The Asymmetric Power of Necromancy

If a magician’s presence was a card that could flip the battlefield on its head,

a necromancer’s presence was an asymmetric force capable of utterly crushing one side of the war.

That was why the first floor of Hell difficulty was so brutal.

It was also why it produced more deaths than any other floor.

You had to face dozens of monsters at the same time.

Yet that very numerical superiority became an outright advantage for a necromancer.

The shades lingering in the Dead Gallery were all watching my fight, spamming new threads one after another.

For a while the Dead Gallery was flooded with nothing but threads about the newbie.

I consumed Dead Qi to revive the hobgoblins.

The newly risen hobgoblins tore into their living kin.

In the middle of a battlefield where death summoned more death, I focused on absorbing the Dead Qi that lay thick across the ground.

Orc wolf riders are terrible value.

If a hobgoblin cost 1 point, an orc wolf rider cost around 3. The efficiency gap was ridiculous.

One by one the hobgoblin corpses rose again.

Before long the entire plain was covered in black-stained hobgoblin undead.

“Nickname? Hmm…”

I was never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any good at naming things.

After a moment’s thought I simply entered my own name.

“Yohan.”

It was the name the orphanage director and pastor had given me when I was reborn.

Honestly it sounded like something you’d use in a game, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled.

But because it came from the person who was like a savior to me, I couldn’t help but cherish it.

“They’re all famous S-class Hunters.”

The record ranking was packed with names anyone would recognize.

It felt surreal to see my name sitting above all of them.

But that wonder didn’t last long.

Reward Options

1. Learn Necromancer unique skill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Recycle (A)

2. Increase total Dead Qi by 50

3. Learn Necromancer unique skill Shadow (A)

I carefully reached out and tapped the highlighted section. A new window appeared.

The moment I read the description I stared at the hobgoblin undead that had slaughtered the most of its own kind.

Sure enough, it carried far more Dead Qi than the others.

Using Recycle on it would not only refund the original cost but also net me extra Dead Qi.

Still, was it good enough to pick right now? I wasn’t sure, so I looked lower.

“Total increase of 50…”

My current Dead Qi pool was 100.

Gaining 50 would be a fifty-percent boost, but it didn’t feel like a dramatic change.

“Postponed.”

I scrolled down once more and checked the other unique skill.

“This one… isn’t bad.”

I looked at the undead I had revived and at the Black Saintess.

Every time you climbed to the next floor the space shifted.

There was no guarantee the Black Saintess or the undead would come with me.

It would be too wasteful to use the Black Saintess as a one-time consumable.

She was my very first shade, summoned by spending a full 100 Dead Qi all at once.

The word “first” carried special meaning no matter what it referred to.

“I choose Shadow.”

I swept the five idle hobgoblins into the shadow veil, then walked over to the Black Saintess who was watching me from a short distance away.

“See you on the next floor.”

“Pardon…? What do you—”

From the Black Saintess’s reaction, it seemed my prediction had been correct.

Too bad. I had no intention of letting her go yet.

I stored even the Black Saintess inside my shadow and logged into the Dead Gallery.

Among the flood of threads about me, one in particular caught my eye.

“I picked up an important skill.”

I also gained valuable information along the way.

If I cleared a floor without storing the shades in my shadow, there would be no way to recover them.

In the end, choosing Shadow as my 1st-floor clear reward had been the perfect decision.

I should’ve checked the gallery first before deciding.

Maybe it was because this was my first real battle, but the adrenaline had been pumping way too hard.

Only after the heat of combat had cooled and I could think calmly did I realize how stupid I had been.

“Still, it worked out.”

I sat down, silently promising myself to keep a clear head from now on, and rested.

I was transported from the middle of the plain into a waiting room filled with pure white scenery.

“No.”

I had cleared the first floor, so I would rest for a while.

After all, I was still a patient who had undergone major surgery only a month ago.

Standing alone inside an endlessly white space felt strangely lonely.

So I summoned the Black Saintess from my shadow to test it out.

“…”

“Re-summoning costs 20 Dead Qi. That’s ridiculously expensive.”

I still had one more thing to test, so I turned to speak to the Black Saintess.

She wore an expression that looked somehow dissatisfied, as if she had something to say.

Her face was nearly blank, yet for some reason that was the impression I got.

“From now on I can only re-summon you two more times, so…”

“Couldn’t you have chosen Recycle and revived Cleaner instead of me?”

“That’s true.”

“Even if the first floor was fine, from the second floor onward someone like Cleaner would have far more influence than—”

“Shh.”

I raised a finger to my lips and the Black Saintess’s mouth closed on its own.

“It was my choice. Don’t argue any further.”

“…”

“You know, you always look like someone desperate to die.”

“When have I ever looked desperate—!”

“If that’s not the case, then quietly climb the Tower with me. Understood?”

“…Sigh.”

After watching her let out a small sigh, I returned to reality.

I left the Tower and returned to my house in the real world.