Chapter 1400 – 1400. Savior Of The Academy
The night was dark.
I followed Hae Seon-mu.
Normally, being outside the dorms this late was against the rules, but high-spirited students often lightly disregarded such regulations.
‘It’s like a place where necromancers hang out. The surroundings are so gloomy.’
It was on the outskirts of the city.
True to Gangwon-do, the nature was lush. Streetlights were scarce. Hae Seon-mu was heading towards an abandoned house on a hill.
“Is it there?”
“Yeah, uh-huh. It’s there. It’s my first time looking for him too… I didn’t know it would be this dark.”
Hae Seon-mu walked ahead, illuminating the path with his smartphone.
‘It’s different from the original. I don’t know the exact location in the original, but it wasn’t an abandoned house, I think.’
We arrived at the abandoned house.
Creak.
The door of the abandoned house opened.
A man in black clothes emerged from inside. He had completely covered his body, limbs, and hair with black clothing, only his face peeking out. He looked like No-Face from some cartoon.
“Hae Seon-mu. You’ve come with someone else. Is that one also a customer?”
The necromancer asked me in a monotone voice. His empty pupils were unsettling.
“Do you have good stuff?”
“I have as many necromantic talismans as you want. It’s 30 million won.”
“That’s different from what I heard. This guy said he bought a necromantic talisman for 20 million won.”
“It’s popular, so the price went up. That’s how the market works. If you don’t have the money, get lost.”
“Are you going to act like this?”
“Are you going to report me to the Hero Association? I’ve already finished preparing to leave this place. The Hero Association can’t catch me.”
“Okay. My bad. Do you have anything else?”
“I have a few things. But it doesn’t seem like you, who can’t even afford a necromantic talisman, would buy anything else. Get lost.”
I reluctantly took out the bag I had brought. I opened the bag in front of the necromancer. It was full of 50,000 won bills.
“I brought 200 million, so show me something? It’s not like you can sell it openly to others anyway.”
“…200 million. In cash. You do have money. Come in.”
The man went inside the house. I followed him without hesitation, and Hae Seon-mu followed, trembling with anxiety.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, a strange smell hit us. In a way, it was a familiar smell.
‘The smell of rotting corpses.’
Whether it was human or animal, I didn’t know. What was certain was that a corpse was rotting somewhere in this old house.
‘That necromancer isn’t saying anything. Is he trying to show off that he’s dangerous?’
It worked. Hae Seon-mu’s face was now ashen.
Creak.
The necromancer opened an old door.
“It’s here.”
At the same time, the necromancer’s mana moved. It quickly took over the surrounding space. A smile appeared on the necromancer’s previously expressionless face. Something whitish was visible on his shoulder.
『You have been afflicted with Curse (A). All stats are reduced by 20%.』
It was an unpleasant sensation, like something invisible was grabbing and pulling at my body.
“Kuh-uh-uh! Ugh! Uh-uh-uh! My, my body… uh-uh-uh!”
Hae Seon-mu knelt on the floor. He focused on breathing, his mouth agape. It seemed the curse was making it hard for him to even breathe.
“You have curse resistance? You look about the same age as that guy… Not bad.”
“What is this? Is this how you treat your guests?”
“Guests? You’re not a guest. Because I haven’t acknowledged you.”
“You don’t want the money, it seems.”
“You fool…. If I kill you, the 200 million becomes mine. If I can get an extra 200 million… I can finally quit this miserable job and live like a normal person….”
His goal was money.
That was a bit anticlimactic. If it was for something like human experimentation, it would have been more exciting.
I held out the bag of money to him.
“I’ll give you the money. Spare me.”
“……I can’t let you live. If I let you leave here alive, you’ll run to the association and report me…. I hate being chased.”
“That’s too much. I’m asking you to spare me.”
The necromancer narrowed his eyes. He looked at me as if he couldn’t understand.
“That’s not the tone or voice of someone begging for their life. Are you daring to joke with me right now?”
“Did you finally notice? You moron.”
I kicked off the floor and rushed at him. A fist wrapped in crackling lightning aimed for his solar plexus.
Bang!
My fist was blocked by a barrier. I put more force into my fist. The barrier shattered. He had already created distance and escaped my fist.
“To break my barrier so easily…. You’re quite something.”
“Now that I know how hard I need to hit, there won’t be a next time.”
I lifted my leg to approach him. It wouldn’t lift. Something was holding my leg. I looked down and saw several rotten hands rising from the floor, tightly gripping my calf.
Crack.
I lightly released lightning. The blue electricity burned the rotten hands.
I turned my gaze back to him. The whitish thing on his shoulder was entering his chest.
I knew he had used necromancy. The rotten hands were just a way to buy time for the necromancy.
“Do you know what the biggest advantage of necromancy is?”
“I’m a spiritist, so I know a bit. Is it being able to control ghosts?”
“Heh heh. That’s right. Necromancers can control ghosts, that’s an advantage. But the true power of necromancy is… being able to become anything with the power of ghosts. You can become a swordsman who dominated an era, or a forgotten wizard.”
His body swelled up. It was muscle. His muscles grew at least three times larger. The suddenly enlarged muscles looked monstrous.
“So you can become a muscle monster too. I’m not particularly envious.”
“Heh heh. These muscles are Volfre’s muscles. I put Volfre’s soul into my body… and became Volfre.”
“Who’s Volfre?”
“You don’t know Volfre, the genius martial artist who made a name for himself in Australia 200 years ago?! You ignorant fool!”
“Damn it. How am I supposed to know who Volfre or Molfre is? He doesn’t seem famous….”
“You bastard! How dare you insult my ancestor?! I’ll capture your soul, torture it, and then obliterate it!”
His tone suddenly became crude. He even sounded slurred. It seemed like a side effect of necromancy.
I looked through my spirit eyes and realized what the problem was.
‘The soul that was necromanced into his body has taken more control of the body.’
Simply put, the necromancer hadn’t completely controlled the ghost.
The necromancer, now a muscle man, approached me. The muscles were so grotesque that they were repulsive, but his gait was that of a martial artist.
‘A moment.’
[Using Moment(刹那). Remaining stacks: 6]
I moved first before things got annoying. I approached him directly. Before he could raise his fist, I summoned the Hwaryeon Flying Dagger in the air, grabbed the hilt, and swung it down. The necromancer’s left arm was severed.
“Kuh-ah-ah-ah!”
Despite the painful scream, his body reacted like a martial arts master. He spun his body and kicked sideways with the force of his leg.
‘This is hard to dodge. I don’t want to get hit since it’ll hurt. Moment.’
[Using Moment(刹那). Remaining stacks: 5]
With my body momentarily accelerated, I dodged the side kick and swung my sword. Slash! I cut off his leg. His body lost balance and fell.
[Using Moment(刹那). Remaining stacks: 4]
Before he completely fell, I swung the Hwaryeon Flying Dagger again. His remaining arm and leg were severed.
“Ugh-ugh-ugh….”
The necromancer, having lost all his limbs, looked at me with fear-filled eyes. The soul that had been necromanced into his body escaped and disappeared. The monstrous muscles also disappeared.
“Game over, right?”
“Kill me….”
“Answer my questions well. Then I’ll kill you painlessly.”
“…….”
He looked up at me. He stared into my eyes for a few seconds, then nodded as if he had given up on something.
“I’ve seen guys like you a few times…. I know it’s best to cooperate. Ask. I’ll answer everything….”
“Cooperative attitude! I like that very much. I promise I’ll kill you cleanly.”
“…….”
“First question. Why are you here?”
“……The area near the academy is heavily guarded. No matter how daring someone is, they have to keep a low profile near the academy. The moment you touch the academy… the association and the country will actively intervene.”
“My guess is that you ran away from somewhere. Where are you from?”
“China.”
“Guirak Valley?”
“You know Guirak Valley. Yes. I ran away from Guirak Valley.”
“Why?”
“Guirak Valley started to change. It’s not the Guirak Valley it used to be…. I didn’t want to die as their disposable tool. No, even if I die, it wouldn’t be the end. The guys in Guirak Valley… they capture ghosts and use them as slaves.”
“Hmm. It wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought.”
Thud!
I stabbed the knife into his heart and stood up.
“Gasp!”
Hae Seon-mu gasped. I quietly looked at him. Hae Seon-mu, realizing what I was thinking, trembled and crawled on the floor.
“Hae Seon-mu.”
“S-spare me! I won’t tell anyone what I saw here!”
“What are you talking about? Report it to the association. Don’t go into details, just say you found this place by accident. Don’t mention the deal.”
“I, I know that much. I was the one who made the deal first….”
“Ah, tell your homeroom teacher first, not the association. Then you might get help.”
Seeing Hae Seon-mu take out his smartphone, I looked around the room. There were quite a few bizarre items, but I didn’t even glance at the useless ones. There was only one item I wanted.
‘Found it.’
A shabby cloak hanging on the wall.
I carefully reached out my hand towards the cloak.
『Ghost Cloak
Rank: S
Conceals appearance and presence.』
A whopping S-rank item!
It seemed like an overly simple ability for an S-rank, but that meant the ability was that powerful.
‘With this, I can easily clear a few special dungeons.’
I was very satisfied.
