Fruitful Malice
“General!! Undead in front!!”
A messenger rushed over to General Burling who had a final meeting with his officers. General Burling and his officers who got to know the situation quickly exchanged glances
It was not once or twice that General Burling and his troops exterminated a massive outbreak of the undead.
Undead-type monsters are by no means rare. Skeleton and zombies with no purpose can be handled adequately even by regular soldiers.
Because the strength of the undead is determined by the amount of miasma, the moving corpses with no purpose are simply no more than a troublesome pest.
However, by the panic displayed by the messenger, it was certain that they were not normal undead this time. That puzzled General Burling and his officers.
“Calm down, they are mere undead. It’s not something we can’t handle!”
An officer yelled at the messenger. The messenger glared at the officer without shrinking back and yelled at him back.
“Calm down!? What are you saying! I have never seen undead like that! Will you be able to say the same thing once you see those things!? Fuck off!!”
The officers couldn’t hide their shock. In the military, the pecking order was supposed to be absolute, but the messenger replied with complete disregard.
That let General Burling know the seriousness of the situation.
“What’s the situation at the front line?”
The messenger’s face turned pale as he noticed the heavy tone of General Burling’s words, but he still somehow managed to reply to the General.
“About 800 unarmed undead assaulted our army. These unarmed things suddenly turned into giant undead knights just before the clash and began to overrun our front line.”
“What did you say?”
“The front line has already collapsed. The Captain of the Sibbs Battalion is trying to reorganize the soldiers. He’s seeking your instructions, General.”
Burling nodded to the messenger and looked at the officers. The expressions of the officers who saw Burling’s gaze tightened as they nodded their heads.
“We are heading out!!”
“””Understood!”””
The officers responded shortly to Burling’s orders.
(I have no choice but to inspire the soldiers at the front line myself.)
Burling was a veteran general who occasionally inspired soldiers by putting his own life on the line.
At that moment, a new messenger rushed in.
“The Captain of the Sibbs Battalion has been killed in action!”
“What!?”
General Burling’s voice was mixed with shock and disappointment.
(You are telling me that the Sibbs couldn’t withstand anymore?)
One of the reasons General Burling was able to finalize his strategy with the officers was because of the strength of the Sibbs troops in the front lines. The fact that the Sibbs collapsed in such a short time was unexpected to him.
“Hiiiiii!”
“Noooooo!!”
“Stop it, pleaseee!”
“I don’t want to turn undead!”
Burling’s group heard some concerning phrases coming from the surroundings. Burling who sensed that something absurd is going on quickly jumped out of the tent. The officers followed after him.
“Wha…”
He saw his disordered soldiers who have already lost their order as troops, trying to escape in fear. No, that wasn’t all. Behind them were giant knights, ruthlessly swinging their large swords and turning the soldiers into pieces of meat.
What was truly frightful was what happened afterward. When the soldiers who were cut up like pieces of meat were touched by these knights, their corpses turned into giant soldiers.
“My, oh my, isn’t this the great General Burling himself.”
That moment, a carefree voice that did not take the circumstances into consideration reached Burling’s ears. When they looked where the voice came from, not only General Burling but even his officers froze in place.
“Kulm… Salbuveir.”
General Burling uttered Kulm’s name, although his train of thoughts couldn’t stay collected.
“Yes, indeed. Burling… we wanted to reward you all for the act of barbarism you have organized in our fief, you see…”
Kulm’s voice was full of unconcealable hatred. Both Burling and his officers could feel the sensation of something chilling running down their backs because of the immense evil and hatred.
“Y, you… you guys are supposed to be dead!”
Kulm laughed at Burling as he answered his question.
“Yeah, we died. That’s why we turned ourselves into undead and came back to get revenge.”
“……”
“We will never forget what you did to us on that day. Take a look.”
Kulm said and looked around. The killing was still ongoing and there were no signs of ending in sight.
“Serves you right. We will never forgive you who have slain our families in front of us who surrendered. This is the retribution you shall face for what you did just because of the Emperor’s edict… you don’t believe this can end in a simple apology, right?”
The intimidation Kulm released had risen a level higher after saying that.
“T, those lives belonged to His Imperial Majesty.”
One of the officers said to Kulm. It was that instant. Kulm seized the face of the officer who spoke up and raised him into the air. Before Burling and the other officers noticed, Kulm had already seized the officer’s face.
Their inability to respond to Kulm’s movements was persuasive enough to let them know that they had no chance to resist.
“Who allowed you to speak? Don’t raise your voice at me, you garbage bug.”
Kulm said so and crushed the officer’s face in his palm. The officers who had his face squashed fell to the ground twitchingly but stopped moving just a few seconds later.
“Whose order it was is inconsequential. Don’t be foolish.”
The officers began to tremble at Kulm’s words. For them, Kulm was the embodiment of the greatest fear they had, death.
“… What do want?”
The moment Burling asked, Kulm grabbed him by the face, raised him into the air just like the officer from before and spoke to him with a completely expressionless voice.
“Be careful how you speak. Your attitude will determine how your cute subordinates are treated.”
“What the-? No, what do you need us for?”
After Burling rephrased his words, Kulm let go of his hand, dropping Burling on the ground.
“It’s simple. You only need to be useful… that’s it.”
Burling nodded frailly to Kulm. Seeing that, Kulm nodded and switched his gaze to his retainers.
“Well then, how about we put General Burling to work?”
Kulm’s words resounded with absolute authority.