Boundless Necromancer - Chapter 54
Chapter 54: 8th Floor (2)
Crack—!
「 You have absorbed the soul of the skeleton. 」
「 Proficiency increased by 0.08% 」
“It’s even worse than I thought.”
I crushed one of the skeletons in the front with my bare hands and frowned.
I didn’t expect it to be high but…
‘What am I supposed to do with 0.08%?’
Even if I killed 30 of them, that was still only 2.4%.
‘Converting them to stat points probably won’t do anything either.’
‘What should I do with them…’
Craaack—!
Even while contemplating, I crushed a skeleton that was running at me with my sword.
Gone were the days when I struggled with mere E-rank monsters.
「 Proficiency increased by 0.08% 」
「 Proficiency increased… 」
「 Proficiency in… 」
I smashed through about ten of them before I started to worry.
‘Exactly how many of these are there?’
Unlike the other trials, this one didn’t have a time limit.
‘The objective was to kill the lich that summoned these things but…’
I couldn’t even take a step without facing entire waves of skeletons.
Then, upon realization, I used up all the souls I had just absorbed.
「 Consuming most of the souls in possession to summon a skeleton. 」
「 Number of souls in possession – 1/30 」
I used all but the one ‘Blue Starving Flame Demon’ soul to summon a skeleton.
In theory, I could kill all of them myself but didn’t want to.
‘I’ll leave it to this guy and go look for the lich.’
I shoved over 10 skeleton souls into this thing.
‘He may have not been that useful against a boss but…’
He was perfect for situations like these.
As the skeleton rose from the ground and its eyes lit up…
Clack…!
My new soldier didn’t hesitate and immediately headed towards the enemies.
‘Hopefully, he lasts at least 1 minute against the skeletons…’
Even if he frees up 1 minute, it should give me time to figure out the general direction of the lich.
But…
“…?”
I couldn’t help but be baffled at the scene that played out in front of me.
“What the…?”
Tss—!
My minion had picked up rocks from the ground and started hurling them at the other skeletons.
‘Huh?’
I was impressed at the practicality of his movements.
Unlike normal skeletons that moved at the rate of orcs, mine started moving swiftly.
‘Did it only seem useless in the dungeon because it was against the boss?’
After cracking the enemies’ bones with the first attack, then their skulls, then the spine.
It was a simple yet effective method of hunting.
‘Not bad.’
Zzt! Zzt! Zzt!
“He’s… better than I thought.”
I guess this wasn’t a radiance ability for no reason.
“Graawr…?”
The other skeletons noticed that something was off and switched their aggro to my summon.
I took a step back and activated a skill.
“Wind’s Blessing.”
「 Activating the skill ‘Wind’s Blessing.’ 」
「 All speeds increased by 60%. 」
「 Number of stacks – 6/7 」
Right to the point of not triggering the cooldown…
I ran towards the area where the skeletons were more sparse.
I said sparse, but there were still groups of tens.
Quantity over quality I guess…
‘If I was anyone else, this would have been annoying.’
Good thing I wasn’t.
「 Acceleration increased for a moment due to the effects of Boots of Swiftness (C+) 」
Whoooom…!
I swung my sword at the group as I approached them and…
「 Activating Thunder Blade (C)’s effect ‘electrocute.’ 」
「 The targeted enemy is electrified. 」
ZZZZZZAT—!
The thick streaks of electricity obliterated everything in my path.
***
‘I thought electrocution might not work because they were skeletons but…’
「 Proficiency increased by 0.08% 」
「 Proficiency increased… 」
「 Proficiency in… 」
The skeletons couldn’t withstand the electrocution and shattered to pieces.
I continued to swing my blade and hunt down everything in my proximity.
No, it was more like a massacre than a hunt.
And about twenty innocent skeleton lives later…
“Who dares…! Who’s causing a commotion in my sanctuary…!”
I turned my head at the infuriated voice.
Then…
“The lich is here…?”
Holding a matte black book, a skeleton wearing a red robe came into my line of sight.
The craziest part was that the lich was speaking to me.
‘Never did I think that I would see a talking monster.’
I’d only ever heard rumors about the high-tier monsters with the ability to speak.
But the lich seemed to be running out of its patience.
“How dare a mere human enter my sanctuary! You will pay the price for this…!”
Flap!
As the book in its hand flipped open, two undead beings formed behind it.
The sizeable undead beings had chunks of rotting flesh coming off of them.
‘About the size of a sand golem.’
Of course, it wasn’t as big as the monstrosity I saw on the 7th trial but…
It didn’t look any weaker than that.
As if that wasn’t enough, skeleton warriors rose around the undead, as if to protect them.
“Ooh…”
Seeing I was impressed, the lich let out a smug laugh and opened its jaw.
“Heheh, do you finally realize exactly who’s territory you just walked into?”
“Hmm…? Maybe? Do you have any more?”
“What…?”
“I’m not mad, just disappointed.”
I needed more souls to rank up my necromancy.
I didn’t know how much these two undeads would be worth but…
‘A few more wouldn’t hurt.’
But as expected, the lich seemed to be at its limit.
“You bastard…”
I was going to provoke a couple more out of him, but I guess not.
“These two guardians are enough to rip your dirty mouth apart!”
Outraged, the lich commanded its mini-army to attack me.
“Graaaaaawr—!”
Seeing the stocky undead beings take steps towards me, I also started moving.
「 Activating the skill ‘Instant Acceleration.’ 」
Along with the effects of six stacks of Wind’s Blessing…
Kraaaaaang-!
「 Proficiency increased by 1.2% 」
「 Proficiency increased by 1.2% 」
I cut through both the undead beings in a single swing.
“Wh-what…?”
The lich was caught off guard, but this was the only outcome.
‘There’s no way these rotting chunks could block my blade if even a dungeon boss couldn’t withstand it…’
Cracacack—!
「 Proficiency increased by 0.08% 」
「 Proficiency increased by 0.08% 」
“Hmm…”
As expected, these skeletons were useless too.
‘The undeads aren’t bad though.’
Even though it wasn’t as nice as the monsters I fought in the dungeon…
It was then—
「 The summoned skeleton has died. 」
“Ah…”
‘I guess even that couldn’t last that long against the constant barrage of skeletons.’
No matter, I stood steps towards the lich to end it.
“Wh-Where did a monster like you…”
Even without a throat, his voice was shaking.
Whatever he was saying, I didn’t slow my steps.
‘Let’s end this.’
I wanted to go back to the waiting area already.
But…
‘Wait.’
If you thought about it, this lich was summoning monsters left and right.
And that meant…
‘Can’t I grind for proficiency here?’
Just to make sure.
“Hey, I have a question… This guardian thing, can you summon it again?”
It was worth an entire 1.2%.
And if I could keep hunting those…
‘I can rank up my innate ability in this trial.’
My eyes sparkled in anticipation as he looked taken aback.
“Wh-why are you asking me something like that?”
“Doesn’t matter. Just answer my question.”
“…”
“If you don’t want to…”
As I raised up my sword and walked up to it, the lich hurriedly opened its mouth.
“O-okay okay! I’ll tell you! S-stop walking towards me”
“So when can you summon this guardian again?”
“I-if it’s the guardian, I can summon it right now…”
“How long do you have to wait after each summoning?”
“Uh… I don’t… I can’t remember…”
“You can’t? That’s too bad.”
The lich hesitated to answer the question and I gripped the handle of my sword.
“I-I remember! I can resummon it a few minutes after the guardian dies!”
“Then you can summon it now?”
“Y-Yes. B, But it won’t be effective against you.”
“Doesn’t matter. Summon it again.”
“Why…?”
“Do you really have to know?”
He flinched at my question.
“N-No… I don’t.”
Shivering in its robe, the lich opened its book again to summon the undead beings.
As soon as they formed, I decapitated them.
Snip—! Snip—!
In an instant, their headless bodies fell to the ground and…
「 Proficiency increased by 1.2% 」
「 Proficiency increased by 1.2% 」
Delighted, I smirk slipped onto my face.
“I-Is that good…?”
He took a peek at my reaction but…
“Not yet.”
“…”
I wasn’t satisfied.
What were the chances I’d get to farm like this in the future?
‘I’m gotta get my money’s worth.’
I continued to order the lich around.
“Can you order all the skeletons to come here and summon the guardians again?”
As if it was used to taking orders from me, the lich nodded.
“O-Okay. How long do I have to do this…?”
So I told him exactly what I was thinking.
“Until I tell you to stop.”
