NSE-Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Commander

While the Skeleton horde put on their equipment. He looked at Cedric, who had grown together with him this time.

[Cedric]

[Class: Dragon Knight]

[Level: 51]

[Owned Skills: Master of the Spear(S), Dragon’s Strike(S)]

[Loyalty: 100]

[Special Notes: Most Skills and Stats are in a sealed state.]

[Strength: 84(+42)] [Agility: 82(+41)] [Health: 84(+42)] [Magic Power: 86(+43)]

A Summon that shares its master’s Level.

Cedric, too, had reached 51, and a new Skill had been unlocked.

Dragon’s Strike.

Reading the description, it was an Art like a finishing move that raised the damage of a single hit by 700%.

‘This is it.’

Content on an entirely different track from crude Skills like Slash or Thrust. An SSS-grade Summon was different, and by a long way.

“Cedric.”

―Did you call, Master?

“But why doesn’t your appearance change like that golden skeleton from back then? It doesn’t look cool.”

When a Summon’s Level rose, its appearance would gradually change. But Cedric’s change was not large.

It wasn’t that a golden glow had started to hover over his bones, nor had his frame suddenly grown larger.

At most, the spear in his hand had grown a bit darker.

―……The body from back then was made personally by the Death Lord. Even if my Level rises, I cannot return to that body. It has long since vanished.

“He made it personally? Out of what?”

―The bones of a Gold Dragon Lord. He made my frame from them.

“Wow. So you really were a Gold Spoon skeleton.”

Not just any dragon, but a Dragon Lord, apparently. It was probably a monster not easy to even meet.

―On top of that, I processed and attached the blood vessels of the Abyss Lord, and the feathers of a Seven-Colored Bird…….

“In a word, he poured in all sorts of stuff, right?”

―Correct. By contrast, I am now being summoned without any particular medium. It is only natural that the bodies differ.

He understood.

“It’s hard to do anything about right now.”

―I understand. Because Master currently has no Undead-crafting-type Skills. Even if you had them, catching the monsters I just mentioned would be a distant prospect.

“Okay for now. I’ll make your body for you later, all of it. You trust your big brother, right?”

―……I trust you.

“Put these on.”

He tossed the ‘Barbarian Warrior’s Roar’ set item to Cedric.

Like the Ruin Harvester Set he himself wore, it was a Rare set item, and an item quite handy to use up to the next stage, Level 101.

―……Master’s looks splendid, so why is mine like a patchwork of rags?

Cedric, looking at the leather armor pieces riddled with small holes, complained.

“It’s what those ferocious barbarian warrior big bros used. Unlike how it looks, it’s top-notch. Hurry up and wear it.”

―…….

Cedric put on the leather Barbarian Warrior set.

When the hole-filled leather items were layered over the skeleton’s body, which was already riddled with gaps here and there…….

‘He looks like a homeless person.’

That was how shabby his appearance was.

‘As long as the performance is good, that’s enough.’

It’s not like he’s the one using it anyway.

Looks didn’t matter.

“Let’s go.”

A clearing deep inside the forest.

[The boss of the Forest of Ulpaulu, ‘Thunder High Priest Ulparu,’ appears!]

―Whoo!

A huge gorilla stared fixedly at the Skeleton horde.

In the guy’s hand was a purple staff with current running through it.

The Thunder Staff.

It was an item that dropped at a very low probability when Ulparu was hunted.

Its effect was amplifying the power of lightning-related magic.

Whooo!

Ulparu, aiming the Thunder Staff at the Skeleton horde with an extremely excited look.

Crackle!

Lightning hovered over the staff, and.

[Ulparu casts Thunder Smash(E)!]

Soon, huge bolts of lightning began to engulf the Skeleton horde. If they had been the Skeletons of before, they would have been helplessly hit by the barrage of lightning.

But now was different.

[Skeleton Mage 1 activates Shield(F)!]

[Skeleton Mage 2 activates Shield(F)…….]

[Skeleton Mage 150 activates Shi…….]

A feast of Shield magic cast by a whole 150 of them! The Thunder Smash struck the magic, which had piled up so thickly that it glowed past blue to a chilling brightness.

Boom!

Hiss.

Mist rose up.

Even so, the Shield was only about a third broken and still holding up vigorously. The Mages’ Level was a mere 1, but the equipment they wore was premium goods usable even up to Level 40.

The power of the magic had also increased considerably. Blocking the boss mob’s attack was not that difficult.

“The hunt begins.”

[Skeleton Mage 151 uses Ice Bolt(F)!]

[Skeleton Mage 157 uses Small Poison Cloud(F)!]

.

.

The remaining 150 Mages launched attack magic.

The attack magic pouring in from all directions struck Ulparu’s body.

Cedric charged at the flustered gorilla.

―Stab, and kill!

[Cedric uses Dragon’s Strike(S)!]

The spear, dyed pitch-black, slammed into Ulparu’s body.

Crash!

―Whooo!

Under the terrifying force of impact, Ulparu’s body was shoved backward in jolts.

The gorilla let out a painful scream. Before he knew it, the area around the guy was filled with Skeleton Soldiers.

Clatter!

Soldiers stabbing and slashing its body.

From a distance, magic poured down by the hundreds, whittling away Ulparu’s Health. Even though it was a boss monster, that didn’t mean it was invincible.

Ulparu was being taken down rapidly.

‘I don’t even need to take part.’

A mere boss of an E-rank Gate.

Cedric and the armed soldiers alone were enough to clear it.

Of course, Ulparu resisted in its own way, unleashing lightning, but it couldn’t turn the tide.

[The Gate’s boss, Ulparu, falls!]

[The Skeleton unit’s combat experience increases greatly! Level rises to 17…….]

[The Skeleton Mage unit’s combat experience greatly…….]

[Level up…….]

He went from Level 51 to Level 55 in one go.

The Skeleton unit’s Level became 17, and the Mages’ Level also leapt from 1 to 10 in one go.

“Cut.”

The time it took to cut down the boss was 15 minutes.

The auto-battle was a success.

Just then.

The staff gripped tightly in Ulparu’s hand fell limply to the ground.

‘Huh?’

Normally it would vanish along with smoke, but.

‘The staff drops here?’

The sight of the staff, lying on the ground and persisting.

“Is today really one of those days when everything works out?”

A 1% drop rate item just falling out like that.

Super sweet.

He grabbed the Thunder Staff.

[Ulparu’s Thunder Staff]

[Grade: Rare]

[Class Restriction: Mage]

[Required Level: 10 or above]

[Effect 1. Lightning magic damage increases by 20%.]

[Effect 2. Can use Static Cloud(E)]

[Effect 3. Magic Power +20, Health +10.]

With this performance, and a low Level requirement.

As expected.

There’s always a reason when something is expensive.

It was a premium item hard to obtain even with money.

“Mage One. Come here.”

When he called Mage Number 1, commonly known as Mage One, Skeleton Mage Number 1 came scampering over.

“Use this from now on. It’s expensive, so don’t lose it.”

Clatter!

[You hand over a valuable item!]

[Skeleton Mage 1 rejoices at its master’s favor!]

[You can appoint it as Commander of the Skeleton Mage Corps!]

[Would you like to assign ‘Mage One’ as Commander?]

“Huh?”

He had been handing out quite a lot of equipment to the Skeletons until now, but.

This was the first time he’d seen such a message.

“Cedric. A Commander appointment message popped up for Mage One, do you know anything about it?”

―The Death Lord’s forces were the same. A favored few Undead would be given posts.

“Does it pop up when you give something expensive?”

―With an ordinary Necromancer, it would not. Because Skeletons have no such thing as the ability to learn. They have nothing like emotions, either.

“Why doesn’t this guy get what I’m saying? So, does it pop up when I give expensive stuff?”

―……Probably. However, the number of posts that can be appointed is limited, so I advise you to appoint carefully.

He roughly understood.

The mass-produced equipment he’d been distributing to the Skeletons.

Those were all Magic items. By contrast, the equipment he’d handed out this time was Rare grade. And, what’s more, premium items worth as much as 3 billion won each.

That seemed to be the threshold for favor.

“All right. For now, you be a Commander.”

[‘Mage One’ is appointed as Commander!]

[Mage One’s ability to learn increases drastically!]

At that moment.

Mage One snapped off a crisp salute.

‘Oh.’

He seemed a bit smarter, too?

“The effect is good, huh?”

He rummaged through the Inventory.

After taking out a suitable Rare item.

“Skeleton One, you come here too.”

He called Skeleton Soldier Number 1.

Known as Skeleton Number 1.

Skeleton One.

He handed over the Rare item he’d dug out of his Inventory.

“I’ll give you something good too.”

[You hand over a valuable item!]

[Skeleton 1 rejoices at its master’s favor!]

[You can appoint it as Commander of the Skeleton Corps!]

[Would you like to assign ‘Skeleton One’ as Commander?]

“You be a Commander too.”

[‘Skeleton One’ is appointed as Commander!]

[Skeleton One’s ability to learn increases drastically!]

Clatter!

Skeleton One, saluting vigorously.

[The unit’s command organization is complete!]

[Unit Rating: Unskilled Skeleton Unit]

[Chief Commander: Cedric]

[Commanders: Skeleton One, Mage One]

[The unit’s movements become a bit more organic!]

Soon, Skeleton One and Mage One ran to Cedric and saluted.

―So. You are the Commanders newly appointed this time. I look forward to working with you.

Clatter!

A hollow laugh escaped him at the sight of the two Skeletons rubbing their palms together toward Cedric, as if sucking up.

‘Well, there’s no harm in them getting smarter.’

He called over a few more Skeletons and tried handing them Rare items.

But unfortunately.

[The unit’s scale is very small!]

[No more Commanders can be appointed!]

He couldn’t appoint any more Commanders.

‘Well, just taking care of two is already a gain.’

By the time he had gathered the junk items dropped from Ulparu to a reasonable extent.

[Gate clear reward is granted!]

[You have met a special condition!]

[You are holding the Worn Necklace!]

[Osiris’s Arrangement is granted!]

Along with the message, a jewel in the shape of a dragon came out.

[Peculiar Jewel]

[Grade: ??]

[A jewel that seems like it would fit the groove perfectly.]

[Effect 1. If inserted somewhere, something special seems likely to happen.]

He obtained the Peculiar Jewel.

He immediately inserted the small jewel into the necklace’s groove.

[The Worn Necklace begins to activate!]

[Mysterious Necklace]

[Grade: ??]

[A necklace in which a mysterious power has begun to flow.]

[Effect 1. Can open a passage connected to a special Gate(D). If you go there, you may be able to carry out Osiris’s Arrangement.]

[Effect 2. This Gate has an entry limit of 1 person.]

‘It’s a Hidden Gate item, huh?’

Ordinary Gates are known to people and open.

With only the state’s permission, you can enter and exit freely.

But some Gates were deeply hidden.

Gates that couldn’t be entered unless you found some connection point.

These are usually called Hidden Gates.

“Good, huh?”

The advantages of a Hidden Gate aren’t just one or two.

To begin with, there’s no need to leave entry records. Starting with how perfect it is for growing in secret from others.

‘Naturally, the rewards are much better too.’

However, it wasn’t all advantages.

Compared to ordinary Gates, which persist even after being cleared repeatedly, Hidden Gates are mostly single-use.

Once cleared, they close.

Perhaps because of that, the difficulty is considerably higher than same-rank ones, and there are many Gimmicks too.

The problem was that the clearing method was unclear.

What monsters appear.

What the map format is like.

How the Gimmicks are structured.

All of it is pitch dark.

If you recklessly entered thinking only of the reward, you could say it was a perfect way to get a taste of a fiery hell.

‘I should do a round of preparation.’

Normally, upon clearing a Hidden Gate, you came out at the place where you used the medium.

If you used the necklace at home to open the Hidden Gate and entered, you’d come out at home.

If he used this item here?

Naturally, after clearing, he’d come out at this Forest of Ulpaulu.

The problem was the fact that he had killed Lee Seo-yun here.

Shadow would probably learn of her death before long.

And after that?

They’d search for who the culprit was.

The investigation net would gradually close in.

‘Staying here long would be trouble.’

It wasn’t yet the time to have his tail stepped on by Shadow.

So for now, he’d go back.

Activating the Gate was a matter for afterward.