Ch.25Necromancer (1)

KWAAAANG—!!!!

An enormous roar shook through my feet as intense vibrations traveled up my legs.

The tremors were so powerful that stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling began falling down in droves.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

From the bomb’s detonation point came a searing heat that felt like it could burn the skin right off. I could actually smell something burning.

Though muffled by the explosion, I could faintly hear the screams of those inside the fortress.

As I dodged the falling stalactites, Lilly, who had regained some of her senses, looked at the scene and spoke.

“Is this… normal power for that thing?”

Her reaction was understandable. The bomb’s power was clearly disproportionate to the time and money we’d spent creating it.

Yet it wasn’t so difficult to make that only Lilly and I could create it with high-level alchemy.

If the recipe for this magic bomb were to fall into national hands, I couldn’t help but think it might trigger a war.

So I reassured Lilly, saying, “It’s not usually this powerful.”

While the magic bomb was certainly strong, it alone couldn’t cause this level of catastrophe.

“Then what’s causing all this power?”

“I think it’s the location. This place is saturated with high-density magical energy.”

Simply put, it was like throwing a match into flammable material.

The bomb’s power was amplified by detonating in an area already thick with magical energy.

As I briefly explained the abnormal power, the flames gradually began to subside.

However, the flames weren’t dying naturally. It was a forced phenomenon caused by external magical manipulation.

“Damn them…”

Clatter.

The sound of moving bones echoed.

Clatter. Clatter.

The sound of bones moving grew louder.

“To bring such humiliation upon me… you shall pay the price…”

Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.

Led by a Lich at the front, undead numbering in the hundreds began to appear.

The Lich leading the undead horde stared at me with eyes that weren’t human—eye sockets filled with blue flames instead of eyeballs.

“A Lich… you can’t handle that with your current power.”

“Still… I have to try.”

I didn’t deny Lilly’s declaration of my inevitable defeat.

The pressure of magical energy I felt on my skin was enough to tell me the difference between the Lich and myself.

But I had no intention of tucking my tail and running just from making eye contact.

“So… you’re the one who disturbed my rest…”

The Lich approached alone, leaving all its undead behind—a stance that anyone could see was full of openings.

So I took this moment as an opportunity, while the Lich was clearly underestimating me.

“Now.”

I accelerated the moment the Lich came within sufficient range.

Moving at maximum speed, I swung my sword at the Lich along the shortest possible path.

CLANG-

At that moment, bones shot up from the ground between me and the Lich, blocking my sword.

“Such bad manners.”

The Lich gestured toward me, and sharp bones began erupting from the ground around me, trying to impale me.

SWOOSH-

Bones continuously sprouted from the ground.

At first, only a few emerged simultaneously, but as I kept dodging, the number of bones trying to impale me increased over time.

However, as the number of bones increased, the strength of each individual bone decreased. Thanks to this, I was able to counter by cutting through all of them.

“You seem to have some skill.”

With the Lich’s brief words, several of the previously stationary undead behind it began to move.

As the undead moved, the number of bones targeting me decreased. But this wasn’t due to any limitation in ability.

‘So it’s trying to block my movements with bones.’

The bones that had been erupting to attack me now moved to hinder my actions. And in coordination with these bones, the undead swung their weapons at me.

With bones firmly blocking my retreat, I chose to charge straight through.

I dodged attacks with minimal movement and deflected unavoidable attacks with my sword.

The number of undead was troublesome, but since they lacked overwhelming individual power, I managed to escape with only minor injuries.

After this round of attacks, the Lich and I entered a brief lull.

More accurately, it was like a short break while the Lich tested my strength.

“For all your talk about humiliation… you seem to have salvaged everything you could.”

As I said this, I looked at the charred undead that had just attacked me.

‘No wonder I didn’t get any experience points.’

I could now understand why I hadn’t received any experience points despite many undead being caught in the explosion.

“I merely salvaged what was useless. Originally, these should have been in much better condition.”

The undead that had just moved, along with several others standing behind, were the apostles who had been alive until just moments ago.

The Lich had moved in sync with my attack and turned all the apostles into its undead.

‘I basically seasoned them for it.’

While I caught my breath, a few more of the waiting undead began to move.

“Let’s continue testing their living performance before they fully become undead.”

“You’ve already collected plenty of undead. Isn’t this being too greedy?”

“I paused my great work in Gagap to come here. A few undead hardly balance the scales.”

I continued responding to the ongoing attacks while focusing on the Lich’s words.

Whether it was because it was strong enough to receive less filtering from the evil god, or because it thought I would die here anyway, the Lich kept revealing useful information.

‘Gagap, the kingdom of dwarves.’

My previously uncertain plans about where to go after dealing with the apostles here were starting to take shape.

“Then, let’s increase the pace. Heh heh…”

The undead that had been gradually increasing in number had somehow surrounded me with twenty bodies.

Attacks came from all directions. Whenever I took down one undead, another immediately filled its place, and the fallen one began to regenerate.

The problem was that I was using normal sword strikes rather than sword energy. Without aura, I couldn’t permanently destroy Lich-level undead, unlike masterless ones.

“Huff… haa…”

Unable to reduce their numbers and denied even brief moments of rest, my breathing became increasingly labored, forcing me to use my limited breath efficiently.

CRACK.

My sword, after repeatedly clashing with bones, no longer made a clean sound but instead produced the sound of something breaking.

‘About time.’

I glanced briefly toward the Lich.

It was watching me with an interested gaze.

However, still thinking I posed no threat, it hadn’t positioned any undead to protect itself.

‘It thinks I’m harmless because I can’t use sword energy.’

I swung my sword in a wide arc, shaking off all the surrounding undead. It wasn’t the best choice given the importance of conserving energy now.

“Is this your final struggle? Very well, let’s see it.”

Ignoring the Lich’s taunt, I charged.

Since the Lich neither fled nor dodged, I could reach it without much difficulty.

I swung my sword toward the Lich’s body. Simultaneously, the Lich tried to defend against my attack by summoning bones, just like before.

It seemed like the same pattern, but a change occurred in between.

Just before clashing with the bone, I stopped my sword and twisted my body sideways.

This created an angle where I could swing my sword while ignoring the side bones.

I swung my sword again.

CLANG-!

The swung sword made direct contact with the Lich. But what broke was not the Lich, but my sword.

“What a pity your sword is of such poor quality.”

There was no way the Lich would have weakened its own bones. And my sword didn’t have the power to simply cut through the bones created by the Lich.

The Lich looked at my broken sword with a mocking gaze.

“I was waiting for exactly that reaction.”

I swung my broken sword at the Lich again, and the Lich remained still without any reaction.

This was because the distance I swung from was beyond the reach of my broken sword.

“You can’t even gauge distance because of your broken sword…”

When my sword broke, the Lich’s guard dropped to its lowest.

That’s why it thought this was the extent of my skill, and didn’t expect me to unleash sword energy.

SLASH-

My broken sword was suddenly enveloped with aura-formed sword energy that extended beyond the broken blade, cutting through the Lich’s shoulder.

“You… YOU!!!”

I could see the Lich’s shock.

Since I hadn’t used sword energy throughout the fight, nor shown any sign that I could use it, the impact was significant.

Indeed, since I hadn’t used sword energy until just now, it was impossible for the Lich to have noticed—an unavoidable situation.

‘I thought I might be able to use it.’

Using sword energy once leaves traces of aura on the body. So, enemies sensitive to magical energy can easily detect it, which is why I had been waiting for this opportunity.

‘I’ll press on from here.’

Once the undead joined in, opportunities for direct hits would quickly diminish.

Moreover, simply substituting sword energy for a blade like this consumed a lot of aura, so I couldn’t drag this out for long.

‘It needs to get more anxious. So it can focus entirely on the undead.’

As I prepared my next move, I inflicted another wound on the Lich’s body.