Lord of Rot

The female corpse in the floor-length gown suddenly tilted its head, and the two flowers growing from its eye sockets trembled slightly.

Far away in Iron Wall Castle, Leech’s eyes snapped open.

’A being beyond the Extraordinary!’

In that very instant, the Corpse Bird had been crushed by a powerful, invisible force.

Just like when the Water Nymph had crushed the ghost in the mine. If Leech hadn’t severed the connection quickly enough, he himself would have likely suffered a severe backlash.

But even that brief contact had left him feeling extremely unsettled.

It was only through his contact with the Water Nymph that Leech had caught a glimpse of what lay beyond the Extraordinary, giving him a rough understanding of its power.

The probability of this new entity being beyond the Extraordinary was over 90%. If he were to clash with it, his chances of survival would be low.

If it came directly for Iron Wall Castle, the chance that these walls could stop it... was less than 1%!

’It hasn’t noticed Iron Wall Castle for now, but that’s just a matter of time,’ Leech thought. ’I have to eliminate it, along with all the Vine Corpses in Iron Valley.’

Leech released two more Corpse Birds.

He sent them toward Hazelnut Village to the far south and the closer Lilac Village.

It was also important to determine roughly how many enemies were in this land. Finding survivors would be best, as it would increase their effective strength.

’I’ll send another Corpse Bird to stand watch near Beech Village... No, that might alert the enemy. I’ll post it further away.’

After some thought, Leech decided for the time being to wait until his forces were gathered. The priority would be to clear out the nearby Vine Corpses and establish a relatively safe zone before considering an advance to the northeast.

As the Corpse Bird approached Lilac Village, it discovered an extremely large number of Vine Corpses wandering the grounds.

Countless houses had been destroyed. It looked like a great fire had also swept through; only a few houses remained intact, while most had been burned to ruins.

Then, the Corpse Bird heading for Hazelnut Village also made a discovery.

Compared to Beech Village, which was nothing but Vine Corpses as far as the eye could see, and the ruins of Lilac Village, Hazelnut Village surprisingly still showed signs of human life.

The village was still functioning.

A number of archers stood patrol on the rooftops, arrows in hand.

Many farmers had also spontaneously formed patrol teams.

The village remained lit throughout the night.

A Vine Corpse rushed out from a dark corner. These corpses showed no signs of life, making it difficult for even Leech to sense their presence. It was as if they paid no mind to the undead he controlled remotely.

SWOOSH!

A flaming arrow flew out, but it wasn’t very accurate, missing its mark and sticking in the ground.

It was clear the archer had been forced into the role, having only learned on the fly.

The Vine Corpse continued to advance.

SWOOSH!

Another arrow flew out. This time, it struck the Vine Corpse accurately and, with a WHOOSH, set the corpse ablaze.

’It’s oil!’ Leech realized.

Arrows crafted with oil using a special technique would instantly ignite a Vine Corpse upon impact.

Leech’s mood finally improved. ’At last, one village has been preserved intact. And the oil must be near Hazelnut Village.’

From the looks of it, the corpse infestation in Hazelnut Village wasn’t too severe—nothing like in Beech Village, where the dead were packed shoulder to shoulder and heel to toe.

’I can prioritize liberating Hazelnut Village, then gather our forces and head north.’

But the most important thing was to first figure out a way to deal with that red-dressed female corpse, the one that was very likely a being beyond the Extraordinary!

...

「The next morning.」 The barren red sun had just peeked over the horizon.

”Yaaawn.” The Porcupine Soldier on night watch yawned, cradling his firearm.

He raised a hand to wipe away the tear that had squeezed from the corner of his eye.

In the early mornings of March, the dew made it quite cold.

A fine mist had condensed on his armor; a light touch with his finger left the tip wet.

He rubbed his cheeks and said to his companion, ”I’m going to take a leak. Keep an eye out for me.”

His companion waved a hand, yawning as he replied, ”Just stand on the wall and piss outside. If Lord Fast-Blade or Lord Lacy sees you abandoning your post, you’re screwed.”

Remembering that other soldiers had indeed been punished for abandoning their posts, the Soldier’s mind cleared. ”You’re right.”

A moment later, an arc descended from the battlements.

He shivered, gave a couple of casual shakes, and pulled up his pants. His expression changed slightly—he hadn’t shaken it all off. A bit trickled down his pant leg, making him extremely uncomfortable.

He discreetly tugged at his pants a couple of times, pretending nothing had happened.

”What?!” The Soldier’s face changed abruptly.

”What’s wrong, piss on your hand?” his companion asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He habitually glanced over the battlements, but the smile on his face froze instantly.

A dozen or so staggering figures were emerging from the woods.

”We’ve got company!” he shouted, quickly raising his firearm.

...

BANG!

Leech, who had just started breakfast, suddenly heard a gunshot from outside.

He dropped his bread, rushed out, and yelled, ”Radish, bring my things!”

”Yes, sir!”

Radish hurried to fetch Leech’s maintained and repaired plate armor, as well as his weapons: bow, arrows, javelins, and the like.

Leech ascended the city wall.

Pushing aside a Soldier who was about to load powder into his firing chamber, Leech looked down and saw them: corpse after corpse, bodies entwined with thorns, staggering out from the depths of the forest.

Fast-Blade and Lacy also rushed over the moment they heard the gunshot.

”Have them cease fire!”

A whistle quickly relayed Leech’s command.

After a few more scattered gunshots, the wall fell silent, with only the acrid smoke, too thick for the light breeze to disperse, hanging in the air.

”They won’t be able to break through for a while,” Leech said. ”Conserve ammunition for now. Throw rocks or shoot arrows down at them.”

There could be tens of thousands of Vine Corpses in the entire Iron Valley. If they relied solely on firearms, their ammunition supply wouldn’t last.

Besides, the distance was too great. If the firearms couldn’t hit them in the head, every shot would be a pure waste.

Vine Corpses weren’t like humans. A human would lose most of their combat ability after a single shot, and the wounded become a burden to their comrades. But these corpses had no fear of death; ammunition fired into their bodies was a complete waste!

The number of corpses below was immense. In no time, over a thousand had gathered!

”My lord, they’re starting to climb!” Fast-Blade shouted to Leech after firing a crossbow bolt down. ”What do we do?”

The corpses were climbing over each other, trying to scale the wall.

However, their numbers were still too few. Although there were over a thousand Vine Corpses, they were only stacked three layers deep and were still a long way from the top.

The real problem was the endless stream of corpses. If this continued, they would eventually breach the castle.

A Corpse Bird flew out.

Leech wanted to find the source of this endless army of Vine Corpses. His Corpse Bird monitoring Beech Village hadn’t detected any movement from the corpses there, and the situation was similar in the other two villages; there was no mass migration of the dead.

’Something must be attracting the Vine Corpses near Iron Wall Castle, drawing them here involuntarily.’

The final number would probably be around three thousand.

”Cease fire!” Leech yelled.

”Go collect some oil and prepare fire arrows,” Leech commanded. ”No one fires alone! Wait for the whistle, then act as one!”

The order was passed down, and a group of Soldiers rushed down from the wall to collect oil.

Soon, Lacy returned with a smile, a large barrel hoisted on his shoulder. ”My lord! We found half a barrel of fire oil in the castle!”

”Good. Distribute it.”

The Soldiers used scraps of burlap or simply found old clothes, cutting them into strips with their daggers and soaking them in the fire oil.

Once the strips were saturated, they tied them to their arrows.

The bows and crossbows of the hundred-odd militiamen previously in Iron Wall Castle now came into play.

Those without arrows simply wrapped the oil-soaked cloths around rocks.

Everyone held their breath, waiting silently.

The corpses below continued to roar mindlessly, scrambling over one another to crash against the walls of Iron Wall Castle.

The pile of corpses grew higher and higher.

Leech held his bow in his left hand and an arrow still dripping oil in his right, but he had no intention of moving yet.

His throat bobbed slightly.

More than two thousand Vine Corpses had now gathered!

They were a dark, oppressive mass.

The writhing thorns on their bodies and the small flowers growing from their flesh were both bizarre and terrifying.

Leech had his Corpse Bird circle in the sky.

He was able to confirm that no more than a thousand additional Vine Corpses were on their way.

”Light them!” he yelled.

The Soldiers used the embers from the kindling they had prepared to light the cloth strips.

The Vine Corpses packed together at the bottom were perfect targets.

”Fire!”

FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH!

With a single volley, a hundred points of fire descended into the horde, instantly erupting into a conflagration.

None of the entangled corpses could escape.

Moreover, the thorny vines on their bodies were extremely flammable, causing the defensive fire to grow ever larger.

”Again!” Leech yelled.

The whistle relayed his command.

Another rain of fire arrows fell upon them. The corpses below were so tightly packed, jammed against one another, that even a Soldier who barely knew how to use a bow could hit one with their eyes closed.

They fired continuously. Some of the Soldiers, whose bodies could no longer take the strain of drawing their crossbows, were already gasping for breath.

But the corpses below paid no mind to their ”predecessors” who had been burned to charcoal, continuing to throw themselves at the wall one after another.

”My lord, we’re out of fire oil!”

”...”

”My lord, I don’t think they can get up here anymore!”

Running out of fire oil was bad news. However, only a few hundred of the remaining corpses were still intact. The rest that could still move had bodies that were already completely cooked, burned to a crisp.

Leech commanded, ”Everyone, rest!”

The Corpse Bird monitoring from the sky had also confirmed that no more corpses would be arriving anytime soon. They could rest easy for a bit.

Receiving the order, the Soldiers could finally stop, and most of them collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

Some of the Soldiers’ legs were still trembling, but they were laughing and discussing the battle.

’Just waiting for them to attack is too passive.’

Leech thought to himself, ’Calculating the time... as long as Guy and his team set out promptly, they should be entering the range of my Spiritual Power soon!’

When the flames outside the wall died down, only a few hundred corpses were left, still struggling to climb. But everyone was too tired now; no one had the energy to deal with them. Let them scrape against the wall for a while.

He had rushed out during breakfast. By the time Leech returned to the castle proper, it was already afternoon.

As he was eating lunch, his mind suddenly jolted.

’They’re here!’

The 200 elite corpses, programmed with the simplest ”follow” command, had arrived, led by the two Corpse Ghosts, Guy and Nils.

’Not bad,’ Leech thought, quite satisfied with Guy’s performance.

It would have been impossible for Guy to control 200 corpses remotely—even Leech himself couldn’t do that. But by applying the action commands he had stayed up all night writing, it could be done easily with just a small expenditure of Spiritual Power.

’Time to launch the counterattack!’