Desolate World

Geo then tried to use his new skill to raise the undead, but he got a notification that he needed 36,000 manas to transform all of them into undead.

"Say again!" Ace said. He thought he had heard it wrong. He thought it was impossible for a creature to have such an astronomical amount of mana even if they were level 100. There should be something wrong with the bones.

"36,000 manas. I need that to raise 10 elites and 40 ordinary skeletons," Geo said.

Ace then knew the problem. There were 10 elite skeletons there. But, he was still doubting if it needed that much of mana to raise them.

"Yeah, I think the numbers are correct. I defeated around 40 of them, the rest of the skeletons should be killed before I arrived. Then just raise some ordinary skeletons, first. As for the rest, you can use the village's mana pool when the village is completed," Mars said.

"You mean, we can use such an amount of mana when the village is complete?" Ace said in amazement. 

"Of course! Where do you think the energy that is used to erect a territory barrier for 24 hours comes from? It is from the converted mana that is produced from the mana vein under the village. there will be a facility called mana pool. It is a place where most rituals that require massive of mana are done," Mars explained.

After getting one more order from Mars to raise some skeletons, Geo nodded. He then said, "Raise!" 

Then 2 skeleton soldiers and a skeleton archer were formed from some scattered bones. They wore some equipment and weapons from the pile of bones. Each of them had a level of 23. But there was something strange in their status panels. For example, one of the skeletons' status was like this: 

[Jacob]

Race: Skeleton (Soldier)

Level: 23/40

"Boss, do you know the meaning of their level? How could it be so weird," Ace asked.

"As I remember, their level should be 40. So, maybe because of your son's level, the skeletons' level is restricted," Mars said.

Ace then remembered that Geo could only contract monsters if the monster had a level at most 3 points higher than Geo's level. And in the bone resurrection skill's description, it was mentioned that the skeletons' level would be restricted to three levels higher than Geo. As Geo's level was 20, the skeleton soldiers' level became 23.

'As it says that their level is restricted. will their level increase automatically when Geo's level increases? And about the amount of mana that was needed to raise the skeletons. Geo needed 400 manas to raise a level 40 skeleton. So he can only raise 3 skeletons at once with the amount of his total mana,' Ace thought.

However, he didn't think about it anymore. After witnessing their performances, Ace was satisfied. Although their HPs were ⅓ of their original HPs, their fighting abilities and skills were better than all refugees except Noah. 

As expected of the undead team that was sent to capture the parasite. It should be some kind of special ops of the undead. They would be a perfect suicide team, as they could be raised again after they died. 

Moreover, they didn't have fear, hunger, and tiredness. Ace now understood the terror of the undead that had been mentioned by Phil a few days ago. Facing this kind of enemy would crush the army's morale in a long-duration battle. 

And thinking he had belittled them before, he felt he was so foolish. He thought of thanking Phil when he met him next time.

After Geo entered them into his ring, they left the place to meet the refugees.

***

Noah looked at the grave where the killed refugees were buried. It was the second time he witnessed the funeral that day. 47 men were killed in this defense battle against the monsters. He felt horrible.

He then saw the man with red hair among Ace's family. The oppressive aura of the man, made the people around him afraid and overwhelmed at the same time. However, for some reason, Noah and the refugees felt a sense of security when they saw him among them. As if nothing would happen to them if he was there. 

That was how powerful his figure was in refugees' hearts including Noah's after witnessing his power when he arrived.

After burying the bodies of the killed men, the refugees finally could take a rest. However, many people couldn't sleep as many of them thought about many things. Noah was one of the people.

He recalled how he abandoned his position in the Iron Gate Fortress because he thought the kingdom had been too cruel to place hundreds of thousands of ordinary people and their families to block the advance of the undead army. 

Then he fought together with them for a few moments on the battlefield and led the refugees to run to the Misty Forest when he saw that they had no chance to win the battle.

They then faced many difficult situations in the forest, from the undead army that chased them down, the vampires that continued to kidnap some of them, and various attacks of the monster groups. Hundreds of people died in the process. He sometimes could recall their faces. He wondered if they resented him for couldn't save them. 

Then Noah realized that tonight, he, for the first time in these few months, didn't have to think of tonight's night shifts, plan for tomorrow, or should they move their camp or not? He also no longer had to worry about the vampires' night attack or how much food they had. It was because of the appearance of Ace and Mars. 

Although it was the first time he fought together with Ace, he seemed to be able to believe his back to the guardian when fighting enemies. It was also the first time he heard the term 'guardian'. He then realized that the world he had lived in had really changed for better or worse.

Then he recalled the giant dragon that had flipped their unfavorable situation into a victory with such a powerful move (meteor-like fireball). Although he had such a domineering aura, he had to admit that his presence could make his heart calm and didn't have to worry about the refugees' future.

As he had thought a lot of things, without him noticing, he fell asleep and had a deep sleep for the first time in a few months.

***