Ch.96Chapter 96 – Iscariot (3)

The battle was chaotic. A barrage of bullets infused with holy power rained down, while Death Knights fell endlessly from above, pouncing on the hunters. Some wielded swords like proper knights, while others incongruously carried modern firearms—either way, they were equally threatening.

“Damn it! These corpses are firing machine guns from above! We need to destroy them first!”

“The close-range fighters keep swarming me, I can’t find time to cast spells…!”

The hunters aimed to target the liches performing the ritual in the center of the cavern, but the endless stream of undead kept them pinned down, making it difficult to advance even a meter. All they could manage was to repel the joining monsters by pouring out magic and bullets.

“Aren’t the mages doing their job?!”

“We’re busy too! Just throw some grenades!”

The living and the dead were entangled in their mutual attempts to return each other to dust. In that crucible of chaos, Kwak Tae-woo swung his sword like a madman. As he sliced through a Death Knight’s armor with his blade, he thought:

‘I need to imbue my sword with killing intent. A deeper killing intent… Damn it, how?’

He tried to put the Sword Ghost’s teachings into practice, keeping them close to heart. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

The level-up notifications rang intermittently as he slaughtered the high-tier Death Knights, but his swordsmanship showed no signs of improvement.

Tae-woo grew anxious. Abundant experience points, an endless battlefield—this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for growth, and he didn’t want to miss it…

‘I can level up anytime. But to fundamentally improve my skills, now is the perfect time. Now, when I can observe the Sword Ghost up close—the world’s finest living textbook…’

Even amid the chaotic battle with bullets flying from all directions, the Sword Ghost and Kyle moved freely across the battlefield, exchanging sword strikes. Kicking off walls, using falling Death Knights’ armor as springboards, they engaged in a spectacular aerial combat that ignored the distinction between sky and ground. They seemed to exist in a universe light-years away from the hunters struggling on the ground.

Even while fighting, Tae-woo kept glancing at the battle between the Sword Ghost and Kyle, trying to etch the swordsmanship of these two genius swordsmen clearly into his mind.

The Black Knight’s swordsmanship was stable and domineering. His greatsword technique had the precision of formal swordsmanship, with disciplined forms and destructive execution.

In contrast, the Sword Ghost’s style was irregular and precarious. Like an acrobat dancing on a tightrope, he frolicked on the edge of death. At first glance, his swordsmanship seemed unremarkable, just basic low-level techniques. His body techniques were awkward, and his footwork imperfect.

Yet when death chased him to the brink, he would escape each crisis with unbelievably subtle sword strokes. It was like watching a manga protagonist who awakens with each life-threatening situation.

‘Weak normally but strong when cornered. The Sword Ghost’s blade is truly fascinating… Is it because he’s self-taught? Or is there some other reason?’

And so the pattern repeated: Kyle would press the Sword Ghost with the destructive power of his greatsword, and the Sword Ghost would endure until the critical moment when he’d slip in a counter, bringing the balance of power back to equilibrium.

Tae-woo watched the dance of the two swordsmen as if entranced. For them, the body was merely a tool to move the sword, and the sword was the medium through which their will was executed. Completely disregarding the minor wounds accumulating on their bodies, they exchanged attacks aimed at tearing out each other’s throats.

“Without concern for one’s safety. With only the determination to kill the opponent, the sword… like an extension of the body…”

Tae-woo mumbled absently.

Shin Jae-hyuk, noticing Tae-woo’s distraction, scolded him.

“Hey! Blockhead! If you’ve got time to daydream, stop the summoning first! Ugh!”

-If you’re distracted, you’ll die. Feeling leisurely, are we?

Bone spears suddenly erupted from the cave floor like lurker spines, chasing after Jae-hyuk. He quickly rolled away, escaping the attack range.

After his brief warning, Jae-hyuk refocused on his battle with Iscariot. But the summoning ritual distracted him, making it impossible to fully concentrate on his opponent. Iscariot knew this too.

-Worried about the ritual, aren’t you? Heh, I wonder how far it’s progressed? Halfway? Or perhaps nearly complete?

“Your wicked words won’t confuse me! Light!”

A holy shockwave deflected the small bone spikes flying like throwing daggers. Jae-hyuk taunted Iscariot.

“How cowardly, you’ve become an assassin rather than a mage!”

-Hehe, not a mage but a dark mage, and for a dark mage, that’s a compliment.

Iscariot raised a bone shield to block the lightning spear Jae-hyuk had thrown in a surprise attack, then chuckled.

-Oh, Longinus. Stop lying and be honest. Your spell reveals your inner anxiety.

“I do not fear you! The Lord grants victory to those who do not lose faith!”

-Ho, it’s been a while since I heard that verse. Acts 5:9, was it?

As if feeling nostalgic, Iscariot murmured softly, then wiggled his bony fingers. With that small movement, bones erupted from the floor like snakes.

“Ugh!”

The bones that broke through the cave floor were like rapidly growing plants. As they chased Jae-hyuk, trying to catch him, they split into multiple branches like vines and lunged at him.

‘No, not vines… more like roots.’

“Argh! Shit! What is this?!”

“W-wait! I’m caught!”

“Ayaka! Are you okay? Wait, this thing is grabbing monsters too?”

The bone roots swept across the battlefield, capturing beings indiscriminately. Like octopus tentacles, they grabbed and wrapped around whatever moved. And those caught—both hunters and Death Knights—had their vitality completely drained, becoming desiccated corpses.

“Damn it! Ayaka!!!!”

“H-hieek. The people who got caught turned into mummies…”

“It absorbs life force?”

This was necromancy that even Jae-hyuk had never experienced before.

“What bizarre… How can dead inorganic matter grow like a living organism?”

-It’s the fruit of my research. I can do things like this too.

The bone tree, now grown as thick as an ancient tree, sprouted sharp thorns that fired at Jae-hyuk. He swung his spear, the holy power enveloping the shaft melting the bones.

“Your light, in my hands!”

The lightning spear struck the bone tree directly. But the tree consumed Iscariot’s dark magic bit by bit, instantly regenerating its wounds.

Self-healing too? While Jae-hyuk was bewildered by this extraordinary magic, Iscariot breathed dark magic into the tree.

-As the Light gently breathed life into the World Tree, life blossomed in the tree and fruit appeared. That fruit had two arms and two legs, a pair of eyes, a nose, a mouth, and pointed ears.

“…Genesis 4:4. The creation myth of the High Elves! Don’t tell me that bone tree is imitating the World Tree…!”

Jae-hyuk’s eyes widened as he recognized Iscariot’s incantation. At the same time, Iscariot’s spell was completed. Various branches of the bone tree swelled up. Fruits were forming.

The fruits, gradually absorbing the life force harvested by the roots, grew to human size, then split open like ripe bean pods, releasing what was inside. Astonishingly, what emerged from the fruits were zombies.

“GRRRRRR-!!!”

Dozens of zombies were born from dozens of fruits. Following their instincts, the newborn zombies lunged at nearby humans, seeking life force. Jae-hyuk was shocked.

“Creating undead from nothing? Impossible!”

Draining human vitality to create undead. Though it seemed unremarkable at first glance, for Jae-hyuk who understood the principles of undead, it was a horrifying sight.

Necromancy is the art of controlling a dead body according to the necromancer’s will by interfering with the connection between a dead person’s soul and body—when both exist. In other words, necromancy cannot succeed if either the soul or the body is missing.

That’s how it should be.

‘But… what is this?’

A cursed tree that steals others’ lives to birth soulless undead. Artificially created flesh without souls moved according to Iscariot’s will. This was no longer in the realm of necromancy. There was a more appropriate word to describe this phenomenon.

“Creation…”

-Keke, calling dark magic ‘creation’? Such blasphemous words from your mouth—I’ve lived long enough to see everything.

Iscariot calmly spoke while controlling his dark magic.

-A byproduct of four hundred years of human research. Not perfect due to insufficient materials, but…

Iscariot pointed at a zombie—the first one born. The zombie convulsed weakly like an elderly person at the end of life, then failed to maintain its physical cohesion and collapsed. In less than ten minutes, the zombie born of dark magic crumbled into dust.

“…It has a time limit. Of course it can’t be perfect. That’s the realm of God.”

-Don’t worry. Once I extract your divine blood, it will soon be perfect. And even in this imperfect state, I can use it like this.

Corpse explosion.

With those words, the zombie Iscariot pointed at exploded. Several Death Knights and one hunter were caught in the blast.

“AAAAARGH-!!!”

The hunter, movements slowed by burn pain, was caught by the bone roots. Seconds later, he became a mummy drained of life force.

-How about that? This perpetual motion machine. Isn’t it magnificent?

Creating zombies to explode them, then absorbing those killed in the explosion to create new zombies—a perpetual machine, a bomb factory that wouldn’t stop until everyone was dead. Jae-hyuk realized the danger.

‘Essentially infinite kamikaze… I need to destroy it quickly.’

Even now, bomb-like zombies were being manufactured from the fruits. The zombies that emerged from the fruits grabbed the living, and Iscariot waved his hands like a conductor leading a symphony. The zombies exploded in succession, creating a scene like an aerial bombardment.

Jae-hyuk moved urgently to stop this.

“STOP! Light-!”

A giant hammer of light covering his mace struck the massive bone tree. The base of the tree caved in, causing the entire trunk to sway.

-Oh no. Stop him!

The zombies spreading in all directions changed course at Iscariot’s command, rushing toward Jae-hyuk. Pushing back the swarming zombies with shockwaves, Jae-hyuk repeatedly hammered at the tree’s base.

“Radiance-!”

But his firepower was insufficient. The bone tree mimicking the World Tree was too thick; it regenerated faster than Jae-hyuk’s spells could cut it down.

Jae-hyuk called out to the other hunters engaged in the melee.

“Hey! I need to destroy this but don’t have enough firepower! Anyone?”

Just then, Tae-woo threw something to Jae-hyuk.

“Catch this-!”

Thunk. Jae-hyuk easily caught the rapidly approaching object and checked what it was. It was a Claymore mine that Tae-woo had leftover from America. He’d kept it in his spatial storage.

‘…Isn’t this the Claymore that blew my head off at the hotel?’

With mixed feelings, Jae-hyuk quickly stuffed it into the axe mark at the tree’s base. Light. After blessing the Claymore with a holy enhancement spell, Jae-hyuk pressed the detonator.

KABOOOOM-!!

Tremendous light and heat erupted, destroying the bone tree. The tree toppled like it had been felled by a lumberjack.

-T-this can’t be… my masterpiece…!

Iscariot covered his face as if dumbfounded. But Jae-hyuk sensed something off. His tone wasn’t that of someone backed into a corner. Rather, it contained a hint of laughter.

-I’ve lost. I admit defeat. Just spare me… please… show mercy…

“…”

-…is what you thought I’d say?

Massive dark magic gathered. Not from Iscariot. That energy, pulsing like a giant’s heartbeat, was detected from the center of the cavern.

From the ritual pit that Jae-hyuk had neglected while dealing with Iscariot.

“…The ritual!!”

-HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Iscariot rejoiced sincerely.

The dark magic’s pulsation grew faster. Like a heart after a sprint, like a heart in love. Eventually, as the pulsation became as violent as the breathing of someone on the verge of death, Jae-hyuk’s face turned pale.

“Everyone evacuate!!!!!!!”

The Sword Ghost was the first to notice the anomaly. He threw his sword to distract Kyle Leonhardt and helped the hunters escape.

“Get through the gate!”

At those words, the hunters instinctively realized the mission had failed. As planned beforehand, they ran toward the gate without looking back.

No undead blocked their way. They were prostrated around the pit, respectfully awaiting their master’s arrival.

-Dragon Slaughter!

-Belphegor! Belphegor! Lord of Death!

As Jae-hyuk escaped through the gate, he heard ecstatic laughter behind him. Immediately after, the overwhelming dark magic concentrated in the pit exploded.