The Black Necromancer

Adrian spun around with shock written over his face, as did his companions. He stared at the tall and imposing figure with a crown on his head with surprise. He could clearly spot some similarities between that crown and the one he remembered from his memories, but that was all. He could not even recognize the figure before him.

"Leon, is that you?" Adrian's voice was reduced to a whisper. Leon's imposing figure was not a thing of his mind, but rather, just looking at Leon made Adrian feel in adequate and weak in every way. It was an effect of Leon's new state.

"Long time no see, Adrian, Malaki, Bella. It seems you survived Divinity's Bout." Leon said blankly. Now that he was seeing them, if he had to be honest, he was a bit disappointed.

The reason why was quite simple. Leon had noticed that those who spent time with him grew quite quickly. He was not sure if that was an effect caused by him, but it was a fact he had noted it multiple times already.

However, contrary to his expectations, the adventurers before him were only still at High C rank. While this was quite good for the average person, it was something that was far below Leon.

Then again, he had to take the fact that he had only spent a limited amount of time with them into consideration. Unlike Jet, who had spent nearly two months with Leon, the adventurers had only been with Leon for a couple of days. That time was wholly insufficient for whatever factor that affected others around him to affect them to the same extent.

"It actually is you! I never thought I would see the day!" Adrian sighed with a sort of relieved excitement. He walked over as his demeanor seamed to suddenly change and stood in front of Leon with a straight back, despite the suppression that was oozing from Leon's body.

This caught Leon by surprise. He was not expecting Adrian to possess the mental resilience to withstand his passive pressure at such close proximity. It seemed that while he had not grown too strong in body, his mind had grown much further.

"When I heard that there was an Undead Necromancer conducting a war against the Demons in the Desolate Lands, I could not believe it. When I heard that he had transformed the desolate ruins into a flourishing city, I was still doubtful. But now that I have seen it for myself, and confirmed that it is you, I am willing to give in to the thoughts that have haunted my mind ever since. Leon, if you will allow, then I want to work for you." Adrian bowed his head.

Leon looked at him with surprise, although the surprise most likely did not show on his stiff features. He was not expecting a pledge of loyalty from the young man. He looked at the two people behind Adrian and saw that they were not surprised by his sudden pledge.

"Are you two also pledging your loyalty to me?" Leon asked them.

Instead of replying, the Elf and human Priestess shared an uncertain look.

"Hmm, it is your choice. I am leaving for the frontlines now. Adrian, you can find your way to the battlefield. Where I am heading is not a place you will survive." Leon said and turned to Adrian. "You can look for Rakon and ask him for a posting that is fit for your strength level." Leon told them and turned around to leave.

"Bye-bye." Nedra waved at the the trio with a wink before following after Leon.

After the two of them had left, Malaki and Bella turned to Adrian.

"What were you thinking? I thought you were not going through with it?" Bella asked, her arms folded across her chest.

"For once, I'm with Bella. What were you thinking? This is a being that we tried to kill, and he had also tried to kill us before." Malaki concurred.

Adrian scoffed. "Surely, you saw him for yourself. He is so far above us that he doesn't care about it anymore. If he wanted to, I'm pretty sure he could kill us and no one would stand against him for it because he is too strong." Adrian argued.

"Fine." Bella huffed and turned around to go to the inn that they booked a room in. Malaki shook his head tiredly before following her. They did not understand why their teammate had so suddenly brought up the idea to pledge his loyalty to someone who they had tried to kill before. There were perks to it, sure, but still.

Adrian let out a helpless sigh as he watched his two companions walk away without him. He would try his best to convince them to come over to Leon's side as well. Surely, he could do that. After all, they would not have followed him all the way out here if they did not consider it at the back of their minds.

He quickly followed after them while pondering on how to go about his latest goal before he reported for duty to Rakon the next day. He had a limited time frame to convince them.

As Adrian was thinking of how to make his friends come to terms with his decision, as well as convincing them to join him, Leon was already making his way to a teleportation formation so he could head to the frontlines. He could rely on himself to reach the frontlines, but he did not want to waste time and mana when there was already a convenient alternative.

Upon reaching the secure building that housed the formation, Leon felt a bit of hesitation from Nedra and paused.

"Any problem?" He turned to ask her.

"...I want to stay back for now. I need to explore my new powers before I feel comfortable with going back to the frontlines." Nedra hesitated before replying.

Leon paused for a moment before nodding in understanding.

"No problem. Take your time." He turned around and walked into the building, leaving Nedra behind.