88. Giant's Burial Chamber (2)

— Gugugung—.

The ceiling of the Giant’s Burial Chamber slid aside. Aside from the control room, some twenty pyeong across, the interior looked like a casket for laying out the dead.

“Move it in here.”

— Do I look like a porter to you?

Grumble though he did, Fafnir hauled the Ogre corpse into the chamber as told, and the body came to rest stretched out in a great coffin.

“Ah. There should be Troll bones over at the Profane Graveyard.”

— You mean the ones we caught back when we were expanding the Black Obelisk?

“Good of you to remember that.”

— The flesh will all have rotted away by now. Nothing left but bone.

“As it happens, bone steeped good and ripe in spirit-power is exactly what I needed.”

Hearing that much, Fafnir said no more and fetched the Troll bones stored in the graveyard. At a sharp snap of Yujin’s fingers, the ceiling that had slid open moved again, shutting out the light.

— So what do you want done now?

“Wait outside.”

Once Jo Seungcheol had been sent out of the control room as well, Yujin was alone in the Giant’s Burial Chamber. Kronos took on a dubious air.

‘It’s my first time. Figured I’d run it myself — partly to test the thing’s performance.’

Yujin rolled up his sleeves and laid a hand atop the skull set in the center of the control room. A faint, whitish energy wavered up from its empty eye sockets.

— Shuuuuk—.

A portion of his spirit-power flowed in through the palm pressed to the skull. Not much. Just enough to confirm his control over the structure.

The moment he linked to the structure through the skull, an emotionless voice drove straight into his mind, and a translucent panel rose into view before him. Well, though it called this a choice, there was only the one option to be had.

Yujin pressed firmly on the Brutal entry.

‘Time to concentrate, then.’

With the structure’s help, remodeling a corpse was far easier. He didn’t have to pour spirit-power into reinforcing every bone and rigor-stiffened muscle one at a time; he just had to feed in the right amount, in the order the system processed. Easy, right?

‘Like playing a rhythm game.’

— Sss— ssss—!

He fed in the Necropolis’s spirit-power at precisely the right timing. The Ogre’s already-stiffened muscles swelled as if about to burst, then subsided, over and over, and its eyes, big as a man’s head, shriveled under the excess pressure.

‘It only looks easy because I’m the one doing it. Look at Jo Seungcheol. He barely manages 12%.’

The force gushing out of the Necropolis’s spirit vein was vast, and because it wasn’t his own spirit-power he was channeling, controlling it ran far harder. Pour in more than the programmed amount and the corpse took damage; feed in too little and the work crawled.

‘Control your spirit-power poorly, and both the crafting speed and the finished quality drop off.’

Spirit-power control tied directly into one’s necromancy attainment. The only necromancy spell Jo Seungcheol had picked up was Raise Dead, just the one, and even that at no great proficiency. Work the Giant’s Burial Chamber long enough, though, and his attainment would shoot up.

‘This much is basic.’

The remodeling of the Ogre corpse went smoothly. Part of the long-ripened Troll bone, exposed to the high-density spirit-power, softened and ran into a whitish liquid that seeped into the carcass.

‘Now.’

— Tutuk— tututuk—.

Fingernails curved like hooks and lengthened; the fingers, too, stretched to nearly double their length. The bones of the great monster, having drunk in spirit-power over a long span, settled into the carcass and transformed it from within. The pointed protrusions that burst through muscle now swollen to about 1.3 times its size carried an edge to rival a well-honed spear or sword.

“Grwoooooo!!”

The Ogre carcass let out a chilling cry. Reborn now as a new being called Brutal, the monster glared with savage eyes.

Three of its stats broke a thousand. Its Agility had gone duller than the base Ogre’s, but in exchange its Strength and Endurance had climbed far above the original’s.

‘It’s in the mid-thousands range, sure.’

There was a misconception to avoid here. That abnormally high mana stat was nothing but a quirk of the magic line; the rest of its stats were impoverished.

‘A touch lower than Fafnir.’

Fafnir was a 5th-Rank like it. His base stats ran high to begin with thanks to the Draconian species value, and since the Martial-Mage trait pushed his mana up further no matter which ability climbed, he had never been a fair point of comparison in the first place.

‘Half a day to finish it counts as fast.’

If I’d left it to Jo Seungcheol, it would’ve taken a week at minimum.

With a lower-quality result thrown in for good measure.

‘I have to raise these fellows so I can keep using them.’

Working in a structure like the Giant’s Burial Chamber beat idly drilling Raise Undead, and if a unit came out low in quality, Yujin could touch it up later.

‘To run a Necropolis, I need plenty of apprentices.’

The Necromancer class had no known advancement gate yet, not at this point in time. If he couldn’t put Necromancers to work, then he’d have his subordinate undead learn necromancy and use them as spare parts. Even before the regression, he’d passed necromancy down to the undead and put them to good use running the Necropolis.

‘Workers who don’t eat and don’t need sleep. Aren’t they the finest talent any enterprise could ask for?’

‘Excuse me. How did the conversation veer that way?’

‘No. I get the gist, so let it drop.’

The only minions who could pick up necromancy were Jo Seungcheol, Fafnir, and Lee Seungyeon. Magic-line undead weren’t exactly common, after all.

‘I should put Lee Seungyeon to work soon, too.’

He couldn’t let himself get bogged down managing the Necropolis. Yujin’s position was that of commander; beyond the Necropolis out in the borderlands, there were a great many places that demanded his attention.

— My liege. What is this hideous monster?

“A trump card for taking on Ogres.”

— Oho. You’ve made something interesting. So that’s what the Ogre hunting was for.

“From now on we hunt Ogres on a regular cycle. And craft Brutals.”

— Might I offer a word?

Yujin snickered.

Song Myeongseok. It’s not hard to guess what you’re about to say.

“You want to fight it?”

— I’m the one who hunted the Ogre, tyrant of the forest. I wish to show you that I am greater than some half-dead corpse.

“Have at it. I won’t be buffing you.”

Song Myeongseok stepped forward, full of confidence. He’d had Yujin’s help on the first hunt, but now that he had the knack of it, he was certain he could bring down an Ogre without buffs.

— I shall prove my greatness.

Song Myeongseok charged in, spirits high.

Five minutes later.

Song Myeongseok was reduced to crawling across the ground, split into Song / Myeong / Seok.

— Th-this can’t be!

“Why are you down there? You’re swaying on your— well, you don’t even have a body to sway on.”

Yujin looked down at Song / Myeong / Seok with pity. Brutal’s strength lay in its rock-hard body. The sharp protrusions bristling across its whole frame forced damage onto any enemy that closed for melee, and the dazzling twin-sword technique that had worked on Ogres was useless here. Unable to shake off the Brutal that charged in heedlessly, Song had ended up sundered into head / belly / legs.

— Give me one more chance! If only I had enough time and budget…!

“Budget, my foot. What does he take himself for, Dr. Nitro?¹”

Song’s gripe about being at a disadvantage wasn’t pure excuse, though. In life the fellow had carried a Unique-grade artifact supplied by the Arahan Guild. The Lump of Iron Steeped in Obsession synergized well with the undead, and Yujin’s surgical skill was superb, so it was punching above its specs; but weighed on specs alone, the heavy armor and twin swords fell short of Unique, landing somewhere better than Rare.

— Krrgh!

Song Myeongseok’s jawbone rattled wildly, as if in chagrin. Yujin fitted the three pieces of the Skeleton Knight’s body back together and restored them with spirit-power.

— You’re not going to use a holy spell?

“Those cost life force. Wasteful.”

Life Drain healed faster, but it ate through the vitality he’d stockpiled, whereas spirit-power came back on its own after a short rest. No consumable to spend.

Before the regression, I went around restoring every broken undead one by one, you know.

“Fafnir. How many could you take on at once?”

— Three. Any more is beyond me.

“That’s a pretty generous self-assessment.”

— Just attempting a grapple does damage to my side. A troublesome foe.

“And with triple buffs?”

— Then it’s manageable. I’ve got the Dragon-Scale Armor, after all.

A quick estimate, much obliged.

From a distance, Fafnir had watched Joo Yeongmin, the man-hunters’ third-ranked officer, put up his fight, so he caught the meaning behind Yujin’s question. From the combat power Brutal had shown in splitting Song Myeongseok into Song / Myeong / Seok, he’d swiftly reached his conclusion.

‘Repulsing them is doable, but wiping them out would be tough — that’s the read.’

Having reached much the same conclusion himself, Yujin accepted the read at once. He’d have to settle for fielding force on par with the man-hunters’ main strength.

“Jo Seungcheol. Go fetch Lee Seungyeon.”

— Yes.

So what comes next?

All that’s left is to drill necromancy into them until their skulls wear down.

Don’t you worry.

Unassuming as I look, this is a body that once reached 9th Rank. Teaching people is something I’ve got down to a science.

— Everyone’s gathered.

“Good. Then let’s begin the crash course.”

— Th-the master. I get to sit this one out, right?

“Saw you doing fine last time. I’ll take you on as an auditing student.”

You’ve got nothing better to do anyway. You volunteered to learn first last time, so you can sit in and audit again this time.

When his attempt to quietly slip away failed so spectacularly, Fafnir gave a hollow little laugh.

A week had passed since their return to the borderlands. With the two Dark Minions arrayed before him, Yujin grumbled without pause.

“Numbskulls.”

— …

“Where else in the world will you find someone who teaches this well?”

— …

Jo Seungcheol and Lee Seungyeon hung their heads low.

For the past week, Yujin hadn’t set foot outside the Necropolis even once. Whenever he had a spare moment he’d pass down necromancy, or else craft one Brutal after another. The three Ogres he’d first brought back had long since been reborn as undead, and by reading nearby memories with Memento, he’d tracked down three more and brought his Brutal count to six.

‘Still not enough, though.’

These were the people who’d dumped Ogres off a cargo ship like so much trash. If he held his elite monsters in reserve and instead rounded up the monsters spawning here and there across the borderlands to send them charging in…

‘I’m at a disadvantage in a war of attrition.’

Ha, well. Yujin’s cheek twisted. A Necromancer’s pride wouldn’t let him sit still for this.

“You’ve got to learn at least up to Dead Rise before the burial chamber’s operating rate hits 40%. Work harder.”

— We obey our master’s command.

“Good. Look over there at Fafnir. He’s already learned the lot, hasn’t he?”

The two Dark Minions’ blue ghost-flames flickered sharply. Whether his training back on Yeonpyeong Island had paid off or not, Fafnir had raised his Raise Undead proficiency considerably. Proficiency meant a deeper grasp of crafting the dead, which naturally carried an advantage when learning other undead-crafting skills as well.

‘Even so, he’s astonishingly fast.’

His rate of acquisition was striking enough to impress every time.

— My liege. I’ve brought three more.

— Kung—.

An Ogre carcass, tongue lolling out, flopped onto the ground. Song Myeongseok sat perched atop a Brutal’s head. The fellow had no gift for necromancy, so Yujin had set him to Ogre hunting full-time, guided by the information turned up through Memento.

“Stow them inside the burial chamber.”

— By your command.

“And don’t go spraying blood everywhere like you did the day before yesterday.”

— …

Sigh.

Honestly. Not one of them I can trust to handle a job.

Even while teaching necromancy to the three undead, there wasn’t a moment’s rest.

The Necromancy Research Lab ranked highest in priority among the Tier-1 structures. The only reason he hadn’t built it before now was that running it required stationing someone who’d learned necromancy. Now that even Lee Seungyeon had picked up the basics, he could stick her in the lab.

“Useless lot. Learn faster so I can put you to more use.”

Yujin grumbled, kneading the small of his back. While he was busy bolstering the Necropolis, the rest of his companions were each putting up results of their own.

“Finally, 3rd Rank!”

“Wow. I thought we’d be stuck flailing at 1st Rank forever.”

“It’s all thanks to you, boss.”

The whole of the Scraps team had reached 3rd Rank, a staggering pace, the product of cutting rest to the bone and slaughtering monsters all across the borderlands. Im Jaebaek, hunting alongside them, had pushed his level up a fair bit too.

‘Ha. This is genuinely grueling.’

How many times had the urge to fling away the greatsword in his grip come over him? That was how close to miraculous the Scraps’ pace ran.

“Yeahhh!!! Finally!!! I did it!!!!”

At that very moment, Shin Junseok, holed up at the Black Herb farm, loosed a whoop of his own, a dark blue-green pill clutched in his hand. An early-version Heart-Strengthening Pill, and the first ‘product’ he’d ever turned out that cleared stabilization.

His deeper grasp of alchemy had pushed his level up along with it. Shin Junseok was beside himself with glee.

‘It’s all thanks to my business partner!’

An opportunity any alchemist would have paid a fortune to seize! Without Yujin’s aid, Shin Junseok would still be wringing his hands in anxious servitude, buried under the debts his reckless investments had piled on him.

‘Loyalty, nothing but loyalty from here on!’

More alchemy recipes. More opportunities! At Yujin’s side, every last want of his would be met, and of that Shin Junseok was certain.

Out in the borderlands, the Black Company was stretching itself awake, readying to widen its reach without a soul aware of it.