Wizard: I Have a World of the Dead

Two days later, in the riverside forest, at night.

The night was dark and the wind was high.

The air was damp and heavy, carrying the stench of rotting leaves. In the distance, owls were calling, cooing and cooing, one call after another, sending chills down one's spine.

Lynch lay motionless behind a clump of bushes.

His gaze pierced through the gaps in the branches and leaves, landing on the distant hill.

It was a small hill, not very high, and in the darkness, only a vague outline could be seen.

A simple wooden stockade, a crooked watchtower, and figures moving back and forth in the firelight.

Asdok people.

According to information from the Hollenfield family, the Asdok people who crossed the border have established a temporary nest here.

Recently, they have been abducting young girls along the border and bringing them here.

The same was true of Margaret, who was abducted.

Lin Qi didn't know why they did this. The way those barbarians thought couldn't be fathomed by common sense, and perhaps they had some unknown conspiracy.

"rustle--"

A faint rustling came from the bushes behind me.

The bushes were pushed aside, and a young figure emerged, crouching and moving closer to him.

That was a scout sent out by Lynch, a trainee knight named Matthews, seventeen years old, tall and thin, with a youthful face, but his eyes were very steady.

"Your Excellency," he said in a low voice, his breathing slightly rapid, "I saw it clearly."

Lin Qi nodded: "Speak."

Matthews squatted down beside him, pointed towards the hill, and said in a very low voice, "There are three checkpoints in total. At the lowest one, there are six men guarding the entrance, all carrying curved swords, and two of them are dozing off."

"There was a wooden fence halfway up the mountain. There were a lot of people there. I counted about twenty people sitting around a campfire, and they seemed to be drinking."

He paused, swallowed hard, and said, "We can't get to the top of the mountain. The path is too steep; you'll be spotted as soon as you show your face. But we can see firelight, so there should be other people up there, but how many... I don't know."

Lynch remained silent.

He quickly made a mental estimate.

There were six people at the bottom, more than twenty people halfway up the mountain, and the number at the summit was unknown. The total number was probably between thirty and forty, which was roughly consistent with the intelligence provided by the Hollenfield family.

He raised his head and looked at the twenty-seven apprentice knights hidden in the darkness beside him.

A young face, tense eyes, and a hand gripping the hilt of a sword.

They were all new recruits who had never been on the battlefield.

Lin Qi withdrew his gaze and calmly ordered, "You all stay here and wait for my signal. I'll go up and take a look first."

Matthews was stunned.

The others were also stunned.

A suppressed commotion arose from the darkness, and someone couldn't help but speak up: "Baron?!"

"This won't do!" Matthews whispered, his voice urgent. "Baron, you're going up alone? There are dozens of Asdoks!"

Lin Qi said, "I'm just going up to take a look. I won't do anything unless I'm sure I can succeed."

He paused, then raised his voice slightly, conveying an undeniable authority: "This is an order."

silence.

In the darkness, the young apprentice knights looked at each other, but none of them dared to speak again.

"...Yes." Matthews lowered his head, his voice muffled.

Lin Qi didn't say anything more. He took one last look at the hilltop dotted with fire, then turned around and disappeared silently into the darkness.

He walked halfway around the foot of the mountain and found a secluded corner surrounded by dense bushes and exposed rocks.

He stopped, made sure no one was around, and then raised his hand.

Palms facing forward, focus your mind.

"Sizzle—"

A faint hum of electricity echoed through the silent forest.

A cloud of black mist appeared out of thin air in front of him, oval in shape and about two meters in diameter, hovering silently in mid-air. The mist churned, exuding a mysterious and chilling aura from within.

The next second, five burly figures walked out of the portal.

It was his skeleton servants.

The skeletons were now wearing armor specially prepared by Lynch, made of fine steel, seamless, and completely covered.

Such armor is heavy and stuffy; even a knight would find it unbearable to wear it for a long time, and it is only worn before battle.

However, the Necromancer is completely unaffected by this; you can wear it all day without any problems.

Five skeletons, five suits of full-body armor.

The polished armor plates reflected a cold white light in the darkness. They stood motionless, with only the flames in their eye sockets faintly visible beneath their slatted masks.

Heroic and valiant.

Yet it was so cold it chilled one to the bone.

Lynch's gaze fell on Skull 2.

Elite Skeleton.

Knight-level strength.

The Asdokians did not have a systematic knightly tradition; these barbarians were at most stronger than ordinary people, and their equipment was tattered.

They make a living through ruthlessness and fearlessness, but when faced with true knight-level combat power...

Lin Qi's lips curled into a cold smile.

He withdrew his gaze and swept it over the five skeletons.

"Let's go."

He strode forward, ascending the foot of the mountain, passing through dense bushes, skirting exposed rocks, and silently approaching the mountain village.

Soon, the view opened up before me.

The entrance to the stronghold was just twenty steps ahead.

It was a simple wooden gate, standing crookedly, with two bonfires burning beside it.

The orange-red flames flickered, illuminating an open space inside the doorway.

Dry grass was spread on the ground, with some wine bags and gnawed bones piled up haphazardly, and several shirtless men were sitting around the campfire.

Asdok people.

They wore rough leather pants, were shirtless, revealing their bronze skin and crisscrossing scars, and had curved knives strapped to their belts.

They are currently gathered in small groups around the campfire, drinking.

There are six in total.

Lynch lay prone in the bushes and watched quietly for a few seconds.

Then he raised his hand and gently waved it downwards.

Behind him, Skull Number 4 silently stood up, drew his bow and nocked an arrow.

"call out--"

The sound of the bone arrow slicing through the air was extremely faint, almost carried away by the night wind.

But the arrow pierced the head of the Asdok man in the very center with perfect accuracy—a muffled "thud," and the arrowhead emerged from the other side, bringing with it a cloud of blood.

The Asdok man didn't even have time to utter a sound before his head exploded.

His body stiffened for a moment, then he fell straight backward, the wine bag slipping from his hand and crashing to the ground with a thud.

There was a moment of silence.

Then--

"Waaaaaah—!"

The remaining five Asdok men leaped up; some grabbed their scimitars, some peered into the darkness, and some roared in their language.

The firelight flickered on their faces, casting distorted expressions—

Anger, and fear.

But in the next instant, anger overwhelmed fear.

"Kill them!"

The most burly Asdok man roared, grabbed his scimitar, and charged toward Lynch's location.

The others followed closely behind, their scimitars flashing coldly in the firelight.

Lynch did not move.

He simply stood by the bushes, coldly watching the figures rushing towards him.

Twenty steps.

Fifteen steps.

Ten steps —

He raised his hand and pulled down the visor of his helmet.

"Click".

The mask fell down, concealing his final expression.

Then he spoke, his voice coming from inside his helmet, as cold as the wind on a wasteland of bones:

"kill."