Damn Necromancer - Chapter 73

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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 Wastrel Necromancer (73)
Shadow
Arms and legs.
For a warrior specialized in tanking, legs were far more critical than arms. Lose an arm and you could still hold a shield with the other, but lose a leg and you couldn’t tank at all.
Without a stable lower body, defense itself became impossible.
One-legged? That was the end of it. Even a prosthetic wouldn’t change that. Cho Pil-wook’s career as an Awakener was finished the moment his leg hit the ground.
Of course, Kim Min-woo didn’t care.
Why should he, when this one had tried to cripple his shoulder first?
“Take him away.”
At those words, the Dorim security personnel who’d been fidgeting outside rushed in, hoisted Cho Pil-wook up, and sprinted away with him. A few of them carried off the shattered remains of his leg.
‘There’s no reattaching it anyway.’
The System had already marked him as crutch-bound.
Even Hua Tuo couldn’t fix this now.
The Awakeners who’d posted bail stepped forward, their eyes all wide with shock.
They’d watched the duel with their own eyes, not through a broadcast.
The sense of presence, the crackling tension—everything was on a level the viewers at home couldn’t begin to comprehend.
‘Honestly, I didn’t think he’d lose…….’
‘But this overwhelming? I never expected…….’
This was an Awakener who’d proven himself in A+ Gates.
When he’d accepted the duel so readily, they’d naturally assumed he had some trick up his sleeve.
Kim Min-woo had proven his worth spectacularly. The sheer number of summons conjured at barely Level 100 was beyond belief.
Simple skeletons, yes—but once their numbers reached a critical mass, the game changed entirely. Ten million would be staggering enough, but two million?
It was overwhelming to behold.
A truly textbook Necromancer—an absolutely formidable swarm.
But that wasn’t all.
Beyond the skeletons, Kim Min-woo commanded special summons.
A colossal golem.
Its Ability Scores were beyond imagination.
It had stopped Cho Pil-wook’s charge head-on with astounding force!
And then there was Cedric, an undead of another order entirely.
‘……I’d struggle against him one-on-one, wouldn’t I?’
With terrifying spear technique and seasoned skill, Cedric had toyed with Cho Pil-wook like a puppet.
No wonder even a man of Cho Pil-wook’s temperament had ignored the onslaught and, gritting his teeth, forced himself to charge straight at Kim Min-woo.
To the Awakeners watching, it was the right call. Against summoners, the textbook strategy is always to crush the summoner.
The problem was.
‘……A monster.’
‘His swordwork is just…….’
The truth was that this Necromancer’s own body was the strongest element.
Cho Pil-wook, for all his experience grinding through Gates, had been played with like a toy.
Especially the way he’d read his opponent’s skill motions and moved a step faster to counterattack—they nearly laughed aloud in awe.
It was one of the highest techniques, something even top-tier S-rank Awakeners rarely displayed.
Only then did the Awakeners grasp it.
Why the Sword Saint’s clearance guide insisted on a 5:5 split. Kim Min-woo was no ordinary Necromancer.
He was a freak—the main body itself was the strongest part.
And what made it truly terrifying was.
‘……He surely didn’t show everything against someone like Cho Pil-wook.’
That realization right there.
Even summoning so many undead was probably all part of a calculation.
He had the blade skill to carve through everything without them. Perhaps it was intentional—meant to dispel any lingering suspicion about this duel.
“……That was an excellent match to watch.”
“Your swordwork was truly impressive. You’ve earned that A+ Gate clear fair and square.”
“Remarkable. Here’s my card…….”
The gathered Awakeners scrambled to forge whatever connection they could.
An Awakener bound for the summit given time—building even the smallest tie with him was a no-brainer investment.
Kim Min-woo smiled and handed over his own card in turn.
“You’re too kind. I’m still just a beginner, really.”
Conversation continued in the warmth of mutual goodwill.
* * *
‘Now I just need to keep the Workshop supplied…….’
Nearly a month had passed since his Gate run. Fortunately, he’d stockpiled a substantial inventory before heading in.
Thanks to that, I could keep up with sales without any breaks in stock.
I had no idea how much time the second phase of Death Road would consume. All the more reason to supply a steady flow of goods before I departed.
From the last shipment of a hundred thousand pieces of equipment, I’d made roughly six hundred billion won. The profit margin, after materials, was something I could pocket entirely.
And this time, I wasn’t flooding the market with F-rank equipment—but weapons for E-rank Awakeners.
Now that my skeletons’ crafting skill had improved, so had the quality of what they produced.
As the grade of materials rose, the proportion of magic-infused pieces would climb just as steeply.
‘A single equipment run should net me trillions.’
I’d heard that Il-sung’s equipment sales were drawing insane crowds. Some Awakeners were literally pitching tents to wait in line, buying gear, then reselling it at the entrance.
One buy-and-flip could net you a minimum profit of several million won.
It far exceeded what lower-tier Awakeners made in a day.
No wonder the frenzy had kicked in.
I didn’t hold any grudge against that kind of reselling.
‘It wasn’t like I’d banned it.’
In fact, I was pricing low precisely so it would become a story. Later, when the operation scaled up, foreign Awakeners might hear the buzz and come looking.
Or I could open franchise shops overseas and sell through them. The equipment market was limitless. Once I started producing, money copied itself.
I left the Training Center and headed for the Workshop. Materials were already stacked like mountains inside.
Park Si-woo, loaded with Subspace Rings, had been steadily shuttling materials over while I was away.
I sent him a quick thumbs up on my phone.
[Kim Min-woo]
―Heading to the Workshop now. Nice haul. Thanks for the work.
[Park Si-woo]
―Haha!
(Thumbs up emoji)
[Kim Min-woo]
―What’s your level?
[Park Si-woo]
―127.
[Seo Ye-rim]
―Huh? Already 127? Last time you were in the 90s. That’s fast.
[Park Si-woo]
―That was a month ago, unnie ㄷㄷ…… I gotta level up to keep pace with hyung;
[Kim Min-woo]
―Yeah. Honestly, it’s not that fast. Step it up.
[Park Si-woo]
―ㅠ…….
(Crying emoji)
[Seo Ye-rim]
―So what’s this Workshop thing?
[Park Si-woo]
―Hyung, can I say?
[Kim Min-woo]
―Yeah. Already mentioned it in the Gate. No worries.
[Park Si-woo]
―It’s where hyung makes equipment. I’ve been moving materials there with Subspace Rings haha!
[Seo Ye-rim]
―Oh.
[Kim Min-woo]
―I’m heading out to craft now.
(Speeding emoji)
Before I’d entered the martial arts Gate.
There was a massive gap between my ability scores then and now.
[New Title List]
[1. Monster of the Novice Ranks]
[Effect: All Ability Scores +20]
A new Title I’d earned from clearing the Trial Ground this time.
‘Pristine quality.’
Clearing that brutally difficult challenge had paid off. Add to that the Ascension Ring’s universal boost of +100 to all scores,
plus the High-Grade Elixir I’d purchased earlier for +50 across the board, the Golden Dragon Pill the four apostles had given me for +20 more, and even the Geom-young Dan on top of that.
I began methodically stripping off my equipment piece by piece.
‘This is always the best part.’
An accessory that practically never needed replacing. Once he unequipped everything else and examined his raw ability scores—these were the moments when risking his life felt most worthwhile.
His current stats were…….
‘Status window.’
[Name: Kim Min-woo (24)]
[Class: Necromancer]
[Level: 151]
[Mana: 7,150/7,150]
[Title: 24]
[Skills Equipped (9/72): Death Road (EX), Cedric Summon (SSS), Land of Death (S), Bone Golem Summon (A), Bone Exchange (B), Armed Equip (B), Curse of Aging (D)+9, Skeleton Mage Summon (E)+9, Skeleton Summon (F)+9]
[Strength: 596(+59)] [Agility: 596(+59)] [Constitution: 572(+57)] [Magic Power: 650(+65)]
‘Heh.’
Every stat breezed well past the six-hundred mark.
Before, the Indomitable Spirit title had pushed Strength and Agility higher, but that had changed. The highest now was Magic Power.
‘Makes sense.’
Fifty Magic Power from the Four Apostles Ring. Add another ten as the owner of the Divine Beast, and it was no wonder Magic Power had begun surging.
‘Three quality accessories already.’
The Ascension Ring goes without saying.
The Four Apostles Ring from crushing Belitas, or the Dark Tracker Ring from capturing Seo Ye-rim—either alone was premium-grade gear.
And that’s not all.
The necklace from clearing the Orc Gate had two slots carved into it. The one that let him re-enter the 251st floor.
What if he captured the witch and ice dragon, then set jewels in those slots?
‘Jackpot confirmed.’
Four premium accessories.
He’d built the foundation to leap from the upper tier straight to the apex.
Two months in Kim Min-woo’s body now. By progress standards, this barely counted as leaving the tutorial.
His assessment of how far he’d come:
‘Top tier.’
The price paid in blood and risk had been extraordinarily sweet. Up until now, other Kim Min-woos at level 151 had average stats hovering around four hundred.
Most took another two or three months just to reach level 151.
Compared to that, his starting point was demonic. And the changes didn’t end there.
Cedric.
He too had reached level 151, and gained a new skill in the process.
Shadow Spear (SS).
The effect was straightforward.
He creates a spear made of shadow and copies it. You thrust with one spear, and the shadow spear mirrors your strike simultaneously—two attacks instead of one.
For ten minutes: doubled attack power through duplication.
That was SS-rank through and through.
Kim Min-woo began equipping his level 151 setup piece by piece.
[Equipping ‘Gloomy Necromancer Set’!]
[Strength +50, Agility +40, Constitution +50, Magic Power +100!]
His stats inflated again with the fresh equipment.
Add the ten-percent bonus from Indomitable Spirit, and his total Magic Power came to 825.
Mana: 8,250.
[3,300 Skeletons are summoned!]
Three thousand three hundred summons stared back at him.
“What are you doing? Start crafting.”
Click-clack!
The skeletons began moving.
Materials poured out in a torrent.
“Ha-yang, let’s eat.”
―Screech.
Ha-yang swooped in and greedily absorbed the attribute items.
‘Earn for a few more days.’
Once sixty trillion came in, he’d go shopping.
* * *
Over the past few days, he’d mass-produced equipment. Both the quality and quantity of what he supplied had grown dramatically, letting him pocket enormous profit margins.
Almost fifteen hundred profit per piece of gear.
The higher the tier, the more explosive the price jump—which meant even selling cheap left him drowning in surplus. He’d buy C-rank skill books between production runs.
Make it, hand it over, collect the advance on profit margins.
Three days passed in this cycle of money printing and occasional Skill Book purchases.
Inside the Auction House.
Someone began approaching from across the room.
‘He’s here.’
An ordinary-looking face.
The only distinctive feature was a long scar running across his eye.
For an Awakener, it was a common wound.
Yet Kim Min-woo recognized him instantly—after all, he was one of the most notorious villains in Gate Hunter.
‘The head of Shadow. Han Baek-gil.’
The trigger for his appearance was simple.
Build sufficient reputation within the game, and he would come.
This creature would slip into your life one day.
To extend a recruitment offer.
Of course, if you played with an extreme good alignment, he’d skip the pitch and go straight for assassination instead.
‘But I haven’t shown that kind of alignment yet.’
Besides, you needed to demonstrate virtue for it to count as good alignment. A brute reforming himself didn’t get brownie points.
If he had to assign an alignment, it would be something closer to chaotic.
Then Han Baek-gil smiled broadly and spoke.
“Kim Min-woo! I’m a huge fan. Could I possibly get your autograph?”
“Of course. No reason I couldn’t.”
An ordinary recruitment pitch.
So far.
The moment he reached for the paper and pen Han Baek-gil offered to sign.
Writhe.
Between the pages of paper, a strange image flickered. Hundreds of worms crawling across bizarre markings appeared before him.
Han Baek-gil’s expression hardened in an instant.
“You’re quite the talented Awakener, Kim Min-woo.”
‘What is this?’
He’d encountered Han Baek-gil hundreds of times before, but never in this pattern.
Showing him some grotesque image, then dancing to his own tune like that.
‘What kind of pattern is this?’
Kim Min-woo stared directly at Han Baek-gil.

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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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