Chapter 137
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Necromancer, Infinite Clash - 2
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It was a truly tense standoff.
Neither side gave an inch, nor did they tire.
"Damn, it's like neither side's strength is waning at all!"
"Why aren't either of them running out of mana?"
"Even an A-rank mage wouldn't have this much......."
For them, it was a scene that defied all common sense.
Lee Hyun-wook's heart itself had been replaced with an 'Aether Engine,' granting him incredible mana management capabilities.
`And those bastards are probably chugging <Soul Potions> nonstop.`
The priests of death could restore their mana by consuming souls, so they often concocted potions refined from them. Places like the Temple of Death he had seen in the CAR were where they made such things.
`This stalemate needs a single, decisive blow to tip the scales.`
Unfortunately, all of his various wide-area skills were on cooldown after being used on the Seoul battlefield.
He had also left his 'Living Armor' unit, enchanted with holy power, back in Laputa.
In many ways, he had been caught off guard.
`Still, I have one more trick up my sleeve.`
Just then, Lee Hyun-wook dropped the 'Core of the Ancient Iron Golem' to the ground.
Instantly, nearby metals converged, giving birth to a 15-meter, 741-ton steel giant.
Thud——!
Lee Hyun-wook scraped together the surrounding metal and forged a weapon resembling a colossal flail.
Whoosh——!
A single swing sent dozens of undead flying, scattering them hundreds of meters away.
With the second swing, it felt as if a section of the battlefield had been wiped clean.
"Whoa, holy shit—what is that? That's insane!"
"Isn't that on the level of a world boss monster?"
But just then, something colossal began to emerge, churning through the mire on the ground.
Fwoooosh——
`A Drake Skeleton... Is he bringing out his own counter?`
It was the same kind of creature as the Red Drake bones he had seen undergoing the crimson ossification process at the Temple of Death in the CAR.
As Lee Hyun-wook summoned his Iron Golem, the Necromancer responded in kind, playing his next card.
And in that moment, Lee Hyun-wook realized something.
`Ah! The Advent of Death. He's commanding this battlefield from a space beyond.`
The Necromancer's main body wasn't here, but he was watching and commanding from afar. That said, diving into that mire to strike at him now... would obviously be a suicide mission.
`Still, that skill's duration probably isn't very long.`
Just then, the fully revealed crimson-boned Drake Skeleton kicked off the ground.
Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud—
It charged ferociously, the earth trembling with each step, and raked its claws across the Ancient Iron Golem's body.
Screeeech——!
In a single strike, the steel body was torn apart like clay.
Thud——!
Next, the beast swung its tail, knocking the golem over before climbing on top of it.
Then, it opened its jaws wide and bit down on the golem's head.
Crunch——
The Ancient Iron Golem's head was ripped clean off.
Of course, it would reassemble, but it was being shattered faster than it could repair itself.
`...At this rate, the core will be torn out.`
He had thought the behemoth would last at least a few minutes.
Lee Hyun-wook dropped Moglei, shattering the creature's head.
But soon, a green light flashed, and it began to reassemble.
In the end, he had to drop Moglei again to shatter the beast once more.
`Damn it, there's no end to this. We'll eventually be pushed back.`
Looking around, he saw the undead army slowly closing in on their position.
The Players, who had been clustered together unleashing their skills, were beginning to face mana shortages and cooldowns.
"Pant—pant—No matter how many we destroy, their numbers... they're not going down!"
"Stay sharp! At this rate, we'll be overrun in an instant!"
To think this was the power wielded by a single Player...
`Even after... growing so much stronger than in my past life, I still can't beat him?`
Lee Hyun-wook had always been wary of the Necromancer, using every method at his disposal to grow stronger.
As a result, he had attained an unrivaled level of firepower that could only be described as broken.
And yet, he still couldn't defeat the Necromancer... His mind began to race.
`What's the reason? Is it because Gordon Price, that bastard, is supporting him?`
He must have grown by leaps and bounds with the immense support of that mastermind who was exploiting the world.
No matter how much Lee Hyun-wook snowballed from the bottom up using his knowledge of the future, perhaps the Necromancer was simply looking down from a dizzyingly high tower, a place the snowball could never reach.
"No—we're being pushed back!"
Finally, hundreds of Black Orc Skeletons broke through the Players' barrage and set foot in the 'Shade of the Divine Tree'.
Sizzzzzle——
The divine power of the Sacred Tree weakened them, but it couldn't reduce their numbers.
"Dammit—Tanks, brace for impact!"
CRASH——
A wave of death surged forward, crashing head-on into the shield wall the Players had formed.
"Ughhh—Hold the line—!"
"Damn it, watch out above!"
But the creatures began to clamber over each other, throwing themselves over the shields.
Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!
The undead pouring over the top began to indiscriminately strike down on the tanks' heads.
"Gah—"
"Ack!"
"Dammit, if we fall, it's over!"
A few tanks used AoE skills to push back a number of the undead, but it was only a brief reprieve.
And...
Whoosh——
Something flew over the heads of the Players, who were barely holding on amidst the chaos.
It was... the corpse of a Black Orc. Not an undead, but a literal, dead 'corpse'.
Boom—boom—boom——!
A total of three corpses exploded in succession above the Players' heads.
"Aaargh—"
"M-my eyes! I can't see!"
Seven people standing in the direct blast radius were taken out, collapsing to the ground.
"Shit, intercept the incoming corpses—!"
But they were already overwhelmed dealing with the undead army on all sides; they had no room to worry about what was above.
That wasn't all.
Shhhk——!
With a sharp slicing sound, three tanks at the very front collapsed simultaneously.
Their severed heads landed at the feet of the priests a moment later.
- Zombie Warrior Blessed by Death (LV. 141)
Okita Kaito, now a subordinate of the Necromancer, had appeared once again.
"That son of a bitch is still raising hell even after dying!"
Han Tae-san moved to block him, but in an instant, daggers were buried all over his body.
Four bony arms had sprouted from the creature's back and sides, striking out simultaneously.
"Keuk!"
Unlike Oh Kyung-pyo before him, his sturdy body withstood the slashes, but...
Thwack! Whack! Whack! Whack!
It wasn't just Okita Kaito; attacks rained down from all directions, pummeling Han Tae-san. A single punch from him shattered a dozen undead, but others immediately filled the gap and pressed the attack.
"Dammit, it's too cramped to do anything!"
A battlefield like this, with allies packed so tightly together, was not suited for a monster like Han Tae-san to run rampant.
One wrong move, and his own allies could get caught in his attacks.
But acting alone in this chaotic mess would be even crazier.
If he wanted open space, he'd have to enter the Breath of the Abyss, which was suicide.
In other words, the entire battle situation was incredibly disadvantageous.
"H-help— Gak—!"
Screams, groans, and death rattles echoed from all around.
`...Should we retreat?`
Just as even Lee Hyun-wook was entertaining that thought, a laugh echoed from somewhere.
"Steel Rain, I heard you were quite the big shot these days, tsk—but seeing you in person, you don't seem like much at all, do you?"
It was a mysterious woman floating in the sky across from them... a banshee.
"Ah! See that friend over there? You have pretty good eyes, so you should be able to see him, right?"
On the left flank of the Player formation, two hulking figures in black armor were swinging massive bone axes.
Thwack——!
With every swing of their axes, three or four Players were sent flying.
- Death Knight (LV. 101)
- Death Knight (LV. 154)
`That's...`
He had raised the two William Bernards, from the future and the past, as 'Death Knights'.
"You could be granted a magnificent new destiny just like those friends of yours. How about it?"
Even as he listened to her words, Lee Hyun-wook prepared to kill the woman, at the very least.
"Or perhaps I should look forward to what kind of effects my master will gain when he cooks and eats you......."
It was then.
- Warning! A super-wide area teleport, 'White Hole,' is opening in this region.
Amidst the chaos, that message appeared before everyone's eyes.
And the banshee, who must have once been a Player, also sensed something was amiss and raised her head.
Wooooo——
A massive white ring was forming in the sky.
The space inside the ring shimmered as if it were being crumpled—
Craaack——!
Space tore open, and an immense amount of mana erupted.
"A-a portal? A portal that big exists...?"
Through the opened dimensional gate—they could see the space on the other side.
A giant white tree was emitting a dense mana, creating a shimmering haze across the area. Below it stood rows of buildings dozens of stories high, and at their center was a massive white dome.
"The Republic of Chad..."
It was a strange sensation, like being an ant looking up at a single tree.
`This is... a super-wide area teleport opened with the power of the World Tree.`
From within it, a blue airship was descending.
"That's... the Ship of Theseus!"
"Don't tell me the administrator of the World Tree is here?"
Someone shouted.
The Ship of Theseus, an item-type airship from the Republic of Chad, had appeared in the skies of Ganghwa Island.
Then, its underside opened up—
Cra-ka-ka-ka——!
A powerful bundle of electric current shot down like a lightning bolt, sweeping through the area around the Players.
The unpredictable current cleanly targeted only the undead, frying them.
The electrocuted undead crumbled and scattered like dry leaves.
Next, a whirlwind rose from somewhere, lifting them all into the sky.
Whoooosh——!
Finally, a beam of holy light descended from the sky, shining down on the whirlwind.
Sizzzzzle——!
And just like that, hundreds of undead were completely taken out, disintegrating into a hazy dust.
Lee Hyun-wook realized who was aboard the Ship of Theseus.
"Ah—"
Lee Hyun-wook suddenly recalled a power he had forgotten.
`That's right. I wasn't the only thing I nurtured in this world.`
Wooooo——
Soon, the Ship of Theseus lowered its altitude a bit more.
And from within it, a blonde woman walked out onto the empty air.
It was the Saintess, Emilia Müller.
She looked at Lee Hyun-wook and shook her head.
Then she clasped her hands, and an intense light bloomed between them.
Wooooo——
Immediately after, something special began to happen in the world inside the White Hole. The Saint Dome, situated beneath the World Tree. From the massive jewel at its white center—a sacred object—light erupted.
The beam of light transcended space through the 'White Hole,' bathing the entirety of Ganghwa Island in white.
At that, the Breath of the Abyss that had covered the area vanished as if washed away.
And some of the undead turned to dust and disappeared just from being exposed to the light.
"Ha— What is this? I attacked after confirming the Saintess wasn't here... and now she just drops out of the sky?"
The banshee, she still wore a cynical sneer, but her face had hardened.
Her already pale face had now become like a sheet of ice, looking as if it might shatter at any moment.
Just then, her body was engulfed in black smoke, and she flew toward the sky, toward the Saintess.
Fwoooosh——
She burst through the smoke right in front of the Saintess and swung her long claws.
"Die—!"
But the banshee's body stopped dead in mid-air.
White chains had shot out from the empty air and seized the banshee by the scruff of her neck.
And Emilia Müller, with a wrathful expression, walked slowly toward the banshee.
"Ha, for fuck's sake... Just because I've dodged a few assassination attempts, I get this level of utter contempt?"
As she extended her hand, more chains of light formed, binding the banshee's body.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch—!
"And from a reeking corpse, of all things? Who the hell do you think you are, showing your face to me?"
Against other types, it might be different, but when facing a being of the dark element, the Saintess held the ultimate advantage.
Soon, the chains began to pull in different directions, as if performing a dismemberment by carriage.
"Gyaaaaah——!"
The banshee's sharp cry echoed through the now-clear sky...
Below the scene, the undead army could only stare up in bewilderment.
Their forces were still immense. At a glance, their numbers seemed impossibly large to defeat.
But the Breath of the Abyss was gone, replaced by a descending holy light.
`...Now, the tables have turned.`
Just then, Emilia Müller looked at Lee Hyun-wook.
"It seems the one who needs protecting has changed, so follow my lead."
Lee Hyun-wook let out a small laugh and nodded.
In that instant, all of Lee Hyun-wook's weapons were imbued with an even denser holy power.
"Steel Rain. Do what you do best. Wipe them out, leave none behind."