Death King Karnak Novel - Chapter 25

Death King Karnak

7. A Model Necromancer (3)

 

A voice rang out, “Rise, dead people of the underworld…”

Dozens of summoning circles were drawn on the hallway floor.

“…Lead by the darkness, reveal those ferocious fangs!”

Black shadows began to appear with a rattling noise. White bones and half-rotten corpses with swords and shields. It was a skeleton and a ghoul, the symbol of a necromancer. The dead, whose rest was disturbed, groaned in pain.

Aaaaaa…….

Haaaaa…….

Alius shouted in anger.

“You’re like a cursed necromancer! How can you defile the rest of the dead so much!”

On the other hand, Karnak’s impression was a little different.

‘A truly diligent and sincere friend.’

People who didn’t know anything thought that corpses would pop up on a necromancer’s gesture, but seeds need to be sown to sprout.

The undead that Cleo had summoned were 20 skeletons and 10 ghouls.

It was said that at least 30 tombs must have been robbed to prepare that number of catalysts.

[Don’t you think he must’ve been stocking up like a squirrel’s acorns?]

Barros’ sentiment was also not different from Karnak’s.

[Sincere bitch, he must have dug his own grave? I must have loaded it.]

[Why are you so agitated? That guy could have dug it.]

[There is a necromancer I know well, but he doesn’t move his hands and feet even, and he orders his attendants to dig a grave when someone dies.]

[Really? Looks like there was someone else like me on my side.]

[……Young Master is just too tough as I expected.]

[Huh? what?]

In the meantime, they had finished preparing a steady defense formation.

Barros took the lead in blocking the corridor, and Karnak also drew magic from both hands. Concentrating his mind, Alius chanted a divine spell.

“Hatoba, protect your servants!”

Starlight enveloped Karnak and Barros.

“Now, you two won’t be invaded by evil.”

At the same time, Barros’ long sword also shone white. It was given the power to cut the undead.

Alius took a step backward after pouring the blessing of the goddess.

“Buy us a moment! I’ll deal with them in the meantime!”

 

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Barros moved first.

“Ha!”

He quickly jumped between the skeletons and slashed left and right. Skeleton soldiers also reacted quickly. He attacked continuously while wielding a rusty long sword. An extended metallic crash sound spread out.

Bang! Bang!

Karnak also cast magic.

“Magic Arrow!”

The simple but effective flash magic hit the group of ghouls. Some of the limbs that were hit fell off. The shock caused them to fall back. But they did not fall. Since they were already corpses, they did not stop moving even after losing their limbs.

The corpses protected Cleo, while Karnak and Barros protected Alius, and the battle continued. Barros sent out a magic message by wavering a sword encased in holy light.

[The priest’s blessing, that’s what it felt like.]

[How is it?]

[It’s similar to the berserk curse you used. No, should I say they are the same since only the color is different?]

There was only a difference in the brilliant light instead of the gloomy darkness, and Barros unexpectedly could not feel the difference.

[Yeah, I would use that curse to keep the berserkers’ rampage in check. A berserker running rampant with a calm expression and possessing reason is nothing really different from a penis.]

[I think this opinion is hard to agree with from the priests’ point of view.]

Barros asked sneakily as he knocked out the two skeletons that were rushing at him at once.

[How’re you feeling, Young Master? Isn’t this also your first time receiving a blessing?]

[The plan to try it was worth it.]

Karnak smiled lightly while lancing at Alius.

[It seems he didn’t notice at all.]

No matter how much resemblance it had with normal magic, the source of chaos magic was ultimately command power. He had no idea about the side effects that could’ve occurred if the priest’s blessing had conflicted with the chaos magic. There was no problem theoretically, but there could be one or two cases where the theory and reality were different.

[What were you planning to do if it really had side effects?]

[That’s why I have created this situation from the beginning!]

If he had gone to any priest and received a blessing, he would’ve punched the opponent’s mouth to silence him if any unexpected side effects had occurred.

But now?

[It’s hard to tell because all the space around them was overflowing with command power.]

Just as it was blamed on Randolph before, it could be blamed on that necromancer. If he felt any suspicious energy from Karnak, he could just ignore it by inferring it as a curse.

[You shouldn’t live as cancer as before.]

[Oh, it seems you can now judge a real person. What happened?]

[……Doesn’t that mean I’ve always tried to live like a human?]

Meanwhile, Cleo was frowning.

“What is this discomfort?”

At first glance, it seemed to be a typical battle with adventurers. Warriors protected their comrades in the front line, wizards cast magic from the rear, and priests assisted on the battlefield.

Yeah, nothing special about it. It was a solid and orthodox team battle technique.

‘But what…?’

The attitude of the two of them in dealing with the undead was very annoying. It was definitely not a big fight, but it wasn’t also that they were nervous. Actually, it was so natural that they were even giving out a comfortable expression.

He remembered seeing a similar expression in the past after some pondering.

Mr. Erold, the owner of a bakery in his hometown, had been baking bread for 20 years. That mister also looked the same when he started his daily routine every morning with kneading the flour. Even though it seemed to be kneaded roughly by his motion, the bread dough of the owner was always sticky and shiny.

On the other hand, the assistant’s dough was somehow flimsy, no matter how much effort and energy he put into it.

‘So…… are you telling me those guys those guys deal with the undead that often?’

Cleo let out a laugh. It was an absurd conclusion.

‘They’re just some idiots who can’t grasp the atmosphere.’

Since those guys were definitely strong. Almost all of the skeleton soldiers and ghouls he had summoned had already been knocked out. It didn’t matter. Because those guys were just baits to buy time.

“They are quite the stubborn lot.”

He made a sign with both hands while mocking them.

“However, everything till now was just the entertainment…….”

The command power drew a black magic circle in the air and emitted dark light.

“I will give you a taste of the true power of darkness!”

The summoning circle began to vomit the dwelling place.

“Come, beast of hell! Descend to this land as per my will!”

A huge red demon stepped into the hallway. With a ferocious appearance having huge horns, the body of a beast was covered with red muscles that were about to explode, and it even held a rugged battle hammer in both hands.

It was almost two meters tall, so it felt like the hallway was full. The summoned demon spewed out flames when it opened its mouth.

“Contractor, what do you want?”

“Their death!”

“They will die as per your wish……”

Intense energy spread out in all directions, along with the terrible mana. This time, it was when Cleo smiled in contemplation, expecting that their expressions would distort.

“Oh!”

“Now!”

Cleo’s expectations were disappointing. Barros and Karnak’s eyes were rather shining brightly.

 

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Barros grinned as he fixed his sword.

[I’ll now fight properly, Young Master.]

The same was the case with Karnak.

[That’s right.]

Skeletons and ghouls actually didn’t have that high combat power. To put it frankly, they weren’t much different from a normal soldier.

Since it was easy to make them by turning slain enemies into allies, they were useful as soldiers of an army, but their individual combat power was mediocre.

Even so, the reason for veteran warriors being beaten by such low-class undead was the difference in familiarity.

Their attack power and movements were obviously not much different from those of normal human soldiers. However, the concept of defense was a bit different.

Since it is a corpse in the first place, it continued to move even if its limbs and head were blown off. Those who were accustomed to only fighting living things would get caught in that loophole, thinking that they had already defeated them.

No matter how much you stab and cut, they wouldn’t die, so the psychological burden was great.

But to be honest, being able to keep moving even when a limb is blown off wasn’t such a big deal.

Would the blown-off limbs come back together?

If you cut off an arm, you become a one-armed person, and if you cut off both legs, you become a cripple. It didn’t die, but its combat power would be reduced with every loss.

It really wasn’t a big deal once you got used to the fact that the dead could still move.

And Karnak and Barros were the most familiar with the undead in this world, and of course, they weren’t even training partners. On the other hand, the demon summoned now was different.

[What will be that demon’s level in your opinion?]

[It’s the lowest class, but thanks to that, it’s perfect for our current level.]

[I understand. That’s because he started again.]

He was no longer the King of Death or the Lord of Death Knights. At this point, it is necessary to reassess his power and establish a ground. And that devil was the perfect practice partner for that!

Barros burst out a roar filled with fighting spirit.

“You devil! I’ll defeat you!”

It was at the moment he was about to run.

“Light of Hatoba, destroy evil!”

Alius slashed his staff, releasing a huge beam of light.

“Holy Dispel!”

Wings of light flow along the ceiling and walls of the corridor. Intense brilliance covered the devil’s body. The demon who had been killing himself looked around in bewilderment.

“T-This!”

Space is open. With a scream, the red body began to be sucked into the hole of the void.

“Keugh! Reverse summoning!”

The devil’s figure disappeared. The magic and murder that covered all sides also disappeared again. Holy Dispel, a divine spell that erased darkness, removed the demon-summoning ceremony itself.

Barros, who was about to rush in excitedly, blinked.

“……eh?”

Alius shouted in a cold tone.

“It’s no use, necromancer! In front of the goddess’s light, all the wicked things will fade away!”

Having lost his trump card in vain, Cleo shook his head in disbelief.

“H-How did you find out?”

The divine spell to defeat the undead and the divine spell to cancel the summoning of demons were distinctly different. And Alius had already prepared the spell before summoning the demon.

In other words, he had found out that the skeletons and ghouls were just for buying time, and the reason behind it was to summon a demon as the final card.

Indeed, Alius had expected everything.

“I can tell by what you’ve done in this town, necromancer.”

He had a lot of experience as an inquisitor. Through the crimes of the necromancers, it was possible to guess to some extent what the opponent’s main specialty was.

By spreading the unclean energy through the undead, the necromancer would usually spread plague on an entire village and turn it into a living hell.

On the other hand, Cleo charmed the entire village’s maidens and brought them here.

“Doesn’t that mean offering sacrifices and gaining power from demons, the black magic system’s specialty?”

“Now, let’s finish this…….”

Alius was speechless. Both Karnak and Barros were openly making crummy faces.

“……what’s wrong?”

The shocked two people worked hard to correct their facial expressions.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“I was so shocked that you defeated such a huge demon with one attack that I lost my composure for a while.”

He tried looking around, but it was hard to hide his disappointment.

[Eh, our practice material vanished right after appearing.]

[I’ll deal with it in a grand way, young master.]

Judging from Cleo’s condition, he didn’t have much command power left. It was over if someone would just go close and cut him. Barros took a stride. The long sword in his hand sprayed a chilly spirit.

“Give up, necromancer bastard.”

Seeing death approaching, Cleo’s face was distorted.

“No, not yet!”

He drew out the deepest darkness and offered his own soul to seek power.

“Aaaagh!”

Cleo’s whole body contorted with a terrible scream. Limbs stretched out, clothes were torn, and the body itself grew gigantic. Soon after, the hideous man let out a beastly roar.

“Kuaaaaa!”

The human Cleo was no longer there. All that was there was another demon similar to the one that was just summoned.

“Demon Knight! Did you still have that much power left?”

It was when the stunned Alius looked back at the party and tried to warn them.

“He has used demonization! Everyone, be careful…….”

He was speechless again. The eyes of Karnak and Barros were shining brightly again.

“Wait, why do you guys like it?”

 

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The opportunity to practice came again. Any opportunity should be treated with respect.

[Let’s deal with that bastard quickly before the priest does anything else!]

[I agree with you, young master!]

Barros threw himself.

“Whoa…”

Exhaling lightly, he delved directly into the demonized Cleo’s arms.

“Ouch! This guy!”

The shocked Cleo tried to wave his arms but to no avail. No matter how strong an attack was, it was meaningless if it was not hit. He dodged too easily and fired a series of attacks. The blood splashed again and again, and Cleo’s whole body became rags in an instant.

Karnak’s magic volley continued at the same time.

“Fireball, Magic Arrow, Lightning Shock.”

Even though they were common instead of high-level attack spells, the timing and angle were exquisite. As if all the magic that was thrown was prepared in advance, it cleverly aimed only at the devil’s gap and hit it.

Cleo’s desperate screams echoed through the hallway.

“Kuuk! Aaah! Aaaah!”

Had a minute passed like that? Cleo, whose demonization spell had worn off, collapsed in rags.

[Ah, we can finally take a rest.]

[As expected, quality over quantity]

It was a short but fruitful practice session. The satisfied Barros trampled on Cleo’s back.

“Keuk!”

Then, looking back with a naive expression, he asked, “Now what? Kill? Or capture?”

Alius, who had been watching, just stood there blankly.

“Oh my god…….”

The whole thing was over before he could do anything.

‘What did they just do?’