Ball of Nothing

The plan was simple. Soon might not be able to leave Half Moon Village because he needed as much mana as possible to continue supporting his friends but Peter and Manny were perfect for the job. Unlike the mastermind of the bandit necromancer, those undead soldiers were not powerful. They only attacked those with a certain type of life force and did their master's biddings mindlessly. No amount of stealth could fool the summoned undead. Hence, the brilliant solution they came up with was to remove the powerful guard nightly and have the two powerful undead ex-adventurers lie in wait to ambush the undead and follow them back to the necromancer's lair with the women and children who volunteered to be bait for the operation.

Of the women and children who volunteered, Jermine was one of them but Raj, Pepper and Monoman quickly rejected the idea. As an invaluable member of the builder's team, she wasn't allowed to risk it. Hence, Pepper and Raj took her back to Half Moon Village to keep an eye on her. Instead, Leon came to take her place with Rima and Jacqueline. Unlike Jermine, these children were trained by Clowis and grew up among powerful adults. They were able to take care of themselves and could fend off common undead soldiers. Karris also volunteered much to Seff's horror but after Peter and Manny assured him that they would protect his mother at all cost, the half-vampire reluctantly sent her off.

Some of the braver women in New Moon Village volunteered to stay in the temporary shelters at night while the rest of the women and children hid underground in the temporary shelter Jermine dug out that morning. It was uncomfortably cramped but nobody complained. Thankfully, they now had ready access to water with the newly installed water pump and everyone took a mandatory bath so it didn't smell too bad despite having nearly sixty people hiding in one small underground space.

For a few days, they did this and Truen waited for good news while hiding in Mitchnew's hideout. He roamed the streets and city of Smargdas and took on a few simple quests with the adventurer guild while listening to the rumours. The new slavery certification system was already slowly taking place and many nobles of Smargdas weren't happy with the change. Truen didn't think that these selfish and corrupted nobles were capable of forming the Grey Legion but he kept an eye on the unrest brewing.

Peter and Manny were excited when the necromancer from Grey Legion finally took the bait. The women and children volunteers screamed as the bandits attacked again and the male warriors did their best to put up a resistance but with the sheer number of undead soldiers, the battle was concluded swiftly. Manny and Peter used that opportunity to follow the group back, mingling among the crowd to blend in as one of the undead forces.

The bandits looked very real and alive on first glance at night when it was darkly lit. However, when Peter had a closer look, he noticed that they were merely mud sculptures. Through the torn clothing, he spied the skeleton underneath. These undead soldiers were truly crappy!

"They're not even real zombies or ghouls!" he whispered to Manny who rolled his eye to the back of his head literally.

"If they were actual zombies, they would be able to break down real stones and doors. I can't believe it took you this long to realise it, have your brain rotted away?"

The ranger growled. "Don't insult my brain! Soon did a good job preserving it unlike your loose eye."

The paladin bumped into the skeleton in front of him when they suddenly stopped and his loose eye fell out of its socket. Cussing, Manny bent down to search for it quickly. Peter noticed that everyone was looking towards one direction and urged his friend to hurry up, grabbing the fallen eye and sticking it back into the hollow socket, not caring it was the wrong way in.

Quickly, they stood at attention and waited for the necromancer to appear. Pretending to be mindless was a lot harder and Peter wished they didn't have to do this again. Too bad they had to wait for the opportunity to get closer to the mastermind before they could subdue him.

According to Soon, if the necromancer was a lich, they should kill it a hundred and sixty times for good measure because liches are technically a failed version of an immortal and can live on infinitely as long as they have available bodies and mana in them. Each regeneration or recovery will absorb mana from them so the best way to kill a lich was to completely exhaust all their mana by continuous destruction. If the necromancer wasn't a lich, Peter and Manny have carte blanche to do whatever they wanted as long as the fool was still alive for Truen to interrogate.

The necromancer finally made his appearance and Peter couldn't really understand how they were a necromancer. Manny had similar thoughts but didn't let it show on his face. He was trying to maintain that lifeless expression and Peter really wasn't helping by cracking up internally beside him.

Nobody would think that a necromancer would be sparkly and dashing. If anything, this man looked like someone who worked in gay cabaret with the colourful feather shawl, huge luxurious fur coat and long golden blond hair that hide his eyes. He sauntered towards the women and children and grimaced.

"Who's the ugly one?" he asked in disgust at Jacqueline who tried to bite his hand.

"Ooh! Fierce and ugly? I'll pass. This one goes to baldy. Where are the gems I saw previously? What are you goons doing?! Where's the cute one with the freckle and black curls?! Do you expect me to do human transmutation with such ugly people?!"

Then, he passed by Rima who looked emotionless like a doll and paused.

"On second thoughts, nevermind. I found a pretty one after all. You should have taken her to me earlier!" he complained and slapped one of his summons, causing their bones to rattle.

Manny and Peter kept up with their poker faces until the flamboyant necromancer came close enough and did a double-take.

"Two handsome zombies? When did I summon such cuties?!" he squealed and started drooling but wiped his mouth quickly and tried to retain his composure but failed.

"Oh, I must be such a genius! I summoned two hunks and is this genuine zombie muscle? The rigor mortis did them justice, yes! This is how muscles should be... hard, cold and solid under my touch..."

Peter screamed mentally when the necromancer reached into his pants to feel something else inappropriate for the innocent children's eyes.

"Mm, perfectly firm down here too. I want these two in my bedroom. I can't believe they're better than the specimens! I'm such a genius."

Unable to take it any longer, the ranger smacked the necromancer and Manny followed up with a body slam, taking the unsuspecting necromancer out immediately. Almost at once after the necromancer was knocked out, the skeleton undead started to crumble.

The hostage volunteers quickly got up and ran towards the zombie warriors, helping them to tie the unconscious necromancer up. Happy that they finally got the troublemaker, the girls and children celebrated. Manny and Peter escorted them back to the village where Monoman was waiting impatiently.

The safe return of the villagers called for a celebration but Manny and Peter didn't have time to waste. They sent a messenger pigeon to Truen in Smargdas and took this dangerous and lunatic back to Half Moon Village for Soon to look after. Hopefully, they would get some answers out of this nutcase who had a thing for dead men.