Kaiser

Noel stared in disbelief at the humanoid undead standing before him. He couldn't count how many times he had been astonished since he escaped death and acquired this system, but before he could even gather his thoughts, another ping sound echoed in his ear.

[Soul Contract Successful]

[Name your Undead]

Noel stared at the floating screen in front of him and held a finger to his chin.

"Name my undead?" Noel muttered as he stared at the handsome figure in front of him. As a Necromancer, he could sign a soul contract with three undead, but he hadn't bothered to name the only undead he had.

His first and only undead was a skeleton he had signed from a tome he purchased in the Black Market, and the skeleton had barely helped him in his various raids in rifts.

However, this undead was on an entirely different level from his previous skeleton. It was a Marshal-level existence after all.

"I guess I should name him then." Noel said excitedly as he remembered the overwhelming strength the undead knight exhibited. He still couldn't believe the soul contract was a success.

"Your name will be Kaiser." Noel said firmly. The smooth golden hair and exquisite face, as well as the innate noble and graceful aura the undead gave off, spurred him to give him that name.

The moment he confirmed the name, a green diamond marker appeared on top of Kaiser's head, and Kaiser, dressed in a plain white shirt and loose brown pants dropped to his knees and put his hand to his chest. It was as though he was a vassal swearing his fealty to his master.

"Wow…" Noel breathed, caught off guard by Kaiser's sudden gesture of fealty.

He was still trying to make sense of Kaiser's actions when another floating screen appeared in front of him.

___

[Host: Noel Augustus]

[Age: 18]

[Mana Cultivation: Mana Stream]

[Mana: 100%]

[Class: Necromancer]

[Realm: Novice]

[Health: 100%]

[Stamina: 100%]

[Undead Contracted: 1/3]

[Skills: ]

[Blessings: None]

___

There were no changes to his information aside from the number of Undead he had contracted changing from 0 to 1.

He was about to check the changes to his status screen when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching his direction. Without wasting a single second, Noel quickly dismissed the status screen floating in front of him with a single thought.

He had suspected that he could make the status screen appear and disappear with a single thought, but it was merely a suspicion. Now, he had proven that it wasn't merely a suspicion.

Noel didn't have time to think about it. He immediately turned his attention to Kaiser, who was still on his knees like a knight from the medieval ages.

Noel had an idea of who the new visitors might be, and he didn't want to have to explain Kaiser's presence to anyone, at least not for the time being, so without hesitation, he instantly drew a small magic circle on Kaiser's forehead.

The crimson magic circle drained more than half of Noel's mana from his Mana Stream, but he couldn't care about that at the moment. Finally, after 20 seconds had elapsed, the crimson magic circle glowed brightly.

Success!

With this, I can summon and unsummon him anytime I want!

Not wasting anytime, he drew another small magic circle, and in less than a second, Kaiser instantly disintegrated into sparkling red lights.

The moment Kaiser disappeared from the desolate necropolis, the owners of the footsteps appeared in his line of sight, and Noel turned his attention to face them.

There were a total of seventeen people, and four of them were dressed in a pair of black suits, with the Hunter Association's insignia pinned on their chests, while the remaining thirteen were outfitted in top-tier equipment and weapons.

Each of the fourteen members had the emblem of a fierce black bear on their cloaks and emitted a very menacing aura. The man leading the group of fourteen in particular was giving off a very dangerous aura, and his aura rivalled, if not surpassed, that of the undead knight who had slaughtered the others.

He was a towering figure, standing over 2 meters tall with a broad, bear-like frame clad in a pale blue armor, with a massive snow-white greatsword resting easily in his grip.

His hair was a striking shade of blue, and despite his average face that looked to be in his mid-thirties, the crushing aura he exuded made it clear that he was not to be trifled with.

Noel stared at the newcomers, especially the bear-like man who appeared to be the leader of the cloaked group, with a stoic expression on his face. He didn't utter a word, but he instinctively tensed up, every sense of his going on high alert.

Before either of them could say anything, the rift official who was responsible for managing the rift separated from the group and rushed to Noel's side.

"You're alive! Thank God! I thought you'd be dead by now!" The rift official, Bennett, exclaimed in relief as he approached Noel. He had been nearly certain that the entire group of hunters who entered the rift would be wiped out when he saw the spike in the mana of the F-rank rift.

He was responsible for evaluating the dangers in low-ranked rifts, and the more accurate his safety evaluation, the more his chances of promotion were.

Initially, everything had been going well, but barely an hour later, the swirling blue portal to the F-rank rift turned a deep shade of red, and the mana flowing out of it became extremely turbulent.

That phenomenon could only mean one thing…

A Fractured Rift!

If everyone in the rift had died, he would not have been in a favourable position, regardless if it was his fault or not, so it was no surprise that he was glad to see Noel alive.

"Luckily…" Noel replied wryly to Bennett's statement, but he wasn't offended by it. If it weren't for the system's intervention, he would have been a goner as well.

Bennett was about to speak to Noel when one of the Hunters stepped away from the bear-like man group and approached Noel with a cold and indifferent look on his face. He had bright green hair and a pair of eyes that viewed the world with suspicion.

"Hey, you. What happened here? Why are you the only survivor?" The green-haired hunter demanded coldly, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"And you are?" Noel immediately turned his attention to him, a cold expression on his face. He didn't like the tone the green-haired hunter spoke to him with, especially the suspicious look in his eyes.

"You don't need to know who I am. Answer my question right now." The green-haired hunter rebutted, and his tone became even colder. At the same time, he stepped forward and released his menacing aura, and Noel couldn't help but take several steps back.

'So strong!' Noel thought to himself as he stumbled back. He felt the air around him become heavier, and he found it difficult to breathe.

"Why is everyone dead but you?" the green-haired hunter repeated his question, a cold expression on his face. With the subtle change in his stance and the fierce look in his eyes, Noel knew that if he didn't give a satisfactory answer, the man would take action against him immediately.

Still, Noel refused to answer. After surviving this brutal encounter, he had decided that he was never going to be a pushover anymore. If the Hunter had asked him in an amicable tone, he would have responded, but the Hunter did not. He was clearly intimidating him, and Noel did not like it one bit.

"I see you don't want to talk, but that's fine. When you lose an arm, you will be more cooperative." The green-haired hunter sneered, and he immediately drew his sword. His aura instantly underwent a qualitative change.

It was evident that he was no longer interested in Noel's answer.

Just as he was about to strike, one of the officials from the Hunter Association suddenly stepped forward and intervened.

"Calm down, Mr. Irvin. I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong." The lean official, dressed in a black suit, spoke in a placating tone.

"He's not responsible for your brother's death. I already studied their corpses, and I can tell you with certainty that he's not responsible." The lean Hunter stated confidently, stepping in to mediate the situation.

"Like hell, I'd believe that. This is an F-rank rift, and even if it was a fractured one, Gabe had a berserk skill. If he worked with the rest of his teammates, including an archer at the master realm, he'd have no trouble escaping with his life."

"This conniving bastard must have done something; otherwise, why else would everyone be dead and only he alive?" Irvin snarled, and the murderous aura he exuded did not lessen in the least.

"Mr. Irvin, I understand your grief, but I can assure you that my eyes are not wrong. He has no hand in this." Roberts, the lean official from the Hunter Association, said calmly in an appealing tone.

"Naturally, the Hunter Association will heavily compensate you for this loss and will launch a detailed investigation into this matter. Please, I implore you to leave this matter to us." Roberts said and bowed his head lightly.

Irvin was about to express his disagreement when the Hunter with a towering frame, the leader of the group of fourteen, suddenly called out in a deep voice.

"Irvin, let it rest." He stated firmly in a deep voice.

"But—"

"Irvin. The Hunter Association will conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. Isn't that so, Mr. Roberts?" The leader asked in a deep tone as he stared at Roberts.

"Of course. Please, rest assured." Robert replied in a composed tone.

"That is good to hear." The leader nodded in satisfaction before turning to Irvin.

"Irvin. Let us go." He stated it calmly, but his manner of speech made it clear that it was an order, and he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Yes, Commander." Irvin replied grudgingly. He sheathed his sword and reluctantly returned to the commander's side, but not before giving Noel a murderous glare filled with resentment.

The moment Irvin returned to his group, one of them drew a large magic circle, and without another word, the group of fourteen instantly turned into light particles, teleporting out of the necropolis.

Roberts exhaled in relief before turning to face Noel, a stern expression on his face.

"Now, Noel Augustus, are you finally going to tell me what happened here?"