Chapter 111

Chapter 111

Spendthrift Necromancer (111)

DullahanDullahan.

An undead with no head, but blue flames burning around where its face should have been. You could roughly read their emotions from the movement of those flames.

The Dullahan group tilted their nonexistent heads as they looked at Kim Minwoo.

They instinctively understood that this man was the master who had summoned them.‘A remarkable Necromancer.’The moment they were summoned, they could feel tremendous power coursing through their bodies.

And if he could summon this many Dullahans at once, he had to be an extraordinary Necromancer.

But that was that.

Why was he holding a sword and crooking his finger at them provocatively?

And on top of that, telling all of them to come at him?

Dullahans had once been knights. Massive lumps of ego with pride taller than anyone's.‘Arrogant.’‘He dares provoke us with a sword?’The flames above the Dullahans burned ominously.

Then.―I'll go.

Dullahan Number One, the first summoned.

He drew his sword, approached Kim Minwoo, and spoke.―I am Milton de Reynold.

“Too long. From now on, you're Dull-One.”―……

Dull-One?

“You're Dullahan Number One, aren't you?”

Had he seriously named him Dull-One just because he was Dullahan Number One?

He had met quite a few masters before, but never in his existence had he heard such a lazy name.―……

I am Milton de Reynold. If that is difficult to say, you may call me Milton.

“Dull-One.”―……

Milton.

“Dull-One.”―You bastard!

He'd already compromised this much because the man at least looked like a remarkable Necromancer, and now even that was being rejected?

The Dullahan drew his sword and charged in fury.

Then.

Slash!

The sound of something being cut rang out. The Dullahans stared blankly at Milton.‘Is it over?’‘Already?’‘How dull.’‘He didn't kill him, did he?’It would be one thing if that Necromancer had used other Skills befitting his calling.

Instead, the man had bizarrely chosen to use a sword.

There hadn't been any sign of a Skill either, so surely he'd been subdued in an instant.

That much was fine, but killing him would be troublesome.

There weren't many Necromancers capable of summoning high-ranking undead like them.

And Necromancers capable of summoning this many were even rarer.

If their summoner died, they would have to enter a sleep close to eternal rest until another Necromancer appeared who could summon them.

Milton probably hated that too, so surely he had only roughed the man up a little…….―……

Huh?

Before that thought could even finish.

Milton's body split cleanly in two and crumbled away.―……!

He'd been defeated in a single exchange?

The 179 remaining Dullahans weren't the only ones shocked.

Dullahan Number One, who had gone first.

Milton, revived after being split in half, was equally horrified.‘What?’Forget the fact that he'd revived.

How exactly had he been defeated?

He'd charged with his sword, and then the world had gone black.

“Come to your senses?”―……

How did you do that?

“Like this.”

This time Kim Minwoo charged first. Milton hurriedly raised his sword.

It meant nothing. The blade slipped in smoothly and cut his body apart again.‘A master……!’Before the thought could finish, Milton was unsummoned. And Milton wasn't the only one shocked.

This time everyone had watched closely, so they had seen exactly how Kim Minwoo's sword had bisected him.

It had only been one exchange.

But instinct told them.‘A master!’A true master of the sword.

“Come on.”

This time three stepped forward.

All three were promptly unsummoned.

Five, seven, ten, twenty…….

More and more Dullahans charged at him. Kim Minwoo's face remained calm.

The stat gap alone was far beyond what they could handle. Dullahans might be high-ranking undead, but these were freshly summoned Level 1 creatures. Even at best, their average stats were only around 100.

Compared to him?

His average sat around 700.

A sevenfold difference.

And his swordsmanship was overwhelmingly superior as well.

Far beyond what ordinary-knight-level Dullahans could possibly handle.

That was why.

He'd summoned all of them at once.

Cut and cut again.

It took only moments for Dullahans to start being unsummoned one after another.* * *“What did you say your name was?”―……

Dull-One.

“And you?”―……

Dull-One-Eighty-Two.

Kim Minwoo nodded in satisfaction. Fortunately, these bastards weren't as stubborn as Cedric.

One day.

That was how long it took to straighten out the Dullahan group.

“The oath?”―…….

The Dullahans stared at him in silence for a moment, then spoke.―……

I, Dull-One, swear to offer you my loyalty.―……

I, Dull-One-Eighty-Two, swear the same.[All Dullahans swear loyalty!][A Knight's Oath, Steadfast as Stone!][The Dullahan group will now carry out any command you give them without fail!]

Very satisfying.

“Good. When juniors come in later, you guys handle their attitude adjustment yourselves. If you fail, you're all getting assembled immediately. Got it?”―……

Yes.

After finishing the Dullahans' attitude adjustment, he summoned Cedric.―Hmm…….

A Skeleton suddenly appeared.

Normally, an undead at the level of a Dullahan wouldn't think much of a mere Skeleton.

Skeletons were universally the meat shields of undead armies, after all.

But…….‘What is that Skeleton……?’‘That presence is enormous.’Their bodies instinctively shrank back!

The Dullahan group's expressions stiffened when they saw Cedric.

Cedric looked around, then stared at the Dullahans.―You subjugated all of them?

“Yeah. You'll command them from now on too. You're Commander-in-Chief. Train them yourself.”

Nothing beat dumping annoying work on a subordinate.

For Cedric, training guys like these shouldn't be difficult.―……

Very well.

Cedric nodded and approached the Dullahans.―Good to meet you. I am Cedric. I will command you from now on.

The Dullahans lowered their heads in acceptance.

The aura coming from his body alone placed him in a completely different league of undead.

They acknowledged that a being like this had every right to stand above them. While Cedric and the Dullahans were introducing themselves.

“Oh, right. There's something I'm curious about.”―What is it?

“These Dullahans are basically Commander-class units, right?”―Normally, yes.

“Then what's their relationship with Hail? Hail's a Commander too.”

Cedric was the Commander-in-Chief of the Skeleton forces.

Below him were two Commander-class units: Hail and Mail.

Mail commanded the magic troops, so setting him aside.

Minwoo was curious about how Hail and the Dullahans related to one another.

Specters flew around independently, so they'd always operated more like a separate unit.

But Skeletons and Dullahans?

Those summons were directly related to each other.―You want to know how their hierarchy is decided?

“Yeah.”―Normally, in a special case like this…… they fight to decide.

“Oh, really?”―Yes. An undead army still follows the law of the strong.

“So if I make them fight, I'll get the answer.”―Probably.

He summoned Hail in Warrior mode.

The instant he saw Minwoo, Hail snapped off a vigorous salute.

“Dull-One, come here.”―…….

Dull-One slowly approached. Of the 180 Dullahans, he was among the more skilled.

Both his number and his ability made him something of the Dullahan representative.

“This guy's the Skeleton Commander. We're deciding the mid-level commander, so fight.”―……

With that Skeleton?

“Yeah. Winner gets command authority.”

Hail tapped his sword against his shield as if taunting him.―……

It's absurd that we even have to fight over something like this.

But what could he do?

It was an order.

Dull-One gripped his greatsword.‘Wonder who'll win.’Dull-One was Level 1, but more experienced and technically skilled.

Hail was Level 101 and a Commander who had accumulated a fair amount of combat experience.

From Kim Minwoo's perspective, it was unquestionably a battle between small fries.‘Small-fry fights are the most fun, though.’And both of them were his summons. Naturally, he couldn't help being interested.

The two summons closed the distance.

Clang!

Shield and greatsword collided with a heavy crash.

Clang! Clang!

Hail repeatedly blocked the sword with his shield.

The flames above Dull-One's neck flickered as though surprised.

Even so, his response was experienced.

A greatsword with long reach.

He skillfully pressured the Skeleton using that range advantage.

Hail was gradually forced toward a corner.‘He's going to get eaten alive.’Unless he had some decisive move.

The moment Minwoo thought that, Hail charged with his shield raised.

Dull-One retreated while swinging his sword.

Claaang!

Hail blocked it with the shield.

Then tossed the shield aside and threw himself forward like a martyr.―……!

A bold gamble.

Slash!

One skeletal arm was cut cleanly away, but in exchange, Hail's sword buried itself in the Dullahan's head.

That strategy looked awfully familiar.‘Did he learn that from watching me?’Apparently Dull-One never expected a Skeleton to charge in with a die-together strategy, because he fell far more easily than expected.

“Hail wins!”

Minwoo raised Hail's remaining arm high and declared the winner. Hail clacked his teeth proudly and stared at the Dullahan group with overflowing confidence.

The flames above the Dullahans flickered in surprise.

Minwoo resummoned Dull-One and spoke.

“You lost, right?”―……

I lost.

The other Dullahans nodded in acceptance too. Whatever strange behavior the Skeleton had used.

A loss was still a loss.

They had once been knights, so they accepted matters like this cleanly.

“From now on, you guys take orders from him.”―……

Understood. Then must we also accept orders from the other Skeletons?

“No. Nothing like that.”

Hail was a favored Skeleton, so his learning ability was superior to the others.

Put differently, the other Skeletons would struggle to show performance like that.

“Hail is the mid-level commander. You guys are ordinary Commanders. Just give orders to the regular Skeletons.”―Yes.[Command structure for the melee forces has been completed!][Unit Level: Experienced Undead Unit][Commander-in-Chief: Cedric][Mid-Level Commander: Hail][Regular Commanders: Dull-One, Dull-Two, Dull-Three……. Dull-One-Eighty-Two][A large number of Commander-class units have been added!][The unit's movements become far more professional!]

That wasn't the only unit. After Merhen joined, the magic and support forces had been organized into an entirely separate unit. Merhen was the Commander-in-Chief there.‘That settles the chain of command.’[Opening Achievement Shop!][Rank: Silver (Total Acquired Points: 1,630)][Current Achievement Points: 600]

He looked at the Achievement Shop.

The 600 points he'd earned from killing Baekgil last time.

He hadn't spent them yet. The reason was simple.‘No need to rush.’Achievement Points weren't easy to obtain.

First, kill main- or supporting-character-class villains.

He had already dealt with Han Baekgil, one of Korea's major villains.

To kill another villain of that caliber, he'd need to travel overseas.

Killing Awakened from another country on foreign soil obviously wouldn't be easy.

If that was difficult for now, he had to meet main-character-class characters and somehow alter their stories.‘Resolve their lifelong wish, change their Class, something…….’He had to do something to earn points.

But even that wasn't easy.

The second character, Han Sia.

And the fourth character, Namgung Min.

Those two came with complications.‘Han Sia is already a Mage.’Unlike Park Siwoo, she'd already Awakened. And she wasn't like Seo Yerim, whose talent and Class were mismatched.

On top of that.‘The moment I contact her, things get a lot more annoying.’Han Sia had one of the more complicated backgrounds among the characters.

First, she was half Korean and half German.

And on her father's side in Germany.‘There's a magic family involved…….’The Griff Family.

To summarize, it was a family containing a fair number of genuine Mages, one that had effectively conquered Germany's magic world.

Naturally, they worked hand in glove with Germany's political and business circles.

The moment he contacted her, the Griff Family would start watching him.‘And resolving her lifelong wish is difficult.’Seo Yerim's wish had been to gain recognition from the Sword Immortal.

Han Sia's wish was revenge.‘The family head stole her talent and discarded her.’The Griff Family.

It was an extremely shady family.

Human experimentation was only the beginning. They did all kinds of things.

The moment Han Sia was born, the family head recognized her talent and siphoned away a considerable portion of it.

The only reason he couldn't take everything was because her innate talent was simply too vast.

How vast?‘Even with only the scraps left, she's still called a genius Mage.’After feeding himself to satisfaction, he sent Han Sia to her mother's side.

Not because he intended to let her go peacefully.

It was more like a maturation period.

If he wanted to drain her again, the family head had to increase his own Capacity first.

And there was one more reason.‘He probably wanted to fatten her back up.’He'd bitten a chunk from a fish, gotten full, and tossed it back into the stream.

Once it regained flesh, he'd take another bite.

Now that was a creative economy.

Either way.

If Minwoo contacted Han Sia, the Griff Family would begin taking intense interest in him too.

That was troublesome.‘The small fry don't matter…….’But the head of the Griff Family was seriously strong. If Han Baekgil was a main-class villain whose reach was only domestic, this bastard was an international-class villain.

And there was another variable.

Apparently Shadow had become a global organization.

Bad people found it easy to join hands.

What if the man had already contacted Shadow?‘Then he probably got the experience-duplication event.’Drawing his attention now would become extremely troublesome.

That was why.

Minwoo hadn't approached Han Sia yet.‘As for Namgung Min…….’Better not even start.

He was just as complicated.

There was a reason Minwoo had approached Seo Yerim and Park Siwoo first.

Those two had clear solutions, while the other two were far more troublesome. That was also why he'd saved his Achievement Points.‘For now, Skill Books and equipment are covered.’His Level had risen dramatically.

He could somehow acquire Skill Books and equipment from other sources now.

Then his highest priority should be buying things he couldn't obtain anywhere else.[Purchasing 3 Limit-Breaking Elixirs!]

First, he bought three Limit-Breaking Elixirs.

Now he could reach Level 500. That should keep him safe for a while.

He had 300 points remaining.

His gaze shifted somewhere.[Undead Cocktail][Rank: Special][A cocktail that the dead can drink. Consuming it grants special effects.][Effect 1. Only undead may consume it.][Effect 2. Upon consumption, all stats of the target undead increase by 10%.][Effect 3. There is a low chance the undead will gain a Skill.][Effect 4. Upon consumption, some of the target undead's senses are reactivated.]‘Undead Cocktail…….’Kim Minwoo stared at the item.