Damn Necromancer - Chapter 95

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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 Donzirah Guild’s Necromancer (95)
Andromalius, who had been staring intently, nodded.
—Very well. Do accept it.
[Reward granted!]
[You have obtained a Masquerade Invitation!]
‘An invitation?’
I studied the paper that materialized in my palm.
[Masquerade Invitation]
[Grade: Special]
[An invitation to attend a grand banquet of the Demon Lords. Upon entry, something extraordinary may unfold.]
[Banquet Date: August 1st]
The item description was anything but ordinary.
‘A banquet of the Demon Lords.’
In other words, I was being invited to a place crawling with creatures like this Andromalius.
“Do all the lords attend?”
—Typically, yes. The Masquerade isn’t held frequently, after all.
I watched the creature nod.
‘He said he ranked 72nd, didn’t he.’
As befitted a Demon Lord, he didn’t look weak by any measure.
If I had to rank him.
‘Slightly weaker than Balkan.’
Which meant the lords above him could be even stronger than Balkan.
An invitation to a place teeming with such creatures.
‘Intriguing.’
Greater risks came with greater rewards.
I tucked the invitation into my inventory.
It was late February now, so I had roughly five months until then.
I could grow stronger before attending.
I glanced at the creature still hovering before me.
“What are you doing? Get going.”
—My, are you rejecting me? How resolute. Well, I understand. Trust between us is still lacking, after all.
“If you understand, then leave.”
—Haha. I shall depart shortly.
The creature snapped his fingers with a crisp sound.
That was the moment.
[You are granted a portion of Andromalius’s Divine Power, one of the 72 Demon Lords!]
[This is a temporary authority!]
—This is but a humble gift from me. At one critical moment, one of my Divine Powers will activate automatically at your disposal.
Divine Power.
So one of three would trigger when needed—Criminal Detection, Stolen Item Locating, or Treasure Finding?
Either way, there was no reason to refuse a gift.
“I’ll make good use of it.”
—I look forward to our encounter at the Masquerade.
The creature’s form grew indistinct.
Then.
[The Gate returns to its original state!]
With the message, I was back in Demon’s Castle.
‘He offered a contract before giving the invitation.’
The Masquerade was a grand stage where one’s true value could be unveiled.
I’d nearly fallen for it without thinking.
‘This is why you can’t trust everything a demon says.’
I could roughly guess why he’d granted me his power.
A taste of his Divine Power, a seduction to entice me into his service.
If this truly proved itself in a critical moment.
‘Well, I might just consider it then.’
Regardless.
One fact became clear.
This Andromalius coveted me.
Enough to endure such a loss to demonstrate his interest.
If the 72nd-ranked demon would go this far, the 71st or 70th wouldn’t differ much. Even the lords above them might well be casting covetous eyes my way.
They’d be better off finding a decent agent for themselves too.
He checked his Level.
‘Level 215.’
Isabella, known to have the fastest leveling speed in the world, had hit Level 100 in about four months.
But on his end?
In less than three months, he’d already surpassed Level 200.
It was utterly absurd progress.
‘Then again, I’ve staked my life on it more than once.’
He’d come close to death countless times. This kind of result was only possible because he threw himself recklessly into danger.
‘One more sweep through here and I’ll hit 220.’
The starting Level for a B-grade Awakener was 251.
Taking that into account—
‘B-grade’s practically within reach.’
B-grade was now just around the corner.
‘The B-grade skill was Durahans Summoning, wasn’t it.’
Durahans.
Headless Undead Knights—one of the summons called the jewel of Necromancy.
‘They’re quite intelligent.’
From Durahans onward, they could think properly. In name they were Undead summons, but mentally they were hardly inferior to humans.
And that wasn’t all.
Their swordsmanship was formidable, befitting a knight.
‘They even buff the lower-tier Undead.’
A knight is a commander of soldiers.
Durahans had buff skills to match that role. Put plainly, an Undead horde with a Durahan and one without were worlds apart in power.
Best of all was that this summoning skill was a basic skill.
For a Necromancer, it was like rain in a drought.
‘From this tier onward, the power gap starts to open up real fast.’
Crawling and scraping by with meat-shield skeletons.
Once he’d grown enough to start summoning Durahans, the Necromancer finally came into their own. Even without massive gold investment, this was the tier where you could pull your own weight, so to speak.
‘Of course…….’
Since Durahans had intelligence, subduing them wasn’t exactly straightforward.
Most Necromancers had to make many sacrifices for the knight, flatter and kowtow, before they could raise the Durahan’s loyalty.
‘I don’t have that problem.’
The whip of love was one of the finest tools for raising loyalty.
No reason to take the long way around when there was a shortcut.
Either way.
‘I’ll need to learn this soon enough…….’
One thing was certain, at least.
The Korean Auction House alone would never get him to +9. B-grade Skill Books were too scarce. So he’d need to tap into auction inventories from other nations.
‘Off-mainstream goes for 500 million per tome. Mainstream, a billion.’
High-tier Awakeners were few in number.
And as Skill Books climbed the tiers, drop rates dwindled bit by bit. That’s why prices skyrocketed at each stage. The higher you went, the more severe it became.
From B-grade onward, you weren’t just anybody—you were recognized as a top-tier Awakener. And the price jump reflected that brutal reality.
‘It’s going to cost me at least 10 trillion.’
That’s if he went straight to +9 without stumbling.
If a Skill Book shattered at +7 or +8—
’20 trillion.’
That’s what it would take.
‘And I’ll need to start preparing to buy Highest-Grade Elixirs too…….’
The witch Christine.
The Elixirs she sold could be consumed starting at Level 300. The problem was that from this tier onward, the price was anybody’s guess.
Lowest-grade, Low-grade, Mid-grade, High-grade—
Up to that point, alchemists from various nations could still produce them. The scarcity wasn’t extreme.
‘But Highest-grade is different.’
Only Christine—meaning only the United States—could supply it.
The price was classified.
‘Though I’ve got a rough idea.’
When playing other characters besides Kim Min-woo, he’d gone to the United States and bought some. Even though he’d done the country a favor back then—
‘They charged 30 billion per unit.’
Elixir prices roughly triple with each tier.
A High-Grade Elixir goes for around 3 billion won per unit.
A Highest-Grade Elixir normally fetches about 10 billion at most.
But they’d marked it up tenfold.
Profiteering run mad.
It was possible because the United States was not only the strongest Awakener nation but also the sole supplier of Elixirs.
Don’t like it? Complaining?
Then don’t buy it.
We didn’t want to sell anyway.
That was their stance.
And if Korea’s Super Rookie, Kim Min-woo, came to purchase Elixirs?
‘They’d jack up the price even more.’
He’d already shown them quite a lot.
Moreover, behind Kim Min-woo stood the Ilseong Group—a wealthy patron with deep pockets.
Between reining him in and turning a profit, there was no reason not to demand over 300 billion won per unit.
After all, from America’s perspective, there was little at stake if they didn’t sell.
The witch Christine saw it the same way.
Why should she object if the nation itself was happy to pocket a premium price?
‘This is going to be rough.’
She might even feign madness and demand 500 billion per unit.
Yet he had no choice but to secure them somehow.
How else was he supposed to endure an Ability Score of 600? The secret pact France had struck with America surely stemmed from that same pressure.
‘An Ability Score of 600…….’
Most Awakeners would reach their full Ability Score after consuming around 600 Elixirs.
At 300 billion each, that came to 18 trillion won.
But Kim Min-woo’s body was somewhat unusual. His Elixir consumption rate was three or four times higher than normal.
Accounting for that…….
‘Somewhere between 54 and 72 trillion.’
And that was at 300 billion per unit, not 500 billion.
He didn’t even want to think about it.
That wasn’t all.
‘I also need to account for the Heavenly Auction House.’
The Heavenly Auction House, which would open around May.
Fine items would surface there.
He naturally intended to scoop up as much as he could. Tens of trillions would disappear there as well.
A staggering rate of expenditure.
‘Money…….’
It really did run through his hands.
Of course, he’d already devised some solutions.
First, investment from the Ilseong Group.
He planned to secure 60 trillion won in capital.
Though he’d heard there was some resistance at the moment. The most vocal opposition came from the Ilseong Guild itself.
‘That’s understandable.’
If all the group’s available funds were channeled into the Donzirah Guild, it meant less investment would flow to the Ilseong Guild—that was inevitable.
With themselves being sidelined, they had no choice but to howl in protest. That’s why he’d hastily resolved the C-grade Skill Book issue by selling equipment. Money he’d earned that way went straight to appeasing them.
‘I need to bring these bastards in line.’
With that settled, he aimed to pocket the 60 trillion.
Beyond that, he’d identified several other money-generating angles.
If the plan went smoothly, he should be able to rake in over 100 trillion won.
‘For that, I’ll need to stay on the move.’
The Undead forces began systematically exploring every corner of the castle.
* * *
[You have defeated Gelitas, the boss of this B-grade Gate!]
[Gate Clear rewards are being granted!]
[Level increased by 2…….]
An enormous demon, tortoise-like in appearance, crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Merchen and Cedric alone had been more than sufficient to take down the boss. With all the summoned creatures joining the fray as well, it was hardly surprising the creature hadn’t lasted long.
He gathered up the byproducts.
‘These’ll work fine as crafting materials later.’
As for actual items—well.
How much of value could come from a B-grade Gate anyway?
The Heavenly Auction House, then.
‘I’ll sell what I picked up today overseas later.’
Han Baek-gil’s Assassin Equipment might find use down the road.
Since the performance was decent enough, I could hand it over to an assassin summon the moment I got one.
I’d keep this piece, and sell the rest abroad in small batches.
‘That way, no one will ask questions.’
From Number One through Number Seven.
They were all fairly famous Awakeners in Korea. Seven of them vanishing overnight was bad enough—but their equipment showing up on the market?
That was a recipe for noise.
So I’d split the gear up and sell it little by little overseas. That should keep things quiet.
I stepped out of the Gate.
Even with Shadow looking for me, it hadn’t taken more than half a day to clear it.
As I emerged, I caught sight of the soldiers and Awakeners I’d seen that morning—their faces frozen in shock as they stared at me.
‘Isn’t that the Awakener we saw before?’
‘What kind of clear time is that…….’
Solo clearing a B-grade Gate without even a shift change. Impossible.
Even for an A-grade Awakener, this speed defied imagination.
It was the kind of sight that drove home the old saying—the world is wide, and hidden masters are many.
I gave them a polite bow.
“Take care out there.”
“Ah, yes.”
Was that A-grade Awakener’s name Han Jin-wook?
They probably thought they’d be seeing that name again.
Whether they did or not didn’t concern me.
I left the Gate unhurried, drove home in the car, and made straight for Chairman Kim’s study, knocking on the door.
“Father, are you in?”
Come in.
I opened the door to find Chairman Kim, glasses perched on his nose, reading alongside Na-ye.
He looked up with a puzzled expression.
“I thought you were heading to a Gate today. Did you not go?”
“I cleared it and came back.”
“Hm? That one?”
Chairman Kim’s face registered surprise.
The B-grade Gate, Demon’s Castle.
He knew that one well enough.
When I said I was going alone, he hadn’t worried.
After all, I had a record of clearing even A+ Gates and coming back alive.
A B-grade was something I’d just breeze through.
That was what he’d thought……
‘But it sounds like it didn’t even take half a day?’
Was that even possible?
He’d been a C-grade Awakener himself once, with experience delving into Gates.
Which made what I was saying all the harder to believe.
Just as he was about to speak again—
“Na-ye.”
“Yes?”
“Go spend some time with your mother for a bit.”
“Okay.”
Once I’d sent her out, I turned to Chairman Kim and spoke.
“A group of assassins came for me today.”
At those words, Chairman Kim jolted upright in his seat.
“……What? Assassins? Are you hurt? Are you all right?”
“I disguised myself and went in deliberately to catch them.”
“For heaven’s sake—why didn’t you tell me sooner if there were people like that after you?”
“Lee Hyeon-sung, Choi Cheol-min, Seong Hye-rim, Kim Jin-woo, Seo Hyeong-shin, Ji Hyeon-wook, Park Ji-hyeon. Could I have apprehended any of these men in the real world?”
“……!”
Chairman Kim’s eyes widened.
Every name I’d mentioned was famous.
Ranging from guild masters of mid-sized guilds to key talent drawn from major guilds’ rosters.
“You’re telling me all of them came to assassinate you?”
“Yes. From what I heard, he seemed to belong to some unusual organization. It was called Shadow.”
“Shadow? I’ve never heard of it before…….”
“What’s even stranger is that these people appeared to be copying experience points.”
“……?”
Kim Min-woo laid out the situation.
Han Baek-gil, known as the Priest.
And on top of that, information about Shadow, which supposedly maintained branches not just domestically but across the globe.
“……If that’s really true, that’s serious, isn’t it? They’re leveling up quickly. And they set their sights on you?”
“Yes. It seems they were wary of my growth rate, but I felt you should know about it too.”
Kim Min-woo’s reason for bringing this up was straightforward.
The conflict with Shadow.
If it escalated further, there was a possibility they might target his family.
Of course, security was already being maintained adequately, but…….
‘There’s no harm in being more thorough in our preparations.’
It was possible they might launch a surprise attack with enemies at considerably higher levels than before.
Raising the security level was absolutely necessary in light of that.
“……I understand. We’ll be on our guard.”
“Yes. And these pieces of equipment here—I was hoping you could dispose of them overseas.”
“Consider it done.”
Chairman Kim nodded, his expression hardening.
‘Now that the preamble is finished…….’
It was time to move to the main topic.
“I hear the Ilseong Guild has been causing quite a stir lately?”

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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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