The blood trickled down the lips of Orc Battle Commander Krabe, who was furiously angry at me for disturbing the corpse of his minion.
“Ugh?!”
He hurriedly pulled out a potion filled with green liquid from his space and drank it.
I felt tense, wondering if it was some kind of ‘Evolved Creature’ item, but seeing no special physical reaction from him, it seemed it wasn’t.
“Is it an antidote? He must be really concerned about the poison. After all, no one would want to feel like their blood is dripping away even when they’re just standing still.”
He was still within the area of a wide-range debuff.
No matter how he dispelled the poison, the poison level would only rise again.
The important point here was that he used an item.
Just like my [Blink] has a usage limit, it was clear that he also had limitations on removing status ailments.
If there was an opportunity to attack, I should keep in mind to quickly switch to ‘Rune of Poison’ and strike.
“Haah… Then let’s move on to the next step. It’s my first time using this skill, so I wonder how it will turn out.”
If I thought it was too risky to go alone, I might as well call upon those creatures that would distract his attention.
[Drink of the Dead]
It was the ability I obtained from defeating Necrosquall.
And now, I activated it for the first time.
“Ugh… It hurts… My head…!”
The trait [Pain Resistance] didn’t activate, and the mental agony was tremendous.
The intense pain spun the sky around me for an instant.
“Hah- Hah-”
Fortunately, the skill successfully activated, connecting invisible strings to the hundreds of orc corpses scattered around.
Though it was rare for a body to remain intact, they still responded to my call.
Clatter- Clatter-
Stir- Stir-
– Raising Orc High-Rank Fighters.
– Raising Orc Low-Rank Warriors.
The undead hungry for battle were rising!
However, I didn’t revive all the dead orcs.
Even raising just the orc fighters drained a huge chunk of my magic power, exceeding 1,000.
Stir-stir-
“Hmm?! What?!”
As a dead orc stood up in a contorted position, Krabe showed his first sign of panic.
[… Hyaah-]
The honorable dead comrades creaked as they rose up.
Their struggle to stand up, looking somehow uncomfortable, invoked fear.
The body tissues that had turned to ash scattered and were reformed into a spherical shape within their skulls as smoke swirled around.
Now, only the bones that sustained them and the rounded core remained.
[… Hyaaa.]
The orc skeleton emitted gray smoke and stood back up on the battlefield.
“But what about their weapons? Should I have them fight barehanded?”
Just as I was worrying about that, a chilling aura suddenly erupted uncontrollably from within me.
Szzz──!
“Whoa! What’s this?!”
A scythe shape was engraved on the chest of the Flame Armor. It was a shape I felt I had seen somewhere before.
– The artifact ‘Scythe of the Grim Reaper’ reacts to [Drink of the Dead].
“Ahh… I see… This is the artifact ‘Scythe of the Grim Reaper’ I stole from Jung Tae-hyung… Did it respond to the scent of death?”
– The raised undead are equipped with the ‘Scythe of the Grim Reaper’ as their basic weapon!
“Oooo…?! This is a new concept fusion, isn’t it?”
I had just been wondering what to have the orcs use for battle.
Swish-swash──
One by one, the scythes of the Grim Reaper manifested in the hands of the orc skeletons, and they looked pretty stylish for basic weapons.
“Hah… They look somewhat impressive?”
Hundreds of orc skeletons stood up, wielding scythes the size of themselves.
Krabe, who could only watch with wide eyes, and the ten thousand orcs were enveloped in silence.
No matter how many battles they had fought to get here, I was certain the scene before them was something they had never witnessed before: a bizarre spectacle.
– 444 orc skeletons rise due to [Drink of the Dead].
The fully risen orc skeleton army turned and bowed their heads in unison towards me.
I looked at the orcs and activated [Fortress of Reincarnation].
[Fortress of Reincarnation]
– The magical barrier strengthens according to the number of beings raised with [Drink of the Dead].
A thick barrier wrapped around me, enough to fit two fists.
“This is… insane efficiency?”
It wasn’t something I could have formed with my magic power.
Of course, the barrier would weaken as the number of risen orc skeletons decreased, but at this moment, it felt incredibly reassuring.
“Ugh… You scoundrel!! Even my comrades who fell honorably…!!”
Just as Krabe’s eyes twitched in fury and he charged at me.
Grab-
“Ugh?!”
Krabe was caught off guard when an orc skeleton behind him snagged his ankle.
And then.
“Now’s the time! Everyone, rush in and take him down!”
In response to my command, the orc skeleton army charged at Krabe, emitting gray smoke.
Although they were wielding the double-handed scythes that they had never used in their lives, their movements were on par with when they were alive.
“The stat drop wasn’t as bad as I expected. Did it drop by about 30%? That’s still pretty usable.”
Sure, a 30% drop in stats is significant, but when facing a horde of undead who fear no death, that difference is something that can be compensated for.
Hundreds of orc skeletons surrounded Krabe and soon lunged at him from all sides.
No matter how strong Krabe was, in the face of his former subordinates attacking him with nothing but bones, his judgement couldn’t help but be delayed.
“Graaaaah!!”
But just a moment’s hesitation.
He spun around and unleashed the skill he had used on me earlier.
In an instant, dozens of orc skeletons exploded and scattered like dust.
“Once they’re revived and that core bursts, I can’t resurrect them again.”
It was such a pity that, unlike Yeon-hee, I couldn’t infinitely re-summon them.
But there were still over three hundred skeletons left.
They were once warriors in their prime, and they had unjustly lost their lives to a meteor in their past.
After taking Krabe’s attacks, they widened the distance while gradually closing in on him.
Some even threw themselves to block Krabe’s path, creating openings for their fellow skeletons to swing their scythes at least once more.
Sizzle- Sizzle-
“Oh… The attacks are getting through?”
Krabe already had his armor damaged, and it seemed he had used up quite a bit of magic, continuously receiving minor injuries from the orc skeletons’ attacks.
“Haha… They fight well even without me giving orders. [Drink of the Dead] truly… lives up to the ability I obtained from that formidable Necrosquall.”
Thriving on the thrill coursing through my body, I leapt into the air.
“Ran, where are you?”
The moment I spotted the spirit ‘Ran’ floating above Yeon-hee’s head in the distance, I yelled.
“Ran!! It’s that from before!!”
Whether or not my shout reached him, Ran immediately reacted.
(I’ve waited long enough. You skeleton guy!)
Having left Yeon-hee’s side, Ran flew straight to me.
It seemed Ran had been itching to help me.
– How did you lowly creatures end up as undead?!
While Krabe, consumed by rage, swung his axe and smashed through the skeletons, I concentrated all my remaining magic into [Flame Shot].
(You plan to win using only that ability? Is it possible to defeat that monster?)
Ran was questioning whether I could win with that.
If the need arose, I would use the acceleration ability that led to [Berserker Transformation] last time.
“This time, I can’t guarantee there will be the same luck as last time. If a skill like [Floating Crystal] activates, it’ll be a waste of ability.”
(That’s true. It’s a future possibility that you could reach, but it’s also a possibility you could never reach. It’s only natural to feel that way.)
As Ran nodded in agreement, blowing wind energy into the condensed flame shot.
Crackle──!!
Smaller and smaller.
The more I crammed it into a limited space, the stronger the explosive power of the flame shot became.
But the downside of this technique was that it took quite a bit of time.
“……?!! Hmph! Do you think I’d fall for that?!”
Like that damned orc glaring at me, he would soon realize my intention.
“I have no illusions about hitting him from here.”
With the flame shot activated, I dropped down to the ground.
Though my magic was completely depleted, the options on the magic circuit activated and it fully replenished my reserves.
[Stealth]
[Illusionary Tale]
“?!”
As I landed, I unleashed all the skills that could help me escape from his perception.
This was the first time I used stealth while facing him, so the effect should be undeniable.
Thanks to that, he lost track of my location for quite a while, but surprisingly, he immediately reacted and tried to widen the distance, clearly aware I was trying to sneak up from behind.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
‘Pulsating Sky Fortress!’
Boom boom boom boom boom!!
I activated the binding ability of the artifact I had taken from Teacher Cha, erecting eight pillars around him as he tried to flee.
At that moment, Krabe was caught and bound in the center of the pillars.
He tried to use a skill to dispel the bind and remove the status ailments.
– The trait [Herd Hunting] is activated.
At that moment, further status ailments were stacked on him due to the ability activated, complicating things for him.
[Herd Hunting]
– The probability of inducing status ailments [Fear][Despair][Confusion] greatly increases when cooperating with five or more beings of the same race.
The risen orc skeletons were judged as the same race as me, causing the area debuff to add multiple layers of effects on him.
“Yiiiik!! This can’t be happening-!!”
With an expression of disbelief, Krabe swung his axe wildly.
His aura was incredibly destructive, but the artifact imbued with the power of the thunder god ‘Shyninbane’ was holding up well against his resistance.
Ultimately, things didn’t go as planned for Orc Battle Commander Krabe.
Bound lifelessly at the center of the eight pillars, I saw a faint glimmer of unknown fear in his eyes.
But I couldn’t let my guard down.
The red tattoos spreading on his body were signaling an uncontrollable rampage that I couldn’t handle.
“That, that’s?! Blood Frenzy!”
I must not allow that to activate.
From my repeated experiences, there are few abilities that can raise his rank as distinctly as that skill.
“Jim!!”
[Crackling!!]
“Graaaah!! I’ll kill you!!”
With Jim’s provocation activated, I reinforced the binding and concentrated my magic, which had fully replenished into the flame shot, finalizing my sphere.
Krabe, soaked in all kinds of provocation and status ailments, was still making reckless attacks against my undead, swiftly diminishing their numbers. He truly was a mad monster.
I quickly poured all the remaining orc skeletons into the fray.
– Hyaaaaah!!
– Hya ha ha ha!!
“Ainz! Zweihander! Dry!!”
The traces that had been clinging to Zweihander fell from the sky, landing on him.
As Krabe swung his axe haphazardly, distracting him, Ainz drew his attention.
“You bony undead!!”
Taking advantage of the gap created by Krabe’s focus shifted to Ainz, Zweihander thrust his white spear.
Zweihander’s attack, boosted by the job change, was something I couldn’t overlook.
Whoosh──!
“Graaaah!!”
Krabe let out a despairing scream for the first time today.
Immediately, Dry followed suit, expertly slamming down onto Krabe’s vulnerable ankle.
Thud!
“Graaah!!”
Krabe stomped his feet in anger while swinging his axe.
It seemed like an ordinary counterattack, but—
“?!”
With that one swing, Krabe split Ainz and Zweihander in half. Their cores were intact, but they were severely injured.
“Damn it, just a bit more!!”
My comrades had barely bought me time.
I couldn’t miss this chance.
Goooowwwww────
“Ugh!! I can’t handle this…!”
The sphere of flame hanging from my fingers flickered with ferocity.
The [Flame Shot] contained magic power that had reached 10,000, compressed down to the size of a fingernail, yearning to be released into the world.
The fire attribute is known to be the most ferocious and lethal skill among all attributes.
But as the wind spirit ‘Ran’ infused it with energy, the aura of madness transformed into something more stable, creating an explosive synergy.
At that moment, a voice I had been eagerly waiting for echoed.
– …I will help.
“Goddess Irmana?!”
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