Solo Max-Level Newbie

“Such a vile necromancer. Is messing up another person’s house your hobby?”

“How can you say that to such lovable creatures… well, it might look like that to others.”

Alex stroked the monsters lined up next to him. In his eyes, those monsters truly did look lovely.

“No matter how you look at them, those things should just be hung out to dry. I don’t think even Lasik would work on your disgusting eyes. I’d rather pull them out.”

Psss!

As Jin-hyuk pulled out his dagger, blue energy enveloped it. The dazzling light swallowed up the entire blade at once.

“Puahahah! A dagger! Indeed, as expected of an S rank with this level of magic, it is outstanding even among S ranks!”

However, even after seeing the sword energy on the dagger, Alex seemed relaxed.

“If you believe in the rags behind you and shout so much, you are making a mistake.”

“Did you think I would deal with you alone?”

Alex smiled and, at the same time.

Kukuku!

Black energy swept through the room.

[Alex activated Lv5' Magic Melting Furnace'!]

It was a wide-area skill that covered the entire mansion, giving Jin-hyuk an ominous feeling.

“Kuak!”

“M-My head!”

“My body feels like it is being torn apart!”

The guests began to collapse to their knees and groan in pain. They were afflicted by a curse that drained the life out of their bodies.

Because of this curse, the people there had to feel the pain of their bodies melting away. Very slowly, too, at that.

“Ahem.”

Jin-hyuk frowned.

He felt a tingling pain, but he could protect his body from melting thanks to the magic within him.

“H-help me…”

“Please…”

The people there begged for their lives. Most were in their middle ages or even of elderly age.

“Dad… mom, it hurts.”

Some were young children.

‘Family of those who received the invitation?’

It would be too cruel to let them die just because they were here.

Especially if he let a child die, he wouldn’t be able to dream well for the rest of his life.

There should still be around 10 minutes until their body dissolves.

This could be stopped if he could defeat Alex.

10 minutes.

10 minutes.

There’s no reason to risk himself trying to save the people here. There was no need to rush.

But if he just laid quietly on the ground now without caring for them.

“…”

Jin-hyuk looked at Alex as their eyes met.

“I see that dissatisfied expression on your face. Why? Is it really bothering you that some bugs are dying?”

“Bugs?”

“Correct. Are there any other ways to call these creatures that can only be used as materials for magic but bugs?”

Smirk.

At Alex’s words, Jin-hyuk smiled.

At this point, it was just plain ridiculous.

“That is why I don’t get along with Demonic Humans. I do want to talk with some, but you people just make it impossible.”

“Hmm. I expected a more realistic approach from an S rank. Were you that kind of disgustingly emotional bastard? This world does not run on compassion. This world is a place where the strong eat the weak.”

“Well, that is all fine too.”

Having the strong eat the weak.

Such a principle that had no care for anything else. He, too, believed in this.

“You were the one who said it, so even if you die, don’t blame it on me.”

“You speak as if you are stronger than me.”

“You don’t think so?”

Pssh.

Jin-hyuk’s dagger twitched.

[Sword Grave has been activated!]

Incomparably darker and monstrous energy flowed out that dwarfed Alex’s magic. Jin-hyuk’s blue sword energy now became black.

And at the same time.

Kwang!

Jin-hyuk sprinted forward and narrowed the distance at once.

The dagger was held in reverse and used to slash down the monsters in his path.

“Kuaak!”

“Kaaack!”

The undead monsters had all looked quite thick due to their fat layers, but that wasn’t enough to stop his blade.

Kwakwakwang!

The strongest skill which could cut down anything. His sword attack flew across his path, cutting down more than 10 monsters.

But…

['Blood Barrier' has been activated!]

[Specific range 'Play of the Undead' begins!]

The additional skill, Blood Barrier, was activated as an effect of the Magic Melting Furnace.

Kwang!

The flesh of the monsters he had cut was beginning to heal immediately.

“Even if they are bugs, it is still quite impressive. There is no better material than this to use for recovery.”

Alex chuckled.

Indeed.

This was his plan to waste time. He would use the vitality of all the people here to keep his monsters alive.

Eventually, everyone here would die. A sensible tactic.

It’s probably the most standard method too, but.

“So upsetting.”

“What is?”

“It is a pity that you’re acting proud and treating this as if it is a trump card.”

Was he playing around by just having his monsters regenerate?

Wouldn’t it be enough to erase them entirely without giving them time to recover?

Jin-hyuk pointed the dagger at Alex.

Woong!

The light began to gather at a single point. The black energy was dazzling.

[Lv2 'Daylight' is activated!]

The monsters all twisted their bodies at the blazing energy.

“Kiiik!”

“Kuaaak!”

They must have been in great pain. The light attribute was known to cause additional damage to these kinds of monsters.

“Tch! As expected, you used that!”

Alex clicked his tongue as things happened as he expected. He clearly had seen the battle video against Chun Yuseong.

A skill that compressed magic into a single point before releasing it in a straight line and imbued with an element that was the antithesis of the undead.

So he clearly had prepared for it as well. If Jin-hyuk activated that skill, he had a secret trick ready and ordered his undead to execute it.

But the undead wasn’t moving from their places.

“W-what!”

What?

“I have frozen their feet so they cannot move.”

He combined several skills at once to get the maximum results from his attack.

The central combination was to use Daylight and then the Ice Formation skill to restrict their movement. The only real downside to Daylight was its long activation time, but Ice Formation was able to make up for it.

With this.

“Checkmate.”

Jin-hyuk smiled, and at that moment.

Kwakwkawang!

A giant ray of light engulfed the undead monsters.

Kiik!

Heat rose up from the ground as not a single monster was spared.

This was because there wasn’t even a single cell left for them to regenerate from.

‘This was my first time trying it out, but it was pretty good.’

Jin-hyuk liked doing this, fusing two skills for a higher performance result. By using them like this, he could optimize his skills for battle.

The sense of exhilaration from this was great. On the other hand…

“I-it cannot be…”

Alex wasn’t able to accept this situation.

Ten minutes, everything ended before ten minutes were up.

If all the humans here had been absorbed by his furnace, he could have summoned an even higher-level undead.

But the undead he had summoned were already wiped out.

“Damn it!”

Tak!

Alex pulled a scalpel from his sleeve that had a transparent liquid dripping down from it.

It was poison.

This showed how desperate he was.

“Are you for real?”

A Necromancer in close combat?

As Jin-hyuk thought that.

Alex threw the scalpel straight toward his face.

Kang!

Jin-hyuk casually knocked it away, cutting the scalpel in half as it fell to the ground.

“So disappointing. Was that your way of running away?”

Why draw out a scalpel?

It seemed like he had planned to escape by creating a momentary diversion. Black smoke began to surround Alex.

It was a special skill that only demonic humans could use.

‘Twisted Gap.’

A short-distance movement skill.

Shh!

The smoke became thicker as the skill neared activation. Of course, Jin-hyuk wasn’t going to just watch it happen.

“Throwing… is done like this.”

The target was a short distance away and unable to respond.

Puyak

The dagger which he threw went right for Alex’s chest.

“Kuak!”

The skill activation was canceled right away.

“How about I educate you a little? You get what I am saying?”

“Kuak! Cough!”

“Ah! Don’t try too hard to answer me. The place where my dagger pierced you is your lungs, so breathing will be tough.”

“Kua…save…”

“You enjoyed others being hurt and groaning in pain, but you don’t like it happening to you?”

Wasn’t he being too biased?

A true necromancer should enjoy his own suffering.

“Kuak….”

Alex grabbed Jin-hyuk’s shoes, but he ignored him.

“From now on, I will tell you how you will die.”

Just a little spoiler to his ultimate end because it was no longer just about him.

“Your lungs will slowly bleed out for the next couple of hours.”

A human’s life was tough to end. Somehow, all the organs in their bodies would work as hard as possible to even eke out an extra second of life.

“And after that long struggle, you will start to choke as blood fills your lungs.”

Not as painful as dying in a fire, but still a gruesome end. The more he heard about his fate, the more terrified Alex became.

“T-that… no. no….”

“Of course, the prolonged suffering can be stopped. If you stop the operation of the Magic Melting Furnace.”

“…!”

“Why? Is it your loyalty to the Demonic Human Association? If you die, everything will be useless either way.”

If he would actually maintain the skill and die slowly like this for loyalty, then the association should hold ancestral funeral rites for him.

But Alex was a pawn that could be thrown away at any time.

‘Use him for situations like this and then replace him with a new one.’

So there was no need for loyalty. He should let go of his loyalty and live comfortably.

Because that was the best for both sides.

And the doubts didn’t last very long.

“I… get it. Keep… your… word…”

“I will do that. So stop the skill.”

“…”

Alex eventually snapped his fingers.

And…

[Alex disabled ‘Magic Melting Furnace’!]

[‘Blood Barrier’ disabled!]

The magic that had tortured the room’s occupants disappeared. At the same time, the guests who had been groaning in pain began to feel it fade.

“Now… this pain… free me…! Cough! Cough! My heart… hurts with… breathing!”

Alex begged.

His face was becoming more twisted with pain and agony with every word he struggled to speak.

It was probably the feeling of blood seeping into his lungs.

“It is upsetting, but I am not interested in becoming a killer.”

“… what?”

“Life is the most precious thing, so I will never take it with my own hands.’

“W-what do you… ha.”

Alex reached for Jin-hyuk, but he couldn’t even reach him now.

‘The last resort for trash like you..’

No, just an hour was too short.

Considering the evil he committed here, not to mention the quests he needed to do just to become a Necromancer, Alex deserved no mercy.

He would die in a prolonged state of suffering.

He would die as he apologized for the sins of experimenting on innocent humans and defiling their corpses by making undead.