Before Abium could look deeply at the hooded man, another three cloaked figures followed him from behind and stared at Abium and Viper with their blue-fire-like eyes.
Even though they hid their bodies in cloaks, Abium easily guessed that they were skeletons and turned grim.
Slowly, he turned his gaze towards the pale-faced hooded human and got tensed up.
'He is the Necromancer! What is he doing here?'
Meanwhile, Murius stared back at Abium and Viper and couldn't understand the current situation.
After a deep look, he shifted his gaze towards fifty more people and furrowed.
'He must be the newly-titled Baron. Does that mean Viscount Gauvain's soldiers and Bilet failed to kill him? Are they dead?' Murius got startled inside.
Then, he slowly turned his gaze towards Viper and felt an unsettling feeling inside.
'He is also a dangerous enemy and seemed more powerful than Baron! Who is he?' A hesitant look appeared on Murius's face.
On the other hand, Viper also observed the enemy and furrowed.
If he had met this necromancer in the past, he wouldn't find it difficult to kill him. But now, his strength was diminished by the curse wounds, causing him to frown deeper.
At that moment, Abium also scanned all the three skeletons and was surprised by their strength.
'All are dark knights with average strength and agility of 8. They are quite dangerous but not impossible to kill. As for this necromancer, I don't know what he can do. But if I didn't kill him now, there would be no opportunity for me in the future.' He made a quick decision.
"Sir Viper, are you ready?" Abium asked with a tense face.
Viper took a step forward with a nod and sprinted towards the necromancer, leaving blur images behind. Still, Abium managed to see Viper's movements in slow motion. Once Viper arrived near Murius, he gripped the dagger in his right hand and thrust it towards Murius's head.
"Scram!" Murius bellowed angrily as one of the dark knights stepped forward and greeted Viper's weapon.
Clang!
The dark knight's sword and Viper's dagger collided against each other, leaving a clashing metal sound behind. Before Viper could withdraw his dagger, another broad sword came from another dark knight towards his chest.
Clang!
Before the sword could touch Viper, Abium arrived near Viper and blocked it with his sword.
'Tsk, I don't have any time to deal with this elf.' Murius clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Baron, I don't have any time to battle against you. I have important work to do, so move out of my way." Murius said with a furious look.
"As if I would believe your words." Abium coldly snorted.
Hearing Abium's words, Murius eyes went icy cold as he took two steps back.
'Damn it! Even with other undead skeletons in my ring, I will be in a tough position. I knew these nature freaks are stubborn ones.' Grumbling, he shifted his gaze towards Viper and noticed a strange dark aura was coming from him.
'Eh? He is a Sixth-tier warrior?! What the hell is he doing in this place?! This guy is really dangerous.' His pupil constricted. Even if Murius managed to kill the Baron, he knew it would be impossible to kill this warrior!
Moreover, this fight wasn't even necessary at this moment for him.
'I must go to the pirate town and catch those bandits first.'
He turned his gaze towards the main group and quickly discerned the might of this group.
'There are one sixth-tier warrior, three fourth-tier warriors, and one official mage. It's not a fight I could win without any loss.' A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Dark bind." Abium made the first move while Murius was in contemplation. Multiple dark shadows came from those red mangrove trees and crept towards his feet to bound his movement.
"Humph! Trying to bind me with a zero-tier spell?" Murius sneered and sent his spirit power towards the dark shadows.
Puff!
Murius's spirit broke those dark shadows like nothing in a second.
'As I thought, one can nullify a lesser tier spell using spirit power.' Abium nodded in understanding.
But that didn't cause Abium to panic or be nervous. Instead, he cast a blink spell and arrived behind Murius. But he didn't attack. Instead, he cast the blink spell again, as he had already foreseen the danger. When his figure disappeared, a gray ray came from Murius's hand and destroyed the red mangrove tree that stood behind Abium.
As the tree started to fall, Abium reappeared on Murius's right side and thrust his aura-coated sword towards his neck.
Swoosh!
Like a puppet, another dark knight came in between and took the attack with its own body.
Bang!
Abium's sword edges swiftly cut half of the dark knight's sword and pushed two feet backward.
"Wait! I surrender. Don't kill that skeleton." Realizing the current situation, Murius shook his head and spoke hurriedly. He had already lost many precious skeletons during the last fight and didn't have much stamina to battle against Abium's group.
On the other hand, Abium wore a skeptical look and asked coldly.
"Why should I believe a necromancer's words?"
"I don't have any strength to fight against you, elf. Also, I'm in a hurry to save a person." His reply made Abium's eyebrow go upward.
'A necromancer is trying hard to save a person? I never heard of such nonsense.' He scoffed off inside.
'Don't always act like a brat who knows everything. This guy is telling the truth. Also, I already told you countless times that these necromancers are not bad guys.' Azolla's scolding sound appeared in his mind, causing him to frown.
He let out a sigh and asked while pulling back his sword.
"Who is the person you are trying to save?"
Murius finally breathed out a sigh of relief and spoke solemnly.
"She is my student,"
Abium felt the tension in Murius's words and thought he might be telling the truth.
"Where is she now?" Abium quickly signaled Viper to sheath his weapons and asked.
After a simple exchange, he understood the story and was startled inside.
'Aliza?! Why does it have to be her? Is this a coincidence? Something is not right.' His eyes squinted while he thought of a monster who would cause a major catastrophe to the Holy See's affiliated kingdoms in the future.
'Do you know that girl, kid?' Azolla sensed Abium's sudden emotional turmoil and asked in puzzlement.
'Yeah, she is a death mage!' He said with a grim expression. He started to remember her history and shuddered inside a little. She was an evil being who could devour all her enemy souls and cause fear among all the people. He even heard from the adventurers that she randomly entered cities and towns and killed people for fun in the past.
'If my memory is right, she was wanted by the Light Church around this time and had a large bounty on her head.'
'It seems that she is hiding here all this time. Should I kill her before she becomes a real threat?' He shifted his gaze towards Murius and thought of what to do with this situation.
'I will decide what to do with her once we reach the pirate town.' Abium made up his mind and quickly asked Helena and others to come back. After that, the group again continued towards the east while making a temporary alliance with the necromancer.
...
Pirate Town, Alastall Woodland,
It was around 3 P.M.
As usual, merchants argued with the shopkeepers to profit more from the sales, while a few pirates also returned from the sea with their booties, and the slaves were in the middle of doing their regular work.
It was the daily life of this pirate town.
But in an inn on the main street's right corner, Keith's bandit group lay on the floor with their drunken faces. Only the Inn lady sat in her reception chair and looked outside with half-sleepy eyes.
Creak! Creak!
From time to time, she could also hear creaking noise from the south corner of her Inn, but she didn't have any energy to walk up and check. Last night, these bandits had made a great stir and caused her to awake the whole night.
'Is that the slave these guys brought yesterday making noise?' She thought while staring at the Inn's interior hallway with half-opened eyes.
Soon, the drowsiness made her mind dizzy. A second later, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Meanwhile, a young woman lay on the dusty bed in a small room and breathed heavily.
At that moment, Aliza had almost cut the ropes that tied her hands by using the edge of the broken headboard leg and continuously pushing her body back and forth.
After Rudie left her alone in this room, she noticed that the bed's leg was half broken and used it to remove the bandage placed on her mouth first. Then, she used most of her time cutting the robes.
"Damn bastard! I am going to kill everyone." She gritted her teeth and cursed at the bandits with fuming rage. Then, she adjusted her posture and focused her attention on cutting the rope.
After another hour of struggle, she finally cut the rope and smiled brightly.