Damn Necromancer - Chapter 123

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Donzirah Necromancer (123)
Three dots appeared at the top of the screen, drawing steadily closer. The guild members seemed to be adjusting their course accordingly.
As they advanced across the blackened earth,
‘Hmm?’
they encountered a group of Awakeners.
From their appearance, they looked to be from the United States.
“Hello there.”
He offered a greeting.
“Kim Min-woo?!”
The three Awakeners’ gazes snapped toward him.
His eccentric exploits had spread far and wide overseas. Just looking at his track record was proof enough.
He’d set world records from Level 1 onward.
When he was thought to be E-grade, he’d cleared an A+ grade Gate.
And that wasn’t all.
He’d even shattered a guild’s first-string forces with just three people.
Once could be coincidence.
But consecutive proof was skill.
On top of all that, he’d plastered massive advertisements across Times Square, raising his profile to stratospheric heights.
It was hardly surprising that the American Awakeners’ eyes sparkled as if they were receiving a superstar in person.
“Kim Min-woo?! I, I’m your fan!”
“Meeting fans across different dimensions. Guess I’ve become quite the figure.”
“Merchen, Cedric! You two as well!”
The pleasant exchange was short-lived.
Their conversation soon turned serious, professional.
“……You’re aware of how the situation is unfolding, yes?”
“Yeah, roughly.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“Make offerings. Using those Black Mages.”
When he spoke of making offerings, his eyes grew sharp, but the moment he added Black Mages, the atmosphere softened entirely.
“Our objectives align then. If you’re willing, we’d like to move together…….”
The American Awakeners’ gazes turned fervent. They hadn’t yet confronted the Black Mages, but they had at least some instinct about them.
Starting with the ominous land itself, and the creature supposedly sleeping within.
Based on the atmosphere, the Black Mages who’d seized this place were clearly no ordinary threat.
When in doubt, it’s best to assume the worst if you want to live long.
Meeting Kim Min-woo in such circumstances?
It felt like a lifeline thrown into darkness.
At least Kim Min-woo, a fellow earthling, seemed far more trustworthy than Black Mages babbling about sacrifice.
“Very well.”
He nodded readily.
They were going to have to fight the Black Mages anyway. Having even one more ally made a difference.
‘They all seem decent enough as people, too.’
Being selected for the preliminaries meant they were among the strongest of the A-grade Awakeners.
Naturally, there was no shortage of talented individuals who would distinguish themselves later.
Kim Min-woo knew some of them already. That’s also why he’d accepted so readily.
“Let’s go.”
Over nearly half a day of movement, they’d followed a pattern of gathering any Awakeners they found and bringing them into the fold.
Three from the United States, one from France, and one Awakener from India on top of that.
The group had swollen to five quite suddenly.
One piece of unfortunate news came with it.
“……Our allies’ signals have vanished.”
“……Mine too.”
France said the same thing, and so did India. He’d wondered why some of them weren’t going out to search for their companions and were instead maintaining high alert—
The signals visible on the map had simply disappeared.
‘Have they already started moving?’
Regrouping had to come first.
Soon, all members of the Donzirah Guild converged in one place.
Each of them bearing a small, abscess-like swelling.
Seo Ye-rim came first.
She’d gathered quite a number of Awakeners from other nations herself.
Around seven in total.
Park Si-woo had brought five fewer Awakeners, arriving with a somewhat smaller contingent.
“Leader!”
Park Si-woo came running up at once.
“Just as I expected—you’d gather all the Awakeners. I did well, didn’t I?”
“Yeah. Not bad.”
“Ahem. Our Guild’s standing is quite formidable, it seems. When word got out that I was joining you, everyone came clamoring to form a party with me.”
He’d clearly grown more proud of his organization.
“Si-woo.”
“Yes, leader.”
“What did you buy at the shop?”
“Light Bombs. That strange bear doll kept sending weird signals, so I just went for it.”
Park Si-woo had placed third in the First Test.
With a score just over one million points, he’d bought two bombs.
Seo Ye-rim had also purchased Light Bombs.
Three of them.
‘If I add my six to that…….’
The Korean party now possessed a total of eleven Light Bombs.
Kim Min-woo nodded in satisfaction. Shortly after, all twenty Awakeners gathered in one place.
United States, France, Japan, Canada, Philippines, India, and so on…….
Their nationalities were a complete hodgepodge.
But that didn’t matter.
‘We can communicate.’
So that’s why the First Test granted everyone a common language.
Without it, things would’ve gotten messy fast.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I’m Kim Min-woo.”
The Awakeners nodded in response.
Among those gathered here, none possessed the renown or ability to rival him as a leader.
Well, there was the mysterious person who’d scored 15 million points…….
“Hold on a moment.”
Sophia, the American mage, raised her hand sharply.
Her eyes gleaming, she asked at once.
“First place—is that you?”
Every eye was fixed on him with fierce curiosity.
It was something they’d all secretly wondered about.
None of them had dared ask directly, but she’d opened that door for them.
Now came the answer.
Everyone stared at Kim Min-woo’s lips.
“Yes, it is.”
He admitted it more cleanly than expected.
Kim Min-woo owned the fact without hesitation.
“……Really?”
“Yes, truly.”
“……How did you manage that?”
“I suppose I did it well.”
His vague answer made Sophia’s cheeks puff out.
But she didn’t press further.
Curious as she was, she remained a seasoned Awakener. She understood how this world worked well enough.
Pushing harder would cross the line from impolite to insulting, and she knew it.
The fact that he’d admitted being first place at all was an unexpected gain.
Her eyes sparkled.
‘So he really did earn 15 million points?’
Of course, there was a non-zero chance he was lying. But if he were, then who had placed first remained a mystery.
The only other possibility was the Divine Archer.
His silence suggested the Divine Archer wasn’t first either.
A third Awakener from outside Korea?
It was far more credible that Kim Min-woo had hidden his true strength and claimed first place.
‘Regardless…….’
Fifteen million points was an extraordinary score.
Fascinating.
Very much so.
Sophia wasn’t alone in feeling this way. Most of the Awakeners gathered here were experiencing the same emotion.
‘Is it real?’
‘If it is… then we’re dealing with a monster genuinely out of spec….’
Something like that, anyway.
Then.
Clap!
Palms struck together with a sharp report. Kim Min-woo, seeing all eyes turn toward him, smiled broadly and spoke.
“I’d like to explain the plan we’ve been considering.”
“A plan, you say…?”
“Rescue as many Awakeners as possible, capture the Black Mages, offer them as sacrifices. That’s not a bad outcome, I think. But wouldn’t it be rather dull if we stopped there?”
“…?”
“Easy tasks always come with easy rewards, after all.”
…Easy?
Crushing those Black Mages who apparently snatched their comrades left and right?
Ordinarily, even from Kim Min-woo, they’d have called that arrogant.
But the score of 15 million points blocked that thought.
Did anyone earn points like that for free?
No.
This Awakener was hiding something more.
Much more than one might expect.
“You all know this, right? When you accumulate over one million points, a Special Shop opens up.”
“Ah…”
“Yes. I see…”
The Awakeners who’d never even approached a million points responded awkwardly. Ignoring their discomfort, Kim Min-woo continued.
“I bought some rather good bombs there. When you throw them, light just explodes brilliantly—the firepower is quite decent, really. My guild members bought some too, so we have a fair number of them.”
The Awakeners’ eyes gradually sharpened. At first, they’d assumed he meant to use them against the Black Mages, but he’d called those creatures dull not long ago.
“You’re not suggesting… that we try to clear the sleeping monster here? That’s what you’re saying?”
“I’m glad everyone catches on so quickly.”
“…But surely you heard that creature’s roar…”
“That’s exactly why I’m proposing this.”
He’d felt it was worth attempting.
It would certainly be far stronger than the Duke of Timorn.
But he had eleven Light Bombs.
The Duke shattered in just two hits—why should this underground creature be any different?
Eleven Light Bombs plus two guild members plus all the Awakeners gathered here.
Combined, that was sufficient firepower.
‘Even if an unexpected variable emerged…’
He held a nuclear option himself.
Since it wouldn’t damage allies, if worse came to worst, he could just detonate it.
‘I’ll save it if I can, though.’
Using it here would be somewhat wasteful.
In any case.
Convincing the Awakeners was the right approach to taking the monster.
They all knew breaking the seal meant danger; if he did it without permission, he’d face plenty of criticism afterward.
That’s why he’d revealed his score.
He’d earned 15 million points.
Naturally, he’d received some benefit from it.
With a benefit of that magnitude, wasn’t hunting a monster worth the attempt?
This way, he was reminding them it was a worthwhile game.
“Hmm…”
The Awakeners fell silent in contemplation.
‘Kim Min-woo isn’t wrong.’
If they hunted not just the Black Mages but the sealed monster underground as well?
‘Some incredible reward might come our way.’
Of course, the greatest reward would go to the Korea party side.
They’d already prepared tools to tackle the monster.
But even accounting for that, it was tempting.
‘He must be confident, acting like that.’
In the end, you need to eat the largest chunk of congee to feel truly full.
“All right! I’m in favor.”
Sophia was the first to agree.
It wasn’t long before every Awakener came around to the plan.
“Then let’s go—time to hunt down that Black Mage.”
Tracking down scattered Awakeners would take far longer than simply crushing the Black Mages head-on.
Once they were all captured, the Black Mages would have no sacrifices to offer, and everyone would be safe besides.
They already had a rough sense of the Black Mages’ location from the torchlight above.
Just before the flames died out, they’d all been dragged in the same direction at once, then vanished.
‘So they’re likely holed up in that direction.’
The group of Awakeners began to move.
* * *
The Chinese Awakeners who had fallen into Mortan’s grip.
A day later, undisguised elation bloomed across their faces.
After the seal was carved into their hearts, their power surged vertically in an instant.
They could now crush Awakener groups that would have made them struggle before—effortlessly, in a heartbeat.
“Brother, this is really something incredible, isn’t it?”
“……Don’t get too excited about it. Who knows what those Black Mages have done to us.”
Even as Liu Wei spoke those words, he couldn’t quite hide the thrill in his expression.
‘How is this even possible?’
They’d already taken down roughly ten of them, and yet his body felt as fresh as ever.
The more they fought, the more dopamine flooded his mind.
His entire body itched for more.
‘I want to fight.’
He wanted to burn off this excess power coursing through him.
Excessive excitement was forbidden, they said…….
‘But this much should be fine.’
It was actually fortunate.
To prove his worth, he’d have to keep fighting and carrying out orders anyway.
If that was the case, excess enthusiasm was better than apathy.
Then.
Liu Wei’s pupils contracted sharply.
In his eyes, curved like an eagle’s gaze, the figure of an Awakener group approaching from the distance came into focus.
The one leading the charge had a face Liu Wei recognized all too well.
‘……Kim Min-woo.’
Liu Wei’s teeth ground together.
He still remembered vividly that smug attitude the man had shown when they’d faced off in the First Test.
If it hadn’t been for that damned Bear Doll that had gotten in the way, he would have taught him a lesson then and there.
Had Kim Min-woo been moving alone, Liu Wei would have charged at him without hesitation.
But this one, unlike the Awakeners they’d captured before, was leading a proper group.
At a glance, there were well over twenty of them.
No matter how much power the seal granted him, three people rushing in against that would be suicide.
‘I’ll wait. There’s no harm in alerting the Black Mages and moving together.’
Mortan and the other powerful Black Mages.
Moving with them, there was nothing they couldn’t hunt.
In fact, they absolutely had to hunt them.
If any of them managed to survive and make it outside, all manner of accusations would fly—traitor to humanity, and worse.
‘This works out well. Once we eliminate that group…….’
They’d already captured around ten Awakeners.
Once they crushed Kim Min-woo’s faction, any survivors would be small fry.
The hunt would become far easier.
“Let’s go.”
Liu Wei turned and began to move.
Before long he reached the Temple, where he bowed deeply before Mortan and spoke.
“I’ve found them. Though their numbers exceed twenty…….”
Mortan’s eyes gleamed.
He’d already received information about the intruders from his subordinates.
Fifty had come in total, he’d heard.
If twenty of them formed a single group, it was certainly the largest force among them.
‘We’ll be able to dispose of them faster than expected.’
A force of that size was worth moving for personally.
He rose to his feet.
“Go.”
The Black Mages and the Chinese Awakeners began to move.
“Found them. Everyone, come of your own accord.”
Mortan’s form vanished in an instant as he spoke those words without inflection.
Liu Wei’s body trembled at the sight.
‘What exactly is that old man?’
Even using Eagle Eye, one of the Druid’s abilities, Liu Wei couldn’t see Mortan at all.
‘He can become this perfectly invisible?’
It was magic with terrifyingly high power. Honestly, at that level, a backstab would have a one-hundred-percent success rate.
Once again, Liu Wei felt a renewed sense that he’d chosen the right path.
Confronting a monster like that old man was far worse than simply bowing his head.
‘By now, he’s closing the distance.’
Sure enough.
Mortan materialized directly in front of Kim Min-woo’s face and thrust his hand forward.
The speed was such that ordinary Awakeners wouldn’t even manage a proper response.
Dark mana swirled over his palm.
Liu Wei’s eyes gleamed as he watched.
‘Kim Min-woo, you’re no match either—’
Then it happened.
Just before Mortan’s Black Magic erupted, the mana condensed over his hand dissipated as if washed away.
Slice!
In a heartbeat, a severed neck soared through the air.
“What is this?”
―I have no idea. Are you stupid?
Merchen shrugged as she spoke.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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