~~~
Rudy's greatsword trailed crimson flames as he bulldozed through the skeletons. Each swing of his blade sent ribcages flying.
"Die, you piece of shit!" he roared.
Goddamn, Rudy. Jin gritted his teeth, watching Rudy charge like a berserker. Can't blame him though—I want to rush in too, but...
Wait. Why the hell would he want to charge in?
Something's wrong. Very wrong.
Jin fell back into the breathing method of the Eternal Sovereign, essence circulating through his body in steady loops. The foreign urge to charge headfirst into certain death evaporated like morning mist.
Something's definitely fucking with my head. He kept his essence flowing, maintaining mental clarity. Later—right now, I've got a battle to keep us both alive.
The necromancer watched Rudy's approach with the kind of detached interest reserved for watching ants. He hadn't moved from his position. But Jin had seen exactly one moment when the ancient bastard lost his composure—when his life was actually threatened.
Wonder if I can use that against him. But first, how the hell did he teleport?
The necromancer raised one skeletal hand. Arcane symbols began glowing around fingers that looked like they'd snap in a strong breeze, but Jin could feel the power building behind them—raw, ancient, and hungry.
Oh shit. Rudy!
Jin clenched his fist, essence rushing through his veins as he snapped the words:
« "Essence, bind and shield—rise as a veil and guard this one from harm!" »
A faint shimmer enveloped Rudy just as he brought his greatsword down in an overhead slash. Red flames wreathed the blade as it met the barrier.
CRASH.
The necromancer laughed—not even looking at Rudy. His burning red eyes were trained on Jin, and he knew the necromancer had seen him cast that two-verse sorcery.
And like any capable fighter, the first enemy to remove is either the healer or the mage.
"Shit," Jin breathed. I won't be able to stay behind cover this time.
"Break, damn it!" Rudy roared, delivering another slash at the barrier. His flames burned brighter with frustration.
I should add more buffs to him—
Jin opened his mouth to cast another support sorcery—
Then, pressure slammed into him like being buried alive. His knees buckled, breath hitching as something invisible wrapped around his chest and squeezed. The air turned thick and oppressive, like trying to breathe through wet concrete.
What the fuck—
"How amusing!"
The voice boomed from above them now. Twenty feet away, sitting upon a throne constructed entirely from blackened human skulls, the necromancer regarded them with burning red eyes that held the patience of centuries.
"Two mortals... just mortals, and yet ye dared to think ye could harm me—Karlcamahac'Ohsa, the great dark mage!"
Jin's vision blurred as raw presence crashed over him in waves, each pulse threatening to crush what was left of his sanity. He pushed back with his essence, breathing into the Eternal Sovereign pattern until the effects subsided just enough for him to stumble backward.
Aura. The realization hit him like a freight train. Holy shit, this is actual Aura.
"Rudy!" Jin's eyes snapped to his friend's location. The purple-eyed berserker was also fighting against the oppressive force, but his Asura path was built for exactly this kind of situation. The hasty shield Jin had given him was still in his hand, and more importantly, Rudy was still standing.
Think, think. Jin's analytical mind cut through the terror. The necromancer is strong, but his aura mastery isn't despair-level. I can still think, still move...
He should be Mid Order III, thank god he's not peak Order III, or else...
He'd read so much about aura in the novels—just how crucial the manifestation of aura was for progression. He'd memorized every detail, but experiencing it was like the difference between reading about drowning and having his lungs fill with water.
His aura feels like death.
Jin's mind flashed back to the recent incident where he'd almost gotten himself killed by calling a high-ranked hunter a cultist. Joe's aura had felt like standing before a gentle giant. Jin was sure that Joe person was much, much stronger than the necromancer.
But even as terror clawed at his thoughts, his initiation had changed his mind the most. Mental manipulation was one thing he wasn't too worried about anymore, at least from the necromancer.
It's scary as hell, but it's not as overwhelming as Joe's was. This thing is dangerous, but it's not...
"Rudy, get back!" Jin tore open another Holy Divine Blessing scroll, the parchment crumbling in his fingers. That brings my remaining scrolls to four.
Shit… Rudy—
The swarm of skeletons surged toward Rudy like a tide of rattling death. Jin's eyes widened as he realized his friend was about to be overwhelmed.
« "Essence, weave and bind—form the lash that pulls all back to me!" »
A whip of glowing energy lashed outward, crackling through the air like liquid lightning. It coiled around Rudy's chest, biting tight before yanking him back in a brutal tug. Rudy flew through the air, hit the stone floor hard beside Jin, and let out a wheezing curse.
"Fuck! A little warning next time, dude!"
"You are alive, aren't you?" Jin muttered, sweat beading on his forehead. That was close. Way too close.
The swarm didn't pause. Dozens of skeletons clattered forward, rusty weapons raised, their hollow sockets burning with malevolent red fury. The necromancer's aura pressed down like a physical weight, clawing at Jin's mind with invisible talons.
I'll be stretching my reserves thin... fortunately, I've got Essence's Edge.
Jin pressed the dagger's crystal core to his chest, feeling it thrum as he drew on its reserves. His breath hissed through his teeth as the words spilled out:
« "Essence, steady my mind—rise as a veil and shroud me and my companion from corruption!" »
A shimmer passed through his vision, and the suffocating dread dulled to a background hum. His clarity returned just in time—the skeletons were ten feet away and closing fast.
Jin's palm hit the stone floor, essence sparking through his veins like electricity.
« "Essence, recoil—burst forth and cast all away from me!" »
A shockwave detonated outward in a violent ripple. Bones and rusted steel went flying as the first wave of undead were hurled back into the darkness, their forms shattering against the obsidian pillars.
"Breathe... fuck." Jin fell back into his breathing technique, eyes fixed on the necromancer. Fortunately, the bastard hasn't cast any reanimation or summoning magic yet. He's still underestimating us.
If that's how he wants to play it, then that's what I'll do. Underplay and show I'm struggling.
"Rudy, you good?"
"My head feels like I rode a fucking roller coaster backwards." Rudy groaned, but crimson flames still wreathed his blade. "But I'll manage—thanks for the save, bro."
Jin nodded, forcing his trembling legs to hold his weight. Casting that many sorceries in such a short timeframe had strained his reserves more than he'd like to admit.
We're Order 0 facing Mid Order III. Technically, any attacks we make should bounce off—But...
His eyes narrowed as he felt those unique conditions he'd been accumulating since his transmigration. I can bridge that gap. Not completely, but enough to matter.
Aura—if I remember right—is the physical manifestation of a person's achievements, power, and dominance condensed into raw oppression. Anyone who hasn't manifested their own aura gets severe rank suppression. The bigger the gap, the worse it gets.
But he's only mid Order III. He can't keep that aura manifested around him all the time. He'll slip, and I'll be waiting.
"Most amusing indeed."
The necromancer's voice dripped with cruel satisfaction, each word carefully enunciated in that ancient, formal cadence.
"Ye little weak mortals doth think ye possess what is required to stand against one such as I? Pray tell—do ye comprehend the weight of decades, nay, centuries spent mastering the arts of death and dominion?"
The aura flared again, pressing down with renewed force.
Damn it. Breathe. He should be reaching his limit any moment now.
"Ready to rush in?" Jin called, Iron Howl steady in his grip despite the oppressive atmosphere.
"Hell yeah!" Rudy's response was immediate, flames blazing brighter around his greatsword. "Please tell me you don't want me to do another bait and switch maneuver, like with the golem?"
"Not now." Jin managed a grin despite their desperate situation. "You're a big boy, Rudy—you don't need me holding your hand. Now go break those damn skeletons."
"Don't stray too far, Jin!"
"Wouldn't dream of it! Just don't do anything stupidly heroic!"
"No promises!"
"How delightfully spirited." The necromancer gestured with one skeletal finger, and the chamber floor began to crack and heave. "Very well, then. Dance for mine entertainment whilst I prepare thy graves most carefully."
Crack. Crack. CRACK.
Bone fragments scattered like shrapnel as dozens of skeletal warriors hauled themselves up from the ossuary carpet. Empty sockets blazed with that same malevolent red light, rusted weapons rising in perfect synchronization. They moved with fluid coordination—a hive mind orchestrated by centuries of malevolent experience.
"Consider this a gift unto ye, young ones." The necromancer settled back into his throne, raising both hands as arcane symbols began to glow around his fingers. "Few mortals doth receive the honor of facing mine personal guard ere their souls are harvested for the great work."
Jin's astral sight blazed to life, Reader's Dominion mapping every detail of the chamber. Twenty-seven skeletal warriors arranged in overlapping kill zones. Structural weak points in the obsidian pillars. Escape routes—all blocked. And beneath it all, the necromancer's consciousness splitting between maintaining his crushing presence and orchestrating his undead army.
He's showing off. Wants to watch us struggle before the end. Sadistic fuck.
The first wave charged with inhuman coordination—a symphony of death orchestrated by an ancient conductor. Rusted blades caught the hellish red light, creating a forest of gleaming edges that promised swift dismemberment.
Jin's perception expanded through Reader's Dominion, the Eternal Sovereign path excelling in awareness and control.
"Run, little mice," the necromancer called with obvious amusement. "Let me witness how long ye can evade the inevitable."
"Go fuck yourself!" Rudy bellowed, his greatsword meeting the first skeleton's blade in an explosion of sparks and bone fragments. Even suppressed by aura, his enhanced strength shattered the ancient warrior's weapon and sent its skull spinning across the chamber like a grotesque bowling ball.
But something was wrong.
The impact that should've turned the skeleton's entire torso into powder only cracked a few ribs. Rudy's follow-up swing, which should've cleaved through five enemies, barely managed to destroy two. His flames were dimmer, his movements slightly sluggish.
The debuff is worse than I calculated. Jin's analytical mind catalogued the suppression as his own shots punched through skeletal frames with significantly reduced effect. Probably a fifty to sixty percent reduction in our damage output. Shit!
"Jin!" Rudy's voice carried strain as he parried a rusty axe with his crossguard. "These fuckers are way tougher than before!"
"It's not them—it's us!" Jin ducked under a sword thrust, putting three rounds center-mass into his attacker's spine. The skeleton staggered but didn't drop. "The aura's suppressing our damage! We're operating at maybe thirty percent effectiveness!"
"Well, that's just fucking perfect!" Rudy's flames roared higher as frustration fueled his Asura path. "
The skeletons pressed closer, their coordination improving as the necromancer focused more attention on their movements. What had started as manageable was becoming a war of attrition they couldn't win. For every skeleton they destroyed, two more pulled themselves up from the endless bone carpet.
"Most impressive endurance for mere children," the necromancer observed conversationally, like a professor commenting on an interesting experiment. "Verily, most mortals would have perished within moments of facing mine presence. Yet ye continue to struggle most valiantly. How... educational."
"Ye shall make fine warriors for mine eternal collection."
The temperature in the chamber dropped ten degrees in an instant. Frost began forming on the obsidian pillars as the necromancer's true attention turned toward them for the first time. His burning red eyes held the kind of patient malice that came from having eternity to perfect one's craft.
"But mine interest doth wane with this display. Allow me to introduce something more... stimulating."
He rose from his throne, dark robes billowing around his skeletal frame like liquid shadow. When he raised his right hand, the chamber filled with the sound of grinding stone and rattling bones as something massive began assembling itself at the far end of the ossuary.
Jin's blood turned to ice water as he watched the abomination take shape.
Oh shit. Oh fuck. Oh no.
An amalgamation of at least a dozen corpses fused together into something that defied anatomy, sanity, and several laws of physics. Multiple arms ending in clawed hands jutted out at impossible angles. Legs bent backward and sideways, yet somehow supported the grotesque mass. Three skulls were arranged in a triangle formation at the top—each one burning with the same malevolent intelligence as their master.
The thing stood nearly eight feet tall and moved with predatory grace that made Jin's enhanced senses scream run, run, RUN.
"Behold mine Elite Guard," the necromancer said with obvious satisfaction, his formal speech dripping with ancient pride. "Crafted from the remains of knights who once thought themselves thy betters. Observe ye well how swiftly confidence doth become carrion."
The amalgamation let out a sound that was part howl, part death rattle, and part something that had no name in any living language. It began moving toward them with surprising speed, multiple limbs working in perfect coordination despite their chaotic arrangement.
"Dude," Rudy breathed, his purple eyes wide as he watched the horror approach. "That one looks tough."
Jin and Rudy found themselves pressed back-to-back as skeletal warriors closed in from all sides. The Elite Guard approached, and the necromancer watched from his throne with the satisfied expression of a serial killer admiring his life's work.
The Elite Guard reached exactly ten meters from their position, multiple clawed hands raised to strike, when Jin realized that this entire encounter had been orchestrated.
They were exactly where the necromancer wanted them.
~~~