Chapter 1255: Hero Zombies and Summoner

Chapter 1255: Hero Zombies and Summoner

The ten Hero Zombies lined up quietly in front of us. Who could have thought that we would really be able to dominate all of them?
Appollonius of the Red Sword. Begareth of the Carmine Flame. Violetta of the Blood Maiden. Zinga of the Dusk Rain. Lucard of the Vermillion Eye. Rob of the Cardinal Flag. King Yuvel. Oldona. And the last two, Teiwas and Wilepho.
All of them were smiling for some reason. Well, I guess Rob and King Yuvel looked somewhat disgruntled. But overall, they seemed to be in high spirits.
By the way, Teiwas the time-space mage was the Red Sword Captain from 200 years ago. I would have to describe him as an unremarkable, middle-aged man.
On the other hand, Wilepho the spirit caster was a dashing elderly man, and the Red Sword Captain from about 250 years ago. He apparently might have elf blood, but no one can say for sure due to him being an orphan that never knew his parents.
I successfully dominated all ten using evil energy, but unlike Avenger, I was unable to return them inside me. That’s because Avenger and Urushi take up all of my summoning capacity. The Evil God Fragment couldn’t do anything about it either.
Which gives us little choice but to physically take them with us. Also, it would be incredibly difficult to summon them back if they ever disappear. We can’t treat them as roughly as we do with Avenger.
「Fran-chan? Can you explain what’s going on now? Everyone suddenly became friendly, so we just kinda stopped fighting.」
「They all agreed to join me. Thanks to the super amazing power of this super amazing sword.」
「Wow, incredible! That’s my Fran-chan!」
Amanda seemed satisfied with that explanation, along with Forrund and Klimt, who had somewhat recovered after drinking a potion. All three understood that it was my doing.
Sibylla and Madred were definitely surprised, but being Red Knight Captains gave them knowledge of powerful weapons like the relics. They knew the possibility of a magical sword like me existing.
That’s not to say that they were completely accepting though. The two seemed to have mixed feelings about their predecessors, Apollonius and Zinga, obeying Fran.
Fran began questioning the Hero Zombies lined up in front of her. Well, I was the one who came up with the questions though.
「Who is the summoner that created you?」
「An undead of the Black Skeleton Corps known as the Holy Mother.」
Apollonius replied on behalf of the others. Sibylla broke in with an exasperated tone.
「What the hell? So you do work for the Black Skeleton Corps after all!」
「Wrong! They have nothing to do with us. It’s more like we serve the Holy Mother directly.」
「What’s the difference?」
「The Holy Mother created us, and all our orders come directly from her. I’ve never even met that Nameless guy.」
Upon further inquiry, we learned that it was Nameless who came up with the plan to exhaust Klimt with a horde of undead, then ambush him with the Hero Zombies.
The Holy Mother apparently handled the actual execution of the plan, but she instructed her undead to hold back. Fran tilted her head upon hearing this.
「Hold back?」
「Right. We were instructed to give it our all when taking the staff from Klimt. But if the black cat girl known as the Black Lightning Princess appears, we were to refrain from using our trump cards. Also, we weren’t allowed to retreat, even if we were clearly losing.」
Raydoss knowing about Fran doesn’t surprise me anymore, since we’ve caused them and the Black Skeleton Corps so much trouble.
But why would they want to go easy on her? I can understand wanting her dead, but this makes zero sense.
It’s as if Fran defeating the Hero Zombies was the desired outcome.
「Why?」
「No clue, don’t ask me.」
「Okay… Next question. Can they create more powerful zombies like you guys?」
This was a very important question. The ability to summon past Red Knights and other powerful individuals is far too dangerous. We don’t stand a chance if our enemies can summon infinite Hero Zombies, even if they aren’t all as strong as Apollonius.
「I’m not entirely sure, but they did say something about running low on mana. Which means the limit should be pretty close. Most of the undead were given reduced strength in order to focus on numbers.」
「Really?」
「Indeed. The Holy Mother mentioned that she needed to conserve mana. If mana is the limiting factor, then she should not be able to produce many more. I don’t expect any more than about 200,000 or so.」
Uh, that’s still a crapton!
Fran’s expression darkened. Apollonius noticed the change and laughed heartily.
「Fret not! The ten of us are under your command! 200,000 small fries will be nothing! Especially since we now have evil energy on our side.」
Perhaps joining me created a link between them and the Evil God Fragment with me, because Apollonius and the others gained the ability to manipulate evil energy.
I could see a cloak of evil around his arm.
「Only when you gain the ability to use this stuff can you realize how incredible it is. Everyone calls it evil energy, but it feels like a superior form of mana. And it even has a mana disrupting property… I might have just grown even stronger than my prime.」
「…What can we do to stop them from creating more undead?」
「Well, that’s pretty simple. Either we eliminate the summoner or destroy the ritual circle. Want me to lead the way?」
Klimt cleaned up the undead hordes, so we had a clear path through Raydoss. Apollonius and the others were even offering to guide us there.
While I’ve managed to take control of the Hero Zombies, it’s possible their summoner has a fail-safe for erasing them. Which means this is our only chance.
The question now is what to do with Klimt.
「I’m fine. Don’t worry about me…」
No one is going to buy that when you’re still having trouble even breathing… Klimt’s condition may have improved a little, but he still can’t be left alone.
Thus, we decided to leave Klimt in the care of someone we can trust. The first step, heading north with everyone.
Well, no actual walking required. We just had Teiwas repeatedly cast teleportation spells.
Ten minutes later.
We spotted the group we were looking for. Fran, Amanda, and Forrund headed over to make contact.
「Donad! Guys!」
The adventurers and soldiers cheered upon seeing Fran.
「Wow! Black Lightning Princess!」
「Captain! Curry!」
「W-We’re saved!」
The survivors of the Kranzel army were desperately retreating southward despite their injuries. Their faces of despair began to regain a glimmer of hope.
They must have felt defenseless after Amanda and Forrund headed south ahead of them. Everyone had tears in their eyes and were shouting with joy.