Chapter 150

Chapter 150

Spendthrift Necromancer (150)

Lruye's faces stiffened.

Calamity was approaching.

She could feel exactly what that meant with her own body.‘The magic on my body…….’‘It all came undone?’‘In an instant?’What was a Witch?

A being belonging to the Witch Society.

Was becoming one easy?

Absolutely not.

Across thousands of planets.

Even now, countless races were giving birth to individuals blessed with talent for magic.

The ones commonly called geniuses.

From among those, only the best were selected.

Then filtered again.

And again.

The true geniuses chosen by the Witch Society from across every dimension were the beings called Witches.

Of course, there were also ‘mongrels’ outside the Witch Society who sometimes called themselves Witches, but in the end, they were nothing more than hopelessly inferior fakes.

Lruye was a real Witch.

A proper Full Witch who had already surpassed the Apprentice rank.

And on top of that, she was an elite belonging to the Raven School.

She'd been confident she could crush even beings from higher dimensions through magic alone.‘It unraveled.’‘Naturally.’‘This is bad.’If her magic had been dismantled only after an intense battle of calculation and counter-calculation, she might at least have been able to gauge some chance of victory.

But this was different.

Like an enormous tide sweeping away a sandcastle a child had painstakingly built.

Her magic had simply been erased as though it had never existed.

She looked toward the culprit.

A woman holding a parasol and staring at them.

The unmistakable stench of a corpse drifted from her body.

Undead.

A Banshee, at that.

Normally, such a lowly undead wouldn't even be qualified to approach a Witch.

Yet this Banshee radiated suffocating pressure.

Her body understood instinctively.

At least in the field of magic.

That thing was a monster of an entirely different Rank.

A story suddenly surfaced in Lruye's mind.

Something a senior she'd been close to had mentioned in passing back when Lruye herself was merely a worthless Apprentice Witch.―Hey, Lruye. Do you know the hidden story behind the ‘Era of Upheaval’?

The Era of Upheaval.

A period when the Witch Society had sealed the First City behind an impenetrable barrier and hidden there for a long time to recover.

It was also known as the era when five Great Witches of the previous generation died and new Great Witches arose to replace them.

Beyond that, however, there was no information.

Almost every record related to that era had vanished, as though someone had deliberately erased them.

Lruye had been a curious Apprentice Witch back then.

So she'd asked her senior.

Why had it happened?

The answer had been absurd.

Because of undead.

All seven Great Witches had fought them, and five had died. The survivors had been forced to activate an ancient relic inside the First City and hide themselves.‘I thought she was joking.’When Lruye pressed for more details.

Her senior hadn't sounded particularly serious either.―I only heard it secondhand too, so I don't know the details. That's just what I heard.

How many strange rumors circulated among Witches? So Lruye had simply shrugged it off at the time.

Why was that conversation from so long ago suddenly returning to her now?

And why.

Why the hell was a monster like this breathing inside some lowest-tier dimension?

Lruye looked at Iris.

“……

Little Apprentice.”

“You'll have to help me too.”

“Use everything. If you want to live.”

After speaking, Lruye took three round pills from inside her robes.

Elixirs developed by the Witch Society.

They weren't something a Full Witch could simply obtain.

They were given only to elites belonging to Schools.

And even among those elites, only to individuals who had produced outstanding results.

Their effect was simple.

They stimulated the brain and body, optimizing both for magic.

A kind of magical doping drug.

Naturally, there were side effects.

But this wasn't the time to worry about them.

All three heads swallowed a pill. Mana began flowing far more quickly, like a clogged passage had suddenly burst open.

Her brains heated violently as though overloaded.

Her thoughts accelerated even further.

What made a powerful Mage?

Fast thought.

Fast manifestation.

And powerful magic.

Lruye possessed three brains.

At this moment, her combat power had increased more than fivefold.

Hssss…….

Azure Mana rose from between Lruye's breaths.

The Banshee's eyes sparkled as though she'd just discovered an amusing toy.―Wow. You're less stupid now? When did you make something like that?

“…….”

Lruye remained silent.

Even after doping herself, that chilling tension crawling across her body hadn't disappeared.

It felt as though the slightest lapse in concentration would cause all her Mana to scatter and melt away.

That was why she couldn't answer.

Flutter!

Adorable wings sprouted from the Banshee's back. Flapping them, she rose into the sky.―Minwoo! I want to play with this one! Can I?

“Do whatever you want.”

Kim Minwoo answered.

He had already used Law of Victory to roughly gauge the Levels of the Witch and Dragons before him.

The stat increase was 130%.

That meant the two calamities dragged into this Gate, the Dragon and Witch, were at least somewhere in the late Level 1500s.

In a normal S+ Gate?

Monsters like these couldn't possibly appear.

Even S-rank Gates mostly contained monsters a little above Level 500, and even with the Plus modifier, the highest you'd normally see would be somewhere around Level 700 to 800.

But here they were.‘Of course, they're probably weaker than Iphrax.’Iphrax had been a Raid Boss.

These were merely uninvited guests dragged into the Gate.

Naturally, they should be weaker than a Raid Boss. In that sense, they were entirely manageable.

Merhen, the hard counter to Mages, could entertain the Witch herself.

As for the Dragons staring at him warily…….―Neiiigh!

The Dullahans mounted their Dragonblood Steeds.

Dolsoe stood solidly at the front, with Specters and Skeletons gathering behind him.

Minwoo looked at the Dragons hovering in the sky.

The Ice Dragon's subordinates.

And the largest Dragon, watching him silently.

Amid the tension, the enormous Mature Dragon Ibelion asked.―Necromancer. Were you the one who summoned us?

“Probably?”―How did you twist fate?

“By doing well, I guess?”

Ibelion sighed inwardly.

He was a Mature Dragon over three thousand years old.

In a lowest-tier dimension like this, where not-even-thousand-year-old Young Dragons and Apprentice Witches strutted around as rulers, he was practically a calamity himself.

And yet.

His whole body prickled.

His instincts were screaming in fear.

Natural predator.

Honestly, he didn't want to fight.

His true desire was to leave this place without caring in the slightest whether that human killed the Young Dragons or not.‘Escaping is a problem too.’Fleeing as a member of the Dragon Legion would certainly wound his pride.

But the real problem was something worse.

Even if he left this place, he didn't think the pursuit would end.

His instincts told him.

Even if he fled, fate itself would continue binding him.

If escape were truly that easy, the three-headed Witch would've already been the first to leave. Wasn't the very reason they'd gathered here to join forces because they knew they couldn't?

Ibelion signaled the Ice Dragon and Young Dragons with his eyes.

He didn't know how much help they would be, but right now even the strength of an ant was welcome.

The Ice Dragon and its group nodded tensely.

“Cedric. You've killed plenty of Dragons before, right?”―That one looks like a Mature Dragon over three thousand years old. I've killed so many of that level I couldn't count them individually.

Reliable as hell.

Among the Dragons, the one they needed to be most wary of was naturally the largest blue Dragon.‘Not the Ice Dragon.’Witch Iris.

The true Boss of this Gate.

Yet she was hiding tightly behind the bizarre three-headed Witch.

Likewise, the Ice Dragon was hiding behind the enormous Dragon.

Still, it didn't matter.

There were plenty of weaker Dragons besides the Mature Dragon and Ice Dragon.

The only ones on his side capable of flying were winged Cedric and the Specters.

That was fine.‘Once we kill one, the game is over.’He could resurrect the corpse with Land of Death. Then they could ride it through the sky.‘I needed to use Bone Replacement on more than just Cedric's head anyway.’Seriously, Cedric.

It was like the heavens themselves were helping him.

Otherwise, how could a Dragon around the same level as the Ancient Dragon the Sword Immortal had once brought him appear at exactly the right moment?

What a lucky bastard.

The moment Kim Minwoo committed to fighting.[Indomitable activates!][One special adjustment effect is randomly granted!][‘Legion Commander Enhancement’][For this stage, part of the potential of both Legion Commanders is released!]

That was when.[Merhen's ‘Archmage’ unlocks from SS to SSS…….][Cedric's ‘Spear Master’ unlocks from SS to SSS…….]

The ranks of the core Skills defining both Legion Commanders shot upward.‘Wow.’Now he understood why Popo had praised the Trait so much.

Legion Commander Enhancement.

The first high-grade effect triggered by Indomitable exceeded his expectations.

With their power boosted this much, naturally he should smash straight into them.[Curse of Frailty(S)

activates…….][Curse of Aging(D)+9 activates…….]

The curses, boosted by 50% through the Ring of Ascension, struck the Young Dragons.[The curse spreads…….]

The curse began spreading.[Land of Death(S)

activates…….]

Countless hands reached upward from the ground beneath the flying Dragons.

It couldn't drain the vitality of enemies airborne in the sky. But once they died and fell, their corpses would rise again.

The Dragons didn't remain idle either.

The instant the curses erupted, they unleashed their breaths as though they'd been waiting.

Breaths carrying every conceivable attribute surged toward him.―Master. Leave it to me.

Cedric flew into the sky and spun his spear in a circle.

The spear rotated like a round shield. Blocking dozens of Dragon Breaths with a single bone spear?

Including the breath of a Mature Dragon?

That would've been madness.

Until moments ago.

But now it was different.

Like rainwater streaming harmlessly off an umbrella.

Dozens of breaths scattered naturally across Cedric's spinning spear.

“Damn, you can do that too?”―I can. Right now.

The breaths gradually dispersed.

Just before the Dragons could release their magic.

Cedric thrust his spear into empty space dozens of times.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

As though the space between them simply ceased to exist, the hearts and wings of Young Dragons burst apart every time he thrust.―Kieeeek!

Dragons plummeted from the sky.

Humans and Dragons both died the same way when their hearts disappeared.[Your Level increases…….][Your Level increases…….]

Even Young Dragons averaged above Level 500.

As they crashed toward the ground.―Neiiigh!

The Dullahans' Dragonblood Steeds trampled them mercilessly.

The Mages poured spells on top of that. Pleasant power-leveling messages appeared one after another.[Land of Death activates…….]

The dead Dragons began staggering back to their feet as undead.

Clatter!

As though compensating for the sorrow of being unable to speak, Hail quickly climbed onto one of the resurrected corpse-Dragons.

The footbound Dullahans hurriedly mounted them too.

Flutter!

The undead took to the sky. Specters followed close behind.

Before long, only two Dragons remained airborne inside the encirclement: the Ice Dragon and the Mature Dragon.

And even those two were hardly unscathed.

They seemed to have protected their vital points somehow.

But Cedric's bizarre spearwork that transcended space had already left their bodies streaming blood.―Master. Leave today to me. I'll show you what a real Dragon Knight looks like.

“Seriously? That's a Mature Dragon. Can I trust you to carry?”―Of course. Knowing when to ride the bus is a Skill too.

Minwoo remembered what Cedric had looked like back at Level 1.

The guy could barely even speak and had done nothing but complain that his master's Level was too low.

At last, Cedric was finally starting to show what it meant to carry someone.

Truly.‘I raised one hell of a person—no, one hell of an undead.’His chest swelled with pride.