The Regressed Necromancer Prepares for the Apocalypse - Chapter 37

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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 Returning Necromancer Prepares for the End — Episode 37

Do Jin’s decision to break the rhythm of the three spear-wielders who had invaded proved effective.
Their coordination shattered as their breathing fell out of sync, and their attacks and defenses began to crumble.
Before long, Do Jin had slipped free of their encirclement, and now the three players lay spread before him, ready to be dismantled at his leisure.
When the Leader, gripping Dual Spears, thrust and swept his weapon forward,
Do Jin drew the Halberd deftly toward himself with his spear, using it as a shield.
As the woman’s Glaive cut through the air to slice at his shoulder,
Do Jin kicked the spear shaft gripped in the Leader’s one arm, turning the blow against the woman’s legs.
Meanwhile, the other invaders under assault from the Low-Grade Vampire Goblins could no longer execute their strategy; they were hemorrhaging both stamina and mana as the creatures fed.
They had become nothing more than potions—reservoirs of vitality and power for Do Jin, the goblins’ master.

‘Now there’s no risk of Watchers or anyone else starting a stream.’

His first hidden card had played its part with spectacular precision.
Do Jin drew his second card.
Blood Magic.

……!

The moment the skill activated,
Do Jin became aware of every blood vessel in his body,
and simultaneously, he felt the pulse of all his blood.

‘There is blood flowing in from outside.’

The lifeblood of the invaders, drained by his Low-Grade Vampire Goblins, his Subordinates.

— Ugh……! Get away!
— This cursed undead……!

The archer players, who had comparatively more stamina, were still thrashing and struggling to peel the vampire goblins away,
but the Raven Skeletons kept pecking at them, obstructing their efforts until exhaustion set in.
So acutely did Do Jin sense all of it through Blood Magic that he could perceive the flow of blood and the state of every living opponent with crystal clarity.
All of this happened before the spear-wielders before him could even react to their comrades’ screams.

‘The world before my eyes has slowed to a crawl.’

Before the return, Do Jin at this stage had never reached such a state—not even when he became the last survivor.
It seemed as though Do Jin’s mind, grown accustomed to multitasking, and his Player combat style, honed to superhuman precision in mana control, had reached their apotheosis upon meeting the Necromancer class.
And that apotheosized mana sense of his now perceived the movement of blood.
The blood that Do Jin originally carried and the newly received blood mingled as though they had always been one,
flowing through his hand into the Mithril Spear.
The Mithril Spear transformed.
The shaft flushed crimson, and as the simple blade expanded like a dirk, new blood-colored spear points erupted along its flanks.
The new points took the shape of an axe-head: the original blade rose high at the center, while axe-blades flanked it on either side, radiating crimson light.
The Mithril Spear, once a pale silver, was no longer itself.
The Leader’s eyes widened at the sight. For the first time during the battle, his mouth opened.

“That is……!”

The mysterious male player who had drawn a crimson spear from the Vortex of Greed.
A weapon whose form had been completely transfigured then, just as the Mithril Spear was now.

“……Your spear—you said during Streaming that you obtained a shop item, but……!”

The Leader knew the truth: equipment forged by human craftsmen and items provided by the System as rewards or merchandise were wholly different things.
Just as humans could not hack the System behind the Arena, items could not be modified—it was impossible.
The only being who could have accomplished it was……!

“You……!”

Normally, the Watcher would have Logged Out the moment he confirmed the situation and relayed the information. Failing that, he should have started Streaming!
But now the informant Leader had hidden away lay unconscious, struck down by a Low-Grade Vampire Goblin.
Which meant——

“Log Out. Now!”

Leader stepped forward. He unleashed the full force of his magical power.
He had to hold this monster back himself.

“Found you!!!”

Hearing Leader’s command, the woman wielding the Glaive and the man with the Halberd clenched their teeth, then immediately broke from the battlefield and began running.
The Arena’s entrance lay two hundred meters away.
Glancing toward it, Do Jin could see a Low-Grade Vampire Goblin attacking something invisible.
But there was no time to retrieve the fallen Watcher as well.

“That won’t happen.”

Yet Do Jin’s voice came soft and resolute, driving downward like a hammer blow.
In the same instant, Raven Skeletons and Monkey Skeletons descended upon them.

“Ugh——!”

As Leader watched his subordinates’ feet become rooted to the ground in a heartbeat, a bitter hiss escaped his teeth.
Do Jin charged at him wielding a blood-red spear, the Apostle Armor wrapped around his body through Subordinate Armament on full display, making no attempt to conceal it.

“I never said you had permission to leave!”

The spear’s form shifted in an instant, yet there was not the slightest tremor in Do Jin’s stance.
Whether it took the shape of a long spear, a cavalry lance, or a trident.
Whether the blade at the shaft’s end resembled a poleax or a pollaxe.
Even a simple staff with no blade at all transformed into a weapon the moment it entered Do Jin’s grasp.

“——Tch!”

Gnashing his teeth, Leader swung his Dual Spears in response.
Leader’s Dual Spears were not an item but equipment—a weapon forged by a human craftsman using materials obtained from the System, crafted in the traditional blacksmith’s way. Though rated S-Grade by the System’s measure……

‘The System’s ranking isn’t reliable, and compared to genuine items, its actual Grade is probably lower still.’

High-Grade items were exceedingly rare.
At this moment, apart from Do Jin, there was not a single player capable of accessing the Shop System.
And only a tiny fraction of players sold items obtained as quest rewards.
Unlike players, items don’t distinguish Grade in the Arena Log-In, which made items all the more precious to players.
Clang!
Spark!!

“Hngh——!”

A strangled cry leaked from between Leader’s clenched teeth. Had he not crossed his Dual Spears to block, the shaft would already have snapped.

‘His raw strength doesn’t seem superior to mine……!’

The Mithril Spear, originally S-Grade, had been fortified by Blood Magic, its blade’s keenness and the shaft’s rigidity both surpassing their original limits.
And Do Jin himself, while dividing his magical power to command his Subordinates, had strictly limited the amount he poured into close combat with Leader.
Just pure Spear Arts.
Before his return, a sudden Main Scenario had begun, and as all Arenas transformed into Dungeons, countless unpopular Arenas that had failed to clear quests triggered Dungeon Breaks, and——
Do Jin’s spear, honed through survival in that harsh world, was every bit the equal of Leader’s spear—forged in the depths of an unrecognized underworld where hunting humans had become a livelihood.
When Leader wielded his dual spears simultaneously, layering feints atop feints to set up the true strike behind them,
Do Jin would slip his stance sideways, rendering the very arc of Leader’s attack meaningless.

“Tch……!”

As Leader’s attack scattered, he bent the angle, his one spear diving for Do Jin’s waist while the other sought his wrist,
Whoosh—
Do Jin spun his Blood Spear in a tight circle and brought it down in a savage arc, batting both of Leader’s shafts aside at once.
This exchange had already played out several times over.

‘Is this really the movement of some greenhorn who’s only been Awakened for less than a year?’

The moment Leader received the commission on Do Jin, he’d conducted a thorough collection and analysis of every scrap of information about him—not just his streaming sessions, but his entire life before the Awakening.

‘Before the Awakening, he was just a kid who never received proper training. And he even…didn’t even serve in the military!’

Bang!

“Ugh!!!”

A sudden blow, delivered straight to Leader’s face.

“Well. You’ve been conditioning your face too? Your forehead’s quite toughened up, isn’t it?”
“……Grhh!”

His nose bridge seemed to have caved inward. Fire flashed in Leader’s eyes.

“A sorcerer playing at being a warrior……?”

By now, all the other intruders had already been subdued.
The monk, mage, summoner, archers, and Observer had been completely incapacitated by the Low-Grade Vampire Goblins.
The two spearmen were under concentrated assault from the skeletons and had eventually dropped their weapons.
Yet not a single one of them was dead.

— Do not touch their lives. Only render them unconscious.

But Leader did not know Do Jin’s intention. With all his subordinates collapsed and unresponsive, Leader’s conclusion was simple.

‘It’s all over.’

As a leader, it wasn’t an unreasonable thought. They were not legitimate players recognized by society; they were bodies thrown at whatever dirty work suited those in power.
Death was routine for them, and when they died, no one cared.
Leader himself had already witnessed the death of someone standing beside him more than once.

What difference did it make if they didn’t die here in the Arena?
The moment they logged out, they would all be executed for failing the mission—silenced permanently.
The very life the System had granted them would end at human hands instead.

‘I doubt I’ll make it back alive either.’

There was no logging out, no streaming—the Blood Spear came at him too relentlessly, leaving him no moment for anything else.
The instant his mind wandered, that crimson spear would pierce his throat.
If he kept fighting like this, he’d end up surrounded by the Necromancer’s undead, torn to shreds.
Before that happens……!

“……Huh!”

* * *

Meanwhile, Do Jin sensed an unusual concentration of magical energy.

‘Well, well. So this old man is serious, is he?’

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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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