Chapter 74
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Necronomicon (2)
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The magic circle was intricate and meticulously detailed, but since he'd snapped a photo of it, he could enlarge and scrutinize it even more carefully later.
Satisfied, Kang Sa-hu had memorized the activation sequence and layout in his own way on the spot, jotting it all down in his notebook straight from his head.
He might forget the details he'd crammed right now as time passed, but with everything perfectly transcribed into the notebook, he could reference it anytime.
'Still... it's incredible.'
Kang Sa-hu had long known the Death King's greatness as the ruler of all necromancers.
And after watching her for so long, even just witnessing her craft a single spell with the Necronomicon let him feel that majesty viscerally.
It was the necromancers' holy scripture: simply open to the page of the magic you desired, and it would automatically weave the incantation, arrange the steps, and bring the spell to life.
'With something like this... she could've created a Death Knight even without a magic circle or materials.'
The Death King hadn't spelled it out exactly, but from how the Necronomicon organically linked and activated the magic circles—in mere seconds, with barely any spirit or qi expended...
And recalling that one-third of the magic circles he'd asked his parents to prepare dealt with "amplification and efficient utilization of spirit and qi"...
From the way it handled the "procedures required to invoke magic on its own," he could make a guess bordering on certainty.
"Perfect! That's it!"
The Death King clapped her hands upon seeing the Necronomicon fully link, activate, and stabilize all the magic circles.
With the ritual complete, three massive circles materialized on the ground, two of them glowing with a soft luminescence.
"The red circle is for the fleshly body, the blue one for the spirit and soul. Just place them in their respective circles."
Kang Sa-hu glanced at the circles following her instructions.
Red on the left, blue on the right.
His eyes then drifted to the center circle, which emitted no light at all, and he turned back to the Death King.
"Um, Death King."
"Yeah? What's up?"
They'd reached the final step of forging a Death Knight—a moment that shouldn't invite questions—yet she tilted her head curiously as he addressed her.
A bit sheepish at her reaction, Kang Sa-hu asked anyway.
"Just hypothetically... what if the spirit, soul, po, and the body we're turning into a Death Knight are all still connected? How would we handle that?"
"...What? All still linked?"
Her eyes widened at his seemingly absurd premise.
"What're you talking about? If there's a soul, a spirit, and even a po tying it to the body, that's a living being. How's it dead? What, you got everything except the spark of life?"
She phrased it around ming—life itself, the essence tied to her own title—and Kang Sa-hu clamped his mouth shut, fixing her with a meaningful look.
She'd been expecting a quip like, "No way, I'm not the Life King or anything," but his silence slowly twisted her expression into one of dawning horror.
"...You're serious?"
"...Yes."
When he finally confirmed it, the shock made her reel.
Kang Sa-hu darted forward like the wind to steady her, but the disbelief lingered on her face as she stared up at him in bewilderment.
"No way... how in the world did you...?"
She hadn't imagined he'd pull off something akin to her own authority—reaping ming. The impact was profound.
But for Kang Sa-hu, the issue wasn't the reaping itself; it was that he'd captured Kataku far too intact, leaving him with this headache.
'If I'd known, I would've tested pulling it apart a bit more.'
It should've been simple to rip the spirit and soul from a body that was already dead.
The snag was the po—that ironclad bond linking spirit, soul, and flesh with the tenacity of a troll's regeneration.
He could've brute-forced it if desperate, ignoring the po's hold and yanking everything free, but that risked damaging the soul or spirit.
Besides, with the troll's fleshly regeneration—responsible for more than half its B-rank prowess—possibly stemming from the po, he had no choice but to tread carefully.
Even as they stalled, though, the Death King spotted the Necronomicon still greedily guzzling spirit and qi meant for the Necromancer Society. She shook herself back to focus.
"O-Okay, details later!"
"Understood, Death King. So... is there a method?"
"No clue. Never even considered turning a living thing into a Death Knight. You don't look at a corpse and think 'zombie time,' and you sure as hell don't eyeball something alive and go 'yep, zombie material.'"
He instantly grasped her necromancer-flavored point and darkened his expression.
"Meaning...?"
His face hardened at the thought that, after all this, he might have to settle for a draugr instead.
But then the Death King extended her hand, manipulating the skeletal hand cradling the Necronomicon once more.
Flip, flip, flip—
Infused with her will, the hand conveyed it to the book. Pages whipped by like leaves in a gale, relentless.
They seemed endless, but it finally halted precisely on one page. The Death King and Kang Sa-hu leaned in, tense, eyes locked on the Necronomicon.
Its contents boiled down to one line:
Rather good.
"......"
"......"
More precisely, upon reading the passage on the magic circles they'd prepared: "This ritual assumes the spirit, soul, po, and flesh have already been sundered. Should they remain intact, placement in any circle suffices."
"...Well, that's a relief."
"If you say so..."
It couldn't have been deliberate, but she felt oddly swindled, shooting a glare at the Necronomicon as it continued slurping up spirit and qi.
"So, Sa-hu... what's the plan?"
"The red one."
As he answered, Kang Sa-hu reached into his soul core pouch and withdrew the largest—the soul core of Kataku, king of trolls.
Using skill: Telekinesis.
He telekinetically floated it to the red circle's center.
With a summon, Kataku's colossal body thudded down onto the circle.
"Wha—whoa...!"
Its frame dwarfed a human's, layered with elastic muscles—not overbuilt, but sleek and brimming with power. The Death King's jaw dropped.
"Knew it was a monster, but this... Yeah, I get why you're dead set on a Death Knight."
Death Knights were typically forged by seating a prepped spirit and soul into metal armor, conditioning them to perceive the armor as their flesh.
The reason was straightforward.
Steel—even lead—armor outclassed human meat!
But an armored body wasn't without drawbacks.
Without muscles, every motion drew directly from the user's power reservoir, demanding massive spirit or qi expenditure.
Kang Sa-hu himself had ditched skeletons early on; even standing still guzzled mana, so he'd gritted his teeth through the rotting stench to zombie-fy giant hounds.
Now, vastly stronger, he could've skeletonized three hundred—not thirty—for hours on end.
But they'd since become devourers, then evolved into hell hounds. Pointless what-if.
With Kataku's mighty flesh preserved intact, there was zero reason to opt for an inferior armored shell.
"Alright, here we go."
Kataku's body levitated, aligning upright, and the Death King reached for the Necronomicon again.
Groooan...
Crack, crunch, snap.
Muscles compressed with a squelch, bones realigned with sharp cracks—Kataku's form began to twitch faintly.
The Death King watched gravely in silence until the erratic ritual flow steadied. Then she peered intently at the glowing circle beneath it.
A thread-thin line—barely visible—thickened gradually, like sand piling in an upturned hourglass: slow, but undeniable.
"...With the spirit, soul, po, and flesh all fused together, I figured as much, but this is way different from my Death Knights."
"What do you mean?"
He shot her a worried glance at the ominous words.
Had something gone wrong?
Her follow-up dashed that fear entirely.
"It's transforming into a Death Knight way faster. My quickest ever took nearly a full year."
Transformations dragged longer with sloppy prep or mighty subjects.
Her words might sound like Kataku was weaker than expected, but obviously not.
"Probably 'cause everything's intact. First time I've dealt with this setup."
She elaborated while observing the shifting Kataku with eyes alight.
"Plus, the commanding spirit's top-notch. The process completely rewrites its sense of self—weaker ones buck hard against that."
She thrust a thumbs-up in praise.
Kang Sa-hu bowed his thanks.
"How long do you figure, then?"
"Can't say for sure. But at this pace..."
Eyeing the line inching thicker like paint filling a circular gauge, she estimated.
"Roughly ten days to two weeks. Could stretch if complications hit."
"Got it. Understood."
He straightened.
"Then, Death King, I'm gonna catch some shut-eye."
"Huh? Oh, right! Gate-clearing wiped you out, huh? Good work. Crash hard."
She slotted the goal-achieved Necronomicon back onto its throne and sidled up beside him.
Standing there, her eyes sparkled at the rare thrill of chatting with someone before bed—not sleeping solo after ages.
Kang Sa-hu hit the sack and finally dozed off after two hours of banter with her.
Kyahk! Kyahk! Kyahk!
After waking...
Kang Sa-hu resumed gate hunting, watching the apes slaughter monsters inside with rabid frenzy, eyes rolling wildly.
At the apes' behest, it'd been ages since he'd summoned their leader: the vampiric ape.
After a brief exchange, the vampiric ape jabbed a claw at a hell hound; the corpse-eating ape nodded—and they'd been at it nonstop since.
"Not bad at all."
Usually slacking or side-eyeing him, now they hunted voluntarily without pause. Kang Sa-hu watched with satisfaction.