Damn Necromancer - Chapter 57

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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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The Prodigal Necromancer (57)
Heavenly Net of Despair
[Warning!]
[You have not completed the clear objective!]
[Continued refusal to comply may result in significant difficulty adjustment!]
Seo Ye-rim and I dove straight into the embrace of the Sadoryeon warriors.
“Out of the way!”
Having claimed first place in this trial and earned the red carpet walk of the successor, the situation had shifted entirely.
The warriors obeyed with remarkable docility. We sprinted through the path that had parted like the Red Sea.
I tossed a potion to Seo Ye-rim.
She downed it immediately. I did the same.
[Wind Step Potion consumed!]
[Movement speed increases by 30% for one hour!]
It wasn’t enough that I’d already borrowed wind attribute power from Hayoung—I’d already swapped out all my gear for equipment with movement speed bonuses.
The low-level items didn’t provide much effect, but it was far better than nothing.
‘Did it work?’
One thing was certain: three masters’ energies were now intertwined. The moment the Sadoryeon Lord received the orb and his eyes flipped back, it seemed impossible to distinguish the real from the fake by appearance alone.
Of course, the truth would eventually come out.
Since I didn’t know exactly when, I had to run as if my feet were on fire.
Seo Ye-rim and I escaped the battlefield. Even as we fled into the distance, the warriors didn’t seem suspicious.
Or rather, they simply had no time to pay attention to us. Both the Murim Alliance and Demonic Cult forces were launching relentless assaults on them.
Then.
[Sadoryeon Lord Baek Hak-sung detects something amiss!]
The message appeared.
‘How did he figure it out?’
The exterior had to be quite similar.
And since he’d never seen the real one, distinguishing by sight would be impossible.
‘Can he tell it’s fake just by holding it in his hands?’
That might be the case.
“Run! Faster!”
Seo Ye-rim, having seen the message as well, took off at full speed with a hardened expression.
‘If that’s how it works……’
What would the Sadoryeon Lord do?
Would he cry out that it was fake and hand it over to the enemy for inspection?
Of course, the Heavenly Demon and the Alliance Lord would suspect his intentions.
No one had ever brought a counterfeit before, and besides, this was the Lord’s own son.
It would be hard for them to believe the son would present a fake.
Instead, they might think it a trap to draw them in.
I could only hope the two of them held firm.
After putting some distance between ourselves and the battlefield.
I retrieved shoes from my inventory.
“Let’s change into these.”
Seo Ye-rim and I swapped our shoes. The ones we put on now were the same type as the skeletons’. Even the size was identical. Immediately after, I summoned nearly two thousand skeletons.
I pulled out the items I’d prepared in my Spatial Ring.
Plain, standard-grade leather bags.
Each numbered bag was stuffed with dozens of kilos of rocks and miscellaneous junk.
“Each of you takes your assigned bag and move just like we drilled!”
Clatter!
The skeletons nodded.
I’d drilled their movements more than fifty times for this moment.
The skeletons’ learning capacity had increased dramatically thanks to the title effects from the Death Lord and Cedric.
Moving as they’d practiced wasn’t difficult at all.
The skeletons spun in circles around us. The original footprints were trampled repeatedly beneath their feet.
Because skeletons were nothing but bone, their pure body weight was light.
But add heavy armor and laden bags on top, and things changed.
Their weight would match human weight in an instant.
I’d prepared the bags to match exactly Seo Ye-rim’s weight and mine.
Even a master couldn’t identify us by weight and footprint alone.
“Scatter! Execute!”
Clatter!
Two thousand skeletons split into groups of fifty, forty squads in all.
Skeletons spread out in all directions.
Those following trampled carelessly over the footprints of those ahead.
Naturally the tracks became a mess. He looked back at the final group of skeletons.
“You lot follow once we move. Tread in our footprints.”
Clatter-clatter!
Leaving the skeletal forms saluting behind, he and Seo Ye-rim bolted into motion.
Identical traces would be left in forty directions.
‘They’ll have a hell of a time tracking us.’
The two began pressing toward the forest.
* * *
Baek Hak-sung erupted in fury.
No matter how many times he shouted that it was a fake, the two old masters wouldn’t hear a word of it.
‘Damn it all!’
Of course the easiest thing would have been to throw the orb somewhere far away.
But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
It was a matter of that lingering doubt.
What if the stories passed down since ancient times were actually false?
Or what if the content had shifted somehow as it was transmitted through the generations?
Such a possibility wasn’t entirely without merit. If it were so, he would obtain the treasure only to let it slip through his fingers. He couldn’t afford to dismiss that slim chance.
The thread leading to Ascension was that precious.
Then.
An elder sent to ascertain Baek So-cheon’s location came running urgently.
“Master! The Young Lord has abandoned the Battlefield!”
Grit!
He clenched his teeth.
He could understand hiding behind the main force, but leaving it entirely…….
With this, even the last possibility that it wasn’t a fake had vanished.
Why would one flee if they’d offered the genuine article?
When wealth and glory awaited just ahead.
“Curse it!”
The leader of Sadoryeon hurled the orb wrapped in cloth. The moment the two masters saw it, their eyes rolled back as they lunged for it.
Fortune favored the Heavenly Demon’s side, and he managed to catch the orb in his hand.
The instant he grasped it.
Gu Yang-cheon’s face hardened like stone.
“It’s a fake.”
“……What?”
The leader of the Murim Alliance faltered.
From the moment the leader of Sadoryeon threw the orb, he’d sensed something was off.
But for the Heavenly Demon to say such a thing?
The odds that it truly was a fake had climbed considerably.
Very considerably indeed.
“Take a look yourself!”
Gu Yang-cheon pulled the orb from the cloth and, teeth gritted, tossed it to the leader. The moment the leader caught it, his face twisted like a vengeful demon’s mask.
At once he dashed the orb to the ground.
Crack!
The orb crumbled without resistance.
It was nothing but trash dressed up in convincing appearance.
Both their gazes snapped toward Baek Hak-sung.
What kind of abysmal education would drive a son to make a fool of his own father?
A gaze heavy with mockery swept across Baek Hak-sung’s entire frame.
The silence held only briefly.
―Stop! Everyone cease fighting!
At Gu Yang-cheon’s cry, the Battlefield fell into momentary silence.
Soldiers stood frozen, weapons drawn, their faces blank as they stared at the three old men.
Regardless, the three elders glared at one another.
It was clear they had to pursue Baek So-cheon. The question was whether to cooperate.
If all three forces combined their strength, they could capture him swiftly.
But then the matter of who owns Ascension would surface.
If they acted separately, on the other hand?
The efficiency might be low, but it was possible to aim for a massive windfall.
Then it happened.
A strange sight materialized before their eyes.
[Warning!]
[Baek So-cheon and Choi Aeng-aeng are attempting to escape!]
[If they enter beyond a certain point, both will escape this stage!]
The three faces went rigid.
This message—they’d seen it many times before.
It was something that kept being passed down to the heads of each faction for good reason.
Once you caught a glimpse of the path to Ascension, a message just like this one would materialize before your eyes.
“Let’s set ownership aside for now. We need to join forces, it seems.”
“…Agreed. We can’t let those bastards escape.”
“…Fine.”
The three factions moved in concert.
Baek So-cheon and Choi Aeng-aeng.
They had to capture those two, no matter what.
* * *
[Heavenly Demon Gu Yang-cheon senses the disturbance!]
[Murim Alliance Master Yang Jeong-hak senses the disturbance!]
[The Gate’s difficulty changes to A+, ‘Heavenly Net of Despair’!]
[Proceed toward the destination!]
A map materialized in his vision.
A green dot marked a distant point.
‘Is that the destination?’
By the distance, it looked like he’d need to run flat-out for roughly five days.
He glanced at Seo Ye-rim.
He’d heard a Clear message had appeared, yet she hadn’t left—she was still here with him.
The difficulty had just changed.
That meant she couldn’t leave until they reached the new Clear objective.
He didn’t know why she’d stayed, but one thing was certain: her presence had raised their survival odds considerably.
“I’ll thank you once we’re out.”
“Don’t worry. I stayed for the Clear reward too, after all.”
He nodded.
Heavenly Net of Despair.
Just looking at it, this was going to be rough.
He swallowed the Sword Shadow Pill he’d been saving.
[Sword Shadow Pill consumed!]
[All ability scores increase by 10!]
“Let’s go. Before they catch up.”
They’d put some distance between themselves and the others, though not nearly enough. Now was the time to keep his eyes ahead and run.
* * *
Kim Min-woo and Seo Ye-rim.
They were Awakeners with recognition not just in Korea, but overseas.
And the incident that had erupted was deeply sensational.
A fellow conglomerate heir pushed his rival into a Gate with malice, and Geom-seon rushed in to rescue him.
It would have been strange if the media hadn’t seized on the story.
Three weeks had passed since the two entered the Gate.
Even as time wore on, public interest continued to skyrocket.
Broadcast stations overseas were even running coverage.
―Where are all those people who said they’d be dead in two days? ㅋㅋ They’ve already lasted three weeks?
―Yeah, but they’re probably heading for the Midpoint Region soon enough ㅋㅋ
―But wouldn’t three weeks be enough to find the Midpoint Region and get out by now? The stage can’t be that big. Why haven’t they come out yet……?
―Who knows. They might just be hiding in some corner burning through their food supplies.
―But isn’t this the first time anyone’s ever entered this Gate? There’s no set format or anything?
―The broadcast mentioned it ㅋㅋ They said it’s all random? It could be a Gate where you have to progress through a story, or one where you just beat up monsters. That’s why the recommended party size is so high ㅋㅋㅋ
―Right. Think of it like a Hidden Gate. The stage layout, Clear objectives, mechanics—all of it’s random.
―How much longer do you think they’ll last?
―No idea. Kim Min-woo might already be dead. Geom-seon seems to be holding out though?
―Why would she even go rescue him and suffer like that? Honestly, I don’t get it?
―Maybe they’re hooking up ㅋㅋㅋ
―No way. Geom-seon really hated that Kim Min-woo guy. Everyone who knows anything already knows it, right?
―But why go rescue him then lol
―Has to be because of Geom-seon. The old man set an S-rank record this time and was laying on the lip service so thick about it being all thanks to Kim Min-woo lol
―Yeah. That’s what I think too. Geom-seon really loves his grandfather. Pretty obsessed actually. So that’s probably why he went to rescue him.
―I mean, I shouldn’t say this, but if he can’t hold out, why can’t he just die quickly? If they drag it out like this, the Gate’s going to rupture anyway.
―Isn’t it fine as long as he clears the B-rank within two months? It hasn’t even been a month yet; what’s with this psycho lol
―Can’t lose Geom-seon ಠ_ಠ can’t lose Geom-seon ಠ_ಠ can’t lose Geom-seon ಠ_ಠ
―Don’t sweat it. It’s not even a Clear—just reaching the Midpoint Region is enough. You think Geom-seon can’t do that? Once he comes out, the guild’s raid team can be sent in and it’ll clear in no time.
Most public opinion was along the same lines.
Kim Min-woo had likely already died.
Geom-seon would hold on.
After three weeks, he’d have acclimated to the Gate.
Being a nearly S-rank Awakener, escape would probably be within reach.
The broadcast experts had offered similar opinions.
―Huh? Wait. What’s that? No way…….
The reporters broadcasting live from the front of the Gate stirred restlessly.
An enormous surge of Mana was rushing toward the Gate, which until now had shown no reaction at all.
It was entirely different from the luminescence that usually appeared when someone emerged after a Clear.
Moments later, a reporter gripped the microphone with trembling hands.
―Th-the Observation Department just contacted us. The Gate’s Difficulty rating has changed. After remeasurement, it’s been assessed as an A-rank Gate…….
―?
―??
―???
―????
―What? Did they measure wrong?
―No. Difficulty changes do happen occasionally. Looks like something went wrong inside.
―So it changed to an A+ Difficulty?
―Seems like it?
―What usually happens in a situation like this?
―Difficulty changes can happen either by choice from inside, or by sheer bad luck stepping in the wrong place…… probably the latter?
―Yeah. Looks like they stepped in it. There’s no way just the two of them could’ve changed the Difficulty themselves. It’s over.
―Guys, is escape even possible anymore?
―An A+ Gate requires a recommended raid team of 30 people lol that’s double a B+ lol Does this look possible to you? Did your brain break? lol
―(Information) In A+ Gates, S-rank Monsters appear regularly.
―Even guild raid teams die before reaching the Midpoint Region in situations like this; it’s hopeless;;
―This is screwed?

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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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