Chapter 149

Chapter 149

Spendthrift Necromancer (149)[The contents of Summon Skeleton Mage(E)+9 have changed significantly!][Summon Apprentice Skeleton Mage(E)+9][Consumes 20 Mana to summon 2(1+1) desired Lv101 Apprentice Mages

.][* Current Summonable List (5/10)][1. Apprentice Death Mage][A Mage slightly more specialized in Death Magic.][* Receives an adjustment to usable Death Magic.][2. Apprentice Flame Mage][* Receives an adjustment to usable Flame Magic…….][3. Apprentice Wind Mage][4. Apprentice Earth Mage][5. Apprentice Water Mage]...

Water, fire, wind, earth.

The four representative elements, and also the list of magic they'd learned under Merhen. On top of that, they'd also received lessons in Death Magic.‘So this specializes them too.’Kim Minwoo nodded in satisfaction. This structure wasn't particularly different for human Mages either.‘Everyone has an element that suits them.’Even if two people learned the same Skill Books and spammed the same spells, one person's fire might burn hotter or possess greater firepower.

Differences like that inevitably existed.

If someone had a strong affinity for fire?

Usually they'd be terrible with the opposing element, water. Then they'd simply learn Flame Magic Skill Books over and over and introduce themselves as a Flame Mage.‘Merhen is the unusual one.’Handling all four major elements?

That was pretty damn rare.

Through Class Advancement, the Skeleton Mages had now gained the possibility of handling all four major elements too.

Just as Skeletons could be summoned as Warriors when fighting and as Blacksmiths or Alchemists when crafting, the Mages could now be summoned with the appropriate element depending on the monsters they faced.‘Nice.’Attacking with an enemy's weak element doubled the damage. It was basically another powerful card in his hand.

That was when.

Merhen swooped down and landed.―Minwoo! I finished them all!

“Good job. As expected, Merhen is the best. These Mages got Class Advancements too. Looks like you taught them well?”―Class Advancement? Like those Skeletons?

“Yeah. I'll show you.”

He canceled Mail's summon.

Then summoned him as an Apprentice Flame Mage.

Mail appeared with his entire body faintly tinged red.―Wow! He's specialized in the Flame attribute?

Clatter!

Mail nodded vigorously.―Then try copying this.

Merhen conjured a flame in her hand.

Mail stared at his own palm and began concentrating.

After struggling for quite a while, he finally produced a tiny flame.―Hmm…….

Merhen narrowed her eyes and stared at it.

“How is it?”―Looks like his bones themselves changed so Flame Magic manifests more easily. But even with that shortcut, he's still an idiot.

T_T.―Don't act pitiful. I know you don't cry over something like this. Stand straight.

Mail hurriedly snapped to attention. Kim Minwoo whispered into Merhen's ear.

“Is he really just as dumb as before? Nothing changed except the bones?”

Merhen's eyes darted around before she turned away and quietly answered.―He's very slightly less stupid when using fire. But Minwoo, don't praise him. Okay?

“Why?”―He'll get spoiled for no reason. He still has a long way to go.

Merhen was a strict teacher.

Either way, magical education was her domain. You had to respect a specialist's field. He nodded.

Merhen turned back around and cleared her throat.―You still need to work much harder. If you want to help Minwoo, you've got a long, long way to go. Got it?

Mail nodded dejectedly. He looked so pitiful that even Kim Minwoo flinched for a moment.―……

Well. Still, the fact that you've improved even a tiny bit means there is room for further progress.

The next instant.

Fwoosh!!_!

An exclamation-mark-shaped flame ignited in Mail's eyes as he placed his wand against the ground and scribbled.〈Really?〉―Ahem. Only a tiny bit. Don't get too excited.

Clatter!

Mail saluted as though he understood. His face had already changed into ^_^.‘That's the most amazing thing she taught them.’Seriously, how the hell did she teach them to express emotions with their pupils like that?

Once again, he felt the greatness of education.

Anyway.

Now that the Skeletons had finished growing.‘Time for loot.’The Necromantic Knight Order.

There was no way monsters of this caliber wouldn't drop something.

Sure enough.

Among the fragments blasted apart inside the vortex, all kinds of equipment glittered. As a bonus, one precious Bound Skill Book had appeared.‘Lucky.’He picked up the Skill Book first.[You acquire a Bound Skill Book.][You learn Necromancer Skill Book, Curse of Frailty(S)

!]‘Oh, S-rank?’Perhaps because the Necromantic Knight Order had such high Levels, the Bound Skill Book was high-rank as well.

And it was even a curse-type Skill.

It would pair perfectly with the Gloves of the Contagion Lord, which spread curses.

And that wasn't all.

Thanks to the Ring of Ascension, every curse he used had its effect boosted by 50%.

He immediately checked the details.[Curse of Frailty(S)][Level Requirement: 293 or higher][Consumes 200 Mana to curse the target. The cursed target's maximum Stamina decreases by 20%.]‘Oh.’He quietly exclaimed after reading the description.

Maximum Stamina decreased by 20%.

With the Ring of Ascension, that became 30%.

Of course, that full value would probably only apply to ordinary monsters. If the target were enormous, resistant, a Boss, or something similar, the effect would be heavily reduced. Even accounting for that, it was excellent.‘It's like starting after cutting off one of their limbs.’How many times did Awakened fail a hunt by the tiniest margin and end up dying?

Countless people got sent straight to the afterlife because they were short by one tick of damage.

With Curse of Frailty, that problem could be reduced considerably.

Ordinary monsters would effectively begin with more than a third of their health already gone.

Even high-Level monsters would probably still lose around 10%.‘Great for mob hunting.’If he threw Curse of Aging and Curse of Frailty into a packed group of monsters, they'd have a wonderful time dying.

After roughly organizing everything.

He turned around and saw the Orcs and Elves staring at him in complete bewilderment. Urkan was so confused that his eyes rolled around as he asked.―Gruk. Big Brother, is this right?

“This is right. Just trust me and follow.”―Understood!

A refreshingly immediate answer, just like a simple Orc. Either way, hadn't the enemy blocking their path died? They might regret not getting to fight, but it certainly wasn't anything to feel bad about.―Gruk! Kill Witch!―Kill her!

The now-emboldened Resistance Army continued advancing.

That was when.

Kim Minwoo, walking at the front, tilted his head.

The Dice of Fate, which had been carefully stored inside his inventory, suddenly emerged on its own and showed the number 1.

Then messages appeared before him.[You have entered the range of the Whirlpool of Fate.][The ‘Greatest Adversity’ assigned to you begins!]

Immediately afterward, he and his summons vanished in an instant.―G-Gruk?

The Orcs stared in confusion at the party that had disappeared without warning.* * *Apprentice Witch Iris frowned. The Necromantic Knight Order that had served as her hands and feet for so long.

Their presence had vanished entirely in a single instant. There was only one situation where something like that happened.‘……

They were defeated?’All of them, in one blow?

By whom?

Countless questions rose in her mind.

The last mission she'd given the Necromantic Knight Order was to observe the Northern Resistance.‘There's no way they lost to something like the Northern Resistance.’Only twenty thousand Orcs.

Five hundred members of the Necromantic Knight Order could wipe them out in under two hours.

Even if there had been a hundred thousand Orcs, the same was true. Vanishing instantly like this made no sense.

The intervention of an overwhelmingly powerful being. Nothing else could explain it.

She headed toward the top of the tower. The throne room.

Originally, it had been a space meant for Iris, but guest and host had long since reversed positions.

Knock knock.

Iris knocked cautiously and spoke.

“Lady Lruye, I have something to report…….”

That was when.

The door flew open.

Three heads.

No matter how much she tried to get used to six eyes staring at her at once, the sight remained impossible to adapt to.

And with the pair of eyes belonging to the raven perched on Lruye's shoulder, eight eyes in total were moving.

Then.

Lruye spoke.

“Little Apprentice.”

“I know what you're going to say.”

“Let's go.”

“Excuse me? Where…….”

Lruye grabbed her hand and shot into the sky.

The two Witches instantly began flying south at high speed.

Iris, helplessly dragged along, spoke.

“Why are we suddenly…….”

That was when the raven perched on Lruye's shoulder cried out.―Caw. Calamity approaches! An inescapable calamity!……

Calamity approaches?

Iris tilted her head and looked at Lruye.

“Um, is this because of the ill omen? Last time you said omens…….”

“I said it depended on interpretation.”

“But this time it outright said calamity, didn't it?”

“We can't handle something like this. Not alone.”

Lruye's three heads answered with rigid expressions. The raven's ill omens were open to interpretation.

Most of the time, all it gave were vague phrases that only dimly hinted at future fate.

But this time was different.

It had outright said calamity was approaching.

That meant this was an exceptionally clear, deeply rooted ill omen.

One so severe that even their combined strength would be insufficient.

And they couldn't avoid it?

Then there was only one thing to do.

Join forces and prepare.

Whatever could be done, they had to do all of it.

That was why she'd immediately left.

“What we can do.”

“We have to try everything.”

“So we're contacting the Dragon Legion.”

Iris's eyes darted around.

Honestly, with a Full Witch beside her, she'd assumed nothing serious could happen.

She'd only sought Lruye out because she'd been told to report every unusual variable, not because she'd felt some desperate sense of crisis.

A powerhouse like Lruye could wipe out the entire Necromantic Knight Order in little time even if all of them attacked at once.

But…….‘It's that serious?’Then wasn't this genuinely catastrophic?

Only now did Iris understand why Lruye had moved so urgently.

The situation was desperate enough that they needed to join forces with the Dragon Legion despite their poor relationship!‘What is it?’Was there really something on this continent capable of making a Full Witch feel this threatened?

That should have been impossible.

If something that powerful had existed here, Iris would've been exterminated long ago. Then this had to be a newly emerged variable.

That was when.

Flutter!

A massive group of Dragons appeared flying in from the south.

Iris narrowed her eyes.

The Ice Dragon, like herself, was accompanied by a higher-ranking being.

A huge blue Dragon with a deep azure body.

The great blue Dragon stopped midway and spoke.―Witch. Did you feel it?

“I did. We've been caught in some foul fate. I don't know who dragged us here, but…….”―No need for long explanations. Let's cooperate. Even if only temporarily.

“Fine.”

Lruye nodded readily.‘At least that's fortunate.’The instincts of a true Dragon were sharper than almost anything. Especially for a Mature Dragon more than three thousand years old like the one before her, there was no reason to doubt the truth of its senses.

Thanks to that, communication went smoothly.‘We only need to endure one month.’Then they'd gather enough power to leave this dimension again.

Afterward, they could report this abnormal phenomenon to their superiors and investigate.

As long as they survived…….

That was when.

As naturally as a knot coming undone, something interfered with their magic.

Lruye and Iris fell toward the ground. The Dragons likewise lost control of their bodies for an instant.[Title, ‘Master of the Dragon Knight,’ activates!][You have encountered Dragons!][Powerful intimidation is inflicted upon Dragons!]

Every gaze in the area immediately turned toward the human standing on the ground.

One insignificant human.

One woman.

And one Skeleton.

No one knew when they'd appeared. Like trees that had naturally been rooted there all along.

The three simply stood there.‘Wow.’Kim Minwoo quietly exclaimed.

He'd wondered what the Greatest Adversity would be.‘So it delivers me straight into the middle of every Boss like a goddamn bullet?’He felt like he understood at least half of what the Dice did now.

One thing was certain: the moment it rolled a 1, it shoved him straight into a death trap.

And he finally understood why Super Lucky Guy had activated despite the roll being 1.

Witches and Dragons.

They looked so incredibly delicious.

And the Dice had even delivered them right to his face?

Kim Minwoo grinned.

Amid the suffocating silence.―Caw. Roll-roll, thud.

The raven blurted out.