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705  Vortigern second rise

After Lancelot brought the knights who had found the cursed object to Daniel, it became clear that the curse had affected them. Signs of rotting were visible on their bodies. Still, fortunately, Arthur had informed Daniel in time, preventing the worst from happening. Such as his entire knight corps turning into the living dead without his knowledge.

Daniel led the cursed knights out into the open and used a spell card to destroy the curse within their bodies. Once the curse was eradicated, the knights began to heal. Those more severely affected, such as the ones who had directly touched the cursed object, were healed personally by Daniel.

The knights, grateful to the wizard, also thanked Arthur for calling Merlin to address their situation.

But amidst the joyous mood of the knights' recovery, Arthur's eyes reflected a strange glint. One that Morgan recognized all too well. A faint trace of envy flickered in the king's eyes, though it was so slight that it quickly dissipated in a mere moment, but it was there.

Morgan shrugged and kept the observation away in the back of her mind. It wasn't wise to expose the king's vulnerabilities. Yes, Arthur had once been her servant, but now he was the king of the land. His honor shouldn't be sullied, lest his authority be tarnished, and Morgan had no intention of undermining it.

Thus, she dismissed the king's momentary envy as a natural human flaw and moved on.

— Meanwhile - North East of Camelot —

In the vast, desolate land northeast of Camelot's border, the terrain was devoid of life. No plants or grass grew here; the earth was cracked and blackened as if cursed by foul magic or an unnatural evil that had walked upon it.

In this forsaken place, undead skeletons roamed the cracked, blackened earth. Their rusted and broken armor hinted at the horrifying fate of those who had once been alive.

Within the ruins of a stone keep, a skeleton clad in opulent robes of gold and fine silk stood. The green glow in its hollow eye sockets revealed its accursed origin. This was Thalassar, the Archlich. Before him stood another figure. A dry husk with leathery skin, clad in well-maintained armor. The black steel and golden engravings on the armor spoke of the wearer's high status.

"How does your second life feel, Lord Vortigern?" the Archlich asked the dry husk.

Vortigern looked down at his body and snorted. "Hmph! It would be better if I had regained my life and youthful vigor. But this feeling of unmatched power isn't bad—it's just not what I desire," he replied disdainfully.

"Please bear with it for now, Lord Vortigern. Once I gain control of Merlin's corpse, I am confident I can restore your youth and life, returning you to a living, breathing being," the Archlich reassured him.

"Then… what's stopping me from going to Merlin, revealing your plans, and asking him to resurrect me as compensation?" Vortigern asked, testing the waters.

"Your safety, Lord Vortigern. Everyone knows Merlin is a righteous wizard. He wouldn't help you nor entertain the thought of aiding someone who could become a competitor to Arthur, the king he supports. Besides…" The Archlich's gaze turned malicious as he stared at Vortigern.

"Do you truly think I resurrected you as an undead without any safeguards to prevent betrayal? Just because I gave you free will doesn't mean I didn't take measures to ensure your loyalty to me," the Archlich said with a menacing tone.

"Hmph!" Vortigern snorted. "Wouldn't it have been better for you to raise me as a mindless servant? That way, you wouldn't need to make a deal with me."

18:04

"A fair suggestion, Lord Vortigern, but unfortunately, I excel in magic, not commanding armies. I need someone who can lead. Raising you as a mindless undead servant wouldn't serve that purpose. So, I'm stuck with this arrangement… or until I find a way to create intelligent undead who won't betray me. For now, I must make deals while ensuring loyalty through… precautions," the Archlich explained.

"By the way, do you have a way to deal with Merlin? I heard he's a very powerful wizard," Vortigern asked.

Hearing this, the Archlich snorted. "Rest assured, Lord Vortigern. I am the one who has outlived even King Solomon, who was said to be the most powerful mage long before Merlin's time. I even survived a battle with such a figure. Merlin? A wizard who only recently gained fame? He doesn't stand a chance against me."

Vortigern, however, sensed that Thalassar was hiding something from him.

"If that's the case, why are you so obsessed with obtaining Merlin's corpse? What's so special about it?" Vortigern pressed.

"Lord Vortigern… I believe there's a saying—curiosity killed the cat. I advise you to keep your curiosity to yourself. It's not good for you, and such information is irrelevant to you." The Archlich replied.

— A few weeks Later —

At Camelot Castle, reports of undead stragglers crossing the border were becoming more and more frequent.

The situation had escalated to the point where several skirmishes had broken out between the border guards and the undead attempting to pass through the border.

The pattern of the attacks suggested that someone was controlling the undead, and they're testing Camelot's defenses. It was clear that these creatures were being deliberately directed rather than appearing due to a natural occurrence, such as a cursed land or the lingering grudges of the dead from an old battlefield. @@novelbin@@

Arthur wanted to march into the cursed land and cleanse the source of this accursed undead. However, after his knight corps nearly succumbed to the curse, he was forced to reconsider, realizing that reckless action could prove disastrous.

This left Arthur with no choice but to seek Merlin's help once again. Without delay, Merlin moved from Avalon Lake to the border keep, overseeing the frontier.

Upon arriving at the border, Daniel set up a surveillance network using metal scarabs to scout the land. These mechanical constructs proved highly effective, gathering a wealth of intelligence.

The enemy was unfamiliar with such tools, and the metal scarabs were too small to be easily detected by the clumsy undead. Moreover, since they lacked life force, the undead that relied on sensing living beings were unable to perceive them unless the scarabs caused a commotion.

At Daniel private quarter within the keep. Teh scene of army of undead rising from teh graves and old battlefield are displaying on the monitor inside his room. The monitor connect to the mrtal scarabs that Daniel sent to scout the territory.

He clearly saw Thalassar, the archlich are using his dark magic to raise the undead from the old battlefield. These battlefield are the desolate land where the fractured kingdom and old Roman outpost was back in teh day when Roman is still occupying the british island.

This place has been abandoned by the Roman and it also avoided by teh surrounding king and lord of teh surrounding area. No one dare to step into this accursed place which leave this accursed place to create undead to the surrounding area from time to time. But until Thalssar came into the picture, this place was never a prlblem, at most people in tge border would just annoyed at the duty for them as they need to cull teh udnead from time to time.

But omce Thalassar had meddling in this area. Teh threat the area represent is more than those lord and king coudl handle. And Arthur also didn't dare to blindly sent his army here either. This leave only him to deal with it or at least find a solution to protect Arthur knight form teh curse.

"Uh… I miss those God slayer cannon already." Daniel muttered under his breath.

He miss solving this kind of problem with just a simple push of a big red button. Especially, in this era and the enemies is undead and he also don't need to be beware of those humanitarian non sense. He could only just push the button and go one tragger happy and end this annoyance once and for all.

Daniel really wanted to use God's Wrath, but from the feed back from the last use, God's Wrat hhad destroyed an rntire hell realm of Satan. He's afraid that he'll sink the british island if he were to use that thing. Andt his leave him with only the not so easy choice.

"From the looks of it, Thalassar is likely to invade Camelot soon," Daniel muttered after observing Thalassar's movements over the past few days. Thalassar's army had grown to over 100,000 undead, including undead cavalry, which significantly enhanced the army's attack and mobilization capabilities. If this army were to invade Camelot as is, the border could likely only last a few days.

Daniel relayed this news to Arthur and urged him to fortify the border. Arthur acted swiftly, deploying a large levy and half of his knight corps to reinforce the border adjacent to the accursed land.

Reports from the knight scouts monitoring the enemy's gathering area indicated that Thalassar's forces were amassing strength. However, it appeared their target wasn't Camelot but the neighboring lords who shared a border with Camelot.