The Advantage of a Borrowed Crown
At Yoon Sang-hyuk’s shout, Ahmed Hassan moved at once. He traced a quick circle with a sharp metal rod and began drawing a magic circle at speed. Once he completed it with mana stone powder, he set mana stones on each vertex of the hexagram and took a seat at its center.
Gooooooo-
As the magic circle activated, dark energy surged violently around him. Ahmed Hassan, who had finished the circle faster than usual, looked across at his opponent and frowned.
Yang Su-chan was standing still, not even drawing a summoning circle, simply watching him.
Ahmed Hassan was curious what the man was up to, but now was not the time. He had to summon his undead as quickly as possible. Once the summoning circle fully took hold, Ahmed Hassan spread both arms wide and declared,
“In the name of the King of the Dead, I command you: awaken, immortal warriors who conquered even death.”
White bones burst up through the blackened ground around him. But the undead breaking through the earth were not the skeleton soldiers he had summoned in the Sharp Fang Orc Village dungeon overflow at Namdong Industrial Complex.
They were Skeleton Knights, helmets on and shields in hand.
Craaaack-
A sharp cry rang out.
Leading the undead Ahmed Hassan had summoned were the ones emerging from the ground in front.
They were Skeleton Generals, clad in armor made of bone, and Skeleton Mages with bone wands in their hands.
There were three Skeleton Generals and five Skeleton Mages.
Ahmed Hassan looked at the undead he had summoned, smiled with satisfaction, and sprang to his feet.
“Go! Warriors of immortality.”
While Ahmed Hassan was ordering his undead forward, Yang Su-chan had still done nothing at all.
The undead closed the distance. Their hideous, shrill cries vibrated through the area.
Yang Su-chan extended a hand. Black mana swirled around the black bracelet on his wrist.
“My lovely babies, it’s time to welcome guests.”
Two streams of black mana poured from the bracelet and seeped into the ground. Dark energy gathered, beginning to take shape.
A moment later, two beings emerged.
They were undead Yang Su-chan had first created after meeting Yoon Sang-hyuk in the real world and receiving his support: Poison Hell Bone Hounds. The deep blue-black hounds let out a piercing roar.
The other was a skeleton. But its form was anything but ordinary. It held a massive bone sword in each hand, and its build was more than half again as large as the Skeleton Generals Ahmed Hassan had summoned.
The skeleton, composed of bones tinged with red, was Yang Su-chan’s specially made Blood Skeleton Berserker.
“Go, my babies!”
Unlike Ahmed Hassan, who had summoned a force of fifty skeletons, Yang Su-chan had summoned only two undead.
Fifty against two. The undead collided.
Kya-ra-ra-ra!
Kyoooooh!
The Poison Hell Bone Hound and the Blood Berserker Skeleton Yang Su-chan had summoned plunged into Ahmed Hassan’s undead formation.
Kyaaaang-
The Poison Hell Bone Hound let out a shrill cry, clamping its jaws around a Skeleton Knight’s body and whipping its head from side to side. Its bite force was so strong that the skeleton’s bones shattered at once.
The collapsing Skeleton Knight turned green, then melted into a slimy heap.
“Th-that’s impossible.”
Ahmed Hassan stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what he was seeing. One strike from the skeleton wielding a greatsword in each hand had crushed the Skeleton General’s skull clean through.
It was a pathetic end for a Skeleton General that required five top-grade corpses and a high-grade mana stone just to summon.
The Skeleton Mages attacked Yang Su-chan’s undead with fire magic. But the moment the flames struck, a dark light flashed from the bones composing their bodies, and the magic vanished without a trace.
“What the hell did you do to those undead? Summoning them instantly like that, too...”
Mid-sentence, Ahmed Hassan’s eyes flew open.
Summoning undead without a summoning circle meant one thing: Yang Su-chan possessed an artifact for storing undead in pocket space, something exclusive to necromancers. Grinding his teeth, Ahmed Hassan shot a glare at Yoon Sang-hyuk, who was watching from a distance.
Yoon Sang-hyuk must have handed Yang Su-chan every piece of gear and accessory he had used in Eternal World. Yang Su-chan’s level might be lower than his own, but when it came to undead-related knowledge, he was every bit as competent a player.
With Yoon Sang-hyuk’s top-grade materials and Yang Su-chan’s necromancer expertise combined, they had created undead so absurdly overpowered that they were slaughtering his own forces one-sidedly.
This was a battle that should never have existed in the first place.
“I walked right into it.”
Maybe Yoon Sang-hyuk had come to Egypt from the very beginning for this exact reason.
“You son of a bitch, Michael Buren. If I let you live, then I’m no man.”
He had fallen for Michael Buren’s sweet talk and ended up handing the Tower of the Dead guild, which he had struggled to build since Eternal World, straight over to Yoon Sang-hyuk.
Kyaaaah!
With the last remaining Skeleton Mage’s head crushed in the Poison Hell Bone Hound’s jaws, the brief and futile battle came to an end.
“My, my. You sweet little things worked so hard. Go on in and rest.”
The undead Yang Su-chan had summoned dissolved into black energy and returned to his bracelet.
“That was too easy. Maybe it’s time you buried the name Necro Master deep in your chest and forgot about it?”
As Yang Su-chan, who had approached without anyone noticing, taunted him, Ahmed Hassan ground his teeth.
“Do you think you won with your own pure skill?”
“And do you think you did over there? You were a long way above my level, and you only barely beat me after loading yourself up with materials your guild members gathered for you. Who are you kidding with that line? If we’d been about the same level, do you honestly think you could’ve beaten me?”
When Ahmed Hassan failed to answer, Yang Su-chan grinned.
“Feels like the moment I become the true king of necromancers. Heh. Bow before me. Before the king who will become the master of Necropolis.”
“You’re completely insane.”
“Kukukuku, I hear that a lot.”
The two of them turned back toward the people waiting for them.
“Got a problem with the result?”
“Hmph! It wasn’t a fight that should have been allowed to happen in the first place.”
“Then you should’ve complained before it started. If you think the contract is unfair, say so now. I’ll tear it up for you. But in that case, I’ll proceed with my original plan...”
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked toward the distant resting place of the Nameless King as he spoke. If the contract were broken, it meant he would overflow the Nameless King’s Resting Place.
“I accept defeat.”
“Wise choice. As a commemorative gift for the Tower of the Dead becoming a subordinate guild of Masked Castle, I’ll give you one present.”
“A present?”
“I’ll give you a perfect clear of the Nameless King’s Resting Place. Of course, every item that drops can go to the Tower of the Dead guild.”
“Really?”
“It’s a bad habit to make me repeat myself.”
* * *
The Nameless King’s Resting Place.
It was a dungeon with the raid boss of the forgotten ancient king as its final boss.
The monsters that appeared were the Nameless King’s soldiers, knights, and mages. Mid-bosses included the captain of the knights and the captain of the mages.
Individually, the undead were not stronger than those appearing in the Great Underground Burial Mound of Brandel implemented in Korea, but there were certainly no shortage of them.
At the front were Yang Su-chan’s undead.
Two Poison Hell Bone Hounds and three Blood Skeleton Berserkers. Though Ahmed Hassan did not know it, Yang Su-chan’s undead were not ordinary undead.
They were undead that had been specially manufactured and reinforced in Yang Su-chan’s own unique way, then enchanted by the magic artificer Andrei Ivanov, and even tattooed with monster blood by the tattoo artist Kurihara Ayane.
Walking in a line behind the undead were Yoon Sang-hyuk and his party.
Far behind them, Ahmed Hassan and the Tower of the Dead guild members trailed along.
“Are you all right, Guild Master?”
At Deputy Guild Master Ali Gabr’s words, Ahmed Hassan replied in a low voice.
“Maybe this is better after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. From here on out, the player world is going to revolve around that bastard. Come to think of it now, there’s a strong chance he was behind the change in leadership of the Reaper Guild in Russia. And you’ve heard it too, haven’t you? The guilds in the United States, Germany, Russia, China, and Italy have already received all their weapons back. What do you think will happen if we become a subordinate guild of Masked Castle?”
Ali Gabr asked in a tentative tone,
“Can we get our weapons back too?”
“That’s not all. We can take on the Steel Mountains as well. If we bend the knee for a little while, we’ll only grow larger.”
“For a little while?”
Ahmed Hassan smiled with clear implication.
“We’re stepping back one pace so we can advance ten. There’s no need to be ashamed of crouching for a moment before a leap. So make sure you keep the guild members in line.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
“And don’t forget to be careful not to let that bastard hear any of this.”
“Understood.”
While the two men were hatching their sly little scheme, Yoon Sang-hyuk, walking ahead of them, was smiling to himself. They must have thought he couldn’t hear them. But he had caught every word.
“Quite the charming little plans for people who look like that.”
“Yes, my lord?”
Park Ho-sung looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk as he muttered to himself.
“Nothing.”
Yang Su-chan raised a hand.
Yoon Sang-hyuk, already aware that monsters were waiting ahead, stopped walking.
The narrow passage widened, and they arrived in a vast stone chamber. There were figures waiting for them inside.
Undead in metal armor. A formation of soldiers, mages, and knights, more than fifty in all. The reason the Nameless King’s Resting Place was so terrifying was that the number of undead appearing only grew exponentially the deeper one advanced.
“Go!”
“Hold on.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk stopped Yang Su-chan just as he was about to give the undead their battle order.
“What’s up, hyung?”
“Let Ho-sung get some practice.”
“But today is supposed to be the day our cute little babies shine.”
“Cut the nonsense.”
“See? You always pick on me.”
“Yeah. I do. So the moment we get back to Korea, hand over all your items and find somewhere else to live.”
“Why are you doing this to me again? What did I do?”
Yang Su-chan nudged Park Ho-sung in the side with his elbow.
“Ho-sung, you’re up.”
Park Ho-sung looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk.
“Why? Think it’ll be hard?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
As if about to say something, Park Ho-sung turned away. Yoon Sang-hyuk called him back.
“Ho-sung.”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Here.”
He took several items from his pocket space and handed them over.
“That’s a mana amplification set and a unique-grade wand. At your level, you won’t run into any equipment restrictions.”
“I don’t need anything like this.”
“You don’t need to pedal a bicycle when a car’s sitting right there.”
“I’ll use them and return them to you.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk patted Park Ho-sung on the shoulder.
“Return them...? This is a gift.”