Chapter 9
20th Team
• Team Leader: Park Ki-hyuk
• Team Members: Sheikh Merhem, Han Jun-woo
That’s it.
Just three members.
Truly.
The Academy was in an uproar.
How could this be allowed? Could a team with only three members even be called a team?
This was a direct challenge to the Academy’s educational philosophy, which emphasized cooperation and teamwork. Many of the faculty members were against this situation.
“Three members! Where in the world is there a team with only three members?”
“This is all because Park Ki-hyuk, who doesn’t know his place, insisted on taking the exam! This is nothing but the team leader’s arrogance and overstepping his authority!”
“What is the philosophy of our Korean Academy? Isn’t it cooperation, collaboration, and organized hunting? This is beyond right or wrong; it’s something we simply cannot accept.”
However, there were those among the faculty who disagreed.
“Is there really a reason for this to be controversial? Whether it’s three members or two, it’s within the team leader’s discretion. As long as they take responsibility for their choice, I don’t see an issue.”
“Exactly. And if we look back, there have been similar cases before. Park Soo-hyuk’s team is a prime example.”
“There have been cases where teams of five, six, or eight were formed under the belief in elite small teams. While most of these teams didn’t make it past the midterm exam and were disbanded, who knows? Park Ki-hyuk might successfully lead his team just like his older brother did.”
The responsibility given to a team lies solely with the team leader.
The Korean Academy values proactive growth and individual creativity just as much as cooperation, and excessive interference could hinder this.
At first, Merhem overwhelmingly supported the former view.
A team with only three members? What kind of joke is this?
This is madness! No matter how much Yggdrasil recommended Park Ki-hyuk, this is too much! It’s really too much!
“Just watch. I’ll quit this nonsense today!”
…was what Merhem vowed as she left her house.
Thirty minutes ago, when she entered the gate that Park Ki-hyuk had arranged, she still had not changed her mind.
Fifteen minutes ago, when Park Ki-hyuk was slaughtering several gnolls, she was ready to gracefully say, “This is as far as I go,” and walk out.
But then, they stood up, and the situation changed.
In her field of vision appeared skeletal remains, fragile bones that looked like they would break if you touched them. These skeletal soldiers were hunting down the gnoll army… no, hunting isn’t even the right word—they were massacring them.
Um… Uh… So…
Though she hated to admit it…
“I think it’s… possible.”
Kiieeek!!
The gnoll’s loud scream pierced through my ears.
For the sake of my ears, I should quiet them down.
Snap.
I twist the neck of the gnoll. Leaving the fallen gnoll behind, I rise to my feet as dozens of skeleton soldiers rush past me, stabbing their swords into the gnoll troops.
Skeletons.
The starting point and foundation of necromancy.
Yet, it’s a magic often overlooked. Considered a stepping stone before learning more advanced summoning magic, it’s a magic with an unfortunate reputation.
But do you know?
The basic magic that many just pass through was what brought me to the position of Demon King.
Crunch!
A gnoll’s axe smashes through a skeleton, shattering it into pieces. The bones scatter, seemingly turning into dust, but—
Not at all.
The scattered bone dust reassembles out of the gnoll’s blind spot, stabbing a sword into the neck of the gnoll that broke it.
Kiieeek!!
Nearby, another skeleton is engaged in a one-on-one duel with a gnoll.
If people here saw this situation, they would be as shocked as Merhem.
A skeleton that’s not just mindlessly charging forward? My skeletons are crouching like knights preparing for a duel, calculating the distance between themselves and the enemy.
They shorten and lengthen their strides as if ready to strike, and when the gnoll can’t bear the tension any longer and rushes forward—
Slash!
The skeleton backsteps and decapitates the gnoll.
Shortly after, I hear a voice behind me.
”…That’s impossible. Is that really a skeleton?!”
“……!!”
Merhem was staring in horror as if she had seen a ghost, and Han Jun-woo, though silent, looked like his jaw was about to hit the ground.
I guess it’s only natural to be surprised.
To adapt to this world, I watched a lot of videos. With just one click, you can view videos from all over the world.
Eventually, popular videos featuring superhumans would pop up.
With hundreds of millions of views, the popularity of superhumans here rivals that of celebrities. By the way, these videos give a glimpse into the status of superhumans in this world.
In any case, I stumbled upon a video titled “Necromancer”.
In it, a necromancer was summoning skeletons and ghouls to fight against enemies… I couldn’t believe my eyes.
The skeletons were utterly incompetent!
They weren’t even trained, let alone acquired. The necromancer wasn’t even commanding them.
As a former Demon King, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
How can those things be called skeletons? They’re just walking corpses!
But after a few days of research, I was shocked.
In this world, on Earth, there was a shocking ignorance about summoned creatures.
They were almost neglected.
As a result, summoned creatures are considered weak and clumsy, leading to necromancy becoming a marginalized practice.
But my skeletons were different. Anyone could see that they were nimble and agile.
Although they’re not yet fully trained, so their defense and attack power haven’t surpassed the limits of skeletons, they’re fighting gnolls on equal terms by targeting weak points and using skilled combat techniques.
For these two, who have only seen incompetent skeletons, the mere fact that skeletons can fight like this must be a cultural shock.
It seems to have shocked them more than the fact that I can use mana. Especially Merhem, who seems to have lost the strength in her legs and is just sitting on the ground, watching the skeletons fight.
Though it wasn’t my intention to surprise them, I can’t help but enjoy it.
“Should I ramp it up a bit?”
Licking my lips, I summon my right arm.
Black smoke rises along my wrist. The moist, sticky smoke gradually takes shape.
Soon, what appears is—
My loyal right arm, Baphomet.
“Open your eyes.”
Baphomet responds to my command and opens his eyes.
At that moment—
The soldiers of death were rising from the ground.
The battlefield was cleared, and we had a short break.
After wiping off the blood, I pulled out a chocolate bar and took a bite, but I could feel their intense stares from earlier.
”…….”
“Stop staring at me.”
”……Ki-hyuk, you lied. You can use mana.”
“Did I ever say I couldn’t use mana?”
“But you have mana emptiness. Of course, I thought you couldn’t use it.”
“Of course this, of course that… Princess, there’s no such thing as of course in the world of magic.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said. Come, sit in front of me.”
This is perfect timing. Since the two of them have completely opposite personalities, prioritization is necessary, and now that our princess is actively engaging, the order has been set.
“What do you think a mage is?”
“A mage? Someone who uses magic?”
“Then does that mean anyone who can use magic is a mage?”
“Isn’t that the case?”
“No, it’s not. A mage is someone who seeks truth on the path of magic.”
Truth exists everywhere—in the flowing wind, in the pounding waterfalls, in the beating heart. A true mage must seek out and ponder this truth through the path of magic.
“Mana emptiness. A body that cannot accept mana. But is this really possible? Think about it. There’s mana in every world we live in, but can it be that only I don’t have it?”
“…….”
Of course, it’s possible if you’re a Giant, but since Merhem doesn’t know that, my existence itself will serve as a great example for her.
Han Jun-woo also quietly sits beside us. His ambition is genuine, and he’s probably pretending not to be interested but is listening closely to see if he can learn anything.
“Let’s look at skeletons. The skeletons you’ve seen were slow, clumsy, and nothing more than sandbags that could only charge forward. But what about the skeletons you saw today, Merhem?”
“They were fast. Like predators.”
“Han Jun-woo, what about you?”
“They showed an understanding of combat.”
“So, completely different, right?”
Both of them nod in agreement.
“Look, there’s nothing of course about anything. What seems obvious is only because it’s taken for granted. That’s why we start with questions. Always ask questions. Where does the power we use come from? What exactly is mana? What is this gate?”
“Who do we ask those questions to?”
At Han Jun-woo’s question, I smile softly.
“That’s another question you should ask. The answer is already within you.”
Step 1: Break down preconceptions.
This is the first lesson I’m going to teach them.
‘That being said…’
Not only should I be teaching them, but I also need to start my work.
It was much worse than I expected.
My gaze was fixed on the skeletons.
As promised, after the gate, I began full-scale work.
There are three steps to enhancing skeletons.
The first is Training.
This involves reinforcing the skeleton’s framework, increasing its basic specs such as attack and defense.
Next is Acquisition.
This is the process of inputting various combat techniques, like swordsmanship or spear techniques, into the skeleton, allowing it to maximize its stats enhanced through training.
Finally, Command.
While the first two steps increase the specs of individual skeletons, command is the process of utilizing a group or an army of skeletons as if they were your limbs.
Among the three, command is the most challenging task.
Handling one or two skeletons is easy. A hundred is manageable. But what about thousands, tens of thousands?
It becomes a situation that the caster cannot handle. I describe this as the rank being overwhelmed. The rank of the soul cannot contain the magic and is instead consumed by it.
Then?
Snap, everything collapses.
The reason necromancers are so obsessed with Death Knights is because of this. If a Death Knight, which can command itself, is present, there’s no need to be burdened with the tricky task of commanding.
Thus, skeletons are enhanced through training, acquisition, and command.
The basic production I’m working on now is creating the framework for training.
Snap!
I yank out the shinbone of a lying skeleton and examine it. Knock, knock. I tap the bone with my finger and sniff it before concluding.
“Human bone.”
It’s a human bone.
It’s a completely basic skeleton.
There’s nothing more to see. I toss the bone fragment aside.
Instead, I reach into the subspace and pull out a bone.
It was a gnoll’s shinbone.
“Despite being a lower-level monster, gnolls have sturdy lower bodies.”
I inserted the gnoll’s bone into the skeleton.
After replacing all the lower limbs with gnoll bones, I moved up to the upper body. This time, I took out an orc bone. It’s not perfect, but since orcs are the best among the demi-human monsters I have, I went ahead with the task.
Snap, crack.
It looks simple, like putting together a puzzle, but it’s actually a profound process. I’m grafting a monster’s bone structure onto a human skeleton, which requires an understanding of each species.
The number of ribs, the length of the arms, various joints, and most importantly, the spine.
Missing parts are attached, and excessive parts are trimmed to create a perfect skeleton.
With that, the first step is done.
Now, on to the second step. I draw a dagger from the subspace.
A dagger crafted from pure magic stone. Honestly, when it comes to this kind of technical detail, this world has better craftsmanship than the Empire.
Using the dagger, I etched a magic circle into the bones of the completed skeleton.
Scritch, scratch.
Dots, lines, circles, and vertices are drawn.
The result is Reinforcement and Elasticity.
I’d love to proceed with nerve work as well, but that’s too much for now. It’s best to finish cleanly at this stage.
With the magic circle completed, the second step is also done.
The third step is Equipment!
There’s a saying that a master doesn’t choose their tools, but in my experience, that’s nonsense. The more skilled someone is, the more they rely on their equipment.
So I’ve prepared! A set of equipment, sponsored by my mother!
“Wow, look at this brilliant shine.”
An axe and shield crafted from the bones of a cyclops, boasting the ultimate durability.
This should last well into the mid-game. Mother, once again, thank you.
After equipping the skeleton with the gear, the third step is done.
Now, for the final fourth step.
This is the core of the process—Soul Imprinting.
Shing!
I raised the dagger and cut my palm.
The dripping blood fell onto the skeleton. As the drops of blood seeped into the grooves of the magic circle, time passed.
Then, a strange red pattern appeared on the skeleton that was lying down.
“Huuh.”
Now, this is the moment that calls for mana.
“Baphomet, come out.”
My right arm, Baphomet, appeared, lifting its head from the void.
“Consume.”
The black smoke enveloped the lying skeleton, swallowing it without a trace.
With that, all the work is done.
Shall I check it out?
“My servant, your master commands you.”
Awaken.
In an instant, a black mist unfurled like a veil.
And within the veil, the skeletons began to emerge.
The blood-red magic circle glowed like a tattoo on their bones.
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