Awesome Shut-In Necromancer

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I was concerned about the identity of Hades’ Necromancer and that guy Gideon, but there was no point in worrying about it any longer, so I shelved those thoughts.

As I played with my smartphone in bed, dinner time arrived, and when I stepped outside my room, Chae Hwa In, who had barged in earlier, was sitting in the living room watching TV with Seo Ha.

What a ridiculous sight it was.

“…Since when did you get that close?”

“She said she likes dramas. Is it normal for your undead to have such self-awareness?”

“It varies by type. She’s a High-Ranking Undead after all.”

Honestly, it wasn’t the ideal situation. Fortunately, it seemed Seo Ha had no inkling of what was really happening, but if she discovered that the Death Knight right in front of her was Chae Hwa In, things would get pretty complicated.

“Stop watching and come inside already.”

“…….”

“Ugh, now you’re making my words sound ridiculous, huh?”

I really needed to have a proper ranking of our hierarchy someday.

With a dissatisfied expression, I clicked my tongue and ordered chicken through a delivery app.

Just then, Chae Hwa In suddenly stood up and confidently walked towards the screen.

“What’s going on now?”

I casually checked the screen and saw the evening news channel reporting on Hunters.

At the forefront was a middle-aged man with brown long hair wearing sunglasses and a blonde young man who looked like a weasel.

The blonde one had a familiar face.

It was definitely Mikael, a model and S Rank Hunter active in the U.S.

‘Wasn’t he in the Hunter conglomerate rank ranking or something?’

With his slender yet sharp appearance and unique aura, coupled with his top-level S Rank skills, he held quite a high popularity in America.

Chae Hwa In was staring at Mikael with a significant look in her eyes.

“Get a grip, will you?”

Finding the situation unacceptable, I picked up the remote Seo Ha had and changed the channel.

It switched to a popular program for old folks featuring elderly experts competing in Go.

“…….”

After staring at the screen for a moment, Chae Hwa In waddled over to me, gave me a fluffy hit on the head, and spoke in a voice that didn’t seem pleased.

Bonk!

“…I’m going back inside to sleep.”

“Hey, seriously!”

And then she went straight into the Book of Death.

I was left dumbfounded by her reckless intrusion, but I also sensed it wasn’t her usual atmosphere, which piqued my suspicion.

However, I decided to brush it off, settling down on the sofa and picking up my smartphone.

After all, Chae Hwa In being peculiar wasn’t anything new.

After about twenty minutes of waiting, the delivery guy finally arrived.

“…Ah, please just leave it at the door.”

I opened the door slightly, reached out to grab the chicken, and quietly reminded myself of my goals.

‘Achieve Level 50, and then annihilate Hades.’

Either way, the two goals weren’t far apart and could be quite mutually beneficial.

By the time I reached Level 50, wouldn’t I be able to neatly take care of Hades’ remaining forces too?

‘It’d be better to clear them out before that guy Gideon gets resurrected.’

I absolutely wasn’t scared when saying that. Even with Kan’s necromancy, his power was barely half of his prime, right?

There was no harm in being cautious.

“Hey, why are we having boneless chicken today?”

“I’m too lazy to pick out the bones.”

“…Oh, okay.”

Behind Seo Ha, who wore a slightly disappointed expression, I munched on the chicken vigorously.

And thus, the day filled with various worries came to an end.

#

‘Is this really happening?’

In a room filled with all sorts of computers and electronic devices, a man grimaced and nodded at the news he just received.

He was Joseph, the renowned information merchant in Europe and a friend of Baek Eun Ha.

“A storm of blood will surely come.”

A few days ago, Joseph received a kind of request from Baek Eun Ha.

The request was to quickly relay information about the emergence of an S Rank Dungeon.

And just now, he had caught the rumblings of that information.

The location was Iowa, U.S., the rating was S4, and it was a Large Dungeon. Indeed, a nightmare dungeon that could send the world into turmoil.

‘An S Rank Large Dungeon, that’s the second one, right?’

There had only been one occurrence of a large dungeon classified as S Rank until now.

That was the incident that happened before in the U.S.

‘That was quite a commotion.’

When such an unprecedented crisis as an S Rank Large Dungeon arose, Hunters from all around the world banded together, and although they managed to clear it, there were numerous casualties.

Even Joseph, who wasn’t Awakened at that time, remembered vividly how it cast a shadow of anxiety and fear over humanity.

‘Is it true that something sinister is at play in America?’

To think it would be the second S Rank Large Dungeon.

Of course, the land mass is larger than other countries, but still, it could definitely be called a disaster.

Joseph pulled out his personal smartphone, rummaging through contacts until he found Baek Eun Ha’s name and stared at it for a while.

‘Half of it was a forced order, but…’

It still made more sense than grinding through the notoriously bad game, Bolt Action 4, till the end.

Although it was high-level information, it was news that would soon spread worldwide.

Without hesitation, Joseph called Baek Eun Ha and relayed the information to her.

“An S Rank Dungeon has appeared.”

Feeling a premonition that something unusual would unfold in this dungeon.

#

“S Rank Dungeon, you say?”

“Yeah.”

After casually clearing a dungeon with the Kim Seung Min party, I shared the information I had confirmed in the morning with Song Ha Yeon.

“I haven’t seen any news about this…”

“Don’t you know about embargoes? They said it would start spreading by this evening.”

“If it’s true, that’s no small matter, you said it’s a Large one, right?”

“Yeah. But is Large really that dangerous?”

Of course, I had experienced the differences in lower-grade dungeons myself, but still, I thought that with the powerful S Rank Hunters showing up, they could surely close the gap enough.

At my words, Song Ha Yeon shook her head and replied.

“It’s probably a bit different from what you think. S Rank Large is special.”

“What’s special about it?”

“For starters, even the mobs are strong, right?”

Not only that, but at the S Rank level, even the mobs often possess high intelligence.

“So they won’t just give in; they’ll do everything they can to wear out the strategy team’s power.”

In other words, even the repetitive battles wouldn’t be on the same level as lower dungeons.

“Besides, since it’s Large, there’s an overflowing number of minions, no time to rest, and they launch surprise attacks at all times. Even a S Rank Hunter would just be completely drained after spending a few days inside.”

“Can it really end up being such a systematic fight? Wouldn’t high intelligence make them more selfish in protecting themselves?”

“I thought so at first too, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe it’s the dungeon’s influence or something?”

If that was indeed the case, it could be deemed a genuinely dangerous place.

An S Rank Large Dungeon definitely appeared to be more formidable than I initially thought.

‘Personally, I’m intrigued, but…’

The situation isn’t quite favorable. I was still a mere B Rank Hunter whose advancement to A Rank was just being discussed.

In the midst of high-rank Hunters from all over the world, it would be tough for me to be included in a strategy team.

‘Well, not necessarily…’

After all, I did have a subordinate for such occasions.

He was known as Tyrant, undoubtedly qualified as an S Rank Hunter, Lee Ji Cheol.

Naturally, the U.S. would try to seek help from other countries, and with someone of Lee Ji Cheol’s caliber, they would surely roll out the red carpet.

‘I could just infiltrate as one of his subordinates.’

A bit of my pride might be hurt, but in reality, he was my subordinate anyway, so what did it matter? It wouldn’t be bad to think of it as just a role-play for a while.

With that in mind, I decided to contact Lee Ji Cheol to discuss things.

[An S Rank Dungeon in the U.S, I just received that news a moment ago.]

“Are you going?”

[No, I was planning to refuse. I actually want to keep an eye on my sister’s condition for a bit longer.]

“Too bad. You better say you’ll join quickly before it fills up. Make sure to tell them to take one more assistant with you.”

[…….]

After delivering the message, I ended the call, leaving the reluctant agreement of Lee Ji Cheol behind.

Then, I recalled something I had momentarily forgotten.

‘Oh, Seo Ha.’

Now that we had promised to act together whenever something happened, it wouldn’t do to just ignore her here.

So, I reluctantly called Lee Ji Cheol again.

[What is it this time?]

“Let’s take two people instead of just one. If they say they can’t, threaten them by saying you won’t go either.”

[…….]

I had been greatly fascinated by S Rank Dungeons, so I couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

While I packed my things just in case, I mentally outlined my future plans.

All the while, I couldn’t even focus on the fact that Chae Hwa In was staring blankly at me from behind.