Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Young Necromancer
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With Badora in tow, Leyzon headed out to the Sunset Desert region.
He couldn't use necromancer skills in the village, of course.
So he'd come to a place where there were no signs of people.
Shwaaa―
A sandstorm blew in on the wind.
Badora coughed twice from the sand getting in his eyes.
In the meantime, Leyzon summoned Syria.
"Syria."
Syria poked her head out from the shadows.
"Hic!?"
Seeing this, Badora unwittingly swallowed hard.
Syria's appearance wasn't of this world.
It was the beauty of an otherworldly stunner that could leave anyone entranced.
Yet separately from that, a writhing malice emanated from her.
Badora was a necromancer.
So he could sense the overwhelming power of the undead.
Her stunning looks and her crushing strength.
For those two reasons alone, Badora froze in place.
"Bring out the bug shaman."
"Yes, right away."
And the fact that she obeyed Leyzon's words so faithfully made him even more terrified.
It was hard to believe such a being served someone so devotedly.
Hanok and the five others looked at Badora with eyes full of pity.
They'd all felt the same thing before.
A moment later, the shadow bulged upward.
A skeleton lay there.
"This is the one I'll revive as an undead."
"I, I see."
Badora quickly pulled himself together.
He immediately began examining the skeleton.
"Whoever did this attacked viciously, it seems.
The bones are crushed in places. To do this to a corpse... what a nasty personality."
The skeleton's condition was far from good.
Hearing that, Leyzon cleared his throat awkwardly.
During his fight with Pauli, Leyzon had attacked without regard for the skeleton.
So a good portion of the skeleton's damage was Leyzon's fault.
'If I'd known he was from outside the empire, I wouldn't have done that.'
At the time, it had been the best Leyzon could do.
He couldn't hold back against Pauli, who had become the dungeon boss.
"A-anyway, uh, can you revive it as an undead?"
Leyzon pretended nothing was wrong and spoke up.
"Yes, the soul's thread is still quite strong. Seems like he had a fierce will to live."
This guy had crossed from a foreign land to the empire.
He was no ordinary person, that much was clear.
Soon, Badora began activating his skill.
The shattered bones began reassembling.
A moment later, a glow poured from inside the skeleton's skull.
"Kugh!"
The bug shaman groaned as he rose to his feet.
His crimson-black eyes fell on his bony hand.
"What... is this?"
He seemed confused, not yet fully aware.
Leyzon's eyes gleamed.
Finally, he'd get valuable information from beyond the walls.
There was so much he wanted to ask this guy.
"Perfect."
Leyzon walked toward the bug shaman.
Sensing his presence, the bug shaman looked up.
His dark red eyes flickered.
A strange chill ran through Leyzon's body.
A cool breeze blew from somewhere.
"Hm?"
Pauli, standing beside Leyzon, twitched his antennae.
Pauli had sensed the same presence as Leyzon.
Beyond the bug shaman.
An unexpected sign of life.
'This feeling.'
Leyzon's eyes narrowed.
'A necromancer like me.'
Necromancer.
Those who command the dead.
One of them had planted something in the bug shaman's body.
'Pauli said this guy was already sick.'
Maybe that illness was something a necromancer had inflicted.
'A necromancer from outside the empire.'
The corner of Leyzon's mouth curved up.
His interest was piqued.
'Syria, Eden, Pauli.'
The three undead moved without a sound.
He didn't know what trick the necromancer had used.
But if there was any funny business, they'd punish it immediately.
Trusting his three undead, Leyzon smiled leisurely.
"Nice to meet you. I heard you were after my undead?"
"Un... dead?"
The bug shaman sat there blankly at Leyzon's question.
"Undead, undead, undead."
He repeated the word over and over.
Everyone around began to feel uneasy.
Before long, the five positioned themselves to shield Hanok.
At that moment.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
The bug shaman suddenly burst into mad laughter.
Leyzon's eyes narrowed slightly at the insanity in his laugh.
This wouldn't be a normal conversation.
"Badora, from now on, put pressure on this guy's soul."
"Y-yes, got it!"
Badora was currently the bug shaman's master.
As such, he could force commands on him.
"Bug shaman from foreign lands, speak. What's beyond the walls, and what was your purpose in coming here?"
As Leyzon questioned him, Badora applied pressure to the bug shaman.
The bug shaman's body shrank and cowered.
From the pressure of his master, Badora.
"Beyond the walls?"
A twisted laugh escaped the bug shaman's lips.
"There's nothing there. Just a battlefield where transcendent beings devour each other.
What good is fleeing from transcendent beings? Cunning necromancers have taken root everywhere."
He rambled incoherently.
But Leyzon didn't miss a word, committing it all to memory.
This had to be a clue to something.
'Fled from transcendent beings.'
Was he referring to the empire?
Leyzon thought of the malicious transcendent being.
And the church that fled from it.
"We are beasts of the land, unable to become transcendent. The foreign land we beasts gathered in is a tower defying the transcendent."
The bug shaman began losing his mind more and more.
Unfamiliar words spilled from him like a chant.
Clack― clack―
The bug shaman clacked his teeth and rattled his bones.
The sandstorm grew fiercer.
Clear anomalies were manifesting around the bug shaman.
"U-ugh, L-Leyzon, sir, s-something's wrong!"
Badora screamed.
Unlike when controlling Charles, an unknown backlash was occurring.
Black sparks flew from the bug shaman.
His body began turning pitch black.
Traces of the magic the necromancer had planted activating.
"We shall become beasts that devour the sky."
Light poured from the bug shaman's body all at once.
"Syria, Eden, Pauli!"
Leyzon called out to his three undead.
Shadows, darkness, and the sandcastle surged up together.
The moment the three forces enveloped the bug shaman.
Kwaaaaaang!
An explosion from within sent vibrations through the area.
It was a blast powerful enough to obliterate everything around them.
Leyzon knew about this explosion.
'Corpse Explosion.'
A skill that detonated undead.
'This was magic set to trigger if he was revived as an undead.'
Soon, the shadows, darkness, and sandcastle faded, revealing the bug shaman.
He had been completely blown to pieces.
"...Badora, his status?"
"Th-the soul's trace is severed."
The soul had exploded too.
Leyzon's brow furrowed deeply.
There were mountains of things left to ask.
The guy had been enchanted with anti-undead magic.
'No. Maybe from the beginning.'
This guy might have been a puppet of some necromancer all along.
Dancing to the necromancer's tune without realizing it.
'The bug shaman attacking Pauli.'
That could have been the necromancer's intent too.
A foreign necromancer targeting Leyzon's undead.
Leyzon had no idea why.
But anyone who touched his undead was an enemy from that moment.
'We shall become beasts that devour the sky.'
He mulled over the bug shaman's final words.
Leyzon's gaze reached the sky.
'Blue bird, birdcage, the old dragon who wanted to fly.'
All of it connected to the sky.
He still didn't know what it pointed to.
All Leyzon knew about Dungeon Replay were the dungeon ending and the nation-building ending.
But Leyzon wasn't discouraged in the least.
'One step forward.'
The corner of Leyzon's mouth slowly rose.
No matter the situation, he thought positively.
That was Leyzon.
'Foreign necromancer.'
This guy surely had more minions planted in the empire besides the bug shaman.
'If I find them.'
He'd learn more.
Leyzon turned, his robe fluttering.
"Badora, good work."
Leyzon gave Badora his payment.
"And here's a letter of recommendation. With this, you can learn various necromancer spells."
He also handed over a recommendation letter for learning skills from the Gray Mage Tower master.
Finally.
"It'd be best not to mention me to others."
Leyzon smiled gently, sealing his lips.
Badora's face went pale as he nodded vigorously.
He knew well that loose lips brought no good.
"Hanok, Five, we're heading to the evil dragon now."
Business here was done.
'The old dragon must know something too.'
Besides his deal with the Bloodless Sovereign, he had one more reason to catch the old dragon.
The old dragon and evil dragon were infamous even in Dungeon Replay.
Catching them required taking significant losses.
'Even with Syria, Eden, and Pauli.'
He couldn't avoid casualties entirely.
'On top of that.'
According to the flamehead, the Judgment Lord was coming here too.
The Judgment Lord moved by prophecy [SSS].
If he'd glimpsed something in a prophecy.
'Highest chance it's this incident.'
Old dragon, evil dragon, Bloodless Sovereign, and even the abyss.
The world's heavyweights were gathering.
The Judgment Lord would intervene somehow.
In that case.
'Time to harvest the seeds I planted before.'
Leyzon resolved to pull out all his prepared cards.
"I'm entering the Resonance Realm now."
A red shadow rose at Leyzon's feet.
The top-tier poison magic research he'd entrusted to the poison spider.
The time had come to see its results.
'Today.'
The day the poison spider promised to finish and return.
Today.
Leyzon decided to fill his long-empty skill slots.