The Necropolis Has Changed
"This place has changed beyond all recognition, my partner."
"I have no idea how any of this happened."
It was terrifying.
What on earth had that guy done to raise an entire city in just three weeks?
The island of Bolshoy Ussuriysky was unrecognizable from its former self.
The first thing that caught the eye was the colossal wall encircling the entire island.
It stood twenty meters tall.
"One such as you could surely clear it in a single bound."
"I wouldn't count on that."
Five distinct layers of dark magic had been woven into the wall alone.
Leap over it without due thought and a binding curse would seize you, forcibly relocating you to the ground below.
"It's called Vanish. A curse that compels the victim to a predetermined location."
The undead stationed atop the ramparts would then offer any intruder a very warm welcome.
"How unexpected. To think even you cannot pierce it."
"I never said I couldn't, did I?"
Breaking the curse was simply difficult. That was all.
Even if every undead on the wall focused their firepower at once, they wouldn't leave so much as a scratch on the True Dragon Armor.
The wall that embraced such a vast area existed to repel large-scale invasions or the approach of suspicious individuals.
It had been designed to stop numerous intruders rather than a handful of powerful foes.
It felt slightly excessive, yet...
That guy Ark had been utterly thorough.
Nyx pointed toward the black citadel that now dominated the island's center.
A fortress rising a full hundred meters from the earth, built through necromancy—the Black Citadel.
"It seems you have seen it before."
"You'll be seeing it soon enough yourself, Goddess."
After all, that castle was the stage on the sixty-sixth floor.
That aside, this was the first time I had viewed the structure from a distance.
Until now I had only ever looked down on it from the spires.
Since it was not identical to the "Black Citadel" trial stage, there were bound to be numerous differences upon closer inspection.
Yet the ominous aura radiating from the edifice felt exactly the same as it had on the sixty-sixth floor.
"We may enter from there, I suppose."
The ice bridge now linking the island to the mainland had, of course, not existed three weeks earlier.
"Why pour so much mana into constructing a single bridge?"
It was no ordinary bridge of ice.
It was a passageway inscribed with multiple spells and curses.
Any intruder who set foot upon it would suffer a truly miserable fate.
I glanced back.
『Haaaaam.』
Nidhogg, visibly irritated, unleashed an enormous yawn.
Could the ice bridge truly support the weight of a hundred-ton Eldritch Dragon?
Crafted from mana, it appeared sturdy enough, yet...
If it broke by accident I would lose all face before my subordinate. The thought gave me pause.
"Would it not suffice to simply fly across?"
"There's a barrier erected over the island as well."
The same principle as the wall.
Fly in without preparation and we would crash straight into the river.
Shattering it would be simple.
The hard part was dispelling the barrier just enough that it would not restrain Nidhogg.
"Shall this one lend her aid?"
Ah.
The specialist in curse dispelling had been standing right beside me.
The moment I moved to nod at Nyx's offer—
『Master!』
A reply thundered from an entirely unexpected direction.
A resounding mental wave that echoed across the whole island.
Before long something came flying toward us from deeper within.
"It is your subordinate."
"Looks like he finally climbed down from the Chair of the Indomitable King."
Ark rushed over, landed neatly on the bridge, and prostrated himself fully.
"What exactly did you do wrong?"
Was this an assassination attempt?
If the plan had been to embarrass me to death, it had very nearly succeeded.
Nyx gave a soft snort of laughter.
Don't laugh. I feel like crying over here.
"It's fine. Raise your head."
"How long do you intend to keep me waiting outside the gate?"
Yeah. Sure. Just think whatever you like from now on.
Nyx, perched on my shoulder, had puffed her cheeks out until they looked ready to burst.
Honestly. This was too much.
"An Eldritch Dragon. His name is Nidhogg."
As Nidhogg snorted, Ark's blue eye-lights burned brighter.
Surely he wasn't thinking of starting a fight right here?
The intensifying glow made me wonder whether I should intervene.
"No fighting."
"Huh?"
Ark's jawbone clacked with fervent excitement.
He didn't actually dislike Nidhogg. That was good enough.
They would be seeing a lot of each other from now on; constant growling would only cause problems.
"The island really has changed a lot in three weeks."
Teacher, I didn't actually do anything.
When I blinked, Ark pointed across the bridge with a bony finger.
–Did you not continuously pour mana into the land?
"Scattering a little mana on the ground wouldn't cause changes on this scale."
It only proved how capable Ark truly was.
Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island had transformed into something reminiscent of the Demon King's castle from legend.
Just what had he been doing for three weeks to fill the island with structures that would normally require years of construction?
The fastest way to see exactly how it had changed was to look for myself.
"Give me a tour."
Ark bowed his head with perfect courtesy.
......As if.
"The air itself is incredibly foul here."
It was saturated with the energy of death.
Merely breathing it in brought on depression and sapped away part of one's vitality.
A cursed land that crushed both body and spirit of the living.
To think he had ruined an otherwise perfectly normal island this thoroughly in only three weeks.
"Yeah, yeah. Very impressive."
Ark seemed deeply moved even by my half-hearted reply.
Had something strange gotten into him after using the Shining Trapezohedron?
Ark guided me through the buildings now standing across the island.
Separates corpse parts to increase the efficiency of undead creation.
Reassembles bones and flesh from corpses to create large-scale undead.
Produces weapons and armor exclusively for undead use.
Draws in wandering souls around the Necropolis and corrupts them into wraiths.
Besides those, there were barracks that strengthened undead and many more.
Buildings reminiscent of a medieval fiefdom stood all across the island.
The streets overflowed with the dead.
The clacking of skeleton jawbones.
The wheezing groans of zombies echoed everywhere.
"Is this the Halloween party Jiyoung mentioned?"
"Well, it's pretty close."
If you ignored the difference between reality and cosplay, anyway.
Looking closer at the buildings, I realized their frames had been constructed from actual bones.
Bone frames built from bones... No. If I kept thinking along those lines I would lose my mind.
The soil and flesh carried the energy of death.
At a glance they seemed ordinary, but reading the mana wavelengths revealed their grotesque nature.
This was how he had managed to erect an entire city in three weeks.
"He literally ground up monsters to build this."
Ark continued to enthusiastically explain the secrets behind how he had been able to construct the Necropolis so quickly.
Stop. This theory is far too advanced for a liberal-arts brain like mine.
The magic concepts I had built through Devour and real combat proved painfully weak before a true tower of theory.
At the heart of the Necropolis, the Black Citadel was far more solid than the outer wall that served as its first line of defense.
Research facility that raises the efficiency of necromancy for all undead on the island.
Structure that produces high-rank magical undead.
Increases the effect of all necromancy performed within a 500-kilometer radius by 10 percent.
Infuses corpses with death energy, reshaping them into suitable vessels for high-rank undead.
Infuses corpses with the chill of Niflheim.
The interior gave off a distinctly high-class atmosphere.
Structures different from those on the sixty-sixth floor.
To think he had built all this in three weeks. I wondered how much more it would flourish after another six months.
To expand the Necropolis, a stable supply of corpses was necessary, and he would need to draw additional power from the ley lines.
He explained many other things as well, but I didn't understand most of it so I tuned it out.
"In short, it can't be helped right now."
"It's fine. This much is already more than enough."
Ark had performed far beyond my expectations.
Turning an area the size of Gangnam into a city of the dead in three weeks deserved praise.
The number of undead looked considerable as well.
One hundred thousand?
No, perhaps two hundred thousand?
One million two hundred seventy-six thousand five hundred twenty-nine?
What the hell? Did I hear that right?
It sounded like an extra zero had been added.
–We heard the same figure.
"Insane."
"That's not what's important here."
An immortal army that required neither supply lines nor rest had just reached one million strong.
If the Chinese or Russian governments learned of this they would scream.
"Let's report it as one hundred thousand for now."
One zero could easily be omitted in a report. A tiny mistake, nothing more.
"Right. Is there a cave near the island large enough to serve as Nidhogg's home?"
"Prepare one as quickly as possible."
"I'll leave Nidhogg's care entirely to you."
After I explained the plan I had prepared in advance, Ark's eye-lights burned even brighter.
"R-right."
After confirming both the Necropolis's growth and Ark's control over it, I finally descended to Vladivostok after three weeks.
The scent of civilization I hadn't smelled in a long while.
It reminded me of the days I used to raid mafia strongholds to retrieve the Brazier of Extinguished Ashes.
–You struggled quite a bit back then.
"Mostly because I had to shake off the mafia that kept chasing me."
I couldn't even wash properly and had to force emergency rations down my throat to endure.
This trip to Siberia had been luxurious by comparison; I only needed to worry about monsters.
I had cooked proper meals using ingredients from the Pocket of Desire and slept inside a tent.
Having Lexy stand guard at night solved the watch problem.
Compared to the era of destruction or the time I collected the Brazier of Extinguished Ashes, this was practically a vacation.
Upon returning to Vladivostok I called Sergey and reported the progress.
"Hahaha! I knew I could trust my comrade!"
Sorry. I left one zero off the undead count.
"Here, take these."
I pulled several skull-shaped tokens from my Pocket of Desire and handed them to him.
"Souvenirs? These are seriously ugly."
"They're tokens inscribed with curses."
"Ugh, fuck. Why would you give me something this ominous!"
◈ Informs the Necropolis that the bearer has been recognized by its master.
◈ Guarantees safe passage past the outer curses.
When Sergey tried to fling them away I quickly caught his wrist.
"They're passes that let you enter the Necropolis—that is, the island."
Items Ark had produced.
They held no great power.
All they did was inform the island through the inscribed curse that the bearer had received my approval.
"So carrying these skulls means I'll be safe."
"Exactly."
"I'll make good use of them."
Sergey fiddled with the skull token for a moment before speaking again.
"The atmosphere in China is becoming strange."
"Is it?"
"Rumors say they're gathering players."
They probably wanted to investigate the Necropolis.
But anyone who approached the wall would receive a comprehensive curse welcome package.
Since infiltration was impossible they would give up quickly.
"Is that pride or arrogance?"
"Both."
"Hah. The world's strongest player is allowed to be that way."
"Doesn't it hurt your pride?"
"I, Sergey, am a man who gives credit where credit is due."
Sergey thumped his chest, eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
"Hold onto first place until the day I take it from you."
"Sure. Good luck with that."
I lightly clenched my right fist.
Our fists met in the air with a solid smack.
Thus the unscheduled visit to Vladivostok came to an end.