Chapter 180

Chapter 180

Spendthrift Necromancer (180)

When Kim Minwoo entered.

Messages appeared before every Necromancer except Liang Xiaojun.[You have encountered a Great Being!][Multiple Followers currently exist!][Your soul resonates!][Memories of a past life buried deep within your soul begin to surface!]

“Wh-What the hell?”

Mikhail spoke in bewilderment.

Encountered a Great Being?

And memories of a past life were surfacing?

What kind of bullshit was…….

That was when.

His emotions began boiling like an uncontrollable volcano.

Mikhail's rough hands trembled.

As though someone had injected his brain with a drug, countless memories crashed over him like a tsunami.[Memories of your past life, ‘Kentra,’ surface!]

Kentra.

He had been a gutter rat in the back alleys.

A vile little gutter rat who dug through trash and could smash someone's head with a rock over a tiny piece of bread.

The great war between undead and humans.

Amid a war that covered the continent, hunger and begging were no different from daily life.

Through that brutal existence, one arm was severed, and disease melted away his face.

The memories continued through a life where not a shred of hope could be seen.

Then one day.

A figure in a pitch-black robe approached through the dark alley.―You're vermin, but reasonably useful vermin. Your emotions have ripened nicely.―W-Who are you?!

The figure removed his robe.

What appeared beneath it was a pitch-black skull.

A skull wearing a crown set with a massive jewel.―Eek! A-A Lich?! U-Undead!―Shh. There is nothing to fear. Does it matter that I am undead?―……

What?―Remember what matters to you. Did you not wish to escape this gutter of a life? I will give you a chance.

The Lich then handed him a piece of steaming bread.

Kentra couldn't resist the temptation.

No.

There was no way he could.

It didn't matter that the one speaking to him was an evil Lich.

A warm meal.

Sweet power and authority.

The things the Lich promised mattered far more.―If you truly grant what you have promised…… I will pledge my loyalty to the Lord. I will give you everything I have! Please, save me!―From this moment onward, the contract is sealed.

Kentra's life changed dramatically afterward.―W-Where is this……?―The Order. An Order where people like you gather. Parish Head Hirod.

A man called Hirod hurried toward the Death Lord.

Mikhail's eyes trembled violently when he saw the man's face.‘L-Liang Xiaojun?’Hirod looked exactly like Liang Xiaojun.―Teach this child from now on.―I shall obey exactly as commanded.

And so Kentra became a member of the Order of Death.

Countless orphans besides him lived there too.

His severed arm regenerated.

His dying body was completely healed.

He was taught overwhelming knowledge.

Whenever he extended a hand, undead appeared.

He was no longer a gutter rat.

He had become a proper Necromancer.

Before long, he was mobilized for the great war.

Espionage was also part of his duties.

As a human, he infiltrated human society.

Like a poisonous mushroom, he disrupted the rear lines from within.

Eventually, the great war between undead and humans ended.

Every human became a slave, and every member of the Order of Death was elevated to the glorious position of overseer.

As a Follower of the Death Lord, Kentra rose high enough to govern five cities.

Just as promised, he obtained endless glory and authority.

But…….

Even the power that seemed as though it would last forever eventually ended.

A powerful external force invaded.

Countless races poured in, and the Death Lord fell.

Kentra's life, tied to his Lord, ended as well.

No.

He thought it had ended.

But it had not.

The scope of the contract established by the Death Lord.

It did not apply only while they were alive.

The shackles of the contract continued even after death.

Along with the promise that this was not the end.

For eternity.

Before he knew it, his vision returned.

“Haaah!”

Mikhail sucked in a rough breath.‘Wh-What was that?’Magic?

Had an item been used to show him a hallucination?

Or some kind of sorcery?

He couldn't tell.

Only one thing was certain…….

His instincts were screaming.

Those had unquestionably been his own memories.

Mikhail's gaze shook violently as he stared at Kim Minwoo.

And he wasn't the only one confused.

Japan's Sakura.

China's Liang Xiaojun.

America's Andrew.

The other Necromancers too.

Their pupils shook wildly as though they'd witnessed similar memories.

Every gaze converged on Kim Minwoo.* * *The other Necromancers weren't the only ones who saw memories.

Kim Minwoo did too.[You have discovered a group of your Followers!][Your soul resonates!][The Death Lord's memories manifest!]

He witnessed countless scenes.

The Death Lord had been furious with humanity.

Furious enough to use every means available to him.

One of those methods had been the Order.

During the great war between undead and humans, death was always close.

Naturally, talents related to death manifested more frequently as well.

The board had effectively been laid out for the Death Lord.

He sought out those with talent for necromancy.

He looked into their souls as though seeing straight through them and selected the most miserable, despairing ones.

Their lives held not even a single ray of light.

That was how the Death Lord gathered Followers and taught them necromancy.

Those drowning in despair clung to him and thirsted for his teachings.

Kim Minwoo breathed heavily.

His whole body felt exhausted, as though he'd just completed a long journey.‘So that's how he gathered Followers.’Kim Minwoo blinked.

He looked around at the Necromancers gathered in the room.

He felt as though he'd seen their faces inside the Death Lord's memories.

People who had willingly abandoned miserable lives and chosen the path of death.

Every face looked familiar.

Liang Xiaojun, who had served as a Parish Head, was the most obvious.

The others had also risen to reasonably respected positions inside the Order of Death and governed cities.

They could be called the Order's upper ranks.

After an unfathomably long time, they had met again.

As Successor and Followers.‘Was this also part of the Arrangement?’Perhaps.[How you use them is your freedom.]

The same message he'd seen with Liang Xiaojun appeared.‘But seriously, they're all Followers?’He'd thought things would already be a jackpot if even half the Necromancers gathered here turned out to be Followers.

He hadn't expected every one of them to be.

Even the SS-rank Necromancers born in the future would probably be his Followers too.

The reason was simple.

The Order of Death had been far larger than he'd expected.

And only twelve people were gathered here.

There were still plenty more to come.‘Damn, that's satisfying.’Either way.

Now that he'd gathered them all here, it was about time to get to the point.

“Everyone coming back to your senses?”

“Y-You…… what the hell are you?”

Mikhail spoke through clenched teeth, trembling.

The other Necromancers didn't look much different.

That was when.

BANG!

Liang Xiaojun slammed the table and slowly rose.

A nearly manic light burned in his eyes.

The other Necromancers stared at him in confusion, but Liang Xiaojun didn't care.

He swept his gaze across the room and shouted.

“Have none of you come to your senses yet? That man is the Lord's Successor! The very existence to whom we must pledge our loyalty!”

He then walked toward Kim Minwoo.

“I greet the Great Successor. I, Liang Xiaojun, will never forget the loyalty I pledge to you for the rest of my life.”

Liang Xiaojun bowed respectfully.

His eyes burned fiercely.

Even before coming here, his heart had already been leaning toward Kim Minwoo.

And now he'd seen the memories too.

The memories of his past life hadn't exerted some overwhelming influence over him.

But one thing had become certain.‘The number of Followers will absolutely keep growing.’Mikhail alone proved it.

He'd been a member of the Order of Death.

Every Necromancer gathered here had also looked familiar.

They were probably all connected to the Order of Death.

A Necromancer craze was already sweeping Earth.

SS-rank Necromancers would continue appearing, and there was a very high chance they'd be Followers too.‘And they'll become his lackeys.’There was no way a Follower could refuse Kim Minwoo's commands.

Liang Xiaojun himself couldn't.

Kim Minwoo was already doing spectacularly well, and now he would have every SS-rank Necromancer in the world beneath him?

There was no predicting how high he'd rise.

The commands couldn't be refused anyway.

These were shackles stretching from an unimaginably distant past all the way into the present.

Then he might as well.‘Make myself stand out first.’It would be better to pledge his loyalty actively before even more Followers appeared.‘Right now, I'm in the best position.’While the others were all confused and stammering, if he took control of the situation first and pledged his loyalty, Kim Minwoo wouldn't reject him.

Perhaps he could even rise to a high position like Parish Head again, just as he had in his past life.

Kim Minwoo noticed what he was thinking too.‘So he's decided to hitch himself to my wagon.’Originally, Kim Minwoo had been the spoiled rich wastrel with more money than he knew what to do with.

There had always been truckloads of people trying to cling to him and exploit that.

Liang Xiaojun was one of those people.

The only difference was that Kim Minwoo possessed absolute control over him.

He patted Liang Xiaojun's shoulder.

“You been doing well?”

“Yes! I've received a great deal of help. Thanks to you, the guild has started paying attention to me too.”

“Starting to see it now? The President's seat.”

“……

Yes. Slowly.”

Sakura tilted her head at their conversation.

Mostly because Liang Xiaojun had suddenly started behaving as though he'd hand over his liver and gallbladder if Kim Minwoo asked.

And on top of that…….

“The President's seat? What are you talking about?”

“They may be Followers, but I can't exactly demand loyalty without offering anything in return. They're all people with free will. So I made him a promise. I told him I'd make him President.”

“……?”

Sakura tilted her head.

Kim Minwoo spoke about replacing China's President as casually as replacing an office employee.

Even if he had become a world ranker, this was honestly far too arrogant.

There were only two possibilities.

He was bluffing.

Or he genuinely had confidence.

That was when.

Liang Xiaojun raised one hand and spoke.

“I have absolutely received help. The Henan gold-bar case, removing my competitors, all of it. None of it would've been possible without the information Mr. Kim Minwoo provided.”

“……

So you're pledging your loyalty because of that?”

“Something like that. And I think all of you are misunderstanding one thing…….”

“What misunderstanding?”

“Do you think you have a choice in whether you pledge loyalty or not? The moment you came here, it was already decided. You will pledge yourselves to him.”

That was when.

Mikhail spoke coldly.

“Hmph! That bizarre hallucination magic earlier, and now this. You called us here just to pull this shit? There's nothing more to discuss. What are you all doing? Let's leave!”

This place was practically enemy territory.

There was nothing strange about assuming the messages and scenes they'd seen were carefully prepared illusion magic.‘It's obviously an elaborate trap.’One thing, at least, had become certain.

They needed to leave as quickly as possible before these bastards tried anything else.

Mikhail turned around sharply.

“Stop.”

Kim Minwoo's voice rang out.

Freeze.

Mikhail's body stopped as though time itself had paused.

Footsteps approached.

Kim Minwoo came to stand directly before Mikhail, who couldn't take even one more step.

“Your eyes are pretty damn arrogant. Been that way since the moment you got here.”

“……

Did you cast some kind of paralysis spell on me?”

Mikhail snorted hard through his nose.

Fear, envy, jealousy.

All kinds of sticky emotions mixed inside his gaze.

Kim Minwoo smirked at the sight.‘Perfect.’Sometimes people needed to have the gap between them engraved into their bones.

And now was the moment.

It would make a good example for the other Necromancers.

“Hey.”

“……?”

“Kneel.”

That was when.

Thud!

Mikhail violently dropped to his knees.

The other Necromancers stared at the overwhelming sight with their mouths hanging open.