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Chapter 274

“What, what’s going on?!”

Suddenly bursting with a loud bang, Mikhail hurriedly slipped his arms into his priest’s robe as he rushed out of the branch office.

Inside, In-young was nervously peeking at him from beneath a blanket, her anxious eyes darting back.

Even though the northern sea, where Mikhail belonged, was divided into dozens of smaller branches, it was not without some sort of system. There were believers tasked with surveillance and defense.

Mikhail quickly headed towards the central temple.

“What’s causing all this noise?!”

He shouted as he walked out, and the necromancer assigned for reconnaissance rushed over to him, looking quite serious, a stark contrast to what he initially thought was nothing major.

“What’s happened?”

“Right after the connection with the nearby scout undead was severed, the warriors of the Ice Palace charged in. I don’t know how, but they’ve blocked all the entrances.”

“What?! You mean there’s a traitor in the order?!”

“Given the circumstances, that seems to be the only explanation…”

“Don’t talk nonsense! How could those blessed by the Demon King betray us?!”

Dismissing the scout leader’s words, Mikhail rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward towards the largest entrance of the underground tomb.

He could hear something—a fabric fluttering in the wind—but there was no crunching sound beneath his feet. That was the most distinctive feature of the warriors from the Ice Palace.

Having confirmed that, Mikhail slammed his right hand onto the ground. He channeled a thick, gooey curse from his heart, sending it through his fingertips.

Typically, Mikhail did not operate the undead.

It was not only because it consumed too much mana, but also because his dark mana had a high chance of exposing his traces.

Thus, he would usually keep them dormant in the ground, only infusing them with mana to awaken them during battles.

“Come forth, Chimera.”

A zombie with a bizarre hybrid skeleton of various living beings emerged, drawn by the scent of the curse.

“And gobble them all up.”

In response to Mikhail’s command, the Chimera elongated its massive form. Shattering the entrance of the underground tomb, the huge ragged monster roared towards the snowing sky.

‘────!!’

Seeing that, Lucrecia whistled. Despite being a rather unpleasant entity, it was undeniable that he was a competent necromancer.

That didn’t just mean he had formidable undead at his disposal; one could tell he was also skilled at utilizing them.

He might, in fact, fight in a way reminiscent of the few, such as his junior.

At first glance, the Chimera appeared to be cobbled together from numerous monster corpses. Unlike skeletons, zombies’ diversity could serve as an advantage.

For example, this particular Chimera had the skin of a giant poisoned toad on its right arm, or the gaping maw of a sewers-dwelling lizard jutting out from its shoulder.

The former secretes a toxin that rots flesh upon contact, while the latter brims with horrifying bacteria.

In reality, neither of these monsters were particularly challenging or strong, but when faced with a Chimera, even those become problematic.

“That thing appears to be a high-ranked monster, so purification potions won’t work.”

“I’ll handle this.”

In response to Lucrecia’s muttering, Baek Joo-han stepped forward. It was indeed a suitable match-up.

The elemental mana of ice would be most effective against an opponent unresistant to cold. The Chimera without a brain wouldn’t be able to resist freezing at all.

“Your Highness, may I give it a try?”

However, someone stepped up in front of Baek Joo-han. It was Baek In-hwa.

Glancing at his daughter with the usual calmness, yet concern reflected in his eyes, Baek Joo-han spoke.

“Can you do it?”

“I can.”

“Then go for it.”

With that, Baek Joo-han dramatically waved his broad sleeves and turned around. As if switching places, Baek In-hwa dashed forward. Lucrecia playfully chimed in.

“Is it really okay, Your Highness?”

“Since the child said it’s fine, there’s no choice but to trust her.”

Saying that, he readied himself to escape at any moment, causing Lucrecia to burst into laughter. Why is it that fathers are always so hard to read?

Her own father had been the same. It was when it was time to leave as a hero, right?

At that point, she was already stronger than him, yet he had not been able to shake off his worries.

And it was almost comical how he tried not to show his concern.

“Is our junior a bit too honest because she’s young?”

Muttering that, Lucrecia turned her gaze to the battlefield. Choi Yeon-woo was galloping on a small golden wolf.

Well, if it came to this, she wouldn’t need to intervene. Mikhail would be a suitable match.

*

“Let’s do this, charging in!!”

Kicking open the side door leading to the underground tomb, Yeon-woo dashed inside. It was as flashy as an FBI raid.

“What, what…!”

“Shut up!!”

The necromancer, who was staring blankly at Yeon-woo’s intrusion, hurriedly commanded the undead behind him, but before he could finish, Yeon-woo’s punch struck him square in the jaw.

Whether he could secure control with a single blow was questionable, but judging by the collapse of the undead he led, it seemed he had succeeded.

“Alright, I should use this guy as an informant.”

[Will you answer me properly?]

“Haha, if you treat them with sincerity, they tend to answer.”

Specifically, it meant the people from the Ice Palace would be interrogating him.

Ironically, there were no human rights in a world where those who betrayed humanity allied with the Demon King. They likely wouldn’t mind such treatment.

Using the shabby necromancer as a foothold, Yeon-woo flung him out the door. Left in that state, he would freeze to death, but the Ice Palace folks waiting outside would manage to keep him alive.

Lucrecia had already memorized the structure of the underground tomb she painstakingly extracted. She hoped to reach the central area easily.

However, contrary to her worries, there was no one on the path leading to the heart of the tomb.

They must have understood they were being surrounded and blockaded the largest entrance.

“I could sneak in and stab them in the back.”

Most undead were probably engaged in frontal defense, and a necromancer without undead was similar to a fortress with crumbling walls.

Of course, the head of a branch was expected to have some fighting style that didn’t depend on the undead, yet even accounting for that, Yeon-woo held the advantage.

As those thoughts crossed his mind, stepping into the central area, Yeon-woo spotted a man dressed in quite extravagant clothing.

“Well, speak of the devil.”

“…Who are you?”

The man stroked his temple as if trying to recall something. Perhaps he just didn’t remember due to the sudden encounter, but he probably recognized Yeon-woo as well.

However, Yeon-woo’s character was not one to comfortably introduce himself to demons. Rather, he harbored a deep-seated hatred for them.

Drawing his sword from thin air, Yeon-woo quickly approached the man. Swinging his blade mere inches away, a clang echoed as it clashed against something.

He could see bones taking shape like armor. Were they using the undead as armor? Perhaps they supplemented their lacking physical abilities by partially relying on the undead.

“What a rough greeting.”

“Shut it, you smell like decay.”

At Yeon-woo’s harsh words, Shar, standing behind him, trembled in surprise.

Oh right, Shar was here too. However, it was hard to help but talk back when confronted with demons. It was almost a reflex at this point.

The almost predictable reaction drew a scoff from the man, Mikhail, who found it amusing.

Demons always reacted this way. As if the side showing anger were the odd ones, they acted as if they were justified.

Demons are, indeed, a collective of superiority complex. They believe they are valuable and chosen. They ask what’s odd about siding with the stronger.

However, Yeon-woo believes there are more important things than strength for humans.

If strength were everything, what would happen to law, and why would ethics and morality exist?

“Why do you refuse your own instincts? If you pledge your loyalty to the Demon King, you could gain power. You could even obtain immortality, you know?”

Yeon-woo ignored the ugly words that reached his ears. Dismissing such nonsense, he concentrated his power into his blade, White, pressing against the bone armor.

It couldn’t quite be called purification, but possessing the power to chase away evils with a bit of cold, the blade slowly began breaking apart the bone armor.

“Gah, what…!”

“Is it really just potions that you gain so easily, only to break them later? You’ve really received a great gift, haven’t you?”

With a slight chuckle, Yeon-woo began to whip his sword. The pure-white greatsword swung at an astonishing speed, which Mikhail’s undead struggled to keep up with momentarily but soon found themselves overwhelmed.

Every time the armor broke, it was replaced anew. If they regenerate, he’d break them again. Destruction and regeneration were two sides of the same coin.

It might seem like he was employing some fighting technique of his own, but Yeon-woo was, in fact, properly learning swordsmanship.

He had reached a state beyond comparing himself to the lousy one who was relying on the memories of the undead.

Aura Expert mid-late stage was regarded as the peak one could generally reach through dedication.

Different from mages who battled with the diversity and quality of their spells without dividing levels specialized, he was the opposite who honed only his physical body to extremes.

The disparity became glaringly obvious as Mikhail was gradually pushed back.

Perhaps they’d created undead specialized for countering the martial arts of the Ice Palace in anticipation of such scenarios, but ironically, Yeon-woo was not an Ice Palace dweller.

“Guh…!! Why a non-Ice Palace dweller…!!”

“To kill you.”

With a bright smile, Yeon-woo raised his sword above his head. Slow and heavy. Having been accustomed to the swift attacks up until now, Mikhail couldn’t react to this suddenly slowed strike.

Naturally, he must have thought it would come crashing down immediately, raising his arms to take a defensive stance.

In combat, a moment’s mistake can cost you your life, yet Yeon-woo wasn’t planning to take his so easily.

“I’ll take your arms.”

Two jets of blood erupted, and two chunks of meat rolled on the ground.

(To be continued in the next chapter.)

 

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