Legion of the Dead

I stepped into the Cradle of Rest and plopped down on the floor before speaking.

“Everyone, sit down. Now then, shall we talk about the rewards we brought back? Starting with Si-eun.”

“Yes, Oppa.”

What Ju Si-eun took out was a small ring.

“It’s the Ring of Protection I received for placing fourth in the first dungeon. The two hundred gold I got as a participation prize should have gone straight to you, Oppa. It says it blocks an attack the wearer doesn’t notice once a day. I thought it would be perfect for you to use.”

Oh, a Ring of Protection. It blocks attacks the wearer isn’t even aware of? That’s a pretty damn good effect. With this, I could completely prevent sudden ambushes.

I took the ring from Si-eun and handed it to Dong-seok.

“Put the ring on your finger. Ji-su, grab any weapon and attack Dong-seok from behind.”

“M-me?”

“Yeah. Just in case, don’t aim for his head or anything. Go for his back.”

“Um… how hard should I swing?”

“Swing with all your strength.”

If the ring’s defensive power was somehow exceeded, I could just heal him with my life force, so there was nothing to worry about.

Dong-seok stood there blankly with the ring on, staring straight ahead. Ji-su moved behind him, raised her sword, and swung with everything she had.

Clang!

“Kyaaak!”

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out as Ji-su’s sword bounced back. Right before her blade could touch Dong-seok’s back, a translucent shield-like barrier had appeared and shattered. I could see it clearly.

When I checked his back, there wasn’t a single scratch. He was completely fine.

It could only be used once a day, but this was one hell of an item. Ji-su’s strength stat, which had skyrocketed from all the enthusiastic hip-shaking she’d done with me during the event, was well over a hundred. For her full-powered strike to be blocked without any damage at all… it meant this thing could unconditionally stop most attacks at least once.

The once-per-day limit was a bit disappointing, but still—this was basically an extra life for me.

Satisfied, I took the ring back from Dong-seok and slipped it onto my own finger. It adjusted perfectly to my size. I admired it for a moment before turning to Si-eun.

“It really seems like an incredibly useful item. You worked hard, Si-eun.”

“N-no, not at all. I’m just so happy it can help you, Oppa.”

Si-eun lowered her head shyly as she spoke. I turned to look at Daejang-ajeossi.

“What about you, sir? What did you get?”

Si-eun’s fourth-place reward had been this useful, so the second-place reward that Daejang-ajeossi received must be even better. But… his expression looked strangely restless.

Why was he acting like that?

Daejang-ajeossi finally spoke.

“Well… first, I received five hundred gold as a participation prize for second place. I believe that also went straight to you, Min-gu-ssi. And the item I received is… um…”

He was fidgeting awkwardly.

“What’s wrong? What did you get…?”

He let out a small sigh before continuing.

“…It seems like this item won’t be of much help to you, Min-gu-ssi. It’s a… Poison Crafting Set. A toolkit that lets you create and combine all sorts of rare poisons…”

Hmm. Yeah, that really wasn’t something I could use. But giving a Poison Master a Poison Crafting Set… Were the rewards customized to each winner from the start?

Thinking back on the rewards from the dungeon I went to… Lee Su-a got a cloak for third place. I didn’t know its options, so I couldn’t be sure if it was tailored to her, but she had looked pretty satisfied. Muscle-ajeossi, who took second, received a greatsword—his main weapon—and was extremely pleased as well. And the Ring of Protection Si-eun received was perfectly suited for a long-range dealer like her. Long-range fighters were always vulnerable to surprise attacks, after all.

If Si-eun weren’t already an undead who didn’t need to fear death, I would have given her the ring instead of wearing it myself.

Considering all that, it really did seem like every winner received an item perfectly customized to their class and fighting style.

In that case…

“Juniel. What did you get for first place?”

At my question, Juniel pulled out a flashy black bracelet and handed it to me.

“I got this bracelet. It’s called Berserker Armor. It’s a summon-and-equip type armor with ridiculously high defense. It even has a complete magic nullification effect that makes it totally immune to magic. Plus, it comes with a built-in skill called Berserk.”

“…What the hell? Those options are completely broken. Completely immune to magic…? Yeah, I guess that’s what first place gets.”

“Just so you know, it’s almost identical to the armor I used in the Demon King’s army. Even the attached skill is the same.”

“It’s similar to what you used to wear?”

Juniel nodded at my words.

“Yeah. Back when I was a legion commander, I would charge straight into the middle of the enemy lines wielding my demonic axe, Granteil, while wearing this black Berserker Armor.”

Ah, right. That was her nickname. The Mad Dog of the Demon King’s Army. Picturing Juniel covered head to toe in black armor, swinging around a massive greataxe and carving through enemies left and right, sent a chill down my spine.

Anyway, the first-place item Juniel brought back was another thing I couldn’t use myself. I shook my head and asked her.

“What exactly does this Berserk skill on the armor do? Wait, didn’t you already have a Berserk skill?”

Juniel nodded again.

Come to think of it, when we first fought, she suddenly moved with ridiculous speed and put me in a tight spot. That must have been her Berserk skill. It temporarily doubled all her stats. But the backlash left her on the verge of death, which let me counterattack successfully.

“That’s right. My Berserk skill doubles all stats the moment it activates. The recoil is so severe that I can’t use it lightly. But with this armor that has the Berserk skill built in, the recoil is greatly reduced, and I can maintain the skill for a much longer time.”

“Oh, really?”

Juniel nodded.

“Yeah. The armor takes on part of the skill’s risk for me. My body won’t fall into a near-death state like before. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll be completely fine after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠using it. The longer I use the skill, the more my body gets torn apart.”

Juniel looked down at her own hand with a bitter expression.

“Right now, I could probably maintain Berserk for quite a long time. I don’t die anyway, and you’ll fix whatever gets shredded, right, Master?”

“Well… yeah, that’s true, but try to save the skill as much as possible. Healing you consumes my life force. Besides, we don’t have any enemies strong enough right now that you’d need to use it.”

Juniel nodded.

“Then… I can use this armor, right?”

“Go ahead. It looks like it was made for you anyway. Put it on. Let’s see what it looks like.”

At my words, Juniel equipped the bracelet. Immediately, shrrrrrk, black energy poured out from the bracelet and enveloped her entire body. With the sound of metal assembling, a sleek and incredibly cool-looking black armor covered her from head to toe.

Whoa. There were even holes in the helmet for her horns. It looked insanely awesome. It gave off serious Iron Man vibes. This was definitely every guy’s fantasy, but I had zero desire to wear it myself. I wasn’t the type to charge into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠battle anyway—I was just a frail necromancer. I’d leave the cool armor and frontline fighting to Juniel.

I turned back to Daejang-ajeossi.

“That Poison Crafting Set you got doesn’t seem like something I can use either. You should make good use of it, sir. What exactly can you do with it?”

“I can create poisons with a wide variety of effects. If there’s any specific poison you want, just tell me anytime. I’ll make it for you.”

“Hmm, nothing comes to mind right now. For the time being, use it to strengthen the defenses of your shelter. New monsters have started appearing, so you’ll need to pay even more attention to defense.”

“Understood.”

Daejang-ajeossi bowed his head. He looked pretty excited about finally having a Poison Crafting Set he could actually use.

Jeong Ji-yun looked at me and asked.

“What about you, Oppa? What item did you get?”

“I got a skill acquisition ticket that lets me obtain one secondary class skill.”

“A skill? What kind of skill?”

“I’ll have to check that right now.”

I pulled the secondary class skill acquisition ticket out of my pocket. Every item my companions had received—except for the ring Si-eun brought back—were things I couldn’t really use. They were all customized to the winners, after all. But this little piece of paper? This was the one item that had been made just for me.

Full of anticipation, I tore the ticket.

The skill appeared. Legion of the Dead, huh… I opened my status window to check the details.

“Status window.”

The first thing that caught my eye was the massive increase in gold. Just from the event participation rewards, I had gained 2,700 gold, bringing my total well over 4,000. I’d have to spend a bunch at the shop. Just imagining cute little Jun’s happy face made me smile without realizing it.

Next was the still-inactive Legion of the Dead skill. Luckily, I still had two skill points left. I invested one point to raise it to level 1, allowing me to see the full details.

Whoa! Skeletons? A perfect, overpowered skill for a Necromancer! I couldn’t hide my excitement. I immediately spent my last remaining skill point to raise Legion of the Dead to level 2.

Good. No more skill points left. I walked out of the Cradle of Rest. My companions followed closely behind me in a group. They were probably dying to know what kind of skill I had obtained.

I stopped in the middle of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠empty plaza, stretched out my hand, and activated the skill.

‘Legion of the Dead.’

I felt a huge chunk of my mana get sucked away. Checking my status window, I saw that 100 MP had vanished in one go.

Then the ground began to rumble. Rumble rumble rumble.

Soon after, piles of bones began forcing their way up through the earth.

“W-what is that…?”

Si-eun let out a frightened squeak and clung tightly to me. Ten skeleton soldiers stood there blankly, each holding the kind of dagger goblins used.

Using nearly half of my total mana, I had successfully summoned my very own Legion of the Dead.