Corpses. Corpses. Corpses. Corpses.
Corpses approached from every direction.
The scenery had changed before he knew it. What had originally been a clean city of towering buildings had become a desolate, barren landscape, and the sky was covered with ominous clouds in a dark crimson hue.
“Do not come near me! Aaaargh!”
Kim Hoon-cheol ran. But corpses were everywhere. Among them were things where corpses had been grotesquely tangled together.
Some dragged their intestines behind them, while others were rotten and hideously bloated.
“Become us.”
“Become one of us.”
“Let us become usss.”
“Because we have to protect it.”
“We have to protect it….”
“The world….”
“Become usss.”
Kim Hoon-cheol, who had been fleeing, clutched his head.
“Aaaargh!”
It felt as though a sharp awl were stabbing into his mind. He knew what this was. His mind was being eroded.
That thing was not human.
GRAB! GRAB!
And in the end, he was caught.
“Let us become one.”
“For the sake of the world.”
“Let us kill the Demons.”
“For those left behind.”
“Aaaaaaargh!”
In the end, Kim Hoon-cheol was buried beneath a wave of corpses.
***
“Aaaaaaargh!”
The visor helmet trembled and screamed.
Watching him, Park Il-sang gave a faint laugh.
Because he knew what his opponent had done.
“This idiot connected his mind to mine. Tsk, tsk. His mind has gone completely.”
Park Il-sang had been an Arch Lich in his previous life.
Even now, he possessed all of his memories from the past, so his mind could not possibly be the same as that of an ordinary human.
In fact, even his own Soul was not truly normal.
That was the kind of being an Arch Lich was.
“Still, thanks to this fellow, I learned something useful….”
First was the [Life Ravagement] combo.
It did not work at all on Hunters of a higher Grade than himself. It had to be regarded as a Skill strictly meant for slaughtering weaklings.
However.
What if he did this?
Park Il-sang reached out as he was.
Then he grabbed the visor helmet by the neck and focused his mind.
The power that had been spread broadly as a passive concentrated in his hand.
Then, SHAAAH!
He rapidly drained Life Force. Just like that, the visor-helmet man died.
“I thought this much should be possible.”
It was something he had attempted based on his experience from his previous life, and it had succeeded splendidly!
Then, -By controlling Necro Mana, you have acquired a new Skill.
-You have acquired the Skill [Life Plundering Touch].
“Huh?”
Park Il-sang let out a sound without realizing it.
It gave him a Skill here?
The [Monster Bestiary] from before had also been fairly sudden, but this was also tremendously sudden.
“They said Skill creation was extremely rare….”
Had some rule changed with a patch update this time?
‘Or is it because I am a Reincarnator? But if that were the case… none of my Necromancy Spells worked, did they?’
He had his doubts.
But in any case, it was not something he could know.
“Soul Capture.”
When he used the Skill without removing his hand from the corpse, a pale Soul was drawn out and seeped into his other hand.
“A high-quality Soul is always welcome. Now, now. In you go.”
He put the Soul into [Corpse Box].
After that, he transformed the bone prison back into Skeleton Centaurs, stripped all the equipment from the visor-helmet man’s corpse, and put the body into [Corpse Box].
Still, he could be certain he had earned money today.
All of this man’s equipment would fetch a decent sum!
As he was doing that, he heard a rustling sound. When he turned his head, he saw five Goblins appear and stare at him.
However, the Goblins saw the Skeleton Beast and ran away.
“Catch them.”
“Kiiiiaaaak!”
“Graaaaaah!”
The Skeleton Centaurs began to run.
The real hunt had begun!
***
It seemed the visor-helmet man had been a symbol of good fortune.
After that, Monsters began popping out from here and there.
Since they tried to flee whenever they saw the Skeleton Beast, he deliberately dug out the ground a little and had the Skeleton Beast crouch inside it. Once he did, they rushed in even more readily.
He caught Kobolds, caught Goblins, and spent quite a while catching other low-level Monsters with bones as well.
He extracted the Magic Stones, and in order to make thorough use of the Monster corpses he had caught, he redistributed his resources.
First, he was able to make four more [Corpse Boxes].
Including the one he had originally possessed, that made five.
With this, the number of corpses he could store exceeded five hundred by human-body standards!
Naturally, the usable amount of Necro Mana was also five times greater.
Of course, that was only if he filled them all with corpses.
And the problem was that he did not have nearly that many corpses.
Even counting insects, the number of Monsters he had caught today was only around two hundred.
It was not enough to fill every [Corpse Box].
“Will this work?”
And
he had an immediate use for the corpses.
Park Il-sang diligently separated bone and flesh with the [Corpse Processing] Skill, then used his next Skill.
“Necro Item Creation!”
FLASH!
A large helmet was created.
It was a helmet for the Skeleton Beast to use.
A helmet with double-stacked [Undead Command] on it, no less!
How would it turn out?
If Park Il-sang equipped the Undead under his command with an item related to command ability… would the number of Undead he could control increase? Or would it be a pointless waste?
“Here it goes! Pilder On! Dooooocking!”
Go, Kitty! You are going to become stronger!
Then a Horned Helmet was added on top of the Skeleton Beast’s head.
At that moment, something astonishing happened.
-The Undead Skeleton Beast is evolving into a commander entity.
-The Skeleton Beast has evolved into a Skeleton Beast Leader.
[Skeleton Beast Leader]
Grade: Rare
Description: A large Undead beast created by processing various bones. Fragments of Vengeful Spirits from several corpses have fused, blurring the traits and selfhood of the original Souls and leaving only ferocious wildness. It possesses the power to command nearby Undead. Living beings feel fear merely by seeing it.
Function: Weak Fear
Function: [Corpse Manipulation] +10 when mounted
Function: Can be controlled with 1 [Corpse Manipulation]. (However, if corpses are added to strengthen it beyond its current form, this function is locked.)
“This is it! Graaaagh! It worked!”
Park Il-sang shouted in joy.
He immediately opened his Skill window and checked the number related to Undead control.
The [Corpse Manipulation] slots, originally 42, had increased to a whopping 52!
On top of that,
the slots originally needed to control the Skeleton Beast Kitty had been 20, but now it had been reduced to 1.
Free slots had appeared!
However, there was also a drawback. He could no longer strengthen the current Skeleton Beast further. It was an appropriate penalty.
If it had been possible to control the Skeleton Beast forever with just 1 [Corpse Manipulation] slot….
Would that not mean he could simply keep stuffing corpses into it?
Creating and riding around on a supermassive Skeleton Beast made from one hundred corpses while taking up only 1 [Corpse Manipulation] slot?
There was no way something like that would be allowed.
Even so, this alone was excellent.
After all, he could save 19 slots!
“Phew… I earned plenty of money. I secured a lot of materials too. This is good. But… maybe going to Dungeons would be better after all.”
Park Il-sang rubbed his chin and thought.
He needed corpses.
He needed more corpses!
However, the Frog Nest was still not good enough.
He was making good use of the Skeleton Beast made from frog bones, but naturally, corpses of powerful living beings were best.
“The money I earned today….”
He calculated the Spoils he had obtained this way and that.
It seemed he had earned roughly twenty million won.
With this much, he could live for several months.
Since Necromancers made their own equipment, they did not need to spend money on buying gear.
Park Il-sang nodded.
“From tomorrow, it is Dungeons!”
And so Park Il-sang decided to return home.
He was already excited just thinking about tomorrow.
***
On the way back, Park Il-sang saw various Hunters riding by in trucks. He thought that he too should buy a truck later on.
The Skeleton Beast moved at a fairly decent speed, but it was not faster than a truck.
At most, it moved at about 30 km/h.
In any case, Park Il-sang returned to the Residential District like that, put even the Skeleton Beast into [Corpse Box], and took out four Necro Guards.
Each had a [Corpse Box] on its back.
It could not be helped.
He could not put a [Corpse Box] inside a [Corpse Box]!
The inside of [Corpse Box] was like a limited Subspace. A Subspace into which only corpses could enter!
How could two such spaces overlap?
If one forced it inside, it would burst.
Literally.
It would explode.
Because the spaces would interfere with each other and detonate.
So he had no choice but to do it this way.
At least it was fortunate that he could make four Necro Guards.
With that formation in place, Park Il-sang headed to a restaurant.
He had been outside, so he was hungry.
Since he had earned a hefty sum of money too, he would grill some meat today!
SIZZLE.
He grilled Cultured Meat (Pork) and put on a proper mukbang.
Then he treated himself to a glass of the expensive, truly expensive, Newca-Cola.
And when he came out while patting his stomach, the night had already deepened.
However, no one dared to try robbing Park Il-sang while he walked with four Necro Guards.
Because of that, he was able to come home and sleep comfortably.
Tomorrow, after waking up, he would have to dispose of his Spoils.
***
“A strong and powerful morning! If anyone asks me, I am an Arch Lich!”
Park Il-sang woke up while saying some bizarre nonsense.
He roughly washed his face with rusty tap water, put on his equipment, and left the house.
Today’s destination was the pawnshop.
After all, he had to go there to dispose of the Spoils.
Naturally, he went out together with the Necro Guards.
He had to bring the [Corpse Boxes]. What choice did he have?
When he came outside, the morning sunlight was intense. When he checked the time, it was 11 a.m.
Since he had slept in lazily, it was only natural.
“Well then, should I start by visiting Dungeons? I have to keep collecting corpses… I need to be diligent if I am going to build a Necropolis, after all.”