The Pursuit, Part Two

Though he knew the necromancer was pursuing him, the blue-robed mage could do little but lash his horse harder, hoping its speed would widen the gap and shake off the enemy behind him.

The blue-robed mage did not know how long he had been riding. As the distance grew, even after he had left the trade group's original camp far behind, the feeling of being watched did not fade. Instead, it grew stronger.

The blue-robed mage knew that this feeling had helped him escape danger many times. He wanted to shake off the necromancer behind him, but no matter what he did, he could not succeed. The sense of being watched kept him on edge.

Now that the feeling was growing stronger, the blue-robed mage knew that if he did nothing, the necromancer would keep tracking him.

But even though he knew how dire his situation was, the blue-robed mage could think of no way out. He could only hope his horse would go faster and that the darkness would hide his tracks.

The blue-robed mage had never considered hiding beside the road and ambushing the necromancer behind him. He knew how powerful his enemy was. If he chose to attack now, he might as well have stayed and fought alongside the trade group from the beginning.

The blue-robed mage lacked Yusuf's resolve. When he sensed extreme danger, his first thought was how to keep himself safe. On top of that, he had taken the Space Ring containing all the Soul Crystals from the trade group. The immense value of its contents made him unwilling to face danger.

Fear was what drove the blue-robed mage to flee. Thinking of the trade group, which might already have been destroyed, he silently repeated a few words to himself.

"Yusuf, don't blame me. You brought death upon yourself by provoking such a powerful enemy."

After repeating those words, the guilt he felt for fleeing seemed to ease somewhat.

He had been racing through the forest the whole time. The road was narrow, and it was night, so the surroundings kept his horse from reaching its full speed.

The blue-robed mage did not dare slow down, but after riding hard for some time, his horse had grown tired and was much slower than before.

The blue-robed mage checked his surroundings. The feeling of being watched had vanished.

This did not put him at ease. Instead, he grew more alert, keeping a close eye on everything around him.

His past battles had taught him that this was like the calm before a storm. Nothing seemed amiss on the surface, but danger lurked all around. Maintaining this vigilance was mentally exhausting.

Just then, the blue-robed mage heard rapid hoofbeats coming from the woods beside him.

The sound drew closer, followed by the rustling of branches and leaves. Though the source was still some distance away, the blue-robed mage realized the enemy had caught up.

Even with the enemy now beside him, the blue-robed mage could not understand how they had caught up while both were riding at a gallop.

They had traveled the same distance, and his own horse was tired and surely slower than it had been at the start. The blue-robed mage could not figure out how the necromancer, who had set out later, had caught up. Judging by the rapid hoofbeats, the horse behind him was clearly running at full speed...

Suddenly, the blue-robed mage realized why the necromancer had caught up. The necromancer had turned his horse into an Undead Creature. No longer limited by stamina, it could gallop all the way after him.

In fact, although deep meditation had depleted Rhode's mana, some of it had recovered with the passage of time.

Mana recovered automatically, though much more slowly than through shallow meditation. Its base recovery rate was one point per hour.

Wearing certain treasures, learning the special skill Mysticism, and receiving bonuses from certain other skills could increase the amount of mana automatically recovered each hour.

Shallow meditation could also speed up mana recovery. Since the increase from shallow meditation was proportional to one's natural mana recovery rate and unrelated to equipped treasures, Mysticism—which improved mana recovery—was an important skill for mages.

When he had just finished deep meditation, Rhode's mana was at zero. Some time had passed while he fought Yusuf and then pursued the blue-robed mage, allowing his mana to recover on its own.

Following the directions of the Mental Mark, Rhode had the vampire ride the horse at a gallop to catch up with him. Then he killed the horse the vampire had been riding, intending to turn it into an Undead Creature. After killing it, Rhode found that he had gained 10 experience points.

Since the horse was a creature with a rank, Rhode needed enough mana left to convert it. He therefore spent 1 Skill Point to learn Intermediate Soul Summoning.

(Intermediate Soul Summoning: By studying Necromancy Spell further, you have gained a deeper understanding of death. You can awaken the resentment of the dead, and you have begun to appreciate the value of creatures after death. Your ability to convert Undead Creatures has improved, and the mana required to awaken the dead has been slightly reduced.)

After changing his equipped achievement to [Necromancer], Rhode's Soul Summoning had reached the advanced level. With advanced Soul Summoning, the mana required to convert an Undead Creature was reduced to some extent.

Rhode successfully used the mana he had left to turn the horse into an Undead Creature.

However, converting the horse had depleted all of Rhode's remaining mana. He could not turn the horse he was riding into an Undead Creature as well.

Rhode continued pursuing the blue-robed mage from behind. Since the blue-robed mage was relying on his horse's speed to shake off the enemy, Rhode used the Mental Mark's guidance to have the vampire ride the newly converted Undead War Horse straight after him.

Unlike the blue-robed mage's horse, which would tire after running for a long time, the Undead War Horse had no stamina limit. The vampire moved faster than the blue-robed mage, which was why he had caught up first.

The blue-robed mage now realized he could not outrun his pursuer. Seeing the vampire close in behind him, he raised his hand and began gathering magic.

An Ice Arrow shot out at high speed, but its target was not the vampire. It was the Undead War Horse beneath him.