Awesome Shut-In Necromancer

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“…So it wasn’t a lie.”

A little distance away from the center of battle.

In a place littered with unidentifiable rocks, Lee Ji Cheol muttered with a serious expression.

Right in front of him was a bloodied man in bandages, gasping for air in the center of a crater created by an explosion of immense force.

‘I know that guy’s identity.’

Joang Clark, known as Executioner Joang.

He was surely one of the members of this strategy team and also the one entrusted by Vice President Joshua to eliminate Baek Eun Ha and her group.

As Lee Ji Cheol and Seo Ha were on their way to join the main battleground, they were ambushed by Joang and forced into a battle.

And now, the man who supposedly had never lost a social battle was—

“Is there really a need to keep going?”

“Cough, urgh.”

Baek Seo Ha, having unleashed all her power, was currently dominating him.

‘… I didn’t expect him to be this strong. If it weren’t for the Bloodstone powers, I might have been overpowered too.’

Of course, Baek Seo Ha wasn’t in great shape either. Joang’s ambush before she could unleash her power had caused significant damage, and while fighting back, she had also sustained further injuries.

Nevertheless, to have held her ground this much against a well-known S Rank like Joang was quite impressive.

“Don’t get cocky…!”

Whoosh!

Boom!

Boom!

Crack!

As Joang activated his skill, clones of him emerged from the piles of sand all around, simultaneously channeling their magic and targeting Baek Seo Ha with daggers in both hands.

Despite being clones, the power of their attacks was enough to destroy a building, and there were no openings to exploit.

However,

Ping!

Ping!

Ping!

Whoosh!

With a swipe—

In the blink of an eye, large holes appeared in the clones’ bodies, and they were completely obliterated.

With terrifying speed and precision, the attacks executed by Baek Seo Ha left her breathing normally, showing no signs of disruption in stance.

Her skills were already of a first-rate standard, beyond any doubt.

Seeing Joang pause in surprise after activating his skill, Lee Ji Cheol quickly intervened in the battle and subdued Joang.

Whoosh!

Crash!

“Cough! You…!”

“I won’t accept any accusations of cowardice. I have more than one opponent to deal with.”

With the power of the dragon coursing through him, Lee Ji Cheol unleashed a flurry of rapid attacks against Joang.

Having not participated in the battle at all until now, Joang had let his guard down just a bit, making him slow to react to the onslaught.

Bam!

Crash!

“Ugh…!”

Ultimately, Joang collapsed, unable to endure the damage, falling silent.

“Weren’t you going to stay out of this?”

“I was simply curious about the extent of the power you claimed.”

“…Somehow, you seem to get along well with my brother.”

As they concluded the sudden skirmish, Baek Seo Ha and Lee Ji Cheol headed towards the center of battle where massive sounds were still ringing.

They needed to resolve this unnecessary fight as quickly as possible.

#

I had felt it during my earlier battle with Lee Ji Cheol, but indeed, S Rank Hunters are incredibly strong. Even when prepared in multiple ways, they were still out of my league.

‘Well, they would be easy opponents once I unleashed some necromancy…’

But doing so would leave me unable to use my powers for an entire week due to side effects. I couldn’t afford to pull a stunt like that, especially with the dungeon conquest still ahead.

Moreover, unbeknownst to them, this battle was already nearing its conclusion.

I amplified my voice with magic to ensure all the Hunters on the battlefield could hear me and opened my mouth gently.

“Stop it for a moment.”

At that, the remaining Undead acted first and ceased their movements.

Next, the Hunters, who had been attacking intermittently, sensed something was off, tidied their stances, and turned their eyes toward me.

From behind, Sanada, who had been relentlessly chasing after Penelope to target me, shouted,

“What are you thinking? If you’re planning to spout nonsense, I won’t listen.”

“Well, whether it’s nonsense or not, you’ll find out soon enough.”

I gestured towards a corner of the battlefield, and all the Hunters turned their heads in that direction. From that point, a bright light began to shine, and someone slowly emerged.

It was Chae Hwa In, dragging three Hunters whose limbs had been severed or twisted, bound by chains of magic.

“W-what kind of heinous act is this…”

One of the A Rank Hunters, who had been clustered in the center of the battlefield, spoke in a trembling voice, and simultaneously, the killers’ killing intent began to grow stronger.

Still, I ignored them and waved to Chae Hwa In to bring their ‘guests’ over from Penelope’s back.

Those ominous reactions would soon reverse 180 degrees anyway.

Whoosh.

Thud!

“Cough…”

There was Pordon, who had completely fainted, Jacob, who was desperately trying to escape Chae Hwa In’s grip while barely holding onto his sanity, and Michael, gasping with uneven breaths, missing a few teeth.

I approached them and whispered,

“Annoying. Thinking about it, you guys made me go through so much hassle.”

Entering the dungeon with Chae Hwa In, we had fought tirelessly day and night, almost in a half-crazed state, to build the Undead Army.

There had been quite a few tough battles, and it truly had been exhausting work.

I clicked my tongue and placed my hand on their heads, drawing up mana and morale without hesitation.

“Urgh, what are you…”

“Stay still. You wouldn’t want your soul to be ripped out, would you?”

Whoosh.

In an instant, the expressions of Michael and the others went blank, and they stood still, mouth agape like soulless beings.

I then extracted the necessary memories and began using the Memory Visualization Magic I had established during my time in Thebes to unveil the truth of events to all the Hunters in the strategy team.

Swish.

[Yes. What I’m saying is that you will need to quietly die here.]

[Do you think people will let this kind of thing slide?]

[Whether they accept it or not doesn’t matter. They wouldn’t have any way of knowing the truth.]

The Hunters, who had displayed ominous intent, focused on the reappearing memories, their expressions shifting every moment.

And when it was all over, Saintess Yesiel, surrounded by the Hunters who were taking care of her injuries, asked,

“…How can you believe that so readily?”

“Well, believe it or not, it’s up to you.”

Without offering any further explanation, I once again used magic to replay the memories.

This time from the perspective of not Michael, but Pordon and Jacob.

Once the memories were fully confirmed, the atmosphere among the strategy team had clearly shifted from before.

“……”

Perhaps the U.S. Government had merely claimed that I was playing some sort of game due to Chae Hwa In’s resurrection, but they must not have shared my real intentions or detailed information with the Hunters.

On the other hand, while the verification of this side may have been unclear, it presented a sufficient context for the events surrounding it. And it was well within a plausible range of storytelling.

Which side the sentiments leaned toward was practically predetermined, wasn’t it?

Even if they pretended otherwise, the Hunters in the strategy team were half-convinced by my words already.

The uncertainty in their eyes proved it.

“Thinking it through, there’s a point. The U.S. really did have some dubious aspects in their attitude.”

“…I don’t want to admit it, but it seems like it could be the truth.”

In fact, the Hunters in the strategy team had likely already suspected something was off.

Despite quite a long battle, there hadn’t been a single casualty, excluding other injuries.

Even Ivan, who seemed to have suffered the worst, was not in a life-threatening condition.

That would have been impossible unless I had intentionally kept my power in check.

‘Thanks to that, I’d be in quite a pinch if I had delayed it a little longer…’

It was an unavoidable situation. But I couldn’t simply slaughter all my allies in a situation like this, could I?

Perhaps it wasn’t all in vain, as the Hunters’ skeptical gazes now shifted away from Chae Hwa In and me and toward Michael’s group.

“Explain this. What’s going on here?”

“If what they’re saying is true, then the U.S. will receive scorn from the entire world.”

“This is unacceptable; to treat allies, who risked their lives to help, in such a manner…”

While the mood allowed for some potential dialogue, the Michael group remained silent, unable to muster a single word.

They realized that in this situation, no matter what they said, they wouldn’t be able to convince anyone.

Seeing that reaction, the Hunters from the strategy team were also gaining confidence.

“Damn it, talking about murderers, but it’s actually the complete opposite, huh?”

“We’ve been completely played during such an important timeframe.”

“…Tsk. Parasites, those bastards.”

The Hunters lowered their weapons and muttered complaints filled with irritation.

It was a natural response having expended effort on an unnecessary battle.

And now, the most important task remained.

“…Cough.”

To ambush and kill Chae Hwa In, easily deceiving the S Rank Hunters, the true culprits.

A menacing aura was now glaring down on them, nearly suffocating.