The World's Greatest Necromancer Was No Exaggeration

The claim that she was the world's greatest Necromancer was no exaggeration. The members of the Midas Guild felt this truth bone-deep. Even though they were mages of the same class, her casting speed and destructive power were on an entirely different level. While summoning and micro-managing her undead, Lee Se-yeon still found the breathing room to weave curses and direct attacks, unleashing a force that far surpassed their combined efforts. She was a monster in human form.

"I was already holding back, but you people just had to... Let's see how far you can go!" Lee Se-yeon ground her teeth, summoning more undead. She didn't care if her Infamy skyrocketed or if she got banned from entering the city. Today, blood would flow!

"Call Undead Dragon Knight! Call Bone Dragon!"

Rumble!

"S-Se-yeon! Have you completely lost your mind?! How are you going to handle the aftermath of this?!" Jehas, a ranker who had provoked her out of petty jealousy but never intended to start an all-out war, cried out in panic. The scale of her magic was enough to tear the entire city apart. But Lee Se-yeon merely gave a cold reply.

"Why are guys who are about to die worrying about my aftermath? Just drop dead!"

"...!" With those words, the onslaught began. It was a multi-dimensional assault, raining down from the walls, rising from the streets, and dropping from the rooftops—every conceivable angle! The panicked guild members could do nothing but huddle back-to-back, desperately trying to defend themselves.

"Lee Se-yeon...! Do you think you're some kind of god? Let's see you handle this!" Ehas, whom Crawford had previously described as having severe anger issues, stepped forward.

The saying that trouble always brews when rankers gather in one place was undeniably true. When people with such terrible personalities clashed, conflict was inevitable. Even so, the current situation was highly exceptional. To fight on a scale that affected the entire city! Normally, rankers exercised some restraint, but with both of them completely enraged, they were pushing things to the absolute limit.

"R-Run!" "What the hell is this?!" Realizing that things had gone far south, the surrounding players began fleeing the city in droves. Spectating was fun and all, but they were going to get caught in the crossfire and die! The only players who remained were high-level rankers or those willing to risk their lives just to watch the show.

Rumble! Water began to pool around their ankles.

"Hmph! Let's see you brag about your undead now!" Ehas sneered, swinging her staff. The massive torrent of water swept back the undead army. Lee Se-yeon didn't even bother to reply, unleashing a rapid barrage of spells. She slapped Ehas with a vision-obscuring curse, a casting-speed reduction curse, and an MP drain curse. Simultaneously, she summoned undead directly beneath Ehas's feet, detonating them the instant they grabbed hold of her.

"Kyaaaah!" Ehas screamed as she was blown off her feet. Seeing this, Jehas rallied the remaining guild members to join the fray. "We can't beat her one-on-one! Everyone, attack!" Their PvP experience was simply on different dimensions. Even among fellow rankers, Lee Se-yeon's combat experience was overwhelmingly superior. Battles between mages were highly tactical, akin to a game of chess, and Lee Se-yeon was always several moves ahead. She anticipated every single one of Ehas's tricks and countered them flawlessly.

"..."

"Ah!"

"How?!"

"Ugh..."

"We'll help you!"

"I don't need it. Just watch," Lee Se-yeon said, raising a hand to stop her party members from intervening. Having her entire party step in against such pathetic opponents was a matter of pride. Besides, she was the one who had started this mess; she didn't want her teammates getting hit with unnecessary Infamy penalties.

'Ah... maybe I should have held back.' It was all Kim Tae-hyun's fault!

"Hold on, demon. Did you say earlier that Lalgrgal resides beneath the city?"

"Yes. I do not know his exact location, but he issues commands from the underground..."

"If it's raining this hard, wouldn't Lalgrgal be in a bit of a tight spot?" Tae-hyun asked, sounding puzzled. If a storm of this scale was flooding the city streets, the underground ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sewers would be in a far worse state.

"...N-Now that you mention it, yes?"

It made perfect sense when they thought about it! This was probably a more effective way to torment Lalgrgal than any direct assault or ambush.

"But a being of Lord Lalgrgal's stature should easily endure this level of water. His patience is legendary."

"Oh... is that so?"

"I won't lose! Lee Se-yeon! I will never lose to you!"

"Why is she trying to film a coming-of-age drama with me?" Lee Se-yeon clicked her tongue and swung her staff. Since her opponent was also a ranker and had the support of the Midas Guild's mages, they were somehow managing to hold their ground. Growing annoyed, Lee Se-yeon decided to press her advantage aggressively.

—Large-Scale Magic Overload!

"???!"

"A-Are you insane?!" Ehas gasped in horror. No matter how heated the battle was, overloading the magic here was madness! The entire city was going to be completely submerged!

"I don't care. You're the one who started this, so you'll be the one taking the bulk of the Infamy anyway."

"...!!" Ehas's jaw dropped. Are you secretly Kim Tae-hyun or something?!

"Anyway, now that it's overloaded, you won't be able to pull any more cheap tricks with it. Now, just die!"

The only reason Ehas had been able to hold out was because she was receiving buffs from her active weather magic. Now that Lee Se-yeon had forced it to overload, Ehas had completely lost control of the spell, meaning she could no longer utilize those buffs!

"...Are you sure Lalgrgal can endure this?" Tae-hyun asked his companions as they retreated to higher ground. Originally, he had planned to sneak underground and steal Lalgrgal's antidote, but if they went down there now, they would be drowned like rats!

"L-Lord Lalgrgal is a truly magnificent being..."

"Magnificent or not, his hideout is about to be completely destroyed."

"He will endure! Do you know how grand his master plan is—"

Rumble! Crash!

Before the demon could even finish his sentence, the central plaza of the city shattered, and a colossal roar echoed through the streets.

"How dare you!! How dare you do this to me!!!"

"...You said he'd endure?"

"..." The demon had absolutely nothing to say in his defense.

"Huh. He looks a bit different from what I expected." Tae-hyun stared in bewilderment at Lalgrgal, who had emerged in the distant plaza. He had envisioned a muscular, giant demon warrior like Galgrgal... but this creature looked like a plump, oversized merchant.

"Doesn't he actually look kind of easy?"

"Honestly, yeah..." the companions whispered among themselves. Couldn't they just run over and take him down right now?

Lalgrgal's mouth stretched open to an impossible width, and he began to vacuum up everything in his vicinity. The blazing hellfire magic swirling deep within his throat devoured everything from shattered building debris to helpless players. Crunch! Munch!

"Aaaagh! I am still hungry!" Crunch! Snap!

With just two skills, the central plaza was completely obliterated!

"...Who was the one who said he looked easy just now?"

"..."

Lalgrgal was simply a different type of monster compared to Galgrgal, but he was undeniably a terrifying beast.

"A demon was hiding beneath the city?! Could this be related to the quest?!" Ehas and the Midas Guild members completely forgot their current predicament and turned their heads. Lalgrgal's grand entrance was impossible to ignore! Could that demon have something to do with the King of Erance's quest? Unfortunately, letting their guard down was a fatal mistake. The person standing right in front of them was none other than Lee Se-yeon!

"Goodbye."

"!!!!"

—Undead Corpse Explosion!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Lee Se-yeon detonated the undead she had sent close to them, layering her own destructive spells right on top of the blasts.

"Lee Se-yeon...! Are you trying to make an eternal enemy out of our guild?!"

"I've never been afraid of you guys, even back when we were in the Guild Alliance."

"We are different now!"

"Different how? More pathetic and easier to beat? Whatever, just keep coming at me."

Jehas ground his teeth. That single attack had wiped out half of their party. Continuing to fight like this was pure madness. Even when they had fought with everything they had earlier, they were still pushed back...

"Ehas! Let's run!"

"B-But that annoying woman...!"

"We have to retreat for now!"

"I don't recall giving you permission to leave," Lee Se-yeon scoffed. "Just hurry up and die. Once I'm done with you, I have to go hunt down Kim Tae-hyun."

"Urgh... Let's do this!" Realizing there was no escape, Jehas and Ehas braced themselves to fight to the bitter end. No matter how disadvantageous the situation, there were no absolute certainties in a battle between rankers. A comeback was always possible!

"Come at me, Lee Se-yeon! I will never—"

Crash!

Before Jehas could even finish his sentence, he was sent flying into the distance. Lalgrgal, having finished flattening the central plaza, had made his way over to them.

"..."

"..."

Both Ehas and Lee Se-yeon stared at Lalgrgal in stunned silence. A terrifying boss monster had suddenly joined the fray!

"Who dared to defile my domain with water?!"

"Her," Lee Se-yeon pointed at Ehas without a moment's hesitation.

Without missing a beat, Lalgrgal lunged straight at Ehas.

Boom!

"Lee Se-yeooooon! You absolute witch!" Ehas screamed, frantically casting every defensive spell in her arsenal. She should have answered as quickly as Lee Se-yeon did!

"You die! I eat you!"

"Lee Se-yeon! Let's team up and kill him! Team up!"

"Is that a dog barking?"

"You are a literal piece of trash!!"

Lee Se-yeon stared blankly at Ehas and thought to herself: Is this how Kim Tae-hyun always feels? Using someone else's hands to deal with an annoying pest felt incredibly satisfying.

'No wonder he does this...' If she got addicted to this feeling, she might truly lose her mind!

"I eat you! You die!"

"Urgh...!"

"Unni, what are we going to do about that demon?"

"Well, we aren't prepared for a raid anyway. Why don't we retreat while she acts as the perfect bait?"

"Now that I think about it, if we enter Lalgrgal's dungeon right now, won't we get a free pass?" Tae-hyun suddenly realized. If they went inside before Lalgrgal returned, couldn't they just sweep up the antidote and all the related loot?

"B-But it's completely flooded down there..."

"We can just hold our breath."

"You can't just hold your breath through that! Besides, there must be countless monsters and traps inside..."

The demons felt an overwhelming sense of dread. Cain felt it too. And Alcott was no exception!

Pat, pat, pat!

Tae-hyun quickly selected his scapegoats, pushed them forward, and declared, "Let's go! We need to raid the place before Lalgrgal gets back!"

As expected, robbing an empty house was far better than fighting a boss monster! Whatever chaos Lalgrgal was causing up on the surface had absolutely nothing to do with them.

—Water Breathing!

The party members either cast water-breathing spells or used scrolls. It was a basic necessity to breathe underwater.

"Alcott, Crawford, Cain. You guys are the absolute elite of our party. That's why I brought you along."

'No matter how I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠look at it, it feels like he only brought the guys he considers completely expendable...'

'You think so too? Yeah, same here.'

Alcott and Crawford exchanged whispered complaints. No matter how much they thought about it, Tae-hyun's selection criteria were highly suspicious! It felt as though he had only selected people whose deaths in the dungeon wouldn't bother him in the slightest. Just look at the demons in front of them! They were wearing explosive collars, staring back with utterly pitiful expressions.

Cain thought to himself: 'Hmm. If worst comes to worst, I might have to self-destruct.'

Once you accept it, it brings peace of mind! His mindset was on an entirely different level compared to Alcott and Crawford's.