episode_0047

Necromancer. A type of mage who forcibly revives and subjugates souls that have already died and crumbled away. Unlike Corpse Mages who handle the physical form of a corpse, they perform mysterious miracles using the abstract concept of a soul.

It is an art that cannot even be attempted without an understanding of souls and the talent to handle them. Not a unique magic, but a forbidden art of heresy (邪魔外道) with a level of danger and difficulty comparable to one.

Just like Corpse Mages who handle corpses and Blood Mages who handle blood, the source of life, Necromancers also needed to abandon a certain degree of humanity to achieve greatness.

Starting from the 7th tier, where the uniqueness of magic begins to be acquired, they gradually start abandoning human ethics, and at the 8th tier, reaching the realm of Archmages, it was practically a state where humanity was lost entirely.

The mage before their eyes was like that. An Archmage like Zervil and Ena. A monster who had long since lost their human heart. A high-ranking mage who acted solely by their own judgment and reason.

“We have to run.”

Warren muttered. The party didn’t look back at him, but agreed with his words in silence.

From the start, this was an unwinnable opponent. Archmages are treated as major national powers, one by one. For those who are still mere academy students to discuss victory against such a practitioner? It was absurd. Before bravery, it was arrogance and foolhardiness.

At this moment, even talent held little meaning.

Asel clenched his teeth and racked his brain to break through the current situation.

Resistance only offered a momentary reprieve. To survive, they had to first escape this place.

But how?

The moment that question arose, the countless souls that had surged behind her convulsed as if shackled. They strung together words without meaning, screamed, and drooled as if they would rush forward at any moment.

It didn’t matter much whether they were excellent warriors or intelligent mages in life. Now, their appearance was merely that of evil spirits living only to kill others.

However, their abilities were the same as in life. It was a situation where high-ranking warriors and mages were clearly spread out at a glance. Easily dozens of talents rarely seen anywhere were gathered.

Even these were merely tools to assist the Necromancer. The most dangerous thing in this place was the Necromancer herself, who directly grasped and wielded souls.

Asel swallowed hard and stacked layers of shields to protect his body. The Necromancer wore a languid smile as she saw his appearance.

“I trust you’re all ready. I think I’ve given you plenty of time.”

“……”

“Then let’s begin.”

She said, extending her hand forward.

That was the signal. The shackles binding the souls were released. They rushed forward all at once to feast on the flesh and blood of the living. Mages chanted spells, and warriors drew their weapons and accelerated their bodies.

“……!”

A speed so fast it couldn’t be captured even by Asel’s expanded senses. But he faintly discerned the paths of the swords they swung. Asel gritted his teeth and clapped his hands forcefully. From his cupped hands, where a clapping sound should have come, a thunderous roar erupted.

A small flash of light scattered in the direction the sound spread.

Immediately, the flash became dozens of bolts of lightning, sweeping through every place the sound reached.

[Thunderclap Rupture]

Kuaaaahhhh!!

A high-tier magic used to face armies or alter terrain. Its power needed no explanation.

However, most of the undead filling the cave were those who had rolled on battlefields in life. While they couldn’t fully withstand the speed and destructive power unique to electric magic, they could minimize it by deflecting.

Thanks to this, the undead swirling around Asel, though they might have had limbs torn off one by one, did not return to being souls.

From the start, they were beings that regenerated endlessly unless their connection with the Necromancer was severed. Partial body loss was nothing to them.

“Shit!”

Quill’s curse reached Asel’s ears. But he had no time to look back at him. Asel reverse-calculated and dismantled a fire orb flying towards him, using it as power for his own magic.

[Pillar of Great Flame Rotation]

Kwarurururu!!

A massive pillar of flame spun wildly around Asel as its center. Those who felt the lingering magical power hastily backed away, and those who couldn’t had their upper bodies torn off as if melted away.

It was meaningless damage. They immediately pierced through the flames with regenerated arms and swung swords towards Asel’s neck.

Asel instinctively thrust a shield into the sword’s path, but the shield shattered like glass without offering any resistance. The undead, close to a Master, had their aura slice through the shield like tofu and approached to sever Asel’s neck.

Asel frowned intensely and hastily threw his head back. Thanks to this, he barely avoided having his head cut off, but half of his left ear was sliced off.

“Keugh…!”

Blood splattered in one part of his vision. Piercing through that blood, a spear flew this time. He pulled out Mana Strings to tie the spear shaft and immediately sent it back on its path. Simultaneously, an assassin cloaked in invisibility magic approached and plunged a dagger into Asel’s back.

A searing pain, the first he’d felt since becoming a mage, heated his head, and Asel coughed up blood, using telekinesis magic to grab and detonate the assassin’s head. Following this, he used mass to push and shatter all the swords, spears, arrows, and magic flying towards him from the surroundings.

The frantic assault paused for a moment. Asel didn’t miss the brief respite and spat out a mass that had risen in his throat along with blood.

“Ugh!”

Fragments of red organs splattered wetly on the floor. This was because a part of his organs had been sliced off by the assassin’s dagger. He gritted his teeth and pulled out the dagger stuck in his back, throwing it to the floor.

Woong.

He imbued his eyes with magic. His vision, now transcending into the realm of the mystical, took in the situation of his companions.

Quill’s ankle was twisted backwards. Fortunately, no part of his body was severed, but there was a deep laceration on his side. He had a deep burn scar etched on his left forearm, whether from magic or not.

Warren was on the verge of dying. Perhaps his throat had been deeply cut, blood-tinged phlegm gurgled in his mouth with every breath. Thanks to the spirit sharing its life force with him, he wasn’t dead yet, but it was clear he would die in a few minutes.

Saya was impaled by a spear through her abdomen, unable to move either way. Blood continuously poured from her mouth, and although she was responding to the undead’s attacks with Fox Fire, it was visible that her life force was disappearing in real-time.

Thanks to the undead focusing intensely on Asel, the number of enemies they had to face was not very large, but even so, the difference in capability was clear. There was no way they, lacking experience and with low tiers, could hold out for long against the undead.

In the end, only Asel was relatively unharmed. He glared at the Necromancer and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

“…You son of a bitch.”

As the situation became dangerous, curses automatically spilled out. The Necromancer wore a comfortable smile upon hearing his curse.

“Beings close to death are divided into two types. Those who struggle until the end and those who accept death. You are the former.”

“……”

“I like such beings. It’s difficult to handle them when their ego is strong after turning them into undead, but there’s a taste in breaking them. The ones you are facing right now are those who couldn’t do that. To put it simply, they aren’t even my elite soldiers. They are mere maggots I consume and discard carelessly.”

“Shut up.”

“But don’t worry. I have no intention of consuming you like that.”

She stretched the corners of her lips and looked down at Asel with greedy eyes.

“Your use of all sorts of magic, including electric arts, was very impressive. I even saw signs of you awakening a Magic Eye. Excellent. I will make you my personal guard.”

“……”

“And I’ll have to show your master, my younger sibling, your form transformed into an undead. That will be a truly pleasant experience.”

“Younger sibling?”

Words that could not be easily dismissed popped out. Asel’s head momentarily froze, and the Necromancer showed a warm expression.

“Small talk ends here. And this isn’t a situation where you have the leisure to ask me questions, is it?”

As she finished speaking, she lightly flicked her finger. Then, one of the mages lined up behind her manifested and fired a spell without any prior sign. Asel ground his teeth and twisted the direction of the magic in reverse.

A bizarre situation where he was hit by the magic he himself had manifested. But the undead wasn’t flustered. Neither was the Necromancer.

She still looked down at Asel with a smiling face and crushed the incoming magic.

Asel took his eyes off her and used repulsion to blast away a spearman rushing towards him.

Her words were correct.

Focusing on questions in a life-or-death situation was madness. The important thing was to escape this place safely.

Asel forced himself to swallow the blood that was rising again and took out a gem he had put in his pocket.

A magical medium on which a spell had been inscribed through an unfitting crafting process. Asel threw the gem onto the floor without hesitation. Immediately, dozens of magic circles floated in the air, and he injected mana into only the necessary ones to manifest them.

[Lightning Mist]

[Smoke Mist]

[Stored Fire Flame Banner]

[Lightning Flower Resonance]

Magic of various types activated simultaneously.

Lightning filled the space like mist.

Smoke rose and filled the cave, and a giant flame banner was planted in the floor, spewing flames.

Flowers made of lightning bloomed everywhere, resonating with each other to form a lightning zone.

A festival of space-occupying magic. Leaving behind the undead who couldn’t easily approach, Asel connected Mana Strings to Warren and Quill, who were writhing in pain. He lifted them into the air and rushed towards Saya.

The two people tied by the strings collapsed as soon as their feet touched the ground. Quill, with a crushed leg and organs spilling from his side, couldn’t even stand properly, and Warren couldn’t do anything but gasp for breath.

Saya, stuck on the spear and groaning, was the same. She looked at Asel, who had approached nearby, with trembling eyes and coughed up a gush of blood.

“W-What do we do? Are we, keugh, are we going to die here? I don’t want to… I still, I still have a lot left to do… My family, my family is still…!”

“You won’t die.”

Asel said that in a dying voice.

Saya seemed unable to hear his words anymore, continuously muttering to herself. Every time she spoke, blood gurgled, and her white clothes were dyed red. She was not in good condition.

Everyone here was like that.

Asel forced open his eyes, which were blurring due to bleeding, and manifested magic. It was magic that helped stem bleeding to some extent, but it was difficult to avoid death with just this. Even if he completely stopped the bleeding, it couldn’t be a fundamental solution to surviving.

What about dealing with the Necromancer?

Nonsense. With her elite soldiers, who were guaranteed to be stronger than them, not even having appeared yet, how could he possibly kill the Necromancer?

The only way to survive was to escape. It goes without saying, but with the party’s current state, breaking through the Necromancer and exiting through the passage was impossible. That was merely a means of suicide. It wasn’t even worth attempting.

Then there was only one remaining means of escape.

The teleportation spell Asel had personally seen. A high-level magic that moved to a preset coordinate when specific conditions were met.

Just recalling it, the spell appeared as clear as a picture.

There was no time for modification. Instead of calculating the recalled spell mentally, Asel poured in a large amount of mana, directly drew the magic circle, and activated it. Then the magic circle glowed and began calculating the spell activation conditions.

It assessed the state of those judged as severely injured. It identified the four people in critical condition and sent an emergency alarm to the academy’s medical department.

Simultaneously, the magic activated. Light emerged from the bodies of the party members who were on the verge of death, and they began to move towards the designated coordinates—

“A childish trick.”

Puhwak!

Just before the magic activated, a mana arrow flew from somewhere, aimed at Asel’s head. Asel layered shields in the arrow’s path and even crossed his hands, but the arrow shattered all the shields and embedded deeply in both of his hands.

“Keugh…!”

Fortunately, his head wasn’t pierced, but due to the arrow’s recoil, Asel was sent tumbling out of the magic circle.

But the magic’s activation didn’t stop. He gritted his teeth and maintained the flow of mana to manifest the teleportation spell. He sent the party members to the injured reception center from the academy entrance exam.

Because it was a broad-area spell cast rather than one granted to individuals, the mana consumed increased exponentially. Thanks to this, it was possible to accurately use the unfamiliar teleportation magic, but the caster himself, having used the magic, couldn’t move and remained in the cave.

A futile result. But Asel wasn’t flustered. He used telekinesis magic to pull out the arrows stuck in both hands and coughed up a large amount of blood.

In the process of tumbling, his already injured organs had suffered deep damage.

A sensation as if life was instantly shortened. Asel tightly bit his lip and took something out of his pocket with his bloody hands. Before the Necromancer could even figure out what it was, she projected mana and slammed his body into the floor.

“Keohk!”

Asel’s face collided with the stone floor. A shock so severe it made his head spin for a moment. Under the pressure crushing his body, he barely managed to lift only his eyes and gaze at the Necromancer’s face.

Her face, which had been leisurely all along, was now thickly filled with a feeling of displeasure.

“My oversight.”

She said, rising to her feet.

“I didn’t know you could even use teleportation magic. I tried to interfere with the magic the moment I realized it, but it was strangely flawless. Thanks to that, I couldn’t do anything except push you out, let alone interfere. Even so, the magic activated, and the rest, excluding you, safely escaped somewhere.”

“……”

“A truly unpleasant experience. If I had known this, I would have sent my elite soldiers from the start or come myself. My hobby of watching the moment life drains from a dying being held me back.”

“You’re still… Hahh… talking a lot…”

It was difficult to speak due to the pressure crushing his chest. Nevertheless, Asel mocked her.

The white hair clutched in his right hand faintly sparkled.

“You were always like that… Zervil, that bastard, hahh, that bastard also talked a lot…”

“So you know Zervil. Ah, I see. Your reaction earlier was like that.”

Clack, clack.

The Necromancer walked towards Asel and spoke. The undead, wanting to kill Asel, drooled and cleared a path for her.

“Speaking of which, Zervil said he was interested in Ena’s disciple. It seems you’ve met somewhere before. This is quite an interesting situation.”

She grinned broadly and grabbed Asel’s hair, pulling him up. Their gazes met in the air.

“What reaction would he have if I brought back your soul to the man who wants to turn you into a corpse? Would that drug addict get seriously angry, or would he just laugh it off indifferently as always? I’m curious. Truly curious.”

“…I have no intention of playing along.”

Asel muttered in a blood-scented voice and lowered his head deeply. The Necromancer scoffed at him.

“That’s for me to decide. Not you.”

“No.”

Asel said, lifting only his eyes while his head was still bowed.

“The decision is mine.”

At that moment, different magics simultaneously erupted from both of his hands. A concealed mana activation so subtle even the Necromancer didn’t notice. It couldn’t be a dagger to finish her off, but it was enough to steal her vision for a moment.

The bleeding caused by the arrow wounds. Manipulating that blood to draw magic circles, and using the remaining mana down to the last drop for two spells.

[Ascending Lightning]

Ppppssszzzzt!!!

Lightning condensed in Asel’s left hand, which was touching the floor, and burst forth all at once, surging upwards. The Necromancer clicked her tongue and took a step back, and Asel used the recoil from the lightning to create distance from the Necromancer.

In the process, his body hit the wall, causing his vision to momentarily black out, but even amidst that, he didn’t stop the activation of the magic manifested in his right hand.

The teleportation spell that had sent his companions to a safe place. He completely stripped away the complex intricacies contained within it, and instantly modified it into a magic that would only activate with a specific medium.

A simple and limited magic that moves to the location where the medium’s mana resides. Asel chose the white hair he carried to immediately reply when a carrier pigeon returned as that medium.

There was no need to ponder whose it was.

“……!”

The Necromancer, realizing the nature of the magic, contorted her face and, for the first time, directly manifested magic herself. Souls gathered to form a single sphere, which was fired as if to crush Asel whole.

If he stayed put, his entire body would be crushed to death before the teleportation spell could activate. But instead of responding, Asel closed his eyes and forcibly shut down all his senses.

In a state already facing death, his talent was looking beyond death itself.

It wasn’t that difficult to mimic an undead.

“…Ah.”

A world where all sensations vanished. The world of death where none of his five senses, nor the sense to feel mana, were felt at all. For some reason, Asel felt as if a tree was growing beyond it and slowly opened his eyes. Simultaneously, all his senses returned.

What he saw upon opening his eyes again was the Necromancer, who had lost an arm from being hit by the magic he used in reverse, and a bracelet glowing on his right wrist. Asel grinned and spoke to the Necromancer, who was staring at him with bewildered eyes.

“So it was a magic tool that worked this way.”

“…You.”

“Thank you. I gained a lot thanks to you.”

He stared directly at her face, which was distorted like a demon.

“See you next time. There will be quite a lot to talk about then.”

He didn’t hear a reply. The teleportation spell manifested in Asel’s right hand activated the moment it detected the medium’s mana.

His body instantly vanished from the cave.

The Necromancer, left standing alone, couldn’t even think about stopping the blood flowing like a waterfall and let out a hollow laugh.

“…Haha.”

Soon, the hollow laugh turned into maniacal laughter.

“Ahahahaahah!!!”

A contradictory laugh mixed with anger, interest, and amusement simultaneously. She stood there for a long time, laughing madly. Then she suddenly stopped laughing and quietly muttered.

“…Ena’s disciple.”

It was the moment that name was deeply etched into her mind.