The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 255

Just that was terrifying. Honestly, I couldn’t feel a difference between what Tinos did and this.

“Wait, if Tinos did it…”

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind, and I quickly looked up at Tinos’ face.

Tinos was… trying to suppress his anger.

I couldn’t help but ask him.

“Tinos, is it possible…?”

-…I hope not.

Tinos had a precedent of adapting the original elemental magic to use with the power of magic.

Honestly, that was something only a dragon or a mage of similar caliber could do.

This wasn’t just a matter of talent.

You need to know about the existing magic, require an enormous understanding of it, and know about the power that can be used as a new foundation. Moreover, one’s own level must be extremely high to even attempt to challenge it.

Even if you’re a genius, it’s not something that can be achieved in a short period of time.

Rather…

“…The Dragonewt tribe had a considerable number. Many branched out, but the number of the tribe’s foundation is also substantial, I’ve heard.”

Their foundation is the corpse of a dragon.

The corpse has a spirit.

If there’s a spirit that has endured until now…

“And if that spirit were to fall into their hands…”.

And if they could manipulate the dragon’s spirit using some means…

The dragon’s soul fragment within Artina’s Wind Dragon Fang.

It moves instinctively towards a single goal, having lost its reason.

The destruction of giants.

To achieve that, they created an ability that could rival the giants’ power and showed cooperation with Artina.

Although the ability was created before losing reason, it’s currently lost.

Through this, we can infer that dragons are not invincible and eternal.

In other words, if they could use the dragon’s spirit and its power in some way…

“It’s unbelievable that they achieved such rapid development in a short period of time…”

It’s also understandable that Lord’s memories were touched upon.

Even a small possibility is something I wouldn’t want to reveal.

Although it’s slightly different, I also obtained Tinos’ corpse and kept it hidden in the dimensional fragments, keeping it an absolute secret.

“That’s… too dangerous.”

As time passes, the power of the red ogres will grow exponentially.

The giants, a physically superior species, will obtain the power of the Dragonewts, who once rivalled them.

Moreover, they’ll develop at an incredible speed.

Although there’s a limit, it’s an enormous level.

“There’s no power to restrain them.”

There’s the Black Star, but they tried to form an alliance with them.

Given the Black Star’s characteristics, it’s more advantageous to form their territory and defend it, rather than attacking first. Even if they didn’t form an alliance, the possibility of them fighting is low unless the red ogres attack first.

That means time is on the red ogres’ side, and the continent will witness the birth of an enormous power without knowing anything.

Moreover, that’s not all. The more serious issue is that if magic develops, they might try to connect with the giants’ dimension.

If the giants learn about the current state of the continent… they’ll try to invade again using every means possible.

And if there are cooperating species on our side…

It sends shivers down my spine.

At this point, I’m grateful to the empire that made me approach the Black Star, which led me to the Great Forest.

Although I almost died, I feel indebted to the Black Star, which gave me the opportunity to reach the 8th circle.

If the empire hadn’t moved the Black Star, I wouldn’t have headed to the Great Forest, and this expedition would have been delayed.

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Then, the red ogres would have gained even more time, and I fear how much they would have developed. If I hadn’t reached the 8th circle and couldn’t defeat the red ogres’ main force, time would have been delayed, and I might not have known this fact.

It’s not just luck that brought me here.

Of course, it’s not just luck that got me this far, but I can’t say that luck had no influence at all.

If they didn’t have the skills, they wouldn’t have been able to catch it.

If they lacked the ability, they wouldn’t have even dared to attempt the expedition, and if they didn’t have the qualifications, they would have died on the spot, not even making it to the 8th Circle.

From the Empire’s or Black Star’s perspective, it was ridiculous.

They had borrowed someone else’s hand to seek their own interests, and in the end, I became the target, and ultimately reached the 8th Circle.

Black Star, especially their leader, had only done good deeds for others while trying to satisfy their own desires, and in a way, they had created an opportunity to cut off the threat to us before it grew stronger.

In this sense, it’s not a matter of luck or coincidence, but rather the result of excessive greed.

-…I hope the speculation is wrong, but the possibility is high.

If the speculation is true, they won’t die easily, Tinus said.

‘…It’s infuriating.’

If our kin, who had lost their lives to protect the continent, couldn’t even rest in peace, and were instead being used by the descendants of giants…

Tinus’s anger was understandable.

Of course, it wasn’t certain. We couldn’t know for sure if the Red Ogres had really used the dragon’s soul to develop magic.

It was also possible that they had developed magic in a way we couldn’t imagine.

However, based on the circumstances…the possibility that our speculation was correct was the highest.

‘Let’s go check.’

I immediately sent the undead to the Red Ogres’ headquarters.

The first to emerge were the Draugr created by the Red Ogres.

Although many rocks and magic spells poured out from within their stronghold, Tinus protected the vanguard.

The black barrier protected the Draugr, and the protected Draugr collided with the boundary.

The completion rate of the boundary was higher than expected.

However, we didn’t rush.

While pounding on the boundary, we also deployed some personnel around the stronghold to check if there were any who might secretly escape.

Although the boundary was highly complete, it couldn’t block attacks forever.

We sacrificed some Draugr, but eventually, the boundary collapsed, and we could see the inside.

Inside, large and small ogres were preparing for a desperate battle, and among them, a few peculiar individuals caught my attention.

‘…Are they mages?’

Ogres with strange tattoos all over their bodies.

They had wands in their hands, and gems were embedded in them.

It looked like a mixture of mages and shamans.

Magic attacks poured out from their hands, but it was meaningless.

The stronghold’s fences were destroyed, and the resisting Red Ogres were falling one by one.

As undead, there was no mercy.

It was also unnecessary from the start.

The Red Ogres didn’t beg for mercy from anyone.

Even the small, young ones charged at the undead with their eyes wide open.

There was a sense of madness in their behavior.

‘They’ve been manipulated.’

But that was all.

Although they had many more people than the Red Ogres’ main force, their quality was incomparable, and it was enough for the undead to clean up without anyone else needing to intervene.

The only exception was Tinus, who intervened midway and separately captured the mage-like individuals.

It seemed like they were trying to extract information, but honestly, considering the state of the ogres, it was likely to be useless.

The mages also didn’t seem to be in their right minds.

When the ogres were almost completely organized, my companions and I started searching for their hideout.

The important clues we found pointed to the place where the mages resided.

There, we saw the appearance of multiple artifacts and what seemed to be their research logs.

It wasn’t difficult to understand the contents.

They were written in the common language, after all.

Thinking about it, the red ogres had all used the common language.

The research logs didn’t contain anything remarkable.

They were about understanding the functions of the artifacts, and they were neatly organized.

‘Analysis complete… input into the converter…?’

That was what was written at the end of the log.

The converter.

‘Could it be that instead of a dragon, there was a special artifact like that?’

But my rational mind denied that possibility.

It was absurd to think that such a convenient artifact existed.

Who would create such an artifact, and for what purpose?

Even if a genius from the red ogre side appeared, creating such an artifact would be impossible.

The order didn’t make sense either. To become someone who could use magic to that extent, a system of magic was necessary first. Magic wasn’t something that could be created in a short period, and even if a genius appeared, they would need time to blaze their own trail and grow.

And if they could design and create such an artifact, they would just do it themselves.

With those thoughts, I searched for other research logs, and Artina entered the laboratory.

“I found the path to the underground.”

“…Underground?”

“Yes. It’s a huge laboratory and experiment facility.”

Artina hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“It’s said to be… the worst inside.”

The worst.

It was unnecessary to consider what these people would do.

In fact, the mages had a history of conducting unethical research, just like the dark mages.

Mages were a collection of curious and self-centered individuals.

There were those who were more serious than the dark mages, and the mages weren’t innocent either.

The fact that the Magic Tower received live monsters as specimens for experiments was also for research purposes.

I immediately followed Artina to the underground.

The interior was enormous, and it was clear that it was a terrible space, just as expected.

I thought it would be better to build it outside, but soon I understood why they had built this research facility underground, close to their headquarters.

Inside, there were numerous artifacts stored.

The sheer quantity was staggering, far beyond what I had expected.

Most of them seemed to be ancient relics.

I wondered why they weren’t used and checked the research logs, and it seemed that the power of the giants was conflicting with these artifacts.

They were attempting to resolve this by changing the basis of their power from mana to the giants’ power.

It seemed like they were trying to find a solution.

However, unlike the magic side, this side seemed to be progressing slowly.

When I was busy checking various things, Bert, the dark elf elder who had arrived here first, came to find me.

He told me with a sorrowful expression that he had found something called the ‘Converter’.

I immediately followed him and saw the ‘Converter’ with my own eyes.

Unfortunately, Tinos’s speculation was correct.

There was a dragon’s head gazing blankly into space.

◈ Red Ogre

“It seems they restored the head and put a soul in it. The body… seems to be forcibly created.”

Because it was forcibly restored, the scales were incomplete, and the shape was also distorted.

Moreover, the body seemed to be a mixture of other demonic creatures.

“There’s also a ‘Usage Method’… it seems.”

By connecting an artifact to the center of the head and continuously infusing the giant’s power for several days, the giant’s power-based magic stored in the artifact would be demonstrated one by one.

They seemed to have increased their magic by repeating the demonstration process and studying the results.

Of course, it didn’t succeed at once, and they had to try multiple times.

The time it took depended on the difficulty of the magic, and they seemed to have researched the artifact to learn as much as possible about the demonstrated magic.

“It seems they sacrificed the ogres to find a method suitable for themselves.”

“…….”

I let out a sigh.

“I wonder who came up with this ridiculous method and applied it.”

“I looked into it, but it seems to be a coincidence.”

“…A coincidence?”

“Yes. Originally, they intended to use the ogres to cultivate their own magic, but… that Converter… seems to have been prepared just to humiliate the ogres.”

They discovered the well-preserved dragon’s body, found the dragon’s soul remaining inside, and restored it as much as possible using medicine. Then, they infused the giant’s power, which was antagonistic to the dragon, and humiliated the dragon in front of the ogres, who worshipped it.

The dragon’s soul, which had been worn out over a long period, was completely destroyed when the giant’s power was infused, and during the process, they embedded an artifact they couldn’t use as a decoration on its head, which led to the manifestation of magic based on the giant’s power.

The ogres who witnessed the scene for the first time went crazy, it seems.

“This is the worst.”

I had no idea how to convey this to Tinos.

“Let’s continue the internal search for now.”

“Alright.”