The Rising of the Scythe Hero

It was the seventeenth day of our leisurely journey. And just as leisurely, we were making our way toward the village where Ren had defeated the dragon. On the way, we stopped a few times to ask for directions from the people we came across and adjusted our route accordingly.

Everything was going pretty well. Night had successfully reached her milestone of level 40, and I'd made it to 64. My progress with sensory abilities was also moving along. Unsurprisingly, with time I got much better at distinguishing targets – I could even roughly gauge their power level now.

Meanwhile, in the background, my scythe was constantly brewing potions, concoctions, or processing ingredients. In short, life was peaceful and quiet.

Until that one moment…

"Hm?" – slipped out of me involuntarily as I noticed a man bursting onto the road from the thick forest.

The look in his eyes was so panicked it seemed like he was about to keel over from a heart attack.

Frantically turning his head in all directions, his gaze finally landed on me, sitting atop Night. His eyes widened even more for a second, and then, without a second thought, he bolted straight toward me.

Yeah… I didn't love this situation. Clearly, something in that forest had scared him so badly he looked like that. Though, within seconds, that question became irrelevant.

Right behind the man, jumping onto the road – or maybe the better word is crawled out – was something… distorted.

It vaguely resembled a wolf. A rotten, mangy, decaying wolf. Its eyes bulged out in different directions. Oversized, misshapen teeth jutted from its jaw. Patches of fur had fallen off, exposing skin, flesh, and even bare bone.

"P-please… help me!"

Huh. Alright then. Haven't seen monsters like that before. Maybe there's something interesting to learn here.

Giving Night a light pat on her side, I signaled her to stop.

"Night, mind taking care of that?" I didn't feel like showing off the fact that I was the Scythe Hero right away.

"Sure." – The bird nodded, still in her filolial form.

Then, effortlessly and casually, she lunged toward the rotting wolf. I expected it to be over with a single hit, but to my surprise, the wolf managed to dodge her paw swipe and even tried to bite back. But my bird isn't some rookie, and all those training sessions weren't for nothing. Blocking its snout with her wing, she landed a solid kick with the other – crushing the beast's head in an instant.

"That one was… weird, Master."

"Yeah. I noticed that too…"

As I approached the corpse, I didn't feel a thing. It reminded me of that time with the egg Night was in. My Life Absorption skill lets me sense life energy to some extent. The range for living targets is extremely limited. I can absorb life energy from dead things from a distance, but to actually feel it, I need to be right next to them.

And this wolf? Nothing. Not even a whisper. And life doesn't vanish from a body instantly – even from a corpse, I should've sensed at least a trace.

"Th-thank you, sir…"

The man, still shaking, cautiously approached, his eyes glued to the corpse. Though… can you even call something like that "dead," when it looked like it had been long gone already?

"Right. You got any idea what the hell that thing was?" – Figured it was worth asking.

"N-no… I was on my way to Melromarc to ask for help. Our village has been under siege by those things for days now… We can't hold out much longer."

"Hm…"

[Requirements for Meat Scythe of the Necro-Wolf met]

[Requirements for Bone Scythe of the Necro-Wolf met]

…

And so on for every part of the monster. None of the scythes granted new skills, but most of them boosted endurance. That struck me as odd, but made sense in a way. Those things didn't have any life left in them – but everyone knows the undead don't exactly get tired.

"Sir?" The man watched with wide eyes as I shoved parts of the monster under my cloak. From where he stood, he couldn't see that I was storing them inside the weapon core, which currently looked like a regular garden sickle.

"So… you folks hoping to get free military aid from Melromarc, or planning to pay for it?"

"Uh…" The guy hesitated. "Ideally, we'd get help from the kingdom for free, but… we understand that in that case, help might arrive too late. If it even arrives at all…"

"Aand?"

"So… as a last resort, we're willing to pay."

"Perfect." I stood up. "No need for you to go anywhere. You probably wouldn't make it in time anyway."

Think about it… that thing dodged Night's attack – and she's a level 40 monster. If those things are swarming an ordinary village… by the time he brings help, there'll be nothing left but ruins.

"Wh-what do you… mean?" His expression twisted back into fear as he instinctively stepped back. What's got him so jumpy?

"Oh, relax. You misunderstood me. I'm not gonna attack you." He shot me a questioning look. "You'll pay me. And I'll deal with your little problem." I gave him my best fake-friendly, social worker smile.

"Hic…" The guy actually hiccupped. "I… don't think that's a good idea…"

"You just don't get it yet." I casually pulled back my cloak, revealing the sickle that morphed mid-movement into the Reaper's Scythe. "I'm the Scythe Hero. And if you're ready to pay, I'll solve your problem."

If I pocket the money they were gonna blow on an official request – handled by some random mercenary group – that's a win for me.

"Uh… Scythe Hero? So those rumors… they were true…"

"So? Time's ticking. Who knows what's happening in your village right now, huh?"

The man stood there for a few more moments, clearly struggling with the decision, then finally clenched his eyes shut and nodded.

"Yes. I agree. Please, Hero, save our village." He bowed.

A wide grin spread across my face.

"Lead the way. And remember I'm not doing this out of the kindness of my heart."

"Y-yes…"

…

"So… you really are the Scythe Hero…"

The guy – whose name I still didn't know – brought me to the village elder, who, naturally, turned out to be an old man. He gave me a quick rundown of what had been happening around their village recently.

At first, the only weird thing about those monsters was their behavior. Sometimes, villagers would spot them wandering aimlessly through the area, completely ignoring everything around them. Wolves with empty, vacant stares just walking past smaller animals – rabbits, even humans. Meanwhile, other predators would bolt the moment they noticed them.

But then things got weirder. The same beasts eventually began to literally rot. Their behavior only grew more aggressive. They started attacking anything and everything in sight. And their numbers kept growing.

"What is this, some kind of zombie apocalypse?" Creepy… No way I'd be feeding something like that to Night.

Apparently, the village had already sent an official request for help to Melromarc. But all they got in response were vague promises and no real action. As you can probably guess, they'd submitted a request for free help.

And that's how things ended up like this. The number of monsters wasn't just beyond what ordinary folks could handle – their strength kept increasing too, and their attacks were getting more coordinated.

"I see…" I nodded, thinking it over. "I think I can help you out. Regular beasts won't be a problem for me. But there has to be a source behind all this. Something that triggered these changes. If it's some kind of monster, that could actually be interesting."

"So… you'll help?"

"Yeah. I should be able to handle it. Doubt it's anything too strong. And I'll still be more effective than whoever the capital might send. You understand that much yourselves, right? If I can't deal with it – they definitely won't."

"You're right… If a Hero can't help us, there's no point in hoping for ordinary mercenaries. Our village would be doomed…" The old man stared off into the distance with a melancholic look. "But… Hero-sama, you're willing to help for the payment we originally prepared for regular mercenaries?"

"For just me, that'll be more than enough. Don't worry about that. Besides, I'll be getting more than just money out of this."

"I see…"

I'm not a complete heartless brick wall. I wouldn't exactly help them for free, but the amount they offered was actually decent. So why not lend a hand, as long as it's not too much trouble for me?

After we discussed a few more details, they showed me the area around the village where those necro-monsters had been spotted most often.

By the way, the village itself… didn't look great. Compared to Ryut Village, this place was rough. There were wooden palisades scattered around, dried blood stains here and there, and in one of the pits I even spotted some guts. Lovely.

"Mmm…" Night wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Something wrong?"

"They… smell really bad. And they feel bad too."

"Yeah… tell me about it."

There's not much pleasant about dead, rotting creatures. Actually, there's nothing pleasant about them at all. The only upside for me is the stat boosts I get from them – and that's only a one-time deal per monster species.

We didn't have to wander for long. After about fifteen minutes, I sensed magic fluctuations within my detection range – and then heard a low, guttural growl.

"Grrrr…"

A group of three necro-wolves slowly surrounded us, baring their distorted jaws, drool dripping from their mouths. That was another thing – how the hell do they even produce drool if their bodies are basically dead? Is magic keeping some of their bodily functions going?

Not that I really cared. Night had already stepped forward, ready to crush these puppies, but I stopped her.

"Wait. Try to just hold them off for now."

"Okay." The bird nodded again without hesitation.

Man, it's so nice when you don't have to explain everything. Though, her unwavering loyalty… kinda creeps me out sometimes.

I wanted to try something. Something I'd only recently started practicing.

"By the source of power, I command: decipher the laws of the world and strike this foe. First Ice Spike."

While Night casually batted the wolves away, I pointed my open palm at one of them – the farthest, more passive one.

It took me around four seconds to chant the spell at a moderate pace, not so fast that it turned into a sloppy tongue-twister. In real combat, that's a ridiculous amount of time – especially for a spell with that level of power. But hey, gotta start somewhere…

After finishing the incantation, a perfectly polished ice spike shot from my palm at decent speed, hitting the confused wolf squarely.

The spike pierced its body clean through. I clicked my tongue. I'd been aiming for the head. Guess I still need to work on my aim… But honestly, even that wasn't a bad result. The mana cost for such a simple spell was so low I barely even felt it.

That's how we kept pushing forward. Night held the enemies off, tanking them like a pro, while I peppered them with ice spikes. Every time I cast magic, I felt something inside me tense up. Like a non-physical muscle. Or maybe… a better analogy would be the difference between a physical body and a spiritual one? Something like: when you use physical strength – your physical body tenses. When you use magic or spiritual energy – your spiritual body tenses. That's how I imagined it, at least.

And the deeper I focused inward, the better I could sense that spiritual body. I was even starting to control that "muscle" a little. When I cast magic, the mana flowed through my body in a specific pattern. And, theoretically, if I mastered that, I might even be able to cast spells silently. But I'd need way more practice and research for that.

"Decipher the laws of the world and strike this foe. First Ice Spike."

That's how several hours of self-experimentation went. I managed to shorten the incantation, sacrificing a tiny bit of its power. The difference was barely noticeable, but now, if I spat out the spell like a rapid-fire chant, I could shoot a spike every two seconds.

Up until now, Night and I had been mindlessly slaughtering every monster we ran into. Every type of animal in the forest had been hit by this necro-fication. Predators like wolves and foxes, herbivores like rabbits – all corrupted. Some monsters had also mutated – vampire rabbits, picu-picus, and other beasts of animal origin. Interestingly enough, plant-type monsters like bigroves or egg-monsters weren't affected at all. Huh… curious.

After about three hours of culling the necro-creatures, we decided to take a break. I wanted to think things through. This whole situation was bizarre – and we hadn't found even a hint of the source behind it.

My interest in this little problem… had definitely grown.