The group of necromancers who were now focused on setting up a trap for the incoming adventurers instead of their original goal of keeping an eye on the overall situation of the battles taking place outside the main battlefield, failed to notice one specific magical artifact connected to the undead army Scaly and Verdell were fighting blinking red repeatedly before going out completely. A clear sign that the bone bird that had been monitoring the undead army was in danger before dying.
How this happened was a complete accident, as the bone bird was hidden with concealment magic by the leading necromancer of the war against the dungeon core and simply wasn’t something Verdell or Scaly could see through.
In the end, what ultimately did this bone bird in was a stray fireball from Verdell that had originally been aimed towards a flying undead monster diving down towards him from above. Missing the original target before landing directly on the concealed bone bird that had no way to resist the fireball. After all, overpowered as its concealment abilities were, it had no defenses and was weaker than even a young trainee adventure. Standing no chance in the face of the stray fireball from Verdell.
As for the reaction of Verdell and Scaly to the death of this bone bird? Neither of them even noticed its death from start to finish, one already engaged in battle with one of the S Rank undead that had been drawn over following the death of the monster it had been fighting, while the other was busy conjuring up a new fireball to hit the flying undead he had just missed.
From start to finish, the two had no idea that they had been monitored by a bone bird all along so far and they wouldn’t find out about it either now that the bone bird had been dealt with without their knowledge.
"Hm? One of the bone birds in charge of monitoring one of the reinforcing undead armies perished?" Only after a good fifteen minutes of assisting the other necromancers in preparing a trap for the adventurers did the necromancer originally tasked with keeping an eye on the now gone bone bird realize what had happened. Shifting his attention towards the magical artifact used to connect to the bone bird to retrieve some of the information that had been stored before the bone bird had perished.
The information stored was anything but clear and was a chaotic mess at best, but through the few images and bits of information within the bone bird, he quickly saw the undead army it had been tasked with monitoring being ambushed by an equally large army of monsters.
Things continued like this for a bit before the remaining bits of information became even more chaotic, but through the now far more chaotic information, he still managed to get a relatively clear picture of the overall situation of that undead army. Seeing it in a dominant position as it was about to overwhelm the monsters without suffering too much damage in the process.
At the same time, also seeing final instant of the bone bird where it was swallowed up by a stray fireball that should have come from one of the undead mages or the few monsters capable of using fire magic.
Everything put together, the situation wasn’t that worrisome, as it just looked like the bone bird had ended up falling by accident during the clash between the undead army and an army of monsters sent out by the dungeon core to delay this undead army from joining up with them at the main battlefield. Nothing to worry about, all he needed to do was report this upwards and send out a new bone bird to the location of the undead army.
Although the loss of a bone bird was something that would normally be punished, given the fact that it happened during an ambush arranged by the dungeon core, he could flip the situation around and blame it on the necromancer in charge of the undead army being ambushed. After all, it was that leading necromancer’s clear obliviousness that had resulted in the undead army being caught by surprise... And even if it wasn’t the case, he could always spin things the way he wanted.
No matter what, he understood the attitude of his superior and the blame wouldn’t fall with a small necromancer like himself. Instead, it was bound to fall on the head of that leading necromancer who had ended up causing a delay.
After all, it was clear from that this wasn’t the first time this undead army had been delayed and while others were already starting to show up ahead of time, this was one of the only undead armies that had found itself falling that far behind schedule.
Thinking this to himself, the younger necromancer smiled to himself as he set off to inform his superior of the situation and to expect an even slower arrival of that undead army.
As for sending off a new bone bird to get a proper view of the situation of that undead army? He didn’t bother doing it immediately. Feeling it was better to delay things a bit. After all, sending off a new bone bird also meant he would have to guide it back to the undead army in question, something that would undoubtedly take some time.
Instead of that, it was far better to delay things a bit and allow that undead army to get a bit closer. Reducing his own workload in the process.
Not to mention, he still wanted to join in on the trap creation together with the rest of the younger necromancers in charge of monitoring the movements of different undead armies and necromancers outside the main battlefield.
Of course, before he left to inform his superior about the situation, he made sure to remind the others to check on the state of their bone birds as his own had just fallen. Doing this to remind them to keep an eye on their task in case their superior came to investigate things himself; while also doing it so they wouldn’t finish the trap without him.
Even though these necromancers wanted to ignore him, they also understood that their fate wouldn’t be good if their superior ended up finding them slacking off. So, they could only reluctantly return to their job while anxiously waiting for him to return, the perfect situation in the eyes of the young necromancer who headed out.
Unsurprisingly, the outcome of the meeting with their superior didn’t result in him coming down to investigate the situation in person and didn’t even result in any punishment, something that was surprising.
However, the younger necromancer soon enough learnt the reason from this senior necromancer, the crypt guardian or rather the senior necromancer of the Eternal Life Sanctum in charge of this war against the dungeon core, had successfully managed to breach the inner layer of the dungeon core’s defensive formation formed by monsters.
In other words, it wasn’t long before that senior figure reached the dungeon core and ended the war.
Looking at the state of things, there was a very real chance of the war coming to an end before that undead army he had been tasked with keeping an eye on even got to the main battlefield.
Just thinking about it was enough to make this young necromancer who had only reached the rank of an acolyte laugh to himself. After all, someone who didn’t even get to the main battlefield wouldn’t just lose qualifications to get even a single bit of the death energy left on the battlefield but would also suffer consequences that in a worst-case scenario meant death.
A powerful soul weaver, losing everything because they couldn’t show up in time, just thinking about it was laughable.
But at the same time, it would also be an opportunity, as someone new needed to fill the empty space left by the senior at the soul weaver rank when he departed.
Although a little acolyte like himself had no chance of obtaining that spot left behind and ascend to become a soul weaver himself, if he could play his card right, there might very well be a chance for him to ascend into a bone carver when everything was said and done.
The mere thought of becoming a bone carver was more than enough to fill this young necromancer with excitement as he soon enough shifted his attention away from the trap for the adventurers and instead began scheming about the future and how to take advantage of the situation after the fall of that senior soul weaver. Going through a few seniors he knew at the bone carver rank that would undoubtedly be aiming for the position following the fall of that senior soul weaver.
Soon enough, finding one to support, setting off immediately to meet this senior bone carver. Forgetting about the bone bird he needed to send out in the process...