"Come out and play."
Everything began with those words.
Whoooosh-!!
A ripple incomparably greater than that of the magic energy wave from the High Orc Shaman spread out everywhere. That wasn"t the only change to take place, however.
Along with him unshackling his magic power, the shadow beneath Jin-Woo"s feet spread out, too. And it covered the entirety of the chamber"s surface at a frightening pace, as if someone had poured a bucket of pitch-black ink onto the floor.
"Heok?!"
"W-what"s this??"
The Hunters of Sohn Ki-Hoon"s raid team saw the "shadow" spread beneath their feet and freaked out. How should they even go about describing this situation? Even the most experienced, grizzled Hunters among the group hadn"t heard of anything like this, never mind seeing one.
Tremble...
An unknown fear crept up over them.
Sohn Ki-Hoon, lying on the ground, powerlessly began trembling violently while staring up at Jin-Woo.
"What.... Just what are you planning to do?"
As if to answer his silent question – when the spreading shadow completely covered the floor of the boss room....
Shururuk...
The surface of the shadow wavered, and soldiers wearing jet-black armour rose up one by one.
[You have activated "Skill: Sovereign"s Territory".]
[All Stats of the Shadow Soldiers fighting over the Summoner"s shadow will rise up by 50%.]
A thin smile spread on Jin-Woo"s lips.
"Good."
This was the new Cla.s.s-specific Skill he learnt when he broke past level 70 back in the Demon"s Castle.
He sensed the fighting spirit of his enhanced soldiers soaring higher. Quite obviously, a satisfied grin formed on his face. 50 summoned Shadow Soldiers stood around Jin-Woo in a circle as if to protect him.
"Ku-kururuk??"
"Kuruk!!"
The High Orc Warriors, famed for their bravery, began retreating one step at a time after getting their wits scared off by the dangerous pressure emitted by Jin-Woo and his soldiers.
"O-Orcs are retreating?!"
"Just what is the meaning of this...."
Even though they were trembling like a leaf from this unbelievable situation, the Hunters also began clutching onto a slender thread of renewed hope now.
"D-did you feel that?"
"Yeah."
"Can... can that even make any sense?"
The mage-type Hunters were sensitive towards the magic energy, to begin with. And they couldn"t control their furiously quickening heartbeat no matter what. Because, an insane amount of magic energy was gus.h.i.+ng out from the man who subbed in for their luggage carrier. Someone whom they thought of as a simple rank E, no less.
"No, hang on. Is this even magic energy?"
"To think, this magical energy is even more ominous than what the High Orc Shaman is emitting...!!"
The sheer pressure from the magic energy thickly filling up the boss room made it difficult to even breathe properly. The fact that this incredible power didn"t belong to an enemy relieved them to no end.
On the other hand, indescribably heavy and taut tension was flowing among the ranks of High Orcs.
With the appearance of the Shadow Soldiers, the difference of 1 to 150 suddenly got reduced to 50 to 150.
More importantly, though, those 50 were no ordinary 50 at all. No, that was the power that already transcended common sense, the one that couldn"t be quantified with mere numbers!
As if to prove that reality, Jin-Woo was the very first one to dash forward.
The Shaman hurriedly shouted out, then.
"What are you doing!! Kill that human right now!!"
With their backs pushed forward by the voice carrying a thick amount of the Shaman"s magical energy, the High Orc warriors all roared out and raised their weapons.
"Kuwaaaaarrr!!"
Step, step, step – slice!!
The skill, "Sovereign"s Territory" was designed solely for his Shadow Soldiers. However, even without a Status boosting buff, Jin-Woo"s displayed strength was already out of this world.
"Kuwaaahk!!"
"Kuaahh, kuaaah!!"
High Orcs screamed out. Limbs, bits of body parts sliced off by Jin-Woo"s two daggers, and the ensuing trails of blood scattered in all directions. He was so fast that even the elite Hunters could only catch the glimpses of his afterimage.
"That...."
"Right. That"s like seeing our Vice Chairman."
Cha Hae-In"s nickname was the "Dancer".
Normally, she remained a calm, composed figure, but when she jumped into a battle, she swiftly cut down monsters as if she was performing a fast-tempo dance routine. Hence, that nickname was given to her.
The woman in question forbade the use of that nickname because of how embarra.s.sing it sounded, so it wasn"t widely known, but some people still resorted to calling her that every now and then.
And now, their supposed porter was displaying a movement that equalled Cha Hae-In – no, even exceeding her speed.
If Cha Hae-In danced, then Mister Porter was a typhoon. He had become the centre of the storm to obliterate the surrounding monsters.
Kuoooaaahhh!!
The Shadow Soldiers didn"t lose out, either; the former leader of the Ice Bears, Tank, took a step forward and that signalled the attack of the Shadow Soldiers.
Iron took to the front. Just as he had done previously, Iron yelled out at the top of his lungs before he could enter the fray properly.
Wuooaaaahhhh!!!
[Iron has used "Skill: Shout of Provocation".]
[The targets" resistance is too high and the intended effect didn"t activate.]
When his skill failed to work, Iron got angry and began roaring out like a beast. And then, he began destroying the hapless High Orcs with his ma.s.sive hammer.
Swooosh-!!
Kwajeeck!!
Crack!!
"Kuhhhaarck!!"
"Kiiehck!"
He was so destructive that one even felt a smidgeon of pity for the High Orcs.
On the other hand, Igrit was elegantly and efficiently cutting down the necks of his enemies in complete contrast to Iron"s brutality. High Orcs running into Igrit didn"t even have a chance to scream before their breaths were cut short.
Slice!
When Igrit"s sword drew an arc in the air, another High Orc lost its head.
Regular Shadow Soldiers found it hard to fight against individual High Orcs, but they possessed stamina that didn"t know the meaning of fatigue, and the capability to regenerate almost endlessly.
And by buying time in this fas.h.i.+on, the sea of fire shooting out from the Magic Soldiers would rain down on top of the enemies with no exceptions.
Kaaabbboooom!!
Rumble-!!
The number of High Orcs decreased substantially in no time at all. The Shaman"s swine-like cheek meat quivered in rage.
"How an insolent human being dares to...!"
The boss"s glare was now firmly fixed on Jin-Woo. The boss quickly decided to kill that human first.
The black-armoured soldiers were summons called forth by that human! If that human died, then these soldiers would disappear, too.
In order to kill Jin-Woo, the Shaman began chanting a spell.
"..."
The lips of the Shaman quickly moved up and down.
The song of slowness, the song of blindness, the song of crippling fever, the song of intolerable pain, and the song of demonic slumber; five different types of hexes were completed in an instant and flew towards their intended victim.
"It"s done!"
The corners of the Shaman"s lips arched up.
The moment all those hexes were completed, Jin-Woo also sensed the unnatural movement of magic energy.
"….Magic, is it?"
Jin-Woo"s eyes met those of the Shaman"s.
The Orc Shaman smirked derisively.
"It"s already too late, human."
Hexes were different from normal magic spells and couldn"t be evaded. The moment it was cast, that would be the end.
With that human b*stard turning into a walking corpse wrecked by all sorts of afflictions, his fate was sealed – to be ripped to shreds by the High Orc Warriors and their weapons. That was the end truly befitting a measly human who didn"t know his place and dared to show off.
Unfortunately for the monster, however....
A familiar mechanical beep rang in Jin-Woo"s ears.
Tti-ring.
[Abnormal status has occurred.]
[All abnormal status will be removed with the effects of "Buff: Immunity".]
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring.
Mechanical beeps fired out one after the other.
["Hex: Slow" has been dispelled.]
["Hex: Blindness" has been dispelled.]
….
….....
All five hexes were dispelled even before they had the chance to activate.
Grin.
Jin-Woo smirked at the results. There was this "Buff" he received when he changed into the "Player".
[The blessings from the Grand Sorcerer, Kandiaru]
- Continuous effect "Good Health and Long Life": You"ll be immune to all types of diseases, poisonous substances, as well as all forms of status debuffs. During sleep, your recovery rate will increase exponentially.
Thanks to that, he didn"t have to worry about status-altering magic, such as hexes.
"W-what?!"
The Shaman shuddered in shock. Fitting for a boss of the rank A dungeon, the High Orc Shaman had immediately realised that its curses were rendered ineffective by an even greater power than it.
"But, those were hexes I cast!"
This made no sense!
In order to dispel hexes, one required the purification magic, or the blessings of a being possessing greater power than that of the hex itself.
"There is an even more excellent Shaman than this great me among humans?"
Even before the monster could think about it some more, the Shaman cried out from the pain shooting up from the back of its foot.
"Kuuuwaaaahk!!"
When it looked down, it found a dagger deeply lodged in its foot.
"Keuh...."
It was Jin-Woo"s "Knight Killer".
The Shaman raised its head and its bloodshot glare landed on Jin-Woo.
"How dare a mere human.....!"
Jin-Woo casually cut apart a High Orc trying to pounce on him, and silently mouthed some words to the Orc Shaman.
- Quietly wait for your turn.
....Don"t do anything useless, in other words.
Immediately, the Shaman"s face reddened up like a beautifully ripe persimmon.
"How dare a measly human!!"
"….So, it still has some mental capacity left to get angry, huh?"
Jin-Woo"s expression turned icy in the blink of an eye.
In all honesty, he could"ve eliminated the Shaman right at the beginning of the battle if he wanted to. However, he chose not to.
Because, he wanted to instil the sense of fear into the heart of that Shaman, the way it managed to do to the Hunters present.
However, it seemed not quite enough to make that arrogant monster taste the true meaning of fear. The b*stard"s eyes were still "alive".
In that case....
"Let me show you an interesting spectacle, then."
From now on, he"d show the true sphere of influence of a necromancer.
In the eyes of this Shadow Sovereign, his surroundings now resembled a location of celebration, filled with all sorts of delicacies. From the corpses of the High Orcs sprawled on the ground, black smokes eerily rose up as if they were waiting for Jin-Woo"s call.
So, Jin-Woo called out to them.
"Rise up."
[Shadow Extraction has commenced.]
Accompanying the System"s message alerting him to the activation of his skill, horrifying screams that resembled death throes resounded out from somewhere unknown.
Wuuuaaaaahhhh----
The Shaman"s eyes widened in shock.
"W-what is....?!"
The Shaman didn"t get to finish its sentence. Even before it could, black hands began rising up from the shadows beneath the corpses of the High Orcs, that was why.
[Shadow Extraction is a success.]
Jin-Woo began smiling deeply while gazing contently at the newbies joining his Shadow army.
"My warriors have become undead...!!"
The Shaman began shuddering uncontrollably. About 50 warriors had lost their lives so far. And about the same number had changed into those black-armoured soldiers.
"Which means, those soldiers that b*stard had summoned are...?!"
The Shaman finally realised that the unidentifiable human was not wielding regular summons at all. And at the same time, it also realised how disadvantageous they were against the enemy"s powers.
The fight between 50 and 150 had morphed to 100 versus 100.
High Orc Warriors would bravely jump into a fight against enemies stronger than themselves without fear, but they rapidly lost all their fighting spirit the moment they saw their former comrades being "revived" as Shadow Soldiers.
"Ku.... Kururuk."
"Kuruk."
"Kuwak."
High Orcs, renowned for never backing down from a chance to shed some blood, were now openly retreating out of terror.
The fact that they wouldn"t be able to ascend to the warrior"s heaven after their death and instead become the puppets of the enemy was the worst possible nightmare for these High Orcs.
For sure, the impact of him showing off the Shadow Extraction skill was quite huge.
"It worked against the warriors, so what about the Shaman, then?"
Jin-Woo scanned the complexion of the Shaman next.
"Hoh."
Jin-Woo"s expression brightened.
Finally, there were signs of fear in that b*stard"s eyes.
While shaking like a leaf, the Shaman recalled the existence that could revive the dead into "shadows". There could not possibly be two people possessing the exact same power. So, that human had to be "him".
"If that person is him, then..... Then, why are we here....?!"
However, the moment the Shaman thought about "itself" and "we", the inside of its brain blanked out and the relevant memories contained within were wiped out in an instant. The only emotion remaining there was fear.
Not knowing what happened, Jin-Woo formed a satisfied expression.
"That"s right. Stay exactly like that."
His plan of making the Shaman shudder in fear until the end was a resounding success. He turned his head while smiling like that, and then, spotted a certain familiar female standing by the entrance of the boss room.
Jin-Woo tilted his head.
"Who was that?"
She seemed a bit too "distant" to be totally familiar to him, however.
That was why he needed a bit of a moment to recall what her name was.
And she was none other than the rank S Hunter currently affiliated to the Hunters Guild, Cha Hae-In.
"But, what is that woman doing here?"
Jin-Woo might have been somewhat surprised by her presence here, but then, Cha Hae-In"s own shock was far greater than his. Her wide-open eyes stared at Jin-Woo and his Shadow Soldiers.
< chapter="" 90=""> Fin.