The Soldier Shouted Save

Chapter 14

Though I managed to stand, my condition was far from good.

My vision kept blurring, and my body swayed unsteadily.

Just then—

Whoosh.

The longsword came flying toward me.

Clang.

But the golden barrier, glowing with light, protected me.

“Kill that woman first!”

At the necromancer’s command, the skeleton turned and began moving toward the priest.

‘Damn it, I need to stop it…’

I could barely walk straight, my body kept tilting in random directions.

The priest closed her eyes as the skeleton advanced toward her.

She wasn’t giving up.

Her body began glowing with a golden light again.

Flash.

The divine light filled the room.

The same light that had turned countless skeletons to dust.

But—

Clatter.

The skeleton remained unharmed.

“Fool! You’re repeating the same mistake! Holy magic doesn’t work on my successful creation!”

I was furious.

Not only had he turned my hero into a skeleton, but now he was treating him like an object.

That’s why—

“What… what the hell?!”

I stormed forward, closing the distance, and drove my fist into his face.

“Ugh!”

Thud.

Dust flew from the ground as his body hit the floor.

At the same time, the skeleton’s movements stopped.

But the most shocked person was me.

‘How… how did I just move?’

The pain that had made each step agony was gone.

Instead, my body felt almost perfect—no, it felt amazing.

I quickly found the answer.

My body was glowing.

With golden light.

“Hah… hah… it won’t last long…. Normal people… can’t withstand… such divine power for long….”

The priest’s strained voice reached my ears.

This golden power wouldn’t last forever.

Both the priest and I were nearing our limits.

There was no time to waste.

I turned my gaze toward him.

“Ugh…”

Blood dripped from his nose.

He wiped it away with the back of his hand, desperately scrambling on the floor.

I moved toward him.

Clatter.

A sound of bones, close by.

I stopped my advance and quickly pulled my upper body back.

Whoosh.

The white arc of a longsword cut through the air where I had just been.

I dodged the attack perfectly.

But the problem was what came next.

‘I’m out of position…’

I wouldn’t be able to react to the next attack in time.

If that’s the case…

‘I’ll give up my left hand!’

I focused all my attention on the skeleton’s longsword.

Clatter.

The skeleton pulled the longsword back toward itself.

‘A thrust?’

I braced myself to sacrifice my left hand and quickly raised it.

But the attack didn’t come.

‘…That was my chance, why didn’t it strike?’

Had the necromancer’s “control” been broken?

Whoosh.

The sword came down from above, and I pivoted on my left foot to avoid it.

Something felt wrong.

There was no follow-up movement, and the skeleton’s stance seemed unstable after the swing.

Thud.

I punched the skeleton’s skull as it leaned forward.

It felt like I had just hit a stone.

Clatter.

The skeleton staggered back a few steps, wobbling from the blow.

‘Something’s off…’

I frowned as I watched the odd movements of the skeleton.

Just then, the necromancer, still bleeding from his nose, stood up and started laughing.

“You can’t win! You’ll never beat it! While I failed to preserve its memories, the skeleton still retains the hero’s swordsmanship! Do you think you can defeat the hero in a sword fight?”

‘Swordsmanship?’

I scowled.

A thrust.

A downward slash.

A horizontal cut.

I dodged each of the skeleton’s moves one by one.

“H-how… how are you avoiding the hero’s swordsmanship so easily!?”

The skeleton swung its sword in front of me.

If this was supposed to be “swordsmanship,” it was pathetic.

It wasn’t even good enough for a regular soldier, let alone a hero. It was clumsy, unrefined.

‘This is supposed to be a hero’s swordsmanship?’

It moved as if it had never held a sword before.

‘Is this some kind of sword style from another world?’

Whether it was due to flawed necromancy or a sword technique from the hero’s original world, I couldn’t tell.

But what I did know was that I now had the upper hand.

I could see all of the skeleton’s movements.

It didn’t need to swing its sword or raise its arms. Just a single step forward telegraphed where it would strike.

Whoosh.

A thrust aimed at my head.

I lowered my stance to dodge it and slammed my fist into the skeleton’s skull.

Thud.

As expected, it had no effect.

All I got from it was pain in my hand.

“Why… why isn’t my masterpiece perfect!?”

The necromancer anxiously chewed on his fingernails.

‘It seems there’s only one way…’

I made my decision.

I began slowly backing away.

“S-stop him!!”

As I moved closer to the priest—his natural enemy—the necromancer shouted in panic.

Clatter.

A skeleton rushed forward to block the path between me and the priest.

“…”

When I stopped, the necromancer’s face brightened.

“Y-yes! You have no choice! Even with holy magic, there’s nothing you can do! What do you think you can accomplish with just your fists…?”

I ignored his words and bent down to pick up “something.”

I heard the necromancer laugh mockingly.

“A dagger? That’s the weapon you’ve chosen? Against a skeleton, a dagger? How ridiculous! How utterly foolish!”

I smiled slightly.

“But it works well on humans.”

At those words, the color drained from the necromancer’s face.

I raised the dagger.

And then, with all my strength, I threw it at him.

Whoosh.

“N-no…!”

The necromancer hastily extended his hand.

A black shield formed in front of the flying dagger.

Fwoosh.

But against the black shield, a golden light flared.

“Hah… hah… you cannot… stop it… necromancer….”

The black barrier surrounding the necromancer was swallowed by the golden light.

The dagger cut through the air, straight toward him.

Thud.

“Urgh…”

His body slumped to the ground.

Thud.

I walked over to his fallen body and looked down at him.

The dagger was buried right between his eyebrows.

‘…It’s over.’

Whoosh.

The golden light that had enveloped me faded away.

At the same time, my eyelids grew heavy, and my legs began to tremble.

It was hard.

Really hard.

My gaze naturally drifted to the floor.

‘Would it be alright to lie down?’

I wanted to collapse right there.

I didn’t resist the pull of gravity.

I spread my arms and let my body fall.

At that moment—

“No!!!”

Her soft voice echoed.

My head turned towards her.

A look of urgency.

She was shouting something.

But with the divine power fading and my senses numb, I couldn’t hear a thing.

“Quickly…”

A golden light emanated from her, reaching toward me once again.

But it wasn’t her holy power that reached me first.

It was a monstrous figure, its twisted smile grotesque.

I had once mistaken him for the village chief.

Then, I mistook him for the necromancer.

But this being, with a dagger still lodged in its forehead and its hand reaching for my throat, was a monster.

The spot where the dagger was embedded—

The area around the gaping wound in its forehead had turned purple.

Its deformed muscles twitched unnaturally.

‘…Did he modify his own body?’

“Dieeeeee!!!!”

His grotesquely swollen arm shot out like a snake, aiming for my neck.

‘Die? Me?’

I don’t die.

Even if my arm is crushed or my head is shattered, I just return to the past.

Still, I didn’t want to die.

‘Move!’

My body ignored the commands from my brain.

No, it wasn’t ignoring them.

It was impossible to move a body that was completely paralyzed.

It was over.

I couldn’t avoid death this time.

I slowly closed my eyes.

Thud.

My back hit the cold ground.

Although, since my senses were numb, I wasn’t sure if it was cold or not.

But it seemed my body wasn’t completely numb yet.

Clatter.

Through my blurry vision, I saw him.

The hero of the Gerard Continent.

Nothing remained of him but white bones.

If a Gerardian saw him, they might scream about an undead hero and flee in terror.

But there was no need to run.

Though undead, he was still a hero.

Still a champion.

His longsword, gripped in his bony white hands—

Slice.

Cut the monster’s body in half.

—

You have leveled up.

You have achieved a great feat. (Achievement points +1,500)

Your fame has increased.

Challenge completed: “Defeat the Necromancer of Dane Village.” (Achievement points +8,000)

You have obtained the title ‘Corpse Summoner.’

—

The white longsword, slashing through the necromancer—

In that final, heroic image, I lost consciousness.

* * *

I woke to the sound of a gentle voice.

“Are you alright?”

Long black hair falling to her shoulders.

Her face looked pale, but she wore a beautiful smile.

I stared blankly at the golden light glowing from her hands.

“Where am I?”

“We’re still in Dane Village.”

Only then did I realize that I was lying in a bed.

The smell of mold filled the room.

The sight reminded me of past lives where I had died helplessly in this place, and it made me want to retch. Yet, strangely enough, I found this dusty bed incredibly comforting.

Why?

The reason was simple.

I had escaped.

This wasn’t the village entrance.

There were no strange messages in front of my eyes.

Which meant, I had broken free from the cycle of death.

I sat up.

“You shouldn’t move yet.”

Despite the message saying I had fully recovered, I was gently pushed back into the bed.

Her slender hand pressed on my shoulder, guiding me back down.

“Phew…”

She let out a soft sigh, placing her hand on my chest, summoning the golden light once again.

My stomach settled, and my heart felt at ease.

But her wrist, glowing with divine light, was bruised in an alarming shade of blue.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a bruise.”

The bruise on her wrist—

It was caused by the chains that had once bound her.

Now that I thought about it…

“How did you escape from those chains?”

At my question, she smiled proudly.

“I had help.”

It was then that I noticed there was someone else in the room besides her.

“This is…”

The village guard from before.

An undead.

Standing beside the priest in the room was a zombie.

I tried to rise again quickly.

“It’s alright. He’s no longer under control.”

At her reassurance, I relaxed and lay back down.

‘So he’s no longer being controlled…’

Now that I looked closely, his face was pale.

Anyone could easily tell he was a zombie.

Maybe the necromancer’s death had weakened his necromantic power?

I didn’t understand the specifics.

But one thing was clear: this zombie, with his ghostly pale face, was smiling at me.

“Ugh… ah… ah…”

He made strange, guttural sounds.

Oddly enough, I could understand him perfectly.

“Thank you, too.”

It must have been this zombie who carried me here and broke the chains that had bound the priest. Her slender arms couldn’t have done it alone.

“Ah… ah…”

“Yes, I understand.”

She, too, seemed to understand him, as she stopped her healing and knelt down.

Clasping her hands together, she prayed.

Ssssshh.

A golden light enveloped the zombie.

His body turned to dust, scattering out the window, carried away by the wind.

I watched the scene blankly, but as if to explain, the priest spoke.

“I released his soul. He wanted to express his gratitude, so I waited.”

A white spirit floated up toward the sky.

Was that his soul?

But something felt off.

—

Great Feat: Corpse Summoner has been activated!

You can now use dark magic.

—

The spirits, which seemed ready to disappear into the sky, were instead pulled toward me.

—

You have completed the first path of fate.

—

‘…Dark magic?’

I stared at the message in confusion.

—

Your profession has changed to ‘Necromancer.’

—

Something had gone terribly wrong.