The Necromancer
Crackling sparks!
Every time the black sparks struck my body, I wanted to drop the Ttanttani.
It felt like it was yanking the energy straight out of me. My left arm was already draining, and now it had flared twice—my head was spinning.
No.
Focus.
Focus, Lee Jungmin.
This is your last chance.
The tip of the blood-red spear was clearly shoving against the barrier. It hadn't punched through yet, but it was crushing the shield hard enough to make its shape stand out in stark relief.
Neither Elena nor Park Sena had managed this. If I just pushed a little farther like this...!
"...Were you hoping for something?"
"...?"
The moment the Necromancer lifted Mjolnir toward me, the barrier snapped back into a perfect sphere as if nothing had ever happened. Sparks still flew, but unlike before the shield didn't so much as tremble.
"Damn it..."
"Not focusing? Otherwise all your women die, you know? No—wait. I'll take every last one of them for myself."
"...Shut up!"
Fuck! Fuck! Motherfucker!
I was furious at myself for nearly letting my lust cool and losing focus for even a second. Furious at how pathetic I was for needing his words to snap me back. Most of all, furious at that bastard for forcing those filthy images into my head!
Whoosh.
The blood-red light grew denser.
"Heh. Nothing works better for pissing off an incubus. Hmm... looking closer, you're not even an incubus, are you?"
The Necromancer appraised me like he was standing in some other world entirely. I cut him out of my mind. Leaving only cold rage, I funneled every scrap of heat straight into my lower self.
I recalled Park Sena's blatantly seductive, athletic body. Imagined painting her deep cleavage thoroughly with my cum. Recalled Suyeon smiling through the pain as her hymen tore. Sorry for using Suyeon in the fantasy—but that only made me want it more. She probably wouldn't mind either.
I wanted to run my hands over Nayeon unnie's firm abs. In my mind I soiled those thick thighs of hers with my semen. Nari unnie's ass and my pubic bone locked together like two halves of the same piece. The way her ass jiggled every time our bodies slapped was fresh no matter how many times I saw it.
Soyeon still has lingering feelings for me. Her eyes are still hot. She'd probably get angry if she found out about Elena. Might even try to cut me off if she learned about Nari unnie. But if I covered those sulky lips with mine, she'd pretend to resist and burrow into my arms anyway. I prefer saving the delicious fruit for later—but in my imagination I've already plucked it dozens of times.
Elena is obedient and devoted. She serves me the way she serves her goddess. Thank the heavens Ru is a goddess. If it had been a male god I might have gotten jealous. Sex with her is comfortable. Healing, almost. Actually the healing comes from those full breasts.
Just thinking of Keira makes my lower self spring straight up. Maybe I've been trained. ...Still, I like it.
I dragged every person I could imagine into the fantasy and ramped my lust higher. Each time, the light clinging to the Ttanttani grew denser. Finally I pictured an orgy. Once I deal with this fucking bastard, I'm definitely going to have sex with everyone together. Since I've already set the course for a harem, I'm just going to push it mindlessly. So I have to live.
Whoosh.
"Pretty good for a human. I don't know how a human handles lust... no—wait. If you're handling lust, you're already a demon. If you want, I can make you my subordinate. What do you say, demon? Will you serve me?"
The blood-red grew so dense it began absorbing light like a matte coating. I could no longer see the silver rod inside with my eyes. Yet the barrier remained rock-solid.
Power alone won't cut it. I need to raise the quality. If not, then the back door...
"Hmm... I'm merciful, but I won't wait long for an answer. Not that I can wait long anyway."
The Necromancer was still draining my energy—through the black sparks and through the wound on my shoulder. Yeah. My energy was still flowing to him. To the Necromancer beyond the barrier. I could still feel the line connecting us. If I attacked along that line, couldn't I get inside the barrier? Not certain, but I had no choice but to try.
The line was invisible, so I didn't know exactly where it connected. Stabbing that spot with the spear was nonsense. But I knew one place.
I withdrew the spear.
"Finally made up your mind? If you voluntarily swear obedience to me, I'll give you half of this Earth!"
The Necromancer spread both arms, flashing those disgusting black teeth. I wanted to drive the spear straight into that face, but it was impossible. Instead I stabbed my own left shoulder with the spear.
Thud.
"...What?"
"Gaaah!"
My shoulder felt like it was on fire. I thought it had gone numb long ago, yet cells were still screaming. Even through the pain I focused on the line—the line linking my shoulder to him—and the spear flying along it. Only images can move power. If I can draw a perfect image, I can make the spear erupt from his throat!
"You think dying will free you from me? Death is my domain, you fool."
"Guh—you're the fool, you chatterbox!"
The image wouldn't form the way I wanted. Like something was blocking it—whenever the line tried to connect, it pulled away.
"What? Chatterbox?"
But he wavered in a strange place. Thanks to that, maybe, I actually calmed down and completed the perfect image in my head.
"Die!"
I drove the spear deeper. The pain vanished. I wasn't stabbing my shoulder—I was stabbing his throat.
Whirr.
As if by a lie, the blood-red light appeared inside the barrier, right at his neck.
"...What!"
Squelch.
The blood-red spear sliced through the Necromancer's shoulder and punched into his lung. I'd aimed for the neck and heart, but even then he dodged well.
"Guh... you...!"
Whoosh.
Black sparks stretched from the barrier and engulfed me. Not just pain—the amount of draining energy doubled.
"Ugh..."
But there was something he didn't know. The increased drain meant the passage between us had grown larger. So I could send even more power to him as well. I shoved the spear deeper and poured every ounce of strength into it—enough to split him clean in half.
"Gaaah!"
With the Necromancer's scream I felt the giant coming for me. No time to dodge. Right now I was raising lust and focusing entirely on the spear's image. If concentration broke, everything would vanish like smoke. But I had comrades.
"By Ru's will!"
Elena blocked the giant with her shield. She was reliable as always.
"Sena! Hit him from behind!"
"I was already going!"
Tatatatang! Bang! Bang!
Park Sena's attacks still couldn't pierce his barrier. But that alone had meaning—it dispersed the Necromancer's power and mental focus.
"...This is the last one!"
I pulled the spear back then stabbed fast, aiming for the heart this time. The spear appeared in front of my left arm, then reappeared inside the barrier. The Necromancer tried to dodge, but with his lung and insides already a mess his movements were endlessly slow.
Thud.
The blood-red spear finally pierced the heart.
"Gaaaaah!"
The Necromancer screamed and toppled backward. At the same time the black sparks scattered with a pop, and the flesh giant collapsed back into raw flesh. I didn't release the strength in my hand until every last twitch stopped.
"Gaaa..."
The scream quickly faded. His body, which had been trembling intermittently, went still.
Is it over now? Even if not, I don't think I can maintain the lust any longer. The blood-red spear vanished and I collapsed forward.
"Jungmin!"
Elena's voice. She must have caught me. At times like this the armor is a shame. I wish what touched my face was her breasts instead of metal.
Elena slowly laid me on the ground. My eyes closed on their own, but her voice forced my eyelids open again.
"Jungmin! Stay with me! Jungmin!"
"...I'm fine, Elena. Still alive. More importantly, that guy..."
"The Necromancer is dead..."
Elena stopped mid-sentence. An ominous feeling made me turn my head toward where the Necromancer had been.
"...I..."
The Necromancer with a hole through his heart was floating in the air.
Damn.
"...am immortal."
Elena stepped between him and me. I tried to push myself up. I'd already poured out everything, but as a man I had to stand now. If he was immortal, so was I.
Thud.
But he fell back to the ground like a lie.
"...Huh?"
I stared at the unmoving Necromancer from my half-crouched position. It was such a hollow end that the resolve I'd just steeled myself with felt pointless.
"...Is it really over?"
"I don't know. Since he's a Necromancer... he wasn't a Lich, but he had enough power to become one..."
I didn't fully understand what Elena was saying. I didn't have the energy to turn my head either.
"Anyway, it's over now, right?"
"For now, it's over..."
But as if my words had triggered some cliché, something else happened.
Whoosh.
If I had to put it into sound, it was a waterfall crashing down. Like tons of water dropping from twenty meters—intensely, massive energy poured into me.
"Guh..."
This was the energy the Necromancer had taken. With him dead and the focal point gone, it was rushing back to me through the connected passage. The problem was that far more was returning than what he'd stolen. The energy he'd accumulated over decades—maybe centuries—was reverse-flowing.
Thud.
Elena dropped to her knees. Her expression wasn't good either. Apparently the reverse flow wasn't just hitting me. Elena, Suyeon, Park Sena, and Keira too. The ten Association Keepers who arrived later were fine—they'd never touched the black mist—but the five of us including me were in agony.
"What is this... Aaaah!"
Park Sena screamed and fainted. Elena's condition wasn't good either. I was relatively fine. I'd nearly died moments ago, but with the energy returning I felt a bit more alive. Plus, handling rampaging energy was something I'd gotten somewhat used to from managing amplified lust.
In the end, I had to deal with this too. If the rampage of energy was the problem, just use it up. If I took all the energy that would go to the others and burned it myself, everyone would be fine.
Woom.
I clasped both hands and imagined a blue flame. I didn't remember how to handle blue mana, but the scene of Keira creating fire was vivid—meaning it was easy to form a clear image. The Necromancer's energy. Since Succubus energy was lust, was this death? It felt too full of life for death, though. That was why blooming a flower came easily.
Whoosh.
It was a white flower—the size of my upper body. Whether the method worked or not, Keira and Suyeon's breathing returned to normal. Park Sena, who had been thrashing on the floor, went still. Elena had somehow stood up and was looking at me.
"Jungmin... this is..."
"Necro... mancer..."
Speaking was hard. If I focused even a little on anything else, the energy felt like it would scatter. If it scattered, this place would be devastated for certain.
"You don't have to speak! Slowly—to the sky. Send it to the sky..."
I was thinking the same thing. I slowly raised both hands. The white flower rose with them. It left my palms and floated in the air. Ahead was the building's ceiling. Keira's flames would have eaten through it and kept climbing, but if this hit the ceiling I probably couldn't maintain the flower.
"I'll go!"
As if reading my mind, Elena blew the ceiling away with sword energy. She even sliced every falling fragment clean. At last the blue sky opened above us.
Sssss.
The flower rose slowly. About ten seconds to clear the ceiling, roughly two minutes to climb out of sight.
"Guh..."
Handling the Necromancer's energy was already beyond my limits. Controlling this vast power itself was continuous agony. But I couldn't stop here. I had to send it higher—much higher—so the ground would take no damage.
"Jungmin... as Ru wills."
Listening to Elena's prayer, I endured and endured. I could hold on for about five minutes; after that my memory grows hazy. I just thought of the flower. I hoped it would bloom beautifully enough to be seen even from space.
And finally, I released the flower from my hands.
Fwaaah.
White light filled the world.
Bright.
That was my last thought.
"...Jungmin!"