Lord of the Dead
The promise I made to Madam was for one week.
Galatea’s blueprint could be obtained from floors 51 through 59—in other words, the Platinum rank.
“Isn’t one week a little tight?”
Madam had caught the implication behind my words and asked with a subtle edge.
“Enough probing. I’m simply returning the favor I received.”
The Wildfire Hearth incident. Though it had taken the form of a “transaction,” I had also gained the nominal title of Korean branch manager for the Black Network. The Black Network needed to remain intact if I was going to keep using it for a long time. If internal strife caused by the butterfly effect of my regression threw it into chaos, my plans would suffer.
Madam covered her mouth and smiled faintly.
“This counts as another transaction, then.”
“It does.”
After a light handshake, she left with her messenger spirit in tow.
“I won’t see you out.”
“I understand. You’ll be busy from now on.”
She had a real talent for wrapping “hand over Galatea’s blueprint quickly” in polite language.
The café fell silent. I tapped the table with my index finger.
What are you doing?
“Just organizing my thoughts.”
Klypoth’s movements. A disaster for the Black Network, but an opportunity for me. If I could use this chance to wipe away every trace of Klypoth that had seeped into the Black Network…
“I’ll be able to treat it like my own limb.”
The opponent does not seem so easy to handle.
“Even the goddess thinks so?”
Themis has found herself an interesting contractor.
Only someone with Nyx’s seniority could call a Titan bloodline goddess “that child.” Among the Olympian constellations, none ranked higher than Nyx.
“Well, I still hold the advantage in information.”
The future was changing. Even so, my pre-regression knowledge remained useful. Detailed intelligence on Klypoth that even the Black Network, which had woven together the underworld across the globe, had failed to obtain. Thanks to that, I had placed Madam in my debt.
Your next move is decided.
“Yeah.”
After a month of halted tower climbing, it was time to resume the ascent.
Battle Coliseum – Combat Against a Powerful Foe (3)
📍 Location: Lechen Plains
🎯 Objective: Arch Lich Raid
⚠ Note: Difficulty increased due to constellation intervention. Mission must be completed solo. The Arch Lich commands an army of the dead.
The long-awaited boss raid mission had finally appeared. The raid location was Lechen, a land blackened and dead. Swords were stabbed into the plains everywhere. The battlefield recreated by the Tower of Babel reeked of death.
Nyx frowned.
A place where the flame of life has been trampled without mercy.
“It’s not even real.”
A battlefield implemented by the Tower of Babel. It was supposedly from some past event in another dimension, but I felt no particular interest. The one I needed to worry about was right in front of me.
「How dare you set foot in the land of the dead, living one!」
A skeleton wearing a crown forged of gold. Powerful magical armaments covered its skeletal frame. Black energy rippled around the Arch Lich, and the manifested aura of death darkened the ground even further.
An existence that defies the laws.
Nyx’s brow furrowed.
“A half-dead punk putting on airs.”
「I have received the blessing of a great existence and drawn one step closer to the truth.」
What the hell. Did the 51st-floor Arch Lich ever spout lines like that? While I tilted my head at the strange sense of dissonance—
The One Who Covers the Underworld has taken an interest in you.
The One Who Covers the Underworld has taken an interest in the Niflheim energy within your mana.
The One Who Covers the Underworld has intervened in the mission.
Doom Knight → Hell Knight
Arch Lich → Arch Lich Lord
Cold air from the underworld poured down from the sky. White frost wrapped around the army of the dead. The Arch Lich—no, the Lord—spoke with far greater power than before.
『Behold the truth that lies beyond death!』
The Arch Lich Lord’s voice had grown stronger. That was not all. The group of Doom Knights, now imbued with the cold of the underworld, had become Hell Knights—soldiers of death that existed only in Niflheim.
What a terrifying presence. I have unfortunate news for you, however.
“Saying that with a smile doesn’t make it convincing, you know.”
Still, they do not seem capable of becoming your match.
Animate Dead
Unholy Field
Death Aura
The aura of death spread across the plains. The dead clawed their way out of the ground—zombies, skeletons, ghouls. They picked up the rusted weapons embedded in the earth and advanced.
Shouldn’t undead require corpses to begin with?
“This place, the Lechen Plains, was created by piling up corpses.”
A recreation of an event from another dimension. A hellish land where the bodies of soldiers had been stacked layer upon layer, dozens deep.
Indeed. The stench of death was far too thick for it to be otherwise.
The undead rose one by one. Their numbers reached a staggering hundred thousand. The fact that it could command ten times the number of the Arch Lich itself proved the title “Lord” was no empty boast.
『Death to the living!』
『Our prey. Be careful not to let it be stolen.』
The elite Hell Knight unit summoned ghostly steeds and circled widely around the undead army.
Do you require an escort?
“No. Demonic Power is too risky.”
The Arch Lich Lord and the Hell Knights. In a pure magic duel I could match them with Demonic Power, but the Hell Knight unit circling around was the real problem. An upgraded version of Doom Knights—monsters I had never faced even before regression.
“Those things will have insane breakthrough power. I need to be careful.”
That word does not suit you.
Hah. She really didn’t know Yu Jinho at all. I was the kind of person who only fought battles I could win.
Avalanche
Solar Explosion
Eclipse
Thanks to the unique ability Master of Magic, my mana rearrangement speed was far faster than before. I completed the two spells in succession and pushed the repulsive force of Eclipse to its maximum.
An explosion shook the plains. Everything the white light touched turned to dust. The slowly advancing undead army vanished as if erased by a giant eraser.
“Twenty thousand in one go.”
『Foolish one, cease your resistance and accept your inevitable fate.』
Animate Dead
For every undead I destroyed, more appeared. The number of corpses buried beneath the Lechen Plains numbered in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions. I couldn’t remember exactly, but I recalled some team once forcing an Arch Lich to keep using Animate Dead until the count reached the million mark just to test its limits.
A war of attrition is unwinnable.
“They’re being created faster than I can kill them.”
Then strike the head.
“That’s the standard way to deal with an Arch Lich.”
I clapped lightly. Nyx’s judgment had improved dramatically. At this rate, I could leave frontline management to the goddess.
“I’ll lend you Lexy.”
You would have me deal with small fry?
“My breakthrough power is better, isn’t it?”
Hmm. Very well. I shall play along with your plan this time.
I summoned Lexy through Void Reflection. The manifested Nyx climbed onto the back of the primordial species.
“I’m counting on you again.”
“Kyaou!”
Lexy answered energetically. I hadn’t expected to form a rapport with a Tyrannosaurus. With Nyx standing before the undead army, I turned toward the hundred Hell Knights that were circling around.
They were probably planning to keep their distance and wait for an opening, but—
The moment I took a single step, the distance between me and the Hell Knight unit shrank rapidly. I had perfectly mastered the activation principle of Shrink.
『No spatial distortion detected!』
『It doesn’t matter. It came to us of its own accord, so we simply need to guide it to its death.』
『Die, living one!』
The Hell Knight unit kicked the flanks of their ghostly steeds.
Thudududud—!
A hundred riders charged. The dark fighting spirit wrapped around their lances sliced at my skin. Even after my physical transformation, their destructive power was not something I could ignore. The hundred Hell Knights wove their auras together as if they were one body, concentrating everything into a single point—an improvised formation.
I activated the ability of the Jinyeo’s Will resting in my dantian, converting my internal energy into Seon energy. I circulated the converted power through my body, prepared the Seon technique, and lightly stomped the ground to release the gathered Seon energy into the earth.
Earth Escape – Yellow Springs Marsh
『You think an attack without even killing intent will stop us?』
『An unpleasant energy. Almost like holy power.』
『Let’s finish him quickly.』
The Hell Knight unit did not stop their charge. With a splash, the Seon energy that had spread across a radius of several hundred meters swept away the death energy and replaced it with a different property. The ground turned into a swamp in an instant.
『You thought ghostly steeds would have physical resistance—kgh!』
The Hell Knights who had been charging so magnificently tumbled across the ground. The swamp that gripped the front legs of their ghostly steeds was an effect I had not expected from the essence [Mud Trap] obtained from the Swamp King. This Seon technique was one of Sun Wukong’s hidden arts.
The Hell Knight unit that had charged while mocking the Yellow Springs Marsh fell from their mounts one after another. Their pristine white armor was covered in filth. Under normal circumstances the effect would not have been so dramatic, but the fact that they were charging at full speed made all the difference. Their concentrated dark fighting spirit, unified into a single point by their formation, only amplified the damage when they crashed.
Once more than half the Hell Knights had fallen, the condensed dark fighting spirit scattered.
Earth Escape – Earth Dragon Emerging from Water
An earth dragon surged forward, parting the swamp. Because the area was saturated with Seon energy, the dragon’s power had increased even further. It tore into the Hell Knights with its jaws. Reinforced full-plate mail was shredded like paper. As the earth dragon thrashed the fallen Hell Knights, their formation completely collapsed.
Uraz Berserk
“Now then, who’s the prey?”
Hell Knights—creatures I had never encountered even before regression. I wondered what kind of essences they would yield. Suppressing my anticipation, I plunged into the center of the scattered Hell Knight unit.