The Boundless Necromancer

Chapter 49: Administrator(1)

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The starving flame demons.

Some say that they’re monsters who climbed their way up from hell…

And some say that this bulky little demon was created only to eat flesh.

Those people aren’t entirely wrong.

These little guys are primarily found in C-rank dungeons, but a hunter of equal rank would have trouble even surviving against them.

They’re a cause for a lot of PTSD in the hunter community.

Everyone who’s encountered one all says this: If you ever find yourself in a flame demon’s nest, don’t expect good things to happen.

Their shells are too tough for an average blade to slice through…

And the black flames surrounding them were a bad omen amongst hunters.

They’re fast up close, and breathe fire from afar.

That is the starving flame demon.

However…

Craaaaaaat…!

“K-kieeek!?”

Those monsters were being massacred by a single person.

You couldn’t even follow the path of the blade with the bare eye.

Tzzzzt…!

「 Activating Thunder Blade (C)’s effect ‘electrocute.’ 」 

「 The targeted enemy is electrified.
」 

The only thing you could see was a bright flash from the leftover courses and the delayed realization that they were already dead.

One, two, three…

「 You have absorbed the souls of the starving flame demons.
」

「 Proficiency increased by 9.6% 」 

Lee Hayeon was astonished to see three of the little devils go instantly.

“No way…”

This wasn’t a display that an amateur hunter could pull off.

As one of the elite support hunters of Korea, Lee Hayeon was certain.

‘This isn’t normal…’

The man in front of her was far beyond comprehension.

Like a monster slaughtering more monsters?

“They’re not bad.”

From the unobtrusive look on Han Sungyeun’s face, she could tell that he was also not in his right mind.

‘This is what a hard-mode challenger can do….’

Her expectations were beyond shattered as she saw his inhuman strength slice the monsters’ shells in two.

‘I knew I was right…’

It wasn’t a mistake to do everything in her power to get him the best contract that this guild had ever seen.

She would have been satisfied to even keep a friendly relationship with this monster of a man.

‘He’s going to grow stronger.
I have no doubt about it.’

He was someone who had decided to keep climbing the tower.

Someone like that would break through their limits to go even further beyond.

Lee Hayeon’s eyes sparkled as they stayed glued to every move that Han Sungyeun made.

It was the first time in a while that she felt her blood boiling.

Almost a nostalgic feeling of when she first started as a hunter.

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And the sight of Han Sungyeun tearing through everything in his path…

“Wow…”

It was enough to light a fire in her heart again.

*** 

Klaaat…!

“Phew…”

I breathed out a singular laugh as I killed my fifth flame demon.

「 You have absorbed the soul of the starving flame demon.
」

「 Proficiency increased by 3.2% 」 

Living up to their reputation, these little monsters gave a decent amount of proficiency.

‘They’re so much more efficient compared to the lizardmen.’

Considering that they increased my proficiency by 3.2%, they were probably going to give me a modest stat boost.

Their hard outer shell will be good nourishment for my tenacity stat.

‘It’s been a while since I had a worthwhile hunt like this.’

The sight of their corpses delighted my little heart and I opened my stat window.

Just to check up on my innate ability.

「 Innate ability – ‘Necromancy (D) 」 

「 Proficiency – 49.8% 」

‘It’s already pretty high…’

The tower was a good place to grow, but I shouldn’t have underestimated Earth so much.

Having access to an appropriate dungeon could be really helpful.

‘Are those all the starving flame demons in the area?’

It seemed that way.

I closed the window and walked over to Lee Hayeon.

“I think that’s it for this area.”

“…”

“Let’s loot the corpses and move on.”

“…”

But…

“Miss Lee Hayeon?”

She was out of it.

‘What is it? Is she surprised I killed them so quick?’

I mean, they weren’t called ‘little devils’ for no reason.

But rather than surprised, she looked more like her soul left her body.

I was wondering what else I should do to wake her when—

“Huh? Yeah… We should keep going.”

She finally snapped back to reality and answered my question.

Then she continued by taking out a small leather pouch.

「 Dimensional Pouch 」 

「 Grade: C- 」 

「 A synthetic pouch that is the amalgamation of modern mana-engineering.
」 

「 Can hold up to 500kg of material.
」 

「 Cannot hold anything that’s alive.
」 

“A dimensional pouch…”

Infamously hard to obtain.

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“The guild provided one.
This should be enough to collect the corpses.”

She passed the pouch to me after explaining.

I was going to leave the corpses after extracting the core but…

“Okay, let’s just collect the corpses whole.”

We could afford that luxury with the capacity of this pouch.

‘It’s not as useful as my inventory, but it’s still not bad.’

The inventory was a personal dimension that only I could access, but this was an item that anyone could.

“Alright, we got all the corpses, so let’s keep moving.”

I gripped the handle of my sword and lead the way.

‘I know it’s a hill area, but all dungeons have an end.’

Of course, the dungeon didn’t tell you where to go like the tower did but…

I could find something like that myself.

‘Is it that way?’

I used my mana circuit to detect the area with the densest mana and walked in that direction.

Mostly because boss rooms tended to be wherever the highest mana density area was.

And…

“Kieeeek…!”

They didn’t disappoint.

As soon as I got over the current hill, more starving flame demons came running at me.

Of course, I welcomed them with a warm smile.

***

Taaaang-! Zzzzrt-! Spaaat-!

「 Proficiency increased by 3.2% 」 

「 Proficiency increased… 」 

「 Proficien… 」 

And soon enough.

「 Reached the limit for the number of souls you can possess.
」 

「 Number of souls in possession – 30/30 」

‘I was planning to wait until dungeon clear before I absorbed them but…’

‘Oh well.’

「 Permanently increasing your stats using the souls in possession.
」 

「 Strength increased by 4.
」

「 Agility increased by 3.
」

「 Stamina increased by 4.
」

「 Mana increased by 6.
」

「 Tenacity increased by 7.
」 

I absorbed all of the souls, but I didn’t get to absorb any of the skills this time.

The success rate should have been pretty high since I had a bunch of them, but it still failed.

‘Hmm, was I too greedy to expect two at once?’

It was a bit of a letdown, but the ship had already sailed.

Slightly disappointed, I started to move again.

“…?”

I turned my head to where the mana was most highly concentrated and saw a crimson portal.

It was a portal I had seen before.

‘The boss room?’

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I didn’t expect it to be this quick but…

“I think that’s the boss room, what do you want to do…?”

I didn’t even have to think about that.

“Let’s go in and clear the dungeon as planned.”

***

Once again, I collected all of the corpses and headed to the portal.

If this was a temporary gate, I should be clearing this as soon as possible.

Unlike a persistent gate, temporary gates could cause dungeon breaks if left alone for too long.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

No matter how important my growth was, I didn’t want to unintentionally cause a dungeon break.

Especially because it could cause harm to other people.

Voom…!

The entirety of the dungeon changed as soon as I entered the room.

Not only did the hills turn into a humid cave…

‘The mana…’

The mana was so dense that it felt like the surrounding mana could condensate into a sticky extract and drip down my body.

Anyway, it wasn’t a good feeling.

‘I don’t see the boss…’

Slightly unpleasant, but nothing I could do about it.

“I don’t see any enemies so be careful.”

“Ah, yes.
I will.”

I told Lee Hayeon to be cautious and got ready for battle.

It was then—

「 Activating skill ‘Mind’s Eye.’ 」 

“…?”

I had forgotten about this skill until now.

‘Isn’t this the skill I absorbed from the lizard king?’

It’s an active skill that only activates during battle…

I guess just getting ready for battle was enough to trigger it.

‘What a unique mechanism.’

As I admired the strange skill.

“…!?”

The mind’s eye skill alerted me to an unidentified projectile coming towards my head…

I took a step back and I couldn’t help but drop my jaw at what was on the ceiling.

KWAAAAANG—!

‘What the…!”

A humongous fireball appeared out of nowhere and created an impact as it hit the cave floor.

Because I dodged it, all I felt was a heatwave…

‘But if I got hit…?’

Chills crawled down my spine to think of what could have happened if I hadn’t dodged that.

Especially because I didn’t even have any souls left for protection.

“…”

“A-are you alright!?”

I heard Lee Hayeon’s concerned voice through the smoke, but I didn’t have the time to respond.

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“Kieeeek…?”

An azure starving flame demon was rummaging around the ceiling of the cave.

Two of its legs were connected to the ceiling and had almost no presence.

It had a very different look compared to the typical starving flame demon covered with black flames.

‘The boss monster…’

Hence, this monster was on an entirely different level from a normal starving flame demon.

“The m-monster… Ceiling…!?”

Lee Hayeon finally took notice and was visibly shaken up.

“This is an irregular boss…!”

“I know.”

A boss of this level wouldn’t appear in a C-rank dungeon.

Just knowing theories about dungeons were more than enough for me to realize that fact.

“Should I use a buff skill? We can always do a skill test again…!”

“…No, there’s no need for that.”

Yes, I would admit to being startled. 

But the only reason that was dangerous was that he sneaked up on me.

“I just need a minute.
Wait here.”

“…Excuse me? You’re planning to take that alo—”

I didn’t stay to listen to her finish her thought.

“Instant acceleration.”

[ Activating the skill ‘Instant Acceleration.’ 」 

“Triple laceration.” 

[ Activating the skill ‘Triple Laceration.’ 」 

I began pouring my mana into these skills using my new circuits.

The two skills were the most powerful skills in my arsenal.

With the addition of the mana circuits, most monsters wouldn’t last a hit against me.

But…

‘Wind’s blessing.’

「 Activating the skill ‘Wind’s Blessing.’ 」 

「 All speeds increased by 70%.
」 

「 Number of stacks – 7/7 」 

「 Due to reaching the maximum number of stacks, a cooldown has been placed on the skill ‘Wind’s Blessing.’ 」 

I didn’t skimp on my skills.

And when I propelled myself forward…

「 Due to Boots of Swiftness (C+)’s effect, your acceleration is momentarily increased.
」 

SLAAAAAAAASH—!

「 The dungeon boss ‘Blue Starving Flame Demon’ has died.
」 

「 The boss will not appear again.
」 

「 The dungeon will be expunged in 3 hours.
」 

The boss on the ceiling split in two and rained down its guts on me.

Plop…

“I told you.”

Covered in the raining intestines, I turned towards my observer.

“That it wouldn’t take long.”

 

——