but Bacon was with them, and he couldn't expose this secret to him.
Though Bacon was an ally, he was still a stranger and competitor.
Night time came, but instead of camping like usual, Bacon suggested them to keep going instead.
"I know a shortcut to Mount Fargon. Going to Boncy is a waste of time. We can directly go to our destination through the route I know."
"But our soldiers need rest," Bartrem said.
"They can take turns in controlling the horses. Don't forget that a lot of people is seeking this treasure. Do you think they mind losing a few nights of sleep?"
Bartrem discussed this with Mary, Mareona, and Aldred. What Bacon said was true. There would be many who were willing to lose some sleep over this treasure.
And so they continued to travel during the night. The soldiers squeezed their mana gems and use it to light the surrounding. It did not give them much sight of the landscape, but it was enough to avoid falling into a hole.
When the sun rose, the soldiers entered the carriage and slept as another group replace them. This was very effective for some time, until the horses started to get tired and stopped moving.
"In the end, we still need to stop," Bacon said.
"What do we do now?" Bartrem asked.
"I can turn them into undead."
Bartrem's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant."
And so the horses were killed and revived into a black misty form with purple glows. They looked much more menacing and fitting to be rode by a death knight. Every small creatures scurried away in fear because of their appearances.
The sun went down again as the caravan entered the valley. The carriages squeaked and groaned as the horses' feet thumped against the ground. The soldiers covered themselves with thick cloth. The wind was chilling in this landscape, and frozen air came out of their mouth when they breathed out.
The wind whizzed above their head. It was small at first, but it got louder. They looked up with a pair of sleepy eyes only for them to be widened in shock as large boulders were falling from the sky.
"Watch out!"
The soldiers gritted their teeth, closing their eyes while looking away, expecting themselves to be crushed by the boulders.
But then the boulders exploded into pieces. Landing on the roof of the carriage was Mary, along with Mareona, and Bartrem.
"Bandits!" Bartrem shouted. "They have fifteen Gold Ranks!"
"Shit! So many?" Mareona grimaced.
Bacon and his friends landed beside them.
"What's the situation?"
"They are still hiding, but I can feel their presence. Five of them is on that mountain." Bartrem pointed.
Dozens of boulders were thrown into the sky from the spot that he pointed. Mareona leaped without making any dent on the roof, but she reached a high altitude and slashed the boulders numerous times, turning them into dust, before softly landing again.
A giant iron rod came at Bartrem with high speed. He grabbed it with one hand and stared at the man who was smiling in the distance.
"If you want to fight, then come here!" Bartrem shouted.
Aldred woke up from the noise, and flew beside Bartrem. "What's going on?"
Bartrem was about to reply until a cold, sharp sword touched his neck.
He frowned and glared at Bacon who had Aldred's neck in his hand. "What are you doing?"
Bacon grinned. "What do you think I'm doing?"
