Mana Crystal Revolution! (1)
Mana crystal revolution!
We scrambled outside and sprinted toward the place the zombie had pointed out. We'd been shut up talking inside the house for so long that the birds hadn't been able to come report anything unusual to me.
And when we arrived… there were dwarves.
"Those are the attackers!"
The alien races we'd just been discussing — the ones occupying Uijeongbu. About a dozen of them, from one of those two races, stood with their heads bowed.
"O Necromancer! Ruler of Dobong-gu! Please, accept us!"
…This isn't an attack?
"Hey, why'd you lie!"
"Uh, um… when I saw them from a distance it really looked like an attack!"
"So by the time we got here, it stopped being one?"
Without a word, Lahan hauled the zombie who'd blown it off to the rear and started chewing him out. Looking again, it was the same zombie who'd gotten dressed down last time for messing up his attention stance.
"Sigh. Let's hear the dwarves out first."
"Not dwarves — short-folk."
"Same difference!"
I walked up to the dwarves and spoke to the one who looked like their leader.
"Hey. Why are you begging me to take you in?"
"We short-folk have been exploited by the elves. We've come here seeking asylum."
An elderly dwarf with a full head of white hair said it plainly.
"I'm a necromancer. You okay with that?"
"Even if we die, you'll turn us into undead, won't you?"
"…You don't mind?"
"We short-folk consider death the most terrifying and dreadful thing of all. A body that never dies is actually a welcome blessing."
Oh-ho. If that's how it is.
"Welcome. We don't turn people away."
"Ahh! King of the Netherworld! Thank you — thank you again!"
"What's your name?"
"Duke. Call me whatever you like."
But wait. How did they know the words King of the Netherworld?
"…Have you been watching us this whole time?"
"No. As far as we know, the last time was ages ago, when the elves sent drones."
"Then how do you know I'm the King of the Netherworld?"
"Why, because the tenth star rose in the sky, did it not?"
"Huh?"
His explanation went like this. There are ten gods in the world, and they wander the dimensions carving up territory. Number ten is the Netherworld — so the one who brings that Netherworld down upon Earth would be the King of the Netherworld, right? That was his logic.
"The moment we learned a necromancer had appeared to rule this place, we realized the tenth star was an apostle."
"So that was it."
"But… why do you ask?"
Duke was still reading my face carefully — clearly still a little afraid of me. He was family now; scaring him too much wouldn't do. I softened my expression and tried to sound friendlier.
"Don't be so scared. My class name is literally King of the Netherworld."
"How remarkably direct. It seems the tenth god has rather high expectations."
"So that's why I have a Mythic skill?"
"Ohh! Then it's certain. King of the Netherworld — that name itself means the Necromancer has been chosen as the king to whom this Earth is entrusted."
Ah, so that's how the system works? Then the one who intervened when I revived the Flame Emperor must have been the Flame Emperor's god. Everything clicked into place.
"Sounds plausible… anything else you know?"
"I'm sorry, but that's all. The elves might know more. They invaded this place following their god, after all."
And they themselves were a slave race the elves had dragged along, so of course they didn't know much. Even so, that limited knowledge was already a huge help.
"Alright. Then let's hear what you can do."
"Um, hey. Weren't we supposed to hear about my skill?"
"Who are you? Fighting's something everyone else can do too — technicians are way more valuable!"
"……."
The Flame Emperor slumped and quietly edged into the background.
Alright then — time to see what these dwarf brothers could do.
"As long as we have mana crystals, we can make anything."
"Anything?"
"If we have blueprints or a sample, that is."
Ooooh! If they could really make anything, that was huge.
I hurried them next door — the place where the Cursed Skeleton and Mari lived — and showed them the air conditioner. Three or four dwarves swarmed it, taking it apart this way and that, then said simply:
"We just need to replace the refrigerant and the power source with mana crystals."
"For real!?"
I'd always been worried about summer. Every air conditioner in the neighborhood had already leaked out its refrigerant and died, and power wasn't being generated at all anymore. Now I was free from the fear that my house's AC would run dry any day now!
"Ttacttac-i! You can ride in the car again!"
-Clack! Click!
If air conditioners worked, cars should too. My beloved blue Bongo truck — which had only started twice since I raised Ttacttac-i as undead — was showing signs of life. Truthfully it was the lack of gas that had kept us from driving, but if we converted the engine to run on mana crystals, we'd be able to take it out all the time.
"Wait — should I just go all-out and build a tank battalion…?"
"Tanks are of course possible."
"Let's do it right now!"
"Excellent. We feel the greatest joy when creating new things. Where are the mana crystals?"
"Ah."
Come to think of it, I didn't have any. Mana crystals dropped when you killed monsters. I hadn't killed many, and the ones I had, I'd raised as undead — so no crystals.
"Can't a single gate open in Dobong-gu?"
Of course that wasn't going to happen. Gates opened where there were lots of people, and Dobong-gu only had two.
Then a good idea hit me.
"Flame Emperor! I've got a job for you."
"Hmph. You think I'll listen to you?"
"Even though you don't have the right to refuse?"
But you're going to love this one.
Southern Seongbuk-gu — the survivor zone. Not on Gangnam-gu's level, but still a place where people could at least scrape by.
In a matter of hours, that place turned into hell.
"Aaaaah!"
"Hunter! Somebody get a hunter!"
Here lived people who were truly living through the apocalypse. They slept in buildings that could collapse any moment for lack of maintenance, surviving on monster meat hunters had discarded and on rotten water. Every night, they desperately prayed that no gate would open today.
After the collapse, many had awakened to classes through the system — but that was all. The lucky ones got Advanced; most never rose above Common. No matter how hard they tried, they were mayflies who couldn't take down a single C-rank monster alone.
"Min-hyuk. Wait here. Mom will figure something out…"
"B-but outside — outside is crawling with monsters."
The more people there were, the more gates opened. Ironically, Gangnam-gu — with the most people — was fine. Strong awakeners and hunters could hold a defensive line there. Places with an awkward middle population turned into utter chaos the moment even a B-rank gate opened. A gate opening was as good as death.
"I know. But I still have to go."
"Mom…"
So the ones left behind could only put up futile resistance before they fell. Unless they had the incredible fortune of meeting the Special Safety Department's Flame Emperor, or the Saint said to be wandering Gyeonggi-do, the end was death.
A mother with a young son was no different. With only a Common-rank class and a somewhat decent skill from a bit of luck, she couldn't face an A-rank monster. But buying a little time — that much should be possible. It had to be.
"Out of the way, weak vermin."
"U-undead?"
The street that had been swarming with monsters moments ago was now filled with undead. A headless, heavyset knight undead shoved the woman aside.
What rose before death was her son. If these were intelligent monsters, they'd split her skull, then comb through the building and kill her boy too. At that thought, she squeezed her eyes shut.
"……?"
Nothing happened. And before her eyes, a miracle unfolded.
"Kill them! Kill the monsters! Beast-types — three or four of you, gang up! Charge in the formation Senior taught us!"
Undead, killing monsters. Skeletons marching in neat ranks charged with spears and drove them home; the occasional zombies used skills like awakeners as they cut the monsters down. And they didn't touch a single human fleeing through their midst.
"Ahh."
She wasn't seeing things. They were saving the humans. They were only killing monsters — but that alone was salvation.
"That rumor… it was true."
There was some powerful necromancer in Dobong-gu. Rumors that a couple had seen him, that the Special Safety Department had sent the Flame Emperor. No one had believed those rumors — and now they returned as the greatest blessing Seoul could ask for.
Besides the headless undead, her eyes found a knight wreathed in flame further off, slaughtering monsters with ease. His whole body was covered, but the distinctive gloomy aura marked him as undead. Every swing of his sword cleaved monsters in two; every thrust punched a massive hole through whatever it hit, and they died.
"The Flame Emperor…? No. That can't be."
The Special Safety Department's Flame Emperor — many people disliked the department itself, but they revered the Flame Emperor as a hero. Just because something killed monsters and used fire didn't mean you should mistake an undead for the Flame Emperor. And if there were undead, there had to be someone higher above them.
"Lord Necromancer. Thank you for helping us…"
A necromancer whose face — even gender — no one could know. The woman knelt and prayed for the nameless King of the Netherworld.