NSE-Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Gates.

The in-game setting was simple.

It was a kind of fragment created by cutting a region out of another world.

And these other worlds were not just one or two. Fantasy, martial arts, cyberpunk, even regions full of demons.

Truly, they were extremely diverse.

‘Low-level zones are usually the fantasy type.’

The kind of vibe where things like Goblins, wolves, and Orcs came out.

You had to reach around C-rank or higher before Gates that made you go ‘huh?’ began to appear.

Either way.

Users could clear these Gates and obtain a variety of rewards, such as Mana Stones, items, Experience, and Titles.

F-rank Gates were overflowing.

Among them, there were a few reasons he had chosen Tomb of Osiris.

First, there were no particular gimmicks.

‘These gimmicks are quite a headache, you know.’

Things like having to find a puzzle or a hidden element before the path opened.

Gimmicks inside Gates were not fixed elements. They changed little by little each time you entered.

‘That’s why they take time to solve.’

But this Gate was very honest.

You just followed the path and beat down every guy you saw.

So easy.

‘And on top of that, it’s a tomb, right?’

A tomb.

Doesn’t it look at a glance like it has something to do with Necromancers?

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to check that before. He was a player who wanted the shortest-time clear, and each character had a Class that suited them separately.

Like Park Si-woo, the Swordsmanship Genius, or Han Si-a, the Magic Genius.

You couldn’t very well pick Necromancer while holding traits like that, could you?

On top of that, Namgung Min and Seo Ye-rim, the third and fourth difficulty characters, started with their Classes already decided, so they were structured in a way that you couldn’t pick Necro in the first place.

‘But now it’s different.’

What about Kim Min-woo now?

He was a Necromancer.

And this was a tomb.

Hold back from this?

‘I can’t.’

Of course, he wasn’t certain that something related to Necromancers must be hidden here.

Though Necromancer was a non-mainstream Class, there were always people who insisted on picking what others told them not to.

Necromancers must have visited this Gate several times too.

‘But their Achievement grades would be low, right?’

A Necromancer with an S-grade Achievement?

At least here in Korea, there were none.

Even A or B was at the level of a protected species.

The reason was simple.

For a Necromancer to become strong, the structure basically required pouring in money.

And not by pouring in an ordinary amount.

You had to pour it in exponentially.

Only then could you stand above other Classes.

It was a formula widely known in the world.

So, to begin with, it was burdensome to choose compared to other Classes.

The same went even if you received support from the state or a major Guild.

They were no suckers.

The money they handed out was ultimately debt that had to be repaid someday.

And yet choose Necromancer with a precious S-grade Skill Book?

Unless your dad were Chairman Kim, if you chose it relying on only that much backing……

‘You take on debt all the same, yet you still can’t overwhelm others.’

It was a shortcut to walking into hell. That was why anyone with a brain usually didn’t pick Necromancer.

The only variable would be an enormously rich person Awakening, but.

‘How would they know the Awakening Condition?’

Being rich with lots of money, they’d try this and that at first. If they Awakened easily like that, it would end at a low-tier Achievement level.

But they couldn’t Awaken?

It meant the condition was tricky.

In that case, it wouldn’t matter whether it was a conglomerate heir or even his grandfather, they couldn’t figure out the Awakening Condition.

Even if they did figure it out.

‘How would they attain S-grade?’

Even he, who knew the condition, had gone up against the Sword Immortal for S-grade.

Could chubby rich folks attain S-grade easily?

That was why there were no Necromancers with high Achievement grades.

Conclusion.

If there was something related to Necromancers, the odds were high that he would be the one to obtain it.

Of course, since it was an F-rank Gate, he didn’t expect a tremendous reward.

He had to clear it anyway.

‘Even just one Title wouldn’t be bad.’

That was roughly the extent of his expectations.

On top of that, if he was going to set a world record, he should set it the hard way. Would setting it easily make it cool?

It was the final reason for choosing this place with its 95-point difficulty.

He stretched his hand forward.

[Using Summon Cedric(SSS)!]

[Using Summon Skeleton(F)+9!]

Because he had bought the same equipment that had burst on the last battlefield, 28 Magic Power was added to the summoning.

The Indomitable Soul effect was added on top of this.

A monstrous 113 Magic Power in total.

And on top of that, even Death Lord’s 50% Mana reduction effect.

[422 Skeletons are summoned!]

Skeletons filled the vast interior of the Gate.

‘Did they say he’d summon about 150 at most?’

Kim Min-woo, recalling public opinion, chuckled.

A number close to triple that.

What’s more, these Skeletons weren’t the usual stupid Skeletons either.

Because through the increased learning effects from Cedric and the Death Lord, they were absorbing education like drinking water.

And that’s not all?

Their Stats were also inflated by 50%.

On top of that.

[The Spatial Ring(Mid-Tier) is opened!]

Even sturdy armaments to put on the Skeleton soldiers. In an instant, combat strength began to increase explosively.

‘Chairman, thank you.’

After he had proudly revealed his ambition to set a world record.

Chairman Kim’s Third Round of Funding had been provided in full.

The Spatial Ring and the numerous pieces of equipment appearing again was also thanks to that very reason.

Stomp!

Stomp!

The armed Skeletons began to move in perfect rows and columns. A tremendous sound of footsteps echoed, and.

At that sound, the monsters inside the Gate began to awaken.

Rustle.

Rustle-rustle.

Along with the sound of bugs crawling busily from all directions.

‘Here they come.’

A horde of giant cockroaches blocked the way ahead.

Corpse Roaches.

A bug-type monster he would be encountering ad nauseam in this Gate.

Their average Level was roughly 40.

A disgusting appearance and a fairly hard carapace. Tenacious vitality, true to roaches.

The strength of their jaws, plus a tremendous quantity on top of that.

‘The trickiest of all is.’

Their blood.

Poison was added to their blood, and that poison was random.

They inflicted fairly tricky Status Ailments, ranging from hallucinations to poisons that gnawed away at Health and poisons that instilled fear.

‘It’s the main reason this Gate got 95 points.’

Roaches swarming from all directions.

A melee inevitably unfolded, and meanwhile, it was extremely hard to avoid the blood splattering everywhere.

If you got hit by some blood like that, your mind and stamina turned to rags and the clear failed.

‘Someone like me or Cedric would calculate the splatter paths and just dodge, but…….’

Ordinary people couldn’t dodge.

That was why antidotes were essential in ordinary clears. But an antidote lasted at most about 30 minutes.

On top of that, the price was quite steep too.

There were countless cases of people coming to make money and leaving having spent money.

‘That’s why it’s an unpopular, no, a loathed Gate.’

The baby Skeletons would probably take a lot of blood today too.

But it didn’t particularly matter.

The Skeletons get unsummoned?

Just wait until they’ve dwindled moderately, take a Potion, and summon again.

An ordinary Necromancer would clear one pack, take a Potion, and repeat, but he was different.

Because with the current Skeletons, they’d wreck even four or five packs in one go.

They even revived once more.

To Kim Min-woo, it was a Gate without any particular burden.

The roaches that had been swarming in so imposingly faltered when they saw this side.

Chitter?

Chitter-chitter?

The roaches’ intelligence was low, but they had a basic level of wariness. An enemy far more numerous than themselves!

“Welcome. First time seeing this kind of quantity, huh?”

…….

“Cedric. Let’s sweep them all away.”

―Master, I was waiting only for those words. Let’s go! Brothers!

Clatter!

Clack!

The Skeleton spearmen, who had formed an awl-like formation with Cedric, charged out.

Squelch!

Thwack!

Corpse Roaches, impaled on spears and spewing green fluid.

Soon, Skeleton soldiers carrying maces smashed down on the roaches’ bodies wildly.

Although the striking Skeletons’ strength was weak, the weapons were premium goods, usable from the early game up to Level 40.

Skreee!

A roach that let out a painful scream clamped down hard on a Skeleton’s torso.

Soon, a Skeleton, surrounded by roaches, collapsed limply.

The Skeleton resisted fiercely but eventually lost strength.

Skreee!

The roach’s victorious roar lasted only a moment.

Squelch!

Its innards were mashed by the revived Skeleton’s sword stroke.

Cedric’s performance was outstanding.

Every time the spear swung, the roaches’ heads burst off with pops.

‘Very good.’

Wasn’t this the charm of auto-hunting?

Even though he wasn’t moving, the monsters were being cleared on their own.

[You have hunted 41 Corpse Roaches!]

[Your Level increases by 5!]

Five Levels went up in the blink of an eye.

“Ahh. This is it.”

[The Skeleton unit gains combat experience against bug-type monsters!]

[The Skeleton unit gains Experience!]

Summons could not exceed their master’s Level.

That was why the Skeletons had stayed on friendly terms at Level 1 until now.

But from now on was different.

Because as Kim Min-woo’s Level rose, the Skeletons’ average Level would begin to rise too.

Of course, since the 422 now summoned would share it equally, the speed would be infinitely slow.

‘Isn’t growing something, at least?’

It was a hundred times better than not growing.

‘I’ve roughly gauged the Skeletons’ level, so…….’

Now he should start running wild.

He drew his sword for the world record.

* * *

[You have hunted 52 Corpse Roaches!]

[Your Level…….]

[You have hunted 55 Corpse Roaches!]

[Your Level…….]

[You have hunted 60 Corpse Roaches!]

[Your Level…….]

Once even he joined the fighting, the advance speed was nothing short of lightning. Because of the considerable Level gap with the roaches, his Level shot up every time he encountered a pack.

‘Naturally.’

A normal person would form a party and come here.

So he was hogging alone the Experience that a party should originally split, and it would be strange not to level up.

‘That’s why I raised my Stats first.’

Level up?

Things that could be done anytime could be put off until later.

Because he could do it all at once like now.

[You acquire the Title ‘Bug Slaughterer’!]

[Damage against bug-type monsters increases by 10%]

He had gotten a Title in the middle, too.

By the time he arrived in front of the boss room like that.

‘Exactly 2 hours elapsed.’

He had stopped once in the middle.

Because over half the soldiers had been ground down, to drink a Mana Potion, summon again, and regroup.

‘Current Level 22.’

A leveling speed unimaginable for ordinary people.

He had power-leveled, quite literally, in a single lap of a Gate.

The same went for Cedric, who shared the Level.

As the Level went up, the guy’s spearmanship was becoming a bit more refined.

“Kid, you’re growing. As your master, I feel really good.”

―Hmm…… though it is less growth than retracing what I had in the past…….

“Tsk. I told you not to talk back to your big brother.”

―……It was merely a personal opinion.

“We’re going to take down the boss now.”

―What is the boss here?

“Tomb Guardian.”

―Tomb Guardian? Is that guy a bug too?

“Yeah. A damn huge cockroach.”

That was why it was also a guy that shook the Awakened’s mentality.

Especially against the attack where it spewed small roach swarms like mist from its mouth, there were even Awakened who outright shrieked.

Because even after Awakening, disgusting was disgusting.

―Master, do you not find bugs repulsive?

“Well, I do. But it’s fine. I’ve seen so many.”

Gates with bug-type monsters weren’t just one or two. He had long since transcended that aspect.

At those words, Cedric tilted his head.

―You have seen many? By any chance, do bugs appear in your house?

“……Well, sort of.”

―I think it would be good to pay attention to hygiene. The house looked fine, though. It would be good to tidy up right after eating food.

“Shut up, you punk.”

―Master. I was worried about you, so why are you hitting my head?

“It’s all because I love you. Let’s go.”

He opened the door of the boss room.

[The boss of Tomb of Osiris, ‘Tomb Guardian,’ appears!]

Gurgle?

“Kill it.”

The Skeletons, who knew no fear, began to rush in all together.