Boundless Necromancer

Chapter 165: Great Tree Labyrinth (4) ————-«

Currently, the world was somewhat in a panic state.

The hunter society established after the Great Calamity could no longer secure the safety of citizens.

[The challenger from alternative dimension that attacked Japan, followed by the UK, but the Hunter Association still remains silent regarding this…….]

[Why can’t hunters do their part? Analysis of every aspect of the tower of trials and challengers by specialists from each area.]

[Does the tower focus on challengers on hard difficulty? There are opinions stating that the easy difficulty and normal difficulty has no difference between…….]

The world no longer desires hunters.

The hunters could no longer protect the citizens from the unknown entity called the tower.

Thus they started to elevate the challengers selected by the tower and among them, only the challengers who chose the hard difficulty could reign at the top floors.

The challenger who barely reached the 10th floor could demonstrate strength beyond that of an A ranked hunter…….

The ones who couldn’t get chosen by the tower, or the ones that chose easy difficulty became excluded by all.

The boundary between hierarchy began to collapse.

“What a bullshit of a world.”

Shakya Devi was always off-put by this world.

huff─

She sat at the back seat of the limo and let out a long drag of cigarette smoke without opening the windows.

“The era of hunters are ending, but the era of challengers are dawning…….. How vexing…….”

Shakya let out her displeasing commentaries of the tower.

She had a good reason for it.

After all, she was celebrated as one of the best hunters in India.

But…….

As someone who said all that, she didn’t lack status within the tower either.

The Great Sorcerer.

She was the second ranked challenger within the tower after all.

Even amongst the hunters all around the world, she had rare and distinct techniques priced at a high value.

Sorcery.

Shaka had a Unique Attribute named [Favor of Sorcery] which allowed her to use sorcery.

It couldn’t be used as diversely as mana and it wasn’t particularly useful for hunting, but…….

The real value of sorcery came from casting protection spells for high ranking people rather than using it for hunting.

In terms of the system standards, sorcery ranked rather high as a technique.

Those who were casted a protection spell could not be injured by mana nor items.

Of course, even protection spells had limits, but…….

It was near impossible to get through Shakya’s protection spells.

‘It was so easy to get money and status before this…….’

But after the appearance of tower, her sorcery lost its value.

‘Only if those damned powers didn’t appear, I could’ve maintained my status……!’

The powers that could be purchased from administrators were stronger than sorcery spells.

A mere D ranked power could easily crush her high ranking sorcery…….

No words could describe just how low her value dropped.

Of course, after risking her life in the tower, she managed to reach the second spot in ranking, but Shakya started to feel her limits.

‘I’m sick of risking my life now.’

The tower can’t be climbed anymore with just sorcery.

Sorcery was never an appropriate ability for trials in the first place.

It would only prove its worth after layer and layers of preparation, so it was unfit for battle.

And thanks to that, she almost lost her life before she reached the 15th floors’ waiting room.

Shakya was certain that sorcery would not be enough to climb the tower

And…….

「A Great Tree Labyrinth will appear to every official tower dimension.」

At that very moment, an opportunity miraculously appeared before her.

‘The Great Tree Labyrinth.’

The event hosted by the tower.

‘If I can reach the deeper floors of the labyrinth, I’d be able to overcome the weaknesses of sorcery.’

If she could use the rewards from the labyrinth, she’d be able to become stronger than before.

With just that desire alone, she traveled far away from her country.

‘I have to recruit challenger Han Sungyeun.’

challenger Han Sungyeun.

He got his fame from defeating the challenger from a different dimension back at Japan…….

And officially became the strongest challenger even among those who challenged the hard difficulty.

Commonly referred to as a hunter, he was one of the most desired candidate to Shakya.

And according to those who’ve seen him, Han Sungyeun climbed the tower with absolute power…….

So he should be able to support her within the Great Tree Labyrinth as well.

Currently, the limo that Shakya was on was heading to the place that Han Sungyeun stayed at.

Although it was a region greatly developed from the official player sponsor policy…….

But to be honest, she wasn’t so sure why a skilled challenger like him lived in a place like this.

‘Almost as if he doesn’t care for what’s outside of the tower at all…….’

Shakya thought that Han Sungyeun might be more austere than she thought.

There’s no way that he’d remain at such lodging and not care for fame like this unless he was austere.

That was a big problem for her.

‘I most likely won’t be able to recruit him using materials outside of the tower.’

Many of the rewards that Shakya could offer were not fit for an austere person.

“In case we can’t be a teammate, huh?…….”

She let out a laugh and muttered while putting out her cigarette with her hand.

pshhhh.

“I guess it can’t be helped then.”

Inside the dark limo, with sunlight completely shut out from curtains.

“I can’t let others have him, so I’ll have to kill him neatly.”

Shakya’s eyes glinted with killing intent.

»————- ★ ————-«

At first, I thought that only a few people would gather here.

It’s not like I came here right after the emergence of the labyrinth, instead I waited a bit to check my new divinity and powers…….

So I was sure that most of the skilled fighters went to the labyrinth by now.

Even more so since the first team reached the bottom of the labyrinth would get the reward.

Instead of wasting time, it’d be more efficient to enter the labyrinth to reach the bottom as soon as possible.

But…….

‘Why do things keep getting bigger than my expectations…….?’

My expectations were completely crushed and proven false.

“Hello sir Han Sungyeun! I am the deputy team leader of the Eden Clan challenger management team, Lee Sunghyun! Please give us an opportunity to form a positive relationship with yo……!”

“You clan is old news so back off! Positive relationship my ass! Y’alls ranking went down below 7th in the KR hunter guild rankings!

“Ha! So did your Igis guild come within the top 7 rankings in korea? Your fame is basically nonexistent at this point……!”

Massive crowds.

“Auggh, Please! Move! Challenger Han Sungyeun, Sir! Please! Just a little bit! Could we please talk?”

“I am the manager of challenger Lee Shinwoo! He’s ranking at 17th! Han Sungyeun-ssi, please give us the honor to team up with you!”

“Where’s your morals? Move, you shitheads! Don’t push me! Form a line! A line! You motherfuckers!”

This was good enough to summarize the current situation.

‘What’s this…….’

I was truly flabbergasted by this situation.

When I first got out of the building, there were only a handful of people.

But the information must’ve leaked somehow as the numbers kept increasing to fill up the entire street now.

“…….”

My head started to ache.

I was going to make my selections when good challengers came personally…….

But only a few people came themselves, and instead, countless names which I didn’t recognize appeared.

‘This is getting annoying.’

There were no people meeting my standards, and instead there were people arguing with each other loudly…….

Annoying at the very least, now I was on the verge of wanting to escape from anger.

―They seem like those pesky leeches. Why aren’t you using your energy? They should be easily chased out with it.

Dam Cheonwoo added on as if he was also annoyed, but…….

‘That’s illegal so why should I cause trouble for myself?’

I had no desire to escape this situation through illegal means.

―I don’t know what that means, but if energy release is not possible, why not let out your killing intent?

‘The act of using abilities on others is illegal for challengers…….’

―sending out killing intent is illegal……? Just how kind is your world……?

‘Haven’t you ever thought that Murim is the unnatural one?’

―…….

I replied to the shocked Dam Cheonwoo, but I still haven’t decided on what to do in this situation.

‘What should I do?’

I thought that waiting was an option since other challengers were making their way here.

And outside of that, there were other methods

But that thought got interrupted.

Bzzzt……!

「Power ‘Whisper of Flame’ is requesting to whisper with Challenger Han Sungyeon.」

「Will you accept?」

A message appeared with a sudden ringing in my ear.

‘Whisper?’

I accepted the interesting offer to a sound near my ear.

-It’s been a while.

A clear voice that sounds familiar.

-oh dear, isn’t it too much to never contact me after seeing each other in Japan?

As soon as I heard that, I remembered whose voice it was.

‘No wonder they say that connections matter.’

And concentrated on the sound flowing into my ears while letting out a smile.

-it’s me, Katherine Benet. I thought that you’d struggle to find a teammate……. We just happen to have one opening on our team.

It would seem like…….

-How ‘bout it? Would you like to work as a team like back then?

The team for the Great Tree Labyrinth was easily acquired.

»————- ★ ————-«

「Power ‘Whisper of Flame’ is deactivating.」

Unfortunately, the whisper was not a method of communication.

All it did was to rely on a message, and replying was impossible…….

“I have no plans on forming a team, so everyone leave.”

But it wasn’t difficult to demonstrate my acceptance of her offer.

My announcement here will be my reply to her.

“Sorry? Y, you have no plans on forming a team? Do you mean everyone at this place?!”

“Are you saying that you won’t be participating in the Great Tree Labyrinth event?! T, then please accept this present that challenger Kim Cheoljin is sending you at least.…….”

“Stop playing dirty! Present my ass! Han Sungyeun-ssi! Do you already have a team? Could you please reconsider?”

The situation wasn’t solved immediately, but with a team formed, I had no reason to entertain them.

「Activating skill ‘Dark Wolf’s Steps’.」

“H-He’s gone……? H, Han Sungyeun-ssi? Where did you go?”

“What’s going on……? My detection skills won’t work against him?”

“Damn it! What kind of skill is it? How come my attribute won’t work?!”

And after erasing my presence, no one could recognize me.

‘Skills eventually come in handy I guess.’

I was thankful that I made my skills beforehand and silently moved away.

We’ve agreed upon a meeting location before ending the whisper, so moved towards it.

‘She said that she already has a team made, so i just have to get there.’

It was relieving to find out that I didn’t have to find members.

Well, I never planned to recruit skilled members in the first place…….

But it’d be best to get the better deal if it didn’t matter who was to be in the team.

So it was natural that my mood would be lifted since Katherine did the work for me.

The moment I was passing through the alleys towards the meeting spot.

“Challenger Han Sungyeun.”

Someone appeared from the shadows while calling out my name.

“Could you tell me where you’re going in such a hurry?”

It was a foreign beauty that couldn’t be covered by the purple robe she wore.

And it didn’t look like she was a part of the teammates chosen by Katherine Benet.…….

So I rested my hand at the Blood Demon Sword at my waist.

―Hm? A challenger like the sorcerer of Nanman……? At the very least, she’s certainly an unwelcome visitor.

Dam Cheonwoo must’ve also gotten a bad vibe from her as he took on an attentive position.

The robed woman smiled to speak.

“Ahh, apologies if I surprised you. This is the standard if I want to meet a talent like you.”

“Who are you?”

“Shakya Devi. I am known as the ‘Great Sorcerer’ back in the tower.”

“…….”

I remembered seeing that name in the ranking list around the 12th floor.

‘Is she the person that got 2nd place at the 12th floor?’

She was one of the strongest challengers from the Earth dimension.

While keeping my guard up, I glared at her.

“So? what’s your purpose?”

“Hm? It seems that you don’t care to exchange pleasantries.”

“Yes, so please get to the point now.”

“…..well, if you say so. I guess it can’t be helped.”

Shakya shrugged then narrowed her eyes.

“It’s simple. Challenger Han Sungyeun, I want you to be my teammate.”

“And your reason is?”

“Is there a need for a reason for strong to team up with strong?”

“Then I decline your offer.”

“……are you sure? I assure you that I can accept any requests that you have.”

“I am sure.”

Shakya frowned at my answer.

“Why is that?”

“I don’t plan on going through with making another team. It’s too bothersome.”

“So…. you’re saying that….. You have another team? Is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Any thoughts on getting a new team……?”

“None.”

“……Surely, you must be joking? If we joined forces, we should be able to clear even the lunatic difficulty. Why the rejection?”

“…….”

“And wouldn’t it be more annoying to have a competitor like me? Isn’t it more logical to team up?”

“Now that’s not right.”

I replied with an annoyed look at Shakya’s rebuttal.

“Because I am confident that I can kill you even if you become my enemy.”

“…….”

“Is this good enough for an answer?”

“Right. I now get that the top ranking challenger of Earth dimension is delusional.”

Shakya spoke with disdain and expressed her displeasure while taking out a cigarette.

Fwoosh.

The flames that appeared in her index finger lit up the cigarette when Dam Cheonwoo whispered.

―The unwanted visitor is finally starting to move.

I knew that instinctively without him telling me.

Actually, even without instincts, it was difficult to not know at this rate.

‘Is the smoke a catalyst for activation of a skill?’

The alley was now full of smoke and the space was slowly losing its reality.

「Area Sorcery < Fog Dimension > has invaded a portion of a real space.」

This was the battlefield selected by the opponent.

This area most likely will be readjusted to Shakya using another skill or technique.

It could be easily theorized since I’ve experienced similar things a few times before.

Shhhhhh─!

As if to confirm my theory, Shakya’s body was surrounded by an unnatural purple light.

“I suppose it can’t be helped.”

And…….

“If you won’t be my teammate, then you just have to die here.”

Shakya’s eyes turned cold while she spoke.

“You’ll kill me?”

I sneered at her declaration.

“Try it if you can.”

I’ve actually been curious for a while…….

‘What a perfect stage to try out my new abilities.’

This was the perfect opportunity.

「Activating Divine Power ‘State of Divinity’.」

To see how far the power of gods went.