The Amulet of Malakir!
Somehow, the council must have used the power of one of the necklaces containing part of Malakir's amulet in order to create real zombies, but for what purpose?
Suddenly, an idea like a revelation struck Keryan.
"It has to be related to the creation of these bone staff…" He thought.
Not far from him, the zombies who had just evolved came to meet him to bring him small pieces similar to purple crystals. These pieces were obviously magic crystals from the crocodiles.
Seeing this little mound of crystals, the girl with the icy blue hair gazes at this treasure with envious eyes. it was obvious that she coveted this resource as much as Keryan.
Her attitude didn't escape the zombie's eyes, and Keryan took a handful and gave them to the girl, and he told her.
"I guess you deserve them, after all you did well in the last battle."
The girl gave him a questioning look as she grabbed the crystals, before thanking him in a whisper.
"Thank you…"
Keryan kept his thoughts to himself and said nothing to the girl regarding the amulet of Malakir. After all, he would have the opportunity to reflect on this problem later. However they had much more urgent things that had to be settled, otherwise, they were undoubtedly going towards certain death.
Therefore, without further delay, he ordered his army to resume the march and to go deeper into the dark swamps. Around them, huge greyish, gaunt trees stretched out as far as the eye could see in the fog over terrain that was increasingly difficult to pass.
During the day, they came across many swamp creatures like snakes or other giant poisonous toads, however, the army of the undead crushed them in its path and keryan reanimated them.
On this marshy ground, the reanimated wolf — ridden by the blue haired girl — was no longer of any use at this point, that is why she could only resolve herself to abandon it and choose a new mount. In the end, her choice fell on a greenish giant toad.
Although this vision was grotesque, the giant toad was an andemic creature of the region, therefore it was perfectly suited to this particular environment.
Keryan had to admit that this girl was resourceful. For his part, he was resting quietly on Patchwork's shoulder. The giant golem had no difficulty crossing the swamp, and when he encountered an obstacle, he would promptly destroy it with his gigantic fists.
Unfortunately the rest of the undead army was struggling to progress on this ground and Keryan had to use an unorthodox method in order to finally make them advance properly.
Indeed, he instilled in them the idea of formations used by army ants to create living bridges. At first, it was completely chaotic and many zombies were lost forever in the marshy depths, but under the guidance of their leader they managed to adapt to this new formation.
The result was even more shocking, you could see the zombies clinging to each other to form huge living chains and bridges, zigzagging through trees and streams like an immensely huge rotten snake. This sight would have scared anyone.
This army of infinite stamina finally arrived on a grassy expanse in the heart of the swamp. Keryan had all his senses on alert as well as the blue haired girl who had pulled out her bone staff in anticipation.
On this ground, the fog was so thick that it was impossible to see for more than a few meters, threatening those arriving with possible hidden dangers.
Not far from there, a figure appeared in the fog, at the beginning they could see only an indistinct form but after a short time, the newcomer came out of the fog revealing his appearance.
Unexpectedly, it was a woman clad in black robe with purple hair. She exuded an aura of great attractiveness, you could say she was so beautiful that kings must have fought for her because of their greed to put their hand on a beauty like her.
However, in the eyes of Keryan and his undead, she was only a dark creature like them. Her appearance was only makeup over her dark figure, in fact, she looked like an old witch disfigured by the passing ages and the excessive use of dark magic. She couldn't be described as human anymore, of course she was a true undead.
On the other hand — in the eyes of the blue haired girl — she looked like a goddess and made her feel ashamed of her own beauty. She couldn't even begin to compare the two of them in terms of charm or elegance.
Keryan waited patiently for the woman to come and when she was near enough, she began to speak.
"Welcome, holy son of darkness, we witches, have waited for your arrival for generations!"
Before Keryan could even think about her words, the woman kneeled in front of him.
The new zombie lord didn't know how to react in this situation but he had to calm his nerves in order to not facepalm or even hit his head on a rock.
It was above what he could take in only two to three days.
In the end, he only waved his hand and played along. He then said.
"Alright, I'm here."
However, deep inside himself he wasn't happy at all because if his arrival in this world was linked with a prophecy, it signified some records about him must have already been written. That wasn't good news but if that was the case, he needed to understand the entire situation before his next move.
The beautiful mature woman smiled.
"Please, follow me in our humble village, my sisters are eager to meet you."
That old fiendish witch acted very courteous in front of Keryan but he couldn't just lower his guard, so he just nodded slightly and ordered Patchwork to go forward, followed by his thousands undeads.
At this point, the blue haired girl came to meet him directly jumping on the other golem's shoulder. She then snorted angrily and said.
"Zombo… I never heard of something like a holy son of darkness or whatever she was talking about. Be careful, you shouldn't trust that woman just because she's a little bit beautiful."
When he saw how the girl just acted and what she said, Keryan couldn't help but sneered.
"Is it jealousy that I feel?"
At these words the blue haired girl blushed before shouting.
"You! Is your brain so rotten that it has stopped working?!"
Seeing her reaction, the zombie laughed even louder.
"This woman, her so-called beauty is just an illusion, she's an undead, just like me. As a dark mage you should have been able to see through her true nature but it seems you were blind by your emotions, haha."
The blue haired girl was dumbfounded, not saying anything for ten whole seconds. After this small amount of time, she finally said.
"Hmf! Of course... I knew… and that's exactly why I was afraid you would be blind because you're also an undead, idiot zombo!"
Keryan laughed even more and the blue haired girl gritted her teeth in anger and jumped off Patchwork.
~sigh~
As a zombie, he knew things were different now but he couldn't help teasing this girl, she was refreshing and had a strong character. Keryan would be lying if she said he was not attracted to her, but he knew things were complicated in his situation.
After all, he was a zombie, a decaying walking corpse, the opposite of this beautiful living girl. On the contrary, the witch was an undead like him but he felt only disgust toward her true appearance.
With these complicated emotions in mind, they passed through the fog without any encounter, and after a few minutes they arrived in front of the entrance of a hollow village composed of a dozen small houses built over stilts.
This small village was of course too little to welcome thousands of undead or even the giant golem, so the zombie mage ordered them to stay outside and he decided to enter with only the blue haired girl by his side.
The purple haired witch led the two dark mages to the center of the village where a gigantic rotten black tree stood. At its base were a dozen freshly dressed witches waiting for them.
When they arrived, they all glanced fiercely at the same time and the purple haired witch declared.
"Sisters, in front of you stands the holy son of our Saint-Book! Do you believe it, now that he's in front of your eyes?"
A blond haired and mature woman was the first to speak.
"Vernicia, don't use your position as a matriarch to trick us! That's almost an ordinary zombie necromancer!"
Another woman approached them and after examining the new arrivants she said.
"My crows saw the undead army and that peculiar undead, it's indeed an unordinary event, but how can you just declare him as our holy son of darkness just like this, don't you think you just go overboard?"
At this moment Keryan was mad, if he knew he would become the center of the bickering of old women he wouldn't have come here in the first place.
Unexpectedly, the next to speak was not a witch but a voice coming from the rotten tree and declared something even more shocking!
"My children, you have decayed to the point of being unable to see what is before your eyes. This zombie lord, I never dreamed of his venue, he's a variable of fate, but that's not our holy son, because… It's that girl!
"WHAT?!"