It was only proper to return the favor.
That was a fine virtue Jason had cultivated in his previous life.
Jason had been tracking the group for a day and a night.
He didn't want to use any of his powerful scrolls. This was his trial, so naturally he had to solve his problems with his own strength.
His opponents were strong and cautious. Even when they ate, they left two people on guard. They had also been wary enough to abandon the level-six Bloodthirsty War Boar from earlier, presumably for fear that Jason had poisoned it on the spot.
Under normal circumstances, Jason, a Seventh-level Warrior with little wilderness experience, would have been discovered by them long ago. But Jason had something to rely on-Necromancy.
Only after spending several days in the Sunset Mountain Range had Jason remembered that Necromancy included a spell called Soul Probe, which directly probed the souls of nearby creatures.
With his current level-four spiritual power, he could probe the souls of creatures below level five within a hundred meters. The level-five threshold referred to spiritual power: even a powerful warrior with a weak soul couldn't evade the probe unless they reached the Saint-level.
Jason had also summoned a zombie bird to help scout. These weak undead, which didn't even reach level one, were popular with low-level necromancers because they were truly inconspicuous. Jason had specifically asked Lumba to keep two for scouting.
"That Sixth-level Warrior and level-six archer are a bit troublesome," Jason commented.
The person hiding in the bushes earlier had been a level-six archer, who was probably also a level-three wind-attribute mage. As for the Sixth-level Warrior, he had the earth attribute and a strong defense. If Jason failed to take him down in one strike and got held up, he could easily find himself surrounded.
Jason still couldn't summon Lumba, because Lumba had already reached level six.
Over the years, Jason had shared quite a bit of the spiritual power from his meditation with him. He also regularly entered the Netherworld once a week to help Lumba fight. The undead army hadn't grown in number, but its overall strength had improved considerably.
The night grew darker, and all manner of nocturnal animals stirred.
Jason saw the distant adventurer party scattering plenty of insect-repellent powder around their campsite and leaving two people on watch.
The Sunset Mountain Range lay at the southernmost end of the continent, where the climate was hot and humid year-round and insects were abundant.
Jason had no such trouble. He drew on some Power of Death from Lumba, which was enough to drive away all the insects. Some low-level magical beasts also avoided him of their own accord.
Jason summoned two level-four skeleton archers, the maximum number of undead he could sustain.
Skeleton archers, carrying longbows and bone swords at their waists, were a fairly common type of skeleton.
But this time, the main attacker wouldn't be the skeleton archers. It would be Jason.
He took a longbow and tested its draw.
The longbow was made of materials resembling bone and sinew. He had no idea how a bow made of bone could be so flexible.
He had fought with a bone bow like this before.
As for archery, the royal family had held several hunts when he was in the royal capital. Jason had been fortunate enough to attend and had learned a little archery.
Of course, he couldn't hit his target every time, but he really could pierce a poplar at a hundred paces-an arrowhead imbued with a Seventh-level Warrior's battle qi could easily go straight through one.
Jason then crept forward carefully with the two level-four skeletons, trying to get closer.
When he was about thirty meters from them, Jason stopped.
Through the zombie bird's eyes, Jason saw one of the Fifth-level Warriors on watch use a twig to write a few words on the ground: "It's here, behind us to the right."
The other casually edged closer to the makeshift tent behind him. It belonged to the Sixth-level Warrior.
Someone else might have thought it was a little movement born of boredom, but Jason had the zombie bird, so he knew he had long since been discovered and that the others had prepared in advance.
Still, Jason was a Seventh-level Warrior. He wouldn't give up because of that.
Through the zombie bird's eyes, he saw a Fifth-level Warrior write, "Doesn't seem human."
Jason glanced at the skeleton archers beside him. No wonder they thought he wasn't human; the sounds skeletons made were different, after all.
He directed the skeletons to walk sideways for a while to draw their attention.
Taking a deep breath, Jason sprinted forward, closing to within twenty meters of his target in two seconds.
An arrow wreathed in lightning-attribute battle qi flew out and into a tent.
Jason's target wasn't either of the two warriors outside, but the magic archer from earlier.
Others might not have been able to aim at someone inside a tent, but Jason had Soul Probe. He could pinpoint his opponent's position directly, even locking onto his head, where the soul resided. Nor would there be anything in the tent capable of stopping an arrow fired by a Seventh-level Warrior.
"Ah!" A scream rang out.
The two on watch sprang to their feet. They had heard the attacker move off to one side, but they hadn't expected another person to remain in the original position, let alone attack the magic archer inside the tent!
The Sixth-level Warrior burst out through his tent and charged toward Jason with sword and shield in hand.
Jason hurled the longbow toward the two skeleton archers, then charged at his opponent with a two-handed long saber.
The sweeping saber met the broad-bladed sword's diagonal chop.
To the Sixth-level Warrior's astonishment, Jason's two-handed saber sent him staggering.
Jason didn't linger in the fight. He charged straight for the group's camp.
He had already seen that he had hit the level-six magic archer in the left shoulder. The powerful battle qi had shredded a large number of his internal organs. He was only an early-stage level-six warrior, and such powerful battle qi had invaded his body when he was caught off guard. Without prompt magical treatment, that was enough to put him out of action.
Before the Sixth-level Warrior could return to defend them, the others here couldn't stop Jason.
He leaped and chopped at a Fifth-level Warrior. Their weapons clashed, and the tremendous force instantly broke the Fifth-level Warrior's arm.
Jason kicked him flying, then turned to block a short spear thrust from another Fifth-level Warrior.
By then, two arrows were already flying toward them. They had come from the two skeleton archers.
Skeleton archers had the sharpest attacks among low-level undead, and level-four undead could already injure Fifth-level Warriors.
Only one of the two arrows hit, but fortunately, it went straight through a Fifth-level Warrior's back and pierced his heart.
The remaining members gnashed their teeth in fury. They had long since noticed someone following them, because whenever they rested, there was always one direction from which no birdsong or insect chirping could be heard.
But they hadn't expected their opponent to be a Seventh-level Warrior with two archers supporting him. Now that they had discovered he was human, they were sure they had never offended a level-seven expert.
Jason glanced at the Sixth-level Warrior, who was rushing back toward them.
Jason's cultivation technique gave him a good boost in speed, allowing him to open up a considerable distance.
He swung his saber again, this time at the level-four mage, but a level-five warrior wielding an axe and shield blocked it.
The Seventh-level Warrior's attack drove his opponent to one knee, but only gave his internal organs a slight jolt. He appeared to be a water-attribute warrior skilled in defense.
One Fifth-level Warrior was dead, another was badly injured, and the level-six magic archer was dying. The results fell short of Jason's expectations.
The Sixth-level Warrior had already returned to support them.
Their brief exchange had already given Jason a measure of his opponent's strength. He was probably at the peak of level six. Jason couldn't take him down quickly, and it would be troublesome if he got tied up.
Jason threw another smoke bottle and quickly broke away from the fight under cover of the smoke.
The others were also startled by the strangely green smoke, then hurriedly carried their injured teammates out of its range.
Jason ran more than a hundred meters away, the limit of his Soul Probe.
After sending the two skeleton archers back to the Netherworld, Jason looked at the emerald-green longbow in his hand.
It belonged to the level-six magic archer. Jason had passed the man's tent as he left and picked it up, also finishing the magic archer off with another stab and sending him to the Netherworld.
"Runes and a level-six wind-attribute magic core. I can't use them, but it's a pretty good bow in its own right."