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HELHEIM SCANS
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Chapter 35
I could have spoken cynically as usual, but this time, I didn’t.
* * *
The necromancers had hidden themselves in the seventh floor of the royal capital dungeon.
Currently, the dungeon was open up to the fifth floor, primarily because the difficulty level spiked significantly beyond that.
The most critical elements of this operation were stealth and speed.
The royal family divided the extermination force into two units.
The first unit, led by Duke Berli, was the annihilation squad.
The second unit was the pursuit squad, tasked with rescuing the kidnapped noble of House Vider and gathering intelligence.
Naturally, I was assigned to the annihilation squad.
What surprised me was the decision of Marquis Vider.
He must have known that the annihilation squad would earn greater merit, yet he volunteered for the pursuit squad.
A man cold-blooded enough to discard his own child for the sake of his house.
And yet, now that his son was in danger, had his paternal instincts finally surfaced?
I didn’t know, and frankly, I didn’t care.
Since the battle would take place within the capital dungeon, deploying a large force wasn’t feasible.
Thus, the royal family assembled an elite team to launch a swift and decisive attack.
While the annihilation squad pushed forward, the pursuit squad would take an alternate route to rescue the hostage.
Duke Berli’s presence made sense under such circumstances.
The issue was where the enemy’s trail had disappeared.
Their tracks extended all the way down to the seventh floor.
The capital dungeon was generally open up to the fifth floor, but the sixth floor and beyond were considered highly dangerous.
The sixth floor was vastly larger, more treacherous in terrain, and infested with dangerous monsters.
For that reason, the dungeon authorities prohibited entry beyond the fifth floor.
Yet, the necromancers had not only ventured past the sixth floor into the seventh, but they also seemed to have knowledge of a safe zone within the otherwise perilous depths.
“So, you’re saying there are traitors within the royal family aiding them?”
“That is my suspicion.”
As I moved alongside Duke Berli and reached the seventh floor, I immediately sensed the stark difference in atmosphere.
The stench of death lingered in a way I hadn’t felt in the fifth floor.
The air was thick with residual mana.
If monsters lived here, their threat level would be unimaginably high.
Even my shadow wraith wolf, Muyeong, which lurked in the darkness, had begun growling in warning.
“Are you nervous?”
“No.”
“Good. I expect you have some hidden tricks up your sleeve. Most people, including the princess, underestimate you, but I think differently.”
After all, a mere second-circle mage should never have made it as far as the fifth floor.
“But you still don’t understand how dangerous this place is. If anything happens, stay put and hold your ground.”
That was the extent of the duke’s advice for navigating the lower dungeon floors.
There was little I could contribute during our descent to the seventh floor.
Perhaps due to their efforts to flee, the necromancers hadn’t set many traps along the way.
Still, if that were the only issue, the princess wouldn’t have personally sought me out and offered a mine in exchange for my help.
“This is it.”
“Ah.”
As soon as we stepped into the seventh floor, an enormous dungeon unfolded before us.
And at its entrance, a formidable magical barrier had been set in place.
Waiting for us was Farell Berli, who had arrived earlier as part of a reconnaissance team, separate from the pursuit and annihilation squads.
“Brother! You’re finally here!”
Farell, one of the few specialists dispatched ahead to scout the paths, greeted me with a bright smile.
“Do you see these entrances?”
He gestured around us.
The seventh floor resembled a giant maze, with multiple paths leading inward.
However, only the entrance where Farell stood bore traces of peculiar magic.
“This is the entrance to the safest route. But the necromancers have sealed it to prevent pursuit. The mages tried to dispel the barrier, but…”
“Tried, but?”
“No method has worked. If we attempt brute force, it could trigger a massive explosion.”
Given the previous curse incident, such a situation wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Were the royal necromancers lacking in skill?
That was debatable.
The enemy’s magic was simply more intricate.
That was why they needed someone like me to find an opening.
Even the three royal mages present seemed at a loss.
If I had received something, I should at least earn my keep.
I scattered my necromantic mana, injecting my power into the barrier’s magical framework.
As expected, the security was subpar.
The barrier was designed to detonate if broken with brute force or dispelled directly.
That made the solution simple.
In an instant, arrays of magical symbols, invisible to others, unfolded before my eyes.
And then—
Boom!!
I forcibly overrode the code and hacked into it.
Wait a moment… this is actually well-structured magic.
I paused and turned toward Duke Berli.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing like that. It’s just… I’ve seized control of the spell. Would it be alright if I modified it a bit?”
“What?”
He looked at me in disbelief.
The mages were just as dumbfounded.
“Are you saying…?”
“I can alter the spell to prevent the necromancers from escaping while allowing only us to pass. But it’ll take some time. What do you think?”
“If… If you can set a proper trap, then by all means.”
Even after witnessing it firsthand, the duke seemed incredulous but nodded in approval.
Now that I had permission, it was time to customize things to my liking.
This magic was now mine.
I could do whatever I pleased with it.
With a mere gesture, the spell began reshaping itself according to my will.
And as they watched, the expressions of the mages and necromancers shifted from confusion to sheer astonishment.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
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About a minute passed.
As the faint necromantic mana I had been scattering disappeared, they tilted their heads in confusion.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"It's finished."
"Huh? Just now, you said it would take a long time..."
"Yes, and it did. It took a whole minute."
Stealing magic for a full minute in the middle of a battlefield?
You'd have to have a death wish to do that.
In that time, launching an attack would be far more efficient.
If I had regained at least the power of a 6th-circle mage, this spell dismantling and modification wouldn't have even taken three seconds.
A heavy silence fell as countless gazes locked onto me.
Without a doubt, the most intense stares came from the mages.
"Lord Leon! Could you show us that one more time?"
"My goodness... You stole and modified such a complex spell in just a minute?"
"Hah... How is such computational interference even possible for a human brain?"
"May I ask what method you used? No, wait—that's not the issue. Would you be willing to visit my home for a more in-depth discussion on this spell...?"
Did these people forget that we were in the middle of a subjugation mission?
I was well aware that mages lost all sense of reason when it came to magic.
After all, I, too, had sometimes gotten carried away while fighting magical monsters, only to end up nearly dead.
But the problem wasn’t just the necromancers.
Both elemental mages and necromancers were still mages at heart, and it seemed they had plenty to say to me as well.
Among them, the one whose eyes shone the brightest was Farrell Berli, the son of Duke Berli.
Of course, no matter what plans he had in mind, his father, Duke Berli, would never simply let him act as he pleased.
"Leon, do you see any other spells?"
"I don't see any at the moment. We can advance, but be careful—there could still be traps. And if I'm right, they probably haven’t even realized that their spell has been stolen yet."
There was no precedent in necromantic magic for a situation like this, where the enemy would detect the theft immediately.
To even notice it, an additional formula would be required.
We held an overwhelming advantage in our ambush.
Duke Berli understood this perfectly, wasting no time as he raised his sword.
"They rely on undead as their frontline and use black magic for suppression. But do not worry—if we stick to our plan, they will pose no threat."
Schling! Clang!
He glanced over at the knights drawing their swords.
"Farrell Berli."
"Yes, Father."
"Move with Leon and follow at a steady pace. There may be more hidden trap spells, so be prepared for them."
Farrell nodded at his father’s command.
"Understood."
"We're moving in."
With his final words, the mages and knights, having tempered their enthusiasm, began their advance.
Now that it had come to this, I should probably try to claim some of the enemy’s undead for myself.
Naturally, there was a significant difference in quality between ordinary undead and those that had been maintained by necromancers.
I didn’t expect the enemy necromancers' undead to be in pristine condition, but that could be resolved through modification.
I sank into thought.
* * *
The safe route through the 7th level of the dungeon was even more expansive and intricate than the previous floors.
In other words, there were plenty of places to hide or rest.
As was common in dungeon cities, each floor had designated safe routes where no monsters would appear or enter.
Who had built these dungeons?
Where did these monsters even come from?
Countless scholars had studied the matter, but their conclusion was the same: the mystery could not be unraveled without delving into the dungeon’s deepest depths.
But honestly, the dungeon’s ecology wasn’t what mattered right now.
"W-What…?!"
Splat!
A necromancer scouting the area with a group of undead didn’t even have time to scream before his head was severed.
He had placed too much faith in the magic sealing off the entrance.
For his kind, this was a grave mistake.
Duke Berli’s strike force cut down any necromancer they found.
While one unit focused on rescuing Goldsun and tracking the enemy, the extermination unit massacred everything in its path, showcasing the full might of the royal knights and royal mages.
"Oh, this one's actually worth salvaging."
Though their physical maintenance was sloppy, there were occasional cases where the spirits bound to the undead were of decent quality.
Like a necromancer unboxing a collection of graveyard relics, I continued gathering undead.
As expected, these necromancers had built up their skills to some extent, but their security measures were pathetic.
Not that it would have mattered—my necromantic mana held a level of dominance that far surpassed a mere 5th-circle spellcaster, built upon years of mastery in the Hall of Necromancy.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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