The Batwing Dungeon's Lantern Lights Up the Path
The Batwing Dungeon.
It used to be a bustling street full of clothing stores and food stalls, but ever since the Dark Cave gate appeared, it had transformed into a hunter’s paradise with all the conveniences.
“A one-hour jack-o’-lantern that glows in the gate! Only ten thousand won!”
“Don’t you know the Dark Cave needs night vision to be worth it?”
“We rent out warrior equipment.”
“Cheap! Super cheap!”
The area around the gate buzzed with market energy, hawkers shouting from stalls and shop owners pushing deals.
“Are you heading to the back, wizard-nim?”
“Healing support ready and waiting.”
Even hunters were instantly forming parties or checking their gear right there.
Still, it was far from packed. The fixed gate on Rodeo Street just wasn’t popular. The ones in front of gates that were both profitable and easy to clear always drew at least a hundred people. There were waiting lines for entrance too, so what else was there to say.
Clickety-click.
Just as she was about to enter the gate carrying her old suitcase.
“Hey there.”
A towering man who stood nearly two meters tall blocked her way, shoulders thrown back and a badge proudly displayed on his broad chest.
That insignia… it was the Hwarang mark.
A domestic top-five guild member slumming it at a dead gate.
“What is it?”
He leaned in slightly and whispered conspiratorially.
“I’m a mage, right? Join our party.”
“The boss will respawn soon. We’re going to hunt that thing.”
He’d barely finished when the obvious hit her.
Fixed-gate boss respawn times were public knowledge. With kill logs you could roughly calculate the cooldown.
“Better alone.”
“Why the formal speech, mister?”
“You spoke first.”
“Hah.”
The giant’s anger made the woman beside him snort.
“Fine. It said it would take us on the bus. We’d be idiots to pass it up.”
“Only guild missions count as excuses. Tch.”
Hwarang guild members cheering on their comrades like it was a parade.
Ordering fresh meat to join the hunt?
Whatever. It wasn’t her problem.
Commander Isra’s power rating was a solid E.
She didn’t need backup.
After watching this ridiculous side show, she stepped through the gate.
* * *
[Entered the Dark Cave.]
Entry condition: E-rank (100)
Type: Fixed
Inside the Dark Cave, locked in eternal darkness.
Apart from the faint blue glow leaking from every crack, there wasn’t a single speck of light to be found.
She unzipped her suitcase at the entrance and quickly assembled its contents.
【Aaaaah!】
“That dramatic scream is getting old.”
【Since my lord has never experienced it, he can speak of it with such ease.】
“Yes. Yes.”
She let every complaint from Commander Isra wash over her like water, then drew a bone sword of wrist length.
【It’s a little dull for a weapon.】
“Commander’s weapon is right beside you.”
She pointed at the bone sword she had sharpened earlier when teaching the technique.
【Does my lord intend to use something else?】
“Yeah. It doubles as a lantern.”
She crushed the pre-packed glowing grass and sprinkled it onto the bones.
【Body Processing】
Bones that absorb the grass’s energy and glow with light.
【What kind of magic is this?】
“I’m channeling the grass’s energy into mana to make it shine.”
Just scattering the powder alone wouldn’t produce this brightness.
She used the death mana that had taken root in the bones—another word for life force—to drive back the darkness.
“Everything is much cheaper this way.”
A proper one-hour magic lantern costs eighty thousand won.
Gate merchants add another twenty thousand, but glowing grass and a single bone piece are only around five thousand each.
The duration is far longer too.
【You are skilled with mana.】
“Better than that, or my wallet would have holes.”
Creating a proper undead costs tens of thousands of won minimum.
Additional fees pile up if damage occurs during hunts.
So she had spent countless hours researching ways to cut costs with her body-processing skill.
【Impressive. Applying life force from corpses is something even mid-level necromancers struggle with.】
Feeling praised by “you” feels strange.
You wiped out the entire necromancer race, remember?
【Objective fact. I accept it with joy.】
“Yes. Yes. Thank you.”
The Dark Cave was a linear corridor with sealed ceilings and walls on both sides.
【Taller than it looks, so it’s worth the climb.】
“My height has shrunk.”
The Orc Zombie MK. 42 stood about 1.9 meters tall.
After modifications, Commander Isra stood just over 1.6 meters.
Even standing ramrod straight, she wouldn’t brush the ceiling.
“Creak. Creak.”
Rough breathing echoed from the opposite end of the corridor.
A strange figure emerged from the light.
A human-shaped monster that moved on all fours— a deep underground dweller.
“Commander Isra.”
【I was waiting for you.】
Commander Isra stepped forward, gripping her bone sword.
“Deep underground dwellers are stronger than kobolds.”
They have sticky hands and feet, so they can climb walls and ceilings.
Their three-dimensional movements lure hunters into gaps.
They leap like frogs to deliver fatal blows.
Instead of using tools, their physical abilities far surpass those of kobolds.
That was why the Dark Cave wasn’t popular.
【Don’t worry. With a body I customized for you, it’s more than enough.】
For a moment Commander Isra’s body seemed to stretch.
Impossibly fast speed.
In one leap she closed the distance to the pack of deep underground dwellers.
Screech—
She swung her bone blade and severed the neck of the lead creature.
“Insane.”
How could a zombie move at that speed?
Impossible even for Commander Isra’s specs.
Even if she received 50 % stat amplification.
Running at the speed that leaves afterimages was impossible.
【I adapted the way to use mana.】
“Zombies can use mana?”
【Although it is a forbidden realm for this body, it can be used with skill.】
Her mind grew hazy.
To reinforce or expel mana through the body, one had to be at least a B-rank hunter.
The continent’s strongest knight.
Yet she never imagined the tiny life force that formed the foundation of a zombie could be wielded this way.
【Because it is irregular, its full power does not manifest.】
Hm.
Even that alone was impressive.
“Did you do the same thing during the kobold fight?”
【Oh. It seems my lord understands quickly.】
No.
She had no idea what he meant.
“Creaaak!”
The deep underground dweller curled its legs and then straightened them, slamming the ground with terrifying force.
Like a frog, it leaped at blinding speed.
It threw its entire body at Commander Isra.
【I detest undignified combat.】
Slasch!
The creature’s body was split in half.
Green blood sprayed everywhere, yet not a drop touched Commander Isra’s body.
“Commander!”
【Hah. This is my true power.】
“What! You said you’d make an undead, but it got split in half—how do we fix that?!”
Ugh.
My life.
【Body Production】 is not a simple r-click undead creation like ordering a corpse from a necromancer.
To resurrect a split creature, sewing it back together is required!
【Ah. I see.】
“From now on, be more careful.”
She muttered briefly, then approached the corpses.
One of the three would be discarded.
She would turn the remaining two into zombies.
The first step was to drive an E-rank magic stone into the chest of each corpse.
【Is this a meaningful action?】
“It must mature into an undead.”
Life force must be fully absorbed for 【Body Production】 to take effect.
To mature naturally, it needed to be left in the shade for days and preserved from rotting.
By the time she got to the gate, there was no time for that.
She would convert the stone’s power directly into life force.
【Body Processing】 would accelerate the maturation.
There were many other things to do.
She sewed the cleanly severed head and neck together.
Incised the flesh with a scalpel, then hammered and adjusted the bones with a hammer and chisel.
To convert a quadruped deep underground dweller into a biped, the skeleton itself had to be twisted.
Roughly twenty minutes per specimen.
Commander Isra scanned her surroundings.
【Do other hunters not enter this gate?】
“This gate has multiple entrances.”
There is only one crack connecting the outside world.
When you enter, you disperse into several points.
That was also why she had not encountered the unlucky fool from before.
“Wake up.”
【Body Production】
The three deep underground dwellers staggered to their feet.
Commander Isra took a step back.
【It is my lord’s turn.】
“I’ll show you the results of my training—getting beaten up yesterday.”
The three zombies slowly advanced.
* * *
How far had they gone?
“Creereek!”
Four deep underground dwellers blocked the path.
3 against 4.
Challenge accepted.
It was common sense that undead had lower stats than their original rank.
But her zombies were custom-made, so they possessed abilities on par with their originals.
【Do you really not need my help?】
“Watch with arms crossed.”
The zombies spread out and stood shoulder to shoulder.
The deep underground dwellers twitched their whiskers—replacing their useless eyes—then curled their legs.
The precursor to a charge.
It looked like slow-motion footage.
Every movement of the deep underground dwellers was crystal clear.
The moment they “recognized” the attack, commands were instantly fed into the undead.
Boom!
The leaping frogs matched the power of a soccer player driving a ball with full force.
“Uwaaaa.”
Like a goalkeeper catching a ball, the zombies braced their hips and spread their arms wide, catching the deep underground dweller.
During the collision, its claws tore through flesh and dug in.
“Uwaaaa.”
Fine.
Zombies felt no pain.
They never slowed down because of injury.
A bone blade stabbed into the back of the deep underground dweller now clutched in the zombie’s arms.
“Creereek!”
It did not cut off the neck in one blow.
Twice, then three.
“Uwaaa!”
The zombie, gripping the bone blade backward, stabbed again and again.
The deep underground dweller’s body convulsed and collapsed.
The situation for the second one was even worse.
It leaped in the species’ signature charging stance, but the zombie dodged perfectly.
It seized the opening and swung the bone blade.
The polished blade grazed the throat, and the creature roared.
“Creak.”
The deep underground dweller clutched its neck and rolled on the ground.
The two of them were instantly turned into zombies.
The remaining pair could not withstand the coordinated assault of the three zombies.
“Amazing.”
She was stunned.
She had learned her combat ability.
Then, by sheer will, her zombies moved like they had been born for it.
Just yesterday she had only known how to flatten a single kobold.
【Truly… this is…】
Commander Isra trailed off.
“I know. I didn’t use 100 % of the sword technique you taught me.”
Yesterday I only learned the first and second forms.
Vertical cuts and horizontal cuts.
The downward stabbing technique was not taught.
I had no choice but to be unsatisfied.
Hunting four deep underground dwellers with only three zombies without casualties was truly impressive.
【It seems I misjudged you.】
“What?”
【I meant to say you are impressive.】
Commander Isra clapped.
【Overwhelming the enemy with weak zombies. In terms of control alone, it is no less than a high-level necromancer!】
“Y-yes. Really?”
【The endorsement of Isra, the necromancer slayer. You can trust it!】
That, sir.
The title annoyed her more than a little.
Despite the strange feeling, the corners of her lips twitched.
【Will you turn all four of them into zombies?】
“No. Three is enough.”
She had no intention of making more zombies.
The gate’s space was limited.
Turning too many into zombies would limit how many could be deployed at once.
It would also waste time and money without gathering usable magic stones or byproducts.
She followed the same method as the first hunt, creating three zombies.
The remaining corpse would be used for zombie stat enhancement and bone-blade production.
“Before I know it, we’ll be hunting the boss too.”
【Watch your pride.】
“Yes. Yes.”
Whether she was escorting a subordinate or dragging a chatterbox along was anyone’s guess.
---
[Entered the Dark Cave.]
【Body Processing】