Chapter 46
Episode 46
[Holding Back Laughter has donated 5 DP!]
Wait hold on how is it talking???
[Cheokcheoksa has donated 50 DP!]
Did you seriously use that Mythic-grade ego formation skill from yesterday? You gave a jiangshi an ego???
[BluePizza has donated 3 DP!]
No but first explain how it's even talking???
"Ah. Looks like everyone's curious."
I looked at the chat and chuckled.
"I used the ego formation skill I got yesterday. Happy? It's no big deal."
I said it was no big deal, but.
How could implanting the ego of a Demonic Cult guardian into a jiangshi with a Mythic-grade skill be no big deal?
Well, for the sake of the viewers' mental health, I played it off lightly.
"Now then. Black and White Impermanence."
I gave the order to the two Copper Jiangshi.
"Go catch some wild animals or something from the area and bring them back. I need to gather corpse resources."
"As you command."
"As you command."
Black and White Impermanence bowed their heads at the same time, and then.
Flash!
They spread out with Soaring-Heaven Corpse-Spirit Ghost Step and shot off in every direction around the rocky mountain. The mountain slopes rippled faintly for an instant under that ghost-like movement art.
[Park Il-chim has donated 100 DP!]
Whoa did you all see that movement just now?? The jiangshi talks and uses lightness arts too... so freaking cool!!
[NecroIsBest has donated 50 DP!]
Black and White Impermanence sortie lolol this is seriously like a martial arts movie
"Heh. Everyone's loving it."
I looked at the chat window with satisfaction.
A talking jiangshi, and lightness arts on top of it.
At this rate, today's stream was guaranteed to blow up.
While I was feeling pleased, I saw Bihallat casting a glance at me.
I didn't know what she was thinking.
She had refused my martial arts transmission and only asked for Necromantic Mana.
She had her own training method, apparently?
I didn't know whether that would apply to an undead body, but I did as she wanted.
Either way, Necromantic Mana was flowing into her as well.
I'd find out the result soon enough.
"Oh, right. Guys, this is probably going to take a while, so you don't have to stay glued to the live stream, okay?"
In reality.
Clearing out that fortress would probably take at least a full day. Or maybe even several days.
While I was thinking that.
Flash! Flash!
Black Impermanence and White Impermanence came gliding back like ghosts.
Black Impermanence had a large deer slung over his shoulder, and White Impermanence was carrying a hefty wild boar.
They'd brought back a clean haul from the mountain.
These guys were the very definition of competent subordinates.
Very nice. One big thumbs-up for you.
"Set them down in front of me."
The two jiangshi laid the deer and the wild boar neatly beside my throne.
The two mountain animal corpses lay limp.
Now then, it was time to run an experiment with these.
"Dignity of the Corpse Lord."
I activated the skill.
Shudder.
The dead deer and wild boar shuddered, then began staggering to their feet.
Their limp limbs began moving again as an eerie energy settled into them.
Walking Corpses—that is, two new undead had been created.
"It works after all."
The undead I could 'summon' on this stage were clearly limited to ten.
But what I'd just done wasn't summoning—it was creating new undead from within this stage.
It was an experiment I'd run expecting this result, but I hadn't thought it would actually work.
"Everyone saw that, right? Summoning is capped at ten. But making them on-site doesn't count toward the limit."
I'd precisely exploited a gap in the system.
The summoning limit apparently only applied to 'calling in' undead from a subdimension.
Procuring corpses locally and turning them into undead on the spot was outside the limit.
This is... way too sloppy. So very sloppy.
Had the Dimensional Tower's Floor 3 never imagined someone would pack the Necron Ossuary to the brim with corpses?
"If it's like this... isn't this too easy?"
They'd probably meant to make it brutally hard with the ten-summon cap.
But this meant that as long as I kept procuring corpses on-site, I could multiply undead as much as I wanted.
-No way he broke it again????
-Corpse-Spirit bro found another system loophole!
-There it is! The victory declaration! The "too easy" line!
-The Dimensional Tower examiners are crying again lololol
I could see the viewers going wild.
Well, I understood.
Everyone had seen the ten-summon cap and thought, "This time it'll be rough," and then I'd bypassed that limit within the first five minutes.
"Now then. While everyone's excited, let me show you one more thing."
I smirked and activated the next skill.
"Armor of the Vengeful Spirit Horde."
It was the skill I'd received as a Mythic-grade reward.
Tssssss!
Hazy vengeful spirits began to seep out of the dead boar's and deer's bodies.
The residual vengeful spirits of the animals I'd just turned into undead!
Two strands of gloomy vengeful spirits began to circle slowly around me.
They drifted around the throne like loyal guards.
"Mm. Good, good."
I nodded with satisfaction.
My vengeful-spirit armor was gradually taking shape too.
Now, as long as I gathered enough corpse resources, I could multiply the vengeful spirits as much as I wanted.
"Then let's wait until nightfall... and properly start assaulting that fortress."
I leaned back deep into the throne and stared at the monster fortress far away.
Once night came, visibility would drop and the monsters' guard would loosen.
For someone like me who commanded undead, nighttime was the ultimate home turf.
Who could the hostage trapped in there be?
And how should I tackle this tricky rescue stage?
The excitement I'd felt in my former life was slowly rising, and it felt good.
That was when.
-Surely you aren't thinking of charging in head-on?
Jegal Yu-yeon's voice came through.
She was apparently watching me from the subdimension.
-Nope.
-How unexpected. I thought that would be exactly what you'd do, Mad Martial Sovereign....
-Of course I'm the Mad Martial Sovereign. But right now I'm also Lee Mu-seon. People always change. Isn't that right, Strategist Jegal?
At the telepathy I sent through spirit communication, Jegal Yu-yeon fell silent for a moment.
-So what do you intend to do?
-I'm going to kill them all. Very simply. Ah. You were asking how, right? Watch closely. The Mad Martial Sovereign who became your master isn't the same ignorant brute he used to be.
-I'll look forward to it.
After finishing my conversation with Jegal Yu-yeon, I waited for the sun to set.
I joked around with the viewers and passed the time, and a few hours went by in no time.
The fortress was quite bright, as if lit up here and there by what appeared to be magic.
But that didn't mean it wasn't dark.
I began to move.
Now then. How long can you all hold out?
Show me what a high-difficulty Floor 3 can do.
Don't disappoint me.
* * *
Fortress Broktan.
This massive stone fortress, now occupied by a monster legion, had originally been a masterpiece carved by ancient dwarves.
An impregnable fortress with solid granite walls and even intricate mechanical devices.
But now, what occupied that great legacy was not dwarves but a hideous horde of monsters.
And Aktum, an orc warrior and mid-ranking officer of that legion,
was walking along the top of the wall, chewing on a tough chunk of meat.
"Snort. Tough. Snort."
Aktum chewed the meat with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
But in truth,
he had no idea what kind of meat he was eating.
He did not know where this meat had come from, either.
No, in the first place, he did not even know why he was in this fortress.
Since when he had been here.
What he was here for.
Whenever he tried to trace his memories, the inside of his head only clouded over like fog.
Only one command lodged in his head remained clear.
Never let the 'special hostage' inside the fortress escape.
And patrol the inside of the fortress several times a day.
He did not know why he had to do that.
Only the thought that he had to do it filled his head.
As if someone were stirring around inside his head with an invisible hand.
As if he were a doll brainwashed and controlled by something.
"Snort. The others! Where'd they go!"
Aktum smacked the goblin sentry beside him on the head and bellowed.
"The others besides you! Where are they, snort!"
"D-don't know, krrk! They're gone, krrk!"
The goblin clutched its head and trembled.
"Nonsense! Snort!"
Aktum was about to smack the goblin again when he suddenly felt his throat turn scratchy.
After chewing the tough meat for a while, his throat had gone completely dry.
"Give me the water bottle! Snort!"
He turned and held out a hand. One of his subordinates passed him a water bottle; Aktum snatched it, poured the water down his throat, and turned back toward the goblin.
"...?"
The goblin was gone.
The goblin that had been trembling at his feet just moments ago.
Had vanished without a trace.
Without a single scream.
Without a single drop of blood.
It had simply disappeared.
A chill ran down Aktum's spine for an instant.
"...What the? Snort."
It had definitely been right there just now.
As if it had evaporated in the blink of an eye.
"Where'd this bastard go! Snort!"
Aktum hurriedly looked around.
But then.
The subordinate orc who had handed him the water bottle.
That one was gone too.
He had definitely been standing right beside him just moments ago.
"...!"
The remaining subordinates began looking at one another in alarm.
Something.
Something was happening.
In this darkness, something invisible.
"R-raise the torches! Snort! Everyone bunch up!"
Aktum shouted instinctively.
His subordinates hurriedly raised their torches and gathered back-to-back.
That was the moment.
"Ghk!"
An orc standing right beside him suddenly collapsed.
"Snort?!"
And that huge body.
As if bound by an invisible rope.
Sliiide...
Was dragged into the darkness beyond the wall.
"Snort! S-save meee...."
The subordinate thrashed and disappeared just like that.
The screaming voice soon cut off.
The darkness simply swallowed him.
"Wh-what is it! Snort! What is it!"
Cold sweat ran down Aktum's back.