Having moved into the core of the undead legion guarded from all sides by powerful undead guards that on their own could fend off a weaker S Rank Monster and working together had the strength to contest against the more powerful SS Rank Monster, the younger sickly-looking man found himself falling in place behind the older man that was clearly the necromancer in control of this undead legion. The younger man finding himself in supporting position behind this senior necromancer, a job that within the Eternal Life Sanctum was painted as something honorable and a way to learn directly under more senior necromancers, but was in fact just a job that centered around raising and creating cannon fodder undead and skeleton while at the same time also preparing materials for the senior necromancer.
To say it was thankless work would be an understatement, as the coveted teaching from a senior necromancer that would be considered the reward for doing this kind of backbreaking work was nowhere to be found. Even after weeks preparing for the attack on the swirling sands dungeon, the younger man hadn’t gained anything and had instead ended up corroding part of his left arm during the creation of a few undead capable of releasing a corrosive mist.
His reminder not long ago about the adventurers potentially causing trouble for them as they were about to reach the main battlefield where the one in charge of this assault on the swirling sands dungeon was waiting, was his attempt to strike up a conversation to try and potentially get some knowledge out of this older and more senior necromancer.
Unfortunately, the other party had directly shot him down and returned to the core of the formation to take control of the undead legion to speed up their advance through the rather desolate desert they had found themselves wandering through after they had found their way through the living forest within the mountain valley Scaly and Verdell currently found themselves.
In fact, the reason why the senior necromancer decided to speed up their progress through the desert to get to the main battlefield didn’t have much to do with him being annoyed by his earlier question, but more so had to do with the fact that they had already been delayed quite a bit because of the living forest they had to pass through not long ago.
The main reason being that none of them had anticipated there to be a living forest in their path. Catching them off guard and throwing the original schedule for their arrival off.
If not for that living forest, they would likely have already found themselves at the main battlefield against the dungeon core, a place that he, as a junior necromancer also looked forward to witnessing firsthand, as that battlefield was under the control of a revered crypt guardian. A necromancer just below the highest rank within the Eternal Life Sanctum, a being also referred to as an SS Rank Necromancer by those not a part of the Eternal Life Sanctum.
Even if such a being didn’t say anything or directly teach him, the little assistant necromancer understood full well that just being around such a powerful necromancer would be of immense benefit.
At the very least, it would be far better than following behind the senior he found himself following behind.
After all, though this senior was above him, it wasn’t by more than a single rank, who knew, he might even directly step into the same realm as this senior by the time the dungeon core was successfully taken down.
In fact, that was another reason why he had decided on joining this war against the dungeon core.
To look for precious corpses amid the bloody battlefield and try to take advantage of the chaos to consume a vast quantity of death energy to raise his own level. After all, compared to the traditional path of leveling up to increase strength, a necromancer had another way to increase their level and that was by consuming death energy left behind by the dead.
Of course, the higher one’s level got, the more death energy one required and just from the lowest necromancer rank of an acolyte to the rank above it, a bone carver, he had to consume what would be equivalent to over a thousand living souls.
To reach the rank above that, it wasn’t just a matter of a few thousand living souls, but would instead be counted in the millions, a terrifying jump in difficulty that caused most necromancers to forever be stuck as bone carvers or dying trying to reap a vast quantity of lives.
However, there was one exception and that was consuming the death energy of powerful monsters or other living beings. Doing this, one could significantly decrease the amount of death energy one needed through quality.
Just thinking about the opportunity that laid before him, he had already silently begun scheming to seize as much death energy as possible when the time came.
Even if it caused him to fall out with the senior necromancer he was following behind, if he managed to successfully go from being a bone carver to being a soul weaver, the rank above his current rank, it would all be worth it.
Of course, unknown to this young necromancer already dreaming about successfully becoming a soul weaver, the senior necromancer he was scheming against was already fully aware of his thoughts. Having done something similar in the past to become a soul weaver.
Because of this, he had already personally arranged for this little junior to encounter an accident when they arrived at the main battlefield. Ensuring this little schemer wouldn’t be able to forcibly seize any of the death energy that should rightfully belong to him.
Rumble~
"Hm? A monster?"
"Looks like it, get ready for battle, you should handle this one." As the old and young were busy scheming against each other, a rumbling sound suddenly echoed out from afar. Catching both by surprise, before the older one took charge of the situation and calmly declared for the younger necromancer to handle the monster, something the younger necromancer was used to, as his job as an assistant was also to be the one dealing with any weaker monsters that attacked them along the way.
The reason for this had nothing to do with the older necromancer being lazy, but more so had to do with him saving his mental strength for commanding the undead legion when they encountered a stronger monster. Unless a powerful monster emerged, the younger necromancer would burrow control of the undead legion and split off a small part of it to deal with the weaker monster.
Whoosh~
And like usual, the younger necromancer did just that. Splitting off around two hundred skeletons and a hundred or so undead between level 30 and 60 before commanding them forward towards the direction that the rumbling sound had come from. Using a few undead directly strengthened by his mental power to reach level 70 to lead the way forward.
Not feeling the slightest bit worried, as this kind of small undead army was enough to kill a weaker S Rank Monster and in case it was a stronger one. Hold out long enough for the senior necromancer to jump in and deal with it using stronger skeletons and undead.
Ruuuumble~
"Huh?"
However, different from what the younger necromancer had expected, the small undead army that had only travelled a few hundred meters away from the main legion when the ground beneath the small army suddenly caved in, causing half of the army to fall into the hole that had suddenly opened next to them.
"This-"
And through the control of some of the skeletons that had fallen into the pit, he saw countless small and large monsters surging up from below towards the surface. "Senior, get ready, this is not just a single monster! Might be an attack directed by the dungeon core!" Calling out to the senior necromancer behind him. Knowing that this wasn’t a situation he could deal with on his own.
"Hm? An attack directed by the dungeon core!? This is... Troublesome..." Hearing the words of the younger necromancer, the senior couldn’t help visibly frowning. Understanding that an attack directed by the dungeon core wasn’t just far more difficult to deal with compared to them running into a few random monsters along the way through the desert, but also meant they wouldn’t just be facing off against a single kind of monster-
Screeech-!
Roooar!
And indeed, by the time he turned his attention towards the hole that had opened in the middle of the small army, he saw countless monsters surging forth that didn’t belong to this desert region. A clear indication that this was an attack that had been subtly manipulated by the dungeon core, as there was no way flying monsters would travel beneath the surface of a desert to launch an attack under normal circumstances...