Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Spendthrift Necromancer (40)

Capture (1)

Every time an enormous boulder flew toward them, the Black Mages' faces twisted miserably.

They were blocking them with magic, but the mana consumption was considerable.

Belitas's face contorted viciously.

“Filthy insects……!”

Going outside the fortress would be suicide.

That didn't mean they had no way to counterattack.

“The magic circle?”

“Ready!”

“Begin!”

Mana gathered over the magic circle.

Black Mages could also summon creatures. And they happened to possess a summon perfectly suited for this situation.

A gigantic monster was summoned beneath the ground.―Gruk! Ground shaking!―Gruk?

The Orcs guarding the area near the catapults felt vibrations beneath their feet.

At that moment.

The ground collapsed like a sinkhole. Two catapults and the nearby Orcs helplessly plunged downward.

Crunch!

The enormous monster opened its mouth wide and crushed the catapults between its jaws.

Sandworm.

A monster that lived by tunneling underground.‘A Black Mage must have summoned it.’A troublesome card from the very beginning. The creature poked out its head, swallowed the catapults, then tried to burrow away.‘You're not leaving that easily.’Minwoo extended a hand.[Curse of Aging(D)+9 activates!][Failure…….][Curse of Aging(D)+9 activates!][Failure…….][Curse of Aging(D)+9 activates!][The Sandworm is cursed!][The target is enormous! Curse effect and duration are halved……]10% speed reduction.

The creature's movements instantly slowed.

“Urkan!”―Gruk! Kill monster!―Gruk! Dekum going too!

The two Great Chieftains leaped into the underground tunnel without hesitation.

Unable to retreat in time due to its reduced speed, the creature had enormous axe blades buried repeatedly into its body.―Kieeeeee!

The Sandworm screamed.

Meanwhile, two more catapults were dragged underground.‘Two summons.’Each Sandworm possessed tremendous power, but that also made them monstrous mana hogs.

The enemy had already burned enormous amounts of mana from the very beginning.

Even if every catapult was destroyed, Minwoo would still come out ahead.

He cursed the second one as it tried to hide, then jumped down with Cedric.[Rip Apart(D)

activates.]

A skill activated through his Rare-grade weapon. Minwoo drove the sword down into the monster's head with all his strength.

Stab!

Savage force tore through the Sandworm's hard carapace and shattered its skull.―Keeegh!

As it screamed, Cedric delivered a blow to its body.[Dragon Strike(S)

activates!]

Acceleration and weight from the fall, combined with a skill multiplying damage sevenfold.

Booom!

The Sandworm's flesh was crushed.

Cedric had also reached Level 101, causing Spear Master to grow from S to SS.

His thrusts had grown even sharper, leaving the Sandworm writhing in pain.

Skeletons were summoned directly inside its exposed organs.

The instant they appeared, they stabbed and crushed its entrails. Unable to endure the relentless assault, the Sandworm soon went limp.

Minwoo looked toward the surface.

He bent his legs and jumped with all his strength.

His tremendous Strength hurled his body back above ground in an instant.

Cedric did the same.―Gruk! Monster dead!

Urkan and Dekum were covered head to toe in green fluid as well.

Only one catapult remained.

Even one was more than enough to grind away the enemy's resources.

“Fire!”

Whooosh!

After several boulders struck, the defensive magic shattered apart.

Part of the fortress wall collapsed with a thunderous crash. Apparently the enemy had finally recovered enough mana to summon again, because another Sandworm emerged and destroyed the final catapult.

Its reward was death.‘Good start.’Unless they carried around piles of Highest-Grade Potions like he did, their mana had to be running dangerously low.

“Let's go!”

The Orcs charged without hesitation. The armed Skeleton horde followed.

The collapsed section of the fortress wall.

The Elves' arrows arrived there first. Wraith Knights and Chimeras began stumbling as their hands and feet went numb.

Kim Minwoo and Cedric leaped toward them.

Curse of Aging spread across the enemies, visibly slowing them.―Gruk! Follow Big Brother!

The three Great Chieftains and the Orc horde followed behind.

And that wasn't the end of their advance.

Hundreds of ladders were being hooked against the still-intact portions of the wall.

Stab.

Slash.

Sever.

Kill.

The sound of weapons clashing erupted everywhere.

It was war itself.* * *The Apostle's forces held on with desperate tenacity.

They threw endless waves of summoned undead forward, fighting savagely to keep control of the walls.

Belitas was resisting just as desperately. He drank mana potions over and over, extending his hand.

Corpses exploded everywhere, killing hundreds of charging Orcs.

Against an army of thirty thousand, Belitas held out remarkably well.

He fought with everything he had for nearly two days.

But there was no answer to the sheer difference in numbers.

One by one, Orcs began taking control of the walls.

The encirclement tightened around their throats.

After retreating past the outer fortress and into the inner keep, the defenders attempted one final resistance.

“Hold out! Just a little longer and the army will arrive!”

Their only hope.

They desperately waited for the Spectral Knight Order.

Then.

Kim Minwoo stepped forward.

“Sorry, but I don't think they're coming.”

“Bullshit! Don't listen to that bastard's lies!”

“Doesn't it seem strange? If you've held out this long, they should've arrived ages ago.”

“……”

The atmosphere among Belitas's forces sank sharply. The cunning human had been shaking their confidence for hours.

At first, they had denied him flatly.

But as time passed, the demon called doubt burrowed deeper into their hearts.

Belitas himself was no exception.

He knew.

The time when the Spectral Knight Order should've arrived had long since passed.

At the very least, they should have reached the fortress before the outer wall was completely breached.

But they hadn't.

And there was nothing that should've been capable of blocking the Order's path either. There was no reason for them to be delayed.

“You've been abandoned.”

“……

N-No.”

One Black Mage collapsed to his knees.

Even if the outer fortress fell, they still had the inner keep.

The Knight Order would arrive soon.

They still had comrades.

But now it was different.

Once the inner keep fell, there was nothing left.

Their comrades were all dead.

The Spectral Knight Order wasn't coming.

Outside the small inner keep.

Everything was completely surrounded by Orcs.

No matter how powerful the Apostle was, he couldn't break through this army.

They were going to die.

The humans felt fear.

The Chimeras and Wraith Knights were no different. They were creatures capable of thought as well.

The Orcs would tear their bodies apart.

Their will to fight gradually faded.

Then.

Belitas jumped down from the wall.

He stared directly at Kim Minwoo with pitch-black eyes.

“Cunning human! If you aren't merely all talk, come out! Face me in single combat!”[Apostle Belitas challenges you to a duel between commanders!][If you refuse, the morale of your entire army decreases by 20%!]

“Oh.”

Kim Minwoo exclaimed.

He'd thought Belitas was nothing but a slippery opportunist, but apparently the old man had some backbone.

And this was a very well-timed move too.

If things continued as they were, the Orc army would simply wash over them.

Rather than let that happen, Belitas intended to gamble on a commander duel and recover their momentum.―Gruk! He may be enemy, but he has courage!―Big Brother should go!

For reference, Orcs absolutely loved this sort of thing.‘Not bad for me either.’Minwoo had intended to kill Belitas personally anyway.

The boss reward needed to end up in his hands.

If he won, they could take the inner keep as easily as slicing a cake.

He drew his sword and stepped forward with the Skeleton horde.

A circular clearing formed.

“I'll make sure you're the one I kill.”

“Try it. If you can.”

At that moment, Belitas's body stretched grotesquely.

His height expanded to nearly 3M.

His entire body transformed like a Chimera, wicked energy dripping from him. At a glance, he looked several times stronger than an ordinary Chimera. Minwoo had assumed all he could do was summon undead.‘So he was actually a physical fighter?’[Boss of the ‘Northern Fortress,’ Apostle Belitas, reveals his true form!]―Die!

Belitas swung one massive pincer hand.

Minwoo rolled across the ground to avoid it while Cedric's spear slammed against the creature's shell.

Bang! Bang!

The shell dented slightly but refused to break.

Kim Minwoo also drove his sword against the pincer.

Clang!‘Hard.’Strong One Hunter was active.

Even with 10% increased damage, his sword couldn't pierce it.

A boss monster indeed.

Minwoo cast a curse.

After twenty failures, the creature's movements finally slowed.[Apostle Belitas is cursed!][The target possesses powerful magic resistance! Curse effects are greatly reduced!]

Its Speed and Defense dropped by roughly 7%.

Not bad.

Skeletons swarmed from all sides and battered Belitas's body.―Begone, insects!

One swing of his pincer turned more than fifty Skeletons into powder. Even the Mages' spells bounced harmlessly off his shell.

The only exception.[‘Mail’ uses Static Cloud(E)

!]

Rumble!

Only Mail's spell, empowered by his fairly decent staff, managed to leave some scorch marks.

There was a standard method for defeating enemies with high Defense.

Keep hammering the exact same spot.

Eventually the damage accumulated and broke through.‘But right now……’There was no reason to take the long route.

Minwoo looked at Cedric.

Cedric nodded as though he understood.

Skeletons—whose greatest strength was numbers—clung to Belitas from every direction.

They couldn't inflict meaningful damage, but they could certainly obstruct his movements.

Cedric approached to point-blank range and opened his mouth wide.[Cedric uses Mini Breath!]

Dark-red flames gathered around his mouth.

Belitas's eyes widened in horror at the tremendous heat.―What in the……!

Booooom!

A massive explosion erupted.

Belitas staggered.

One arm struck directly by the breath had exploded away, and even his side was melting into sludge.‘Beautiful.’Enough power to wreck the boss of a B-rank Gate.

The gaping hole where his arm and side had been.

A fatal weakness.

Kim Minwoo wasn't an amateur swordsman who would miss that.

Mage spells poured toward his exposed side. Skeletons desperately restrained his remaining arm.

Cedric also harassed him by repeatedly striking with his spear.[Rip Apart(D)

activates!]

Judgment Sword plunged deep into his side.―Kgh!

Black blood streamed from Belitas's mouth.

He desperately swung his arm, but Kim Minwoo was already gone.‘One more.’Minwoo pulled another sword from his inventory and stabbed again.―N-No…….

Was his strength finally draining away?

Belitas's body gradually began returning to human form.

From an overwhelmingly powerful monster.

Back into the figure of a frail old man.

Thud!

Belitas collapsed to the ground, wheezing desperately.

“Cough……

Hrk!”

“Goodbye.”

To let him go comfortably.

Minwoo severed his neck with a single stroke.[You have won the commander duel!][Gate boss, Apostle Belitas, has fallen!][Enemy morale within the inner keep decreases by 50%!][Resistance Army morale increases by 50%!][Level increases by 5!][Title, ‘Strong One Hunter,’ evolves into ‘Strong One Slayer’!][Skeleton Unit's combat experience…….][You have fulfilled part of the Gate clear conditions! (1/2)][The ‘Fragment of Winter’ still remains!]

Messages poured out.

Only one step remained until the clear.

He needed to destroy the fragment responsible for this cold.‘It should be inside the keep.’Minwoo looked at the Orcs.

Their bloodshot eyes stared at him as though boiling with excitement.

He pointed toward the inner keep.

“Go.”―Gruk! Kill them!

The frenzied Orc horde surged over the despairing defenders of the inner keep.

Meanwhile.

Minwoo looked at the items that had fallen beside Belitas.

One ring.

And one Bound Skill Book.

Time for loot.