Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Episode 11
"Graaah."
"Grrrrk."
The corpses rose.
It was thanks to my passive skill, [Dignity of the Corpse Lord].
Even without using [Corpse Control], it automatically created Walking Corpses and placed them under my control. A completely broken skill!
Riding the palanquin, I quickly reached the earthen wall where the fighting with the undead had broken out first.
The Barbarian Warrior who had been shouting, "Bro!" nearly died, so I helped him. It brought my previous life to mind, and I tried talking the way I had back then.
The viewers' reactions—and the look on the guy's face after I saved him—were quite a sight.
But here was the thing.
Now it was showtime. What could I do?
"Now then. Is everyone ready to see something good? From this moment on, I shall show you all a most splendid new world!"
I extended my will.
You could call it spiritual force.
In truth, in my former life I was called the Martial God, but before that, I had been called by an even more bizarre epithet.
Martial-Coveting Mad Fiend.
I'd stop at nothing to seek out other people's martial arts, steal them, and master every last detail.
Some were so-called mind arts, and some used spiritual force.
Some blurred the line between martial arts and sorcery altogether.
That was why controlling undead as a Necromancer by directing spiritual force came fairly easily to me.
"Arise, corpse demons! I command it as your sovereign!"
-Is something big coming?
-Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign, what in the world are you trying to show us!?
-That palanquin is insane lololololol
-So what are you trying to do?
"Deploy the Shaolin Temple's One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation!"
And so, I would show these ignorant viewers right here.
Behold.
This is none other than the Shaolin Temple's One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation!
-Whoa! Suddenly the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation with undead!?
-My head's spinning so badly I think I'm losing it.
The viewers exploded as well.
* * *
What did I just hear?
BJ Hyeonggang briefly lost his grip on reality at the bizarre way the man who had suddenly appeared on a palanquin was talking, then barely came back to his senses.
A palanquin was a palanquin, sure.
But first, wasn't he supposed to survive?
'Right. I remember. He's the super rookie who showed up yesterday. That Necromancer who supposedly makes Walking Corpses use martial arts skills....'
First, stick close to that person....
That was when it happened.
"Now then. Is everyone ready to see something good? From this moment on, I shall show you all a most splendid new world!"
The man suddenly started talking like a character in a historical drama.
As Hyeonggang stared, thinking, What the...?, the man shouted again.
"Arise, corpse demons! I command it as your sovereign!"
Is that guy streaming too? A rival? But a super rookie doing entertainment streams too? That's just unfair.
"Deploy the Shaolin Temple's One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation!"
"Pfft."
The One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation, out of nowhere!? Here?
-Insane lolololol the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation lolololol
-Waiter! Bring me a plate of carbonara over here!
-If there's 'Qi-Circulation Breakfast,' what does 'Qi-Circulation Dinner' taste like?
Maybe Hyeonggang's channel had a lot of older men, because everyone immediately started cracking wuxia jokes.
However.
What happened next, however, was no laughing matter.
[The One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation is being deployed.]
A message... appeared.
-Why is this real?
A viewer's comment voiced exactly what Hyeonggang was thinking.
Hyeonggang felt like losing his mind.
* * *
The Shaolin Temple's One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation is renowned as one of the mightiest formations in the martial world.
In web novels and classic wuxia, it was always called invincible only to get broken through and shattered every time. But from what I'd personally experienced fighting it in my previous life—
it really was a martial formation with lethal power.
And now.
The One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation deployed by the Walking Corpse goblins had become a "goblin grinder."
Crunch! Snap!
"SKREEE!"
"Graaaagh!"
The necks of the goblins that climbed onto the earthen wall snapped, and their limbs broke off in a single motion.
The martial formation deployed by the Walking Corpses meshed like a precision killing machine—or a set of gears—and ground the goblins to death.
Every corpse killed that way immediately rose again as a Walking Corpse.
Wasn't this exactly the corpse-demon legion that the Corpse-Spirit Demon Lord bastard had been trying to create in my previous life?
"Advance, corpse demons! Kill the living goblins!"
I shouted grandly and swept out a hand.
I led the horde of Walking Corpses down from the earthen wall.
Goblins rushed us from every direction.
But the number of undead around me had already passed one hundred.
And then.
The true One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation unfolded.
Of course. The One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation was a supreme formation performed by one hundred eight warrior monks. It only worked properly with all one hundred and eight.
The moment my corpses exceeded one hundred eight, the formation began to show its true power.
"Grah!"
"Grrrgh!"
Letting out the eerie groans unique to the dead, they took stances like Shaolin monks—Arhat Fist, Vajra Fist, Tiger-Subduing Fist, and the like.
It was bizarre seeing small-bodied goblins take such formal stances, but the power was real.
And as they advanced with the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation deployed, a wave of goblins surged at them.
"Graaaagh!"
"GAAAH!"
A great slaughter.
The attacking goblins fell dead from a single blow.
A goblin died after one or two strikes from the Walking Corpse goblins. Once dead, it immediately joined the ranks as undead.
It was truly over in an instant.
The undead that had numbered over a hundred became two hundred at once, and the undead that numbered over two hundred became four hundred at once.
By that point, the undead under my command outnumbered the goblins.
The interesting thing was—
the range in which I could create Walking Corpses was a 50-meter radius centered on me, but my control range was unlimited!
And then, before long.
When the last goblin died and became a corpse.
A message appeared.
[You have withstood the goblin horde's offensive.]
[You have overwhelmingly cleared Floor 1 of the Dimensional Tower.]
[You have cleared Floor 1 of the Dimensional Tower in the shortest time.]
[You may proceed with the hidden trial of Floor 1 of the Dimensional Tower.]
"A hidden trial? Hoh. Before me, a hidden trial is nothing but the work of an ordinary mortal. Begin!"
It felt good to keep using my former-life manner of speech.
Good.
I decided I'd use my former-life manner of speech on stream whenever I felt like it.
While I was thinking that.
[You have accepted the hidden trial of Floor 1 of the Dimensional Tower.]
[The hidden trial of Floor 1 of the Dimensional Tower begins.]
Boom!
The sound of drums came from somewhere.
I turned my head and saw a goblin army emerging once again from one side of the distant plain.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A goblin army advanced to the beat of drums.
But it was different from before.
The ones before had merely carried crude shields and spears or swords.
They wore little more than rags.
They'd looked like a ragtag mob, more or less.
But this was a real army.
There were actually fewer of them than the previous goblins.
At a glance, around three hundred.
But they were a full head taller than the goblins from before and properly armed.
And at their head was a goblin the size of a man riding a wolf.
A hobgoblin?
All sorts of things show up on Floor 1, huh?
Let's see. The undead under my command... 698 of them.
More than a two-to-one advantage in numbers.
"But the other side is an elite army. This side is ragged undead. Who, indeed, will be the victor?"
I tossed out a suitably dramatic line in my former-life style.
The viewers responded with gusto.
-That speech is so disorienting lololololol
-Mister, please stop with that way of talking....
[JiangshiLover has donated 1 DP!]
So you'll win, right? I believe! My allowance is on the line!
"Hoh. You still cannot believe in me even after seeing the Shaolin Temple's supreme formation, the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation? If so, I shall personally show you something even greater!"
-Ah... what are you trying to show us now?
-You can stop showing us, sir.
"The Jegal Clan's secret art! Heaven-Overturning Eight Formations Diagram! Formation, deploy!"
-Insane;;; Why is the Jegal Clan showing up now!?
Nearly seven hundred undead began moving in orderly ranks under the direction of my spiritual force.
The One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation is certainly powerful, but in truth, once the numbers exceed one hundred eight, its power weakens and it does not operate properly.
But when had anyone in the martial world ever fought with perfectly matched numbers?
That was why a formation for large-scale engagements had been developed.
One of them was the Heaven-Overturning Eight Formations Diagram, created by the Jegal Clan.
And how did I know it?
In my former life, I beat the Jegal Clan senseless, stole it, and learned it!
Now! Goblins, come!
* * *
-Hyeonggang, what can we do?
-All we can do is cheer. Go get some popcorn.
BJ Hyeonggang.
He was left speechless watching the man charge beyond the earthen wall, slaughter goblins, turn them all into undead, and build an army.
He shoved aside the crushing sense of deprivation that had been tormenting him.
Instead, he switched into commentator mode with a new mindset: Let's do business! Let's make money!
"There it is! The Jegal Clan's Heaven-Overturning Eight Formations Diagram! I know a thing or two because I read some wuxia novels back in the day. The Jegal Clan is supposedly descended from Zhuge Liang—courtesy name Kongming—the genius strategist and chancellor from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Huh? Why is that Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign using a Jegal Clan formation? Beats me? No clue?"
When you're streaming, performance is important, but communication is important too!
"Now, they're clashing! They clash! The goblin bastards are shooting arrows! But it's no use, right? Sticking arrows into corpses doesn't hurt them, right?"
-So annoying lololol
-Are undead invincible? Why don't they die?
-You can't kill undead unless you smash their skulls.
"Ah, the Heaven-Overturning Eight Formations Diagram is moving. Seven hundred of them move like some kind of vortex, grabbing the enemy and sucking them inside! It's a black hole! No. It's a grinder!"
The goblin army that had looked so powerful was pulverized by the undead.
At the first clash.
The undead used their characteristic immortality to hold firm, then seized their enemies and dragged them in. Hundreds moved in perfect unison like a whirlpool, literally "grinding" the goblin forces apart.
Dozens of goblins died in the first clash and became corpses.
With fifty out of three hundred gone, one-sixth of their fighting strength had vanished in an instant.
It was hard to believe even while watching it.
The goblin horde even used skills.
What appeared to be a goblin shaman used curses and spewed fire.
But it could not kill all seven hundred undead, nor could it do anything about the Corpse-Spirit Martial Sovereign riding the palanquin at their center.
It was astonishing. A marvel.
He wondered if there could be another awakened like this in the world.