Antlion Pit (3)

Shadow's members knew the Demon's Castle well. That also gave them a good idea of why Kim Minwoo had chosen this gate.

Its layout was poison for invading assassins. Moreover, the castle's seven reception rooms each had only one entrance and an extremely spacious interior.

'Perfect for a necromancer to run wild.'

It didn't matter. They had come prepared to accept that much of a handicap.

The group began opening the reception rooms one by one and checking inside.

The trainees took turns opening the doors while everyone else stood ready a short distance away. An ambush might come from inside.

The first four were duds. All they did was kill a whole lot of demon monsters.

When the fifth door opened...

"...!"

The trainee's eyes went wide.

'Is this the one?'

At that distinctly different reaction, the S-rank awakeners waiting nearby perked up. Han Baekgil was no exception.

He tightened his grip on his weapon and activated his skills, ready to charge in at any moment.

Just then...

WHOOOOSH...!

An immense wind began howling through the doorway, sucking everything in like a vacuum cleaner.

Caught off guard, the awakeners were all dragged toward it.

"Wh-what?!"

"Fucking...!"

"M-magic!"

Yu Longgang, the S-rank mage sent from China, narrowed his eyes.

That structured flow of mana was unmistakably magic. A necromancer couldn't possibly cast a spell like this, so Minwoo must have acquired some impressive item.

'Arrogant bastard.'

[Land of Death activates!]

[Your vitality is being continuously drained!]

Another message appeared, but that wasn't important right now. It was probably just an area-of-effect skill. The damage wasn't particularly high, either.

What mattered was dealing with this raging wind. He was a battle-hardened mage himself, and he had spells prepared for precisely this situation.

In an instant, magic activated above his hand.

[Weight Amplification (B) activates!]

[Earth's Grasp (A) activates!]

The spells increased their targets' weight, and enormous hands erupted from the ground to seize the party members' limbs.

Shadow's members, who had been swept helplessly along by the wind, sighed in relief. Their bodies had stopped in midair.

Then...

[A great mage is watching you!]

[The underlying principles of your magic have been identified!]

[All your spells are dispelled!]

Before even a tenth of a second had passed, all of Yu Longgang's spells winked out as though they had never existed.

'...?'

His eyes widened at the messages he had never seen before.

The underlying principles had been identified? And on top of that, his spells had been dispelled?

What the hell was this bullshit?

'And what's this about a great mage?'

Every party member was dragged toward the doorway, Yu Longgang included. They hastily activated defensive skills.

An enormous explosion followed.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

"Aaargh!"

"Aaaagh!"

The trainees' bodies were torn to shreds. Even the S-rank awakeners suffered injuries. That was how powerful the blast was.

"It's him!"

Inside the reception room, Kim Minwoo stood with a vast horde of undead.

The enormous golem, Cedric, and the skeletons were all familiar summons. There was a flock of specters as well, but they had already expected as much. He would have learned his C-rank skill long ago.

There was, however, one oddity.

'What's that?'

A woman they had never seen before stood beside Kim Minwoo. Holding a pitch-black parasol, she smiled as she watched them.

She looked foreign, no matter how they looked at her...

'Who the hell is she?'

'Did he secretly call in reinforce—'

'No, wait.'

Alarm bells rang in everyone's heads alongside their questions.

A B-rank gate could admit no more than twenty people. Nineteen of them had already entered, in addition to Kim Minwoo.

In other words, that thing looked human, but it wasn't.

"... Summon! Mage! Careful!"

Yu Longgang shouted urgently in broken Korean.

Cedric, the summon known as the Bone Knight, possessed power beyond imagination.

That woman had to be the same.

'It's that bitch!'

He instinctively realized whom the words "great mage" referred to. A suffocating pressure radiated from the woman.

It wasn't merely an imposing presence. It was something fundamental.

He felt as though every last cell in his body was being laid bare. A chill ran down his spine at the sensation of being stripped naked and examined.

"Die!"

The awakeners gathered at the doorway unleashed every kind of offensive skill.

The battle had already begun. They had come prepared for some casualties.

They had to break through the summons and kill Kim Minwoo. Since they were at the doorway anyway, they intended to force a path through.

The charging summons died in droves beneath the vicious barrage of skills.

"Watch out! They're coming back to life!"

Number One shouted urgently.

Strangely, Kim Minwoo's undead kept resurrecting instead of being unsummoned.

[You have been afflicted with Curse of Aging!]

[Defense and Movement Speed decrease by 10%...]

With curses added to the mix, the vicious melee continued.

"Yu Longgang!"

Yu Longgang nodded. They must want him to let loose with a big area-of-effect spell. He felt an inexplicable pressure, but he couldn't simply stand there doing nothing.

[Yu Longgang casts Grand Explosion (S)...]

Just as he tried to activate another spell, a voice rang out of nowhere.

"Idiot. So predictable."

[Magic Defense (B) shatters!]

[Magic Reflection (A) shatters!]

[Grand Explosion (S) has been canceled!]

"Ghurk!"

All the mana he had set in motion to cast his spell tangled up, and he collapsed, vomiting blood. Every defensive spell he had placed on himself was broken as well.

"?"

"?"

"?"

Shadow's members tilted their heads.

Yu Longgang, an S-rank mage, had collapsed without managing to do a thing. The backlash was so severe that he lay trembling and foaming at the mouth.

'What the hell...?'

It wasn't as though Yu Longgang was extraordinarily talented among S-rank mages. Even so, he was still an S-rank mage. He was certainly skilled enough to roast any riffraff alive.

So what was this?

Everyone was thrown off. Their original plan had been to have Yu Longgang's magic sweep away the lesser summons so they could close in on Kim Minwoo. That plan had fallen apart right from the start.

"Stick to the original plan!"

Han Baekgil shouted.

Unexpected complications kept cropping up. But if they floundered now, they would be the ones devoured.

They had to grit their teeth and push ahead.

'I've still got one shot left.'

Han Baekgil's eyes gleamed.

The opening blow and Yu Longgang's collapse weren't fatal setbacks. They still had nine S-rank awakeners left. Yu Longgang should recover to some extent after drinking a potion, too.

In preparation for the worst, Han Baekgil had practically emptied the treasury. Naturally, he had brought several artifacts capable of crushing a necromancer.

The S-rank awakeners nodded resolutely. Little by little, they carved a path forward and closed the distance to Kim Minwoo.

"Now!"

Numbers One through Seven, along with Han Baekgil, activated every artifact they were wearing.

[Rain of Light (S) activates!]

[Angel's Smile (S) activates!]

[Holy Flame (S) activates!]

[Sacred Protection (S)...]

Light had always been the natural enemy of the undead. Hit them with light, and the damage would be amplified at least twofold.

There were even specters swarming around. Ghost-type undead could take as much as triple damage, so they would be able to wipe out the summons in one fell swoop.

A glittering rain of light fell. Holy energy swirled around Han Baekgil and his companions.

The light was intense enough to melt lowly skeletons before they could even approach.

'Break through in one go...'

'And kill him!'

Their eyes gleamed. Even a special summon like Cedric couldn't possibly withstand this barrage of S-rank light.

Just as broad smiles spread across their faces, the skeletons stared blankly at them.

So did the specters. And the golem. And Cedric. And the strange woman.

All of them stood beneath the rain of light as though nothing were wrong, staring at the glowing party.

'What?'

'It activated, didn't it?'

'Why aren't they dying?'

This storm of light should have annihilated even a death knight in an instant. Any ordinary necromancer would already have lost their front line and be scrambling to escape.

So why?

The silence was brief.

Kim Minwoo's undead were the first to recover. They launched attacks from every direction.

"Gah!"

"Aaargh!"

Caught utterly off guard, the awakeners suffered one injury after another.

Han Baekgil was just as dumbfounded.

* * *

'This is easy.'

Minwoo had seized the initiative from the outset, bunching them together and blasting them.

The S-rank awakeners had begun fighting back, but his summons alone were buying more time than he had expected.

'They're not that strong.'

The original Shadow members' average level was close to 500.

Double experience didn't mean they would be level 1,000. The amount of experience required increased sharply with each level.

'Around 700, then.'

An average of 700 in their stats.

Of course, other factors would make their actual stats much higher, but his summons were no pushovers either.

For one thing, they had overwhelming numbers. They were more than enough to stall the enemy.

On top of that, Merhen was putting on a spectacular performance.

'She's the ultimate counter to mages.'

Nine out of ten mages in this world were simply fakes. They learned magic from skill books and cast it accordingly, almost as though on auto-cast. In other words, the way their spells activated was fixed.

Merhen, on the other hand...

'She's a real mage.'

She manipulated mana to create magic freely. To her, those fake mages were nothing more than delicious prey.

She could figure out how to dismantle a spell just by looking at it. All she had to do was obstruct the flow of mana a little, and those fake mages would drop like flies, vomiting blood.

Just like that Yu Longgang, or whatever his name was.

'It's similar to swordsmanship.'

When some amateur swung a sword, you could predict their next move and put a blade to their throat.

Magic was much the same. A true master could devour the unskilled with ease.

'And I've got a rough idea of their skills now.'

There was a reason he had sent his summons in first. This was a stage-six setting, so there were plenty of variables.

He had wanted to check whether their skills had changed or whether they had any unusual ones.

Apparently deciding things couldn't go on this way, Han Baekgil had finally pulled out what he considered his trump card.

'Sorry. That won't work.'

Light magic?

Even the light of an SSS-grade holy sword didn't work on his summons. Mere S-rank light couldn't accomplish a thing.

As a result, the bewildered Shadow members were getting thoroughly beaten.

'I'd better kill a few before they run.'

He needed to do that to activate the hidden piece.

He looked at Merhen, and she nodded.

Kim Minwoo drew the Death Spirit Sword and charged. Cedric did the same.

Number Six was closest.

The assassin's eyes gleamed as Minwoo approached, and he instantly thrust out his dagger.

'Not a skill.'

Cedric's spear darted in to intercept the dagger. Deflected from its course, the weapon left an opening.

When Minwoo thrust his sword, Number Six hastily tried to use a skill. His body began fading like smoke. It was Emergency Escape, one of the assassin's S-rank skills.

Just then...

[Merhen uses Aquatic Adhesive (S)!]

SPLAT!

Some kind of sticky liquid plastered itself around his legs. Number Six's eyes flew wide as Emergency Escape was canceled.

Horrified, he bent sharply at the waist. The sword immediately came down, cleaving his body in two.

[Your level increases by 3!]

S-rank or not, he wasn't anything special. In terms of actual skill, he was, at best, about on par with the promising young martial artists Minwoo had encountered in the martial arts gate.

'Then you die.'

He had probably watched Minwoo defeat Jo Piluk, assumed that was all he could do, and gotten cocky enough to take him on alone.

Unfortunately, there was far more to Kim Minwoo's swordsmanship than that.

Two legion commanders, plus Kim Minwoo himself.

Under the combined assault of three supreme masters, an S-rank awakener had dropped dead without managing to do a thing.

'Three more to go.'

Faced with skill beyond anything they had imagined, Han Baekgil and the other Shadow members' eyes began to tremble.