Ch.137The Legendary Necromancer Is Dangerous (1)

“Is that what you’ve just remembered? Yes. That’s right. We’ve met face to face a few times, but you didn’t even know I came from Earth.”

Of course that’s obvious. How was I supposed to know that when he never told me?

“After returning to Earth due to some unknown power, I realized you were still there and was certain we would meet again someday.”

“…S-so what are you going to do about it?”

“I will teach you who the true Lord of Death is.”

After finishing his words, Heimdall, the leader of Hades, struck the floor with his staff, infusing it with powerful energy.

Boom.

Rustle.

Crackle!

“He’s trying to continue the resurrection ritual!”

“I’ll try to stop him.”

Beatrice quickly stepped forward and used her unique telekinetic power to create strong gravity at the front of the boss room.

Crack!

Crunch!

As a result, cracks began to form in the walls and floor, but Heimdall’s expression remained calm. He seemed confident that such efforts couldn’t stop the ritual.

Moreover.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to play with me for a while, sister.”

Ping!

Crash!

Faced with the sudden attack, Beatrice hastily took a defensive stance.

“…Fabio? Why are you…?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m helping their side now!”

Boom!

With clearly formidable power, even Beatrice probably couldn’t finish this quickly.

This meant the remaining five people needed to join forces to face Heimdall and stop the resurrection ritual.

‘…Well, more accurately, four people excluding me.’

Henesia, Astride, Seo Min-a, and Chae Hwa-in.

Among them, Chae Hwa-in couldn’t receive energy from me, making a prolonged battle impossible for her.

Whatever the case, we needed to end this quickly.

“What a rare sight, seeing the commander of the Immortal Corps hiding behind her comrades in the body of a mere girl.”

“……”

His words scratched at my nerves, but I couldn’t afford to get excited.

After all, once I regained my power, his words would mean nothing—he’d be no more than chaff.

Seeing my unexpected reaction, Heimdall clicked his tongue softly and began spreading his energy around.

“Come forth, Gregor, Calita, Tuhumvirgen.”

Crack!

Whoosh!

Simultaneous summoning without any delay, and all three were high-level undead.

His claim about grinding his teeth in preparation seemed true—he possessed surprisingly solid skills as a necromancer.

‘…Even at the Academy, only the Chancellor was at this level.’

I clicked my tongue and quickly assessed the forces on both sides.

His undead were quite strong, but given enough time, we would win.

The question was how much time we had.

“Let me tell you in advance, the ritual can no longer be stopped.”

“…We’ll see about that when we try.”

Astride drew her holy sword Ulferia and unleashed countless sword strikes.

Swoosh!

Ping!

Crash!

The boss room was instantly shredded, but Heimdall barely protected himself with the help of his three undead. Then he laughed as if in disbelief.

“I wasn’t mistaken after all. Isn’t this the noble Lady Astride? Have you been well?”

“…I don’t remember seeing someone like you.”

“Well, I suppose you wouldn’t. It doesn’t matter. Soon you’ll be nothing more than a mere girl before the one who is coming.”

What remarkable confidence.

And honestly, I was beginning to wonder about the source of that confidence.

‘This guy isn’t as incompetent as I thought…?’

Of course, he couldn’t even touch the hem of my garment during my prime, but he was clearly a necromancer who had reached mastery.

Given how much Heimdall worshipped him, if Gildeon were resurrected, our current forces might not be enough to handle him.

“Y-you don’t need to face him directly. Focus on breaking the ritual.”

“…Yes, teacher.”

“I’ll take care of the resurrection ritual.”

The two demonstrated their usual teamwork as they began pressuring Heimdall, while Seo Min-a proved her earlier words weren’t just bluster by activating various skills to read the opponent’s moves.

“The formation before us is low priority. Senior Hwa-in, could you split the ceiling?”

“…Sword of Opening.”

Swish!

Crash!

Through the split in the ceiling, a massive magic stone covered in all sorts of spell formulas was revealed.

Heimdall’s expression immediately hardened as he clicked his tongue.

“I’m surprised you noticed so quickly. I was using the method left by him…”

Yet even in this situation, Heimdall showed no signs of defeat.

The reason for this would soon become clear to everyone.

Whoosh.

Rustle.

“I definitely destroyed everything…”

“The ritual isn’t stopping.”

The formations before our eyes weren’t just illusions. Each one was an actual component constituting part of the ritual.

‘And yet, if it’s useless, that means…’

Having figured out the secret, I frowned and pointed at Heimdall.

“Y-you’ve used yourself as the ritual altar.”

“…Correct. That’s why I said the ritual can no longer be stopped.”

From the beginning, he had intended to sacrifice even his own life.

That’s why it didn’t matter if Hades members were pushed back or at a disadvantage in terms of power.

‘…This guy is completely insane, isn’t he?’

Perhaps seeing my disgusted look, Heimdall, now accelerating the ritual that was approaching its final stage, began to speak.

“I had no lingering attachments to this world. But the necromancy I learned after going there was different. It was my everything, essentially my only remaining value.”

“……”

Honestly, I’d heard this repertoire so many times that I could predict what he’d say next.

“But after encountering you, all my value disappeared. Unless I resolved the humiliation that festered that day, I would not truly be alive even if I lived.”

“……”

Still, in the end, it wasn’t even his own power.

Reading my gaze, Heimdall laughed as if he had expected this reaction.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll watch from the afterlife as you face your limits and crumble.”

Whoosh!

With that, the spell formations engraved all over Heimdall’s body began to glow, and soon he collapsed as if his soul had left his body.

And finally, the ritual was completed.

“Th-this is bad…”

Even I couldn’t have predicted he would resort to such methods.

It was a tactic that those prideful types in this field would never choose.

But he had already abandoned all attachment to his own achievements.

That’s how massive a wall he had felt from me.

‘…Being too good really causes problems.’

The ritual was complete.

Soon the rumored Gildeon would be resurrected and descend here.

In this complicated situation, Beatrice, who had subdued Fabio, offered a suggestion.

“What about launching a surprise attack with all our might when the opponent resurrects?”

It’s certainly not an unreasonable plan.

The firepower gathered here could obliterate even a formidable opponent without leaving a trace.

There’s a good chance it would work on him too.

Henesia added another point to this.

“I’ll prepare teleportation spell formations for each person in advance. If the first attack doesn’t work, we can immediately move to where the other party members are.”

“G-good. Let’s try it.”

It was a bit underhanded, but honestly, it wasn’t my concern.

Since I couldn’t use my power, this wasn’t the time to be picky about methods.

“…He’s coming.”

Rustle.

Powerful energy swirled around the boss room, and a massive magical formation formed around Heimdall’s corpse.

At the same time, the blood and flesh of all the monsters gathered as sacrifices began to merge and form some kind of shape.

Crack!

Crunch!

Crackle!

The party members each drew up their power and prepared to strike.

And the moment the finally revealed form showed the slightest movement, all that power flew toward it like an exploding bomb.

“Sword of Lamentation.”

“Arcana, Hanged Man.”

“Gravity Crush!”

Boom!

Crash!

Attacks delivered with enough force to collapse the dungeon. However, strangely, the impact was less than expected. Something had offset the shock.

‘He blocked it after noticing it immediately upon resurrection?’

Whether intentional or instinctive, it showed extraordinary skill.

Realizing the attack had failed, Henesia raised her tension and prepared to activate the teleportation spell, while everyone’s gaze met the human form revealed before them.

And that form quietly opened its mouth, uttering its first words since resurrection.

“…It was not you who summoned me.”

Such a calm tone. Like someone confident that those present posed no threat.

What appeared next was a young man with elegant ash-gray hair and red eyes.

But that was just the outer appearance—everyone who saw him directly could sense something entirely different hidden within.

This was the resurrected legendary necromancer, Gildeon.