“Whose brilliant idea was it to come looking for zombies in the in the middle of the fucking night!” Sage yelled.

  For hours since meeting this trio she had kept her mouth shut and gone with the flow. She had been silent when the trio’s leader Jarris bade them to come to the hill and search the chin-high straw like one would prowl for a needle in a haystack; she had not said a thing when the archer Rick started shooting arrows in the sky banking on luck that they would hit any hiding ghouls. She had even bitten her tongue to avoid saying anything when the woman Anith grabbed a shovel from her back and started digging for zombies hiding in the ground.

  But this, this was fucking ridiculous.

  “Zombies always come out at night Maven,” Jarris fired her a reassuring smile. “We just need to search a look longer, a bit more effort and we’ll find one.”

  The way he smiled… did the dumb fuck actually believe what he was saying? Either way, she no longer felt the need to address him politely.

  “Ghouls can’t turn invisible you fucking imbecile.”

  “Watch how you talk to him bitch!” Anith dropped her spear to practically run up to her. If it weren’t for Sage raising her shortsword the woman would have no doubt smashed into her.

  “Hey, hey!” Jarris stepped in between them. “There’s no need for this to get violent. Stand down Anith. And Maven,” the trio leader turned to face her, “lower the sword.”

  “Fine!” she harrumphed. Sheathing the sword, she turned from them and started looking away. “But I’m done with this shit. I’m going back to the city.”

  These dunderheads weren’t going to catch a zombie anytime soon. Even if there really were zombie’s wandering these parts, the imbecilic nonsense of these idiots would chase them away. These clowns were no longer worth her time. What an absolute waste of time.

  “Come on Maven,” Rick spoke up. “Don’t be like that.”

  “That is exactly how I’m being.” She did not bother to look at him. “You can share the spoils among your selves when you find the zombie, Good luck on your endeavours.”

  She would pretend to go to the city and backtrack with {Invisibility} and {Lightfoot} activated to avoid detection; then she would search for the damn zombies rumoured to roam around these parts herself. It was what she should have done a while back.

  In fact, I should’ve never agreed to come with these morons.

  Her journey to circle back only produced several steps before tit was cut short.

  The direction she had been heading in, where there city’s dark silhouette jutted from the ground; in that direction several shadows figures appeared. The were at least a dozen of them, including the sextet led by the noisy red-haired guy in colourful armour and the Grade 1 dwarf and his 8th Order companion. All of them had their weapons drawn as they gazed upon her with eyes filled with hostility.”

  “Like I said, just a little longer and we’ll catch an undead.”

  Slowly, she turned to face the speaker. Jarris easy-going smile was dropped as he drew his sword. Next to him Rick drew back his bowstring while Anith held up her shovel and unslung her shield.

  “You thought we would not recognise a foul corpse when we saw one,” the woman sneered.

  “H-how?” Sage gaped at them.

  “We Lethians recognise corpses by sight!” the red-haired mercenary called from behind her. “But we all played dumb in the Guildhall and lured you here so we can take care of you.”

  “That so,” Sage responded. “And why are the bunch of you ganging up on a single undead. Isn’t it a bit excessive?”

  The dwarf warrior grunted. “We aren’t fools. When Preta failed to identify you with magic, we knew we weren’t dealing with a normal undead.”

  “Graven’s right,” the dwarf sorceress chimed in with her wand pointed at Sage. “All high level undead can mask themselves from my magic and they’re usually spectres or mages. You are clearly not a spectre, which means you’re a mage. You are the necromancer, aren’t you?”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Sage smirked as she raised her hands in the air. “Guilty as charged. I knew that you knew that I was an undead, but I went along with your plan anyway. It makes no difference to me how many of you there are. You’re so weak it’s all the same to me.”

  “Why you-” Anith gritted her teeth as she stepped forward, only to be stopped by Jarris.

  “You see,” the leader of the trio who led her to this patch chimed in. “We knew that you knew that we knew that you were an undead; but do you know why we didn’t change the plan.”

  “Enlighten me.”

  “Because you necromancers are so arrogant and sure of yourself you think nothing can scar you. Well today we will show you that our preparations are more than adequate.”

  And with that he sprang into his action, leaping forward and striking forth. Sage stepped back, well aware of the others coming from behind her, and activated {Ghostwalk}. Jarris’ blade swept through her, the weapons from behind passed through air; it was unfortunate that her foes avoided harming each other.

  Quickly {Blink}ing away to a spot vacant of the Ioan mercenaries, she turned to face them and cast [Greater Chain Lightning] at the group. However, the black bolt’s journey was cut short by a transparent barrier before it could make an impact. On the other side of the [Void Barrier] the dwarven sorceress lowered her hand as her companions rushed out from behind her, weapons raised along with their furious voices; a determined look in their eyes.

  Witnessing this, Sage frowned. This fight might not be as easy as she expected it to be. Better get help to deal with the oncoming flood.

  Again she lengthened the distance between herself and her foes with {Blink}; gaining an opportunity to call forth a helper. The space beside her tore up, making way for a rotten behemoth to step out. The bloated creature stood close to three metres tall with layers of drooping skin wilting away to expose greenish meat. And it had a god-awful stench.

  Race: Corpse Giant (Undead- Ghoul)

  Physique: Grade 1

  Mana: E (Yellow)

  The moment the behemoth was summoned, without hesitating, it charged the oncoming band. The first to meet it was the dwarf warrior who caught its boulder-like fist with his hammer. A blow that would flatten the average man’s spine was shrugged off with after causing no more than a shudder.

  The red-haired mercenary sailed past the two forces in an attempt to get to Sage; while forgetting that the corpse giant had another free hand. He did not even get a chance to react as giant ghoul’s backhand caught him in the back as he dove past it. There was a sickening crunch as Red Hair was sent off like a rag doll with the shrill cries of his companions to send him off.

  The other mercenaries tried to close the distance to get a hit on Sage, but of course she was not going to allow it. The second spell she cast was [Cyclone]; the 7th Order spell materialised in the form of a whirlwind that swept her enemies of the feet while continually moving in their direction. The mercenaries swept up by the powerful winds caught cried for salvation, that Sage would not offer as she erected a [Void Barrier] to fend of the oncoming [Flame Spear].

  “What paltry magic you have,” she mocked the caster. “Maybe if you had thought to climb the border for some proper education you would be halfway decent.”

  “Shut up!” the dwarf sorceress yelled as she raised her hand for yet another spell.

  Sage was not having it.

  “Goodbye,” she waved as she used {Lightfoot} to get a foothold in the air and set off of [Quake] under the Lethian sorceress’ feet.

  The dwarf woman gave a shriek as the earth beneath her opened and swallowed her, making her cry as short-lived as her fall. The ground shook and as cracks spread from the large one the dwarven sorceress fell into, catching many of the remaining mercenaries off guard as the lost the foot and fell into the cracks. Very few survived, including the dwarf warrior who had actually been winning against the corpse giant. When he heard his partner scream, upon catching another of the behemoth’s blows with his weapon, he frantically looked back.

  “PRETA!” he yelled in dismay. Then, turning back with rabid eyes, he snarled. “You-”

  Nope. Sage snapped her fingers.

  BOOM!

  The corpse giant exploded, converting its rotten flesh to pellets that decimated the entire area. The explosion ceased at the same time as the [Quake] and the [Cyclone]. There was no one left standing, all the mercenaries had been reduced to mincemeat; except the dwarf. After all, he had a Grade 1 physique. However, he was no in the best of shape with half his abdomen, the side of his face, an arm and both legs missing.

  “You haven’t won yet abominable witch!” he hissed with difficulty as the last of his lifeblood spilled onto the straw. “We accounted for the fact that we might lose and sent word to the king. He’ll be here soon.”

  “I knew that was the course you’d take in the event that you failed to beat me,” Sage smirked ash she stepped on his heaving chest. “I too am eager to face him since I too am on the cusp of Transcendence.”

  The sound of something falling through the air caused her to retract her foot as she witnessed a tanned muscular man impact the ground in a manner that caused it to tremor more than her spell had. The man straightened and looked at her while flexing his arms.

  “Ho Ho Ho undead witch,” his tone was surprisingly jolly. “You manage to deal with everyone here. Now you have to contend with-”

  Nope. Sage tired of his speech almost immediately. [Death].

  Just like during her Advancement, almost as if the spell was willing her to cast it, she let it use her as a medium to fling it to the Lethian king. Immediately the feral man’s words were cut shot as he toppled over, unmoving,

  That’s it, Sage wondered, even she was surprised at the outcome. Despite her doubts though, the Transcendent remained dead.

  Hmph, she could not help thinking. On any other today this shit would not happen. Happy April Fools day.