Arc | Chapter. 97: Hero of Necromancy (Patreon)

Chapter. 97: Hero of Necromancy

Blake didn’t know how he had found himself in this mess.

Not at all.

He was standing right before the Traitor’s Graveyard, a small army was surrounding him.

He was a Commander inside the Elite Dark Knights of Draliz, a special branch of the government that helped deal with their problems, and yet he found himself doing something for the Adventurer’s Guild. Well within reason.

The request had been escalated beyond belief and somehow, the Elite Dark Knights had gotten involved. Multiple S Tier undead had been reported by a single surviving adventurer⁠— out of a hundred that entered the Traitor’s Graveyard only one of them had made it out alive. It had been a dire situation.

The woman had come in with the shocking news and even delivered a Memory Crystal herself that showed proof; the only reason she had been able to survive was due to the fact she had a rather special class.

Word got around, and the Adventurer’s Guild had decided to ask for help from the government.

And now, here they were.

Blake was here along with other Commanders and one of the Generals from the Elite Dark Knights ⁠— an A Tier individual. Everyone involved in this operation was at the very least B Tier, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough.

In the end, three S Tier adventurer’s had been hired and expedited to this location, and now as the Elite Dark Knights they were supposed to spear-head the charge towards the Traitor’s Graveyard, the problem was…

“Alright, everyone let us wait for the scouts to set off,” the General said.

However, without listening the three adventurers walked forward. One was a man with no shirt or protective equipment other than a winter jacket that didn’t reach past his ribs. He was known as the Silver Wolf, and his name was Narg

Another adventurer was a woman dressed in black clothes and wearing a helmet that fully covered her face. She was an assassin, and she was said to be one of the best in the continent. The Steel Shadow, Canti.

And finally there was a burly athletic man with a skin tight shirt and baggy pants, on his back there was a gigantic hammer that was just as big as his stature. He had a grandiose beard but otherwise looked to be in his early twenties. He was known as the Insurmountable Hammer, Hanz.

“What do you people think you’re doing?” the general asked.

All of the adventurers were S Tier and all of them had different replies.

“You don’t tell me what to do,” the Steel Shadow snorted.

“Adventure is calling,” Narg grinned.

“Relax, I’m just going to test the waters,” the Insurmountable Hammer waved dismissively.

And then, they set off much to Blake's and the other’s dismay. In the end, they didn’t know what to expect, but Blake had a bad feeling.

* * * * *

Everything was wrong…

It was a feeling of impending doom that the Hero of Necromancy had never experienced. It was as if the world had drained of color, suddenly everything became harder; breathing, concentrating, staying calm, existing…

Just…

What was going on?

The Hero of Necromancy found it hard to move under her cold and anger filled gaze. What was she so angry about anyway?! Had his words been that hurtful even though she was just a kid?! It was nonsense.

Gritting his teeth he forced himself to move; but it felt so hard. His body felt so much heavier, but he still dragged himself to do it. He wouldn’t be losing here, not now, nor ever. Not against some newbie heroine; even if she was a battle prodigy, she was a kid. Someone who had much less life experience, someone that didn’t understand true pain, and someone that didn’t deserve to be on his level.

Still…

Why was it so hard to move?

He slowly raised his hand as he pointed at the woman, and she spoke, shaking her head.

“You know, my parents did something unforgivable to me but even then I still deep down hope they recognize their mistake…”

“Shut up! [Darkest Instability]!”

The Hero of Necromancy immediately made the Undead Dragon of Darkness use yet another one of its skills.

The Heroine of Frost just stood there and looked up at the Hero of Necromancy. The air around began to slowly distort, making the calm and unsettling expression of the heroine even more unnerving. The air was beginning to darken and compact around her, before she finally spoke.

“Though not like it concerns you⁠—”

And the air compacted before⁠— exploding. Rupturing like a bubble of darkness and purple lightning. The earth shook from the explosion as the undead dragon was forced to back off from the shockwave. Several undead died at that moment. The Hero of Necromancy stared ahead with a frown.

It was an SS TIer skill, and in fact it was the strongest SS Tier skill the Undead Dragon of Darkness knew, but now he was aware that the Heroine of Frost was much more durable than what he thought.

And so with narrowed eyes he raised his hand for the next command. Numerous S Tier skeletons raised enchanted bows, all aimed at the crater down below. Seconds of grueling silence passed before the smoke began to clear.

First he saw her legs, then slowly he saw her body, some blood stains littered her jacket, and finally her⁠— her face had some blood, but her expression was unchanging. It was still just as unnerving, as piercing, as hateful⁠—

“Die!”

He commanded and all of the arrows were fired. Then, an ice sword appeared within her hand and with a flick, flashes exploded. His eyes widened as he ducked and a moment later a salvo of arrows flew over his head and into the sky, piercing through the clouds themselves, leaving nothing but an icy trail.

The Hero of Necromancy frowned and jumped away from the undead dragon and immediately commanded the lumbering skeletal monster to attack.

With a hollowed and harrowing roar, the dragon swept its gigantic claws at the woman, but she muttered something under her breath and a screech echoed in the air. The Hero of Necromancy watched with wide eyes as a gigantic mass of ice hit the undead dragon and then flung it into the air.

The mass quickly grew limbs and a body, resembling a weird monster that the Hero of Necromancy somehow instinctively recognized.

His heart skipped a beat.

The Overlord of training from the frost world.

And then, the beast jumped and with a swing of its wide arms it hit the dragon out of the air with an explosive volley of destruction. Bones exploded into the air and with a cry of pain, it was shot far into the distance as two colossal titans engaged in battle.

The Hero of Necromancy blinked, shocked that his trump card and what he had thought was his advantage had been taken out of the equation in a matter of seconds. He stared at the Heroine of Frost, who was just looking right at him.

At that moment, the Hero of Necromancy realized that he had fucked up. He was a summoner, not a physical fighter⁠.

“W-Wait⁠—”

And Arc appeared before him before a fist drove right into his face.

* * * * *

After the scouts returned they had ventured into the Traitor’s Graveyard. And an hour later they heard a roar shake the land, an S Tier Emera Spider had already been spotted which put everyone on high alert. Blake didn’t even want to be there, but he had no choice…

Still…

They had heard a powerful monster roar and they were still going right in…

It was suicidal but for now they had to trudge forward until they met something they couldn’t face. Unfortunately, if they let this threat go untouched perhaps things would go very badly. While Blake thought they were ill-suited for the occasion, three S Tier adventurers against four S Tier undead if not more⁠— they had all brought Light affinity artifacts and things in order to help the adventurers accomplish the goals.

Except they had gone off and done their own thing…

Blake suppressed a sigh, things should still be fine so long as they rendezvous⁠—

And an explosion in the distance shook the land. Everyone paused and so did Blake, then a moment later a gigantic object landed right next to them; it was Hanz’s hammer. Blake looked back only to see chunks and things flying in the air, and a single thought crossed his mind.

Hanz, the Insurmountable Hammer died just like that…

* * * * *

The Hero of Necromancy felt pain like never before.

He was certain his nose was broken from that punch alone, but still he didn’t falter. He landed on his back and clapped his hands.

“[Necromancy: Cocoon].”

At that moment, a mass of bones immediately encased him giving him enough protection to think about his next move. It wasn’t a fancy skill but it was enough just for a small amount of respide⁠—

And it was broken right through, the Heroine of Frost grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the bones. A rattling and shocking pain shot through his body, he spat blood as he felt something within him snap.

“You’re going to kill me⁠—”

“That’s the point,” her cold voice echoed in his ears and then⁠— she headbutted him.

The Hero of Necromancy squealed in pain as the world around him spun. His heart was was rushing, his blood was flowing, and his life was⁠— fleeting. He was dying, he was certain of that. He didn’t understand how she could piss her off this much, most heroes would offer to spare other heroes, but not her!

And another headbut landed on his face.

The Hero of Necromancy screeched, wincing in pain as he remembered a skill he hardly used. But now he had to even if it would weaken all his summoned undead, it didn’t matter.

“[Strength of the Dead⁠—]!” And he was hit once more.

A wave of miasma swept from his body and across the land, and a moment later it came back as he was shoved against the remaining bones into the ground. In a single moment, the Hero of Necromancy felt his body be filled with great strength and vigor.

He would easily overpower an SS Tier warrior with this, now he just had to hit her.

The Hero of Necromancy turned only to be hit in the face. The world around him spun as he landed on the ground pathetically. It hurt just as bad as before, if not worse. But still he was stronger, he just had to get one good hit in!

Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself on the ground as he heard her step so ever-closer.

He just needed one good hit…

He relaxed and waited.

The Heroine took another step⁠—

Now!

And  he swung, his fist driven right at her face. She raised her palm o stop it but it certainly wouldn’t be enough, not with his current strength⁠—! And it hit her palm, making a dry clapping sound.

The Hero of Necromancy blinked, and a moment later the heroine twisted. His wrist made an awful cracking sound as he screamed in pain.

It didn’t make sense!

* * * * *

Her name was Canti, otherwise known as the Steel Shadow, she was an assassin known for her skill and lethality and right now she was… tense.

Hanz, the Insurmountable Hammer, had died in an instant. She had seen a woman fighting a skeleton, and as soon as he tried to help her, the skeleton killed him with a single explosion of magic. She didn’t understand the strength of things but she decided to look elsewhere, and that’s when she saw a spider fighting an undead⁠— she ignored it.

It was an Emera Spider, it wasn’t her business right now.

Then she found… Jake, the Weapon Master. He was going toe to toe with another undead, but when she tried to join in Narg, the Silver Wolf stopped her by calling out to her. And after a short explanation, turns out Jake was fighting an SS Tier undead…

It didn’t make sense to her!

Nothing made sense.

Normally she was a figure of authority but now she couldn’t do anything!

She had wandered with Narg, the Silver Wolf thinking if they should run⁠— they saw an ice golem and an undead dragon fighting in the distance. The whole battle was surreal, but when they were about to return they heard screams of agony and pain.

Was this a place where she could make an impact? Canti thought to herself.

So they had to investigate, only to see a white-haired woman beating up a robbed man.

* * * * *

“H-How?”

The heroine didn’t respond as her other hand grabbed his head. An emerging pressure quickly grew through his skull.

“You know I’ll just revive right?!” The Hero of Necromancy called out in anger and fear.

“I know,” she answered simply. “I’ll just kill you again, don’t worry.”

Her response made the reality finally settle within him.

She was hellbent on killing him…

She raised her arm as a sword of ice appeared.

“Don’t worry I’ll make it as painful as possible⁠—”

“Don’t!” A voice called from a distance.

The Hero of Necromancy paused only to see a woman dressed in black with a helmet and a strangely dressed man. They were…

[Steel Assassin. Tier: S]

[Wolf of Silver. Tier: S]

Adventurers.

“You can’t kill him!”

“Why not?” The Heroine of Frost asked coldly, and then she stabbed.

The Hero of Necromancy screamed as the bones within his arm were broken and slowly frozen over. A dull pain went through it as the sword was mangled within his extremity.

“Listen you cannot kill him,” the woman said now more exasperatedly.

“I decide what I want to do.”

And at that moment the Hero of Necromancy lost his arm and before he knew it an unbearable pain shot through his other arm as it was severed in a blink. His body felt so cold, and it was in so much pain. He could feel needles prickling through his skin as he unleashed screams.

“I’m telling you to stop!”

The Heroine of Frost shook her head and turned to him.

“Are you ready for your last words?”

And all the Hero of Necromancy could do was gulp in fear.

* * * * *

Canti the Steel Shadow didn’t know what was going on but she had to put a stop to this. She grabbed her daggers, but Narg grabbed her wrist looking at the white-haired woman.

“Don’t do anything, she’s way stronger than the both of us…”

Canti tensed but quickly turned as she watched the woman hold the man by the head. Now he was missing both of his arms, and she had just asked for his final words. Canti couldn’t stand by and just watch. She was amongst the strongest S Tier adventurers, the gap between abilities surely couldn’t be that big.

All she had to do was stop the execution after all.

But even then, she was angry at her lack of control, why wasn’t the white-haired woman listening. But before she could say anything the man at the woman’s mercy spoke.

“I’m not, let us negotiate…”

The white-haired woman raised her sword. “No⁠—”

“Wait!” Canti called, and the sword stopped before the man’s throat.

The sight made her gulp, she hadn’t been able to perceive the blade⁠— but that didn’t matter…

Instead she collected herself and spoke as clearly as she could.

“Don’t kill him, I’m Canti, the Steel Shadow, an S Tier adventurer. We must interrogate him first, so if you don’t mind I’ll take it from here…”

It was the most sincerity she could offer.

“What makes you think that will make me change my mind?” The white-haired woman asked, turning to her.

And then, she squeezed.

The head of the man exploded, blood and brain matter burst forth for everyone to see.

Canti paused.

She had killed him… against her command.

At that moment, she felt angry. More than just angry. She had tried to negotiate with the woman at all costs and yet she refused every single attempt, and now she dared to disrespect her?! She couldn’t tolerate that.

“You…” Canti shook in anger reaching for her daggers. “You’ll regret that…”

The white-haired woman cocked her head, looking at her in disdain.

“Make me.”

At that moment, something snapped within Canti. In an instant she used all the movement skills at her disposal, she heard Narg call out to her to stop, but it was too late. In less than a blink, she was on the back of the white-haired woman.

[Quick Assassination]!

And she stabbed forward, only for the woman to catch one of the daggers with her fingers and the other shatter in the air with a sword blur.

Canti’s eyes widened as the cold gaze of the woman bore into her; the other dagger shattered and then she was slammed into the ground.

“Do you have a death wish just like the Hero of Necromancy?” Her cold voice echoed. “I’m happy to oblige.”

Hearing the word hero made Canti’s blood drain from her face, it could only mean that the white-haired woman was also…

A hero…