Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Undead Golem
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“Undead Golem, huh...”
Watching Terry Prisoner grow larger by continuously drawing in all the surrounding dirt and corpses, Hae-jin murmured to himself.
Undead Golem.
It was the pinnacle among the golems that necromancers could summon.
There were generally two professions capable of creating golems.
One was the necromancer, as just mentioned, and the other was the alchemist, who could wield both metals and magic.
Alchemists could craft golems from metal, while necromancers made theirs from things related to corpses.
Clay golems formed from the corpse-ridden soil of cursed lands, corpse golems from the bodies buried in that earth, bone golems primarily from bones, and blood golems from the fresh blood of the living dead.
And finally, there was the “undead golem” that Terry Prisoner had just mentioned.
The ultimate fusion of black magic golem summoning arts, utilizing the corpse-laden soil, the buried bodies, bones, and blood of that land.
In any case, Terry Prisoner began gathering heaps of dirt and corpses from the graveyard to operate that undead golem.
Truth be told, Hae-jin knew full well.
To take him down easily, he just needed to smash him right now.
But Hae-jin waited.
Attacking during transformation was unsportsmanlike?
That wasn’t the reason.
‘He’ll only realize how much of a fool he’s been once I smash it completely.’
Only after letting the undead golem fully form and still getting defeated would Terry Prisoner feel true despair.
So Hae-jin waited.
Waiting for Terry Prisoner to complete what he called his ultimate weapon, the undead golem.
Ordinary golems tended to be massive and brutish in appearance, but the one Terry Prisoner was crafting assembled itself like a human body, pieced together from various soils, corpses, blood, and bones.
Once the undead golem was complete, Hae-jin asked,
“You done?”
[Done? Now all that’s left is for you to die, you mad bastard!]
“Thanks. You even gave me a nickname just now. Alright, let’s see what you’ve got. Kiyo.”
[Kiyo?]
“Gigantify.”
[Kiyoooo!]
A golden light poured from Kiyo’s body as it flapped its wings in midair. Soon, that golden light turned into flames and expanded massively.
Kiyo had grown in the meantime, finally reaching its adult phoenix form.
Having gigantified Kiyo, Hae-jin applied full buffs.
“Combat Orders, Hyperbody, Sharp Eyes, Meditation, Wind Booster, Combo Barrier, Magic Shield, Magic Resistance, Full Aura, Haste, Strength, Holy Symbol, Striking, Bless, Holy Enchant, Divine Enchant, Fire Enchant, Flame Enchant, Clairvoyance...”
And so on.
Full buffs, including enchants lethal to the undead.
No sooner had he finished than Hae-jin commanded Kiyo.
“Kiyo, fire whirlwind.”
At Hae-jin’s order, Kiyo unleashed its fire whirlwind.
[Kiyoooooo-!]
Whoooosh-, whoooosh-, whoooosh-!
Kiyo’s enlarged wingbeats generated tremendous gusts of wind.
A phoenix’s wingbeats didn’t just produce wind pressure; they filled the surroundings with intense heat.
Between Kiyo’s heat-filled wingbeats danced a small whirlwind of fire.
Seeing it, Terry Prisoner reacted.
[How dare you...!]
Perhaps deeming Kiyo’s fire whirlwind dangerous, he thrust out the undead golem’s fist to block it.
Whoooosh-!
The fist of the undead golem, infused with dark black magic.
Spotting it, Hae-jin intervened.
He leaped toward the fist aiming for Kiyo and swung his twin swords relentlessly.
Shh-shh-shh-shaaak-!
The undead golem’s fist, meant for Kiyo, was shredded to pieces.
But the torn fist of the undead golem quickly regenerated to its original form.
In the meantime, Hae-jin warned Terry Prisoner.
“How dare you? That’s my line. And we waited for your undead golem to finish, so you should at least wait for Kiyo’s fire whirlwind.”
Terry Prisoner shouted in response to Hae-jin’s words.
[Anyone can see that thing would kill me if it hits! How am I supposed to wait for that?!]
“Then just die... Kiyo, blast it away!”
[Kiyoooooot-!]
Kiyo launched the completed fire whirlwind toward the undead golem.
Roooar-!
The dancing whirlwind of fire advanced forward.
Behind it, Kiyo continued flapping its wings.
Kiyo’s fire whirlwind grew larger as it headed toward the undead golem.
Roooooaaaaar-!
The massive fire whirlwind engulfed the undead golem.
Terry Prisoner cried out in agony.
[Kraaaaaah-!]
Hae-jin spoke as if the pain were only natural.
“Two attributes are the most lethal to undead: holy and fire. Kiyo’s attack has both, so it must be pretty devastating.”
As Hae-jin said, since Kiyo the phoenix possessed both attributes, it was fatal to the undead Terry Prisoner.
In that context, sure enough.
The undead golem, caught in Kiyo’s fire whirlwind, had flames blazing across its body. The corpses clinging to it turned to ash and began crumbling off one by one.
Seeing this, Terry Prisoner said,
[This much is nothing! I’ll just regenerate it! Huh? Why isn’t it working?!]
Terry Prisoner seemed genuinely flustered, as if he’d never been hit by a phoenix before.
His undead golem, which should have regenerated unconditionally, showed no signs of doing so.
Watching him, Hae-jin said,
“Parts burned by holy flames can’t be regenerated by undead so easily. Guess you didn’t know.”
[No... No way! My undead golem crumbling to some pathetic bird’s flames?!]
“It is. So give up already. Surrender now and I’ll let you go easy. Resist, and I won’t let you dissipate like last time—I’ll just keep slicing you up.”
[Eek...!]
Naturally, Terry Prisoner had believed that deploying his ultimate weapon, the undead golem, would let him win against Hae-jin this time.
But if that were the case, Hae-jin wouldn’t have waited for the transformation.
He could’ve just attacked midway and crushed Terry Prisoner before the golem fully formed.
Yet Hae-jin had waited for two reasons.
First, he was confident Terry Prisoner would lose even with a completed undead golem.
Having inherited Nam Joo-hyuk’s prime from the final battle of the Trials’ Arena, Hae-jin knew full well that a lich king and its undead golem were no match for him.
Second, he wanted to test Kiyo’s capabilities.
If the phoenix was one of the strongest fire-attribute monsters, the lich king was among the top dark-attribute ones.
He’d anticipated a monster showdown between gigantified Kiyo and the undead golem.
But Hae-jin’s full buffs must have been overwhelming.
The undead golem regenerated instantly from Hae-jin’s sword strikes but was utterly helpless against Kiyo’s fire whirlwind under full buffs.
Far from regenerating, it crumbled to ash bit by bit.
Watching his disintegrating undead golem, Terry Prisoner thought,
‘I’m screwed. What do I do?’
No matter how he looked at it, surrendering quickly as Hae-jin suggested seemed best.
The undead golem’s pathetic collapse meant he had no chance against Hae-jin, no matter what he tried.
In the end, recalling the nightmarish memory from before, Terry Prisoner swiftly escaped the undead golem.
Seeing this, Hae-jin said,
“Good, surrender nicely. Then I’ll ease your suffering.”
But instead of coming to surrender before Hae-jin, Terry Prisoner moved somewhere entirely different.
Hae-jin immediately realized what he was up to.
Understanding his intent, Hae-jin moved swiftly.
Toward where Terry Prisoner was heading.
Flash!
There, Hae-jin witnessed it.
[I’d rather smash my own Life Vessel than suffer torment from that devilish bastard!!!]
That was it.
Terry Prisoner was heading to destroy his own Life Vessel.
The problem was...
Hae-jin was faster.
Arriving at the Life Vessel’s resting place, Terry Prisoner thought,
‘I have to destroy it!’
But then, he saw it.
His Life Vessel snatched away right before his eyes.
Naturally, there was only one person who could snatch Terry Prisoner’s Life Vessel.
Hae-jin had sensed the intense energy from the direction Terry Prisoner fled to and moved even faster, seizing the Life Vessel Terry Prisoner meant to destroy.
Seeing his Life Vessel in Hae-jin’s grasp, Terry Prisoner despaired.
[Ah... No!]
Looking at the despairing Terry Prisoner, Hae-jin said,
“Yes.”
With that, Hae-jin stored the snatched Life Vessel straight into his inventory.
He didn’t know what Terry Prisoner might do if he left it out.
Then, having secured the Life Vessel in his inventory, Hae-jin spoke.
“Well then, shall we chat again from the top? No, first let’s slice you up a bit?”
With his hands free after storing Terry Prisoner’s Life Vessel, Hae-jin drew his twin swords and aimed them at the enemy’s limbs.
Terry Prisoner let out a frustrated groan.
[Ugh!]
But what could he do about it?
Hae-jin had already placed the Life Vessel beyond Terry Prisoner’s reach in his inventory.
So there was nothing immediate Terry Prisoner could do.
Just suffer at Hae-jin’s hands like before.
In the end, before Hae-jin could sever his limbs, Terry Prisoner dropped to his knees.
[Surr... Surrender!]
That was all Terry Prisoner could do now.
Grovel on his own.
At the declaration of surrender, Hae-jin tilted his head.
“Surrender?”
[Yes, I surrender, so spare me!]
Terry Prisoner, begging not to be tormented like before now that he’d surrendered.
But his tone didn’t quite feel sincere to Hae-jin.
“For surrender, you’re awfully curt.”
At Hae-jin’s words, Terry Prisoner bowed his head and raised his speech.
[Sp... Spare me, bro!]
“Bro, huh... Fine, whatever. But if I spare you here, what are you gonna do for me?”
Pondering Terry Prisoner’s polite response, Hae-jin fell into thought.
Calling him bro and using honorifics while begging for mercy.
What to do with him?
Then Terry Prisoner voiced his own hope.
[I’ll dissipate nicely.]
Terry Prisoner judged that plain dissipation was better than suffering the same as in the Trials’ Arena before.
At his words, Hae-jin came up with another option.
“Nicely dissipate... There might be something even better than that.”
[Like what?]
Terry Prisoner’s expression screamed that nothing could be better than dissipation for him.
To him, Hae-jin revealed his alternative idea.
“How about becoming my minion?”