The Necromancer Who Was Despised – Chapter 101

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Tildi made the sign of the cross and shouted.

“Rest for the young lamb.”

Although Rabid’s condition was gradually improving, it seemed to be more than a simple injury as his recovery speed was slow.

It was also a low-level spell to begin with.

Of course, even that was something to be grateful for.

‘Did he break a bone?’

Meanwhile, I had also used the Aura of Death, which reduced the effect of the hall’s divine power on the undead.

I hadn’t gone this far in the first battle as it was more of an exploratory fight, but now it was different.

I had to utilize every card I had.

“Ugh…”

However, my Aura of Death had a negative effect on Tildi, as I could see his healing weakened.

Indeed, the compatibility between warlocks and priests was terrible, but it was worth enduring.

As they started to be less affected by the divine power, my undead began to move more actively.

‘Anyway, none of our side will be receiving healing.’

I had thoroughly prepared my defenses, and Tildi’s ability wasn’t enough to accurately heal the moving Athena and Kayla.

I couldn’t care less about Cereo’s group.

Annelise wasn’t idle either.

She was constantly shooting arrows in an attempt to check the guardian, but the guardian effortlessly blocked her attacks.

She seemed quite frustrated, but unable to just stand by, she continued to shoot arrows repeatedly.

Although she had been almost persuaded to our side, those fighting at the front were once her companions.

Even with her new insurance, it seemed she couldn’t just stand by and watch.

It was an ambivalent attitude, neither here nor there.

But for humans, this was typical.

The guardian’s gaze was blatantly directed towards us.

Of course, it wasn’t because of Annelise’s arrows.

The one fighting Kayla was too busy blocking her attacks to spare a glance, but it was different for the one fighting Cereo’s group.

“Fall back! Use the Minotaurs as shields!”

While the battle continued intensely on that side, I was steadily recovering the consumed demonic energy while providing moderate support to the Living Armor, having set up sturdy defenses.

However, even that was enough to help Cereo’s group survive.

The Specter wasn’t idle either.

It consistently checked the guardian, and in terms of effectiveness, one Specter was comparable to Cereo’s entire group.

“Eek!”

“Aah!”

Annelise and Tildi were terrified.

The guardian, seemingly more irritated by our side, shot another light beam towards us, and once again, a Minotaur was hit by the beam and crashed into the Bone Wall, breaking apart.

The two were quite shaken by this sight, with Annelise’s fingertips trembling slightly.

‘I expected this.’

I had anticipated this much.

Therefore, I didn’t waver.

I calmly regrouped and solidified the front line again.

Looking at Kayla’s side, I could see that the guardian’s body was now covered in wounds.

That side had used the light beam too, but it seemed Kayla had effortlessly dodged it.

‘As for Athena…’

She wasn’t moving.

Cereo’s group hadn’t fallen yet, and Kayla was still engaged in battle.

Grrrr.

While Kayla’s side was gaining the upper hand and attacking the guardian, Cereo’s side was being pushed back little by little.

The number of zombie Minotaurs was rapidly decreasing.

Although the Living Armor was performing well, when they directly clashed with the guardian, they were immobilized for a while, during which time the Minotaurs were being taken down one by one.

Thanks to the Specter, the pace was slow, but they were still being steadily consumed.

Cereo’s group tried to draw attention, but it wasn’t very effective.

Essentially, the zombie Minotaurs were no different from their own lives.

If the Minotaurs didn’t take the attacks for them, Cereo’s group would have to block the attacks directly, and Rabid, the shield warrior, couldn’t even properly withstand one hit.

One of his arms was completely shattered, and although he recovered with Tildi’s support, it took a long time.

It was presumed to be a minor fracture.

The regeneration speed was significantly slower than the recovery speed of my Living Armor, so once all of the Minotaurs were dead, their lives would essentially be over.

Slowly, a sense of helplessness began to appear on their faces.

They had no choice but to consume the Minotaurs that they had tried to save at every critical moment, and in the end, they had used up all ten Minotaurs that had been provided as support.

“He-help!”

“Please help us! If this continues…”

The shield warrior of Cereo’s party and Flana, the spear wielder, quickly called for help.

Annelise and Tildi gave me anxious looks.

They already seemed afraid that I might abandon them.

As it looked like Kayla still needed time to take down the guardian, I deployed five additional Minotaurs to the front line.

Their faces brightened.

‘It’s just buying time, though.’

At the same time, another light beam flew towards us, reducing the number of Minotaurs protecting me to three.

However, I remained calm.

‘It’s fine.’

I used the dead Minotaurs to further reinforce the Bone Wall.

‘I need to intervene a bit more.’

Meanwhile, I started to focus not only on the Living Armor but also on the Minotaurs I had sent as support, expanding my range.

‘I used those ten too inefficiently.’

I had no intention of providing more support now.

Therefore, I had to use the additional five as efficiently as possible.

In particular, I had sent the ‘chieftain’ this time.

I focused on the connection with them.

Thump.

Was it because of the space filled with divine power, or because I was strengthening the connection with the undead that I wasn’t usually good at controlling?

My circle began to resonate strongly.

As my will reached the zombie Minotaurs, their movements began to change noticeably.

The Minotaur that had failed to properly block even a single attack until now succeeded in deflecting an attack.

Of course, this was possible because it was the ‘chieftain’ specimen.

However, a counterattack was impossible.

The Living Armor quickly intervened to exploit the gap.

Clang!

For the first time, the guardian took half a step back.

‘It’s harder than I thought.’

Surprise was visible on the faces of Cereo’s group.

Annelise’s gaze turned towards me, and she let out an admiring gasp at the sight of me sweating profusely.

However, I had no time to pay attention to such gazes.

It was more difficult than I had thought, and it was consuming my mental strength.

The circle wasn’t reacting for no reason.

Just as our counterattack was about to begin…

Whoosh!

Kagagagagak!

Kayla’s pain-filled groan and Athena’s urgent voice echoed through the central hall.

My emotions, which hadn’t wavered even when faced with the hard-to-perceive light beam, were momentarily shaken.

As I rolled my eyes to check the situation, I could see Kayla retreating from the guardian with Athena’s help.

‘That is…?’

A golden aura was flowing from the guardian’s body.

‘Is that… aura?’

It looked as if the holy aura unique to holy knights was flowing from its entire body.

‘This is insane.’

Both its speed and power were on a different level from before.

Moreover, it was showing a slightly more aggressive and offensive stance than before.

‘Did it go berserk or something?’

I didn’t know it had such a function.

Previously, when one was in crisis, the other guardian had come to support…

‘Wait. If that’s the case…’

The two were like twins of the same model.

That meant the one I was currently facing could also go berserk in a moment of crisis.

‘…Damn it.’

No, considering that one guardian had tried to rescue the other when it was in crisis, even if it wasn’t in danger itself…

I had been too focused on my own benefit, on revenge.

Or rather, should I say I moved too quickly with insufficient information.

Of course, I had been careful.

Because of that, although I was surprised, the situation hadn’t become irreversible.

‘It’s not like Kayla has been defeated.’

Athena had intervened at the right moment, and it didn’t seem like Kayla had suffered a major injury.

However, the state of her shield was very poor, apparently shattered.

‘Even though it was made directly by Mutre…’

There were quite large scars visible on her armor as well, but since she seemed to be unharmed thanks to it, I suppose the armor had fulfilled its role as protection sufficiently.

What I needed to do now was clear.

‘Take down the guardian.’

I needed to intervene in the situation more actively.

“Help Kayla.”

His skills were inferior to Athena’s.

However, he was Kayla’s disciple and had frequently sparred with Athena, so he should be able to provide some assistance.

“Tell Kayla not to worry about the situation here and to take it down as quickly as possible.”

While I was assessing the situation and giving instructions, the Living Armor were having a hard time.

I focused once again on the chieftain Minotaur.

‘Its role is like a tank.’

It needed to block the opponent’s attacks and draw aggro.

It needed to act as a sturdy front line, but unfortunately, attacking seemed difficult.

While indirectly controlling the other Minotaurs, I also deployed Skeleton No. 1 and No. 2 to the front line.

Annelise and Tildi seemed a bit surprised when I even placed these two on the front line.

‘This is the right thing to do.’

If the one we were facing also went berserk, there was a high chance that the front line would be swept away without even a chance to resist, regardless of light beams or anything else.

‘We have to prevent that.’

That was why I sent even my last resort, the Skeletons, to the front.

These two were cards that could perform well even without my direct control.

As expected, when the two joined, the front line began to show a completely stabilized appearance.

The five Minotaurs I was controlling, Cereo’s party, plus the two Skeletons and the Specter.

With this much force starting to check the enemy together, we could finally properly restrain it without consuming too much power.

“Tildi! Arahard!”

“Flana. Support me.”

“Got it, leader!”

While Kayla had been able to push back on her own, on this side, we needed this much just to pin down one guardian.

We couldn’t even inflict proper damage.

At this point, the guardian could no longer use light beams targeting me.

Moreover, due to the Specter’s checks, the light beams used couldn’t reduce the number of zombie Minotaurs as before.

Offense had become the best defense, but still, we couldn’t let our guard down.

We didn’t know when it might go berserk.

We had to concentrate on maintaining the current situation as precariously as possible.

Bang, boom!

However, even while maintaining this balance, problems were still scattered everywhere.

The guardian’s attacks imbued with holy aura couldn’t shatter the Minotaurs’ shields in one go.

But damage was steadily accumulating, and eventually, shields started to break.

‘We can’t drag this out for long.’

We were holding out by replacing shields with those from the already dead ones, but honestly, I hadn’t expected the fight to last this long, so the situation wasn’t good.

As a result, my concentration had to become even sharper.

I constantly maintained enhancements and assisted and controlled the movements of the Minotaur zombies.

To be honest, after supporting Baldur, I didn’t even have time to check how Kayla’s fight was going.

I could hear continuous explosions, but I didn’t have time to confirm like before.

As shields were consumed one by one, finally one zombie Minotaur collapsed.

We had managed to inflict some minor wounds on various parts of the guardian’s body, but that was all.

The Skeleton Warriors’ attack power wasn’t enough to inflict proper damage, just distractions, and the same was true for the Living Armor’s maces.

As the battle continued, the accumulating fatigue also started to become a problem.

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[Honestly i feel like he should just let annelise die at this point cuz i dont think its gonna end well for him]