Necromancer Survival

“Oho~ So, you’re the rat that Issak-ie was talking about?” Sung Yi-hwan turned his head slightly and glared at me over his shoulder. Issak-ie… Is he talking about Moon Issak?

“[Seo Dawon].”

At my instinctive call, Seo Dawon cast a shadow on me with his now corporeal body.

However, Sung Yi-hwan wasn’t flustered at all. Rather, he looked back at us, chuckling. “Wow… I half didn’t believe him, you know.” However, unlike before, his left eye was shining white. Inside those white eyes, I could see the number 2 emblazoned within.

As soon as Seo Dawon was summoned, the Mage opened his inventory and took out his staff–it meant that the opponent was strong enough for him to use his weapon immediately.

Sung Yi-hwan, reading the flow of our tense atmosphere, grinned and said, “Hehehe. I see that you’ve noticed I received a [Baptism]. Seo Dawon… I wondered what kind of person you were before you died.”

“……”

“Perhaps my expectations were too high? You’re now so… boring!” As he shouted, the number inscribed in Sung Yi-hwan’s eyes changed. After the number 7 appeared, he callously threw down the unconscious Koo Hui-seo and took a deep breath.

“[Vanguard].” Sung Yi-hwan’s body began to change. Thick fur poked up over the tattoos that covered his body; long, yellow fangs began to appear from his upper lip.

When I saw Sung Yi-hwan standing on all fours, as if he were about to fall over, my hands shook nervously. His yellow eyes filled with bloodthirst, and he quickly became twice Dawon’s size.

“A werewolf…”

[Clack Clack!]

[He’s gonna kill you!]

However, Dawon-ie didn’t back down; Lackey bravely stepped forward as well. And…

[Growwwwl….]

The man with the broken neck had become a zombie–though I don’t know when that had happened–and stood behind the skeleton.

I almost jumped in alarm when the man appeared, but the zombie merely whimpered as it passed by me before lingering around Lackey. Looking at his face a little closer, I realized he was the man that Lackey had bitten and killed earlier.

‘I don’t think he’d be very helpful, but…’

Still, when I saw the purpled and crooked-necked zombie, I felt a little less scared of the werewolf.

[Where are the other Red Lotus members?]

Sung Yi-hwan wasn’t surprised, as if he had expected all this, and merely pawed at the floor with his front feet.

Dawon-ie didn’t answer and pushed his staff forward. Simultaneously, densely overlaid, golden magic circles blocked the space between us and Sung Yi-hwan. Instantly, his huge body was covered.

In that window of opportunity, I ran forward and pulled at Seo Dawon’s arm. And, when the Mage looked back at me, I kissed him on the cheek.

[The buff ‘Deadly Kiss’ has been applied to ‘Seo Dawon.’]

“… This is a bit embarrassing. Haha.” As soon as I received the system message that the buff had been applied, I fanned my flaming face.

Dawon-ie smiled without saying anything about it. “Next time…”

“Hm?”

“Add a little more self-interest and sincerity into it.” Then, after staring at my lips for a while, he completely turned his back. At the same time, the shining light emanating from the magic circles became so bright that I couldn’t open my eyes.

* * *

“…It’s strange.” Jung Garam, following behind Bang Eunji, muttered as he leapt over the wall. Lee Seolhwa’s location, which had been clearly discernible until just a while ago, disappeared as soon as they crossed the mansion’s threshold. Of course, even if this was a trap to lure them here, he was confident in breaking through, but…

“Hey, Otaku. Can you feel anything?” He shouted.

How should he put it…. From the moment he entered this space, he felt something inherently strange.

Jung Garam had shouted to Bang Eunji when they passed by a garden that had no scent. However, when Bang Eunji looked back, her brows were furrowed in anger, “……”

“What?”

“Why did you call Eunji with such a derogatory nickname just now?”

“You’re an Otaku, aren’t you?”

“Then, I’ll call you Dwarf-ram-ssi.”

“Hah?”

“Dwarf Jung Garam-ssi.”

“You really…” Even as his anger surged, Jung Garam knew that he had no time to quarrel with Bang Eunji. So, he swallowed his irritation, stared at her, and said, “Bang. Eun. Ji. Are you finished? I asked if you felt anything when you entered the garden. Quickly–tell me.”

As expected, Bang Eunji answered without further ado, “Hm. Eunji can’t be sure. But it somehow feels like divine power is getting stronger in this mansion.”

“…Yeah, for sure. We might not be able to step in if we weren’t in Dummy mode.”

At the same time, Jung Garam and Bang Eunji simultaneously glanced at the statue of the Holy Mother on the roof of the mansion.

“It’s that, right? The ‘sacred thing,’ I mean.”

“Probably. I feel bad just looking at it.”

“Why not use your bazooka?”

“Should I?” Following Jung Garam’s words, Bang Eunji lifted her [Gunblade]. “[Bazookapo], activate!”

Then, [Gunblade]’s appearance transformed into a bazooka gun, with a greatly expanded barrel width. The length had also extended to twice that of its previous appearance.

And, Click– Bang Eunji unlocked the locking mechanism and raised her Bazooka gun over her shoulder.

Jung Garam, looking at Bang Eunji, asked a bit dubiously, “Will that even work? It looks like you’re going to demolish your shoulder.”

“I think the Dummy’s durability will be fine, though? Even if it’s not, we’ll have to try it out sooner or later.”

“……”

Eventually, Bang Eunji stubbornly lit her cannon and her round flew towards the Holy Mother statue with a loud ‘bang!’

Bang Eunji’s body recoiled slightly as she shot the gun, but the [Dummy] remained intact–only a slightly burnt smell and a scratch were left behind.

“Wow, it’s not bad?” Jung Garam whistled.

“But.. The attack didn’t work.”

Jung Garam looked up again when Bang Eunji finished speaking; the gunslinger hadn’t taken her eyes off the statue. The holy statue maintained its neat appearance, as if nothing had happened.

“Nngh… Ah–did it not reach?”

“Ara? Jung Garam-kun. Didn’t that Goddess statue move?”

“What?” Jung Garam looked again at her words.

Then, he noticed that the Goddess Statue’s expression had changed subtly. Her gentle smile had slightly distorted. Gradually the statue shifted until it glared down at Jung Garam and Bang Eunji, who attacked her.

Jung Garam took out his weapon. “Hey, That Goddess Statue looks pretty damn mad.”

“What an arrogant figurine.”

As soon as Bang Eunji finished speaking, the fierce-looking statue appeared in front of the two attackers.

* * *

“Argh! They shouldn’t have touched that!” Choi Kyung-sik covered his face with his hands and sat down. Kim Olim and Woo Ragi also began to lament when they saw the Bazookapo hit the Holy Mother statue.

“They’re just smashing things without thinking,” Woo Ragi mumbled, frustrated.

Choi Kyung-sik asked, “…As expected, I should have gone with them, huh?”

Kim Olim shook her head, “No, well… If we have to find a silver lining, perhaps it isn’t bad for their attention to be drawn that way. They’ll be able to hold on for about 20 minutes.”

“…Haah. I’ll try to be quick about it.” Choi Kyung-sik, despite looking dismayed, pressed his hand to his abdomen, summoning a magic circle across the surface of his body.

Then, like a toy block, Choi Kyung-sik’s right arm detached abruptly. He placed the arm on the ground and opened his inventory, taking out a flask filled with red liquid. He began pouring the liquid onto the fallen arm.

“It’s moving.”

“We didn’t get caught, right?”

“Yeah.”

Woo Ragi continued to be wary of his surroundings even after confirming that the Holy Mother Statue had gone towards Jung Garam and Bang Eunji. He looked closely at the remaining Goddess Statues, which weren’t moving.

It was then.

Buzz–

The red liquid from the fallen arm of Choi Kyung-sik was completely absorbed, and a strange resonance began to occur. As a result, the arm gradually was pushed into the ground.

“Alright. Let’s move on.”

As soon as Choi Kyung-sik finished speaking, the ground where his arm was swallowed began to turn a dull black.

However soon, an unusual light burst out from Jung Garam and Bang Eunji’s location. Moreover, the light was strong enough to be felt by the three folks on this side.

“Tsk, not good…” Kim Olim bit her lips as she looked over there.

Woo Ragi stopped leaning against a tree, “I’ll go check it out.”

—–

TL: I cannot–something is just so hilarious about the mental image of Choi Kyung-sik, Kim Olim, and Woo Ragi standing by and saying “THOSE FUCKING IDIOTS.”

Also, the po in Bazookapo is, I’m pretty sure, just a cutesy way to portmanteau “cannon” onto the end of Bazooka. However, I thought it’d fit Eunji better (aka her style of speaking) to leave the ‘po’ untranslated. I could be wrong–that could be a reference to something else.

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