Surviving the Apocalypse as an All-Time Best Overpowered Necromancer - Chapter 60

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

Episode 60
60. Connected by Rails (2)
“Bone Armor Crafting!”
[Here are the craftable items.]
– Bone Armor × 8
The moment he activated the skill, a list of craftable items appeared before him.
But something felt off.
There were dozens of corpses piled in one corner alone.
Yet only eight pieces of armor could be crafted?
‘Do corpses become unusable as materials if left for too long? That can’t be right.’
Puzzled, Lee Gang-hyuk tilted his head and approached the pile of bodies.
“Hmm.”
The stench of decay hit him hard for a moment, but after spending so much time around the Zombies, perhaps that’s why—
He only frowned slightly, examining the body pile without hesitation.
And then…….
He shook his head as if he’d found the answer.
‘The ribs are completely shattered.’
Most of the corpses had their rib cages crushed beyond repair.
He knew why.
The Bone Axes he’d armed the Zombies with.
‘So that’s why I don’t have enough material for Bone Armor.’
Having identified the problem, he paused the Bone Armor crafting and rubbed his chin.
“I’ll give the Bone Silk Armor to Seo A-rin, then craft just what Seo Hwa-rin and I need before thinking about anything else.”
Since his Craftsmanship had improved, the new pieces should outperform his first creations. He decided to craft armor for himself and Seo Hwa-rin first, then reconsider.
And so…….
After crafting the Bone Armor and checking its performance, Lee Gang-hyuk’s brow furrowed involuntarily.
[Bone Armor]
– Armor crafted from someone’s bones.
– Defense + 2
It was no different from what he’d made before.
‘So that’s the limit with ordinary corpses.’
Now that he thought about it, when he’d used an ordinary Zombie corpse as material, no notification related to Craftsmanship had appeared like it did with mutant Zombie corpses.
That meant the latent performance in ordinary corpses had reached its maximum.
“Hmm.”
He was uncertain again.
If he couldn’t craft superior Bone Armor, there was no point wasting time and materials on it.
‘Maybe I should’ve just slept.’
The moment regret set in, the massive pillar of fire he’d witnessed near Junggye Station suddenly flashed through his mind.
The Jungnang-gu Alliance had blown up an LPG filling station even though they knew he was nearby.
What would happen to them if such people attacked?
‘What would happen…….’
They might die without even putting up a fight.
That couldn’t happen.
For the team’s survival, he had to raise their combat strength by any means necessary.
Even if he couldn’t overpower the Chungmuro Alliance, he needed to build up their forces enough to at least weather an attack and escape safely.
‘I thought equipping them with high-performance items was the answer…….’
A sigh escaped Lee Gang-hyuk as these thoughts continued. He shook his head unconsciously, then a skill he’d never used before suddenly came to mind.
Undead Creation.
A skill that crafts undead from corpses as material.
The reason he hadn’t used Undead Creation until now was that the Zombies he’d tamed with Corpse Control weren’t very strong.
And understandably so…….
Their muscles had rotted, making them weak and slow to move.
He’d thought undead created from such material wouldn’t be any different.
Honestly, even now he wasn’t confident about it.
‘But still…….’
Leaving an available skill unused and neglected wasn’t giving his all, and perhaps the undead’s performance might exceed his expectations.
‘Since things have come this far, let me try crafting them.’
Since the rib cages were too damaged to use for Bone Armor material, Lee Gang-hyuk decided to create undead instead and activated the skill.
“Undead Creation!”
[Creating undead.]
[Your skills influence the creation.]
[Here are the creatable undead.]
Bone Swordsman × 9
Bone Spearman × 9
‘Bone Swordsman? Bone Spearman?’
The moment he checked the list, he could immediately tell what these undead did.
‘The skills influencing creation must refer to Bone Weapon Crafting…….’
The weapon craft seemed to determine their class.
But oddly, only nine of each could be created.
Which meant…….
‘The corpses for undead creation also need to be intact without any broken parts.’
Realizing that the number he could create had dropped because he’d just made Bone Armor, he nodded and began thinking again.
Bone Swordsman and Bone Spearman.
Since they were on the list, he could make both…….
But he was uncertain about the ratio.
‘Setting ordinary Zombies as meat shields up front, then attacking from behind with spears would work best, right? Deploying Bone Swordsmen as the situation demands could work too, but…… first I need to check their movement speed.’
He’d finished analyzing the Undead Creation skill.
Now it was time to check the performance of the created undead.
“Three Bone Swordsmen, six Bone Spearmen!”
[Creating Bone Swordsmen and Bone Spearmen.]
[Your Mana influences the abilities of the undead to be created.]
[Your Craftsmanship influences the performance of the weapons the created undead will equip.]
[Bone Swordsmen and Bone Spearmen have been created.]
Moments later…….
Skeletons gripping swords and spears rose from the body pile.
“…….”
At the sight of their bare bones, he briefly worried whether they could actually attack properly.
“Hmm.”
Lee Gang-hyuk let out a small sound as he read the notification that had appeared when the undead was created.
‘Mana…….’
Until now, he’d only thought of Physical Ability as something that enhanced himself.
But if it influenced the undead’s abilities, he’d need to find ways to raise not just Charisma and Craftsmanship, but Physical Ability as well.
‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about that right now.’
With that thought, as he looked at the created undead, they formed a formation as if reading Lee Gang-hyuk’s mind, just like the Zombies did.
The Command Domain Effect was being applied.
Satisfied, Lee Gang-hyuk continued observing the undead.
As the formation took shape, he nodded with wide, surprised eyes. The undead had formed their formation much faster than the Zombies.
‘This fast despite having no muscles……. Is it because of the skill?’
That seemed to be the case.
‘They were created at a higher level, so they’re better than ordinary Zombies.’
Conceivably, the Zombies might have been far stronger than the undead at first.
Now that Electric…….
Lee Jae-hyuk, who had become Electric, had attacked him. Most Necromancers used Zombies, he’d said.
Of course…….
He was different from an ordinary Necromancer.
Necro Smith.
A hybrid of two professions in one. That might be why he had the Undead Creation skill…….
‘I’d need to have met other Necromancers to know.’
Since awakening, he’d never met another Necromancer besides himself, so he had no idea what skills they possessed.
In that moment…….
Lee Gang-hyuk’s gaze naturally drifted upward.
‘Would that person happen to know?’
The man locked on the 30th floor had said before:
He’d come here to take revenge because his lover was killed by Lee Jae-hyuk, who hunted only Necromancers.
Then wouldn’t he know well about the skills Necromancers possessed?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Lee Gang-hyuk sighed and shook his head.
‘Never mind. There’s no need to reopen old wounds. And more importantly, there’s no point comparing.’
He’d confirmed that the created undead were faster than the Zombies. That was enough.
Everything else would naturally become clear once he deployed them in actual combat. Just as he was about to head back up——
Park Mu-jin, who’d said he’d consult with the Alliance leader, sent a note.
[The Alliance leader wishes to meet with you directly and speak with you.]
‘Directly?’
The moment he read the note, his brow furrowed.
But meeting the Alliance leader directly seemed less troublesome than communicating through Park Mu-jin, so he sent back an agreement.
[Thank you. If you have no particular preference, may we arrange the location?]
‘They ask to meet, then want to pick the place too? That’s not acceptable.’
That couldn’t be allowed.
Though he needed the Jungnang-gu Alliance’s strength because of the Chungmuro Alliance, he didn’t fully trust them yet.
So he had to choose the location himself to prepare for any contingencies.

[They say two days from now at 13:00 works. Since we need to wrap up our situation here……. Would that be acceptable?]
When Lee Gang-hyuk said he’d choose the location, Park Mu-jin responded without hesitation, as if he’d expected as much.
‘Hmm. Two days from now at 13:00……. That gives me plenty of time to prepare. The location is the issue though…….’
As Lee Gang-hyuk thought briefly about where to meet, a place where he could hide the Zombies and skeletons came to mind, and he sent a note with a smile.

* * *
“Think it’ll be okay?”
The moment he’d agreed to meet the Jungnang-gu Alliance leader, Lee Gang-hyuk returned home and looked at the undead he’d just created, scratching his cheek uncertainly.
He was genuinely worried about how Seo Hwa-rin and Seo A-rin would react when they saw the undead tomorrow.
The Zombies were manageable since they saw them often…….
But would it really be okay to show Bone Armor to the two women who already grimaced at the sight of it?
“……It won’t be okay.”
They’d probably shriek the moment they saw them.
Honestly, their appearance wasn’t easy to get used to.
Even Lee Gang-hyuk, who’d created the undead himself, was worried they might haunt his dreams—the skeletons’ appearance was that ghastly.
“Ugh. Well…… what can I do. They’ll have to deal with it.”
Just as they’d eventually adapted to the Bone Armor, which they’d initially loathed,
The skeletons too would one day become something they could accept through continued exposure.
“I don’t know. Let me sleep on it and think tomorrow.”
Tomorrow’s Lee Gang-hyuk would handle tomorrow’s problems.
Though his mind was alert, his body was exhausted. Lee Gang-hyuk lay down and began snoring immediately.
Despite his mind remaining clear, it seemed his body had been tired.
And so…….
Lee Gang-hyuk, who fell asleep the moment he lay down, awoke when the sun hung directly overhead.
Perhaps because he’d slept so deeply he hadn’t even noticed when he’d drifted off—
His body felt remarkably refreshed, and he was quite satisfied.
“Mmmmm.”
He stretched to loosen the muscles that had stiffened overnight.
“!!”
The moment his eyes met those of the skeletons he’d created during the night, he started in surprise and bolted upright from the bed.
“Oh, it’s…… you guys.”
The moment he stepped out of bed and got his bearings, Lee Gang-hyuk let out a relieved sigh.
Even he, their creator, had been so startled.
Worried about how the two women would react, he shook his head, dressed, and headed for the 23rd floor.
“When do you think he’ll wake up?”
“Soon, probably. Let’s just let him sleep. He must be exhausted.”
“Okay!”
The voices of the two women drifted up the stairwell.
“……You all wait here.”
“…….”
If they encountered the skeletons before he could explain, the shock would be too great.
He left them to wait on the 22nd floor and brought only the Zombies down to the two women.
“Oh! You’re awake?”
“You should eat! You must be really hungry, right?”
The moment they saw Lee Gang-hyuk, they smiled brightly and greeted him warmly. That made it even harder to speak, but since it was a problem he’d have to face eventually, he averted his eyes and told them.
“……There’s something I want to show you both.”
“Us?”
At his sudden words, the two women tilted their heads in puzzlement, yet their eyes sparkled with anticipation as they stared at him.
Perhaps because of that—
Lee Gang-hyuk’s expression grew even more awkward, like that of someone guilty, and he continued.
“Don’t be startled. It’s safe.”
“Huh?”

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