Damn Necromancer

Chapter 53

[Translator – Proks]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 53: Dragon Phoenix Gathering (1)

[The Human-faced Spider collapses!]

[Level Up! Your level increases by 4!]

The moment the Human-faced Spider collapsed, she clenched her fist.

Honestly, it was half a gamble.

Even a genius can’t create skills every time.

But she did it.

Kim Minwoo looked at the Human-faced Spider.

As expected of an intermediate-boss monster, it spat out experience points and byproducts like crazy.

Among them was a Soulbound Book.

He glanced at Seo Yerim.

She still seemed to be lost in thought, staring blankly at her bow.

“Seo Yerim?”

“Ah, yes?”

“What are you going to do with that?”

He asked, pointing at the skill book.

Honestly speaking, it was almost a tie.

On his side, he was able to deal a lot of damage thanks to Cedric and Whitey.

‘In these cases, usually…’

Byproducts can be acquired by all party members.

If there is no outstanding contributor in the party, an auction is usually held on the spot.

The item is then sold and distributed to the party members in a 1/n ratio.

If it went to auction, he would have been thankful.

He was going to get it no matter how much he had to pay.

She looked back and forth between her bow and me and said,

“Just take it.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I found out about a talent I didn’t know I had…”

This is amazing.

There was no reason to refuse.

This was especially true for Kim Minwoo, who couldn’t create skills through action like other geniuses.

He immediately walked towards the Soulbound Book.

The moment he picked up the skill book.

[You have acquired a Soulbound Book.]

[You have acquired the Necromancer Skill Book, Bone Golem Summoning (A)!]

‘Wow.’

He smiled happily as he looked at the skill.

Bone Golem Summoning.

Kim Minwoo can guess what kind of skill it is even without looking at it.

[Bone Golem Summoning (A)]

[Level Requirement: 120 or higher]

[Consumes 200 mana to summon a giant golem made entirely of bones. The golem’s level is the same as its master’s.]

A simple and straightforward description.

Seo Yerim approached him slowly and asked.

“What did you get?”

“This.”

[Bone Golem Summoned!]

A giant nearly 4 meters tall.

A golem made entirely of bones was summoned.

[Bone Golem]

[Occupation: Warrior]

[Level: 120]

[Skills: Provocation (A), Defense Stance (B)]

[Strength: 240 (+120)] [Agility: 120 (+60)] [Vitality: 240 (+120)] [Mana: 60 (+30)]

“Wow, it looks like it will fit well.”

“Yes. It’s a tank.”

Just by looking at it, one could tell that its stats were made for tanking.

Its stats were heavily weighted towards strength and vitality.

With the additional 50% effect of Death Lord, it had monstrous stats from the start.

The skills were the same.

Provocation was a skill that drew the aggro of enemies, and Defense Stance had an effect that reduced all incoming damage by 30%.

‘Finally, I have one. A tank.’

Until now, he had been using skeletons piled up as a meat shield when he was attacked.

To be honest, it wasn’t that effective.

Skeletons weren’t summons specialized for defense.

They were just taking a lot of hits because there were so many of them.

‘This way of fighting will only become more inconvenient the higher I go.’

When he’s swinging his sword from behind.

The difficulty of the battle varies greatly depending on whether or not there is a tank to hold the enemy’s attention.

A golem should be able to do that job properly.

It was the skill he needed.

‘There’s a lot of room to improve as well.’

Bone Exchange.

The Bone Golem was also a summon made of bones, so it had a large capacity.

A solid capacity of 120.

If he selects a few monsters that are good at tanking and replaces their bones with these bones.

‘It will become much tougher, right?’

And that’s not all?

The golem was still not wearing any equipment.

It would need to be made separately, since the size category is different.

‘It’s worth investing in. I have to do it.’

Originally, he would have hired a crafting blacksmith to make a set.

But he didn’t need to do that now.

Doesn’t he already have thousands of blacksmiths?

The skeletons’ crafting skill is still E-rank.

They can make level 51 to 100 equipment well.

‘Anything above that just explodes.’

The success rate of crafting decreases, and even if a result comes out, it’s just a crude item.

‘For now…’

Kim Minwoo decided to make a basic set of equipment to put on the golem as quickly as possible.

He summoned the skeletons and scattered the materials.

“Make one based on that.”

The skeletons looked at the golem.

Then they began to climb all over the golem’s body.

Seo Yerim’s face contorted as they seemed to be taking measurements.

“What are you doing now?”

“I’m going to make them make some golem equipment.”

“…Equipment?”

“My skeletons make it. Like this.”

Even without any special facilities or equipment, they could still use their crafting skills on bare ground.

More than a thousand skeletons reached out to the materials.

Soon, equipment that was much larger than normal items began to be crafted.

She was shocked at the sight.

“No, what is this… everything is plus? Were you the one who supplied equipment to Ilsung?”

“Yes.”

“…There will be a riot if this gets out.”

“Well, as long as you don’t tell anyone.”

“I’m not that loose-lipped.”

He nodded.

That’s why he made the crafting in front of her.

‘Well, there’s another reason for that.’

He gave her the bow, but there was no change in the achievement score.

Why?

Probably because she didn’t intend to use it as her main weapon right away.

‘The sword will still be much more important for now, right?’

Her reaction was understandable.

She had been using swords her whole life and almost all of her skills were sword-based.

She probably only intended to use the bow as a sub weapon occasionally, even if she did it well.

That won’t do.

‘I have to make her use the bow as her main weapon.’

Only then will the protagonist’s fate change and the achievement score come out, whether or not it does.

To talk about that topic, we needed to get to know each other a little better.

Sharing secrets is one of the best ways to build intimacy.

Why would one open up a secret in the first place?

Because they trust the other person.

It’s a kind of unspoken gesture.

I trust you.

One by one, these things add up and turn a bratty kid into a trustworthy comrade.

‘Then the impact of my words will be even greater.’

For Kim Minwoo, who had a low level cap, achievement points were an irreplaceable asset.

He was willing to take this much risk to get them.

And there was one more small reason.

“Seo Yerim. Since you gave it to me, can you give it to me generously?”

[Translator – Proks]

[Proofreader – Gun]

“……?”

“I’d also like to have the Human-faced Spider’s corpse. I think it would be a useful material for crafting. If you need money, I’ll bid for it.”

“Alright, just take it.”

Nice.

He got the corpse of an intermediate-boss monster in addition to the Soulbound Book.

‘I need to grind the golem bones.’

Cedric can’t use it because his capacity is not enough.

So he was thinking of grinding the golem’s bones.

Of course, he won’t know until he tries it.

* * *

In the carriage.

Seo Yerim glanced at Kim Minwoo.

Until they jumped into the gate, her impression of him was mostly negative.

―Ah, her swordsmanship is sloppy?

―Hmm… her composure?

How much embarrassment did she suffer because of his remarks about stepping down?

Of course, she did say something about not being able to clear the gate, but to be honest, it wasn’t a malicious remark.

She just said that because she didn’t think they could break it.

Until then.

Just a person with personality disorder that suddenly became good at using swords.

That was roughly her impression.

‘But, maybe it’s not just that….’

It’s been about two weeks since they entered the gate.

She learned more about him than she thought.

She felt it when he saved Jang Sam.

He was more humane than she thought.

‘And… he’s meticulous.’

What should she say?

Should she say he’s scheming and moving?

That’s the feeling.

There was a reason for every action.

‘He’s more diligent than I thought.’

He didn’t spend his days idly by in the carriage.

He ground the skeletons’ bones, tried crafting, summoned Cedric to talk about combat, and trained their movements together.

He didn’t rest except when he was sleeping.

He was serious about conquering the gate.

It was real.

Of course, the most surprising thing of all was Kim Minwoo’s strength itself.

She was really surprised when he faced the Human-faced Spider.

She had a hunch that it wasn’t a pushover since her sword energy didn’t penetrate well.

Kim Minwoo broke its skin and dealt damage to it.

Did he use a skill?

‘…He didn’t use it.’

She could tell if he used a skill.

There was no such unnaturalness in Kim Minwoo’s movements.

So he just swung his sword and dealt that much damage.

It was hard to even imagine how skilled he was.

If the Human-faced Spider hadn’t run away.

‘He would have caught him by himself.’

It was enough to give her chills.

Only now could she fully understand why he was hanging around in front of the gate.

It was all within his calculated territory.

‘His potential is also beyond imagination….’

What did the skeletons learn?

And he even handles a summoned beast like Cedric, who is crazy strong.

What the world knows is just the tip of the iceberg.

S-rank?

Absolutely not.

No undead at that level could show such performance.

‘I wondered why he chose Necromancer.’

Now she can understand.

She has been with him for about two weeks and she has realized that Kim Minwoo, the Necromancer, had a very high ceiling.

‘This must be just a fraction of it.’

He’s a great man, enough to make her grandfather think of him as a teacher.

Wouldn’t someone like him have created at least one skill?

His skill window would be full of swordsmanship skills by now.

Because just holding and swinging a sword would create skills.

And what’s even scarier.

The fact that his talent didn’t seem to be limited to swordsmanship.

Even her grandfather didn’t know if she had a talent for archery.

But what about Kim Minwoo?

He mentioned archery right away.

He knew about it.

But how did he know?

There was a saying like that.

All things come full circle.

Maybe Kim Minwoo even had a talent for archery.

‘He’s really like an onion.’

There’s no end to peeling him.

Maybe even telling her about crafting was nothing to him.

She couldn’t help but wonder how many more secrets he was hiding.

“……Do I have something on my face?”

Oh, maybe she stared too much.

Seo Yerim shook her head hastily.

“No, I was just wondering something.”

“What is it?”

She blinked her eyes.

She just blurted it out in a hurry.

It’s strange to ask him about a secret out of the blue.

“Ah, that’s… Oh! Martial arts! Don’t the skeletons learn martial arts? They say they can learn anything.”

“Cedric is teaching them. It’s not martial arts, but all fighting methods are the same in the end.”

“Oh, I see.”

Kim Minwoo chuckled.

“We’ll be there soon. Are you mentally prepared?”

“What do you mean mentally prepared?”

“You’ll become a star if you get a score, and I think there will be a lot of people picking on you, Yerim.”

“Oh…….”

That made sense.

The servant was gone, and the two of them attacked it together.

As they went higher and higher, they were bound to run into people who would try to bite them.

The noble young master and the maid.

Which of the two would be more likely to be bullied?

No matter how she looked at it, it would be her, the maid, wouldn’t it?

“…Am I going to let someone mess with me?”

“Well, I think the leader will mention it. But I think You will be different. You were just thrown in there in the first place.”

“Oh, man. I don’t know. I’m going to stab anyone who bothers me, just so you know.”

“Alright then.”

Kim Minwoo shrugged.

And so the carriage arrived inside Sado-Alliance.

“Crazy!”

“Did they really do it? Just the two of them?”

[Score tally]

[1st place, Baek Socheon – 15,000 points]

[2nd place, Choi Ang-ang – 15,000 points]

[3rd place, Baek Muhan – 11,300 points]

[4th place, Baek Cheolyong – 9,700 points]

…

…

Two days before participating in the Dragon Phoenix Gathering.

They were able to clinch the 1st and 2nd place in one breath.

It was no wonder that the entire Sado alliance was in an uproar.

[Translator – Proks]

[Proofreader – Gun]