Ruthless Command
The mana condensed in my hand materialized into a flag and pole shape.
At its center, a stark white skull emblem stood out against the fluttering black cloth.
It was obvious this was a reanimation spell.
Truly consistent design.
[Your subordinates' power rises by 20%.]
[Their aggression increases.]
[If you fail to control the undead, they attack nearby living creatures indiscriminately.]
Area-wide undead buff.
Even combined with Roan’s divine spells, it could almost completely offset the penalty of Lexio Divina.
There was just one minor issue.
“What’s that?”
Strengthened Undead
The skeleton wizard’s head turned toward the Mir hunters behind me.
Penalty for increased aggression toward the living.
It wouldn’t bite me, but suppressing its aggression was proving difficult.
“Hey, Eunjo. Go inside the gate.”
“I’ll help too, Uncle!”
“Just pull back right now.”
If my kids do something wrong, they could be eaten.
Look. Their teeth are already showing.
“Squad leader.”
“Y-y-yeah.”
“Retreat to the gate.”
“Eh?”
Gate Retreat in Progress
The squad leader’s face whipped around.
Wow.
That must hurt.
“Are you all right?”
At Eunjo’s shout, the squad leader let out a deep breath and roared,
“We are retreating to the gate!!”
The Mir guild hunters vanished into the blue rift.
Finally, I could sigh in relief.
“Krrruuuung!”
“Yeah. Now go wild.”
“Kong! Kong!”
Two reinforced Dracos dashed out from left and right and slammed into the front line.
According to the system, these were A+ grade monsters.
Despite lower intelligence than humans, they possessed impressive specs and learning ability.
After surviving countless battles in the Tower of Chaos,
they had finally maxed out their depleted Devour stack.
Both experience and stats were powerful beings just a notch below S-grade.
“……!”
“…….”
“…….”
[Interlocking Triangle]
[Death Triangle]
The three masked hunters formed a triangle and blocked the Dracos.
One held off the Draco’s attack while the others prepared a basic joint assault from the side.
Although it was supposed to be basic,
it was unusual for them to coordinate so seamlessly with strangers in the heat of battle.
They had simply overestimated the opponent.
Crack!
The masked hunter’s upper body vanished in the blink of an eye while trying to restrain the Draco.
“……!”
The aura wrapped around its fangs had effortlessly crushed the resistance.
The Draco swallowed half its body and growled low.
“Good work.”
The reinforced Draco’s breakthrough power was the highest among solo entities.
Its mobility and instantaneous destructive force were on a level with no one except Isra.
I ordered the Dracos to change the battlefield by hitting both flanks.
Just as I was about to give the command,
clang!
Two masked hunters waiting in the distance scattered to both sides and gripped their weapons.
One had a whip-like sheath weapon.
The other wielded a mace.
Wooong!
Blue currents swirled around the weapons of the two masked hunters.
“Kong! Kong!”
Both reinforced Dracos roared with aura, and the clash of auras erupted into a fierce exchange.
They brought so many A-grade hunters just to snipe one of us?
“How many aura users are there, anyway?”
Whether it was the Mir guild or the Chinese hunters I had briefly encountered,
they were treating me with far too much respect, leaving me speechless.
Even after deploying most of the undead I had recently recovered, including the newly summoned Tigresses,
the opponent still had plenty of reserves.
“They said ten in total.”
Three on the tank line.
Two charging the Dracos.
Two mages.
The remaining three watched me with crossed arms or while supporting from the rear, ready to pounce the moment I made a mistake.
The word “death” hung in the air.
Don’t be afraid.
How many years had I shed tears for this exact moment?
Just a little longer.
It wasn’t for the sake of dying on that deserted island.
“Can I hit the ones supporting from the rear?”
“It’s difficult.”
A blunt reply.
“Low-level magic is useless in front of aura.”
“Are you fine with fighting mages?”
“Our side is slightly lower level but we prepared a lot.”
Preparation.
Was the issue the interlocking triangle?
Using both the Origin of Magic and Spirit Eye simultaneously,
I could see the purpose of the magic circles beneath the masked hunters’ feet.
[Interlocking Triangle]
It integrated the computational and mana-rearrangement processes of the mages, surpassing their limits.
The barrage of high-destructive A-grade spells had to be thanks to that formation.
They had prepared it after wiping out the Mir guild support team.
If not for Ingrid’s unique style, I might have been swept away by the magic bombardment from all sides.
“I’ll leave the remaining skeleton wizards to you.”
“You won’t be disappointed!”
In addition to the Witch Squad, I had created twenty skeleton wizards.
Because only Ingrid’s direct subordinates had used soul stones,
the remaining undead did not possess powerful spells like Photon Ray.
Still,
thanks to the various spells researched in the Death Blacksmith,
the skeleton wizards’ default Burst Flare gave them sufficient firepower.
Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Vibrant mana clumps collided in the air.
After the first clash where I had inflicted damage with my unique style,
it had been like this.
The masked hunters poured low cooldown spells at us without giving us time to regroup.
“Tsk.”
Above, a holy spell tome still showered light.
Roan was countering the spells and I had to activate my command buff just to move.
Crack! Crack!
[Skeleton Guard Destroyed.]
[Armed Zombie Strengthened Soldier Destroyed.]
[Armed Zombie……]
The Tempest Knight Order fought valiantly,
but one by one the undead were destroyed by the relentless assaults from every direction.
[Death Space]
―Summon 30 Tigresses.
I called back the Tigress pack once more to attempt a breakthrough,
but
“Grrrrr!!!”
The aura-coated shield hunter’s provocation skill overpowered the threatening roar.
Without the divine spell debuffs and tank line,
two Tigress charges could have turned the field into a wasteland.
Don’t rush.
Keep pounding and it will eventually open.
Clang!
Isra and the Abyss Revenant tangled with the tank line in fierce combat.
Should I charge the Tigress pack again?
Enemy Intel Report
📍 Location: Tower of Chaos — Italy
🎁 Reward: Title: Chaos Researcher
[Enemy. Alive. Dangerous!]
Roan, maintaining the holy spell, barely shouted,
“They seem to have studied the master thoroughly.”
“Correct. It is clear they analyzed you meticulously and crafted their strategy accordingly.”
The masked hunters’ movements reeked of malice.
But here.
“We won’t use Death Warriors here.”
One of my remaining cards was still unused.
[Death Space]
―Summon 5 Death Warriors.
These were recently recruited friends into my undead army.
If they find out, so be it.
From now on, we will learn about each other.
Let’s hope these new friends are to my liking.
◈ Death Touch
◈ Holy Resistance
Deserted Island Strategy
📍 Location: Desolate Island
🎁 Reward: Title: Island Commander
Yang Qian observed the battlefield from behind her tank line.
“More powerful than I anticipated.”
Just what kind of B-grade hunter was this?
Ten A-grade hunters had been deployed for this operation alone.
Among them were eight aura users
and two mages capable of using Memorize.
That was an overwhelming force capable of instantly wiping out an ordinary mid-tier guild.
―Kidnap Park Minho. If impossible, eliminate him.
This was the order given by the field supervisor Guanwu.
A full Turang detachment had been deployed for this operation.
It had been quite some time since they had conducted large-scale operations outside Southeast Asia and Africa.
“Without the collaborator, this operation couldn’t have even been launched.”
How likely was it that Minho would appear on the deserted island in the middle of the West Sea?
It was impossible without Mir guild support.
But that wasn’t all.
There were also the Coast Guard and the Rift Authority—two more organizations that needed to be kept in the dark.
The situation had reached the highest level of alertness because of the immigration scandal and Minho’s ambush!
“Thanks to that, the infiltration operation was smooth.”
The board was set perfectly.
Failure was not an option.
The Superhuman Bureau had thoroughly analyzed Minho’s power.
The superhumans deployed in this operation had all memorized countermeasures.
―Second squad will withdraw. Third squad will initiate the pressure.
―Roger.
―Plan executed. Consume the undead soldiers.
―Confirmed.
Yang Qian issued her commands in silence through thought.
Using message stones, they could pass thoughts directly to one another.
This was in preparation for the possibility of failing to eliminate Minho here.
Kwaang!
The explosion overhead rattled my eardrums.
On Yang Qian’s retina, the dying flames and lightning from the clash continued to flash.
“They possess quite a bit of magic power.”
The Superhuman Bureau’s analysis was not perfect.
Or rather,
The battlefield was always full of variables.
I had predicted their weak magic power due to their undead army, but
after the operation began, it turned out their allied firepower was insufficient.
―Lin Keze. Can you continue the operation?
―Possible. I may not overwhelm them, but I can make this battle a stalemate.
―Confirmed. Please continue the operation.
Ingrid and the skeleton wizard group were fighting.
Because of the sheer number of Minho’s undead and the stat boosts from their skills and achievements,
Turang was desperately trying to hold out.
One.
Thanks to the magic circles installed right after seizing the island,
they had managed to reach parity.
―Push harder. Until the prey tires out.
In close combat, our side held the advantage.
Numbers were even,
but their combination was simple and their skill sets lacked variety.
The priests’ spells were also effective.
Although not to the expected extent,
they weakened Minho’s undead army a little.
“There are undead using divine spells?”
Yang Qian glanced at Roan.
Two of the means prepared to hunt Minho had been neutralized.
Still,
It did not seem as though they would fail this operation.
When facing Minho’s undead army, there were two things one must pay the most attention to.
The breakthrough power of Isra and the Tigress pack!
“Just hold onto that spear.”
If it came down to attrition,
Turang would have the overwhelming advantage.
Among the priests deployed in the operation,
half were maintaining Lexio Divina.
The rest used it to heal the injured Turang hunters.
Even though the battle was fierce,
no Turang casualties had been reported.
In contrast, one by one the undead protecting Minho were being annihilated,
“If things continue like this, we might be able to capture him!”
A light of desire flashed in Yang Qian’s eyes.
―Kill him for sure, but capture if possible.
Success in capturing Minho would lay the rails for promotion!
Yang Qian smiled, dreaming of a rose-colored future.
[Aura]
[Death Walk]
Before seeing the figure clad in dark armor.