Chapter 21

Roan panted from exertion. His heart felt hollow, and he had exhausted every single drop of his Ether. He had encountered a group of five thugs as soon as he exited the dungeon and after using Time deceleration and with the help of the zombies, he barely managed to kill them. It was his bad luck that they had discovered him first. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had to use Time Deceleration. His zombies would have been enough to dispatch them. A waste.

But the encounter had left him with some more support. A good sword and five more zombies for a total of seven. A formidable force as the zombies seemed to be stronger than an average adult. They weren't that slow either and felt no fear or pain which made them a killing machine.

But now, They ambled behind Roan mechanically as he walked through the building. It felt like a castle with its grey stone walls and empty, massive rooms. The stone pillars and the garden outside of the building reinforced the guess. But castles were only found in the inner district of the town.

"I'm in the Inner district. ' Roan thought as he walked through the corridor of the castle with his zombies tracing his steps. His dream to one day visit the inner district and experience the luxurious life here had come true but not in the way that he wanted. It wasn't a dream at this point but a nightmare.

Roan chuckled to himself and rubbed his hands. The dungeon had been cold and the chilly wind outside exacerbated his shivering. Even though it was summer, the morning and evening almost felt like winter without snow.

As Roan was about to reach a turn, he heard footsteps approaching. He wanted to run and hide but it was too late. Two people came into his view. One was an extremely muscular man wearing leather armour and carrying a large sword on his back and another was a slim man with a skull mask and a sword on his hip.

Both groups froze as they stared at each other, The muscular man's eyes danced around the crowd standing before him and then it widened. He was surprised. Anyone would be after seeing a mob of people at his house.

'Who are they? ' He thought. 'Whoever they are, they are going to die for trespassing. '

The man suddenly ran towards Roan without a word. Talking was redundant at this point. He was a gang leader with a reputation to maintain. He couldn't let anybody walk into his house and walk out alive. He was going to take his sweet time torturing him and get his answers.

"It's that kid, boss. How did he escape? " The Boss heard Hades cry in surprise causing him to stop.

"What kid? "He asked as he turned to Hades.

"Emre's killer. " Hades said and unsheathed his blade. He too started running towards the mob of zombies.

The boss turned towards the group of men in front of him. He searched for a kid but all he could see was some men with the ugliest face that he had ever seen coming towards him. Their hands extended like a claw and with a warped face, they looked like madmen.

"What are these? " He shouted to Hades and resumed his charge. He covered the meagre distance between the two groups in mere seconds. He was considerably faster than the ugly men in front of him and before they could react, he was upon them with a wide swing of his sword. He didn't even need to imbue his sword with battle force. Just a plain strike would be enough to instantly kill an average man.

His sword caught two in their torso, instantly decapitating them. But the expected rain of blood didn't arrive. He glanced at the corpses below, a mistake.

A zombie took a swipe at the boss's shoulder leaving a deep gash. Blood flowed freely and the pain was unlike something that a wound this big could cause. The boss grasped his shoulder and his face scrunched up in pain. He bent down and used his sword as support to help his weakening body. His battle force quickly travelled to the wound to help it close up to stop the bleeding but it just vanished after reaching the wound without achieving anything. He tried again with all his remaining battle force but the outcome was the same. He had lost his whole reserve of battle force without a slight effect on his wound.

'What's happening? ' The boss thought, trying to ignore the pain and not let it cloud his mind. He was bewildered and very confused about the situation. He raised his head and saw another hand with gnarly black skin and long brown nails with sharp edges coming towards his face. He pulled his head back and watched as the hand crossed his face, inches away. His pupils dilated, becoming a dot. It was another close call. His body shook as he tried to not let anger and pain cloud his mind. He would make them pay.

"Aghhhhh. " He cried out, venting his frustrations and returned the favour with his sword and managed to decapitate the man who had taken a swipe at his head. He was still a true knight. Despite, the pain on his shoulder which was unusual and not a single wisp of battle force on his heart, his body was stronger than these nobodies.

"YOU CRETINS! " The boss shouted as he shakily stood up and swung his sword at another man approaching him. This time, it didn't make contact. The ugly bastard had suddenly stopped and remained far away from his sword's reach.

Boss glanced at that ugly man. He was standing there almost as if waiting for something. He then turned towards his subordinate, Hades who was fighting with two men at the same time. He too was injured. But Hades was fast. So it seemed that he wasn't going to die anytime soon.

But there were still two men standing standing back, observing. One was like every other man here, ugly and black. But another was different, He was human looking. A kid.

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Roan spectated the fight with a smile on his face. The zombies were effective. He had lost three of them but he still had four more. They seemed like were going to be enough to finish this fight.

The muscular man was strong but a single wound from the zombie had been enough to corrupt him. A minute or two and he would be dead by corrosion from Death ether just like the beasts that had ambushed him and his friend.

It was a very dangerous feature of death ether and very useful too. He didn't have to kill someone with his own hands. He just had to wound someone and wait.

The other man with a mask was near death too but his wound was smaller so it would take him more time. But two zombies were pestering him so it wouldn't be long before he got another wound or even be instantly killed by a claw. Zombies were powerful.

Roan ordered the last zombie which was idle to join in on attacking the muscular man. He had to finish it quicker and escape. The fight lasted merely meres before both his enemies fell to the ground.

Roan heaved a huge sigh of relief as he watched the struggling men laying on the floor with his zombies ready to finish them off. Another life was taken by him. It was necessary for his survival. Growing up in the slums had hardened him and awakening as a Necromancer had nearly made him insensitive to everything. Fortunately, it was only temporary. Roan shook his head and approached the dead bodies.

Roan quickly grabbed the better-looking sword from the body of the man with a skull mask and pouches from both dead bodies. He continued his search for an exit from this castle. There was a massive wall around the castle, which would be very hard to scale. So, searching for a gate was the only option for him. Roan cautiously advanced through the corridor which lead to more empty rooms. He had already counted more than twenty rooms. 'Just how big is this castle? ' Roan thought.

"Finally. " Roan muttered and started running towards a gate. He had finally found the gate which would lead him out of this castle after minutes of searching. This castle was huge which strengthened his guess of it being in the inner district.

Roan ran outside and checked his surroundings. A cobblestone road and large houses covered his vision. The houses were made from bricks and were huge with different colours while the side of the road was covered by trees. There wasn't a single piece of garbage on the ground. It was the inner district. But where in the inner district? Roan didn't know. And it was a problem as he had no idea which direction was the outer district.

Roan racked his brain as he tried to think of a solution. He looked around, searching for something that would help him and then his eyes landed on the roof of the castle he had just walked out from. It was tall with huge spires coming out of it. Climbing would give him a full view of the town and he would be able to locate the wall separating the Inner district and outer district.

Roan quickly went back inside and with the help of his zombies, he managed to climb on the roof despite the cold wind and his shivering body. As soon he was on top, he saw the wall. It was tall so he had no problem locating it. Roan climbed back down and with his entourage, bound towards the wall and outer district.