There were many necromancers superior to Mortarion.
Yet the title of the necromancer of the century was given to Mortarion.
The reason was simple.
The infinite undead legion that made a necromancer a formidable existence was useless before Mortarion.
Swoosh.
Jinhyuk, extending his hand, looked down at the undead swarming to his feet.
A sense of ease and superiority seeped into his body.
He wondered if Mortarion had felt the same when facing a necromancer and their undead legion.
He infused mana into the Deathmandate.
Then, he flicked his finger.
*Ttak.*
A sound that spread quietly through the rough roars.
[The unique skill 'Absolute Command' of the Ring of Authority, Deathmandate, is activated!]
A black band originating from the ring spread beyond the uninhabited island to the nearby transition layers.
*Thud.*
The roars ceased.
The air, heated by tens of thousands of undead, also settled.
More precisely, it went out.
At the same time, the gazes of the undead fixed on a single point.
Jinhyuk hadn't said anything.
No sound came from the ring.
Yet, the undead legion stared intently at Jinhyuk.
"...?"
Nekiel's face contorted.
What was happening?
The legion, which seemed ready to tear him apart moments ago, had all stopped simultaneously.
*Kuuuung!*
He burst out his energy again.
"Kill him."
The legion remained silent, and veins bulged on Nekiel's face.
"Kill him now!!!"
A voice filled with rage echoed across the quiet uninhabited island.
But nothing changed.
The legion didn't even stir, still only looking up at Jinhyuk.
As if their master was Jinhyuk, not Nekiel.
*Eudeudeudeuk!!!!*
Nekiel's eyes turned black.
He was flustered.
Because it was something he had never experienced before.
That legion is mine.
A legion raised using my authority, consuming most of the power of the layers I had transitioned.
Yet, disobedience was impossible.
"Defying the words of a go...?!"
Nekiel stopped speaking.
The legion began to move.
As if by agreement, they simultaneously raised their weapons.
But why?
They reversed their grips.
Nekiel's eyes widened.
They weren't trying to attack the enemy before them.
They were trying to die. By their own hands.
*Kwajik!!*
Nekiel's prediction was correct.
Tens of thousands of undead simultaneously drove their weapons into their own necks.
*Kwaaaaaa!!*
The death energy that seeped out and soared into the sky.
Nekiel urgently reached out to grab the departing legion.
But just like before, the legion didn't obey.
They chose.
Forced annihilation.
Jinhyuk, standing on the rock, formed a faint smile.
Nekiel's legion turned to ash and scattered.
Having lost tens of thousands of troops in an instant, Nekiel was completely dumbfounded.
*Ding!*
[The unique skill 'Absolute Command' of the Transcendent Ring, Deathmandate, has been activated!]
[A powerful penalty is inflicted upon the user!]
[The status ailment 'Corrosion of Annihilation' seeps in!]
[The unique trait 'All Status Ailment Resistance SSS+' activates! Immune to the status ailment 'Corrosion of Annihilation'!]
'Excellent performance.'
While he was polishing the Deathmandate with a satisfied expression.
Karen, who was behind him, pressed her forehead with a sigh-laden expression.
What on earth had she just witnessed?
Even having seen it directly, it felt completely unreal.
It would be more reasonable to think she had been caught in Eungangseok's illusion magic.
"Captain. What did we just see?"
"Are you saying tens of thousands just... disappeared?"
She let out a small sigh at her team members' questions.
If possible, she wanted to ask them.
If she wasn't seeing things or dreaming.
What kind of action could produce such a sight?
"Captain."
Drake, staggering to his feet, wore a strange smile.
"If I may make a somewhat presumptuous suggestion, let's just stay quiet until we return home. That thing is definitely one of two things: a god or a demon. Let's at least fight humans. No matter how much I love fighting, I refuse to fight something like that."
Karen's eyes widened.
Drake, who had a strong pride in his abilities and had clashed with the team several times.
For that Drake to say such a thing, what kind of gap was he feeling?
Nearby, Eungangseok ran a hand through his hair.
Gangseok had shown unconditional trust in the Runner, Yoo Jinhyuk.
But even Gangseok hadn't imagined such an absurd thing would happen.
Gangseok, observing Karen and the team members' expressions, twitched the corner of his mouth.
'Damn cool. No wonder the Player Hunter Bureau is so smitten.'
He realized it once again.
Why Jin Yunho and Lee Changgi, known as the real powers of the Player Hunter Bureau, jumped at the mere mention of Yoo Jinhyuk.
*Gooooo...!!*
Perhaps because all the buried entities had disappeared.
The cleared transition layers began to dissipate.
"Ah..."
Nekiel stared at the scene with a hollow expression.
"It's... collapsing again."
How should he put it? It felt like having a terrible nightmare.
The most horrific nightmare in all the eons of his existence.
It had to be.
It had only been a day... no, less than half a day since the sanctuary he created in the Tower of Despair was destroyed.
And now, the new sanctuary he had summoned, sacrificing much over a long time, was destroyed again.
By the same brat, in the same absurd way.
*Ttuduk. Ttuduk.*
Jinhyuk, loosening his body, jumped down from the rock.
Then, he leisurely walked toward Nekiel.
As expected.
As the transitioned layers disappeared, the power Nekiel held melted away significantly.
"Amateur here, amateur there. You call yourself a god, but you're pretty vague. At least Azriel had some light. So, what's left now?"
"Foolish wretch. Nothing has changed."
Nekiel's body began to transform.
Bone wings sprouted from his shoulders, eerie swords from his arms, and sharp talons from his legs.
They were absurdly large compared to his body.
Aren't they heavy?
"Light doesn't work on you. So, I'll tear you apart myself."
"Oh, close combat."
A stillness flowed between Jinhyuk and Nekiel.
*Peoong!!*
Nekiel made the first move.
Kicking off the ground, raising a spray of water.
Closing the distance in an instant, he raised the swords and talons on his limbs.
"Ssss."
Jinhyuk, steadying his breath, lowered his stance.
[Aura Deployment]
A pattern of dark red aura spread from Jinhyuk's center.
Standing at the center of the pattern, Jinhyuk watched the attack.
"Insolence!!"
A storm of attacks poured down.
Swords, wings, and talons swung incessantly to scatter Jinhyuk.
Each attack was a powerful area-of-effect strike, instantly shattering nearby rocks and the ground.
"Descend."
With Nekiel's brief incantation, a square-shaped energy fell from the sky.
A force that fell endlessly, completely sinking the surrounding ground.
Nekiel smirked as the energy cleanly disappeared.
"An insignificant lowly...!?"
Had he teleported?
He turned his eyes at the presence suddenly appearing behind him, but it was too late.
[Earth-Annihilating Falling Star]
A terrible weight pressed down on his head.
Nekiel was driven down, collapsing the very ground itself.
Taking advantage of the dust cloud, a massive number of orbs rained down on top of him.
Hundreds of orbs turned red.
*Kwaaaaaaang!!!!*
An explosion shook the entire island.
Nekiel's body was completely shattered and scattered.
"Insignificant wretch!!"
With a flash of light, Nekiel's body reassembled.
Nekiel kicked off the ground to rise.
*Jjeong!!*
Another weight slammed into Nekiel's forehead.
"Stay down there. Don't crawl back up."
Jinhyuk threw himself into the deep pit.
"Summoning a legion by pouring all your power as a god. That was your mistake."
"Who says I've lost!!!"
Nekiel's attacks rained down toward the descending Jinhyuk.
Easily dodging them, Jinhyuk advanced right in front of his face.
Then, a relentless barrage of attacks rained down on Nekiel, pinned to the bottom.
*Kwajajajajajak!!!*
An ultra-close-quarters battle wreathed in aura.
It was the specialty of the demon Renya, and what Jinhyuk had trained in by getting beaten every single day.
And outside, watching the battle.
'Runner-nim is seriously insane.'
Eungangseok, observing with his demonic eyes, swallowed dryly.
A combat prowess so awe-inspiring that the honorific 'nim' came naturally.
Objectively evaluating this battle from a third-party perspective... it was disgustingly unfair.
Nekiel's specialty was attacks using light.
But from the start, Nekiel hadn't been able to use light at all.
Because he was an idiot? No.
'I wasn't mistaken.'
He had been unsure because it was so brief.
The dozens of light beams shot at Jinhyuk flying in from the sea.
They had dissipated pathetically the moment they touched him.
And Jinhyuk, who was actually hit, hadn't done anything.
'Another question mark added.'
He might have obtained an incredible light resistance trait or stat as a fortuitous encounter in the Tower of Despair.
But this wasn't the Tower of Despair; it was the outside, the real world.
No matter how good an ability, it had to be nerfed according to the synchronization rate, yet Jinhyuk alone seemed free from this restriction.
Anyway, for this reason, Nekiel had no choice but to choose close combat.
And even there, Jinhyuk was overwhelming Nekiel with martial arts several dimensions higher.
'Normally, if you land three hits, you should take at least one.'
It was clear that the idiom 'give and take' didn't exist in Jinhyuk's dictionary.
Otherwise, how could he be so relentlessly not hit even once?
A fight where you can't land a hit, and only the enemy gets infinite turns.
From Nekiel's perspective, it had to be a terrible unfairness.
*Jjeong! Jjeong!! Kuuuung!!!*
And how hard did he have to hit each time for the entire uninhabited island to shake with every blow?
*Gulp!*
He felt genuinely relieved.
That it wasn't him pinned in that pit.
*Kwaaaaang!!*
Another roar echoed as Nekiel coughed up black liquid.
Nekiel turned his head to look at his completely crushed limbs.
His regeneration, which had slowed, had now completely stopped.
His senses were also lost, and he couldn't move a single finger.
Jinhyuk slung the Soul Reaper in one hand over his shoulder.
After beating and slashing to his heart's content, Nekiel had become a complete rag.
Nekiel, barely lifting his head, spoke.
"You... must have... a collar... so why... am I... losing?"
"A collar? What's that?"
Jinhyuk's lips curled up.
"I have no idea. I've never been on one."
"What... do you mean... you think... you're... special?"
[Borrow Skill - Seira Kincaiton]
[Borrowing the Holy Relic 'Sword of Thunder, Raven' of the Black Knight Commander, Seira Kincaiton!]
[It is a Level 201 Holy Relic. Power is nerfed due to level difference!]
"Even if I told you, a vague existence like you would never understand. So."
[Black Knight Order's Sword Raven, Startup]
"Stop asking and get lost."
[Thunderstorm Rain]
*Kwajajajajajajak!!!!*
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T/N:
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