Lord of Rot

”Whew, that should be the end of it.”

Leech let out a sigh of relief.

This whole business in the Cape Caverns had taken so long, but it had finally come to a close.

Leech had Betty wait where she was while he controlled a corpse to go forward and inspect.

The long-haired monster’s body was a mangled ruin of flesh and blood, its fur completely gone.

Its wolf-like head’s great maw hung open, its tongue lolling out onto the ground like a limp strip of red cloth.

After taking three direct hits from the Iron Canister Thunder, which had nearly demolished the castle, the long-haired monster was as dead as could be.

However, knowing Leech’s cautious nature, it wasn’t time to pop the champagne and celebrate just yet.

From the very beginning, Leech had divided the Cape Caverns into six zones.

1. The Residential Zone: The outermost area, where the little blue-skinned monsters lived. They were the most numerous, and harpies could occasionally be seen.

2. The Commercial Zone: The area where Leech hid and cultivated his corpses, which was also the harpies’ nest.

3. The Plaza Zone: A dividing line, like the Chu River and Han border, separating the inner and outer zones.

4. The Riverbed Zone: Once a wide moat outside the castle, it had dried up and become the territory of lizardmen. With their thick skin and flesh, the lizardmen were undoubtedly powerful creatures within the Cape Caverns.

A pity they were no match for Leech’s undead team.

5. The Castle Zone: The only enemy here was the long-haired monster.

And 6. The Unknown Fog Zone of the High Tower.

Leech controlled the corpse to go upstairs, searching the entire castle. After confirming there wasn’t a second long-haired monster, he took the spiral staircase from inside the castle and ascended the high tower.

The architectural style of this tower somewhat resembled the Scholar’s Tower in Iron Stone City, but it was much taller.

The Scholar’s Tower was just a name, but this tower within the cavern castle was truly immense. After climbing the spiraling stairs for what felt like an eternity, he finally reached the top.

At the top of the tower was a room.

No dangers awaited him. It was as if he were the hero who had finally defeated the Demon King and could now claim his treasure.

Inside the room was a bookshelf holding over a dozen Scrolls.

They were covered in a thick layer of dust.

There was also a desk, but time had corroded its legs, causing one end to collapse onto the floor.

There were also several fist-sized beads emitting a soft glow.

’Luminous Pearls?’

There was no natural light from the outside world in the Cape Caverns. Aside from the glowing moss that gave off a faint light, there was practically no other light source.

So these beads must be capable of emitting their own light.

Turning to look around, Leech could be fairly certain that this was the room of a ”scholar,” or perhaps a ”Mage.” It was filled with various jars, books, scrolls, biological specimens, and the like.

There was also a strange crucible, much like one an old witch would use for her brews.

Leech walked over and pulled open a drawer.

Inside was a thick, handwritten parchment journal.

Ravaged by time, the parchment cracked like a brittle cracker the moment Leech touched it.

He could only control his strength and turn the pages with extreme gentleness.

It was a procurement list, detailing materials sent by a certain ”Sir Lauren.”

”Infant umbilical cords”

”Placentas”

”Marrow of a Unicorn”

”Blood of a virgin”

Many of the items on the list didn’t seem ’magical’ to Leech; they just seemed perverted.

Especially the blood.

Blood of virgins, blood of male virgins, blood of infants, blood of the elderly, and so on. It even listed blood from nobles and blood from bastards.

He had never heard of many of the names of these Magic materials. It seemed that many Magic materials had also vanished over the course of history.

’Looks like the biggest prize after all is the little mountains of gold and silver in the castle,’ he thought.

It had been almost a year since he transmigrated. His expenditures were massive and his profits were in the negative, but his personal assets were growing ever more substantial.

He flipped through it a bit more, but there was nothing else of interest.

Leech turned his attention to the Scrolls.

The silk ribbon tying one Scroll had decayed with age. After gently pulling it off, he unrolled the Scroll.

”Enchanting Melody”

A simple description was included. It allowed the user to imbue their voice with Magic Charm. Creatures that heard the song had a certain chance of becoming captivated by the singer. As long as the singing continued, the target would drop everything and listen intently. However, any interruption would break the strange atmosphere.

’A singing Magic,’ Leech mused.

Leech grew curious about the era that Magic came from. It was completely different from the present day; Magic was more wondrous and applied in all sorts of ways.

He turned his head to look at the dozen or so Scrolls on the bookshelf, and his heart began to THUMP THUMP THUMP wildly. ”Does this mean... these are all Magic?”

Even if he couldn’t become an Extraordinary Knight, becoming a Grand Mage who could command the wind and rain seemed pretty good too!

Leech opened a second Scroll.

”Prayer: Concealment”

”Pray to the Moon God to generate a mist around your body.”

This was a completely different type of Magic Scroll from the last one. Its content wasn’t a song or a Spell, but a prayer to a god.

’The Moon God... isn’t that the one the Earth-folk believe in?’

Leech was a casual believer in the Four Gods at best, let alone some Moon God of unknown origin.

He always felt those gods... were a bit strange. ’It’s best to rely on yourself for everything; no need to get caught up in all that Divine Spirit worship business.’

The next Scroll.

”Stone Skin”

Another very useful ability for Leech. It could save his life in a fight.

”Raise Zombie”

It could turn corpses into zombies.

But unlike his corpses and Corpse Ghosts, this was clearly an Undead monster. It held a natural hostility toward the living and possessed extremely low intelligence, though it was very obedient.

It had its advantages, too. A zombie would decay much more slowly than an ordinary corpse.

Leech had no need for zombies as minions. He didn’t actually want to become a Witch Demon King. Rather, he was extremely interested in the Necromancer who was once surrounded by a group of highly intelligent Corpse Ghosts, all working for him with single-minded devotion.

He liked tool-like subordinates who didn’t need rest, were loyal, and could even provide him with various skills.

If he could surround himself with Corpse Ghosts on the level of Aina, the future would hold great promise.

Even better than being an Extraordinary Knight.

”Just what is the origin of this tower’s original owner?” An irrepressible curiosity sparked within Leech’s heart.

From Divine Spirit worship, to singing Magic, to Stone Skin for obvious physical enhancement, and even raising zombies.

This was a Magic Scholar with a very broad range of interests.

Leech unrolled another Scroll.

On it was an eye.

An eye drawn with simple strokes, but with an incredibly complex Rune etched into the pupil.

A flash of light.

A blurry figure flew out of the eye and lunged toward Leech’s face.

”A ghost!”

Leech was startled. This was the first time he had ever seen a ghost.

In a world of Magic, where creatures like zombies, Corpse Ghosts, and dragons existed, a ghost didn’t seem out of place. But when the ghost lunged at his slave corpse, Leech was still taken aback.

He tried to make the corpse retreat, but the entity easily grabbed its body.

”Got you!”

The voice echoed right next to Leech’s ear.

The entity had actually followed the Spiritual Power he used to control the corpse and connected directly to Leech himself.

”You greedy scholar.”

Its laughter was piercing.