Is This a Real Necromancer?
A single video appeared on the Illusion homepage.
The title was simple.
[Is This a Real Necromancer?]
Yet it piqued curiosity in a strange way.
Naturally, people clicked it.
Click.
The video started playing right away, opening with a horde of skeletons battling Red Bears.
Most viewers who saw it at first thought it was a Necromancer party.
But as the Red Bears fell and the camera panned out, they realized they were wrong.
There was just one.
Only one.
That massive skeleton army was being commanded by a single player.
Whoa, that's insane?
That's straight-up broken, right?
As those thoughts raced through viewers' minds, someone approached the player.
It was a guild recruitment pitch.
Black Guild.
A name most people didn't know.
Where's that? Never heard of it.
Still, just getting recruited sparked envy.
Is he gonna join?
As that thought crossed minds, the Necromancer player's response hit like a thunderbolt.
Trash-talk about Black Guild spread like wildfire.
A minor incident of rejecting a guild invite.
And the ensuing Black Guild bashing buried Mu-hyuk's cheat-like power.
The rumors spread fast.
And eventually reached Black Guild's vice leader, Yonghu.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes."
Black Guild had become a laughingstock.
How dare they...!
As always, he acted on his own whim.
"Find that bastard."
To restore Black Guild's pride.
*
Mu-hyuk chatted with Sung Min-woo on the phone while working out at the gym.
"Ah, the quest's a bit tough. Looks like it'll take a while."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, hunting solo for now."
"Got it. The dungeon I know caps at level 60 anyway, so no biggie."
"Pfft, no way I'm under 60. Cleared one quest already, but three left."
"Hmm, two weeks then."
"Yeah, about that."
"Cool, see you then."
"Okay."
He hung up and focused back on his workout.
"Hup, haa..."
After finishing, he headed home and logged straight into Illusion.
After the Red Bear hunt where he'd gotten the guild invite, he'd moved hunting grounds to avoid potential hassle.
Drakes, level 59.
Lizard-like monsters boasting insane defense, sudden acceleration for headbutts that hit like trucks, and fire breath to boot. Tricky bastards.
But Drakes had a weakness.
Electricity.
A bit tough, but...
One upside: Almost no parties hunted them.
In this not-so-vast field, players were a rare sight.
Level 59 monsters, after all.
Rank 1 was level 65, top 10,000 rankers at 62.
Few players bothered with 59s.
Rankers especially had easier prey elsewhere.
Then—
Kiririk!
A Bone Sword skeleton shattered under a Drake's headbutt.
Sedan bones for the win.
Without reinforced bones, hunting would've been impossible.
Without that one skill, same deal.
Mu-hyuk cleared his mind and commanded the Mage.
Mage3, Ice Shards.
Mage3 cast its spell.
Ice shards materialized in the air and shot toward the Drake.
All Bone Swords, retreat.
Mage4, Lightning Cloud.
A cloud formed and crashed down on the Drake.
Kuoooek!
The Drake screeched.
Bone Archers unleashed a volley.
The retreated reinforced and Bone Sword skeletons swarmed back in.
The raging beast opened its maw wide in fury, spewing flames that engulfed three Bone Swords. Their HP plummeted.
Retreat.
They pulled back on command, no further damage.
A normal player would've burned continuously, HP draining faster from burns.
But the Drake faced not flesh, but bone-only skeletons.
Natural counters, kinda.
Mu-hyuk smirked and ordered another assault.
Kiririk!
Still not easy.
In the end, he sacrificed 12 Bone Swords and Reinforced1 to take it down.
Reverse-summoned, so resummon time needed.
Mu-hyuk sat in a spot away from respawn and rested.
Tang! Tang!
While crafting a sword.
*
The report finally came in.
"Drake habitat?"
"Got a tip he was hunting there, confirmed it myself."
"For sure?"
"Yes."
"Good. Send five."
"Who?"
The vice leader kept 20 non-guild players on payroll for dirty jobs guild members couldn't touch.
He'd used them for this before. Five would do.
Hell, overkill.
But with all those skeletons, better safe.
"Heukrang and four under him."
"Heukrang?"
"Yeah."
"Got it."
A bit much, but orders were orders.
He just followed.
The message went to Heukrang.
Heukrang grinned at the note.
PK time after ages.
He'd heard the rumors, seen the vid.
Remembered the face.
Called his four buddies.
"Necromancer?"
"Yep."
"Hmph, all five of us? Just a Necro."
"Yeah, two'd suffice."
Necro hunts were cake. Ignore summons, kill the user.
"Vice leader wants it."
"Tch, fine. Pay's good."
"Damn right, juicy rewards."
"Let's rush and smash."
And so Heukrang and his four headed to the Drake habitat.
Meanwhile.
Maparang, traveling with Heukrang, cursed inwardly.
Haa, damn it.
Mid-important empire quest, then this call-up. Pissed.
He just wanted to kill the target quick and get back.
Empire-related quest, no less.
His impatience showed.
"Not there yet?"
Once or twice, fine.
Repeated? Suspicious.
His crew noticed too.
"Yo, Maparang."
"What?"
"Got some big quest or something?"
"Huh? W-what're you on about?"
"You're rushing too hard."
"Rushing? Just wanna get this annoyance over with."
Maparang bullshitted.
Can't let 'em know.
Buddies or not, they'd hog a good quest.
No way.
Good stuff's for solo.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, got a blind date soon too."
"Ooh, blind date? That explains it."
Blind date mention sold it.
"Yeah, so hurry up, please."
"Alright."
Thanks to that, pace picked up.
*
After downing another Drake and resting, Mu-hyuk spotted five players approaching from afar.
Eye contact hit, and instinct kicked in.
They were coming for him.
What the hell?
Vibes weren't friendly.
Black Guild maybe?
Plausible given rumors. But not sure, so he waited.
Thud. Thud.
They closed in quick.
One stepped forward.
"The Red Bear vid star?"
"..."
"No need to answer. My eyes don't lie."
He gestured, and four narrowed the gap.
"Black Guild, right?"
"Nah, nothing to do with that. Just your face pisses me off."
"Yeah?"
"Yup."
Mu-hyuk scoffed.
Ridiculous.
PK over rejecting an invite? No way he'd take it lying down.
He hurriedly summoned skeletons.
And waited.
"Ho, skeletons huh."
One grinned, closing in.
Huge greatsword wielder.
Ignoring skeletons, lunging at Mu-hyuk—
Swish.
Mu-hyuk slipped behind Reinforced1.
Defense mode.
The greatsword slammed Reinforced1's shield.
Player ‘Hanbang’ attacks.
Hostile relations initiated.
Right of self-defense established.
Mu-hyuk frowned.
Not even Black Guild.
No party status?
If guild or party, it'd auto-hostile the group. But no.
Annoying.
They knew the system well.
No choice—take out the attacker first.
No magic.
Magic here would splash the watching four, making Mu-hyuk the aggressor and giving them self-defense excuse.
That's what they wanted.
No dice.
At least loot an item.
Reinforced2, right flank.
Hanbang fixated on Mu-hyuk. But Mu-hyuk wasn't slow.
"Annoying as hell!"
Hanbang stomped, pissed.
Boom!
His form blurred with speed.
Warrior skill: Charge.
Bone Sword3, 4—left!
Mu-hyuk dodged right.
Charging Hanbang crashed into Bone Sword3 and 4.
Thud!
Powerful—both skeletons shoved back. Not shattered, luckily.
Mu-hyuk turned from them and cast on Hanbang.
Blessing of the Dead.
Purple light shot from his hand.
Unavoidable.
-351 HP to player ‘Hanbang’
Hanbang's shocked face flashed.