Episode 376

Episode 376

Lee Han kept asking questions to extract more information from the undead mage.

The undead mage, curious about the outside situation, answered Lee Han’s questions readily.

Originally, this palace had been the residence of the King of Ghouls, guarded by the king’s royal guard at the throne and patrolled by the king’s soldiers to ward off wandering intruders.

The King of Ghouls was a violent tyrant, but his strength was real, so the king’s palace burned with unyielding darkness, remaining haughtily unchanged even when chaos erupted in the nearby lands…

“There was nothing like that.”

-What did you say??

“There was nothing like that. No burning darkness… it was just an ordinary building. It was easy to get inside.”

Despite having no flesh or muscle, the undead mage’s face betrayed shock even with only bones.

-Impossible! You’re telling me the Flame of Otherworldly Authority is extinguished! There’s no way the arrogant king would just let that pass!

“Even if you yell at me…”

The undead mage, having heard this unbelievable news about the outside, was thrown into confusion and didn’t know how to react for a while.

Just then, a metallic clanging sound echoed from the opposite corridor.

-This is bad! Prisoners are coming!

“Aren’t you a prisoner, too?”

-My lot is the same, but my status is different. Those are brutes who delight in struggle and pain.

The prisoners locked in the underground dungeon of this palace all shared the same fate, but their statuses varied.

Some, like the undead mage, had been imprisoned for disobeying the King of Ghouls’ orders, while others, like those now approaching, had been thrown in for enjoying violent fighting.

The latter, rather than despairing over being locked in an inescapable prison, tried to maintain their hobbies even inside.

They attacked and tried to beat up fellow prisoners in the dungeon.

Anyway, the undead prisoners in this underground jail, even if wrecked and knocked down, would recover and be resurrected after a week. For combat fanatics, there was no happier place.

-Do you know why there are no bars here? The king wanted the prisoners to fight each other.

“I see. So what should we do?”

-What do you mean, what? Don’t resist—just accept it. The more you fight back, the more they’ll love it.

The undead berserkers of the underground prison were obsessed with fighting itself.

You might avoid them by hiding, like the undead mage, but confronting them would only provoke them further.

Of course, to Lee Han, the mage’s advice was nonsense.

‘I can’t resurrect.’

“Let’s fight together.”

-What are you talking about? Why should I?

“They’ll come for me anyway, so I’ll drag you in no matter what. Might as well fight together from the start instead of regretting it later.”

-…Wherever you’re from, you must have low-born, vile blood!

The undead mage spat curses and stepped out of the cell.

Still, it seemed that the mage hated the constantly rampaging undead berserkers more than intruders like Lee Han, since he provided advice once out.

-They’re tough and there are a lot of them.

Wandering this prison for countless years, swapping out for stronger flesh and replacing muscles, the undead berserkers’ defenses were so persistent that most magic barely affected them.

Plus, they didn’t roam alone—they moved in gangs. From the mage’s perspective, no matter how much he relied on magic, it was hopeless.

-To deal with this, one spell won’t be enough… So, what kind of magic can you use?

Lee Han responded by casting a spell instead of answering.

With no time to explain, he acted right away.

As more than ten skeleton warriors lined up in the corridor, the undead mage looked at Lee Han with some respect.

-I don’t know which kingdom you’re from, but you must be at least a chief mage.

“……”

Ogoldos, being supported at Lee Han’s side, was too dumbfounded to even speak.

-But they’re moving too slowly. You haven’t practiced undead summoning much, have you?

“Yes. I’m still far from good at it.”

No sooner had he spoken than Lee Han imbued the skeleton warriors’ spears and bows with frost magic.

As the frost magic Lee Han learned from Alsicle took hold, a chilly aura emanated from the blunt bone spears and arrows.

-As expected. You focused more on other disciplines than summoning… Frost magic is a good choice.

“Fog, spread.”

When Lee Han even cast illusion magic, the undead mage was impressed.

-You use illusion magic too? It’s rare for necromancers to use that…

“Hand, rend the enemy!”

-???

When even reinforcement magic appeared, the undead mage looked more than impressed—he was bewildered.

-Wait a minute, which kingdom are you from again?

• * *

If there was time, the undead mage would have liked to ask Lee Han exactly where he worked, but there wasn’t. Once he saw Lee Han’s magic, he immediately began preparations.

-If that entrance is breached, just think of it as a loss. You have no chance in close combat with the berserkers.

The undead mage set up a bone barricade at the end of the prison corridor and stationed Lee Han’s skeleton warriors there.

He then began to summon his own undead familiars.

“!”

Two undead knights in armor appeared, shooting blue light from their eyes.

One could judge a mage’s skill by the strength of his summoned familiars.

-They look strong, but even with them, holding out will be tough. Without more magical support, we’ll be overrun quickly.

“I’ll do my best to hold the line.”

Lee Han took up a skeleton warrior’s bow and began casting -Lesser Speed Increase-, -Lesser Mass Increase-, and -Lesser Penetration Enhancement-.

The fragile bone bow creaked and shrieked in protest, but Lee Han, determined to get through just this once, nervously pressed on.

The undead mage was so busy reinforcing the bottleneck that he failed to notice Lee Han casting repeated reinforcement spells.

If he had seen, he would have been shocked at how Lee Han recklessly squandered his magic.

-They’re here!

“!”

With the low shout from the undead mage, Sharkan began to growl.

A berserker, a mound of flesh easily over two meters tall, glared and roared.

-■■■■!

He seemed thrilled to finally find a worthy opponent. Lee Han didn’t wait—he fired immediately.

Whiz!

-What…?

As the undead mage marveled at such a feeble attack, a bone arrow buried halfway into the berserker’s chest.

Both the undead mage and the berserker were shocked as the attack pierced the tough muscle and leathery skin.

-…Explode!

The undead mage was the first to recover, seizing control of the bone arrow and detonating it.

The gas inside the bone reacted with mana, exploding and damaging the berserker.

-■■■…

With a growl, the berserker began to collect himself. The undead mage immediately cast the next spell.

-Bind and drag him down!

Bone fragments wrapped not just one area but the berserker’s entire body. As the brute slowed, the undead mage breathed deeply and drew up his mana.

-Appear, venomous fang, melt him away!

From the unusually long and forceful chant, Lee Han realized the undead mage specialized in poison.

A complicated magical form of poison, the likes of which Lee Han had never seen, conjured itself and transformed into an arrow.

It shouldn’t have been able to pierce the berserker’s muscle by toughness or speed alone. But the venom arrow melted flesh and muscle as it went, creating a path.

But the berserker, apparently beyond pain, laughed as he shrugged off the bone fragments. With a brutal swing, two skeleton warriors went flying.

“Stab!”

But other skeleton warriors remained. Lee Han poured mana until it nearly burst and gave orders.

The bone spears, unlike Lee Han’s own arrows, did not penetrate, but the cold imbued in their tips slowed the berserker a little. With a barrage of attacks, the berserker, annoyed, prepared to swing his club again.

“Cold, become arrows and fire!”

Lee Han swung his staff and sent ice arrows flying. The ice struck, unleashing a chill that froze the berserker’s movement once again.

Sharkan, with a howl, charged forward.

With persistent attacks aiming to sever his ankle, the berserker gave up aggression and went for the surrounding foes first.

Creak!

With one attack, about half the skeleton warriors were wiped out, and the undead mage lamented.

He knew Lee Han wasn’t a summoning specialist, but hadn’t expected it to be this rough.

Had he known, he would have told Lee Han to save mana for another elemental spell…

“Arise, warriors of bone!”

Without pause, Lee Han rapidly chanted. In such a tense situation, even a one-second mistake could be critical. He couldn’t afford a single lapse.

The crushed skeleton warriors rose as if nothing had happened. The berserker stared at Lee Han in disbelief.

-Stop wasting your mana like that!

“No need to worry. I’m keeping track!”

-Really? If that’s true, then…

Though the undead mage honestly couldn’t believe it, he decided to accept Lee Han’s words for now.

There was no time to pursue the truth.

The junior mage seemed to have high status in his kingdom—surely he wouldn’t tell such absurd lies.

-Poison, O poison that melts bone and burns muscle, gather once more from within…

Poison mages had many tricks.

One was to summon poison in advance and store it somewhere in the body.

Extremely dangerous, but using poison’s properties, it allowed fast responses in emergencies, so adept poison mages mastered such skills.

The undead mage spat out stored poison, then used mana to replenish it.

Even so, he could feel his mana nearing exhaustion.

-Bone, offer your mana to your master…

As a last resort, the mage began harvesting leftover mana from previously fired bones, but then he was horrified by the sight next to him.

Lee Han was relentlessly firing ice arrows like a madman.

Papapapapapapapa!

So many ice arrows struck the berserker’s body that a white frost formed.

None penetrated, but with skeleton warriors clinging on and the cold seeping in, his movement visibly slowed.

In this tense moment, Lee Han steadied his mind and quickly calculated.

‘Should I stick to arrows? There are time and damage limits. Water Prison Bullet… is too much. If only I had lightning element…’

Seeing lightning begin to crackle around Lee Han’s staff, the undead mage shouted.

-Don’t use lightning! Waste of mana. They’re highly resistant to lightning!

“Really!?”

Lee Han cursed Perkuntra.

This useless spirit, honestly.

-Now listen carefully to me! I’ll teach you my secret multi-layered poison. You’ll make the poison and use it!

“I’m not that familiar with poison element magic!”

-If you’re a kingdom’s chief mage, you’ll pick it up quickly. The theory isn’t difficult! Only the combinations are hard!

“I’m not a chief mage, and I’m really not used to poison element—”

Ignoring Lee Han, the undead mage immediately launched into an explanation of poison element magic.