The Necromancer (2/4)

…Needless to say, the bandits are killed immediately from Haalfrin's precast fireball – one of the advantages of striking first is that you don't have to waste time preparing your spell.

Honestly, the dozen mages below don't fare much better than the bandits. Despite surviving the wide-area fireball easily, they're killed almost immediately after dozens of weapons unexpectedly come to life.

Since the bandits dropped dead all around the mages, the weapons were left in perfect striking positions at the enemy mages' feet.

…Even the few mages who survived the initial surprise attack from the bandits' knives are quickly skewered by Kaalhyme's spear or smashed flat by Lornal's hammer.

Only 3 mages manage to survive the fireball, the flying bandit weapons, then the 3 stronger weapons. They turn to Haalfrin, since they think he's controlling them all remotely and that he won't have the concentration for a defensive spell.

And so, they all put their mana and concentration into speed in their legs and strength in their arms as they lunge at Haalfrin.

…Unfortunately, Haalfrin is still completely free to cast more spells, as using his Name powers doesn't count as a spell.

Within moments, Haalfrin blocks one strike with his shield, whips his sword around too fast for the other to react, stabs him in the face, then lungs to his right – putting all his weight behind his shield and knocking the first mage off his feet. Doing this, Haalfrin leaps out of the way just in time to avoid the third mage's strike.

Since Haalfrin already has his Reh Name, his spirit magic is going to be much stronger than some of his other spells – even better than his body reinforcement spells.

So, with expert precision, Haalfrin ties a golden spiritual thread between the 2 surviving mages, then he tugs on the thread as hard as he can. Both of the mages are pulled off their feet, and they slam into each other as the golden thread pulls them together.

Right when they're pulled together, Haalfrin stands there as both of them are run through by Kaalhyme's spear.

Haalfrin looks over at the dozen mage weapons and scores of bandit weapons, and he motions with his hand. "Follow me."

The boy puts his hands in his pockets and struts further into the cave with nearly a hundred weapons floating behind him in rough formations… with Kaalhyme to his right and Lornal to his left.

Frankly, Haalfrin feels a little silly when he thinks about it. 'I look like a gangster boss when I act like this. Obviously, Kaalhyme's spear has to be on my right side. He's the coolest one here and the strongest.'

As Haalfrin and his gang trek further into the dungeon, he encounters more and more pockets of random mages – most of them being 1st Gaters, though a few had their 2nd gates open.

This whole time, Haalfrin is completely undetected, despite the heavy security measures and surveillance magic and traps on every corner.

He's not undetected because he's especially good at disarming traps (though he isn't entirely bad at it).

Rather than anything on his part, his presence remains unknown because the master of this dungeon happens to be busy with an experiment and has shut off all outside noise from his laboratory. He also doesn't trust any of his disciples to handle the defensive enchantments on his home… which leaves nobody to notice Haalfrin's presence except for the unlucky ones who die almost immediately.

It has to be said. A god's blessing of luck can be pretty scary.

Once Haalfrin gets deeper into the dungeon, he thinks of the missing villagers he saw being taken in. 'I attacked almost right after the villagers were brought into the cave, so logically, they shouldn't be very far in… Oh, I failed to consider teleportation arrays. The spatial magic on this world isn't nearly as advanced as it is in the Death Realm, so the villagers wouldn't have been taken very far at least…'

And so, Haalfrin searches around for the captives. He doesn't want to have to worry about them when he goes to face the necromancer; that way, he can potentially meet his death with a clear conscience, knowing that his death isn't dooming others.

After nearly an hour spent searching through the winding hallways and getting lost a few times, he finally comes across the prison cells. Inside are rows and rows of crates with small holes punctured in there for air. Inside, the people are crated up like common materials.

Haalfrin goes around and smashes open all the crates, then he spends another half an hour leading them all outside the caverns.

Frankly, the local land god isn't all that interested in helping all these villagers get back to their homes, since it only helped out Haalfrin because of his strange fate.

Fortunately, they have a few members among them who are expert foresters. A few of the older men know the paths well since they used to work and hunt here… before the dark wizard moved in.

Even still, they won't be able to leave until the black mage is dead, as the confusion Arrays that kept Haalfrin wandering around the forest are still active.

With all the civilians freed and moved out, Haalfrin's mind is at ease, and he knows that he's free to make a move on Lord Querry now.

---------------------

Deep in the dark cavern system, there is only a single room that doesn't smell of mold or dust. Being full of experimental equipment and delicate alchemic ingredients, Querry's laboratory is kept meticulously clean.

Hunched over a long table covered in blood, there is a bony-looking young man holding a staff with a bloody skull propped on top. Other than his unstylish staff, he's wearing equally distasteful scarlet robes with rich embroidery and gold plating – something you'd expect a king to wear.

Of course, there's no way Lord Querry wouldn't wear the same tacky black cloaks his disciples have.

As he's pouring various strange ingredients from atop his table into a black cauldron beside him, he hears a bell ring by his door. This bell rings when one of his chief disciples uses the key to his room he gives all his eldest disciples.

Of course, this key can't let them in, as his laboratory is the lord's private space. However, this key does mean that he's urgently needed.

…Naturally, the dark sorcerer Querry himself has the real key.

The bony man curses and mutters, "But my research... Oh well, my concentration is already gone. I'd mind as well check to see if it's important. If it's not, I can just kill them." He did tell his disciples to not disturb his research time under any circumstance other than a dire emergency, like an invasion.

Lord Querry waves his staff, and the door opens up.

Before the double doors even finish swinging open, a young teenager bolts through the door with his hand outstretched and his fist crackling with energy.

It's a good thing that Querry wears a cloak enchanted with anti-magic properties, else he'd have had no time to protect his fragile body… and he'd have died from the ambush.

Still, even though the magical electricity in the punch is nullified by Querry's robe, the boy still has a hard fist ironed out from heavy decades of refining his body.

The dark magician stumbles back and groans as he feels one of his ribs crack. "YOU DARE!" he screams out in fury. The next instant, Querry uses advanced magic and blinks away a short distance.

Haalfrin gapes in shock for a moment seeing this. "I thought that short-range, instant teleportation was a spell only Master knew?"

So, Haalfrin points his sword at the shady-looking mage and asks, "You! How do you know my master's spell?" There's a tinge of anger in his voice, since stealing a mage's advanced techniques is as horrid as sleeping with their spouse behind their back (at least, in Kalastros's mind).

Of course, asking questions in the middle of a battle is really dangerous, but anything concerning his master is important enough for him to trouble himself over.

The bony man looks up at Haalfrin, then remembers that he'd heard some news of the old archmage getting an apprentice from his contracted bandits.

Querry straightens his back and says, "Oh, you're talking about Kal? You must be that boy I've heard about. My students were making a fuss about a dragon looking for you."

The dark mage shrugs, "Well, as my last courtesy for the runt, I'll tell you. He and I both had the same master long ago. That's all. I'm his senior disciple. What is it? Are you shocked?"

"Not really," Haalfrin shrugs, "I could tell from your spell that you were a 3rd gate mage, and archmages like that don't grow on trees. It makes a lot more sense that you were fellow students at one point."

"Well, I can see that you've managed to get past all of my disciples," the bony man says, "which means you ARE talented. How about you become my disciple, and I'll forget that you tried to kill me?"

Haalfrin taps his foot as he thinks (a habit he picked up from Kalastros), then he abruptly asks, "You said you're the senior disciple?" He looks over the young, emaciated mage in front of him. "Why're you so young?"

Before Querry can answer, Haalfrin's eyes go wide in shock as he figures out the truth. His expression rapidly morphs from shock, to anger, then mockery. "What? THAT's what you were using the sacrifices for? To keep yourself looking young? So, you're just an old fart then who's trying to pretend like he can live forever. Yeah. That's kind of lame. I'll take a pass."

In Haalfrin's mind, Death is an inevitable part of life that should be embraced. Haalfrin can only feel disdain when he sees people try to fight the inevitable.

Querry casually blinks away to avoid Haalfrin's next sword swing. Appearing across the room, the bony man mumbles softly, "Ah, such a pity."