Damn Necromancer - Chapter 60

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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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Money-Spender Necromancer (60)
Predicting qi mutations is nearly impossible.
The choice to lay a trap instead of fleeing had worked perfectly.
As a result of setting chains and lying in ambush, every warrior of the Lee Si-se Clan was swept away.
The fifty warriors who survived by avoiding the trap met the same end.
Though they boasted a certain swagger, they were nothing more than those who had conquered a single fortress.
The remaining fifty never exceeded First-Class rank.
When thousands of skeletons rushed at them, they flailed and fell one by one.
Only Lee Won-pyeong, barely reaching First-Class caliber, managed to hold his ground against Seo Ye-rim.
‘Even so, he won’t win.’
Seo Ye-rim was someone who could challenge even the elders of three separate organizations.
At Won-pyeong’s level, the best he could do was buy a little time—which was precisely what happened as I drove my blade deep into his body.
“Ugh!”
In the end, Lee Won-pyeong fell as well.
[Your Level has increased by 1!]
“Thank you for buying us time. I managed another level because of you.”
“Besides, there’s barely any experience to gain from them even if we capture them, so what’s the point?”
She shrugged as she spoke.
“So how many levels did you gain in total?”
“I went from 130 to 135.”
“Five levels in a single fight? That’s incredible.”
“It’s the privilege of a low-level player.”
Even the weakest of the Lee Si-se Clan’s warriors possessed strength around Level 150.
With so many of them falling en masse, it wasn’t strange that Kim Min-woo was experiencing explosive growth.
Seo Ye-rim, however, was different.
The greater the level gap, the more drastically experience rewards diminished.
Moreover, she was a high-level Awakener approaching Level 400.
Even if we killed every warrior here, it would barely move her experience bar by 1 percent—which is why we’d arranged beforehand to transfer the experience to me. That’s why she’d dragged out her duel with Won-pyeong.
It was the reason she extended the fight so deliberately.
‘The skeletons leveled up explosively too.’
Shortly after leaving the fortress.
I cancelled most of the skeletons that had been roaming about.
Our position was already compromised.
Scattering them would lose all tactical value within hours anyway.
In a few hours, the forces of all three organizations would converge on this location.
I dismissed all but five skeletons per squad, then summoned them all here instead. Thanks to that, their average level rose to 65.
Considering that experience was split among thousands, the skeletons too were enjoying a golden opportunity.
Beyond that.
[Through repeated combat experience, the Skeleton’s weapon mastery grows stronger!]
[Close-Range Weapon Mastery has reached Rank E!]
[Close-Range Weapon Mastery (E): All close-range weapon damage increases by 20%.]
‘Absurdly good.’
As their weapon mastery improved, the skeletons grew even more formidable.
Then.
—A low cry echoed.
Ha-yang-i appeared.
With Jeon Seo-gu’s corpse clenched firmly in her talons.
“Our Ha-yang-i is truly remarkable—who does she take after? After her father, perhaps?”
—A soft trill.
I gently stroked her head.
Now that Jeon Seo-gu was disposed of, news of it would take quite some time to reach them.
‘It’s time to start dividing the horses.’
Until now, the Lee Si-se Clan had been pursuing us, making it awkward to split up. Even if we did, our pursuers might catch up and learn our direction.
But that had changed.
The pursuit squad had been completely eliminated.
If we split into pairs here and used Clone Technique repeatedly?
‘They’ll have a migraine trying to figure this out.’
We’d been moving in a straight line, but there was no law saying we had to keep going that way.
Those in pursuit have to consider every possibility.
The skeletons climbed onto the horses in perfect harmony.
“Try moving.”
The skeletons scrambled awkwardly for balance and tumbled from their mounts in comical unison. They’d never ridden before, after all.
What could I do about it?
“Tie yourselves to the horses with rope.”
The remaining skeletons climbed onto the horses and wound rope around their bound companions.
That should keep them from falling.
After tidying the battlefield reasonably well, I turned to Seo Ye-rim.
“Let’s go.”
I rode off at a gallop.
* * *
The Grand Master, the Heavenly Demon, the Alliance Lord.
Three masters did not move easily.
They simply held their ground at the center point.
The reason was simple.
If they rushed off in one direction and news came that the targets had appeared somewhere else entirely, by the time they got there it would be too late.
But if they remained in the center?
They might not arrive fastest, but they could at least avoid being catastrophically late.
That was why.
Soon word came of both targets’ appearance, and the three burned through their mana without hesitation, racing toward Hanrim Fortress like men possessed.
The pursuit force of the Lee Si-se Clan.
Finding their traces and corpses came not long after.
The Alliance Lord’s tongue clicked against his teeth at the sight of Lee Won-pyeong’s cold body.
“Tsk. A trap. All the horses stumbled over it. Chains laid across the road at night—how thoroughly malicious. The bastard plays dirty.”
Gu Yang-cheon let out a derisive snort at that.
“It wasn’t even hard to spot. If they’d been paying attention and moving carefully, we wouldn’t have taken such a heavy blow. Pathetic. They got caught chasing with their eyes wild.”
The Grand Master’s face hardened as he examined the corpses’ fingers.
“Five messenger birds? There’s still scent on the hand—he even slaughtered them mid-flight.”
“But if we haven’t heard anything… he took down all five birds in flight?”
The Alliance Lord’s face stiffened.
That wasn’t something an ordinary master could accomplish.
It meant there was a trick behind it.
“…It seems so. But I can’t fathom what he used.”
Gu Yang-cheon’s eyes narrowed at that.
“Listen here. That’s your own son. And you can’t figure out something like that?”
“…Sigh. That boy acted as though he’d become a different person. Honestly, I don’t know much about him either.”
When we went to capture In-myeon Jiju.
I assigned an elder, but he didn’t follow me into the mountains.
His role was to prevent interference before we entered the forest, not to aid in hunting In-myeon Jiju.
The Grand Master himself had no interest in foul play, so I merely ordered him to see us off when we left and welcome us back when we returned.
The mountain was In-myeon Jiju’s playground.
No madman would follow us there to interfere.
‘…Perhaps I should have sent someone even that far.’
If I’d witnessed the hunt for In-myeon Jiju, I could have gathered concrete intelligence on both of them.
Now, in hindsight, my lack of information on Baek So-cheon and Choi Aeng-aeng had become a bitter regret.
Baek So-cheon wielded a sword well and commanded the dead. Choi Aeng-aeng was an attendant who wielded a sword well.
That was the sum of what he knew.
Within that narrow range, there was nothing obvious that could account for hunting messenger birds in mid-flight.
Projecting Sword Qi?
If he could take down five birds in flight that way, he’d already be at their level.
It made no sense.
The search team converged on the three masters.
“We found no unusual traces besides horse tracks in the surrounding area.”
“Were there any messenger bird corpses?”
“No, Alliance Lord. We found nothing.”
The three men exhaled in unison.
This made pursuit far more difficult.
Blocked messenger birds meant the likelihood of news reaching them had dropped significantly.
The one consolation.
“At least this time it’s not forty directions.”
The forces had split into twenty groups.
I’ve cut it down to exactly half.
Though I’m not sure if that’s good news. Alliance Master Yang Jeong-hak spoke with a grim expression.
“……We’ll need to station search parties all along the main roads.”
“Right. If they’re traveling by horse, there’s no way they’ll slip through. But will search parties alone be enough? From the signs here, that maidservant has been toying with this one like a plaything.”
Gu Yang-cheon gestured toward Lee Won-pyeong as he spoke.
You could tell just by looking at his body.
He was a master at the tail end of first-class rank.
He’d poured everything into the fight—his Mana was nearly depleted. His teeth were clenched from the desperate struggle, meaning he’d burned through his reserves.
Baek So-cheon had simply pierced him with his blade and ended it.
You could see it plainly.
These two operated on a level far above the rest.
“……So you’re saying we should involve the government forces?”
“Nearly two days have passed now. I think it’s getting risky. If they’re moving on horseback, they’ll preserve their stamina too.”
“…….”
“Why are you getting cold feet? If we three join our strength and make a demand, even the Emperor’s grandfather would have to comply, let alone the Emperor himself.”
“Hmm…….”
Yang Jeong-hak deliberated.
It was true that government had bowed its head to the Murim for quite some time, but moving military forces for a private matter was rather burdensome.
Military authority belonged to the Emperor regardless. And he himself was the Alliance Master of the Murim Alliance, supposedly the orthodox faction.
His position differed from the heterodox schools or demonic sects. Frankly, they were used to being cursed at by the common people as a baseline.
This matter in particular would hurt the government if they helped.
They’d been beating down every new strongest cultivator that emerged—wasn’t this just an extension of that pattern?
Fortunately, Baek Hak-seong offered a countervailing view.
“No—if we push too hard, the government might end up helping them instead. It could actually work against us. Given their nature, they’d probably just let them pass without interference.”
“Ha, free passage? You think Gu Yang-cheon would just stand for that? I’d crush every last one of their skulls.”
“……In any case. Pressing too aggressively might backfire. If we push too hard, they’ll just dig in their heels. Let’s just maintain a blockade for now. It’s not time yet.”
“……Damn it. What if they actually escape while we’re dithering?”
“It’s not even been two days. If we haven’t caught them by tomorrow, then I’ll give it serious consideration too.”
“Fine for you. But you, Yang Jeong-hak? You’re not going to stubbornly cast a dissenting vote all by yourself, are you?”
“……I’ll go with what the Saintly Leader says.”
“Good! Then let’s pursue them.”
* * *
They rode hard on horseback.
On the way, they encountered another patrol group. He summoned a horde of skeletons to seize the horses’ legs.
The terrified mounts shrieked and bucked wildly.
An arrow from Seo Ye-rim’s bow pierced the rider’s skull in an instant.
A slaughter unfolded.
‘It never ends.’
Day three.
Security was tight, but they managed to break through another checkpoint and press onward.
‘Getting dizzy.’
He’d barely slept in three days straight.
He’d managed only brief snatches of dozing atop the horse.
If he weren’t an Awakener, an ordinary person would have collapsed already.
Still, there was one silver lining.
[Progress Distance: 96%]
[Remaining Distance: 4%]
He was nearly there.
‘The search parties helped a lot.’
The ones coming from ahead were weak.
But he was riding fresh horses. They were in unlimited supply.
That threw their pursuit into some disarray.
His Level had climbed quite a bit too.
In just one day, he’d reached 145.
That spoke to how much fighting he’d done.
The problem was.
Once the progress distance crossed eighty percent, an ominous message appeared.
[You have exceeded 80% progress!]
[The Alliance Master, the Heavenly Demon, and the Saintly Leader have been informed of your destination!]
[Government intervention is beginning!]
From that moment, the imperial soldiers began pouring toward them like a pack of hounds.
‘At least there was one silver lining…….’
They didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about stopping him.
Just going through the motions.
A half-hearted show of resistance before screaming and scrambling out of the way.
Sometimes they simply let him pass without even trying.
‘The emperor’s a good man.’
Clearly they wanted him to escape and put as much distance between them as possible.
It was genuinely fortunate.
If the soldiers had thrown their full weight into blocking the passage, he’d never have made it past five percent, let alone sixteen.
‘He’s got quite the grudge, it seems.’
Normally, fear of the consequences would drive them to mount a serious defense.
But the current emperor clearly harbored a great deal of anger toward the martial world.
Chirp!
Ha-yang-i descended, folding her talons once.
She spoke while keeping her gaze fixed on Seo Ye-rim.
“Bad news.”
“How much has the distance closed?”
“About an hour’s worth now, they say.”
“……This is insane.”
“Yes, it is.”
They’re going to catch up.
The outline was becoming clear.
He’d suspected as much from the start.
There was no way he’d make it through the Gate without encountering the three Old Masters even once.
And he’d been right.
“You’re not exhausted to the point of collapse yet?”
“……I can manage.”
“Then let’s drink some Potions and get down to run.”
The horse was merely a means of preserving stamina. If he pushed to full speed, an Awakener could outrun a horse.
Though his stamina was nearly depleted, he needed to open up any distance he could.
Final sprint.
He and Seo Ye-rim swallowed Potions indiscriminately. Every Ability Score surged up fifty points, movement speed quickened, bodies grew lighter…….
Potions worth hundreds of millions per bottle dissolved away in an instant.
Every conceivable enhancement poured in at once.
[You have consumed too many Potions in a short timespan. Overload is approaching!]
‘Still not enough.’
His Ability Scores remained far below Seo Ye-rim’s even after this. The three Old Masters had likely begun running at full power as well, so they’d meet well before an hour had passed.
He couldn’t hold out against three Old Masters with what he had now.
‘Then I’ll have to bet everything.’
Life comes down to one crucial moment.
His current Strength and Agility, with one round of enhancement, hovered in the high four-hundreds.
He pulled out every last Strength and Agility Enhancement Potion.
Forget the other Ability Scores.
He needed to push these two through the roof.
How high?
‘At least eight hundred apiece.’
That might give him a fighting chance against the Old Masters—enough to buy time, at the very least.
He sucked down another round of enhancement Potions.
[You consume a Strength Enhancement Potion (Supreme Grade)!]
[Overload state active! Stacked potency reduced by 50%!]
[Agility Enhancement Potion…….]
[You consume a Strength Enhancement Potion (Supreme Grade)!]
[Overload state active! Stacked potency reduced by 50%…….]
[Agility…….]
Watching Kim Min-woo guzzle Potions like water, Seo Ye-rim’s face went pale.
“Are you insane? You’ll develop an addiction! You’ll be crippled for life!”
“I have to. Otherwise the Old Masters will cut me to pieces.”
He kept drinking.
Overload.
Potion effectiveness drops by fifty percent.
What should raise fifty now raises only twenty-five. And addiction sets in far more quickly.
What happens when addiction takes hold?
Potion effectiveness plummets entirely.
For life.
And withdrawal symptoms come as a bonus.
I suffered addiction once during the Death Lord trial.
‘Back then I had a fake body, so it didn’t matter.’
Now I have a real one.
Which is why I’d avoided drinking more potions in this state—it would be sheer madness.
Absolute madness.
But madness was precisely what this moment demanded.
Time to spin the chamber.
‘If there’s a bullet in the gun, well, life gets harder. So what.’
At least gambling was infinitely better than being sliced apart helplessly.
The instant I downed five bottles each of Strength Enhancement Potion and Agility Enhancement Potion.
[You have consumed excessive potions in a short period! Potion addiction…….]
[Title, ‘Living Only for Today’ activates!]
[You resist Potion Addiction!]
The Potion Addiction Resistance Title effect triggered. I drained five more bottles each—ten more in total.
[You have consumed excessive potions in a short period! Potion addiction…….]
[Title, ‘Living Only for Today’…….]
[You resist Potion Addiction…….]
‘One more time.’
I downed another ten bottles—five of each—in a single go.
[Title, ‘Super Lucky Guy’ activates!]
[You resist Potion Addiction!]
[You have resisted addiction three times!]
[You obtain Title: ‘The Gambling Madman’!]
Lucky.
Now this is getting fun.

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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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