Chapter 81: The Immortal Legion (5)
Whoooosh!
A freezing blizzard swept across the entire area.
At first, it was bearable, but the temperature kept dropping.
I felt my blood hardening, my movements slowing.
My hands and feet were swollen stiff.
‘One fortunate thing is.’
Not only us, but the enemies were slowing down too.
The Blizzard did not distinguish between friend and foe.
“Skeleton Lord!”
While fighting, Lee Seonah approached me.
She wore a complicated expression.
“It seems impossible. I thought I could at least send out a few Liches, but… I’m sorry. The promise I made to keep you safe—I may not be able to keep it.”
Her once-pristine outfit was now in tatters.
She looked like she had barely any energy left.
Above all, her face looked exhausted.
Indeed, were eleven Liches… that difficult to defeat, even for a Ranker?
“It’s frustrating. I thought it’d be easy since it’s an A-rank dungeon…” she muttered.
“Captain, are you alright?”
Kang Jihoo rushed over with the team.
As Lee Seonah’s eyes swept over them, her brows furrowed.
She had noticed Kang Yujeong’s severed left arm.
“Kang Yujeong? What in the world happened…”
“Hrk, it was my carelessness… an accident.”
Kang Yujeong answered with a pained face.
The freezing cold seemed to make the pain worse.
“Are you alright? You need to get treated right away…”
“My situation can wait. Our current predicament comes first, Captain… ngh.”
“…I suppose you’re right.”
Lee Seonah bit her lip.
Before being a Ranker, she was the leader of a team.
There was no way she could feel fine when her subordinates were injured.
And besides—
They didn’t even know if they would survive this.
The weight of responsibility pressed down on her shoulders.
“For now,” she said, gripping her sword, “we have to get out of the Blizzard Field first. Fortunately, the Blizzard skill consumes a lot of energy. I’d say one of the eleven Liches should already be incapacitated by using it.”
Incapacitated.
Meaning their energy had been completely drained, making them unable to fight.
“Vice-captain?”
“Yes.”
“Take two members and lead them out. I’ll take the Skeleton Lord with me. Get out of this area as fast as you can.”
She placed her left hand on my waist, motioning with her chin.
She was asking permission.
‘That’s the right call.’
I nodded.
Her speed as a Ranker far exceeded mine as a B-rank.
If we hesitated out of pride, we’d freeze solid before long.
‘The subordinates are hopeless.’
The summoned minions and nearby Skeletons couldn’t be helped.
They could only be revived later when I had enough energy again.
There wasn’t enough time to flee together.
Thud!
Her left arm wrapped around my waist.
Then she kicked off the ground.
Lee Seonah’s strength was incredible.
The weight of a grown man meant nothing to her.
I felt lighter than a fluttering grocery bag in the wind.
Splat!
She leaped, stepping on the necks of Dullahans and the helmets of Death Knights, racing forward at unbelievable speed.
“Are you alright, Skeleton Lord?”
“Yes, aside from feeling a bit dizzy.”
Even while flying, I was thinking.
How do we overcome this situation?
Every dungeon had a solution.
There had to be one here too.
“Black Sword, may I ask something?”
“What is it, Skeleton Lord?”
“Those Skeletons earlier—those were summoned by the Liches, right?”
She nodded.
“Yes. One of the Liches used it when its health dropped by half. I don’t know why it used such a useless skill… but the system message confirmed it.”
“Hmm.”
Useless…
That was true.
If anything, that skill benefited us.
“I thought it was strange too,” she continued. “A thousand Skeletons aren’t much help to them. Why use their energy to revive fallen soldiers?”
She was right.
That’s why I had a feeling.
“Could it be… a gimmick?”
“Huh?”
She tilted her head.
“Think about it. In a high-grade dungeon, a boss suddenly uses a seemingly pointless skill?”
The surrounding temperature began to rise.
Her speed had carried us to the edge of the Blizzard Field.
“I’m a Necromancer. More precisely, a Skeleton Lord—the one who commands all Skeletons by the system’s law.”
“…”
“So for them to summon Skeletons in front of me…”
—Necromancer.
—Trials must always match one’s level. The potential you possess is truly remarkable.
Those were the words the Lich spoke when it cursed me.
It felt as if it were evaluating me.
‘If that’s the case…’
Then the answer must lie with me.
“Oh, I see,” she blinked. “So what you’re saying is… the dungeon might be giving you a hint—to clear it using those Skeletons?”
“If not, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Whether it makes sense or not, that’s the only thing we can rely on now.”
She agreed.
And it was the truth.
We couldn’t take down eleven Liches one by one.
Our energy was nearly depleted, and there was nowhere to run.
There was no other option left.
“Alright.”
She nodded firmly.
“Half their HP, then. Let’s go for it.”
Shff.
The Black Sword turned toward the Liches.
Soon, the blizzard vanished ahead of us.
Only steady rain fell.
“But,” she said, “just the two of us are going. Fighting Liches is already overwhelming—we can’t cover everyone.”
Leaving the team behind.
I nodded.
“Yes, that’s what I wanted to say too.”
Guerrilla tactics were always meant for small numbers.
—
We rapidly approached the area where the Liches were.
Though I was in Lee Seonah’s arms, I had no other thoughts.
Only survival and battle filled my head.
She, too, was focused, eyes locked ahead.
“Skeleton Lord, how much energy do you have left?”
“Enough to run five summons for one cycle!”
“Good. Then both of us will use up everything we’ve got.”
“Yes.”
From now on, no holding back.
No saving energy for later.
We’d fight with everything.
Shff.
I squeezed out my remaining fifty energy.
At the same time, I summoned from Bone One through Bone Five—
All my combat-type Skeletons.
“My lord!”
“Oh my, looks like we’re airborne this time, master.”
Sunny and Eldrin took to the air.
Bone One, Bone Four, and Bone Five charged straight toward the Liches glowing red beneath us.
[‘Bone Five’ uses skill: Air Shield (Lv.Max).]
[‘Bone Five’ uses skill: Haste (Lv.4).]
With shields and buffs cast, I jumped down.
“I’m coming too, Skeleton Lord!”
After tossing me, Lee Seonah gripped her sword once more.
Then she channeled all her energy into the blade.
Crackle!
Dark lightning coursed along the blade.
[Black Sword Flight Technique: Wide-area Art — Third Form: True Thunderstrike.] (T/N: What a long ass skill name. lol Imagine, shouting that in a middle of a life and death duel.)
Rumble!
Thunder crashed as she unleashed it again.
Explosive power burst toward the Liches.
The weakness of the Black Sword Flight technique.
Is that it wasn’t effective against single targets.
“But don’t worry, Skeleton Lord! I still have a trump card left!”
Her sword moved.
“My lord, I’m joining the assault!”
Sunny followed.
Though it held barely ten percent of the Sun Spear’s original power,
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The spear’s momentum was overwhelming—
A dry, searing desert-like technique, evoking sand and withered grass.
The aura of one who once ruled a world.
—Kiiieee!
A Lich screeched, eyes blazing red.
Unknown magic struck Sunny away, bound Eldrin’s leg—
But their resolve did not waver.
They clung even tighter.
Boom! Boom!
Bone Four charged with only his shield, ignoring pain.
Bone One swung its blade fiercely, refusing to lose to Seonah’s strikes.
Bone Five worked hard behind them, maintaining buffs and shields.
“Truly, Skeleton Lord, your potential is extraordinary—to command such Skeletons.”
Wham!
Her blade struck a Lich’s neck.
“That’s why I’m sorry—for dragging such a promising man into this deadly dungeon…!”
She had already circled behind the Lich.
Bang! Bang!
Her slashes continued endlessly.
Blindingly fast.
“That’s why I’ll never give up hope! I’ll fight so that we can both survive!”
[Black Sword Flight Technique].
[Wide-area Art.]
[Fourth Form.]
[Heaven’s Destruction.]
“Khff!”
Dark blood poured from her mouth.
“Black Sword?”
I was shocked.
Thanks to the Supreme Azure Mind Method, I understood instantly—
That skill used innate energy.
The life-force one is born with—pure, powerful, but costly.
Using it meant sacrificing part of her life.
So that was her trump card…
That Heaven’s Destruction technique.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, well. It drops my ranking every time I use it, so I don’t usually, but… there’s no point in rankings if we’re dead, right?”
“…Black Sword.”
Ah.
What must it feel like for a Ranker to give up their rank?
Like me, a B-rank Hunter, falling to C-rank?
If only that were all.
But she had clearly given up a part of her life.
Rumble!
The sky darkened.
Like her title—Black Sword.
Blades rained down from the heavens.
“Skeleton Lord.”
“Yes, Black Sword.”
“I can’t finish them all, but as promised—I can take half their HP.”
Crash!
Countless black needles rained down upon the eleven Liches, exploding.
[Lich HP at half!]
[Lich uses skill: Resurrection of the Dead (S-rank).]
[Lich HP at half!]
[Lich uses skill: Resurrection of the Dead (S-rank).]
[Lich HP at half!]
[Lich uses skill: Resurrection of the Dead (S-rank).]
“Just as… predicted.”
As expected, the Liches’ energy spread across the wasteland.
Their targets—corpses of soldiers slain by the Undead Legion.
Clatter!
One by one, pale Skeletons began to rise.
Creak! Crack!
Around nine thousand soldiers stood, weapons raised.
It was a breathtaking sight.
I spoke.
“You don’t have to apologize to me, Black Sword.”
Creak.
The Skeletons pointed their weapons toward the Liches.
“Coming into this dungeon was entirely my choice. Watch closely. No matter what trial they throw at me… I’ll overcome it—and grow stronger.”
At that moment, a new message appeared before my eyes.
[Hidden condition achieved!]
[Unique Ability: Cursed Necromancer – Hidden Condition met!]
Good.
The cause for awakening was complete.
The long-awaited moment had finally arrived.
(T/N: Let’s fucking gooooooo!)