We were spending a relatively leisurely time in the hotel lobby.
By the time the sun was high in the sky, the attacks from the undead had significantly decreased.
Revelin, who had gone down the hallway in the morning, returned covered in sweat.
“Ha, ha, I practiced swordsmanship a hundred times each.”
“Then go in and rest for a bit.”
“No, I’ll stay here.”
“You have to come out again in the evening. Resting well is also part of training.”
If you swing a sword day and night without sleeping, your stamina won’t hold out.
If you were to collapse at a crucial moment, that would be another headache.
“You’ve sweat a lot, so wash up and get some good sleep.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Realizing that it wasn’t the time to be stubborn, he headed for the stairs obediently.
“Um, could you take over now?”
As Revelin left, Melorna gently opened the hotel entrance door and spoke.
The warriors outside were all looking at Melorna.
“Yeah, come in and rest.”
Melorna and the warriors entered the lobby one by one and settled in.
“Where do these guys keep appearing from endlessly?”
“I told you. It’s obviously from there.”
The large store in the marketplace.
It’s very suspicious that so many undead are gathered there.
The undead legion has a summoner who creates the undead.
If we don’t handle them separately, the undead will keep increasing.
It seems there are things we need to resolve before dealing with the leader.
That evening, when it was time for a shift, I had a private consultation with Maran.
“If we can create troops, the number would be enormous, but how do we capture them?”
“There are limited people who can handle this.”
The undead summoner would undoubtedly be no match for ordinary warriors.
If there is any possibility, it would only be me, Maran, or Jema.
The others would struggle to handle something like this alone.
I suggested to Maran that we consider this as much as possible.
No matter how skilled the warriors become, they can’t face an innumerable army of undead.
At the very least, we must stop their numbers from increasing.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve rampaged without needing to protect anyone.”
I could see vitality glimmering in Maran’s violet eyes.
He is a free spirit by nature.
Staying stuck in one place like this is only barely being suppressed by the battle against the undead.
It seemed he couldn’t stand the urge any longer, and I felt faint mana rippling through his body.
I conveyed the same story to Jema along with Maran.
“If you rampage freely, the city won’t be in good shape, will it?”
“Hmm. Then I’ll do it as cautiously as possible.”
“Well, that’s not really rampaging freely.”
In the end, we agreed on rampaging moderately.
If all three of us went out at the same time, there would be issues with hotel security, so we decided to go one at a time.
I was given the first turn since I made the proposal.
The execution time for this operation was during the day, and I had to return before sunset.
I made my way to the previous marketplace.
I hadn’t properly checked when I was in a hurry to find supplies, but it was clear that the undead summoner had taken up residence there.
I transformed Last Ape into a sword and entered the marketplace.
Numerous undead with cloudy eyes came out to greet me.
I unleashed demon swordsmanship and initiated a surprise attack.
I had learned this from the demon sword and gave it my own name due to its uniqueness.
Being able to freely switch between offense and defense felt almost magical.
Although this was my first attempt, I managed to create a magical sword like Revelin’s.
I could make the sword float in the air, but executing swordsmanship with it proved difficult.
Especially while wielding one sword and using another to execute swordsmanship was far more challenging than I had imagined.
I understood why Revelin was able to control five swords without holding one in hand.
To simplify the manipulation of the magical sword, I focused on relatively simple slashes and thrusts.
While these were basic movements, they were certainly better than not having them at all.
As I moved, shattering undead soldiers, a skeleton holding a staff stood at the end.
“There you are!”
A fierce lightning burst forth from Last Ape.
Crackle!
The skeleton hit by the lightning dropped the staff it had been holding.
“You! I’ll kill you! Stomp, stomp!”
The skeleton sat on the ground, pounding the floor with its own hands.
Several skeleton soldiers crawled up from the ground, but they weren’t ordinary soldiers.
Worn and damaged armor identified them as soldiers who seemed somewhat equipped.
There appeared to be at least ten of them.
The skeleton soldiers I had seen until now had empty eyes, but the ones that appeared now were glowing red.
“My royal guard! Go!”
The summoner summoned his skeleton soldiers, and they began to rush at me.
Slash!
I heightened my mana sense to pinpoint the core locations of those creatures and swung my sword.
I broke one of them first, and then they started to surround me.
They moved as if they were all one body.
With their attacks coming simultaneously, it felt like I was fighting against the waves as it became difficult to escape quickly.
As I blocked oncoming attacks and shattered one, another filled its place.
There were about seven skeleton soldiers surrounding me.
I spun around, ready for their next attack at any moment.
Clang! Clang! Slash!
“Come on!”
Every time they attacked, one fell to the Last Ape.
After enduring more than ten attacks, all the soldiers fell.
I sliced the summoner’s torso in half.
“Ugh!”
As one summoner fell, nearby soldiers, losing their command, screamed and rushed toward me.
Screak.
I lightly swung Last Ape and cut down the rushing skeleton.
Afterward, I searched for the summoner’s skeleton and began to reduce their numbers.
When I returned to the hotel, Maran was waiting for me in the lobby.
“Now, it’s my turn?”
“Isn’t it a bit dangerous at night?”
The undead were slightly more active at night than during the day.
“It’s fine. I’m more familiar with the night.”
Maran snapped his fingers, making a cracking sound.
“By the way, do you know what an undead summoner is like?”
“Isn’t it the one who does the summoning?”
“They carry staffs made of bones. You just need to find that guy.”
“Understood.”
For today, I decided to fill the spot left by Maran.
As night fell, Epiro stuck his sword imbued with divine power in front of the hotel.
That night, there were no strong undead approaching the hotel.
Instead, there were loud noises coming from various places in the city.
The next morning, when Maran returned, he looked like he was feeling very refreshed.
“Really, it’s been a long time since I’ve released all that built-up stress.”
“You seem to have gone wild out there.”
“I tried my best not to cause too much damage.”
I briefly shared with Maran how many summoners we had dealt with.
Together, the two of us had handled at least over ten summoners.
“So, how much did the enemy’s numbers decrease?”
“Maybe a few hundred?”
There’s no way to know how many undead each summoner carries.
For ease of calculation, assuming one summoner controls a hundred, we’ve eliminated at least over a thousand undead!
Of course, since Emerald Bay isn’t a small town, a reduction of a thousand undead likely wouldn’t be very noticeable.
Thinking of the city’s size, it’s estimated there are at least ten thousand undead.
This place could well be regarded as the core of the undead legion.
It’s been a week since we started living in the hotel.
Both of us have gone out to hunt undead summoners twice.
In that time, we’ve taken down roughly fifty undead summoners between us.
The numbers of undead around the hotel felt like they had dwindled to the point of almost drying up.
Although it has been a short time, the warriors’ skills have also improved considerably.
“It’s about time we start preparing.”
“Let’s start tonight.”
We began preparing to face the leader of the undead legion, known as the giant.
We took ample rest and checked our weapons.
If we were to leave our posts due to battle, the banquet hall, including the hotel, had to be defended solely by the warriors.
The warriors didn’t sit idle.
Among the survivors in the banquet hall, there was someone skilled at crafting various items.
With his help, we set up barricades and traps throughout the hotel.
Seeing the hotel partially fortified gave me a bit of reassurance.
One worry remained: if capable undead were to show up.
Those guys could not be held off by the skills of the warriors.
I had advised them in advance to flee if such a situation arose instead of fighting.
Although we had mapped out escape routes for emergencies, how long the ones who left the hotel would survive in the city remained uncertain.
Leaving a trail of anxieties and worries behind us, we ventured out of the hotel in the middle of the night.
“I hope it’s like last time, and they just come find us.”
“It’s troublesome near the hotel. There’s too much to worry about for a proper fight.”
Maran preferred to fight in places farther from the hotel.
We moved toward the residential area where the giant was said to reside.
Perhaps because we had dealt with so many undead, we saw very few on our way.
The undead that appeared intermittently were taken down by Revelin’s sword.
“It looks convenient to eliminate enemies without moving directly.”
Jema said while looking at Revelin’s sword.
“Want to give it a try?”
“I’ll just listen for now.”
Revelin blossomed into a conversation about swordsmanship using the magical sword he had thought of.
The way to attack the enemy leader felt like a cheerful outing.
As we reached closer to where the giant supposedly resided, the atmosphere around us felt different.
“Caw! Caw!”
The eerie ambiance was punctuated by the cawing of crows.
Parts of the residential area were completely destroyed, and someone was perched somewhere in the distance.
“Who are you?”
Just a single word, but the low voice reverberated enough to tremble the surroundings.
“Last time you came to find me, so this time we’ve come here.”
As he heard Maran’s response, he rose from where he sat.
“Oh, a welcome guest, huh?”
Despite having taken only a few steps, we had already drawn very close.
As the half-moon hidden in the clouds revealed itself, it illuminated the giant standing there.
With his bright yellow eyes and red hair, the giant loomed before us.
