[Translator – Bob ]
[Proofreader – ilafy ]
Chapter 25
'S-scary!'
Sumire kept moving forward, even while flinching the entire time. Death knights and skeleton knights holding various weapons followed behind her.
Stompstompstompstomp.
It was a terrifying sight that resembled an army from hell. Of course, the one showing the greatest amount of prowess among them was the skeleton created from Shin YuSung's hair.
"Clack! Claclack!"
Whenever Shin YuSung's skeleton saw another skeleton trying to rebel, it destroyed its armor with one blow. Soon, it managed to catch up to Sumire.
"Th-thank you for your hard work!"
Sumire was polite, even to Shin YuSung's skeleton. As the army continued to expand, Sumire became even more of a necromancer than before.
The undead battalion began to cover the entirety of the Graveyard of Despair.
"Clack! Claclack!"
The skeletons rattled their jawbones and glared with their hollow eyes.
As they did so, a death knight at the forefront of the army, riding on top of a skeletal horse. lifted its weapon.
"Our M… aster wants blood! Search for the un… dead!"
Sumire flinched as she heard the cry of the death knight behind her. Her eyes began to spin in place.
"Eek! N-no! I don't want b-blood…"
After hearing her words, the death knight raised its weapon once more.
"Mast… er's mind has changed!" it shouted. "Destroy them! Do not leave a single bone fragment of the opponent intact! Create ch… aos! Des… troy, every… thing, in your… sight!"
As its speech concluded, the other skeletons began to rattle their bones, creating a death knell from hell.
Clackclackclackclackclack!
This was their form of a passionate cheer.
"Cl-clack!"
"Clack! Clack clack!"
Sumire lost her words at the sight of hell's banquet laid out before her.
'…I-I guess I should just stay quiet.'
While Sumire was in the process of becoming the master of the Graveyard of Despair, the ground suddenly split in half.
Scrape, sccccrape!
Green mist and black clouds spewed out from the crevice. A mysterious hand found purchase on the ground and began to creep out of the crack. What pulled itself out was a creature with a thin, pale body wearing an old, red robe.
"I have… awakened."
It was the lich, otherwise known as the Immortal. With a face no different from a corpse's, the lich locked eyes with Sumire.
"No fear, I see. To think that a mere mortal would lead the undead and invade the territory of me, Balak…"
Finished with its speech, the lich stretched out its hand.
Sinister energy began to pour from its grasp. As it seeped into the cracks in the ground, a worrying light began emanating from it.
"Meet despair!"
Scccrape!
From the crevices in the ground, more skeletons began to emerge, wailing into the air. The undead that the lich had summoned numbered close to the undead that Sumire had collected while roaming around the graveyard.
If Sumire's [Call of the Undead] Skill made undead monsters join her side, the lich's skill could be called 'Summoning'.
Considering the amount of mana used, as well as what the effect of the skill was, the lich's skill was definitely of a higher and more difficult level.
As if to prove it, the lich began to summon a giant skeleton golem, something that the current Sumire could never summon.
"…Come out! Skull golem!"
Scccrape! Rrrumble!
As the skull golem began to crawl out of the crevice in the ground, the undead in its vicinity began to scatter, ignoring who was a friend or foe.
The lich was considered strong, even among the rank 4 boss monsters. The usual Sumire could never hope to fight against it.
Boom!
The skull golem slammed against the ground with its giant hand. Sumire began to scream as she looked at where the golem had punched.
"Groooaaarr!!"
Sumire's purple hair haphazardly flew behind her from the force of the golem's cry.
"U-uu… uuu…"
Even one hit from the golem would be fatal. Sumire began to shiver at the thought of the worst-case scenario, as she could die.
Even so, she stretched out a hand towards the golem.
'I have to help… Shin YuSung-ssi.'
Sumire didn't really care about the results of the dungeon raid. It wasn't important to her, someone who had previously had the worst grades in the Academy. But it was different when Shin YuSung was involved.
Shin YuSung was the first person in Gaon Academy who had believed in Sumire.
Sumire didn't want to betray the boy's trust in her. She wanted to help him, not be a burden to him.
Sumire's eyes were filled with fervor as she stared down the skull golem.
'I can do it! I don't want to… disappoint Shin YuSung-ssi…'
Her desire to do her best was both for Shin YuSung,
'…and I don't want to be abandoned.'
—and possibly, also for her.
Purple light began to spill out of her outstretched hand.
Shine!
A curtain of purple light began to drape over the sky as if covering the entire world. It was not a skill that Sumire had used yet.
'Th-this is…'
— You have obtained the new skill, [Veil of the Undead].
A hologram appeared in front of a shocked Sumire from the Pocket on her wrist. The curtain that lazily drifted downwards from the heavens blanketed all of the undead, including the skull golem.
Zzzt!
As the curtain, having fallen down onto the ground, disappeared, the skull golem and the other undead turned towards the lich and began to display their aggression towards it.
"Groaaar!"
"Cla-clack!"
Even though the lich had the power to summon the undead, Sumire had the power to control said undead. And unlike the lich, Sumire only had to use up a small amount of mana to accomplish this.
Her powers perfectly counteracted the lich's own.
In the Graveyard of Despair, Sumire could show greater power than that of an S-rank Trait. Shin YuSung's faith in her had come through.
"How can this…"
She couldn't make the boss monster into her subordinate as well, but Sumire's current situation was heavily favored towards her. Gathering her courage, Suimre pointed towards the lich.
"…A-attack!"
The undead reacted fiercely to their master's orders.
"Groooar!"
"Cl-clack!"
"Follow… master's orders!"
Skull golem. Skeletons. Death knights.
A countless number of the undead attacked the lich. Sumire bit her lip.
'…Please,' she desperately prayed.
The lich's robes tore from the death knight's blades, and the lich's mana shield crumbled under the skull golem's blows.
Boom!
On top of that, the skeleton made of Shin YuSung's hair pressured the lich using its unique martial arts.
Pssh!
The undead archers provided support by loosing fire arrows at the opponent. This successful assault was something Sumire could never do if she was only at the Academy.
'I only have a third of my mana left… but I can do this!'
Sumire watched the battle with hope-filled eyes. Even as her mana kept depleting, her fight against the lich was on the cusp of success.
But Sumire was unlucky.
'Huh? That ring…'
The lich was laughing suspiciously. Sumire had belatedly realized that something was wrong.
"I congratulate you. To think that a mortal could corner me like this with necromancy…"
The ring on the lich's gaunt finger began to emanate light. Very rarely, some bosses appeared in dungeons equipped with an artifact.
"Even so… this is the end."
The lich that had spawned was one of those cases.
Shaaa!
Hundreds of strands spread out from the lich's ring; the black strands pierced through the undead and began to absorb their power.
Skull golem.
Death knights.
Skeletons.
Shin YuSung's skeleton.
The lich managed to absorb every single undead monster in the graveyard.
"…I thank you for the meal."
The emancipated body of the lich had turned muscular, and it was filled to the brim with power—thanks to its overflowing mana."
"The Immortal. This is the power of an artifact."
The lich's voice no longer shook. Only Sumire and the lich were left in the graveyard, but this matchup could not be called equal.
"Uuu…"
Sumire took a step back.
"I screwed up again…"
Plip plip.
Spherical tears dripped down Sumire's cheeks. She tried her best. She could have succeeded, but she managed to ruin it again.
"Sniff… sob."
Sumire always screwed things up at the most crucial time.
She screwed up during the show-and-tell in kindergarten, the one that she had practiced three weeks for.
She also screwed up when she showed her F-rank Trait to her father, who had been ecstatic to know that she possessed a Trait.
She had also screwed up during the incident when she had gone to South Korea as if fleeing Japan. They were all the same.
But just this one time, Sumire didn't want to betray Shin YuSung's expectations. At the very least, she wanted to pay him back for the faith he had in her.
But one's greatest efforts and desperate feelings did not always achieve results.
"…This is the end."
The lich stretched out its left hand towards Sumire; as the pale skin began to wriggle, it turned into the shape of a spear.
Whoosh!
Sumire channeled all of her remaining mana into a shield and surrounded herself with it. Even though her tears made the surroundings blurry, it was obvious to her that the lich's attack would tear through her shield like paper.
Clench.
Sumire shut her eyes.
The silence stretched on as if time had stopped.
The lich's attack had been blocked.
'…Huh?'
Sumire was not the one who had blocked it.
'It can't be…'
Sumire carefully opened her eyes.
What stood in front of her was a familiar back.
TL/N: How freaking gorgeous are these colors??
"…To think that you cornered a boss with an artifact of such power."
With his gaze still concentrated in front of himself, Shin YuSung calmly praised Sumire.
"…It really is a good thing that I signed you up for this raid."
It could be considered almost a dry sort of praise.
Sumire hid her eyes with the back of her hand and did not reply. She was wrong. She had not messed up this time.
Zzzzt!
"You stopped…"
The lich glared down at Shin YuSung while emanating dark energy. The lich had currently absorbed the power of all the undead through its artifact. It was at peak condition. Even so, the human in front of it had blocked its attack with one hand.
"What are you…"
Tup!
Shin YuSung charged towards the lich.
Boom!
He slammed his foot into the ground right in front of the lich and threw his right fist at the monster.
Battle God Style Third Form – Heaven Shattering Fist Strike
Shin YuSung's mana violently swirled around his fist.
Booboobooom!
The lich also coated its right hand in dark energy and threw a punch with it.
Zzzap!
Power versus power. Mana versus mana.
The two fists collided and created a shockwave.
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Reaper Scans
Translator – Bob
Proofreader – ilafy
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The drone camera exploded from the force of the shockwave.
Bzt!
The spectators fell into shock as the monitor broadcasting Shin YuSung fizzled out.
"Did the lich seriously bring out an artifact, even though it's super hard to defeat in the first place?"
"W-will they…really succeed in the double raid?"
"If they do, it really will be the first in the Association's history…"
The guild scouts, broadcasters, reporters, and even the Association hunters gathered at the Association were watching the development surrounding Shin YuSung.
Han SeolAh from the Chinese team began talking to Liú Jùn with a serious expression on her face.
"…Are they actually going to do it?"
Liú Jùn did not reply.
The idea of doing a double raid in a competition where one's clear time was important had never even crossed his mind. The Japanese team, who had achieved third place, was also in shock.
"…One of the teams from Korea got second place while going solo. And the other team is going to… do a double raid?"
Seiji began to mumble, bemused at the situation. Sakura tried to reason with him.
"We don't know the results yet, Seiji. They'll only get the record if they exit the portal in fourth place, right?"
Vmm!
At that moment, the portal began to activate, shining with light. Adela, who had been lost in her thoughts, abruptly turned her head towards the source of the noise.
'Is it really…'
Adela's anticipation towards Shin YuSung was growing even bigger. Dissatisfied with a mere record, Shin YuSung had decided to try a double raid; On top of that, his opponent was a boss monster with an artifact. Adela's heart had started beating quickly before she had even known it.
'That man?'
Adela's gaze landed on the portal.
Before she could even read the name of the dungeon inscribed on the portal, someone next to her began to mutter.
"…He really did it."
Chaos descended upon the Association from those words.
"A double raid… during a competition!"
"This is big news! Take pictures, hurry!"
"This is reporter Yu HanNah, live at the Hunter Association!"
This was where, instead of the title of the disciple of the Fist King, Shin YuSung's own name began to etch itself into history.
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