The Necromancer Who Was Despised - The Necromancer Who Was Despised chapter 53

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Even then, acid kept pouring from behind, and some of it even poured on their own colleagues.

However, whether they were resistant to it or not, the giant ants didn’t react much.

Without that, there was less room to move because of their dead bodies.

With the addition of long-range attacks to this situation, it was difficult for Athena to hold on.

In fact, what she had done up until now could be considered quite good.

Perhaps any low-level mercenary would have failed to control their stamina and collapsed, or their mental state would have crumbled, and they would have run away a long time ago.

I definitely felt that Athena had grown a lot.

‘It’s still far to the entrance.’

The safest place was toward the food storage.

‘It’s relatively spacious inside.’

It would be a dead end, but it would either be their death or ours anyway.

I began to prepare my magic once more.

‘One isn’t enough.’

The magic that would currently be the most effective was Dark Ball.

It could kill more than ten giant ants in one blow and create a momentary gap with it.

However, one magic attack wasn’t enough to give the vanguard sufficient leeway.

‘Then… .’

Should I use it more than twice?

No, there was a better way than that.

My mana was tight, but it wasn’t impossible.

The circle was rotating rapidly.

I pulled out a considerable amount of mana and transferred it to my staff.

The Dragon Heart on the head of my staff ate my mana and began to vibrate, emitting a dark light.

The amplified mana spread through the air, and soon arranged itself according to my will and formed one magic first.

Kwaang!

Thanks to the extra mana, a Dark Ball with slightly more destructive power than before was fired.

It exploded in the middle of the giant ants, creating quite a large space, and immediately after, I arranged the remaining mana and formed two magics.

A few of the dead giant ants stood up in grotesque figures, and through regeneration magic, they restored their ruined flesh.

I squeezed out my mana and spread it through the air once more, and soon, two more magics were activated.

Unlike before, the level had increased, so I could turn two bodies into zombies with one Animate Dead, and thanks to the power of my staff, the number of zombies that rose at once with Animate Dead became three.

To that, I used Animate Dead twice, so the total number of undead ants that rose was six.

With regeneration magic, I regenerated some of their flesh, so I had almost no mana left.

“Fall back for now. “Get into the food storage.”

I gave instructions while holding my throbbing head.

Following my command, Kyla and Athena began to retreat immediately, and the skeletons that had been holding back the manufactured undead ants for a little longer also began to fall back.

Specter seemed a little regretful, but as I retreated, it immediately began to follow me.

Originally, I would have said that turning a giant ent into an undead was inefficient, but the situation had changed.

Thanks to the narrowed passage, we were able to completely block the entrance with undead ants, and we needed time for the party, especially Athena, to recover their stamina.

On top of that, after seeing that my brethren were immune to the acid solution, it was perfect for stalling for time.

Thanks to the undead ants completely sealing off the entrance, we were able to safely escape into the food storage.

“… “Whew, those zombie ants, are they better than I thought?”

“No, far from it. I need to get stronger for them to be useful. That was a temporary measure. I ran out of magic because of that. “I need time to recover.”

From the moment I started running away, I had been drawing magic from the pendant and gradually filling the vessel, but the pace wasn’t that fast.

Of course. The efficiency was bound to drop as I moved, and originally, I couldn’t fill up all of my mana in such a short time.

Even so, I was showing this much recovery speed. Originally, it was common for magicians to be unable to do anything if they used up all their mana in battle.

That’s why basic knowledge for combat magicians was mana distribution, and it was basic among basics to leave 20% of mana in reserve for any situation.

However, this time, I didn’t even leave that 20% and poured out all my mana.

That was how much I trusted the two of them, and at the same time, it was because I trusted my recovery ability.

“If you give me about 10 minutes, I can support you with one Dark Ball.”

“… That’ll take a long time.”

“It’s incredibly fast.”

“… Really?”

Athena made a surprised expression at Kyla’s words.

As a knight, Kyla had some experience, so she knew quite a bit about magicians.

“Even so, my offense is weaker than before. The food storage is spacious, so we can probably finish things there.”

At that moment, the signals coming from the undead ants began to disappear one by one.

“Ugh, did they already collapse?”

As expected, they’re weak without support.

I thought that a necromancer of that class wouldn’t be able to do anything.

I chose it because I had confidence in my future.

There was a reason why even among black magicians, there were few who focused on necromancy.

‘Even so, they bought us some time.’

In the meantime, Athena’s breathing became even, and we were able to escape to a space that was advantageous for us.

“Their numbers seem to have decreased a lot. “Can I go a little wild?”

Certainly, compared to Athena, Kyla seemed to be holding back a lot in order to maintain the front lines.

“Should I just stand in the front?”

Anyway, I didn’t have much magic left, and I had brought my sword as a secondary weapon.

Therefore, it was possible for me to stand in the front lines.

If I stood in the front lines, there would be no back row to protect, so it could be said that Kyla’s leash would be loosened.

“There’s no need for that. Aren’t you trying to establish your position as a magician, both internally and externally?”

“That’s true.”

In reality, now, I’m more helpful to the team as a magician.

Kyla’s level had definitely increased, and Athena was doing enough for one person.

With the skeletons as well, the front lines were sufficient. Therefore, now was the time for a proper back row.

I may not have been satisfied with myself, but it wasn’t to the extent that I couldn’t act as a wizard.

“I won’t let their lines collapse. And I don’t plan on giving it my all. There could be more of those bastards aside from the ones we’ve taken care of.”

There probably were. But there was a high chance that they wouldn’t come out.

‘The queen and her guards.’

They would be in the deepest part of the anthill.

They probably wouldn’t come out until we barged in.

“But the more I fight, the more responsive my mana heart is.”

If that was the case, then I definitely had to cooperate with her.

‘This is unexpected.’

I had only thought of helping her to the extent that her territory wouldn’t collapse, but I might be able to get unexpected results.

I immediately gave her my permission.

There was no need for thanks.

She was my person, and if she got stronger, it would help me that much more.

And so, we met the bastards once again.

“… “What the hell?”

I could see Kayla going wild as if everything up until now had been child’s play.

I barely needed to support her at this point.

Thanks to Kayla’s performance, the burden on Athena had also been greatly reduced, so she could fight much more freely.

I would have liked it if she had fought like that from the beginning, but since she had gotten the hang of it through continuous fighting, I couldn’t say that what I had done had been completely useless.

‘She’s managing her stamina… .’

I realized anew how amazing the mana heart was.

She kicked, stomped, broke, and destroyed.

Her movements were twice as fast as I had seen before, and the way she controlled herself and swept across the battlefield without batting an eye made it clear why knights were considered tactical weapons on the battlefield.

Of course, it would be difficult for ordinary knights to display such prowess.

In particular, the instantaneous movement she displayed using the excellent right foot that I had fixed for her was so fast that even I often lost sight of Kayla for a moment.

I took in the sight of Kayla as much as I could.

At my current level, I couldn’t properly support Kayla.

But it would be different in the future.

The stronger I got, the stronger I got, and I didn’t plan on falling behind Kayla forever.

Even if that form had been created with my support, I would one day become stronger than Kayla.

‘That 20% chance of winning has been taken away from me.’

Now, if we fought, I would definitely lose.

In a matter of hours, she had shown tremendous growth, as if she had gained enlightenment.

“Master!”

The giant ents must have thought that this couldn’t go on, and their attacks began to focus on Kayla.

In particular, the acid was poured on Kayla like crazy, and it was enough to make even Athena gasp.

No matter how resistant she was to acid, that amount would have been a threat.

But Kayla was calm.

She changed direction at once and began to pour mana into the shield in her hand.

Soon, an aura was added to her shield.

Thud!

I branded my shield against the torrential acid.

My mana-enhanced strength, as well as the aura-imbued shield, repelled the incoming acid in one swift motion.

Screech.

Only the exoskeletons were resistant to the acid. The corpses of the giant ents, their insides exposed, began to dissolve in the acid.

Kayla briefly glanced at the ones who had shot the acid, then immediately began to deal with the ones near her.

It seemed that, just as she had said, she had no intention of disrupting the battle lines.

I checked my slightly recovered mana.

‘I should be able to do this now.’

After confirming the location of the soldier ants that had shot the acid, I calculated that I could reach them.

They were unable to fire continuously, so they remained rooted in place, trembling.

‘Are they gathering the acid?’

I needed to reduce their numbers before that could happen.

I transferred my mana to my staff once more, amplified it, and arranged it before immediately uttering the incantation.

A black sphere formed and shot out in a straight line at high speed.

The magic struck the soldier ants precisely and immediately caused a large explosion.

Boom!

When the dust settled, only the charred remains of the slain ants were visible.

‘Tsk. Not all of them?’

Still, I had reduced their numbers by more than half.

They had been clustered together near the passageway, so the damage they had taken was significant.

With the ranged support gone, Kayla faced no resistance, and the food storage became a scene of carnage with the corpses of giant ents strewn about.

Giggle…

Crunch.

Kayla crushed the last one beneath her foot, obliterating it completely.

Thanks to her efforts, Athena, who had finished the battle with ease, muttered,

“They never run away, do they?”

“That’s just the kind of creatures they are.”

“But Master, how did you suddenly become so strong? Is it because of that mana heart?”

“That’s a big part of it. And… this helped too.”

Kayla pointed to her right foot in response to Athena’s question.

“I’ve come to realize, after using it, that it has many useful features. The strength, in particular, is no joke. It’s difficult to control, but the instantaneous speed is incomparable to my left foot.”

“Even though you appear human, your right ankle was transplanted from the body of a lycanthrope. It’s because the combination failed that it turned out this way, but it also means that it wasn’t an ordinary one when it was alive.”

Furthermore, the fact that she could control this difficult-to-control power was due to Kayla’s own abilities.

The fact that it had fused well was thanks to the reconstruction of her body.

“By the way, it seems like this second wave is over… What should we do? Should we go outside to rest and then come back?”

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“How is your stamina holding up?”

“I’m still fine. Thanks to the mana heart, my physical abilities have definitely been amplified, so I’m not having any difficulties. I haven’t even used half of my mana.”

When I looked at Athena, she shrugged and said,

“I’m not the one who did anything. I’m much better than before.”

“In that case, instead of going all the way up, let’s just recover our mana here and then move on. It’ll take a long time to leave this place as it is.”

Most of the giant ent corpses that had been smashed and scattered like this were going to be used as food.

However, if they were left in a torn and broken state for a long time, we wouldn’t be able to use any of the things we had hunted as food.

If our condition had really been bad, we would have prioritized safety, but after seeing Kayla’s skills just now, it didn’t seem like it would be dangerous.

‘Even if there are more reinforcements, we can fight once more, and if it really doesn’t work out, we can just run away then.’