Chapter 111 - The Money-Blowing Necromancer

Dullahan

Dullahans.

Headless undead with something like blue flames blazing where their faces should have been. The movement of those flames gave a rough indication of their emotions.

The dullahans tilted their heads at Kim Minwoo. They instinctively understood that he was the master who had summoned them.

'An impressive necromancer.'

They could feel powerful strength coursing through their bodies from the moment they were summoned. And if he could summon this many dullahans on top of that, he must be an impressive necromancer indeed.

But that was beside the point.

Why was he holding a sword and crooking his finger at them in provocation? And now he wanted them all to attack at once?

Dullahans had once been knights. They were bundles of bloated ego, prouder than anyone else.

'How arrogant.'

'He dares challenge us with a sword?'

Their gazes turned murderous.

Then came a voice.

"I shall go."

Dullahan No. 1, the first to be summoned, drew his sword and approached Kim Minwoo.

"I am Milton de Reynold."

"Too long. You'll just be Dully One from now on."

"... Dully One?"

"You're Dullahan No. 1, aren't you?"

Had he really named him Dully One just because he was Dullahan No. 1?

He had served quite a few masters, but he had never heard such a half-assed name in his life.

"... I am Milton de Reynold. If that is difficult to say, you may call me Milton."

"Dully One."

"... Milton."

"Dully One."

"You insolent wretch!"

He had made concession after concession because the man seemed to be a fairly impressive necromancer, yet he refused even that?

The dullahan charged in a fury, sword drawn.

A moment later—

SLASH!

The sound of something being cut rang out. The dullahans looked at Milton, unimpressed.

'Is it over?'

'Already?'

'How dull.'

'He didn't kill him, did he?'

It might have been different if that necromancer had used his other skills and done what his class was meant to do. Instead, he had inexplicably chosen a sword.

There was no sign of him using a skill, either, so he must have been subdued in an instant. That was fine, but killing him would be a problem.

Few necromancers could summon high-level undead like them. Those who could summon so many were rarer still.

If he died, they would have to return to a sleep bordering on eternal rest until another necromancer capable of summoning them appeared.

Surely that Milton fellow wouldn't want that either, so he had probably just taught him a little les—

"... Huh?"

Before they could finish that thought, Milton's body split in two and collapsed.

"...!"

He had been beaten in a single exchange?

The other 179 dullahans weren't the only ones shocked. Milton, Dullahan No. 1, who had stepped forward first, was equally stunned after being cut in half and revived.

'What happened?'

Never mind coming back to life. How in the world had he been beaten?

He had charged with his sword, and then everything had gone dark.

"You awake?"

"... How did you do that?"

"Like this."

This time, Kim Minwoo charged first. Milton hastily raised his sword, but it was futile. Minwoo's blade slipped smoothly past it and severed his body again.

'A master...!'

Milton was unsummoned before he could finish the thought. And he wasn't the only one stunned.

Everyone had watched closely this time, so they had seen how Kim Minwoo's blade cut Milton in two.

It had been only a single exchange, but they understood instinctively.

'He's a master!'

A true master of the sword, at that.

"Come on."

Three stepped forward this time.

All three were unsummoned together.

Five, seven, ten, twenty...

More and more dullahans charged at him. Yet Kim Minwoo remained perfectly composed.

The gap in their stats alone was insurmountable. They might be high-level undead, but these dullahans were only level 1. Even their impressive stats averaged around 100.

And his?

Around 700.

A sevenfold difference.

His swordsmanship was overwhelmingly superior, too—far beyond anything dullahans with no more skill than ordinary knights could handle.

That was why he had summoned them all at once.

He slashed and slashed again.

In no time, dullahans were being unsummoned in droves.

* * *

"What's your name again?"

"... Dully One, sir."

"And you?"

"... Dully One-Eighty, sir."

Kim Minwoo nodded in satisfaction. Thankfully, these guys weren't as stubborn as Cedric.

Just one day.

That was all it had taken to straighten out the dullahans.

"And your oaths?"

"..."

After silently staring at him, the dullahans spoke.

"... I, Dully One, swear to serve you faithfully."

"... I, Dully One-Eighty, swear the same."

[All dullahans swear their loyalty!]

[A knight's rock-solid oath!]

[The dullahans will now carry out your every command without fail!]

Now that was satisfying.

"Good. When the new recruits arrive, you handle their attitude adjustment yourselves. Fail, and you're all reporting back here. Understood?"

"... Yes, sir."

With the dullahans' attitude adjustment complete, he summoned Cedric.

"Hmm..."

A skeleton had suddenly appeared.

Normally, undead of a dullahan's caliber would think little of a mere skeleton. Serving as meat shields in the undead army was practically their universal role.

But...

'What is that skeleton...?'

'What an overwhelming presence.'

Their bodies instinctively shrank back.

The dullahans stiffened at the sight of Cedric.

Looking around, Cedric fixed his gaze on the dullahans.

"Have you subjugated them all?"

"Yeah. You command them from now on, too. You're the Commander-in-Chief. Handle their training as well."

Passing off tedious work was the way to go. Training these guys should be easy enough for Cedric.

"... Very well."

Cedric nodded and approached the dullahans.

"Greetings. I am Cedric. From now on, you will be under my command."

The dullahans bowed their heads in acceptance. His presence alone marked him as an undead on an entirely different level.

They acknowledged that a being of his caliber deserved to stand above them. As Cedric and the dullahans made their introductions, Minwoo spoke.

"Oh, right. There's something I'm curious about."

"What is it?"

"Those dullahans are basically commander-class units, right?"

"Usually, yes."

"Then where does that leave Hail? He's a commander, too."

Cedric was the skeleton unit's Commander-in-Chief. Under him were two commander-class units: Hail and Miles.

Miles commanded the mage unit, so he could be set aside. Minwoo was curious about where Hail and the dullahans stood in relation to each other.

The specters flew around on their own, operating more like an independent unit. Skeletons and dullahans, on the other hand, were summons with closely connected roles.

"You wish to know how their hierarchy will be determined?"

"Yeah."

"Usually, in unusual cases like this... they settle it by fighting."

"Oh, really?"

"Indeed. In an undead army, the strong ultimately prey upon the weak."

"So we'll have our answer if we pit them against each other."

"We should."

Minwoo summoned Hail in warrior mode. The moment Hail saw him, he gave a spirited salute.

"Dully One, come here."

"..."

Dully One slowly approached. He was among the more skilled of the 180 dullahans. Between his number and his ability, he was effectively their representative.

"This guy's the skeleton commander. We're picking a middle commander, so fight him."

"... You mean that skeleton?"

"Yeah. Winner gets command."

Hail banged his sword against his shield as if to taunt him.

"... I find it absurd that we must fight over something like this."

Still, what choice did he have? It was an order.

Dully One gripped his two-handed sword.

'Who's going to win?'

Dully One was only level 1, but had greater experience and skill. His opponent was Hail, a level-101 commander with a fair amount of combat experience of his own.

To Kim Minwoo, it was unmistakably a fight between amateurs.

'Fights between scrubs are always the most entertaining.'

Besides, both were his summons. Naturally, he was interested.

The two summons closed the distance.

CLANG!

Shield and two-handed sword collided with a heavy crash.

CLANG! CLANG!

Hail kept blocking the sword with his shield.

The flames above the dullahan's neck flickered in apparent surprise. Even so, his response was seasoned.

His two-handed sword had reach. Using that advantage, he skillfully began pressuring the skeleton.

Hail was steadily driven into a corner.

'He's going to get eaten alive.'

Unless he had something up his sleeve, that is.

Just as Minwoo thought that, Hail charged with his shield raised. Dully One stepped back and swung.

CLANG!

Hail blocked with his shield, then discarded it and threw himself at his opponent like Nongae dragging her enemy down with her.

"...!"

A bold gamble.

SLASH!

One bony arm was cleanly severed, but in exchange, his sword plunged into the dullahan's head area.

That strategy looked awfully familiar.

'Did he learn that from watching me?'

Apparently not expecting a skeleton to charge in with a take-you-with-me strategy, the dullahan went down more easily than expected.

"Hail wins!"

Minwoo raised Hail's remaining arm high to declare the result. Hail clacked his jaw triumphantly, looking confidently at the dullahans.

The flames above their necks flickered in surprise.

Minwoo summoned Dully One again and spoke.

"You lost, right?"

"... I lost."

The other dullahans nodded in acceptance. Whatever unusual tactics the skeleton had used, a loss was a loss.

Having once been knights, they seemed willing to accept the outcome without argument.

"From now on, you take orders from him."

"... Understood. Must we also take orders from the other skeletons?"

"No. No need for that."

As a favored skeleton, Hail had a better capacity for learning than the others. In other words, the other skeletons would struggle to put on a performance like that.

"Hail is the middle commander. You're regular commanders. Just give orders to the ordinary skeletons."

"Yes, sir."

[The melee unit's command structure is complete!]

[Unit Level: Seasoned Undead Unit]

[Commander-in-Chief: Cedric]

[Middle Commander: Hail]

[Regular Commanders: Dully One, Dully Two, Dully Three... Dully One-Eighty]

[A large number of commander-class units have been added!]

[The unit's maneuvers become far more professional!]

This wasn't his only unit. With Merhen's addition, a separate magic and support unit had been formed. Merhen was its Commander-in-Chief.

'That sorts out the chain of command.'

[Opening the Achievement Shop!]

[Grade: Silver (Total Points Earned: 1,630)]

[Available Achievement Points: 600]

He looked at the Achievement Shop.

He had earned 600 points from taking down Baekgil last time. He hadn't spent any of them since, for a simple reason.

'There's no need to rush to spend them.'

Achievement Points weren't easy to earn.

The first option was taking down villains with leading or supporting roles. He had already dealt with Han Baekgil, one of Korea's major villains. To take down another villain of that caliber, he would have to travel abroad.

Beating up another country's awakeners on foreign soil was hardly easy.

If that wasn't feasible right now, he would have to meet a lead character and bring about some sort of change.

'Whether by fulfilling a long-held wish or changing their class... '

He had to do something to earn points. But that wasn't easy, either.

The second character, Han Sia, and the fourth character, Namgung Min.

Both presented certain difficulties.

'Han Sia is already a mage.'

Unlike Park Siwoo, she had already awakened. Nor was she a case like Seo Yerim, whose talent and class were mismatched.

On top of that...

'The moment I contact her, things get pretty damn troublesome.'

Han Sia was a character with a particularly complicated background. For starters, she was half Korean and half German. And her paternal background in Germany...

'Involves a family of mages...'

The Greif family.

In short, it was a family with quite a few genuine mages, one that dominated Germany's magic community. Naturally, they also worked hand in glove with Germany's political and business circles.

The moment he contacted her, the Greif family would begin watching him.

'And fulfilling her wish isn't easy, either.'

Where Seo Yerim's wish had been to earn the Sword Immortal's recognition, Han Sia's was revenge.

'The family head stole her talent and discarded her.'

The Greif family had a seriously shady underside. Human experimentation was only the beginning of what those bastards got up to.

The family head had recognized Han Sia's talent the moment she was born and siphoned away a substantial portion of it.

The only reason he hadn't taken it all was that she had been born with far too much of it.

Just how much?

'Even with the little she has left, she's considered a magical genius.'

After draining his fill, he had sent Han Sia to her mother's family. Not because he intended to let her go peacefully.

It was a sort of maturation process. The family head would have to increase his own capacity before he could drain her again.

And there was one other reason.

'He probably wants to fatten her up again.'

It was like taking a bite out of a fish, getting full, and tossing it back into the stream. Once it put some flesh back on, he would take another bite.

A truly creative economy.

In any case, contacting Han Sia would draw the Greif family's keen interest. And that was a little tricky.

'The small fry don't matter, but...'

The Greif family head was seriously strong. Among major villains, Han Baekgil had merely been a domestic threat. This guy was an international one.

There was another variable, too.

Apparently, Shadow was a worldwide organization. Bad guys tended to find it easy to join forces.

What if he had contacted Shadow?

'He would've gotten that EXP-duplication event.'

Drawing his attention now would make things incredibly troublesome.

That was why Minwoo hadn't contacted Han Sia yet.

'As for Namgung Min... '

Best not to get started. That guy was every bit as complicated.

There was a reason he had rushed to contact Seo Yerim and Park Siwoo first. The solutions for those two were clear, whereas the other two were considerably trickier.

That was also why he had saved his Achievement Points.

'I don't need skill books or equipment for now.'

Now that his level had risen so much, he could find ways to obtain skill books and equipment elsewhere.

His top priority, then, should be buying things he couldn't obtain anywhere else.

[Purchasing 3 Limit-Breaking Elixirs!]

First, he bought three Limit-Breaking Elixirs. He could now reach level 500. That should keep him safely covered for a while.

He had 300 points left.

His gaze shifted to another item.

[Cocktail of the Dead]

[Grade: Special]

[A cocktail the dead can drink. Drinking it grants special effects.]

[Effect 1. Only undead can consume it.]