Awakening: I Ascend As A Legendary Ranked Necromancer-Chapter 49: To the next

I began picking up the green coins after giving every member of the team two each.

"A shame I can’t store the monster’s body," I muttered, "but this will have to do."

I didn’t know whether the coins were worth anything or what they meant to the spirit, but I collected everything and started looking for more goblins to hunt.

After that, I moved the team to another part of the village using single-file movement. Once they were settled, I went off alone to hunt while they remained protected beneath Litha’s shield.

I passed many Awakeners, using their cries for help to locate goblins. I didn’t interfere with them and I left them to wander however they wished. I even encountered some who could see perfectly well, those I avoided, and they avoided me in return.

I repeated the process again and again. Move the team. Hunt goblins.

Eventually, I lost count of how many green coins I had collected or how many dead Awakeners I had seen as I fought my way through the village.

"Hey, you!"

A male voice suddenly called out.

I dispatched the last goblin in front of me before turning around. Standing atop the broken roof of a building was a dwarf. His bulky body was clad in dark clothes, but his big face was exposed, wild red hair and a thick beard framing it.

"Are you talking to me?" I asked, almost doubtfully.

The dwarf grunted. "Who else would I be talking to? The goblins? Yes, you!"

I have been avoiding every Awakener who could see. Fighting anything other than goblins was too much of a hassle right now, especially since I was using Hermit only for senses. Worse, I could clearly see the emblem on the dwarf’s chest, it was the mark of the Blazing Guild.

"What do you want with me?" I asked wearily.

The dwarf snorted. "I’m surprised you can see in here. That means you’ve got some talent. But you must leave immediately and stop hunting. Go somewhere else. Now."

I blinked. "What do you mean, go somewhere else? And to stop hunting?"

Out of everything, this wasn’t what I expected. Was he intentionally picking a fight with me? An excuse to kill and loot me?

The dwarf jumped down. His movements were surprisingly nimble, though his height didn’t even reach half of mine.

"This place has been declared the territory of the King," he said. "It’s our hunting ground. Leave now. Or die."

I frowned, more confused than threatened. "There’s a king here? King of the goblins?"

The dwarf looked at me flatly, then the next moment he shot forward.

He moved so fast that he blurred.

I barely registered it before he was suddenly behind me, cold steel resting against my neck. I froze.

What the.....how’s he that fast?

Dwarves were supposed to have the least speed of all the races in the Tower. Yet this one had completely outpaced me. Even with my heightened senses, I had traced his movement, but I hadn’t been able to react in time.

He climbed onto my back and hissed into my ear, his voice sharp and low, almost like a goblin’s.

"Are you trying to play smart with an assassin like me, human?"

There were a lot of things I should have asked. A lot of fear I should have felt with a knife this close to my neck. But the only thing that came out of my mouth was.....

"You’re an assassin? A dwarf?" I couldn’t hide the sheer surprise and shock in my voice. How could clumsy race like the dwarf be an assassin? How?

The knife pressed in deeper as he growled. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Yes!

I wanted to shout it but I didn’t. How could a dwarf be an assassin? They were bulky, heavy and.....

But I couldn’t deny the speed of his earlier attack.

"No," I said carefully. "Of course not. I’m just surprised. And I’m not trying to play smart. I don’t know any king."

The dwarf snorted and leapt away, chuckling lightly as I took some steps back from him.

"I’ll forgive you this once," he said. "But this place is the territory of Captain King of the Blazing. Leave."

I still didn’t know any king, but now I understood somewhat, it was a guild team.

"And if I don’t?" I said with a raised brow. "You can’t just declare yourselves king over a place. We’re all here to claim the zone after all.

The dwarf grinned and pointed his dagger at me. "Your team is nearby. They’ll take arrows to the skull and that shield won’t protect them, especially when they’re blind as bats."

I flinched so that was that. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

It didn’t leave me much of a choice. I walked backward slowly, keeping my eyes on the assassin dwarf as I retreated, then quickly moved away.

I relocated the team, cursing whoever this so-called King was in my mind.

If not for the darkness, and the threat against my team, I’d show them a thing or two about royalty.

Thankfully, that was my only interaction with other Awakeners. Aside from hearing screams nearby, rushing in to kill goblins, and taking their coins without making contact with the wounded Awakeners, no one else interfered.

And aside from the Blazing Guild, no other team got in my way.

When I finally reentered the shield, my teammates stared at me like I’d grown three heads. I looked down at myself and groaned.

Green blood coated me from head to toe as if I’d submerged myself in it.

"Damn goblins," I muttered. "Even in death, they keep causing trouble."

Before anyone could comment on goblin cruelty, the darkness suddenly rolled back like a tide. A beam of light pierced through, and with an audible pop, everything returned to normal.

The sun shone true and strong in the sky.

The sudden light burned and I groaned and collapsed to the ground. With my heightened senses, it felt like staring directly into the sun from inches away.

I wasn’t the only one.

Gasps and cries of pain echoed as light flooded eyes that had already adjusted to darkness.

Above us, the spirit laughed, floating gently as if this were all a harmless prank.

"Congratulations!" it chimed. "You may now proceed to the next part of the trial!"