Magic Stone Revolution! (2)

The magic stone expedition was going smoothly.

The tireless undead slaughtered monsters for days on end, and as their numbers thinned, the gates opened again and dropped fresh ones. An ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠infinite loop of magic stones and monsters!

Yesterday's haul alone came to two thousand stones. Before the apocalypse, that would have been a billion won's worth — an absolutely absurd amount.

"Heh heh heh. Things are looking good."

"It'd be nice if a permanent gate formed around here."

Gates came in different types. Ordinary gates that burst open without warning and spewed monsters. And permanent gates that, once opened, took time before monsters emerged — giving you a window to go in and clear them first. A permanent gate would stick around for days, months, even years, cranking out monsters nonstop.

"Stuff like that only shows up in crowded places like Gangnam-gu, doesn't it?"

But heading south of the Han River was far too risky. The Special Safety Department was down there, and most of the big-name hunters operated in that area. Trouble would be inevitable.

"Once I'm stronger, I'll just take control of them myself."

The second a permanent gate appeared, I'd rush over, plant a flag, and claim it was all for public safety. With that thought, I turned to the dwarf leader, Duke.

"With this many, what can we make?"

"A hundred air conditioners, or about twenty tanks. Of course, they'd need magic stones fed into them regularly to keep running."

So I couldn't just burn through the whole stockpile. In the end, I'd need a stable magic stone supply before I could really build anything worthwhile.

While I'm thinking about it, might as well check in.

The pack hunts — swarming places where monsters nested or gates had just blown open and wiping them out. Flame Emperor, who'd gained a way to help people indirectly, tried to play it cool but couldn't hide how much he enjoyed it. Lahan, meanwhile, had borrowed a handful of skeleton soldiers from Ttacttac-i.

"Kwahahaha! Tremble before the power of Lahan, you lowly scum…! Hm? What are you? Get lost, human. You don't even drop magic stones."

Lahan was doing fine. He kept hurling boulders to crush monsters, sealing off escape routes, then coordinating ambushes with the skeletons. I'd told him not to touch humans if he could help it, so whenever one got in the way, he simply grabbed them and tossed them clear of the battlefield. Gentlemanly, even.

"Kyaaaargh!"

"Trying to wound me with that pitiful strength? Know your place."

As a Dullahan, his natural tankiness let him tank hits head-on while mowing everything down. Lahan really did shine against large numbers of enemies.

The skeletons were just running through the basics Ttacttac-i had drilled into them — but with a few hundred of them doing it, the threat was real. Those skeletons Ttacttac-i had trained were quietly impressive. Boosted by the Legion Commander of the Dead skill, their raw physical ability was already high; even simple tactics got massive returns.

"Kyaaaargh! Keck. Ghhk…"

-Clack-clack.

The prey looked like mutant kobolds. Whenever there was a free moment, he was raising every last one of them as skeletons. Unfortunately, whether because kobolds were low-intelligence monsters or because they'd been raised after their magic stones were harvested, none of them turned out as the smart skeletons Ttacttac-i wanted.

"At this rate, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hundred thousand undead isn't even a dream."

Still, they were C- to B-rank monsters — solid fighting power. Hit a hundred thousand and maybe Legion Commander of the Dead would upgrade again?

Time to check on Flame Emperor's side.

Since stray fire could hit friendlies, he'd said he'd keep his distance and only target the dangerous ones.

"Flame Sever. Flame Sever. Flame Sever."

KRA-KOOM! A massive ogre crumpled under three consecutive finishing moves. Behind Flame Emperor, piles of other high-threat monsters lay in smoking heaps.

"Wait, wasn't that move supposed to have massive recoil?"

Flame Emperor was going completely berserk. Out in the middle of nowhere, far from any civilians, he was obliterating monsters one by one with overwhelming firepower.

"That's the same technique that cut Lahan down in a single stroke."

When we'd fought him head-on, he'd only used it once, at the critical moment — and even then he'd staggered afterward. I'd assumed it was like a Flare Drive type of skill…

"Is it because he can't die anymore?"

So he could spam it infinitely with no consequences? Hey, that was the kind of thing you were supposed to explain beforehand!

…Though I might just not have been listening.

After the dwarves briefed me on the tech, I'd been so excited I'd launched the expedition right away. Might as well ask now.

-Hey!

"…Necromancer?"

-Why are you spamming finishing moves like that?

"So you're finally willing to listen… It's thanks to the artifacts."

-Huh? Not because you're undead?

"That too, but."

Flame Emperor finished carving up the monster he'd been working on, cracked its skull open, recovered the magic stone, and continued.

"I was implanted with four artifacts total — heart, lungs, legs, and eyes. Each one reinforced its respective body part, but once I became undead, the heart and lungs lost all meaning."

-Right, undead don't breathe.

So that was why he'd fought so long without tiring back then? Gear really did matter.

"When I became undead, those artifacts' effects seem to have shifted to regeneration. A regenerating undead… laughable as it sounds."

-Ohh.

So that was why he could spam recoil skills without dying or failing to recover. If Lahan was the tank, Flame Emperor was a high-output warrior type. Going by what he said, though, if he took enough damage in one hit to wreck the artifacts themselves, he probably couldn't get back up on his own without Se-ah.

"Also, becoming undead wiped out most of my area-of-effect skills."

-Wait.

The one that vaporized half my skeletons in a single blast — he couldn't use that anymore?! That had been the coolest skill in his entire kit. I supposed I should be grateful Flame Sever was still around.

"On the upside, my one-on-one combat ability has gone up compared to before."

-Tch. Fine, that works.

I ended the conversation there. Now that I could handle soul power to some degree, natural conversation through Spirit Possession had become possible — and it was so much more convenient.

Looking at it this way, Spirit Possession is genuinely broken.

With Spirit Possession, I could use my undead's body as if it were my own. But there was a catch people missed. It wasn't simply transferring my mind — it was transferring my soul.

Meaning I could exercise soul power while descended into them. The condition was that one of my undead had to be at the target location… but flip that around, and it meant that was the only condition I needed.

Once I got better at wielding soul power, I could do some really fun things with this.

"Good, good. Let's keep it going just like this!"

More important than any of that: I was a magic stone tycoon now. What should I do with them? What was the best thing to build?

I was circling the house, mulling it over, when—

"Caw, zone… seventeen, safe? Safe."

A Necro Raven — one of my crow undead — found me. Not quite as articulate as a parrot, but crows had a similar enough tongue structure that, once they gained soul power, they could speak. Their intelligence was limited, so all they could report was what was in their zone — danger or safety — but that was plenty.

"What wandered in this time?"

If it was saying "safe," the visitor probably wasn't a threat. I quickly activated Spirit Possession and checked the area.

Zone B-17, one of the sectors Ttacttac-i had divided up by map, was the section bordering Uijeongbu. A fast Bone Bird pushed deeper into the zone and fed me its vision.

"…A golem?"

But it didn't feel like a simple clump of packed earth. Something more natural about it. A small sapling grew from its back, and weeds sprouted thickly across its body. It wasn't the season for wild grass to grow — this was clearly artificial.

"Hmm…"

Ttacttac-i was still training the remaining skeletons, and Mari was off doing her own training as always. Whatever she was up to, she kept locking herself in her room.

"Should I just go myself?"

I had Reaper's Blessing, and I could bring other undead along.

-Kieeeek!

"Been a while since I rode you."

I called Hwanggu and Death Weaver. Mounting Hwanggu, I headed toward the golem. Buildings thinned out, giving way to a wide thoroughfare. I gradually picked up speed, and at the edge of my vision, the thing I'd seen through the Bone Bird's eyes came into view.

Two meters? No — closer to three. A massive golem. As I approached the weed-choked figure, it extended a hand and offered me something.

"Hmm. A letter?"

The paper was so white and clean it was hard to believe this was a ruined world. I took the letter and opened it.

"…Not great with Hangul, I see."

Come to think of it, I'd never seen the dwarves write or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠read anything either. Could the other races only speak and listen?

I thought for a moment, then spoke to the golem.

"You got a pen?"

The golem silently opened its other hand and offered a small pencil. I flipped the letter over and scribbled a reply on the back.

Heh heh. Suffer a little.

I had zero reason to bow and scrape for the people I'd been watching with drones. My own crow surveillance didn't count, of course — I had no choice but to do that to protect Dobong-gu.

I handed the letter back.

"We're done. Go deliver it."

The golem nodded and turned away. Watching it lumber off with heavy, thudding steps, I thought…

"No soul."

Not a figure of speech — it genuinely had no soul. More precisely, it had only the energy that constituted a soul. Different from the undead. They had a shell with relatively little energy inside, and even that was the negative energy of death. Even the rank-and-file skeleton ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠grunts had a soul-shell. This thing didn't.

"Not my problem."

Even if I figured out what it was, it wouldn't be useful. I already had undead — what did I need a golem for?

Riding Hwanggu back home, I let my thoughts wander. The elves — the "Kanf" or whatever — turning hostile was only natural now. That had been a given the moment I took the dwarves in. But there was no way I was giving up engineers who could build just about anything.

So it came down to war?

We could fight without any real losses on our side. From what I'd seen, a pure numbers push would win it.

"Hmm… maybe I should think this through a little more carefully."

I turned it over in my head, but no clear answer came. Tch. For now, maybe I should just figure out what to do with the magic stones.