The Necromancer Who Was Despised

However, that wasn’t what I was aiming for.

Once the land of death was formed, it meant that the surrounding area was filled with my magical energy.

Although most of my magical energy had been consumed, the magical energy extracted from the seal was rapidly filling the empty space.

However, this was not enough.

I opened the dimensional fragments, took out some of the stored black liquid and black bones, and used them to support the next magic.

[Black Veil]

Finally, I cast a powerful defensive magic, the Black Veil, on top of the land of death, consuming all of my remaining magical energy.

Although it was rapidly filling up, it was still limited for now.

Just as the last magic was used, Yeriya’s curse began to break, and the death aura started to seep in.

I immediately focused my mind to maintain the manifested magic and prevent it from collapsing.

Akachi’s expression turned stern at the sight.

The speed was slower than expected.

It was slow from the beginning, but it had shown a certain destructive power…

Of course, even now, dozens, hundreds of undead were perishing.

However, my main forces, located in the central area, were unable to be affected by the Black Veil and the land of death’s magical energy, and time was being dragged out.

If this continued, the small fries would be annihilated, but my main forces would not be touched.

Akachi’s face then filled with astonishment and anger.

It seemed he had never thought that I would dare to resist the demon king’s power head-on, let alone endure it.

“…You’re still not fully awakened, I see.”

Those words were not wrong.

My magical abilities were not lacking, but compared to the leaders of the black star or the dark elves beside me, they were inferior.

However, that didn’t mean I was someone to be looked down upon.

The purity of my magical energy, the number and quality of the undead I controlled, and my personal magic, although lacking, were still not something to be underestimated when considering the structures I had built.

From the beginning, I had been building my power around my stronghold, and it was unavoidable that I would struggle to exert my strength outside.

“Time is running out.”

I lacked the time to learn magic. They had invested at least tens, hundreds of years, whereas I had only a fraction of that time.

As time passed, Akachi’s magic was gradually weakening.

Meanwhile, Tinus seemed to have recovered some of his lost body parts.

He had peeled off his lost scales and regenerated them with magical energy.

“You’re using the demon king’s power… You’re someone who shouldn’t be spared.”

Ordinary demon contractors received dark magic knowledge and magical energy from their demon partners.

However, Akachi had gone beyond that and used the demon king’s power.

The demon king’s power was the source of their strength, which earned them the title of demon king.

Therefore, even if they had a contract, it was not easy to use that power, and the price to pay would be enormous.

The fact that he could use that power already…

“Means he has paid the price.”

Demons typically demanded certain things from humans.

Life sacrifices, intelligent souls, and descent onto the continent…

Especially demon kings, who desired the third option, descent, the most, which was why they were obsessed with avatar creation.

Of course, Akachi had not succeeded in that descent.

If he had, he would have become the leader of the black star, not as a demon king’s subordinate, but as the demon king himself.

However, it was speculated that the leader was somewhere else.

In other words, Gangrim wasn’t…

“How much did he sacrifice?”

And in return, how much power did he obtain?

Despite using the demon king’s authority-infused magic, he still seemed to have some leeway.

Tinus, who had recovered, looked down and swung his hand.

Kwaang!

Then, black spheres shot out from his fingertips, causing a massive explosion.

“…This is!”

Rant gasped in shock.

I was equally astonished.

That was… the magic Rant had used before.

Not just one, either.

More black spheres were launched from his fingertips, growing larger and stronger as they fell, causing massive explosions.

“Krrr…!”

But Akachi was still holding on.

No, he even counterattacked.

A gray beam of light shot towards Tinus, striking his black barrier.

“…This can’t be.”

But it didn’t penetrate.

Although some damage was done, Tinus didn’t take any harm.

Rant and Solde even tried to cooperate, but they couldn’t do anything to Tinus in the end.

Meanwhile, our party, now out of my protection, began to take revenge on the chimera.

Although they received support from the dark mages, they were also affected, making it difficult to provide the same protection as before.

The dark mages were flustered when the center was breached and tried to focus on the monsters, while simultaneously deploying additional chimera to the center.

But that was a mistake.

The hunters, who had been waiting for an opportunity, began to hunt them down again.

At the forefront was Kuhar, the leader who wore the primitive spirit elements, the de facto leader.

And I nailed the final blow.

[Rise]

Using the recovered magic, I raised the fallen monsters as new undead.

It wasn’t reviving those who had already died.

Those who had completely perished couldn’t be revived.

But the newly dead bodies were abundant.

Among them were even chimera killed by our allies, so the number of corpses to raise was overwhelming.

Although this battlefield wasn’t my usual domain, it was no different from a necromancer’s territory.

The only regret was that the amount of magic I had recovered wasn’t enough, and even with Elroset’s staff amplifying my power and the temporary stronghold’s assistance, there was a limit.

Therefore, the number of undead that rose was significant, but their quality was lacking.

“But that’s enough.”

“Krrr….”

As the undead arose again, the monsters’ gazes turned back.

Those crazy bastards had swept away the undead with reckless abandon, and simultaneously grabbed their ankles.

The leaders, guided by Tinus, had our undead in front and the demon hunters behind.

As the encirclement tightened, Akachi let out a scream.

“Sipherix!”

Perhaps in response to his desperate cry, a sinister aura burst forth from his body, and soon…

“Kuh!”

Black blood spurted out of Akachi’s mouth.

“How…is this?”

In an instant, his breath was cut off.

But it didn’t end there.

A narrow space suddenly opened, and his body was sucked into it.

Tinus watched this scene with a look of disgust, as if he had seen something dirty.

However, he soon shook his head briefly and let out a sigh.

“Poor guy.”

And then, looking at the two exhausted leaders, he said…

“You two won’t die so easily.”

Saying so, Tinus stretched out his hand.

***

“Dulk.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“The Empire faction has been defeated.”

“…Which means…”

“Sold and Langtem have been captured, and Akachi is dead.”

“……”

“As you wish.”

Rochis, the commander of the Black Star.

The leader Dulk smiled faintly at his words.

“Tell the Red Ogre. I’ll take their hand.”

◈ Black Star

When the battlefield cleanup was nearly finished, Tinus had extracted various information from the two after torturing them.

He seemed to want to dig into their minds, but as a mage, it was difficult to directly extract information in their current state.

“Their mental strength exceeds that of ordinary humans.”

Those guys were insane, but their mental strength was not something to be compared to ordinary people.

It was surprising how easily they spilled the beans, but the reason for their easy cooperation was simple.

“Will you become a Rich?”

“Yes, yes…”

If they could become a Rich without dying like Bolledi, they might be able to survive.

However, if that’s the case, I’d become their slave.

“Do you not want to die like that?”

“Of course not.”

I’d rather become rich and survive.

Sol said so.

Rangtem had a skeptical expression, but he wasn’t opposing it.

In fact, during the process of gathering information, Sol was quite cooperative, whereas Rangtem wasn’t to that extent.

However, Sol’s words were somewhat supplemented, and he also judged that his future was either death or becoming an undead.

In the end, their future was already decided at the point of defeat.

“But can you guys become rich?”

They seemed to be like that, but they were the ones who made a contract with the demon king.

It’s common for people to trade their souls for a contract, but it’s not just a simple skeleton mage; to become rich, you need to use your entire soul.

“I’ve already gotten it back. My relationship with the demon king is just a transaction…”

After all, there’s no way someone who’s lived a long life by draining others’ life force would remain subservient to the demon king.

“Didn’t Akachi get dragged away like that?”

“That’s…”

“It’s because he wanted something excessive.”

“Hmm?”

At that time, Tinus, who had returned to his human form, approached and said,

“He wanted a power that exceeded his limits, and the contract was broken, so he got dragged away.”

Even using his authority had cost him a tremendous price; wanting something more than that had resulted in his life, body, and soul falling into the demon king’s hands.

“The demon king’s ultimate goal is fundamentally to descend upon the continent, but that doesn’t mean they won’t make many sacrifices for it.”

They are fundamentally demons, selfish, and greedy.

“They also gained something. They must have been angry.”

From the start, their goal of descending upon the continent was to obtain more things and fulfill their destructive desires. The black mage, who had traded with them for a long time, was actually in a situation where they were being discarded, and they had even wanted power beyond their limits…

“There was no chance of survival if they had given him more power. It can be seen as preventing additional losses. They took him back… probably as a form of revenge.”

A slave and a form of revenge. That’s why they took him back.

“He won’t be at peace even in death.”

Death doesn’t lead to eternal rest.

It was the price of making a contract with the demon king and joining hands with the empire.

“But now that he’s gone, the possibility of the black star joining hands with the red ogre has increased.”

“The one who opposed joining hands with them the most was Akachi. He would rather use the empire’s difficult situation to gain many things and…”

Sol, who had glanced at me, opened his mouth again.

“Let’s take Do In-ha and… create a land of death on the continent…”

“We also tried to secure the land of death from the past based on that.”

Rangtem added,

“Since we’re a faction with three leaders, including us two, the head of the black star can’t easily give power to the other side. But now that our faction has fallen, joining hands with them is inevitable.”