NSE-Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A pitch-black space without a single speck of light.

A gloomy voice came from there.

[If this has been activated, it means there’s someone who took my power.]

My power?

“By any chance, are you the Death Lord himself?”

[There’s no use asking anything. This is merely a stored voice. Just listen.]

The answer came immediately.

He realized.

That whatever happened, things would start after those lines ended.

Now was the time for preparation!

“Rise, you minions.”

[Using Summon Skeleton!]

Clatter.

Clack!

A horde of Skeletons rose from the ground. With the items he had equipped, an enormous number of Skeletons sprang out.

Skeletons numbering well over three hundred!

[Opening the Spatial Ring(Mid-Tier)!]

Equipment piled up like a mountain in front of the Skeletons.

Besides the cost-effective Black Heart Set, countless other pieces of equipment were lined up there.

Swords, spears, halberds, maces, and so on.

Vicious weapons that would pack power even if swung carelessly.

“Put them on quickly! Grab a weapon each! No time! Hurry!”

He gulped down a Mana Potion and gave the orders.

Now was the only time to equip the Skeletons.

In the meantime, the voice kept playing.

[I ran for revenge. I stained the continent with death. I thought I had achieved my purpose.]

Clatter!

Clack!

Helmet, armor, pants, gloves, even shoes.

Skeletons diligently putting on the ink-black five-piece set.

“Put on the leftovers too, not just the set! If you don’t know what to do, at least throw on a spare piece of armor!”

There were roughly 200 Black Heart Sets. He had no choice but to cover the rest with individual equipment.

[But at some point, I came to realize it. That I was merely…… one of the puppets on a stage…….]

“So you were a scrub.”

[Even with my power, I could not stand against those bastards. That is why I decided to plan for a later day.]

What, it doesn’t react to this?

Consecutive lines flowing out without even a moment’s hesitation.

It really did seem to be a stored voice.

‘Was he used or something?’

Judging by the fact that he stained the continent with death, he clearly didn’t seem like an easy figure.

Who could be the powerhouse that such a Necromancer couldn’t stand against?

‘Could it be the Outer God?’

Being an outside god, influencing other worlds wouldn’t be difficult.

Well, it wasn’t an important topic right now.

Look even now.

Just because he turned his attention away for a moment, one idiot was dangling his arms while holding two heavy shields.

“Hey, damn it! I said grab only one shield!”

He knocked it on the head with a knuckle, took one shield away, and handed it a sword.

[Now I will test your qualifications.]

[If you survive and prove yourself, you shall gain my authority.]

[But if you fail to prove yourself…….]

[You will be trapped with me for an eternity. Even a peaceful death will be a luxury.]

Geez, you sure talk scary.

“Yeah. Already fully equipped.”

With this, combat strength had gone up at least fivefold.

Whatever it is, just come out.

[The first arrangement has begun…….]

The scenery changes once again.

Everything blurs, and.

[Joining the Eternal Battlefield – the Battle of Hrulunif!]

[You have joined an ancient battlefield!]

[You have acquired the Title ‘How Far Do You Go, Anyway?’!]

***

Before he knew it, Kim Min-woo was standing atop a huge castle wall.

A space where a terrible silence had settled, as if time had stopped.

‘Huh?’

In a world made entirely of gray, he looked around.

Fortunately, the Skeletons he had just armed were also standing neatly with him on the wall.

What was unusual was…….

‘Those aren’t Skeletons I summoned, though?’

Skeletons he hadn’t summoned were also lined up endlessly.

Skeleton Mage.

Skeleton Warrior.

Skeleton Archer, and so on.

Those weren’t the only Undead.

Dullahans, Liches, Specters, Death Knights, and on top of that…….

‘Bone Dragon?’

Even a huge dragon made of bone, visible below the wall.

It was quite literally a castle of Undead itself.

[This is a battlefield of the past, created based on the regrets of ‘Dragon Knight Cedric.’]

[The player is in a ‘Virtual Body’ state. Skills, Stats, and belongings remain the same.]

[However, Experience cannot be gained.]

[The player joins.]

[The stalled time begins to flow.]

Color was applied to the gray stage, and.

One by one, flames began to burn in the Undead’s eyes.

Just then…….

A voice flowed into his head.

―So it’s you. The person the Lord arranged.

His head turned naturally.

On the Bone Dragon’s back.

A golden skeleton knight with a huge frame was riding it.

‘What kind of monster is that now……?’

A skeleton knight whose body was made of golden bone. Blue flames blazed in his eyes.

A suffocating pressure could be felt.

Death Knights looked like child’s play by comparison.

“……By any chance, are you Mr. Cedric?”

The golden skeleton knight nodded.

―……Naive Necromancer. I do not expect much from you. Just try to survive. If you can.

[Receiving authority from Supreme Commander Cedric!]

[You can command the Undead unit of Section 16 of the Wall!]

[Currently commandable Undead: Death Knight 1, Lich 1, Dullahan 5, Specter 5, Skeleton 500]

[You have acquired the Title ‘Baby Commander’!]

Right after that…….

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Orc! Orc! Orc!

A tremendous roar came from the front.

The plain in front of the wall.

Orcs too numerous to count with the eyes stood lined up there.

A horde of Orcs in pitch-black armor, rhythmically pounding their weapons on the ground to raise their fighting spirit!

The problem wasn’t only that.

‘What the hell…….’

It was nothing like a mere Bone Dragon.

A real dragon, so huge its form was visible even from far away, flapped its wings, and.

Nearby were Wyverns, Hydras, Cyclopes, Kodos, Witches of Death, and so on.

Top-tier monsters, each one enough to make the flesh tremble, stood lined up.

‘Wow, this is damn hard, isn’t it?’

At a glance, there seemed to be a lot of problems.

Even with the advantage of the wall, the gap in numbers was overwhelming from the start. And it’s not like quality was superior, either?

No.

Generally, a living dragon is far stronger than a Bone Dragon.

There were high-ranking Undead like Death Knights and Liches, but they were as rare as beans in a drought.

In both the lower and upper ranks, they were far behind in quality and quantity.

‘There’s nowhere to run, either?’

In front, Orcs swarmed like packs of dogs.

Then the back?

A cliff with a dizzying drop.

‘This castle’s layout is a no-retreat formation.’

Surely the way to clear it wasn’t to jump off the cliff and find a fortuitous encounter, so…….

‘So I’m supposed to fight for now.’

The first thing that came to mind was a time limit.

Something like surviving past a certain time, earning the recognition of that Cedric or whatever, and the battlefield ending.

Or reinforcements arriving.

‘Of course, Cedric does look strong, but…….’

There was one problem.

Orc! Orc!

An Orc Hero with a huge frame, visible right in the middle of the Royal Guard Orcs.

That Orc was no ordinary Orc.

It looked truly strong at a glance.

A chilling presence was completely engulfing the surroundings.

Seems far stronger than that dragon over there……?

Can I even stall for time against this?

‘Let’s think. First of all, the straightforward approach has a murderous difficulty.’

It’s a structure where you get summoned after learning a single lone summoning Skill at the Limit Stat of 50, at most.

In that situation, how strong could the guy who got summoned possibly be?

At best, he’d be a naive Necromancer at around Level 30 to 40.

Death Lord(EX) or whatever, there was simply no way to do anything.

And in that state, they throw him into a place like this and tell him to survive?

Gate Hunter is a difficult game.

But it was not an unreasonable game.

‘There’s definitely a detour. Is regret the keyword?’

A battlefield created based on regret.

I still didn’t know what on earth our Mr. Cedric regretted, but if I resolve it, wouldn’t the battlefield probably end?

‘Whatever it is, a strategy exists.’

He had to find it.

To survive, without fail!

Graaaaagh!

The Orc Hero.

The guy thrust his glaive forward, and.

Orc! Orc! Orc!

The Orcs began charging toward the front of the wall. Carrying long ladders!

“Fire! Don’t spare the arrows, shoot them all!”

“The Commander has given the order. Fire.”

At those words, the Death Knight on the wall extended his hand forward.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

A downpour of arrows.

A few Orcs toppled over, but it was a drop in the bucket.

Thunk!

Ladders were hooked onto the wall everywhere.

The Orcs were surging in like a tidal wave.

“Boys, grab your tools!”

Shing!

Beside him, the Death Knight drew his sword. A fierce menace flickered in the eyes of the Lich who raised his staff.

The Dullahan pulled out a double-bladed axe, and black haze rose around the Specter’s mouth.

The baby Skeletons under his command were preparing for battle too. Skeletons raising their weapons as if about to strike at any moment!

Let’s set aside, for now, the fact that their arms were trembling because, at Level 1, their strength was giving out.

The moment an Orc’s head appeared above the wall, he swung his sword with all his might.

Slash!

In that instant, Min-woo realized one thing.

‘My body moves much more smoothly!’

The Stats were definitely the same.

Yet the body’s movement was different.

It was far smoother, like a butterfly shedding its husk and soaring.

Apparently, Kim Min-woo’s physical talent had disappeared when it became a virtual body, but.

‘That’s even better!’

An Orc whose neck flew off in one stroke.

But the delivery was only just beginning. Like a whack-a-mole game, Orc heads popped up from every direction.

“Smash your weapons down with all your might!”

Thud!

Crunch!

Graaagh!

[Skeleton 1 has killed an enemy much stronger than itself by a fall! Battle experience begins to accumulate greatly!]

[Skeleton 171 has killed an enemy much stronger than itself by a fall…….]

[Skeleton 223 has…….]

.

.

The advantage of being atop the wall.

Against the offensive of striking down from above with all their might, the climbing Orcs were helpless and kept dying off.

But that lasted only a moment.

A baby Skeleton, striking its weapon down on an Orc’s head with all its might, just as it had learned.

The climbing Orc firmly grabbed the hammer with one hand.

Clatter?

The Skeleton frantically shook the caught weapon, but the Orc’s grip was clamped on tight like glue.

Graaagh!

When the Orc pulled with force, the Skeleton, yanked right along, plummeted down the wall in an instant.

Clank!

And so a horde of Skeletons had their whole bodies smashed, one after another.

[Undead revives again…….]

[Skeleton 1’s summoning is canceled!]

[Skeleton 16’s summoning is canceled…….]

Even if they revived, they were surrounded by a field of Orcs on every side.

The Skeletons began to be unsummoned limply.

The hardship wasn’t only this.

Swish!

Orc archers began firing arrows from the ground!

Min-woo narrowly dodged an arrow grazing past the side of his face.

“Lich! Cut the ladders! Acid magic!”

[Lich ‘Hans’ uses Acid Touch(C)!]

Acid hands generated in midair firmly grabbed the top of the ladders.

The ladders snapped in an instant.

The climbing Orcs plummeted, letting out mournful screams.

But the Orcs climbing up were endless.

The problem wasn’t only that.

If at first only Orc soldiers and warriors had climbed up.

Now even higher-ranking Orcs were gradually starting to appear.

Graaagh!

Orc Berserker.

An Orc breed that grows stronger the more of its kin’s blood it sees.

The guy’s huge axe narrowly grazed over his head.

He drove his sword deep into its abdomen.

The sword slid in smoothly.

The guy, gushing blood at the mouth, opened wide as if to bite off his face.

Kicking the body away with his foot, he snapped off the neck of an Orc climbing up beside him with a pop.

[You have hunted one hundred Orcs with far higher Levels than yourself!]

[You acquire the Title ‘Orc Hunter’!]

What was this one’s effect again?

Probably increased damage against Orcs.

He summoned once more the Skeletons whose summoning had been canceled outright.

Mana was sucked out in a gulp.

In an instant, nearly two hundred Skeletons were replenished, but sadly most were unarmed.

Because the equipment had fallen below the wall and become unrecoverable long ago.

“Quick, pick up anything!”

Skeletons quickly picking up weapons.

The situation was so hectic that he’d have borrowed even an ant’s hand.

30 minutes.

1 hour.

2 hours.

Blocking, and blocking again.

Meanwhile, mid-tier Undead such as Dullahans and Specters died off one by one.

Far away, the Death Knights and Liches also began to vanish.

He cut Orcs, and cut them again.

[You have hunted five hundred Orcs with far higher Levels than yourself!]

[The Title ‘Orc Hunter’ changes to ‘Orc Slaughterer’!]

[Warning!]

[You have consumed too many Potions in a short period! Overload begins to set in!]

‘This won’t do.’

If I hold back, this turns to crap.

“Hans! Use a big one!”

[Lich ‘Hans’ uses Earthquake(A)!]

Rumble……!

The ground in front of the wall split open like a crevasse, and hundreds of Orcs were sucked right into it. A bit of breathing room opened up, if only slightly.

He had been holding on stubbornly, and decently in his own way.

Up to this point.

Graaagh!

The Orc Hero’s cry began to engulf the surroundings.

Flap!

The huge dragon’s wings moved, and.

Grrrroar!

The dragon’s form rapidly approached the wall.

And of all places, toward Section 16 where he was.

‘I can’t dodge this!’

A situation where, even with the Death Knight and Lich Hans, he felt no trust at all!

He shouted reflexively.

“Cedriiic!”

Do something!

I’m going to die at this rate!

Just then.

Flap!

The Bone Dragon that flew in from behind slammed its body into the real dragon.

The golden skeleton knight riding on it leapt toward the dragon with all his might.

A spearhead overflowing with dark energy stabbed deep into the dragon’s head.

The dragon shook its head wildly, as if in pain.

―……I was about to step in anyway.

Bullshit, you who had been watching from behind with your arms crossed all this time.

Min-woo, swallowing the words reflexively about to burst out, cut off the head of a charging Orc.

That guy.

If he ever comes to be my subordinate, I’ll work him like a dog.

Min-woo vowed inwardly.