The Regressed Necromancer Prepares for the Apocalypse - Chapter 24

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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 Necromancer Who Returned Prepares for the End — Episode 24

Do Jin surveyed the area around him.

“Six Chariots in total.”

With Do Jin’s arrival, all ten Players participating in the Chariot Race Quest had assembled. There would be no further challengers joining them now.

“Three solo drivers, one two-person team, and one three-person team.”

Having counted the competitors, Do Jin met Haewon’s gaze. He bent slightly at the waist so their eyes were roughly level—even accounting for her diminutive frame.

“I’m going to participate too. No objections, right?”
“…….”

For some reason, Haewon lowered her head again and said nothing. Watching her silence, Do Jin found his thoughts drifting backward—to times far older than even before his regression.
To when he himself was small.
To his days in the Orphanage.
When he didn’t know whom to trust.
When he didn’t know what to say in front of others.

“…….”

Do Jin scratched his head lightly.
But time kept slipping away. The other Players on the Competition Field were already finishing their preparations to begin the Quest.

— Oh, look! The Kingdom of Gambling stars have arrived—brothers Park Dong-il and Park Dong-hun!
— And there’s the Bandit team! That famous three-person trophy hunters, yes?
— This is getting exciting now…! The betting syndicates must be split!

The team Players were outfitted with respectable gear. They murmured strategy to one another and carried themselves with an ease that spoke to extensive experience.

‘Those ones look like full-time professionals in this world.’

By contrast, the solo Players standing on the Competition Field looked poorly equipped.
Though they varied in age and gender, all of them stood beside their Chariots with scarcely any items or manufactured gear to speak of.
They were likely Players in much the same circumstances as Haewon.

‘Next.’

Do Jin’s eyes swept across the Competition Field as he looked down at Haewon’s bowed head.
Unlike the Spectator Seating, the Arena’s Competition Field was expansive. Why the interior arena was larger than the surrounding seating was perhaps unknowable.
But what mattered now was assessing the Competition Field where the Chariot Race would take place.
Do Jin sharpened his senses.

“Curious…… yet still D-rank, then?”

The Arena has distinctive characteristics for each rank’s Quests.
F-rank Arena Quests are nearly like entertainment shows.
There, Quests provide solid, object-form targets exclusively.
Whether the Players here team up or attack one another is entirely irrelevant to the Quest itself.

E-rank Arena Quests are simulated combat. The opponents there are all training dummies, with object-form targets at the lower tiers, animal-form targets at the middle tiers, and humanoid targets at the upper tiers for the combat Quest.

D-rank Arena induces Players to compete directly against one another. So Quests have first-arrival restrictions or…….

1. Park Dong-il, Park Dong-hun (pair)
2. Han Myeong-seok
3. Song Ji-suk
4. Bandit (trio)
5. Kang Hyun
6. Haewon (+1)

– Behold, today’s Players! Who will the spectators choose?
– The excitement is already running high!
– So which of these six will emerge as the victor and Clear the Quest?

Then something appeared beside the notification window hanging in the air.

“……!”

It was not a notification window created by the Arena.

1. Park Dong-il, Park Dong-hun (pair) : 1,350
2. Han Myeong-seok : 18
3. Song Ji-suk : 5
4. Bandit (trio) : 1,414
5. Kang Hyun : 20
6. Haewon (+1) : 13

The massive banner-like display was fixed in the air, held aloft by Lower Wind Spirits.

– The voting is final at last! No more changes to your votes!
– As expected, the votes have concentrated on the two favorites!
– So who will be crowned the champion?

……In this manner, by restricting both Login and Clear opportunities, the system limited the number of Players capable of receiving rewards.

‘Until now, a Player could clear Quests through solo efforts, but from D-rank onward, that won’t be the case. Then again…….’

After reading the notification window, Do Jin turned his head toward Haewon.

“……!”

Haewon had cautiously lifted her head and was gazing up at Do Jin’s face.
But the instant he turned his gaze toward her, she hurriedly averted her eyes downward again.

‘What is this, a skittish animal…….’

“……Yes.”
“Looking at the notification display, it seems we’ve become one team……”
“…….”

Yet Do Jin caught her head tilting in a barely perceptible nod.

Consent extracted at the eleventh hour, just before the Chariot Race began.
It might have seemed like an unnecessary formality, but it was the best approach to drawing closer to Haewon.
Showing that he respected her wishes above all else.
Different from how things had gone with Rahee or Tyron, but given that Haewon was neither of them, it was an unavoidable condition.
Do Jin quickly led Haewon up onto the Chariot.

‘The Quest is about to start. I’ve wasted time persuading her!’

Do Jin surveyed the competitors with a cold gaze. And the Chariot they themselves were riding.
This was the first team Quest he’d experienced since his return.
The D-rank Arena—the first to officially permit Player team formation within the system.
Some might wonder about it.
Couldn’t Players form alliances even in lower-ranked Arenas?
Did the system really need a formal team-building function?

“Grip the Reins! I’ll handle support!”

Experienced Players would soon understand why veteran teams formed in the D-rank Arena.

* * *

Start!

The moment the Arena’s notification announced the beginning of the Chariot Race.

The Chariot shot forward like a bullet.

“Wh—what?!”
“Aaahhhhh!!!!”

Eliminations occurred instantly.

— Oh my! Eliminations right at the start, as expected!
— Today’s startline casualties: two Players! Numbers 2 and 3, it seems!
— Congratulations to those who correctly predicted the startline elimination count!

The Kingdom of Gambling truly was extraordinary. They wagered on when eliminations would occur and how many.
Do Jin’s brow furrowed before he shouted to Haewon.

“Just focus on holding on!”
“Yes, yes!”

Seeing two Players tumble from their Chariot the moment they launched, Haewon’s mind snapped to full alertness.

‘I think I saw blood.’

It was the Arena, so injured Players would recover quickly.
But a Quest beginning with bloodshed was something even Haewon was experiencing for the first time.
Clench.
As tension and fear crept upward through her body, Haewon’s grip on the Reins tightened.

‘This Arena… it’s D-rank, right?’

Haewon was still only E-rank. Though she’d Cleared countless lower-Arena Quests immediately after her Awakening, she lacked proper equipment and had been confined to lower-ranked Arenas.
The Arena restricted high-ranked Players from Logging in, but it didn’t prevent lower-ranked Players from entering higher-ranked Arenas.
Yet lower-ranked Players rarely did so. The reason was simple: clearing the Quest was nearly impossible.
High-ranked Players already swarmed the upper Arenas, so why would a lower-ranked Player accept a Quest beyond their capacity?
Moreover, as officials from the Awakening Bureau began to manage the Arena, that tendency transformed into an unspoken rule.
In that sense, the fact that Haewon—a mere E-rank Player—had logged into a D-rank Arena meant only two things.
A body to fill an empty slot, and a spectacle to witness the thrill of elimination.

“……!”

The spectators roared as they watched Players unable to withstand the Chariot’s speed tumble from their vehicles the moment the race began.
In that instant, a memory flickered through her mind—the sting of being ostracized at school for her poverty, and now……!

“……Gasp!”
“Focus!”

In the moment she nearly lost her grip on the Reins without thinking.
A large, strong, and warm hand seized both her hand and the Reins together.

It was Do Jin.

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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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