The Necromancer Who Was Despised

“Heh, heh.”

A laughter-like sound echoed through the ruins.

The golems, now free from petrification, flew towards us, covering the ceiling of the ruins.

“There are many.”

About thirty in number.

“This will be tough.”

I quickly informed my party about the golems’ information.

“Be careful. They can partially petrify, making their defense high. Average sword attacks won’t work.”

They also had high magical resistance, and ordinary curses or poison wouldn’t affect them at all.

“Curses or poison resistance is only possible for high-grade monsters.”

To kill a golem with curses or poison alone, you’d need to be at least 6th class. Even then, it wouldn’t be a one-hit kill.

“Would an oracle not work either?”

“Low-grade ones can barely deal damage. Mid-grade ones can’t even land a critical hit. But, Artina, you might be able to do it.”

In terms of defense, it was fair to consider her a high-grade monster.

“Those attacks won’t work, that’s all.”

Even with the combination of Oracle and Artifact, there was a limit to how long we could hold out against them.

Artina’s dagger was no ordinary weapon.

An ancient relic-level Artifact.

If a mid-grade Oracle were to add to that, I thought it possible to inflict a fatal blow in one hit.

“Then I’ll have to take the lead, along with my mentor.”

I had decided to focus on supporting during this battle.

“Kayla, I’ll take care of those. You focus on dealing with the Gagoil.”

It was impossible to take down the Gagoil all at once, even with Celeona 2.

It was more efficient to draw their attention, protect the rear, and prepare for any unexpected situations.

The Gagoil’s gaze swept over us one by one.

Since we were in the sky, the initiative was on their side.

At least, that’s what they thought.

But this wasn’t the sky.

This was an enclosed, underground space.

“Ha!”

Kayla suddenly slammed into the wall.

And then, she trampled the sculptures where the Gagoil were standing and burst into the sky in an instant.

High-speed movement.

“Kick?”

For a moment, the Gagoil lost track of Kayla’s movements.

In that instant, one of them was cut in half.

Her sword already had a high-grade Oracle attached to it.

The Gagoil’s gazes focused on Kayla all at once.

In that gap, Artina disappeared.

I quickly strengthened the Uneds and ordered Anelis to take cover.

Anelis was anxious, but she seemed to understand that she couldn’t do anything in this situation, so she immediately took cover on the ground.

The Living Armors swarmed around her, providing thorough defense.

Of course, Celeona was among them, and her strong will to protect Anelis was palpable.

As Kayla fell freely, the Gagoil that had been waiting for an opening attacked her.

But Kayla skillfully parried their attacks.

Clang! Clang!

Their claws were extremely hard and sharp, like a deadly weapon. Honestly, they had a strength and cutting power that rivaled a decent sword, but even so, they couldn’t pierce Kayla’s shield and armor.

She naturally deflected their attacks in mid-air, and even the attacks she had to allow due to her aerial weakness couldn’t penetrate her Artifact, the Regeneration Armor.

Some Gagoil refused to give up, even though their attacks weren’t working.

Kayla blocked over a dozen attacks during her short flight time.

And when she reached a certain height…

Thud.

One of the Gagoil’s heads fell off.

The Gagoil, who had been mesmerized by Kayla, were shocked and flew back up into the sky.

My magic caught a single gargoyle.

“Kick!”

Although they had strong magic resistance and were highly tolerant of curses, it wasn’t like they couldn’t be restrained at all.

In reality, unless they were cursed or poisoned, they could also inflict damage.

The only thing was that mages couldn’t expect to deal massive destruction to monsters or humans of other species.

“Keeek!”

And so, Athina re-sliced the restrained gargoyle’s neck.

Three bodies fell, and the atmosphere between the gargoyles became tense.

Their gazes quickly shifted.

And their gazes turned towards us, the rear guard.

‘Are they targeting the weak first?’

It was certainly the right choice. More accurately, they had chosen the side with a higher chance of winning.

The group of gargoyles split in half, with some targeting us.

The remaining half, including Kayla, who was hiding, and Athina, who was threatening them from a certain distance, were unable to provide support and were only making cautious movements.

Of course.

“Keeek….”

Kayla’s gradual reduction of the gargoyle’s numbers was impressive.

Athina was still waiting for an opening.

‘I’ve got their feet tied up.’

Of course, this wasn’t the form they had wanted.

“Coming.”

The golem, who was approaching, waved its hand to block the incoming gargoyles, but only one got caught.

And even that one could fly back up after being slammed into the wall.

‘They’re ignoring me.’

The gargoyles ignored the golem and flew towards us.

I waited until they approached, then immediately used my restrictive shadow to capture two of them.

However, there were still two digits’ worth of gargoyles left.

Baldur dodged the gargoyles targeting him and swung his sword, imbued with aura, at one of their bodies.

Clang!

“Keeek.”

Dealing slight injuries was the limit.

And even that was enough to protect himself.

Baldur, as if he weren’t Kayla’s disciple, easily blocked the gargoyles’ attacks and even counterattacked.

‘Eight….’

The remaining number, excluding the two restrained ones and the three attached to Baldur.

And all eight of them were targeting Anneliese.

[Black Barrier]

A high-level version of the shield’s dark magic.

Kaga-kaga!

Because of this, the gargoyles’ power couldn’t easily penetrate it.

That’s how our speed decreased through defense.

Living Armors 1 and 2 charged forward, sending those guys flying.

“As expected, they won’t die.”

It was difficult to take them down, so I gave them a strong shock, but they were too tough and didn’t go down easily.

However, it was still difficult to maintain the current state.

Whenever an opening appeared, I would bind them with a shadowy restraint, and although some of them managed to break free, I didn’t care.

My golem wasn’t idle either.

It continued to swing its arms, preventing those guys from moving freely in the sky and interfering with their attempt to occupy the air.

In reality, all we were doing was buying time – nothing more, nothing less.

But that was enough.

“If the rear guard can survive on their own, the vanguard will be freed.”

Originally, the vanguard was supposed to protect the rear guard, and in between, the rear guard would effectively take care of the enemies – that was the basic tactic.

But we weren’t ordinary people, and in this situation, it was more beneficial for the vanguard to take the lead.

And from the start, my goal was to monitor those enormous statues.

“They don’t seem to be moving.”

Despite the chaos all around and the golems dying in our hands, they didn’t budge.

“Are they just not going to react unless we touch them directly?”

But somehow, I felt an uneasy feeling.

Meanwhile, Kaila and Ateeina were rapidly reducing the number of golems, and as a result, the golems’ movements were becoming more and more intense.

And those enormous statues were silently watching us.

“Kick, kick…”

It didn’t take long to take down the golems.

As the number decreased, Kaila and Ateeina’s speed in dealing with the golems increased, and therefore, it didn’t take long for their support to arrive.

The two of them arrived just in time, taking care of the bound enemies first, and then using my golem as a stepping stone to deal with the remaining golems in the sky more easily than before.

“It seems they’ve gotten used to it.”

I directly controlled my golem to support the two of them.

Indeed, their adaptability was exceptional.

Even after taking down all the golems, the two of them didn’t relax their guard.

“They’re not moving.”

Ateeina gazed at the enormous statue and said.

“It doesn’t seem to be a monster or a golem.”

“Then is it for a different purpose? Is there a trap set up?”

It didn’t seem like that.

“There seems to be a use for it somewhere.”

“…Forget it. If it’s not responding, there’s no need to touch it. Let’s explore the ruins first.”

The first place we discovered was a building where the administrator of the ruins was believed to have lived.

“Why is this building on the outside…?”

The location was peculiarly outside the ruins, not inside.

“Did they bring the books from here?”

The interior wasn’t very spacious.

It was a space that could barely fit one person, with only a bookshelf, desk, and bed inside.

After gathering the books, I quickly headed towards the inner sanctum of the ruins.

“This is peculiar. There are no traps whatsoever….”

Athena responded to Kayla’s comment.

“On the other hand, there are many golems. The thirty or so guys we saw at the entrance weren’t the only ones.”

Her words were correct.

Those enormous stone statues.

They existed throughout the path, spaced at regular intervals.

We searched the inner sanctum of the ruins but found nothing out of the ordinary.

In fact, there was nothing to search for.

The ruins were a one-way path, spiraling down in a circular shape.

The stone statues existed throughout the path, and the golems periodically blocked our way.

When the number of processed golems exceeded 200, we finally reached the bottom and center of the ruins.

“Is it not here this time?”

The periodic golem attacks that had been happening until now did not occur this time.

“I thought for sure it would be here, being the center and all….”

Athena searched the surroundings, wondering if she might have missed something, but there was no sign of an attack.

However, I wasn’t focusing on her words.

‘…Found it.’

At the center of the ruins, there was an altar, and on top of it lay a single, rounded, red orb.

Even in the darkness, it radiated a faint, crimson glow, and at a glance, it seemed to be the Fire Orb I had been searching for.

I cautiously approached the orb, making sure there were no traps.

I picked it up and carefully examined it.