Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Became the Gallery's Only Reptile
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That should be enough provocation.
Now it's about time to fight.
Watching the Lich King's energy scatter in all directions and waste away, I realized this was the perfect moment to strike and immediately drew up my power.
The residual energy of the Yeouiju that had taken root inside my body from the start.
It was growing so massive now that I wondered if I could even call it "residual" anymore, slowly rearing its head.
Kuuuung!
"Good. I've been dying to kill you too, so hurry up and let me burn that repulsive soul of yours to ashes."
Any ordinary being would be overcome with terror just from sensing this aura, but the Lich King before me was a powerhouse whose name would go down in history as the embodiment of death's terror.
Moreover, hadn't he taken down the Earth Spirit King before coming here?
'But I haven't provoked him enough yet? His revealed energy feels weaker than I expected.'
-Krr. Of course it does. He only beat the Spirit King because of the matchup advantage. And he's probably exhausted too, even if he doesn't say it.
Matchup advantage.
Like how water beats fire, and grass beats water.
Yeah, matchups are important.
And the power the Lich King wields is fundamentally the power of the dead.
Naturally, the power of the dead holds an advantage over all living beings.
Especially spirits, who are incarnations of nature—they'd react even more strongly than others.
'Still, something feels off.'
But even with a great matchup, could he really handle it that well?
Maybe he's holding back, setting some trap.
We hadn't clashed yet, so I stayed cautious in my movements.
-Just fight already! Krr, you'll win, Imoogi!
Tam was just getting frustrated at my hesitation, urging me to go fight.
-You dumb Imoogi! Did destroying the Yeouiju lower your intelligence too? Krrr! It's just that you've gotten so strong that his power feels weak now! Shut up and fight to recover the Yeouiju! Krrr.
What? That's what it was?
Simply put, I'd grown so suddenly that his power felt weak in comparison?
It wasn't hard to understand, honestly.
Even before coming here, I'd devoured the traces Tam left behind, and I was continuously consuming both mana and black mana.
"Come feel the power of a human for yourself."
As I pondered how to take that, the Lich King noticed the opening and launched his attack.
His hand dropping from above.
And with that motion, hundreds of arrows rained down from the sky.
'Each arrow is infused with black mana.'
If I took these head-on with my body, it'd hurt quite a bit.
Black mana was deadly to living beings right now, so even I might be in some danger if I let them hit.
But that didn't mean there was no solution.
If black mana was the biggest problem, I could counter with my own black mana.
Saaaa.
Already wielding death's power with black mana over my black scales, it now completely overtook the surroundings, losing all luster and turning pitch black.
Ting. Ting. Ting.
[The effect is definite.]
Crashing black mana against black mana canceled out the power, leaving ordinary arrows.
And naturally, ordinary arrows couldn't scratch someone like me, who trained daily alongside Cheong.
'By the way, this black mana. Its quality feels strangely lower than Tam's.'
-Krrr. Obviously. Unlike this low-grade stuff that's forcibly twisted from its essence, krr. My power comes from pure mana.
When I voiced my thoughts while nullifying the arrows' power, Tam replied as if it were obvious.
The quality of the energy was different.
That sparked an idea.
'Then, is that possible too?'
-Krr. It is. But succeeding will require your full focus. The quality might be to your liking, but the quantity is greater on his side.
Tam gave a positive response to my idea.
However, since Tam couldn't move freely due to the Yeouiju's influence, I'd have to handle the whole thing myself.
"First, I'll drag you down from the sky!"
Whirick.
[Hm?]
Black iron chains wrapping around my body.
And the chains were held by the Lich King's skeleton soldiers.
"Pull!"
Clack clack.
Clack! Clack.
Clack clack. Clack clack.
The skeletons moved in rhythm to the Lich King's vigorous shout.
With that, my body began to be dragged toward their direction.
-Krrr. What is this? Why aren't you breaking free?
'Wait a sec. I've got a good idea.'
I could snap these chains easily by drawing on Tam's power.
But instead, I pretended to resist half-heartedly and let myself be slowly pulled along with their force.
Clank.
My body was fully down now.
The soldiers immediately fixed the chains to the ground, as if waiting for this.
When I tried to move slightly, they'd pulled them so taut that no movement was allowed.
Thud.
"You've dropped to our level. No, since you're looking up at me now, you're even lower than us."
The Lich King approached and placed his foot on my head.
Then he ground it in slowly, like stepping on a bug.
Facing me completely immobilized, was he savoring his superiority?
'...Did I provoke him too effectively?'
He was focused on stepping on me and humiliating me left and right, while I wondered if things were going too smoothly.
I'd been worried the plan might get exposed midway after getting caught, but the provocation worked too well.
His eyes were completely rolled back, fixated only on tormenting me.
'Alright. This side's done. That side too. The last one's almost... Ah, perfect, finished.'
Considering possible variables, I double-checked, then checked once more.
Preparations complete.
Now, only the execute button remained.
'Then, before we part, one last shot.'
Click.
Even took a proper photo.
Time to start.
Operation name: Your skeletons are sick. Execute.
Thud. Thunk.
"Kuhahaha! How does it feel to be trampled by the human you looked down on? Humiliating? Do you want to kill me right now? But you can't even twitch a finger! Ah! You don't even have fingers—you're just a worm! Sorry about that!"
Smack!
The Lich King felt stress melting away for the first time in ages.
Yes, this was it.
Why else would he have returned from death through such hardship?
To change this world that was endlessly cruel to humans.
And to force all those arrogant bastards who despised humans to their knees.
"My comrades, are you all watching well?!"
Like a great dragon slayer announcing his feat of killing a dragon to the world, the Lich King shouted to his skeleton soldiers with his foot—smeared in dirt and dust—planted on the black scales.
The skeletons, who always moved for the Lich King, did the same this time... applauding his words.
"......"
Why weren't they applauding?
Clack.
Clack.
Clack clack.
Clack. Clack.
Instead of applause, the sound of teeth clashing.
The Lich King frowned slightly.
He'd clearly ordered them to clap.
But they weren't clapping, just standing there clicking their jaws?
Clack. Clack. Clack clack. Clack.
Clack clack. Clack clack. Clack. Clack clack.
Clack. Clack clack. Clack. Clack clack.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
The familiar laughter of the undead echoed.
They might not have their voices from life, but they all surely enjoyed this existence now.
Of course. Surviving—even in this gruesome form—was better than dying.
"Come to think of it, I sensed some guys nearby who could make good soldiers."
Just as the Lich King felt the auras of distant kin waiting to become his soldiers.
Crack.
One skeleton waiting quietly behind suddenly swung a club at the Lich King's nape.
"What... is this situation?"
The Lich King, unharmed, flared his eye flames fiercely.
His subordinate betraying him suddenly?
No, that was impossible to begin with.
He knew his skeleton soldiers faithfully followed his commands.
They didn't act without orders.
When ordered—even if it meant crumbling to dust—they moved to fulfill it.
That was his army, his cherished kin, his reliable soldiers.
'Impossible.'
So it couldn't happen, and shouldn't.
But it had.
Which meant only one thing.
Some variable had arisen.
"What the hell."
The Lich King needed to find that variable.
He couldn't lose soldiers who never betrayed and only offered loyalty.
Clank.
"This is?"
But what was this!
As he turned, chains suddenly bound his body, hindering movement!
[Took you long enough.]
"I see. You deliberately let me hit you."
The Imoogi that had been sprawled on the ground until moments ago was now freely soaring through the sky.
He didn't wonder how.
The skeleton hitting his nape, these chains binding him now—all probably that guy's doing.
"Since when?"
[From the moment the chains touched my body.]
I see. So he let himself get caught on purpose.
Quite smug, huh.
Explaining it so easily.
After getting smacked from behind and bound by his own summoned chains, the Lich King finally regained his lost composure.
"So, you overlaid your power on the chains and soldiers, and took control. Impressive that you managed it."
[It was so easy I nearly yawned. How could you make such flimsy leashes and let a guy like me steal them?]
Clang.
The chains writhing irregularly like snakes, and the Imoogi haughtily floating in the sky again.
Acknowledging he'd lost his reason to the earlier provocation, the Lich King sucked in black mana with all his might.
Suuuuu.
Black mana filling his body.
Regaining his calm, he spoke to the foe who'd landed an unexpected counter.
"Fine, I fell for that snake tongue and acted like a fool for a moment. But now what? I've regained my senses. What can you do with just one soldier and control over my summons?"
[One soldier.]
The black Imoogi scoffed at the Lich King's words.
[Hey, when you told your soldiers to applaud earlier, how many actually clapped?]
At that question, the Lich King whipped his head around with a 'no way' expression.
The worst he'd desperately avoided imagining unfolded before his eyes.
"What is this."
The Lich King wondered if this was just an illusion.
Or maybe a nightmare.
Otherwise, why would all the countless soldiers he'd gathered on the way here have black scale-like tattoos on their skulls and aim weapons at him?
-Krrr. Stealing the enemy's legion. What a despicably brilliant strategy.
[Well, Tyrant of Death. Got anything else to show? I'm still hungry. So please, show me something to sate it.]