Chapter 18 : Abandoned Mine (2)

“Kihihihi! How is it? Entrance must be flashy after all!”

“Cluck, crazy bastard.”

“Young master, are you alright!”

Just before the explosion occurred, Glenn and Nedian each leapt in different directions to evade it.

However, they couldn’t avoid the sight of chunks of flesh scattered everywhere.

“Greetings!”

A shabby old man appeared through a broken door.

His eyes were glazed over, and his face showed no life at all.

His bright cane and tattered, worn clothes gave off a truly pitiful appearance.

One would wonder if he was really still alive.

“Young master!”

The scattered men quickly drew their swords and rushed in from all directions.

Glenn shouted quickly.

“Everyone, fall back from the corpses, immediately! That thing is a Necromancer!”

He quickly stood and gripped his sword, confronting the unidentified man.

“Oh, a handsome man with red hair. By chance, do you know me? Kihi!”

His strange tone didn’t match his appearance.

No wonder—he was nothing but a pair of horns on that guy’s head.

Glenn knew him. A cursed enemy he had met even in his previous life.

A damn bone forced to possess other dark wizards’ bodies—this son of a bitch.

“No, but crazy bastards like you all seem the same.”

“What kind of manners are those from a stranger? I greeted you politely! This is too much.”

A Necromancer and dark wizard, the continent’s worst mage.

Saint Slayer, Blasphemer.

And… the monster once called the continent’s last word.

Archlich Benedictaran.

“I’m different from other lunatics! I worked so hard to set myself apart! Kihihihi! You could say this laugh… ugh!”

“I won’t listen.”

In an instant, Glenn drew a dagger and threw it at the man’s throat, but it stuck in his chest instead.

Regardless, the man charged immediately.

There was no way that bastard would die from something like this.

Nedian charged alongside him.

But when the old man struck the ground with his cane,

Thud—!

“Guh!”

A transparent barrier instantly blocked both of them.

Meanwhile, the old man pulled the dagger from his chest and stepped back.

Right now, he had silently cast a barrier spell without uttering any incantation.

“Ku, kuhm, kuhm! This personality is quite abrupt, huh? Maybe because I’m a cheap piece of trash, casting a silent spell is too much of a burden. Ehh!”

At the same time, he began to mutter some kind of incantation.

“O lost soul who failed to reach death…”

Knowing what it meant, Glenn shouted immediately.

“Block it! Right now! Don’t let that bastard finish the spell!”

A nearby knight charged at the old man.

Still muttering, the old man cast another spell directly at the knight with his cane.

Glenn frowned at the fact that he was casting a multi-casting spell.

“Acid Arrow.”

A jade-green arrow-shaped object flew straight at the knight.

At the same time, the barrier blocking Glenn and Nedian vanished.

It seemed this multi-casting had a maximum of two targets.

“Don’t touch it, evade!”

The startled knight tried to swing his sword downward, but Glenn urgently warned him.

But it was already too late.

The knight’s sword shattered the jade-green object instantly.

“Ugh, aaagh!”

“Damn, you’re rolling on the ground! Get that bastard’s armor off immediately!”

They barely stopped the blood spray from hitting the face, but his entire armor was now covered in corrosion.

Another knight hurried over and dragged him backward.

Meanwhile, Nedian instantly charged the old man.

“Eh, seriously annoying!”

Nedian swung his sword, and the old man casually let one arm be cut off.

Screech.

His cane flew away from the opposite arm.

Yet, without even a sound, the old man smiled unpleasantly.

Damn it, is he already fully evolved?

“I must properly entertain the honored guests who came all this way! Animate Dead!”

The living dead.

A horrific magic that raises and controls the corpses around the caster.

Until the caster cancels or dies.

“Cut his head off, now!”

Glenn shouted and charged again with Nedian.

“Corpse explosion!”

“Damn!”

The old man retreated again and triggered an explosion among the nearby corpses.

One by one, the bodies lying on the floor began to rise.

The grotesque forms of mangled corpses writhing were quite disgusting.

An alarm started ringing in Glenn’s head.

You can’t let them cast spells using the corpses as shields. It will become a full-blown Necromancer’s death stage.

Should he destroy them now? Or risk the damage and charge in?

Just as this dilemma crossed his mind,

“Huh?”

In his sight, a golden-haired knight appeared swinging his sword behind the old man.

…When did he get there?

“Please enjoy this slowly… kiak!”

Without hesitation, Eredin slashed at the old man’s neck.

But the old man twisted his body, and only Eredin’s ear was sliced off.

“Oh dear, all the guests today have such short tempers, Magic Arrow!”

He waved his hand once, and three blue arrows flew at Eredin.

“Eredin! That’s going to explode!”

“…!”

Eredin dodged rolling on the ground just in time, swatting the arrows away with her sword.

Bang!

The arrows hit the wall and caused a small explosion.

Glenn charged again, but a man in familiar armor blocked his way.

“Is that guy for real?”

“Young master, it’s Lacollin!”

Lacollin was no longer human.

A growl escaped his mouth.

“Krrr…”

A Death Knight, a high-class undead born by infusing a corpse with spirit magic.

Lacollin had transformed into a Death Knight and raised his sword to strike Glenn.

“Really unfortunate! It’s rare to get a corrupted knight like this. Ah, if it weren’t for this damned body, I would have been born a much stronger one! Kihihihat!”

“You bastard!”

Usually calm Nedian spat curses.

He was venting his fury at the insult to the Lion Knight Order.

“Why are you angry? Are you jealous? Kihihi! Magic Arrow!”

But he too had to roll away to avoid the three blue arrows.

Bang!

Meanwhile, Glenn exchanged three swift blows with the Death Knight and quickly scanned his surroundings.

All the corpses around had risen and were fighting the party.

If the dead start rising in mass, it’s over.

They will soon attack their former companions alive.

This is the chaos the Necromancer most favors.

Glenn bit his lip.

“Nedian! No time to deal with the corpses. We need to kill that bastard!”

“You go ahead!”

Nedian charged Lacollin to buy time.

A faint blue aura flickered along his sword’s edge.

Glenn gripped his sword backwards and threw it like a spear.

No time, urgency weighed on his mind.

“Shh! Damn body, already dying!”

Thwack—!

The sword struck the transparent barrier but stopped.

The shield broke again.

“Corpse explosion!”

“Guh!”

As the nearby corpses exploded again, Glenn rolled on the ground regardless of his will.

But he was able to get back up immediately. The power seemed weaker than before.

Was the host’s state degrading in real time?

Sensing this, Glenn spun his body and charged again.

He used the counterforce of being pushed away.

“What a stubborn bastard, standing up again! Acid Ar… phuhk!”

Before he could finish casting the spell, the dagger stabbed into his cheek.

“I finally caught you, you damn bastard.”

He grabbed the collapsing old man forcibly.

Pow! Pow!

Relentless blows repeatedly struck the old man’s face.

Due to the barrier spell cast without incantation, the shattered bones hissed as they melted.

But Glenn ignored it.

At that moment, the old man’s remaining hand swung toward Glenn’s face.

Thwack—!

His palm radiated a brilliant light, and Glenn suddenly felt dizziness.

Energy Drain, a persistent, worm-like bastard.

“…Hmph!”

He immediately tried to shake it off but changed his mind.

If he created distance again, the old man would steer things in his favor.

Glenn decided to finish it here, no matter the danger.

“Take this—alright, let’s see what you got.”

Ugh—!

He bit his lip to endure the dizziness.

It felt like forcibly sharpening a weak spirit stained with blood.

Clack!

Glenn gripped the old man’s neck strongly with both hands.

I’ll just crush you like this.

Yet the old man was the first to let go.

He judged that his neck would break before he could recover from the Energy Drain.

If that happened, even he would find it hard to control his host.

Barely, the old man croaked out.

“Kuh ha… hell…”

At the same time, he cast a spell with his middle and index fingers.

Glenn suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

“Damn it!”

A finger snap accompanied the Necromancer’s spell.

Glenn had seen it several times even in his previous life.

“Inferno!”

Snap!

The alarmed Glenn flinched as the spell completed.

Inferno—magic that causes fire to erupt violently around the caster.

Kaaaah!

“It’s- it’s burning! What if you attack while casting! Ow ow ow!”

It was also a powerful magic that burned the caster.

A wall of flames suddenly rose around the old man.

Thankfully, they had bought some time, so retreating and dealing with the corpses was still possible…

Just as the old man thought this,

Whooosh!

A silhouette cut through the flames and leapt forward.

Bright red hair, a bloodied face.

Half-melted chainmail, a half-burned cloak.

And those glinting green eyes.

“Oh, now this is impressive…”

The old man forgot the situation and simply admired.

Those eyes, purely burning with jealousy.

Eyes burning with an almost bewitching jealousy.

He wanted to tear them out immediately.

The figure gave a cynical voice.

His palm was faintly stained with red blood magic.

“You’re still clinging to the ground.”

Glenn said, sounding somewhat strained.

This wasn’t true blood magic.

Right now, he forcibly imposed control over the blood through mana.

It was purely a temporary reenactment based on memories of his previous life.

Obviously, it was dangerous and terribly inefficient.

In other words, it was a last resort.

Ugh—!

The blood magic gathered in his palm was unstable.

He had just barely maintained this state, and dizziness was already setting in.

He had no intention of maintaining this long.

Either way, he would only use one blood magic.

“Trap!”

Just as the old man instinctively tried to pull away, Glenn caught both his hands.

“Reverse Flow.”

A technique that forcibly draws out all the blood magic from the target.

“Kuh ha… grr.”

It’s an effective spell against mages who cast spells.

The blood flow reverses and naturally blocks the windpipe.

After a short while, the victim would surely become paralyzed.

Then, of course, the host could no longer be controlled.

“Gurrok.”

But the old man seemed unwilling to give up easily.

His remaining hand trembled, fingers curling into a snapping pose.

Damn it, that bastard uses silent spells even in this condition?

Just then, as Glenn’s vision flickered with fleeting doubts, golden hair shone nearby.

“Glenn Young Master!”

Eredin was weaving through the corpses, approaching.

Fortunately, she had a sword in her hand.

Instantly, Glenn withdrew the blood magic and forcefully pushed the old man away.

“Cut off his head!”

Sensing something strange, the old man shifted his gaze and gasped.

A golden-haired knight with a fierce expression was charging at him, almost flying.

“Th- this! Ku, cough. Acid…!”

He tried to cast a spell again, but she was faster.

Swoosh—!

A clean, elegant swing that left onlookers in awe.

With a crisp slicing sound, the old man’s head was severed.