The Ruined Death Knight

Completely forgetting of undead in front of him, Danzel's eyes flared up in surprise.

`Those guys!´

Recognizing the duo in front of him and the murderous look of the old man behind the small girl, he swiftly grabbed his sword and draw it so fast that it created sparks on his scabbard.

But before he could even fully draw his sword out, a clear air-cutting echo appeared.

With his skill [Greater Sense Danger] sending a warning signal to its fullest, Danzel could only stare in slow motion at how the opposite curved sword was closing towards his neck.

As soon as the sword touched his dark plating and was slowly moving deeper in his armor, a deep yet low voice appeared inside their head.

"Stop."

As if following his command, the old man's sword stopped in an instant while Danzel was frozen mid drawing his sword.

*Fsouh!

While those two were frozen like statues, the wind in comparison was violently pushed to the side.

"..." Staring at the sword in his neck, Danzel was in shock at the speed of that old man.

He even increased his agility not long ago, but even then the blade was too fast to follow or react to.

It was so shocking that he forgot the sudden appearance of a voice inside his head.

The undead hiding inside living flesh stared at the two of them, before sighting out loud.

"Agares, put your sword away from this one. Since you three know each other, might as well introduce me inside the tent." Saying such words with a hint of coldness behind his voice, the undead turned his back and entered the tent followed by the small girl.

Seeing her granddaughter leaving, the old man named Agares put a frown on his face before staring back at Danzel.

"..."

"..."

Staring at each other in silence for as long as two seconds, Agares moved his sword away and tapped the bottom part of Danzel's hilt with such strength that made him break his hand away from his sword, resulting in the sword going back to its scabbard while Danzel sword shook from the force.

Opening his mouth like that of a fish, Danzel was dumbfounded at what just happend. But he didn´t let it show.

Stabilizing the shaking of his hand, Danzel followed the elder called Agares back to the tent with a warry look on his face.

Entering the tent, he came across a next surprise.

The undead holding now an ominous staff with a large dark crystal on the top and a glowing tattoo of a skull with an opened up mouth in the middle of the crystal.

Though the staff by itself was impressive, Danzel was more astonished at the magic happening in front of him.

Created out of seemingly nothingness, the earth started to form from the ground and rise until it created a stair that looked more like a throne with beautiful carvings, which those details alone would take a master carved with years of experience to replicate.

Danzel wasn´t as surprised by the beauty of the throne as he was by how the earth appeared in the first place.

He send out his mana inside the ground to see if there was any earth in the ground but found nothing.

Leaving him to believe that the undead in front of him created the earth out of nothing.

As if reading him though, the undead chuckled at Danzel's response.

"Feel free to take a seat, you others too." The undead said as he seated in his own crown.

The old man Agares took the small girl in his arms and seated her on the much small throne beside his own.

Being the only one standing now, he looked at the undead in front of him and lowered his head slightly.

"Then I will take up on your offer..."

Seating on the throne, Danzel briefly gazed at Agares who had his focus stolen by the little girl before gazing back at the necromancer, unsure what to do or say.

Seeing Danzel not willing to start the conversation, the necromancer tapped his staff to the ground, making it disappear after turning into black smoke.

`How the heck did he do that?´

His question was unanswered inside his mind, and the necromancer leaned back on his throne which looked much better than the other three.

"Now Agares, why don´t you tell me the relationship between you and this one?"

Hearing his name being called, he reluctantly moved his focus away from his granddaughter and stared back at the necromancer.

"Well, calling it a relationship isn't quite right. We just met exterminating some mountain bandits."

Tells the necromancer how he and his granddaughter met Danzel and how he threatened to harm his granddaughter.

Danzel couldn't help but stop the old man's world.

"It was out of self-defense...I knew full well that I wasn't a match for you. The undead I ordered was only there to buy me some time to get away..." Danzel said to justify his action.

He didn't lie or anything of that sort.

The old man's ability that he showed a moment ago only further proved that his decision was the correct one.

And the necromancer nodded internally at him making such a decision.

If he were in Danzel's situation, he would probably have done the same.

Knowing that it was going to be a losing fight, might as well run away.

"Mhm, I can understand your both's reaction, but why did you come here? Why do you want to join us? And what would you like to gain from joining us?" The necromancer said with his cold voice while looking at Danzel.

Daniel at first didn't know how to answer those questions.

'Why am I even here?'

'Was coming here the right choice?'

Such questions and many more floated in his mind.

After a few seconds of long silence, Danzel opened his mouth.

"If I had to say, then is probably my curiosity and...finding a place to fight to improve my skills." Danzel said after thinking carefully of his words.

He indeed wanted to meet a true necromancer as they wielded the magic that created the undead while his other reason was more in line with his need to become a death knight.

"Curiosity you say? What do you describe of such desire in more detail?"

Nodding his head, Danzel started to explain.

"As you might have realized by now with...the old man's story. I also study the arts of necromancy. Though they aren't anything special."

Nodding his head, the necromancer started asking other questions which he answered to the best of his ability.

But one question, in particular, caught Danzel off guard.

"Are you the one called Rue Danzel? The Runesmith that appeared not long ago?"

As soon as the necromancer's words ended, several alarms inside his mind were activated.

He was shocked of his true identity was being found out.

Before he could dispute his claims, the necromancer made his staff appear once more.

Making the dark crystal glow, a few sets of runes had appeared out-think air.

Taking a closer look at those runes, he manages to recognize them as his work.

"If you want to hide your identity, then you will have to cloak the runes of your armor better. Those of my level can see through your equipment with ease."

'So that's why...' Danzel thought bitterly.

He already had an alias planned and a somewhat believed backstory to go with it while joining this group.

But now with the cat out of the bag, his preparation was pointless.

"It's indeed as you say. I am the runesmith, called Rue Danzel."

Agares who heard that had a look of understanding while the little girl behind him had a face of confusion.

Pulling at his clothes with her little hands, she asked with an innocent voice.

"Grandpa, what is a runesmith?"

Smiling at his grandaughter, Agares patties her in the hair.

"Little Shiro doesn't need to know." He said, only receiving a cute route from her.

Ignoring those two, the necromancer heard Danzel rise up from his seat.

"That changes everything then."

Walking towards him, or rather to the outside of the tent, the necromancer mentions the three to follow suit.

"You have been officially accepted to our group. But before talking about your payment and such, we got to relocate because of your previous appearance.

Walking out of the tent with those three, the necromancer watched through the distance of the crowd that was forming

"So annoying~". The necromancer mumbled to himself as he send an internal message to the other three members.

Them being the two dark elves and the giant of a man.

"Are we doing that, Deathcaller?" The huge man said with his halberd resting on his shoulder.

Nodding his head, the necromancer raised his staff and created a huge magic circle around them.

"What the-"

Before understanding what was happening, he felt a huge amount of mana surrounding him.

And before he knew it, the cheers of before became silent, while the location he was supposed to be disappeared and filled instead with an endless sea of sands.

Understanding what just happened, he couldn:'t help but be amazed at the necromancer's skill.

'To think that he can teleport...'

While he was on his own mind, the necromancer walked beside Danzel and patted his shoulder.

"Let me introduce you all to our new member, Rue Danzel."

As soon as his words came out, everyone stared at Danzel.

'Hmm?'

Taking a closer look at the people around him,

He finally notice that out of everyone here, none was of the human race.