Black Lotus and White Marigold -3-
My arm, clamped in the monster's jaws, and my undead inside its gut suddenly began radiating intense light and heat.
"Grrr!?"
It seemed flustered by the rising heat in its own body, but it was already too late.
-[MASSIVE EXPLOSION] HP
A colossal blast erupted from the center of its belly.
-Rumble!!
-Whoooosh!!!
"Grooo..."
The bright moss on the ceiling, illuminating the space like broad daylight, was momentarily overwhelmed by an even fiercer glow. The entire underground cavern shook like it was hit by an earthquake, and the shockwave from the explosion reached even me, far away, dealing damage.
-Whoooosh!!!
A small mushroom cloud was even rising.
Once the aftershocks fully subsided, all that remained was...
-Whiiish
...the monster, vanished without a trace, and a wide, deep crater where it had stood.
'This level of power is a bit less than the ballistic missiles those Russian bastards used to kill me back then.'
I was admiring the sheer force when—
-Thud!!
Something massive and heavy dropped from the air right in front of me. It was the monster's upper body.
-Sizzle...
Of course, it wasn't intact—charred in places—but 'Whoa, even after taking that hit, it still has a body left.'
My plan to feed it corpses and explode it from the inside had worked thanks to the scars I spotted inside its mouth when it swallowed the Skeleton Rider. Unlike its tough, magic-resistant outer skin, the interior looked pretty vulnerable.
Still, the fact that the upper half remained meant its durability was insane.
'Whatever, this works out even better.'
As a Necromancer, corpses like this were prime material for me.
Just as I was thinking that—
Growth Bonus: First monster defeated after awakening. Massive additional EXP granted.
Several notification windows popped up at once, blocking my view.
'What the hell? This many?'
Level-up alerts—thirteen of them, no less. The monster I'd taken down was definitely higher level than me in game terms, and I'd only killed it by exploiting its weakness.
But this dramatic a surge? No way.
'EXP multiplier of 500...!!! Plus first-kill bonus EXP!!'
With that insane 500x EXP and the massive bonus for the first monster kill post-awakening, this was the result.
'This should be enough to turn Langfang's corpse into an elite undead.'
I could unlock my core jobs now.
'Perfect timing—material right in front of me.'
I was grinning to myself when—
-Thud!! Thud!! Thud!!!
-Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!!
-Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!
From beyond the forest came those massively familiar thudding footsteps I'd heard before, shaking the ground.
And then:
"Groooaaah!!!"
"Graaaaaah!!!"
"Grraaaaa!!"
The same ravenous, maddened roars as the one I'd just killed—three of them, faint but closing in.
And that wasn't all.
-Thud thud thud!!
Smaller footsteps—numerous ones—accompanied the three big ones.
"Fuuuuck..."
The message was clear: At least three more of those bastards, plus a bunch of smaller fry.
I moved immediately.
'First, use these levels to unlock [Corpse Carver] up to level 5.'
User's will confirmed.
Job unlocked: [Corpse Carver]
As the job unlocked, I felt my INT and MP stats rise from [Corpse Carver]. A tidal wave of new wicked knowledge flooded my mind, but I pushed it aside for now—priorities.
[Corpse Repository]
-Shunk!!
Activating the [Corpse Carver] skill, the monster's corpse vanished before my eyes. This was the dedicated subspace for storing corpse materials—only accessible after unlocking [Corpse Carver].
[Gluttonous Fiend's Corpse] stored in Corpse Repository.
The formal name popped up as it entered, but I had no time to inspect it closely.
"[Summon Dead]"
I cast the undead summoning spell again. With my boosted MP, INT, and levels, I could now summon mid-tier undead beyond basic low-tier ones.
[Death Cavalier]
"Hiihiihiiing!!!"
"..."
My spell summoned a mighty undead radiating overwhelming death aura—nothing like the puny Skeleton Rider.
Not a bone horse, but a black demonic steed with glowing red eyes, armored in heavy plate. Its rider wore black armor fit for a mid-tier cavalryman, not a ragged skeleton. Powerful death energy enveloped them like an aura.
Confirming the summon, I acted at once.
'Time to show 'em the tactics I honed back in my mercenary days!!'
Which meant:
"Ruuuunaawayyyyyy!!!"
Not a real retreat, of course—a strategic withdrawal. You gotta know when to fall back in a fight.
-Hiihing!!!
"As my lord commands..."
The Death Cavalier scooped up my tattered body and plopped me in the empty saddle at my order. As a mid-tier undead, it could speak—in a voice like thousands of bugs crawling in your ears, horrifying to any living thing, but music to me, a fellow undead.
"Heeheehee!!"
The undead steed bolted at speeds incomparable to the Skeleton Rider.
Once we'd put distance between us and my spot—
"Groooaaah!!!"
"Gyaaaaooo!!"
"Grrraaaa!!!"
Three more Gluttonous Fiends burst through the forest in the distance, just like the one I'd killed.
And they weren't alone.
"Grrrar!!"
"Graaaah!!"
"Groooaaah!!"
Dozens of massive ogre brutes followed like a pack trailing their alphas.
'Gluttonous Fiends must be an upper variant of ogres.'
Otherwise, those gluttons would've devoured the ogres already.
Anyway, the Death Cavalier outpaced even the Fiends in agility—not just the Skeleton Rider—so we shook them off easily and returned to the Ruler Dungeon section via the entrance I'd used.
I didn't stop at the entrance, heading straight back to Langfang's corpse.
'Hmm, all good.'
The body was intact. No signs anyone had tampered with my magic traps either. It'd been fine here for months; weird if something happened in the two hours I was gone.
Confirming I was fully safe, the Death Cavalier that brought me melted away like dissolving.
'Good job, buddy.'
I mentally thanked it as its summon time expired, then planned to spend my remaining levels on jobs and races.
But first, fix the damage from that fight.
"[Ice Pillar]"
[Ice Pillar]
Elemental spells were common magic anyone with a magic job could learn in the game—handy.
-Crack!!
A small, smooth-surfaced ice pillar formed beside me at my will. My reflection stared back.
I'd expected it from my arm and body, but it was gruesome. Eyes cloudy like cataracts, lifeless. Skin like a corpse. My rags were beyond repair—right arm gone, more wounds from impacts, total ragdoll.
"Grraaah..."
A beastly groan from my throat, and the ice showed a pure zombie.
'Even in that mess, Flamma's arm lodged in my gut is intact.'
Powerful demon arm, still(?) embedded in my abdomen through the brutal fight.
Someone might wonder why I hadn't pulled out Flamma's arm. Simple: Removing it'd let my guts spill out from gravity. As a zombie, no pain or discomfort, and I wasn't showing off organs anyway. Plus, prime material—why toss it?
Now, time to use that material.
-Crunch!!
I yanked Flamma's arm from my gut with my left. As expected, some innards poured out. Not a pretty sight, but I ignored it.