Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Ba-du-dump, ba-du-dump!

Clunk. Clunk.

“It sure is a mess.”

“Mmm…. From what I know, Sungha Village wasn’t this big….”

“Gwur. Many dead humans. Many humans near death too.”

“That’s only natural since what we just went past is more of a slum made by the refugees than the actual Sungha Village.”

When they arrived at Tobrune’s castle gates, it only took them a moment to deal with the guards who made a commotion trying to capture Professor as an escapee, because when he took out the relic, he was instead able to ask for a carriage and horse, and then proceeded to leave the city. Even after they left, the guards were still stunned.

As soon as they left the city, their atmosphere changed completely.

The inside of the castle walls felt normal aside from the fuss with the flooding, but the outside was a completely different story.

‘Like the rich city they are, the security forces they have are larger and higher quality than most. They completely banned the entry of the refugees.’

Professor had a vague idea of why they would do that. It is because a mute that thinks and speaks like a human destroyed their mage tower. They probably did this in the hopes that another talking mute could infiltrate at any other time.

They took quick and precise action. Militarily speaking, it was the correct decision.

Thanks to that, they were able to stop the chaos outside from spreading into Tobrune, but the problem was that the people that were planning to pass through Tobrune to get to the capital were also stuck there.

As may be observed, a shantytown has sprung up in the Tobrune region as a result.

“That many people gathered here in such a short amount of time?”

“These are basically all of the people that survived the attack from the mutes in the three cities and nearby villages. It’s an unbelievably small number in that perspective.”

The battle against the mutes was different from the ones people experienced until now.

Their objective was not to rule, and killing and collecting normal civilians were also part of their military objective. Because they needed more ingredients to expand their troops.

So the mutes did not take over the cities they destroyed but actively hunted the refugees that had escaped from the cities. As a result, the refugees that had come from what was 10% of Rodrick’s territory were barely enough to fill up one shantytown.

“It’s brutal…”

“That’s how war always is. And this isn’t some sort of situation in a nation far away. We’re going to go meet the ones that made it to this situation soon.”

After leaving Tobrune’s territory, Professor was sitting next to Borka in the driver’s seat and scanned their path ahead. Seeing that there was a significant number of signs that horses passed through, they were still within the territory that the Tobrune troops patrol, but they were soon going to be in the territory that will be completely controlled by the enemies.

“Anyway, Professor, was it? From what I heard, our objective is to assassinate the mute Queen. Is it okay for us to be on the path like this, with a carriage and everything?”

“It’s fine for now. As Mage Ottoman said, it’s ideal for us to travel more discreetly, but if we do that, the mages are going to faint from exhaustion with what little stamina they have.”

Do you think I’m doing this because I want to? It wouldn’t have even come to this if they were able to ride horses like Mage Ottoman.

Because everyone else aside from Mage Ottoman didn’t know how to ride horses, he needed to intentionally get beat up by the guards and then use the church’s name to steal a horse and carriage.

No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible to take everyone into the permafrost lands where the Queen was located. They didn’t have the stamina to endure such harsh conditions, and level 2 and 3 mages wouldn’t be much help once they got that far.

Professor was actually skeptical about going that far.

‘The church did send us saying it was a mission, but we don’t necessarily need to accomplish it. In reality, all I and the other death squad members need is the church’s approval.’

Even if they didn’t bring the head of the Queen, if they made some sort of achievement that made the church approve them, then that’s their objective complete. It would be ideal if he could kill them, but it’s realistically impossible at the moment.

‘And since I have a title as a warrior, if I gain enough respect with my name, then the church won’t be able to treat me as they please. Since we can’t confirm the current situation at the enemy’s base, we’ll need to check on the way and then build a plan based on that.’

And so, for another half day, they continued to travel peacefully by carriage, and just when Professor was trying to fight off the sweet lull of sleepiness, Borka quietly slipped next to him and whispered in his ear.

“Captain, I think we need to stop.”

“Hm? Did you find something?”

“I smell blood. A combination of a pretty fresh one and a stale one. There’s something fishy here.”

Borka’s report made Professor wake right up as if lightning struck him.

Whooosh!

Once the drowsiness was gone, he could sense the information that [Sensitive Observation] collected. It was nice that the pain was gone, but it feels like a disadvantage at times like this. It’s like the ear-piercing alarm was put on vibration mode.

‘Deeper horse footprints without any set direction. It’s a cavalry battle. The patrol from Tobrune met a hostile opponent somewhere near here. Thinking about it, the sounds of birds and insects stopped at some point. And the smell of blood…’

Just as Professor turned around to warn his party, he could feel the air suddenly become dry. When he looked into the carriage, he could see that Mage Ottoman was waking his disciples while quietly collecting water in his hand.

“There was soiled water nearby. It’s nothing to brag about, but I’ve seen my share of things throughout the years I’ve lived. Since there isn’t any vein of water nearby, the pool of water isn’t rotten, and probably fluid from a human’s or beast’s corpse nearby. There’s no harm in preparing for danger.”

“…You’re dependable, Ottoman.”

Things like that must be possible when you’re a Level 5 mage. Seeing that Notum was also huffing out of her nose, she must have also sensed something, and the dark mage…

“…”

“I’m not giving it.”

“I didn’t say it, but I’m strong myself. Shouldn’t I have some sort of power to protect myself? If you just give me that…”

“You’re going to run away if I do.”

“Mm…”

He was looking at the necklace with a small socket that was hanging next to the relic. Before we headed out of the church, Senadis had handed him the dark mage’s soul jar.

“Here, with this, it should be easier to handle that man.”

“Why are you… isn’t it safer for the church to hold onto this?”

“I’m not sure of the reason, but dark mages are unable to use mana without their soul jars nearby. If you want to use that dark mage to his full potential, it will be wise to hold onto this.”

And so he obtained the dark mage’s soul jar.

He wasn’t able to check the inside of the socket because it was sealed with magic, but the name ‘Nell’ was engraved crudely on the outside.

“Mmm… Mister dark mage?”

“…”

“Old man?”

“…”

Clink clink—

“Nell—”

Spt—!

The dark mage, who turned around, pretending to be uninterested, turned his body and reached for the soul jar the moment Professor took out the object. Of course, since an old mage’s movement can’t be faster than Professor, the effort was futile.

“Do not… look at other’s possessions!”

“Then you could have just told me your name beforehand. Nell?”

“That’s not my name! My name is Aldrich! Nell is the original owner of that object!”

“Oh, a backstory.”

Well, there can’t be a dark mage without a tragic backstory. But that’s not my problem.

After hanging the soul jar back on his neck, Professor tapped on it, as if showing it to Aldrich.

“I’ve done my own research, you know. Of course, it’s less than when you’re actually holding it, but I heard it’s possible to use magic if it’s just near you.”

“…”

“Just help out until this operation is over. I will make sure that even if they change their mind, I’ll give it back to you.”

“…Those damned people.”

With that last remark, darkness started to rise around Dark Mage Aldrich. It meant he was making his own sort of preparations for battle.

After confirming that all of the death squad members were prepared for battle, Professor slowly started back up the carriage.

Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.

The more they continued on the path, the forestry became thicker. And through the shadows, the scent of blood that even Professor could smell enveloped them.

[Welcome to Dangltere!]

The sign splattered with blood made a creaking sound as it swung side to side precariously on a tree branch.

“Wood nest. Up ahead.”

“Yeah, I see it too. Seeing that there’s a fence, there must be a village up ahead. And it looks like we have a guide waiting for us too.”

Stagger, stagger—

In front of the barrier, far ahead, was a man in a guard outfit that was slowly limping towards the group.

“…Does that look like a guide to you, Captain?”

“Village guides don’t do much. They tell you what type of village it is, what’s there to see, and where we can rest.”

“Uuuuuuhhh, gwuuuuhhh…”

The man staggering towards them seemed to be missing a lot of things. He didn’t have a weapon to go along with the guard outfit, without a light in their eyes. And more than anything, he was missing the organs that should have been where a big gaping hole was.

“It’s in plain sight. This is a village taken over by a dark mage, and all we’re going to see in the village are corpses like that guy or dark magic creatures, and there’s no place to rest. A zombie is a pretty good guide.”

Craaack!

“Hydroball.”

In that instant, he heard a chant come from behind him, followed by a head-sized ball of water that tore off the zombie’s head and crashed it into the tree trunk behind it.

When he looked back, he saw Ottoman with his hand extended and the other water mages hunched over, puking.

“Mmm. Apologies if it had to be kept alive. This is the first time my disciples left Tobrune—no, the mage tower. They seemed to be having a hard time watching…”

“No, good job. Since zombies have bad eyesight, they might not have noticed our presence yet at this distance. And it’s a loss of stamina if they puke too much.”

‘_Besides, that was a clean hit. They said that ‘Ottoman had the awakenings of flow, change, resistance, purification, and fluidity.’ I heard they usually increase the power of a Hydroball by using the awakening of ‘pressure’ and crushing whatever it touches, but this….’_

“Resistance? Did you push it back?”

“Hm? Ohh, that reminds me, you said you were a water mage yourself! That’s correct. When the opponent enters the Hydroball, I use sudden resistance to push away only what’s inside the water.”

“Oho. So it’s possible to arrange it in a way like that.”

“Although if I did have the awakening of pressure, there wouldn’t be a need to complicate the spell like that… but I can’t feel pressure from water no matter how much time flows.”

Ottoman brightened up at the sudden mage talk, and as Borka watched the two, he approached them with an expression of disbelief and opened his mouth.

“Uh… Captain? Is this really the time to chat like that? If that really was a lackey from the enemy, then they might have noticed us.”

“Yeah, yeah. They don’t know the reason why because we killed it before we got in sight, but they probably sensed that the zombie died. And they’re going to send a few more this way in order to check on the opponent. It’s not a bad situation for us. The most dangerous mage is one that stays inside their laboratory. Our opponent is a dark mage that’s using an entire village as a weapon. If they come out, it’s better for us.”

“Grrrrrr—”

“Ughhhhh—”

As if proving what he just said, the dozens of zombies and other advanced undead, such as ghouls, that had been roaming around the entrance started to run along the path, and he could also see a few ghost-type monsters like banshees flying in the air.

Thump, thump—

Seeing that the ground is shaking, there’s probably an undead made from a giant monster’s corpse as well.

“…Does that look like a few more to you, Captain?”

“Uh, hm. They’re careful ones. Or, they’re strong enough that these many monsters don’t affect much of their supply.”

Professor got down from the carriage and stretched out, swinging his arms.

“Oi, Borka.”

“Hm? What?”

“Go deal with them. Don’t transform though.”

“What’s that… supposed to do…?”

“What do you mean what? It’s just the right number of enemies to check. I roughly know for you, but we haven’t confirmed how good the other people are at fighting yet.”

There was no need to check Mage Ottoman since he was Level 5, but it was still a mystery whether the dark mage and other water mages were able to fight properly yet.

“Let’s test them. See how useful they are.”

Checking the ally’s power level is as important as knowing the enemy’s power level. Looking at the hoard of undead that started to rush towards them, Professor made a grin.

“So, just pretend you’re fighting them, and pass them to the people in the back.”

“Mmmmmm, I thought just your actions were those of a monster, but you have already lost your humanity as well…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone that’s as kind and humane as me.”

With Borka’s deep groan, the undead rushed towards them, leaving them no chance to hesitate.