The most difficult thing when dealing with the undead was that it could not be stopped unless the parts of the body were completely destroyed or it was totally smashed.
Of course, there are various types of undead, so there are also the types who feel pain.The case of the flesh golem I once faced in Isabelle Gaudi's dungeon was just such a case.
But the two who were now rushing at me were never of that kind.In other words, they would never hesitate to take a wound, and there was no point in attacking their vital points.
The only way was to literally smash them.
"Keuk… !"
And although I'm ashamed to say it with my own mouth, it seems that me and Choi Hyun-Woo were special to Han Soo-Young.
Me and Choi Hyun-Woo.As she sent the two out first, I should have expected that special processes would have been added to them.And most importantly, I should have also expected the fact that she would take some sort of action when she saw that the branches of the World Tree had made an effective impact.
Ttaang!
I struck him precisely in the neck with Yado's daggers, but it sounded as if I had hit a steel plate.The other me, without any expression, immediately swings his fist toward me.I raised my arm to block it, but felt the pain as if my bones were crushing and immediately threw myself back.
"What is it, so hard… Euk!"
I managed to block his attack that flew straight to my neck.Choi Hyun-Woo, swinging the back of his sword, glared at me with inorganic eyes like glass beads.Then he immediately fixed the sword and swung it straight at my left leg.I barely managed to pull out Henir's shadow to block it.I felt a cold sweat running down my cheeks as I thought my limbs might really be cut off if I made a mistake.
"…… ."
The future Han Soo-Young was just watching me from afar as I fought.It was honestly a relief for me because I would have been overpowered in an instant if she had helped.
Let's widen the distance first.First, I needed to buy time to recover my mana while gnawing on their power.As I began to step back, the other me who had been following me suddenly stopped moving.At that moment, I thought of Han Soo-Young and hurriedly looked at both sides of me, but there was nothing unusual.
Then what is it?I was thinking that way.
"…… ."
Choi Hyun-woo was lying his sword blade down and taking a stance to swing it widely as if he had become a hitter.Then, as if the other me was doing a strange trick, he tried to support himself on the sword blade, and he swung it as hard as he could.
He flew towards me like a cannonball.
Before I could react in surprise, he passed by and swung his dagger.I hurriedly crossed my two daggers to block him, but I heard something shatter and felt a pain in my wrist as if it would break.
"Kohok!"
I let go of the Yado's dagger, which was smashed and had only the handle left, and rolled backward.I had one dagger left, but the fact that I had lost one of my weapons so early was fatal, and the fact that my posture had collapsed was more fatal.He immediately thrust out his dagger, aiming for my shoulder.If Henir's shadow hadn't struck him on the way, my right arm would have been really cut off.
"Keuk…!"
The moment I rolled my body out of the way, a single dagger flew at me with fierce force.Henir's shadow, who had just woken up and turned into a clone, could not strike it out, and the branches of the World Tree were gathering mana, so they had no leeway.
I clenched my teeth in the pain to come, but the pain I was prepared for did not come.
"Keueut, heu… !"
It was Han Soo-Young.She, who was recovering quietly in the distance, was reaching out her hand toward this side.Her specialty was space-type magic, so I knew that she protected me in some way.My teeth naturally clenched at the thought that I had forced her to overdo it again.
"…… !"
Henir's shadow rose by his own will.A blackened shadow with the exact same outward appearance as me expanded its body menacingly and let out a strange, soundless scream.
Immediately, he rushed towards the other me.Then I had to face Choi Hyun-Woo, who was quickly approaching me.In my haste, I even took out the Nidhogg's fang that I had hidden in my body.
However, the situation took a completely different turn than I expected.
Didn't he definitely say that before?That it was good to compete a lot with other people, and that if you compete with me all the time, you'll get used to me.It was definitely as he said.
Simply based on my physical abilities, I didn't feel like I was outclassed even if I were to go head-to-head with him, who was one of the best in the worldview.In fact, I even felt a little relaxed about it.
Even if he was the Choi Hyun-Woo of the other world, who was already dead and undead, he was still Choi Hyun-Woo.
His swordsmanship, attack patterns, habits, trajectories.I knew everything before I even realized it, and my body reacted first.
I didn't rush and calmly continued to attack only one place.He didn't take any major injuries, but the marks continued to overlap due to my skill, Hunter's mark.
And when I overlapped the mark in one place nearly ten times, I burst the mark at once.Eventually, Choi Hyun-Woo's shoulder was smashed, revealing a sponge-like inside.
Now.I immediately planted the seeds of the World Tree in him and generously infused him with the mana I had gathered so far.
Even a huge rock will eventually crack and break due to the plants that have taken root inside.
I don't know if it was a similar case like that, but at least the results were similar.In an instant, Choi Hyun-Woo's body was destroyed, and branches of the World Tree pierced through his body.
This wasn't all I was aiming for.If I had to describe the ability of the World Tree to take root in my body in one word, it would be absorption.
And it was no exception for the branches of the World Tree rooted in Choi Hyun Woo's body.It immediately devoured all the mana that was in his body, quickly severing the connection with Han Soo-Young, causing him to just drop in a stiff posture.
It was a terrible appearance, so I looked away and muttered to myself.
"One for now."
I immediately ran to assist Henir's shadow.
Henir's shadow has the same physical abilities as me in the setting, but it has a property that halves physical attacks, and it has a body that is sturdier than pretty much any armor.In other words, it simply means that he is stronger than me in terms of hand-to-hand combat.
And so my undead was not too different from me, even if the details were different.As soon as I joined in, he also became like Choi Hyun-woo, with the branches of the World Tree taking root in his body and stopping his movements.
"Haa… . Haa... ."
As I fought one fierce battle after another and used my mana as if I was squeezing it out, my entire body seemed to be screaming.I stared at Han Soo-Young as she was, barely able to hold back the pain that seemed to tear my internal organs.She still hadn't shown any action.
"Have you given up?"
"No."
I asked, hoping inwardly, but she gave a small shake of her head.
"I was blocking some uninvited guests."
And.
"...I found a face I missed along the way, so I was just feeling sentimental."
At her words, I could tell that Choi Hyun-Woo had arrived.However, Han Soo-Young was looking at me as if she liked it.
"You're strong. It's a little difficult to say, but the Ji Hyuk of my world was only as strong as you when he was about to die."
"… It's kind of embarrassing when you say it like that."
"But I mean it."
She said so and shook her head slightly.
"But it's still far from enough. Yes, it is only comparable to an active-duty hero."
"…… ."
She whispered quietly.
"My intention of stopping you hasn't changed yet."
"How are you going to stop me?"
I replied that way, having confirmed that the roots of the World Tree had taken root thin and wide around us.
Necromancers are called one-man armies, and they are extremely specialized in attrition and prolonged warfare, but the combat power of the main body is not that great.In fact, when all the undead she was controlling were out of combat, her strength was reduced by almost half.
"You raised the undead you had saved to block them, didn't you? And you won't be able to conjure up the spell and raise the corpses as I've already taken control of the land around here."
"…… ."
"Of course, if you want, you can immediately summon the undead. But before that, me and Henir's shadow will reach you first. … Necromancers have particularly low combat abilities, so if you stick to them, you won't be overpowered."
When I said it with such bluffing, she looked somewhat nostalgic.
"You're right."
"Then… ."
"But Ji-Hyuk, there are a few things you've overlooked."
Han Soo-young said that and gestured slowly.But nothing happened.It was when I was about to think that.
In front of my eyes, Henir's shadow was crushed in an instant without even resisting.
* * *
"How dare you trivial creature."
There is no reason I can't harm you because you are not Ji-Hyuk.Han Soo-Young muttered quietly.
It was only then that Yoo Ji-Hyuk was able to notice that the shadow clone had been reverse-summoned with a bizarre sound one beat later.
"… What."
Yoo Ji-Hyuk looked at Henir's shadow seeping under his feet as if he was dumbfounded.Henir's shadow that has been reverse summoned cannot be used for a while.However, it was the first time he had seen him being reverse-summoned in this way, so he seemed even more shocked by the fact.
Seeing that, Han Soo-young thought for a moment that she was too harsh.But she soon hardened her heart and muttered blankly, as if she was telling a story that had nothing to do with her.
"I'm not bragging, but there was no one in my world who could beat me."
"…… ."
Yoo Ji-Hyuk stood still and began to listen to her story.No matter what moves he tried to make, he couldn't move half-heartedly after just seeing that.
"… I became the only highest-ranking wanted as an individual, and only the cities that were destroyed by me is over three digits. I'd even overthrown countries a few times. Associations collapsed and even the villains couldn't keep their heads up. Monsters? They also killed themselves by throwing themselves into the sea and cliffs to avoid me."
"…… ."
"This is the first fact that Jihyuk overlooked. It's true that Necromancers have weak combat abilities, but that doesn't work for me."
And as she gestured, the ground was carefully dug up, revealing the hidden branches of the World Tree.She looked at them with a look that she didn't like them, and covered them with soil again.
"Ji-Hyuk, I already knew that you were using this kind of method. Because I could see your mana recovering, albeit slowly, and I can still see the flow and reverberation of the mana in my eyes."
Her words gave him goosebumps.Although Yoo Ji-Hyuk didn't know much about magic and mana, he did at least know about the World Tree.
The mana of the World Tree was the mana of nature itself.As such, it absolutely could not be detected without some means.And that was true even for most of the Seven Evils.
She was now saying that she had done something that even the Seven Evils could not do.
"… I knew it, but let it go. Because, Ji-Hyuk, I didn't want to see you suffer more than necessary. And more than anything, the fact that you're trying to compete with me, a wizard, in controlling and dominating mana is just too unreasonable."
Even as she said that, she smiled as if she missed it.
"You wouldn't know, but in the past… ."
Han Soo-Young, who was saying that, immediately closed her mouth.
In the past, during a match at the academy, she had a confrontation with Yoo Ji-Hyuk, and she had been fooled by such bluffing as he had just done and lost absurdly.She can't tell how much she cried back then in anger.Han Soo-Young, who was trying to talk about it before she even knew it, suddenly realized.The obvious and brutal fact that Yoo Ji-Hyuk, who was living and breathing right in front of her, and Yoo Ji-Hyuk, who shared the memories with her, were different people.
The fact was so sad that she couldn't stand it.
The fact that they drank beer at the Academy in secret, just the two of them.The fact that she realized she was really weak to alcohol and was ashamed that she was drunk after only one shot.The fact that it was discovered and Yoo Ji-Hyuk took all the blame.The fact that he told her that he was not of this world, he had to return someday.The fact that she confessed while hugging him, saying it didn't matter.The fact that he hugged and comforted her when Nam Hyun-Hwa died and she was heartbroken.The fact that she cried and sobbed the world away in his arms.The fact that he and Choi Hyun-Woo had a bitter fight that would never happen again and had a hard time making up.The fact that she and Choi Hyun-Woo were surprised at how delicious his spicy fish stew was, when they went to the valley together to catch fish.The fact that she lay down with him and looked for constellations in the night sky.The fact that they were hit by a shower, when she went to the zoo with him.The fact that he was so tone-deaf that she laughed her head off when they went to a karaoke bar to avoid the shower.The fact that they both accidentally fell asleep at a sauna and didn't make it back in time.The fact that he secretly gave her snacks during class.
Joining hands with him, walking with him, dreaming of a future like his, under the same sky as his.His favorite food, his favorite music, his favorite clothes, his favorite smell.His smell, his scent, his voice.Memories with him.She was now the only one who remembered everything.
The fact was so sad that she couldn't stand it.The tears that she had thought had already dried up began to well up again.
"Ah… ."
When she finally realized what happiness is, she saw the cold bodies of him and Choi Hyun-Woo.She lost her family and her lover in an instant, and as she was cleaning up, one book caught her eye.
Who can blame her for opening the forbidden book that contains the secret technique to bring the dead back to life?
Han Soo-Young smiled and closed her eyes.Wiping the tears running down her cheeks, she said quietly.
"...I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
She mumbled quietly, spitting out words that might be an apology to someone.And she thought again.
She thought she had to stop him somehow.It was enough that she was the only one to go through such an experience, and that she couldn't see Yoo Ji-Hyuk and Choi Hyun-Woo dying like that again.She thought to herself.
"Finally, the third."
She muttered quietly.And the space around her began to shake.
"The fact that you forgot that my specialty is space."
As she finished speaking, new undead appeared one after another.And Yoo Ji-Hyuk's face gradually become ghastly pale, noticing that they were all faces he knew.
Laura Hartmann, called the Paladin, took on the dragon alone for the sake of her comrades.Evangeline Lohengrin, called the Great Witch, and the youngest to occupy the rank.Ahn Joo-Hyuk, Lord of the Green Hub, who single-handedly saved the city.Reiko Fujiwara, known as the landlord of Japan.Li Wei, the hero and salvation of the nation and the incarnation of the female dragon.Finally, Lee Myung-Jun, who led the Thunder Lord's Hammer and was the envy of all heroes.
They were the guild masters of the six guilds and members of the ten strongest.Yoo Ji-Hyuk quietly grabbed his dagger again, thinking that he had to at least save Han Soo-Young and the others.
