Damn Necromancer - Chapter 124

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

The Spendthrift Necromancer (124)
Kim Min-woo stared at the headless corpse. He’d already sensed something was off.
Merchen tapped his body subtly with a pulse of mana, signaling him.
With an SSS-rank archer standing motionless, the mage was the one warning of the enemy’s approach?
Once you see the pattern, it’s obvious.
From that moment, he had a rough idea of what was happening.
The enemy was using magic to move closer.
There was nothing strange about that.
Invisibility Magic actually existed, after all.
‘Usually the level is pretty crude, though…….’
Invisibility Magic had far inferior performance compared to an assassin’s concealment.
At least on Earth, it did.
But this dimension seemed different.
Kim Min-woo had never encountered Invisibility Magic this refined before.
‘Enhanced through Dark Magic? Well, even so.’
Black Mages were ultimately just one category of mage.
Within the field of magic itself, there weren’t many who could surpass Merchen.
That was why.
He’d let the enemy approach without interference.
Merchen seemed to want it that way too.
Sure enough.
The figure materialized abruptly with a triumphant smile, ready to unleash Dark Magic at close range.
It apparently hadn’t considered the possibility of that spell being canceled midcast.
That’s why the creature’s head went flying into the sky in an instant.
If you don’t anticipate it, you deserve to die.
[You have hunted Mortan, Priest of the Holy Ground!]
[You are awarded 500,000 Points!]
“Huh. That’s a lot of points?”
―Really?
“Yeah. Same as that vampire from before.”
―Hmm……. Is that so?
Merchen tilted his head as he spoke. Watching him, Kim Min-woo suddenly felt viscerally just how important matchups were.
If it had been a physical-type monster rather than a magic-type, he wouldn’t have captured it so easily.
‘Good thing I promoted a Legion Commander.’
Kim Min-woo looked ahead.
In the distance, he saw a cluster of Black Mages murmuring in stunned disbelief.
The group of Awakeners following behind them were equally shocked.
Simplifying the situation: in the blink of an eye, a head had flown clean off.
What was truly astounding was that none of the Awakeners had even detected the Black Mage’s approach.
By the time they grasped what was happening, a Black Mage with pitch-black hands was already at Kim Min-woo’s doorstep.
If it had been them?
They would’ve died without ever truly understanding what happened.
‘S-rank? No. Far beyond that.’
If he were merely an ordinary S-rank expert, they could’ve mounted some defense.
He was an overwhelmingly superior force beyond that tier.
‘Yet he subdued that in an instant?’
Gulp.
The Awakeners who witnessed Kim Min-woo swallowed hard.
The magic canceled in a single moment.
The Black Mage’s eyes going wide in shock. Then, immediately after, his head flying away.
It all felt like a dream.
Only then did the Awakeners accept the truth they’d been secretly doubting.
That fifteen million Points had been well worth obtaining.
Seo Ye-rim moved through the murmuring crowd of Awakeners, closing the distance.
“Are you all right?”
“As you can see, I’m fine.”
“……I’m sorry. I should have spotted it first…….”
She spoke with her lip caught between her teeth.
Given her keen eyesight trait, the archer in a party typically handled reconnaissance and long-range elimination.
It seemed her pride had taken a bit of a wound because of that.
“There’s nothing to regret. This was worth the hunt.”
It hadn’t been a mere 500-point bounty for nothing.
Her body was far more fragile than a vampire’s, but she possessed a rather troublesome array of techniques.
Beyond Invisibility Magic, she likely had several other lethal skills up her sleeve.
Without Merchen, he’d have been in genuine danger.
Either way.
If the monster sealed underground counted as the final boss, then this Black Mage priestess would rank as something like a mid-tier boss.
That was probably why the horde of Black Mages came rushing in such disarray.
It was then.
Seo Ye-rim, her brow faintly creased, spoke up.
“There are Awakeners here too, aren’t there?”
“Awakeners?”
“Yes. Those Chinese ones we saw before.”
“They’re not held as prisoners?”
“If they were prisoners, I doubt they’d be wandering around so freely.”
Impressive.
Kim Min-woo found himself quietly impressed.
Liu Wei had a reputation for being utterly unprincipled.
But to think he’d actually throw fellow Awakeners under the bus alongside Black Mages?
Fury kindled in the faces of the Awakeners who’d heard her words.
“Together with Black Mages? Just… standing around? You’ve got to be—”
“If that’s true, these bastards are absolute trash.”
Black Mages snatching people was one thing—you could almost accept it. But Awakeners stabbing their own in the back?
If it was real, they were the scum of humanity.
“Round them all up. Don’t kill them—we need them for sacrifice.”
The group of Awakeners nodded in agreement.
They’d already witnessed Kim Min-woo’s power.
Victory gleamed in their eyes.
* * *
Perhaps because their leader went down immediately, the Black Mages fell into captivity far more easily than expected.
The Chinese Awakeners met the same fate. Their frantic resistance lasted mere moments before the enraged Awakener force descended upon them, pounding them into submission one by one.
Liu Wei, trussed up completely, cried out as though deeply wronged.
“We really had no choice! They carved something strange into our hearts!”
The situation was becoming clear enough.
They’d been subdued the moment they encountered the priestess and enslaved under her command.
“So you captured Awakeners and handed them over to the Black Mages?”
“We—we had no choice! If we didn’t obey, we’d die!”
“The Curse Mark is still active?”
“…Yes. We didn’t want to fight. But we couldn’t resist those damned creatures’ commands.”
Liu Wei’s eyes blazed with hatred toward the Black Mages even as he spoke.
Kim Min-woo let out a dry laugh.
“If that priestess had killed me, you’d have come running with open arms.”
“That—that couldn’t be! It would mean harming our companions! We truly had no choice.”
“So the Awakeners you handed over—are they still alive?”
“…I…I don’t know…”
Kim Min-woo’s fist crashed across the man’s face.
Blood and teeth sprayed through the air.
“Gaack!”
“Stop playing dumb. How many have you captured?”
“A-around ten people…”
“And they’re alive?”
“T-they said five per day are offered as sacrifice. Beyond that, I know nothing! I swear!”
Kim Min-woo and the other Awakeners fell silent.
‘Come to think of it…’
When they’d first arrived, the monster had shrieked and its tentacles had lashed out. But on this, the second day, nothing of the sort had occurred.
Wasn’t the monster’s rage subsiding because they’d made offerings?
That meant five were already gone.
They had to save the remaining five.
The location of the Black Mages’ stronghold, the Temple—and its full troop composition.
They extracted every scrap of information from the mouths of their captives.
Fortunately, the Black Mages weren’t as numerous as they might have been.
At most, three hundred?
‘And none as formidable as Mortan.’
It seemed they could sweep through that many without breaking a sweat.
“Let’s move.”
Before long, an enraged mob of Awakeners had cleared the entire Temple. Under normal circumstances, with numbers like this on the enemy side, the battle might have been far more grueling.
But this time was different.
No mage, no matter how skilled, could withstand Merchen.
Even the high priest Mortan hadn’t stood a chance—let alone the ordinary faithful.
The Dark Mages casting spells collapsed in rapid succession, one after another.
Some were killed; others were taken prisoner.
[You have hunted the Black Mage Edon.]
[You have earned 2,000 points…….]
Roughly two thousand points per corpse.
The veteran-level officers fetched around ten thousand points each.
A slaughter of nearly a hundred.
He’d racked up over three hundred thousand points.
Guided by the captured Black Mages, they pressed forward.
Deep beneath the Temple’s underground levels.
There, they found the captive Awakeners.
“Fuck! This is nauseating.”
Thompson, the burly American Awakener, spat on the ground with disgust.
In the center of some five-pointed magic circle lay unconscious Awakeners sprawled across the floor—each pinned down with spike-like objects driven through their limbs.
“Why nail them down like that?”
“To suppress their movements…….”
Hearing the answer, Thompson vented his fury
and cracked the Black Mage’s skull with a sharp blow. He’d been about to free the captured Awakeners when the Black Mages behind them cried out in alarm.
The remaining Dark Mages shrieked from where they stood.
“No, no! You can’t just free them! The offerings must continue to be made!”
“……Then what are we supposed to do?”
“A substitute offering is needed for the Seal Formation. Otherwise, he will be angered, and you will all perish!”
Thompson’s body stiffened.
The desperation in the Black Mages’ tone was unmistakable.
He fixed his gaze on Kim Min-woo.
“Commander?”
“Is that what they’re saying?”
“Who else would I be calling commander? You heard them, right? They need a substitute offering.”
“Yes.”
“Who should we use?”
Thompson posed the question.
The Chinese Awakeners.
It was essentially asking how they should dispose of them.
“There were five, you said. Let’s use those three and two of the Dark Mages instead.”
Whoosh!
Kim Min-woo’s finger pointed directly at the Chinese Awakeners.
Liu Wei and the other two Awakeners began to glow.
“Ooh, that’s cold-blooded.”
Thompson whistled as he spoke.
In truth, he’d been harboring the same thought all along.
‘Miserable bastards.’
Regardless of the circumstances, they’d betrayed colleagues who’d once shared bread at the same table in the Awakener world. Because of them, five had already gone into the belly of the beast.
In a life-or-death gamble, if you act like that, you have to face the consequences.
Curse Marks, circumstances beyond control—all of that was nothing but excuses and bullshit.
‘Honestly, I’ve had a bad feeling about this anyway. This settles it.’
Wasn’t there still a Curse Mark etched on their hearts?
Leaving them alive was a risk—no telling what complications might come back to haunt them.
Thompson wasn’t the only one thinking this way.
“Do you all agree?”
A nod.
Every Awakener consented.
‘There’s no reason to keep them alive.’
If it had been Kim Min-woo in their position, he’d have ended up just like this.
Liu Wei?
The man had a reputation for integrity, and yet he’d be giggling away with his head bowed before the Black Mages.
The situations had simply reversed.
Thompson released a few Black Mages as he spoke.
“Offer those instead.”
…….
Moan!
Moooan!
The Chinese Awakeners, their bodies bound completely, were being dragged toward the center of the pentagram formation.
Two additional Black Mages were added to balance the numbers.
“W-we shall begin the sacrifice ritual.”
Thunk, thunk!
Nails drove through their limbs, and in exchange, the Awakeners who had been bound before were released. Potions and priestly healing poured down upon them.
“Ugh…….”
“Are you alright?”
The awakened Awakeners looked down at their own bodies.
Soon after, tears glistened in their eyes.
“Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”
They’d been certain they would die with no way out…….
It all felt like nothing but a dream.
They expressed their gratitude from the depths of their hearts.
Soon after, they turned their gaze to the Awakeners bound in the Seal Formation.
“Those bastards…….”
The memory of being captured by them and dragged to the Temple was still vivid.
Every bit of the hellish events that followed remained etched in their minds.
“I-it is time now. Today’s offering will be presented.”
At the Black Mage’s words, a massive heap of tentacles burst forth from a hole at the center of the Seal Formation. In an instant, tentacles wrapped around five bodies began sucking them down into the hole.
Moan!
Mooooan!
The sacrifices vanished from the Seal Formation, leaving behind screams like a death rattle.
“What is that…….”
One of the Black Mages spoke, trembling.
“Th-that one regards flesh and soul as delicacies. If we offer five each day, we are guaranteed safety.”
“This place is absolutely vile.”
Someone muttered with a grimace.
The assessment was accurate.
Kim Min-woo regarded the Awakeners.
“We won’t engage that creature immediately. We still lack sufficient information about it, and we haven’t coordinated our efforts yet.”
“We should bring the remaining Awakeners into our group. So then, how much time do you think we’ll need to prepare?”
“I was thinking we should allot about a week. What do you think?”
“Then there would be quite a bit of time left before the Second Trial ends…….”
“We might be able to earn some bonus points.”
The goal is to survive for a month by offering sacrifices.
What if, on the other hand, we defeat the boss and clear the stage quickly?
We might receive considerable bonus points. We offer those Black Mage bastards as sacrifices, and any that remain we simply kill off before the hunt anyway.
The Awakeners nodded in agreement.
* * *
The Priest’s Chamber inside the Temple.
Thousands of books were gathered there. There were quite a few volumes written about the creature said to be sealed underground. Among them, I pulled out one book that stood out distinctly.
Seeing it, Seo Ye-rim tilted her head.
“The Book of Truth?”
“The cover looked the most elaborate, so I picked it up. Let’s have a read.”
I opened the book at the desk.
The first page unfolded.
What appeared first was a drawing.
Merchen’s words suddenly came to mind.
‘She said the taste was complex. Like a chimera.’
True to her words, the creature’s form was…….
‘A true hybrid, then.’
It resembled looking at a bunch of grapes.
Except this bunch was enormous, and its seeds were made entirely of eyeballs.
And those eyeballs weren’t even uniform in size.
Like some jumbled collection of organs harvested from countless creatures, they ranged from minute to massive—a grotesque medley of forms.
“……That’s genuinely unsettling.”
“Don’t you like scary things?”
“That’s not scary—it’s just repugnant, if I’m being honest.”
He nodded and turned the next page. There, someone’s entire history had been written down.
[First Priest, Camilon]
―We Black Mages, forever hunted and persecuted, discovered what could only be called a dream city. I felt the presence of power. Something lay beneath this place, and something greatly beneficial to us at that.
―The underground, rotted and festering with Curses. Training here proved to be nothing short of a fortuitous encounter. As we pressed deeper in our exploration, we came face to face with the source of the Curse itself.
―We gave the underground creature the name ‘Iprax.’
―Iprax appears to be a parasitic form of life. Like a tree, it has taken root in the underground and lives there still. We attempted to relocate it elsewhere, but we realized it was impossible.
―In merely ten years, both my companions and I advanced one full Realm! Much of this progress was thanks to Iprax, who has grown by consuming offerings. I cannot—I absolutely cannot—abandon this creature…….
―……The city above grows irksome to me. If time simply passes as it does, they will surely discover Iprax’s existence. It seems war cannot be avoided.
―Forty years! At last, we have achieved our long-held dream! We have finally built a holy sanctuary where the Black Mages can live and breathe!
―Iprax’s potential knows no bounds. Let a bright future shine upon us Black Mages!
[Fifth Priest, Irmus]
―As time passes, Iprax’s power grows ever stronger. The creature has developed a true sense of self. For the first time, it made a demand of us: give it ‘delicious’ offerings.
―It displayed its anger. Mere wandering mercenaries no longer seem sufficient to satisfy its hunger.
―My mind hazed over in an instant. Iprax possesses Mental Ability—a dangerously potent force. We have erected a Seal Formation…….
.
.
[Fifteenth Priest, Amarzan]
―Though it remains only isolated deviation thus far, more and more come to reverence it as a ‘god.’ Future priests must remember this truth: we do not serve a god, nor shall we ever.
[Twenty-Fifth Priest, Mortan]
―I remain vigilant without end, yet even I falter at times. Fear grips me on occasion. Despite the Seal Formation in place, its influence reaches this far. What becomes of us if even the priest himself begins to worship this god?
“Mental Ability?”
Seo Ye-rim tilted her head questioningly.
While Monsters possessing such powers were not entirely unheard of, they were extraordinarily rare.
‘This just became more difficult.’
Kim Min-woo narrowed his eyes as well. It appeared the Seal Formation was currently restraining Iprax’s true strength.
If it were released, the creature’s power would undoubtedly reach its apex. Against such an opponent, defending oneself would prove formidable if one’s mental fortitude was lacking.
‘It will likely use Curses as well.’
By all accounts, this creature existed on an entirely different tier—far above the Duke Timorn he had faced before.
Then he would need to prepare accordingly.
He rose from his seat.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like you to oversee the search for Awakeners and their training. I’ll assign the Legion Commanders to assist you. There’s something I need to attend to.”
“What are you planning to……?”
“Preparing for a mental attack.”
It was time to make use of the skeletal alchemists’ art.

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