Chapter 172
Translator: penny
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Necromancy
Up until now, whenever I'd used my skills, nothing particularly out of the ordinary had happened. The most intense change I'd experienced was probably my body breaking apart when I activated [Limit Break].
But the moment I activated the [Necromancy] skill, I could feel that it was fundamentally different from anything I'd used before.
Affected by [Necromancy lv.8], some skills are mutating.
[Mana Manipulation lv.6] has changed to [Corpse Manipulation lv.6].
[Mana Breathing lv.6] has changed to [Breath of Death lv.6].
[Mana Detection lv.6] has changed to [Life Detection lv.6].
[Physical Resistance lv.6], [Magic Resistance lv.6], [Attribute Resistance lv.6], [Regeneration lv.7] skills have changed to [Immortal's Body lv.7].
[Curse Resistance lv.6], [Poison Resistance lv.6] skills have changed to [Frozen Heart lv.7].
[Stealth lv.6], [Assassination lv.6], [Stealth lv.6] skills have changed to [Ghostification lv.7].
The skill window turned into a chaotic mess. Beatrice, who had been watching the whole scene, realized something ominous was happening and urgently commanded her dolls.
"...Kill!"
The madness in her voice about gifts and wrapping was gone, replaced by pure instinct. Her judgment was spot on...
But it was already too late.
[Huu....]
As I exhaled, a cold mist flowed from my mouth. Slowly raising my head, I saw the dolls—no, the ownerless corpses—rushing toward me, strings attached to their bodies.
And the magical structure controlling them through the mana strings embedded in their flesh was plain as day.
Inefficient.
Without thinking, as I gazed at Beatrice's magic, that thought crossed my mind. How could she waste those precious corpse bodies so badly?
If she's going to waste them like that...
[Better if I take them.]
-Shrieeek!
Ignoring the sword flying toward my throat, I raised my hand. Beatrice, to prevent any tricks, explosively infused mana into the dolls she'd left still, forcing their movements and accelerating their speed.
The dolls charged at me with far greater speed than before, their swords and spears embedding deep into my body.
-Pffft!
"...Hmph. The fun's over at the end. If I just recover Vivian's bracelet..."
Beatrice gazed at Ian, now resembling a porcupine with weapons stuck in him everywhere, and unwittingly let out a sigh she'd been holding back. Why was that? In the final moment, some foreboding feeling...
"Bring me the bracelet."
She commanded her dolls to retrieve the bracelet from Ian. If she recovered the bracelet like this, displayed it in her case, and stitched up that corpse nicely to turn it into another doll...
-Clunk.
".....?"
While lost in thought, manipulating the mana strings, their movement halted as if caught on something.
"What? Why suddenly..."
-Clack. Rattle. Clunk. Creak. Thud.
Not just that—the mana strings scattered throughout the room began shaking all at once, and without any orders, the dolls started trembling violently.
"...C-come back!"
Something was wrong. Beatrice hurriedly yanked the mana strings to retrieve her dolls, but they stayed rooted like nails in wood, ignoring her commands and just shuddering repeatedly.
Through the strings connected to the dolls, she felt a bizarre energy staining them like filth, startling her into withdrawing the strings.
Even after the mana connection broke, the dolls didn't stop moving. No, the moment the strings released, their movements became more natural. One by one, they raised their heads, and soon all the dolls spewed blue ghostfire from their eyes, staring at Beatrice.
They split into two groups and parted, revealing me standing there perfectly fine from between them.
Well... not perfectly fine.
"...You, what are you? Undead?"
Beatrice stared at my left arm with trembling eyes. Following her gaze down to my own left arm, I saw the skin peeling away from the tip—the same arm that had felt strangely off since regenerating once—exposing stark white bone.
[Immortal's Body lv.7]: Resists all effects that lead to death.
[None of your business.]
Something seriously ominous was happening.
Trusting that instinct, I cut off the conversation and issued a command to the corpses now under my dominion. The dolls—no, the undead—accepted my order, seized their weapons, and bared their teeth at their former master.
"This... this mere gift wrapping dares touch the present Vivian gave me?"
Having her dolls stolen, Beatrice—who'd maintained a leisurely attitude throughout—gnashed her teeth in fury. She gathered the mana strings once connected to the dolls into one, transforming them into a massive whip and lashing out at the undead.
-Crack! Crackle!
The undead were flung aside helplessly en masse. Quite the anticlimax for such a dramatic entrance. Beatrice, having smashed the undead, trembled with rage and glared at me with bloodshot eyes.
"...You. You won't die peacefully. I'll gouge out your eyes, flay your skin, grind your limbs and stuff them down your throat, then yank out your guts...!"
Words not worth hearing. Lightly ignoring Beatrice's curse-laden voice, I slowly spread the corpse qi blooming from deep in my heart in all directions.
-Rattle. Clatter.
The shattered undead bodies repaired themselves, then lunged at Beatrice with the same vigor as before.
"...This!"
[The situation's completely reversed now, huh?]
It was as if the battle—where she'd toyed with me using her dolls just moments ago—had flipped exactly. Beatrice swung her mana whip nonstop to shake off the clinging undead, but every time, the endlessly regenerating undead stuck to her tenaciously.
"Eek!"
Just as I had, Beatrice ignored the undead and turned to me, gathering her mana into a massive spear shape before hurling it my way.
[Bone Wall.]
A spell surfaced in my mind unbidden. I incanted it, and the broken undead corpses around me mingled with the unremoved bodies of the drug cartel members from the earlier fight, rising into a wall of bone that blocked the mana spear.
"Grr.... You damn wrapping...!"
Her repeated attacks were all stopped by the bone wall, bruising her pride. She summoned a massive orb of mana, preparing a big strike.
In that case... time to counter with another skill.
[Ghostification lv.7]: Take on the form of a spirit body.
The skills centered on [Stealth] had merged to birth [Ghostification]. The moment I activated it, the colors of the world inverted.
"What? Where'd he go?!"
Even with me right in front of her nose, Beatrice couldn't find me and frantically searched around. As if determined to locate me, she summoned several thin mana strings and swept them mercilessly through the room.
-Whoosh!
The mana strings heading my way passed straight through my body without any hindrance.
"Gone...? Did he escape?!"
Even after combing the entire room with her strings, she couldn't detect my presence. Beatrice panicked and dispersed the mana orb.
Unhindered, I slowly approached and arrived beside Beatrice, seizing her throat with my left arm—that was turning to bone.
"Gahk...!?! H-how?!"
[Who knows.]
A chilling mist escaped my mouth as, through the bony hand, I felt the throbbing pulse of life. I smiled pleasantly.
Struggling to pry off my arm, Beatrice pouted and, beyond the mana strings she'd summoned relentlessly so far, manifested another spell.
"Ugh... You thought I only handle [Puppet Magic]? Big mistake!"
Beatrice's glowing purple mana turned green, soon forming a thick green mist that engulfed me.
"Hee... hit♥ You look a bit weird now, but you're still a breathing human, right? Choke on the poison and drop dead♥!"
Having poured years into brewing drugs to cure Vivian's frigidity, she naturally had deep knowledge of alchemy. Her poison-spreading magic—crafted by such hands—was her hidden ace, rivaling her signature [Puppet Magic].
"Just die...!"
[Sip.... Huu. Is that all?]
[Frozen Heart lv.7] defends against poison and curses.
"...What?"
Casually inhaling the green smoke, I tightened my grip on Beatrice's throat.
"Gehk...! Ack, cough!"
Beatrice thrashed about, lights bursting from her magical artifacts as various spells activated to interfere with me. But the corpse qi spreading from my body clashed with the mana, beginning to corrode the artifacts one by one.
"Gahk.... N-no.... The connection between me and Vivian...!"
Even as she died, valuing Vivian's artifacts more than her own life, she flailed to protect the corroding items. I crushed her struggles effortlessly, endlessly spreading corpse qi to erode Beatrice.
"Gurgle...!"
[Good.]
The moment white foam bubbled from Beatrice's mouth—as she couldn't breathe, her eyes rolling back—an eerie pleasure surged through my entire body.
Good. So very good. The sensation of life extinguishing. The pulsing life force vanishing, replaced by the rising aura of death.
This sensation. Addictive. Snap her neck, claim her life, then ravage the remaining corpse and raise it in that defiled state...
'....Me...'
Ravage the corpse...
'.....What am I even thinking?'
[Necromancy lv.8] deactivates.