Chapter 28
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The 702nd Wave (2)
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Grrrrk!
The neat rows of teeth ground together like a millstone.
A skeleton, unable to show expression without flesh on its face.
This was the greatest display of emotion the undead could muster.
That's how much.
The undead lich, Iramatus, was seething with rage.
The blue light dwelling in his empty eye sockets narrowed.
Th-th-thump!
The Dream Lord's Castle.
His legions poured into the deeper levels.
Through the shared vision with his undead army, unbelievable things were happening.
- Hah, how foolish of me. I should have learned Holy Light to repel the undead! To think I can only manage to ignite my staff with sacred fire. Gah!
An ogre wearing a ridiculous hat was rapidly casting spells and swinging a club.
Each time the log, burning like a torch, was swung, skeletons were swept away like autumn leaves.
It was a truly dumbfounding sight.
Iramatus felt a throbbing inside his skull and shifted his shared vision elsewhere.
The vision of the skeleton legion that entered the second passage was filled with just one thing.
- Rooooar!
An endless surge of water, or perhaps a wave.
The water, which had turned into a hurricane, moved as if alive, tearing the skeletons apart.
Next.
- Kiruk!
The third room was empty.
No, he thought it was empty.
If it weren't for that damn ‘kiruk, kerruk’ sound.
- Kiruk!
After the nerve-grating 'kiruk' sounded once.
Shhhk!
Several advancing skeletons were sliced in two and fell to the floor.
It was impossible to even grasp what was happening.
Finally.
The fourth room was slightly better.
- Shii, shii!
Guarding the chamber was a legion of twenty lizardmen.
They were inherently superior to skeletons and a race second to none in tenacity.
Naturally, they fought valiantly.
But their numbers were small.
Just twenty of them.
Could not block his authority.
“Arise.”
Iramatus raised the magic staff he was holding high.
At the same time, the purple orb embedded in the staff emitted a sinister light.
His authority.
‘Undead Resurrection’ swept through the Lord's Castle.
- Tatatak.
Then, the fallen skeletons rose again.
The Skeleton Soldiers burned to ashes by that damned clown ogre.
The Skeleton Archers swept away by the house-sized wave.
The Skeleton Knights sliced in two with that 'kiruk' sound.
His undead minions were resurrected once more.
“…”
But at that very moment, the most incomprehensible phenomenon occurred.
Just as it had every time he used his authority until now.
- M-my Lord. I am still fine. You don't have to personally feed me that… Keoheok!
- Sh, shiii…!
- Keruk, kup?!
Something appeared out of thin air and was shoved into the mouths of the monsters guarding the chamber.
Iramatus didn't know what it was.
Unable to smell, he couldn't even tell if it was food or not.
But one thing was certain.
- The taste is foul, but it is truly wondrous. Every time I eat this, the spirit of a tiger surges within me! Gaaah!
- Kiruk, kiruruk!
Just as his legion was resurrected by his authority.
Every time that strange thing appeared, the monsters guarding the chamber also regained their vitality.
“What strange sorcery…”
Iramatus gritted his teeth.
A blessing that maintains infinite stamina?
He had lived for eons as an undead lich, yet he had never heard of or seen such a thing.
To add to that.
- Uryaaaa! Flames of hellfire!
“…”
He had also never seen an ogre mage who slaughtered skeletons with such childish incantations.
Kwadududuk!
The undead resurrected by his authority were once again swept away like autumn leaves.
The same went for the undead in the fourth room, which had seemed the most promising.
Now, he had to make a choice.
He had already used his authority over 100 times.
His mana, which had seemed infinite, was beginning to run dry.
Ssk.
Iramatus lowered the staff he was holding.
A war of attrition using his authority wouldn't work.
He admitted defeat.
But he hadn't given up on the siege.
If the puppets were insufficient.
Then the master himself would just have to step forward.
Fwoosh.
The lich's burning gaze turned towards the dark passage.
***
“It's about time for him to make a move.”
I muttered, dusting off one of my arms.
Exactly six hours had passed since the 702nd wave began.
Until now, it had been a repetitive war of attrition.
Whenever a certain number of undead were destroyed, the lich repeatedly brought them back with ‘Undead Resurrection’.
Not to be outdone, I fed the energy bars I had stockpiled to my little ones one by one.
We'd been repeating this for six hours.
“You're at your limit too, aren't you?”
The undead lich residing in the Room of Light and Salt.
I spoke as if he were right in front of me.
[Warning! Iramatus is casting Undead Resurrection!]
The information window, for the umpteenth time, flashed again.
But.
「Current Monster Wave - 660/1200」
The undead, which had originally been resurrected to the full 1200, only came back to a little over half this time.
Even without a mana gauge, it was easy enough to tell.
The undead lich's mana was almost gone.
And finally.
[Warning! Iramatus is heading directly to the Audience Chamber!]
The long-awaited information appeared on the status board.
The pixelated lich was passing through the Room of Light and Salt and slowly heading south.
The path he chose was the fourth room.
The route that passed through the barracks guarded by the lizardman legion.
And I.
[Redeploying the Lizardman Legion.]
I withdrew the army without hesitation.
I redistributed the lizardman legion to the other rooms where battles were still ongoing.
Naturally, the fourth passage leading to the Audience Chamber was now undefended.
- Phrrng?!
It was the Sage, watching from the side, who was surprised.
I stroked the part I assumed was the Sage's head and said.
“If I don't do this, they'll all die.”
No matter how strong the lizardman legion had become from their swarm bonus.
To a 7-star monster with a special hero buff, they'd be one-shotted.
‘I can't sacrifice my precious forces just to test a theory.’
I hadn't lost a monster in this status window version of MonMonMak yet.
I didn't know if a dead monster was completely obliterated or if it would be resurrected after the wave ended.
And I'd find out soon enough, with or without the lizardmen.
[Iramatus is passing through the 4th Barracks!]
An alert popped up on the status board.
The undead Iramatus had brought with him were already all gone.
But I hadn't placed any monsters in the 4th Barracks.
Because the one to face him wasn't Odolph, Jen Karuk, Gono, or the lizardmen.
[Iramatus has arrived at the final barracks before the Audience Chamber.]
And in the barracks set up before the Audience Chamber.
There, the main characters made their appearance.
[Undead Lich Iramatus begins engagement with three Goblin Fighters!]
I stared at the pixelated monsters facing off in the square space before the Audience Chamber.
The undead lich, exuding an aura of majesty even through the screen.
Facing him were three ordinary goblins.
They were the final weapon that would send the undead lich packing.
No, to be precise, it was what they were holding together with all their might.
A cross the size of a house.
[Cross of the Primordial God - B-Rank]
[Could there be a holier object? The radiance of the Primordial God purifies all. Even its wielder!]
[Can cast 「Sent to the Lord in One Shot」.]
The pixelated cross was so huge it took up half the room.
Three goblin fighters were supporting the cross on its sides and at its end.
[Sent to the Lord in One Shot]
[Special Skill. Upon casting, randomly annihilates one undead monster. After casting, the Cross of the Primordial God is destroyed, and the monster equipped with the item also dies. Monsters of a low star-rank require three or more to equip it simultaneously.]
Annihilation literally meant unconditional death.
The reason this item was only B-rank, despite that.
Was because in most situations, you lost more than you gained.
It was a one-time use item that disappeared after being used.
And a skill that relied on pure luck.
On top of that, you had to sacrifice the monster wearing the item.
‘And "random" even includes the undead I've hired.’
There were quite a few users who, unaware of this, accidentally team-killed and lost both their castle and the monsters they'd poured hundreds into.
And yet, it appeared in gacha boxes all the time.
Thanks to that, it was an item that made the handful of remaining MonMonMak players shudder, calling it the ‘Junk Cross’.
“Still, this time.”
It's not the Junk Cross, but the God-Cross.
A true gift from the gods, in a sense.
[Iramatus casts Deathly Tsunami.]
Did he recognize the cross?
The lich belatedly began to cast a spell.
“Not a chance.”
But my finger-tapping was faster.
[3 Goblin Fighters use the Cross of the Primordial God.]
[「Sent to the Lord in One Shot」 is cast!]
In that moment.
A golden energy wave shot out from the head of the cross, which had been aimed at the lich.
Bzzzzzt!
Along with a crude sound effect, an impact effect erupted from the lich, who had taken a direct hit from the energy wave.
The same was true for the three goblin fighters holding the cross.
I quietly spoke a few words to honor them.
“I'm sorry, guys.”
The first to be annihilated were the three goblin fighters.
The cross, left behind, soon turned to light and vanished.
The last one remaining was the undead lich.
At first glance, it looked as if he had withstood ‘Sent to the Lord in One Shot’.
But.
Fssshhh.
Light spread from the center of the pixelated screen to the edges.
[Iramatus: You son of a b—]
A speech bubble appeared from the pixelated image of the undead lich.
[Iramatus has taken 99999 damage from 'Goblin Fighter'! Critical Strike! Iramatus is annihilated!]
The undead, enveloped in sacred fire, was annihilated in a brilliant flash of light, like an exploding sun.
The end of the 7-star special hero lich was more anticlimactic than expected.
And then.
[Congratulations. You have cleared the 702nd Wave.]
On the now-peaceful status board, a victory flag fluttered.
***
After the afterglow of victory had faded somewhat.
“No resurrection…”
I cooled my head and assessed the situation.
The three goblin fighters who had perished along with Iramatus did not resurrect in the end.
This made it certain.
I must handle my hired monsters with more care.
Because there are ones like Odolph and Gono, who serve as my combat power not just in the castle, but in reality.
And to reduce any potential variables or sacrifices.
‘I need to bolster the castle's forces.’
I need to increase the number of deployable monsters and trap rooms.
In other words, I need to focus more on my Hunter activities.
While I was lost in thought, a new pixelated status window appeared before me.
[The Dream Lord's Castle invites you to participate in a memorial service.]
“A memorial service?”
I pulled up the castle screen with a bewildered expression.
Only then did I understand what the memorial service was.
The room where the three goblins had been annihilated.
[Altar of Remembrance]
A small bonfire was burning there.
The monsters guarding the castle had gathered around the bonfire.
Even the butler and the lord were among them.
“Well, I'll be.”
I scratched my head.
This kind of system didn't exist in MonMonMak.
At least one thing was certain.
To call it a simple game, everything was too realistic.
“No reason not to.”
If it weren't for the goblin fighters, I wouldn't have been able to fend off this wave.
And if that had happened.
- The world will be destroyed.
Perhaps.
The worst-case scenario might have arrived much sooner.
[Participate]
I observed a moment of silence.
I never thought I'd hold a memorial service for fallen monsters.
But this was definitely.
Something I had to do.
Fwoosh.
The pixelated bonfire flared up.
[The Lord's Castle expresses its gratitude for your participation in the memorial service.]
The faint smell of something burning tickled my nose.