Chapter 381: A Clue (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 381: A Clue (8)
Just as there is no high or low in occupations, there is no high or low in traits.
My personal philosophy is that while there may be a difference between traits suited for combat and those that are not, no one in this world awakens a completely useless trait.
And yet, some people are unfairly cursed or treated as useless, even though they didn't choose the trait they awakened.
The man before me was one such case.
“A corpse-fucker? Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“Not at all.”
Corpse-fucker.
It was a derogatory term for necromancers who raised the bodies of the dead to fight.
Those who gained traits related to raising the dead had long been objects of disgust.
It was unavoidable.
An army of corpses, raised to fight.
That kind of thing only looks cool in comics or novels. There’s no way someone controlling hundreds of shambling corpses would look cool in real life, is there?
As I said before, I believe there’s no high or low when it comes to traits.
But that only applies to those who use their traits for their profession, not for crime.
“For a villain like you, even the term ‘corpse-fucker’ is too good.”
A criminal necromancer who uses unauthorized corpses as he pleases.
I only ever use the derogatory term ‘corpse-fucker’ for them.
What wouldn’t I say to these bastards who freely use the bodies of those who have found eternal rest in death?
As if offended by the expression, the man glared at me with sharp eyes.
“Arrogance is only cute when it’s in moderation.”
Cute? Please.
“There’s not a chance in hell I’d ever want to look cute to you, so wake up and smell the coffee.”
At that, he twisted one corner of his mouth into a smirk.
“I’m curious… if that’ll still be true even after you’re dead.”
Snap!
He snapped his fingers again, and the corpses began to move.
Their lifeless steps, something no human could replicate, gradually picked up speed.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter!
The zombies, who looked to be at least fifty in number, swung their weapons with arms from which rotting flesh dangled.
Whoosh!
Swish!
Thwack!
Pathetic.
The strength and speed I felt from them were no different from that of an ordinary person.
But their terror lay not in their strength or speed, but elsewhere.
First, they always fought with the advantage of numbers.
There’s an old battlefield saying: beware the stray blade.
It means that no matter how skilled you are, in a chaotic battle with many combatants, you never know what random variable might kill you, so you must be ever vigilant.
Fighting zombies was just like that.
Even if their attacks were boringly slow and weak, the pressure of dozens, even hundreds, of those attacks coming from all directions was not something one could easily overcome.
Guwaaaaa-!
Krrrrrr…!
Arururururu!
With minimal movement, I dodged the dozens of weapons raining down on me and gathered my mana.
The most suitable attribute for dealing with corpses was, of course, fire.
I took the mana I had gathered and instantly maximized the dormant fire particles within it, scattering them into the air.
「Fire Rain.」
An advanced, area-of-effect fire-attribute spell that scattered a rain of fire within a certain range poured down mercilessly on their heads and shoulders.
Fwoooosh!
Boom!
Sizzle-!
The fire caught on their torn clothes and rotting flesh, spreading across their entire bodies.
Burning to death—the most painful way for a human to die.
Yet, the zombies were unfazed by an attack that would have made any normal human scream in agony as they died.
KyaKyaKyaKya!
Ulalalalala!
…In fact, they seemed to be enjoying it.
That was the second reason why a necromancer’s zombies were so terrifying.
They were already dead and felt no pain.
And their regenerative abilities were outstanding.
The burnt, rotting flesh returned, reattaching itself to the bone as if nothing had happened.
The same went for their torn clothes.
Not just the flesh that hadn't completely rotted away, but even their old, frayed, and ripped garments.
The moment a zombie is resurrected by a necromancer's power, it preserves that appearance for eternity.
That's why, as long as the necromancer has enough mana, a zombie can return to its original state time and time again.
Yes.
As long as there is enough mana, that is.
“Let’s see how long you can keep regenerating them.”
I pushed more mana into the rain of fire pouring down on the area.
Unable to withstand the thicker, fiercer torrent of flames, the zombies began to collapse to the ground.
But even then, they struggled to obey their master’s command, clawing at the floor, trying to reach me.
Their loyalty was commendable, but at this rate, they’d never escape the rain…
Zap!
“……!”
A flash of light and a sharp noise erupted from within the warehouse.
I twisted my body on instinct as a streak of blue lightning shot past the spot where I had just been standing.
Krrrack!
One side of an innocent container was torn away, revealing its contents.
Just like the other container, dozens of zombies were crammed inside, awaiting orders.
An ominous thought crossed my mind.
There were over ten large containers placed throughout the warehouse.
“…Don’t tell me all the containers are full?”
As I stared at him with a look of disbelief, the man grinned playfully.
“Oops, you found out.”
“……”
There were roughly 50 zombies crammed into that container.
That meant there were at least 500 zombies prepared in this warehouse.
“Hmm… that might be a little dangerous.”
Honestly, dealing with 500 regular zombies wasn't that difficult.
No matter how numerous they were, the number of attacks coming at me at once would be less than that.
However, a certain someone who could make things very tricky for me had just joined the battle.
“A zombie and a mage combo is cheating.”
Baek Hyeon-a, an A-rank Hunter and an advanced mage.
Her presence, announced by the lightning bolt she had just fired, was now my biggest headache.
To be precise, the synergy between a zombie vanguard and a mage rear guard was the problem.
Bzzzzzt!
From her fingertips, blue electric currents once again sparked in all directions.
Soon, a blue sphere formed.
Electric Nova.
“……”
With an emotionless gaze, she threw the sphere. It stopped in front of me and exploded.
An enormous amount of electrical current poured out of the ruptured sphere.
To block it, I drew on earth-attribute mana and raised a shield.
「Earth Shield.」
No sooner had a thick shield risen from the ground than the currents scattered.
Bzzzzzzzzzt-!
Kzzzzack!
The electricity that shot out in every direction didn't distinguish between friend or foe, zapping and burning everything it touched.
Gwerrrr-!
Kirrrrrr!
The zombies’ bodies exploded from the current before returning to their original forms.
“She doesn’t hold back, does she.”
The ability to always unleash attacks at maximum firepower without worrying about allies getting caught in the area of effect.
That was precisely why the combination of a zombie vanguard and a mage rear guard was so terrifying.
Craaash!
Bang!
Thud!
In the meantime, zombies that had broken out of their containers began to shamble toward me from all over the warehouse.
“Ugh…”
The stench of rotting corpses vibrating from all sides was so bad I didn't even want to breathe.
A tide of zombies surged forward like a wave, with sharp bolts of lightning piercing through their ranks.
I maintained my focus, narrowly surviving the surprisingly tricky assault.
Within the vast warehouse.
I connected my consciousness to all the mana flowing through it.
Delving just a little deeper revealed the particles.
When I expanded the size of the fire particles to their maximum, my vision turned red.
“…What a spectacle.”
A landscape that was at once beautiful and cruel, a sight only I could see.
With this, the preparations were complete.
“Hey, corpse-fucker.”
I made an offer to the man who was hiding among the five hundred or so corpses, grinning.
“I promise you won’t have to suffer if you just follow my words quietly now.”
It was the first and last offer I would make out of the goodness of my heart.
At that, the man laughed.
“Puhahaha…! After running away with your tail between your legs, all you can do is bluff? Don’t you think ‘promising comedian’ suits you better than ‘promising Hunter’?”
A blatant refusal.
To be honest, I thought it was a bit ridiculous myself.
Demanding surrender after I’d been the one desperately running away.
But it had to be done at this exact moment.
Only at this moment would he refuse the offer, and for another person, it would serve as a timely warning.
I put the finishing touch on my prepared move.
A thick cord of consciousness, connected to all the mana in the factory.
This was the fuse.
If I lit a small spark here…
Fwoosh!
All the mana in the factory, its fire particles now engorged, burst into flames.
Another way of manifesting magic, possible only for me.
「Ignition.」
A colossal flame engulfed the factory.
Within it, the zombies danced.
Graaaaaaa-!
Kiyaaaa!
As they screamed and burned, they were oblivious to the fact that their master’s mana was leaking out.
“N-No…!”
Thump!
Unable to handle the sudden, massive drain of his mana, the man collapsed.
I had deliberately not set fire to the area around him.
Things had gotten a bit complicated, but he was still a higher-ranking member of the organization than Baek Hyeon-a.
Even if there were restrictions on him, I could ignore them and extract information.
I might not be able to do it with others, but with him, it was possible.
With the mana supply cut off, the zombies that had been dancing in the flames turned to ash one by one.
By the time all the mana in the factory had burned away, only three people remained.
Me, the corpse-fucker, and Baek Hyeon-a.
Having quickly caught my subtle warning, she had wrapped herself in a defensive barrier just before the flames erupted.
If she had ignored my words like the man now sitting there with a look of utter despair… she probably would have vanished without a trace.
“You have good instincts.”
I said to her with a grin.
As for why I let her live… who knows.
Her betrayal was infuriating, but maybe not enough to burn her to death?
Anyway… I’d decide what to do with her later.
I approached the man, who was panting on the verge of exhaustion after having all his mana drained.
“See… I told you, didn’t I? To just surrender quietly.”
My playful tone poked at his already wounded pride.
The man, who seemed to be struggling to even breathe due to mana exhaustion, asked me.
“Gasp, ugh… What in the world did you…?”
Who knows.
That’s a trade secret, so I can’t tell you.
“From now on, I’ll be the one asking the questions. You just answer.”
At that, the man laughed.
“Heh… Don’t be ridiculous. You think I’d leak the organization’s info… Kuaaargh!?”
Crunch!
Before he could finish his sentence, I stomped down hard on the hand he was using to support himself on the floor.
From the feel of it, at least a couple of his fingers must have been shattered.
“Let’s see…”
I crouched in front of the man, who was groaning in pain, and gently touched the hand I had just crushed.
The shattered bone fragments were slowly pulling together, like the north and south poles of a magnet.
Just as I thought.
“You corpse-fucker bastards always do something weird to your own bodies.”
An astonishingly powerful regenerative ability, confirmed with my own eyes.
And yet, the life force I felt from his body was incredibly faint.
To put it in perspective, it was similar to the life force one would feel from an old man on his deathbed.
“Hey.”
Unaccustomed to pain, the man looked up at me through his sweat-drenched hair.
There was only one reason why a perfectly living person would have so little life force.
His life force resided not in his body, but somewhere else.
“Where did you hide your vessel?”
“……!”
The man was a Half Lich.