“What will you do now?”

“For starters, I need to come back to the base of the Holy Order, I have not reported in for several months, they must be concerned that I disappeared for so long, well, as long as Lemuri is there, there is nothing to worry about.”

Apparently the base is located in the southern portion of Holy City. Though it is called Holy City, Sana is actually the capital of the Kingdom, consisting of three large territories of which Tracoa was only one of.

The territory Dark Lord entered to save the Demon King was the northwest territory of Merok, where apparently the Royal Family resided. Thus, Knight of Light was probably going to head towards the Merok territory.

In that case, it was rather advantageous. If she stays in Tracoa any longer, than all the plans I have would be ruined.

Even the strongest combinations of Shadow Lords are no match against the power of Knight of Light. I am lucky she did not recognize me, otherwise I would have been splattered on the spot, or worse yet, captured.

I don’t fear death. Nay, I look forward to it.

But something tells me that whatever the fate Knight of Light will give me when she realizes who I am would be far worse than death.

“Runfar, thank you for everything. I will not forget the kindness you have shown me. I will definitely repay you.”

“Pay it no heed. There is no need for debt among friends.”

“Aren’t you the modest one here, Runfar?” she lightly laughed. Apparently she was enjoying her conversation with her new friend.

“Well, I will be off then”

“Feel free to visit me, my estate is not exactly unknown around these parts.”

“Really? Thank you… then I will make sure to drop by…. I will send you letters as well.”

Oh, why did I suggest this part, I was trying to make myself sound kind and agreeable but I may have gone too far, but at least, I will have a way of keeping in touch with her.

With a confident smile on her face, Knight of Light proceeded to head back to the Merok territory. She was not yet aware about the situation with the Laughing Devil and the escaped Demon Lord, naively believing that the only threats to the kingdom are the remaining Demon Lords and the man who wounded her.

Blissfully unaware that she could have stopped all the future atrocities, had she slain a single person, she headed home, happy to have a real friend for the first time in her life.

Are we going to be ok, master?

“Let’s just think of it as dodging an arrow, but at the very least, she will not be in Tracoa any longer, however, you saw for yourself how powerful she is. Before she is ordered to take us on, we need to carry out all the objectives to our plans. If she gets involved, we might as well commit suicide, for that would be a more merciful than what she will do to us.”

I sensed her strength, but is she really that dangerous? You seemed to have conversed with her rather agreeably, master.

“I was lucky that Knight of Light was a gullible idiot. If she recognized me, then…” Dark Lord gulped.

Knight of Light killed him more than seventy times, each with a different move. He could still remember dying in agony in the pool of his own blood.

Knight of Light is not a threat that can be ignored.

“I will not fight her when I am in disguise as Runfar, but when I am acting as myself, we will have to fight her, but even with the Crystal Dagger, I am not sure what our chances of winning are.”

Didn’t you injure her? I saw your memories. You are the one who wounded her that badly, are you not, master?

“Yes, but back then she did not take me seriously, so she fought without activating her blessing, she used only her skills, thinking I was a weakling, I lucked out and managed to inflict some wounds on her. I thought I killed her, but here she is, alive and kicking. After what happened to her, she will not lower her guard again, so chances of such opportunities happening again are miniscule. So instead, we will need to focus on having enough power to take her head on.”

But how will you do that?

“Isn’t that obvious? When our opponent has blessing, then why not us? In fact, why settle on one per person when there is possibility of having as many as needed, however, there is the matter of finding the demi-gods to steal the blessings from…”

“…But if this plan works out, the Shadow Lords will become as strong as Holy Knights or even Heroes. It will be just a matter of time before we can fight back against the strongest knights.”

I will not pretend to fully understand, but I will follow your will, master.

* * *

“How did you…” the assassin grasped for air as the skeletal hand on his throat started to choke the life out of him.

“Even for a hired goon, you’re too sloppy. I could practically hear your footsteps.”

When Runfar was coming back to the inn, Morphus sensed a man coming behind them.

So, Runfar chose to hide in the alley, putting on the cloak of concealment Camilla made for him on himself.

When the assassin started to look around to see where his target was, a skeletal hand emerged out of nowhere and grabbed him by the throat.

Within a few seconds, his mana was steadily sucked out of him, he was not very strong, in fact, his mana reserves were slightly lower than average.

Making sure not to kill his victim, Dark Lord stopped absorbing his mana after making sure that the assassin did not have enough mana to use any skills, Dark Lord now just choked the assassin until he passed out.

“Well, I should probably consider myself fortunate; I was looking for a new guinea pig…Might as well try this out.”

As part lich, he still possessed all their power, that meant that he also possessed the power to convert the living into undead. But so far, he only used the undead’s power of life force absorption to steal mana and mana points, he never used the skill of the Converting Light, the green light that turned the mortal into an undead.

Making sure to drag the unconscious assassin into the darker part of the alley, Dark Lord placed his right palm upon the assassin’s head.

Remember that green light, the light that kills all the life within the body, eats away the flesh, leaving a rotting cask. I have to remember that light….

Concentrating upon the task at hand, strange green light started to glow within Dark Lord’s right palm.

It took so much mana that Dark Lord struggled to keep it active.

Without any hesitation, he placed his palm upon the assassin’s head.

Assassin made a croaking sound as his skin lost its color and his face became more sunk in, one of his eyes even rotted away.

Then, the green light faded away, the assassin was now moaning unintelligibly. His entire body was converted into that of an undead.

But unlike the converting light that liches used to turn Dark Lord into half lich, his version seemed to be inferior.

The assassin still had his flesh on, but it was obviously rotten flesh. Instead of a lich Dark Lord turned an assassin into a zombie.

“It seems like my version of converting light is far weaker than those of the liches, and it took almost all the mana I have accumulated, the technique is not only inferior, it is inefficient. Unless it is an emergency, I will not use it again.”

“Now then”

He now commanded the zombie.

“Can you understand me?”

Zombie could not speak but it nodded.

“Good. You are my tool. You take orders from me and only me. Now, bow before your lord.”

Zombie bowed to Dark Lord.

It seems like when an undead is created, they follow the order of their creator, but in Dark Lord’s case, the conversion was incomplete, allowing him to retain his free will.

“I was hoping to make you into a lich, but zombie is fine as well. Ever since I have been converted, I researched everything I could find about different types of undead. While liches would have been more efficient, zombies can still infect mortals by biting them. So, it is not a complete failure.”

“As far as your orders go, I want you to go to the region of Merok while making sure to disguising yourself as human. When the night sets, I want you to infect as many people as possible. That should keep Knight of Light busy for a while.”

Once a person is infected, they will be converted into a zombie within minutes, and each new zombie can infect humans as well. In a sense, if used correctly, zombies were a way to spread a plague.

“Your objective is to convert as many people as possible and attract the attention of heroes. There are many cities within Merok, so at the very least, infect a single city so that Knights will have no choice but to interfere.”

Capital of Sana had three regions and each region had at least ten cities, so if this zombie of mine goes to any one of the cities within region of Merok, then he will have plenty of hunting grounds.

“I suppose being zombie is better than being a lich, at least you have flesh, even if it is rotten. But make sure that before you infect people, none finds out you’re lich. You’re forbidden from revealing you’re undead.”

Putting on a mask, the zombie looked like a normal person. He proceeded to leave towards the Merok region, no doubt to carry out the order of its master.

This plan could easily fail, but as long as it fails within region of Merok, then all of the Holy Order’s attention would be drawn to that region. If the zombie manages to complete Dark Lord’s orders, then it would be of advantage as well, but Dark Lord sincerely doubted he would succeed.

Though, if it makes the life of Knight of Light harder, then he would consider it a success.