While leading her to where she presumed was its master’s hideout, the zombie left a lot of devastation in its path, leaving Sage to wonder how it was possible that the necromancer had yet to be tracked down. The trail of broken grass left by zombie was one that even an amateur tracker would be able to follow with ease.

  The necromancer probably not been found yet because no one’s been taking the sightings seriously, was the only conclusion she could come up with.

  As far as she was aware, unlike the cannibal crone’s inn, there did not seem to be any mysterious disappearances around these parts. It was probably the commoners in the surroundings who had first sighted the undead, which would explain why the reward for the assignment was so low.

  However, if the pool prize kept increasing more mercenaries would join in, and the likelihood that one of them was competent enough to follow a makeshift trail like the one being made by the zombie even after a couple of days was not low.

  Sage herself chose to not deepen the disturbance by activating {Lightfoot}, which allowed her to tread atop the grass tips without disturbing them. The [Polymorph]ed trio hung lifeless in her hand, offering no resistance after her threat to feed them to Nyx; every few minutes she had to recast the spell on them to prevent them from changing back. As for Nyx, he went about his usual routine of moving in the shadows; leaving no mark on the surroundings as well.

  Sage followed the zombie for what seemed like half an hour, during which a large chunk of her mana was used up. By the time they reached their destination, less than half of it remained. Under normal circumstances, this would have been enough to warrant her caution; causing her to hesitate or even avoid going forward with her act. Fortunately, she was going to meet a necromancer, the type of magician who would always be disadvantaged against her. Also, if this necromancer turned out to be more than a corpse raiser and extremely powerful, her current capacity was more than enough for her to escape.

  It turned out that the zombie’s master was not as careless as initially believed as his hideout was located west of the city, a ways from where the sightings occurred. The zombie led her to an unassuming hill no different from the rest of the surroundings. As soon as they got there, her familiar immediately notified her of a cavern mouth hidden on the side facing away from the city.

  Finally, she sighed in relief before ducking into the shadows to Nyx location.

  When she popped out, she found herself at the mouth of a cave, but one that was so small she had to crouch in order to pass through. Before she entered, she paused to address the undead.

  “Stay here,” she ordered before continuing.

  There was a well-concealed magic circle at the mouth of the grotto, which she managed to bypass with ease by {Ghostwalk}ing. The inside of the cave presented more traps; other magic circles which contained paralysis and binding effects near the opening and offensive ones the deeper she went. The last magic circles ingrained into the cave wall were [Contagion] and [Drain Life], spells effective against the living but not much use against use against the dead. Although she was immune to the spells’ effects, she still chose to keep her intangible state when she passed by the circles.

  From the mouth to the heart, the distance travelled inside the cave was less than thirty metres. After the few seconds it took her to cross that distance, she found herself in a lit chamber of moderately large size. Inside, she spotted a what looked like a fireplace with a pot hanging above it, stone shelves with books and flasks, large stones that could be used as seats and a large stone table in the middle set on top of a ritual circle. In one of the cave’s corners half a dozen bodies lay, while another cadaver was sprawled atop the stone table with a hooded figure standing over it. Instead of focusing on the corpse though, the figure’s gaze was fixed on the chamber’s entrance where Sage had emerged, alert grey eyes glaring beneath the hood.

  At the same time the formally silent corpses begin to stir, all armed with stones, rusted knives and their dismembered limbs in some cases. Although their expressions were vacant, their bloated figures all seemed ready to charge her at moment’s notice. Something she quickly noted after using {Index} was that all of these zombies’ physiques were in the fourth Grade, a fact that would have had her heart skipping a beat if it still functioned.

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  “Who are you?” the figure asked. A hoarse masculine voice, an old one. “What do you want?”

  From his cautious demeanour, it was easy to infer that the man had been expecting her, which did not surprise her in the least. If the zombie outside belonged to him, then the fact that it had returned to this place would not have been missed by him.

  Seeing as she had bypassed all the traps, Sage felt it safe to dispel {Ghostwalk}. However, the moment she did so she was assaulted by the stench of the cave, causing her eyes to water. If the smell of the zombie outside was an insult to the senses, then the stench of this cave was blasphemous to existence itself. If her mask was filtering any of the horrendous odour, then it was not much of it. Its stench was so bad it was physically constricting her; by far the worst she had ever encountered. Even when she ceased her breathing, she found herself unable to stave off its criminal assault to her nasal receptors. The ordeal had her abdomen heating up with the overwhelming desire to expel her entrails.

  The place where shit comes to die, or death comes to shit, was a phrase alluding to place that smelled so horrible no one would willingly tread there. This cave though… even death and shit would not come here. She could not spot a single insect in the vicinity and to make it worse, the mice in her hand were actually puking blood. That was how bad it smelled!

  Immediately she dropped the polymorphed trio and began casting [Aeriation]. It was a 2nd Order spell often used for ventilation and clearing away toxic air; not the kind of spell Sage would have learned if not for the fact that she needed it to fill up slots. However, in this moment she finally found a use for it as she used it to funnel out the cave’s horrible air for the outside’s fresh breeze. After doing so, she shifted her attention to the three mice, who appeared to be in a catatonic state. [Dispel] fell upon them, returning them to their original forms. As soon as she released them from their polymorphed state though, she made sure to prolong their drowsy states with [Sleeping Circle].

  When all that was done and she no longer had to worry about them, she turned to the hooded figure, who for some reason had chosen not to attack during the time she had been busy. Seeing him and his limping corpses just standing there brought a familiar heat out of her. She reached above her leather mask and wiped, her eyes sending glares at the hooded man.

  “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!” she shouted.

  In conjunction with her voice, the shadows conjured by the lamps trembled; she only took slight note of it as her attention was wholly on the necromancer. Originally, she had intended to make a cordial introduction before moving on to what she had come for; however, one whiff of that fucking stench and the plan was cast out the window. What kind of roachlike-bastard would choose to live in such a shithole?

  “You trethpathed in my abode and athk what’th wrong with me?” the old voice under the hood sounded incredulous. “Ith that what patheth for mannerth thethe dayth? Have I been itholated for too long?”

  The zombies standing by his side still made no move to attack, an indication that he was still digesting her appearance; yet to decide whether she was a foe or not. He seemed to be prepared for the former though as the way his undead stood by him was such that if a fight broke out, they would easily be able to move in front of him, shielding him from any attack she might launch at him. It would have decent tactic if not for the lack of intelligence on her capabilities.

  “Why are you here thorthereth?” the man repeated. “What ith it that you want?”

  Sage opened her mouth to say something, but decided to exhale in the newly made fresh atmosphere instead; allowing herself to calm down. Her eyes momentarily swept over the sleeping unpolymorphed trio, bare and asleep on the floor. With a single flick of her hand, she cast their belongings from the Space out of their shadows. When her eyes fell back on the hooded necromancer, although she could not see his expression, the tension in his posture was evident.

  Race: Half-Dwarf (Human)

  Physique: Grade 4

  Mana: C (Brown)

  Going by his stats alone, there was nothing to worry about. Another sweep of the surrounding with [Mystic Eyes] and she was certain there was nothing present that could threaten her, allowing her to loosen up as she addressed him.

  “You needn’t fear sir,” she began calmly, making sure her tone was nothing like her previous outburst. “I’ve been hearing rumours of a fellow necromancer in these parts and decided to check it out. Tell me, how did you augment your undead?”

  A close look at the man’s zombies and one could easily make out the rags they wore use to be peasant clothes. Another look at their makeshift weapons and it was clear as day these corpses had not belonged to combatants. They had probably been farm serfs and slum dwellers, one of the odd ones who vanished every month; people whose disappearance no one ever paid attention to.

  One such person having a Grade 4 physique was rare but- against all odds- likely. All of them having Grade 4 physiques though, that was impossible. Looking at the ritual circles drawn underneath the stone table and she could infer that it likely had something to do with the augmentations. The more she stared, the more obvious it became; a fact that left her unable to stop the smile that crept to the corners of her lips behind the mask.

  After crossing half of Lethia, she had finally found what she had been looking for.