Damn Necromancer - Chapter 33

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

Spendthrift Necromancer (33)
‘……I was careless.’
Elise let out a sigh.
Kim Min-woo had been right, after all.
A person’s life has weight—always.
Offering such a paltry price for something so precious, she deserved every harsh word.
What he’d proposed in return was at least reasonable.
Mother Tree’s Fruit?
Yes, it was a treasure to the Elves.
But everything is relative.
The choice was clear: collapse as things stood and watch the Mother Tree fall, or give the fruit and preserve her. There was no question which mattered more.
Potions were the same.
Once they were protected, their consumption would plummet.
She was simply allocating the surplus to the resistance.
Elise watched Kim Min-woo.
He was hunched over in front of the skeleton, fiddling with something intently.
“……What are you doing?”
“Reinforcing my summon.”
“Reinforcing it?”
“Yes. See these bones here?”
“Those wouldn’t happen to be Cockatrice Leg Bones, would they?”
“Exactly. If I press them against the legs like this and swap them out……”
[Using Bone Exchange!]
[Replacing Cedric’s leg bones with Cockatrice Leg Bones!]
[The material’s tier is significantly higher than your Level.]
[Success Rate: 12%]
[Proceed?]
A nod.
[Critical Success!]
[The bones reshape to fit Cedric’s frame and species!]
[Cedric’s Strength, Agility, and Stamina each increase by 10!]
[*Critical Success special effect: Movement Speed +10%]
[Remaining Capacity (20/75)]
Cedric’s leg bones had grown noticeably thicker and denser.
“That’s essentially how it works.”
“Interesting. Does it always work when you try?”
“Hardly. I must’ve burned through nearly two hundred leg bones to get here.”
“……The success rate is really that low?”
“Not quite, but when it does succeed, the effect feels a bit bland. That’s because critical success has its own special reward.”
He’d discovered this the first time experimenting with ordinary skeletons.
Success and Critical Success.
There was a difference between them.
A regular success consumed a lot of capacity.
And it came with no special effects.
Critical success, on the other hand?
It consumed far less.
‘Regular success took up 25.’
Critical success was 20.
A savings of five capacity.
But the effect was so much better.
“How does it feel, Cedric?”
―Master, I believe I’ve obtained a truly excellent Skill.
Cedric gave a thumbs up while testing the movement of his legs.
The improvement was definitely noticeable.
After all, every stat except Mana had climbed by 10.
And the critical success special effect added another 10% to movement speed.
‘This skill is absolutely insane.’
The effects were staggering.
Especially when he used bones from high-level monsters.
Cockatrice was a creature that easily broke Level 200.
Naturally, the bones would be overwhelmingly harder than a skeleton’s basic frame.
And since I was using its legs—the creature’s most distinctive parts.
A Critical Success would be nothing short of a jackpot.
‘Of course, there were drawbacks.’
The higher the monster’s Level, the lower the success rate plummeted—dramatically.
The Critical Success rate felt like barely one percent.
Swapping out Cedric’s leg bones, I’d exhausted every single bone from that pack of Cockatrices I’d hunted before.
To use it properly….
‘I’m going to bleed money like crazy.’
When monsters die, they leave behind corpses and byproducts.
These byproducts vary widely—important parts of the monster, items, Mana Stones, Skill Books, and the like.
Usually, you just grab the byproducts and head back.
They’re heavy, and there’s a limit to how much your inventory Capacity can hold.
Beyond that, most people just butcher what’s worth selling and leave.
Except for a few high-value monsters, that’s how it goes.
The problem was that bones typically weren’t high-value goods.
Except for certain monsters, they weren’t worth the effort of hauling out.
Even scraping the auction house, you wouldn’t find much supply.
Conclusion.
I needed to give Awakeners a reason to bring me bones.
‘Post a bounty for bones—that’s the move.’
I’d probably burn through money in the tens of millions….
‘But I have to do it anyway.’
I couldn’t speak to anything else.
But one thing was certain.
At the very least, Cedric deserved Critical Success after Critical Success, reinforced across his entire body with the best bones possible.
‘As for the rest….’
To do the same for over a thousand skeletons? Even tens of millions might not be enough—it was anyone’s guess.
I decided to worry about that later.
My gaze shifted to the side.
Elise was still staring at me intently.
“Is there something you wanted to say?”
“…Well, I wanted to apologize for my rudeness last time. I was definitely rash.”
“I’ve already forgotten it.”
I said this while shaking my head.
There was no reason to respond coldly to someone—an Elf, rather—who was offering an apology.
Elise sighed at my words.
“…Do you see those Elves over there?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve managed to suppress their complaints, but honestly, it’s only a temporary measure. Once we reach the village, the elders will probably raise hell.”
“Does that mean you won’t be keeping your promise?”
“Of course not!”
She shook her head hurriedly.
“I’m the Guardian of Mother Tree’s Forest. I have the power to keep my promise. I just… I don’t want you to worry too much about the other Elves’ reactions.”
“You seem different from the other Elves somehow. More pragmatic, I’d say.”
“…Even so, I’m not that different. I was just as complacent in my thinking….”
“It’s enough that you reflected on it. The fact that you can do that makes you a fine Elf.”
There had to be a reason the word ‘Stubborn’ existed for the Elves—their temperament was that difficult.
After the string of compliments, Elise’s ears flushed slightly. I figured I’d given her enough carrots.
“Elise.”
“Yes?”
“There are three things I won’t tolerate, no matter what.”
“What are those three things?”
“First, belittling the Orcs’ sacrifice. Second, failing to educate the young properly. Third, breaking a promise. If I see any one of these happen….”
“…What happens then?”
“I’m fairly handy with a sword. Sometimes just wielding it is the shortest path, I’ve found.”
“….”
Elf elders and all that.
Just hearing about them, you could almost smell the rot.
With Clear as my goal, I had no time to be held back by such people.
He regarded her with a faint smile.
“I trust you understand.”
“…I’ll be careful.”
“We’ll depart for Elf Village tomorrow. You should get some rest now.”
* * *
“Today we march to save the Elves!”
―Screech! We Orcs will save them!
―Screech! We’ll grow stronger on Potions!
He had already explained to the Orcs the necessity of joining forces with the Elves.
Drink Potions and grow stronger.
Smash the witch’s skull with that strength.
That sort of thing.
Thanks to that, there was no opposition.
“Let’s go!”
Over two thousand Orcs set in motion.
He’d already heard about the forces already attacking Elf Village. With this many troops, he could crush them.
‘The news will be hard to contain, though.’
Their numbers were considerable.
Unlike the situation at Elrium, it would be difficult to stop every fleeing soldier.
‘It can’t be helped.’
He couldn’t move in stealth mode forever anyway.
Once the entire Elf punitive force was wiped out, the Apostle would have to be an idiot not to notice something.
Thus the proud Orc army departed, and after six hours of marching, reached their destination.
A vast forested region.
It was the dominion of Mother Tree’s Forest.
Elise and the Elf contingent had moved ahead and already entered the area.
This was to convey the strategy they’d devised yesterday to the Elves and coordinate their movements organically.
And there was one more thing.
Perhaps it was also to reiterate the warning he’d given them personally yesterday.
‘Whether they’ll listen is another matter.’
If Elves were capable of reform with just that much, they wouldn’t have earned the nickname “stubborn” in the first place.
Of course, not all Elves were unreasonable.
But it was true that among those who were, Elves featured prominently.
In the distance, he could see enemy forces hacking down trees in the forest.
‘They’ve started cutting in circles.’
Mother Tree’s Forest was an exceptionally difficult region to capture.
The trees moved of their own accord and blocked the way forward, while plants engulfed enemies indiscriminately.
And then there were the Elves hidden in the forest, shooting arrows constantly.
Any enemy commander with a brain wouldn’t simply charge in.
Usually they either set fires or systematically destroyed the trees from the perimeter as they advanced.
The commander here had chosen the latter.
‘It’s not easy to set fires.’
Usually the Mother Tree would respond by releasing moisture to extinguish them.
Fire only caught after all of that evaporated.
‘And they need to collect corpses too….’
Burnt corpses were unusable waste. That’s why they were cutting in circles instead.
He’d already arranged everything in advance—the Orcs would strike from behind while the Elves attacked from the front in a pincer movement.
―Orcs! Orcs!
At the thunderous sound of footsteps shaking the ground, the Apostle’s forces turned to look behind them.
Chaos erupted immediately.
The sudden appearance of an Orc army was enough to cause panic.
What need was there for words?
“Kill them all! Charge!”
The Orc horde rushed forward.
* * *
The battle ended anticlimactically.
The enemy commander fled without mounting any real counterattack against the pincer assault, and the troops scattered in all directions.
Out of nearly five hundred enemies, four hundred fell. True, around four hundred Orcs died in the exchange, but considering the average level disparity, it was a miraculous trade.
‘I leveled up nicely from this.’
From 75 to 85.
I landed the final blow cleanly, watching the experience points climb.
Considering how exponentially the required experience grew with each level, this was leveling at near-lightspeed.
‘Well, I’m hunting high-level creatures, so it’s only natural.’
The Apostle forces were fundamentally Level 250 and above. So rapid advancement was hardly surprising.
Soon after, a group of Elves emerged from between the trees.
Their number was roughly four hundred.
Elise stood at the front, with elderly Elves trailing behind her.
Probably the elders, I thought.
“We are grateful for your aid.”
Elise bowed her head respectfully.
The pleasantries ended here. After all, life was always give and take.
“It’s only natural to help when we can. So it’s time we settled the debt.”
“Yes. I’ve already informed them.”
As Elise spoke, a group of Alchemists stepped forward.
The Elves stared at the skeletons, their pointed ears twitching.
“So we’re to teach these skeletons, then?”
“Yes. There are five hundred of them, so if each of you takes twenty, that should suffice. The Dwarves are quite satisfied with their workers. There will be much satisfaction in training them.”
The remaining five hundred were at the Dwarf Smithy, striking hammers.
They hadn’t yet learned the Crafting Skill.
The Alchemists nodded their heads somewhat reluctantly, one after another.
‘Well, this reaction alone is acceptable.’
The kind of outrage where they’d declare: how dare these wicked undead learn Alchemy!
That they weren’t reacting that way was itself fortunate. It seemed Elise, who had gone ahead to explain things, had put in considerable effort.
As the skeletons learned Alchemy, Potions would be produced faster. So the first promise was being kept.
“Then it seems we should receive the Mother Tree’s Fruit now.”
Then.
One of the elders, who had been wearing a sullen expression the entire time, stepped forward.
“Human. Wait a moment.”
“Do you have something to say?”
“I’ve tolerated much! From the start, the very idea of teaching Alchemy to wicked undead was preposterous, but I understood even that. However, the Fruit is different! It is a great treasure to us Elves. It is something only the chosen among our own kin may consume!”
“That’s precisely why I’m asking it as payment. If it weren’t precious, I wouldn’t have requested it, would I?”
“Don’t you think you’re asking for too much?”
This wasn’t a matter of intelligence.
It was simply conviction.
That was why he could step forward so brazenly even with the Orc forces behind us.
I looked toward Elise.
She let out a sigh.
It seemed she hadn’t managed to persuade even this stubborn elder.
“If you object, do you have the means to prevent it?”
“The Fruit cannot be removed without the consent of all the elders.”
“I see. I respect your conviction.”
Conviction this firm deserved applause.
I nodded my head.
Slice.
The elder’s head fell.
At least he’d spoken his piece and departed with honor.
I wiped the blood from my blade and surveyed the remaining elders.
“Does anyone else object?”
……
“Then I’ll take the Fruit.”
With the dissenting voice gone, consensus was unanimous.
Now it was time to claim the Fruit.

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