The Ruined Death Knight

At the same time when Danzel with the others noticed the small settlement, in the raided village of the natives.

Nothing extremely special happend.

The undead created by Danzel, the Draugr, were patrolling the village and the surroundings under the orders of Danzel.

Though considering that the village was already empty beforehand, it was frankly just safekeeping the village and the surroundings for their liege's return.

Till then, their job was to see if anything changed and report what they saw to the "Overseer".

And from the 5 groups of Draugrs, one came back to report to the "Overseer."

"Overseer, we witness signs of the living marching to our location." One of the 4 Draugrs said to the other Draugr in front of him.

The so-called Overseer, despite his title, was no different than the other Draugrs.

He wore just like the others the clothes of the deceased villages and he was the same type of undead as the Draugr.

The only noticeable difference was that he held a sword of way better runes than the others. Although the others also had weapons with few runed ones, the sword of the Overseer could be said to be a level below Danzel's sword based on runes alone.

It was one of Danzel's experimental swords in fact, which was quite powerful in only it was of average quility.

He gave that sword because he had no need for it anymore as he could no longer use it to runesmith and to make the Overseer position seem more impressive.

As of why he appointed the title of Overseer to one of his Draugrs, it was because that Draugr was responsible for holding down the runed contract to notify him.

"The living?" The Overseer looked at the group with his flaring dark green eyes.

"Have you been noticed by them or are they aware of our existence?" The Overseer asked.

"We are certain that we were unseen... although we can't be certain of that." One of the Draugr said in his cold voice.

"Mhm...were you able to confirm their numbers?"

"We suspect a group of 15, with 12 wielding weapons. They looked like warriors."

"Any chances that the other 3 are magic casters similar to mistress Shiro and the Lords?"

"...We weren't able to discern this fact..." The Draugr said as he looked at his group, who were also unsure.

Seeing no confirmation, the Overseer fell silent while he held the runed contract given by his liege.

"Overseer...will you notify our liege?" One of the Draugrs of the group asked.

"Our orders are to confine and capture any living in sight and to notify our Liege...only after we secured the living or our doom is near are I to notify our Liege." The Overseer said in his cold voice.

"Call the others to return! The time to fulfill our task is near! If we were too satisfied with our Liege's expectations, we might receive a name just like Lord Baron and Lord Sylas!"

The group of Draugrs had their eyes flared up before following the orders of the Overseer, gathering the rest of the Draugrs in one place.

"Prepare an ambush! The living is coming! 15 of them in total!" The Overseer said with his cold voice to the others.

"Our orders are to confine them and present them to our Liege! If not possible kill them! Our Master needs only a few alive!" The Overseer reminded the Draugrs of their orders, despite none of them forget them.

The Overseer then looked at the group of 4 Draugrs who spotted the living.

"You 4...hide outside the village in case we fail our Lieges orders. You are to follow them in the case we fail..."

"Overseer...that's it..."

"Unlike the 5 Lords and the mistress guards...we are weak. You 4 are to hold the will of our Lieges in case we all fail. Our Master has given me the authority to command the others, as the Overseer..."

The Draugrs fell silent, before bowing their heads in acceptance.

Though Danzel only briefly explained the Overseer authority which technically could overwrite his command, he did so in the case he wouldn't be returning to the village. Although within time and distance, his command and connection will inevitably disappear.

He made sure in the case he won't be coming back, that the Draugrs won't be confined by his orders.

Nonetheless, the Draugrs started preparing just like the Overseer.

Raising the sword granted by his master and creator with both hands and backward, he pierced the ground with his sword, activating the respective runes of that sword.

Making the nearby cold wind gather within the blade.

"We are the creations and followers of the Great Death Knight! His will is absolute! And our task is to fulfill it!" The Overseer said with the Draugr's following along in the middle.

The runes glowed in an ominous light blue color before the effect of the runes took place.

The gather cold wind trapped inside the sword came out like a cold mist and spread through the surrounding village like an avalanche and even bit outside the village before the cold mist was circling around the whole village.

The runes of the sword were no ordinary and were in fact Danzel's own creations by combining and mixing various runes to create the rune responsible for the cold mist.

Though it was a failed product, as his original goal with the rune was to prevent the cold air while creating a barrier of wind to block the snow in a winter storm. Just to make the travel for Shiro easier.

Having seen that it would take a whole lot of time to finish such a rune, he gave up the idea. And the failure with the [Frost Rune of Ice Breath] was on the sword that the Overseer had in their hands.

It was a rune that barely was of the [Epic] rating, which sadly didn't benefit from various of his bonuses as it was a frost rune.

***

At the same time, just a few minutes ago...

"You didn't have to come with us..." One of the Vashara warriors said to the young girl with a short heart, forcing herself to drag an axe in one of her hands.

Even though the axe was barely not being dragged through the ground.

"Xesan is right, with your hands and your body's condition, you should even stay back at the village." Another warrior as his eyes looked at the shoulder of the young girl with worry.

"This is my village...of course, I have to come. It's my duty as one who lived to hear..." The girl with the wounded arm, who Alka said with a determined voice.

Although within her voice, there was a hind of fear hidden that one of the warriors noticed.

"If I remember right, you said that a cursed warrior came and killed the ice troll that attacked your village, right?"

"Yes..." Alka said while looking down at the ground.

"Don't worry young girl, we, and as much as the other warriors fought and won over cursed warriors and ice trolls before. Together with our numbers, your village shouldn't be dangerous. Xesan over there even has a frozen relic weapon. So don't worry." One of the warriors said with a smile.

"Hey, you..." Xesan said while staring at the man with a frown.

Alka stared at the two and tilted her head to the side.

"Frozen relic weapon?" She asked confused as she stared at the warrior named Xesan.

The man held two short axes, one of each hand, but the blade of the axes was covered with tight bandages.

"Heh, never heard of them? Then let me tell you, they are weapons blessed by one of the primordial gods. Just a simple hit will make any ice troll run to their holes, I tell you!"

"One of the primordials?" Alka asked back with curiosity,

"Hey! stop talking nonsense Maxxren!" Xesan yelled at the other warrior.

"Tch~ alright, alright! The girl seemed scared so I wanted to break the ice, you know? I know that you don't like talking about your relic." Maxxren said.

"More of a cursed weapon than a relic..." Xesan mumbled to himself, focusing his mind on the path forward.

Seeing that Maxxren wasn't willing to say anymore, Alka couldn't contain her curiosity and asked with whispers.

"By the primordial gods...do you mean that his weapon is blessed by the God of Wild Hunt?"

Maxxren shook his head as he watched carefully towards Xesan before leaning toward Alka while covering his mouth with his hand.

"If it was really blessed by the God of Wild Hunt, Xesan wouldn't have called it cursed."

"His weapon is blessed by the oldest and cruelest primordial gods...the one who covers the lands full of snow and hardship. Where all warriors have to face eventually."

Leaning closer to Alka's ear, Maxxren whispered the name of the primordial

Though just he was about to speak the name of the cruelest primordial god, the warriors finally came to see.

"We spotted the village!"

Having finally reached, both Alka's and Maxxren's focus was driven to the village, covered with a cold mist.