While we were looking for a opponent to test our skills, Urushi’s detection abilities helped us to find a powerful monster.
We proceeded through the mountains while concealing our presence.
A few minutes later, we finally caught sight of the undead as we passed over a ridge in the mountain.
There was a swarm of several undead in a corner of the valley beyond the mountain.
『That one undead in the center is pretty strong.』
（Nn.）
He’s probably the boss of the undead. A wrinkled mummy-like figure wearing a sorcerer’s robe was performing a vile ritual in the middle of the other undead.
A small, fat man was lying on the altar in front of the boss. He clearly had no signs of life.
His head had been cut off and placed on his stomach. The blood from the wounds had already stopped flowing, so it seemed that a great amount of time had passed since he was killed.
When the undead boss raised his staff, magic power was drained from the poor victim. Then, black magic power was released from the staff of the undead boss and flowed into the undead under his control.
The undead except for the boss weren’t moving at all. However, I could feel the power emanating from their bodies increasing.
『It’d be pretty bad to let this continue, huh?』
（Nn. Undead are getting stronger.）
（Woof!）
『Right.』
He’s most likely using some kind of magic to strengthen the undead under his control. Maybe he’s the reason for the recent undead troubles.
Now we have no longer have the choice to leave them alone.
『We’ll take him by surprise.』
（Okay.）
『Fran, you get the boss. Urushi, you handle the undead around him.』
（Woof!）
We move into action.
I used teleportation to immediately close the distance. Fran slashed at the undead boss, and Urushi went in with a shadow shift and chewed off the head of one of them.
After getting closer, we found out what we’re dealing with. The result of appraisal showed that he was a Mummy King. It is just as strong as the Wight King we fought before.
However, since it is far inferior than the Wight King in terms of summoning and leadership abilities, it would be considered a lower threat level.
Fran had taken his rear after teleporting, and her slash struck the Mummy King directly in the back. However, the Mummy King was still standing, looking very healthy.
「Adventurers?! Now that you have seen us, you must not be not allowed to return alive!」
『That’s the effect of his skill!』
The Mummy King possesses a skill called ‘Shield of the Dead’. This is a skill that transfers the damage inflicted on him to the other undead under his control. There is a shield art similar to this.
The advantage of this skill is that it is always active and can be used even if the user is not ready for combat. However, that is also a weakness. The damage will continuously be transferred to the undead under his control each time he is attacked, regardless of his intention.
「Kill them!」
The undead start to move at the order of the Mummy King. These guys are pretty strong too, maybe threat level E.
No wait, they are ghoul-type undead, with races like ‘High Ghoul Soldier’ or ‘High Ghoul Magician’.
With their ‘Pollution’ skill, even one of them is quite dangerous, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they were given a threat level of D. This is a skill that constantly sprays a deadly long-lasting poison, contaminating living creatures and food.
The area of contamination for a high-ranked ghoul supposedly exceeds a radius of 20 meters, so a village could collapse from a ghoul walking through it.
We were fine since we had immunity to the poison, but it was too dangerous to let them escape.
Fran slashes at the Mummy King some more, but the ghouls also showed no sign of damage transferred to them. He must have more undead under his control in other locations.
But he certainly does not have an infinite number of them. In order for the Shield of the Dead to be activated, the undead to which the damage is transferred must have been created by him and under his control.
This “under control” part is important. For magic like summoning and necromancy, the number of servants that can be controlled is determined by the power of the caster. A single powerful monster can exceed the caster’s capacity, even if they can control over a hundred weaklings.
This is also the reason why I cannot summon any other magical beasts besides Urushi. He just takes up all my summoning capacity.
Also, it’s different if he were to create a servant and let it loose. He has to first make a proper contract with it in order for it to be considered under his control.
He had powerful ghouls nearby, so even this Mummy King could not be expected to have hundreds of other undead.
『Continue as planned, Fran gets the boss! Urushi, clear the surrounding ghouls!』
（Got it.）
「Woof!」
With that said, an area attack with light magic would be very effective, but Fran fights only with her sword.
『Fran, I’ll test the power of the blessing, okay?』
（Okay.）
The Mummy King is strong, but not as strong as Fran in a one-on-one fight. He is slashed in rapid succession, and calls out to the ghouls around him for help, but they are blocked by Urushi and cannot come to his aid.
Ten minutes after our surprise attack.
「Damn it all! In a place like this! My apologies…… Gwaaah!」
Finally, the effect of the Shield of the Dead was no longer in effect, and the Mummy King was defeated by Fran’s swordsmanship.
Cut in half, he crumbled to dust, leaving no magic stone behind. Considering that fact combined with his last words, he was likely created by a necromancer.
『The creator of this thing might be nearby. Let’s explore a little.』
（Nn.）
『So how’d it go?』
（So-so?）
According to Fran, she became somewhat proficient in using Physical Manipulation while cutting up the Mummy King. At the very least, she could keep up with Hilt better than before.
This was a reasonably strong opponent who could take quite a few slashes. I can say he was pretty much perfect for practicing our skills.
（What about you?）
『I tried to use the blessing of the Wisdom God. Apparently, it gives me more control over magic and skills, but it also doubles my magic consumption.』
It’s dangerous to use it all the time, but it’s a useful blessing if I can put it to proper use.
（I see.）
