Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Time To Hunt (part 2)

Vayne was the last to remain.

The sword-wielding undead stood still for a second, then slowly dissolved into shadow, the blade fading last.

Silence returned completely.

Now it was just Aiden and the dead.

He walked through the camp calmly, stepping over bodies as if they were nothing more than fallen logs. He searched their pockets, belts, boots. Checked inside the wooden huts, kicked open a few crude chests.

Most of it was junk.

Cheap blades. Torn clothes. Half-rotten food. A few silver trinkets probably stolen from merchants.

Then he found a small locked box hidden beneath one of the beds.

He broke it open with a stone.

Gold coins spilled out.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

He gathered everything and counted carefully.

Twenty gold coins in total.

“That’s it?”

He clicked his tongue.

Ten bandits. A whole camp. And only twenty.

Still, it was better than nothing.

He stuffed the coins into his pouch and took one last look around. There was no reason to burn the place down. Someone would eventually find the bodies. Or beasts would.

It didn’t matter.

He turned and left the clearing without looking back.

Once he was far enough from the camp, he stopped and raised his hand again.

Three basic-grade undead clawed their way out of the ground.

“Spread out,” he ordered quietly.

The skeletons moved in different directions once more, disappearing between the trees.

Aiden adjusted the pouch at his waist.

Fifty gold coins was nothing compared to the twenty thousand he needed.

Which meant this forest still had work to do.

For the next three hours, Aiden moved through the forest like a hunter.

Each time one of his skeleton scouts sent a signal, he changed direction without hesitation.

The second camp was smaller than the first. Eight men. Poor equipment. They died before they even understood what was happening. Fear Pulse broke their formation, Bonefist crushed the strongest among them, Skullbreaker turned the rest into shattered bodies. Vayne cleaned up those who tried to run.

Their loot?

Pathetic.

Fifteen gold coins.

The third camp was worse.

Ten men again, but clearly low-level thieves who preyed on lost travelers. Their “leader” tried to negotiate when he saw the undead rising from the ground.

“Wait! We can talk—”

Skullbreaker answered with a downward swing of its spiked club.

That camp only had ten gold coins in total.

Ten.

Aiden almost laughed.

“I’m basically robbing beggars.” he muttered while stuffing the coins into his pouch.

The fourth camp finally had something worth his time.

It was slightly more organized. Better weapons. A perimeter alarm made of hanging metal scraps. And at the center stood a man whose aura felt different.

Body Tempering Stage.

The bandit leader noticed Aiden before the undead fully emerged.

Aiden didn’t say anything.

He simply lifted his hand.

Fear Pulse exploded outward.

The weaker bandits staggered immediately, their courage collapsing. But the leader resisted. His face tightened, veins bulging slightly as he forced himself to move.

He charged straight at Aiden.

Fast.

Too fast for a normal skeleton to intercept.

Bonefist stepped in.

The impact between fist and forearm echoed through the clearing. The bandit leader actually managed to block the first punch, skidding backward from the force.

He grinned. “Is that all—”

Vayne appeared at his flank.

The sword cut across his side, drawing blood.

The leader roared and retaliated, smashing his fist into Vayne’s shoulder and shattering part of its bone. But before he could press the advantage, Skullbreaker slammed its spiked club into his back.

The spikes dug deep.

He dropped to one knee.

Bonefist’s second punch crushed his jaw.

The fight ended seconds later.

Aiden stood over the corpse, breathing steadily.

“This one… is useful.”

Unlike the others, this man had stepped into Body Tempering. His body had been refined. Stronger bones. Denser flesh.

Aiden placed his hand over the corpse and activated lord of the dead skill.

Dark mana poured from his palm and seeped into the corpse.

The air around them turned colder.

Unlike basic-grade summons that rose as bare skeletons, this body didn’t crumble. It had just died. The flesh was still warm, blood still fresh. Bronze-grade and above wouldn’t strip down to bone unless they were already skeletons.

The corpse twitched.

Veins darkened beneath the skin as necrotic energy spread like ink in water. The crushed jaw shifted unnaturally, bone grinding as it forced itself back into place, not healed, but held together by death itself.

The man’s eyes snapped open.

They were no longer human.

A dull, grayish glow replaced the life that had once been there.

Slowly, the body pushed itself up from the ground.

Not a skeleton.

Not fully alive either.

It was like a corpse forced to stand, skin pale, blood drying across torn wounds.

A bronze-grade undead at the Body Tempering Stage.

Good enough.

He didn’t bother naming it.

He had named Bonefist. Skullbreaker. Vayne.

That was enough.

He wasn’t going to name every undead he created.

“Stand,” he ordered calmly.

The undead bandit leader straightened immediately.

The remaining corpses in the camp were ignored. Too weak. Not worth the slots.

After looting the camp, Aiden counted everything again.

Two hundred forty-five gold coins in total.

He weighed the pouch in his hand.

From all four camps combined, he had only gained around fifty gold coins more than what he originally carried. The rest had been from his previous stash.

For wiping out nearly forty bandits, it felt… underwhelming.

He let out a slow breath.

“Twenty thousand,” he muttered.

At this rate, he would have to wipe out half the forest.

Still, he didn’t feel frustrated.

Every fight had been easy.

His control was cleaner now. Fear Pulse broke groups instantly. His bronze undead handled anything below Body Tempering without effort. And now he had added another Body Tempering corpse to his ranks.

After finishing with the camp, Aiden didn’t stay any longer than necessary.

The bodies would attract beasts soon enough.

He walked away without looking back, boots pressing into blood-soaked dirt before stepping once more onto untouched forest ground. When he was far enough, he raised his hand and summoned three basic-grade undead again.

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