Currently, somewhere in the forest Gartera, over 100 hundred soldiers wearing armor with the symbol of the arcana Kingdom were escorting multiple wagons with a cloth on top.
If one were near those wagons, a terrible smell would greet the one, together with cries of pain. Whoever was inside those, definitely didn´t have a great time.
One of the arcana soldiers who driven the wagon in question grumbled out loud.
"Ugh...why do we even have to carry those guys when we are going to execute them back home anyway? Getting rid of that dead weight will increase our speed at the very least by half."
"You know that we can´t do that, soldier."
"Hii~! Who is there!?"
Looking up where the voice came from, the soldier's eyes widen up when he saw a man wearing robes sitting on top of the wagon.
"S-Sir Great Mage! Forgive this one for raising his voice at you." The soldier said in quick succession.
For the lower-ranked soldiers, such reaction was natural when interacting with one who was allowed to wear robes instead of armor.
The robe itself had also parts of tough leather from the magical beast, which made their protection and flexibility much better than the armor given to normal foot soldiers.
The reason why the soldier was so anxious about the presence of the robed figure, was simply because of their status difference.
The first and second tiers of strength can be said that they are reachable for everyone if one works hard enough, but that wasn't the case in the 3rd-tier.
The title Great Mage itself is granted only to those who achieve such strength and become of the elites wherever they go or if their overall contribution to the kingdom is high enough to grant the title.
While the former meant that the person is one of the elites who are possibly sponsored by the academy they had finished, the latter could only be achieved by those who were of noble blood.
Even though the arcana kingdom values magic more than any other kingdom, the hierarchy of aristocrats is still somewhat present.
In other words, the people holding the Great Mage title could make the life of a soldier a living hell.
"Relax soldier, I didn't come here to pick on you." The Great Mage assured the soldier before jumping off the top and landing beside the soldier.
'He must be an elite considering his attitude.' The soldier thought internally, before nodding his head.
"You see, although those attention seekers of the Dynasty are indeed a burden, one of the Archmages of our kingdom found a way to make even such hopeless people useful for our cause. You know what am I talking about, no?" The Great Mage said before turning his head and gazing towards the soldier.
"After all, instead of using disobeying soldiers or criminals to make mutants out of them, those people behind you can take the place of such a bunch. Don´t you agree"
*Gulp~
Forcing his saliva down his throat, the soldier shudders in fear when he imagines himself being turned into such an abomination.
Though he didn´t see those mutants in action, the rumors of them being skinless monsters with body parts of beasts that lost all sense of reason. Some even said that even after their death, those monsters would turn into a cursed undead known as ghouls.
As a soldier who fought for his kingdom, he hated the people of the Dynasty who suddenly got the balls to join in the war between the Arcana and Berum, but even he still pitied the people imprisoned inside the wagon.
"You are indeed right sir! In fact, they should feel honored for finding their use in our kingdom!" The soldier said despised all his thoughts.
His pity was indeed true, but compared to saving his own skin, it was nothing.
"Well, said the soldier." The Great Mage said.
"If it wasn´t for the Dynasty breaking one of the unspoken rules of war, we wouldn´t have to run behind our tail and we would even have closed the territory of this forest for good... To think they would even call a bunch of monsters to aid them."
"Sir Great Mage, do you by chance mean that they brought someone of the-"
"Of the 4th-tier? They indeed did. More than one in fact. But don´t worry, by the speed of our march, we will be out of the forest tomorrow morning. As long as the information is right, the Dynasty didn´t yet send out those monsters to chase us."
"Once we are out of the forest, we can call for reinforcement to deal with those guys, but till then stop complaining and do your job. Compared to others, I am willing to ignore your words of before."
"T-Thank you very much, sir! I will do my best!" The soldier said to the Great Mage who jumped off the wagon.
Staring at the wagon that bypassed him, the Great Mage in question shook his head before gazing at the clear moon above him
"Sigh~, here we are running with our tails behind"
Using his magic, he made himself weightless so that he can jump to the top of another wagon.
`At the very least there is a beautiful night to lose myself in.´ He thought before laying on the wagon full of prisoners under him.
While he was in his own world though, the Great Mage failed to notice the gaze coming from a cliff Not too far away from them.
****
At the same time as the conversation between the Great Mage and the soldier took place...
On a cliff in the distance, dark armored figures were gazing down towards the light and many soldiers escorting multiple wagons.
"Location confirmed." The dark armored figure said with his cold voice, before making the map in his hand disappear from thin air.
Walking on the edge of the cliff, the dark armored figure turned his head slightly to the left.
"Follow me."
Once the figure said those words, he stepped off the cliff and started falling from over 20 meters high.
*Boohm~
With his legs meeting the ground, the nearby earth was pushed away.
The figure equipped with a shield in his left hand and a long sword in the right received no damage from such a fall.
The figure had long surpassed the level of getting injured by some mere 20 meters of height
The next moment though, right behind him, dozen of figures with similar armor fell from the cliff. Similar to him, they fall didn´t do much of them.
Every single figure of those figures was releasing a threatening aura of death unconsciously. Behind their helmets was a faint gray flame that continuously burned inside their skull.
The reason for that was that they were undead.
"Use your magic." The figure in front said with the same coldness as before.
Without doubting his words, dead mana slipped through the armor and weapons of all those undead.
The only one that didn´t use such a method was the leading figure, which used dark green mana to cover his body.
Once the figure finished, he dashed forward.
Like an unspoken agreement, the 50 undead that wielded long swords run right behind him with incredible speed.
Alas, not as incredible as the one that leads them.
`This has to be a test from Master Velkir' The figure thought to himself.
Though he was impressed by seeing the undead of the 3rd-tier coming out of nowhere, the figure doubted that the undead was his master's best unit.
He who focused more on close combat and was capable of turning the dead into undead had only managed to make them at the 2nd-tier.
For his Master, who was a Lich, he of course would doubt that summoning undead that barely achieved the 3rd-tier was his best. After all, he was a magic caster much greater than himself.
`Though even that bunch would be too much for me.´ The figure thought bitterly.
Compared to the undead who followed him, he was much stronger than them. But not to the point where he could face 50 of them at the same time.
`Individually though, I am the strongest undead out of all of them.´
"We should be reaching our target, prepare for combat." The figure informed his followers with his cold voice.
As if reacting to this piece of information, the gray flames inside their skulls, lighten up much brighter than before.
`If we were to speak from individual strength, then we have the advantage, but considering their number, we severely lacking.´ The figure though.
`They have more than a hundrend people, while we are only 51, I can´t let the fight prolong otherwise we will be surrounded. If I knew the strength of their 3rd-tier combatants, it would have been much easier. If we want to win we need chaos.´
A swift strike that would cripple the enemy before they even realize what is going on and bring the cause to all of them.
"I will turn this into a dogfight." The figure said while closing in towards the distant light.
`And passionate their best soldiers.´
"Once those all are dead, the rest will be easy." The figure said as the dark green mana was guided to his long sword.
The dark green mana was from none other than Danzel the Wight.
