Necromancer 47

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47. Seeking New Power In Ancient Ruin

An hour later, I was at the ancient ruins on the outskirts of the royal capital.

This place is said to be a nest of undead monsters.

With the knowledge I had just gained from the grimoire—on how to improve necromancy proficiency—I was ready to put it into practice.

"Reaper, this place is crawling with undead. I'll fight too, but I’ll need you to guard me."

"Do you want me to defeat the undead?"

"I plan to make them my servants, so just neutralizing them is fine. Oh, but if we kill them, my skill should turn them into undead anyway, so I guess either works..."

I reconsidered.

"Then, depending on the situation, alternate between subduing and defeating to ensure no harm comes to me."

"Understood."

The air of competence in the Reaper's reply.

He seemed reliable.

Honestly, losing Mirage had left me uneasy, but the Reaper seemed more than capable of filling that role.

"Swordsman, Red Mage, I'm counting on you two as well."

Though the Swordsman had been defeated once by the Reaper, he was already ready to be resummoned.

Whoosh.

The two nodded, their eyes gleaming.

"Alright, let’s go."

We ventured into the ruins.

Before long, undead monsters appeared.

Skeleton soldiers clad in rudimentary armor—Skeletons.

There were about twenty of them.

"Let’s start with the Reaper,"

I ordered.

I wanted to see how well he could fight alone.

"Swordsman and Red Mage, stand by for now."

"Understood."

The Reaper floated into the air, gliding forward smoothly.

During our journey here, I’d been briefed on his basic specs.

The Reaper was a modified demon.

Hundreds of years ago, a hero of that era had defeated a mid-level demon and reworked its corpse.

Being a demon, it had an abundant supply of mana, and among my servants, it boasted the highest mana capacity.

Using its vast mana reserves, it wielded three types of magic: [Flight], [Binding], and [Healing].

It also retained several special skills from its life as a demon, making it highly capable.

"[Slash]."

The Reaper activated a skill.

Though it was the same skill Mirage and I used, he wielded a scythe instead of a sword.

Swish!

The swung scythe cleaved through three Skeletons at once.

With a second and third [Slash], he took down a total of ten Skeletons.

"Impressive—"

As expected.

A remarkably dependable servant.

Groan…

Behind me, the Swordsman and Red Mage let out low growls.

"...Hmm? Are you saying you two want to join in too?"

Though they couldn’t talk, they clearly had wills of their own.

Whether those wills stemmed from their former lives as Tanaka and Suzuki, or were entirely different, I couldn’t say.

"Alright then, both of you, support the Reaper. Go for it."

Whoosh!

Their eyes flashed as they launched their attacks with swords and flames.

Slash!

Boom!

The Swordsman’s enchanted blade cut through a Skeleton, while the Red Mage’s fireball obliterated another.

Meanwhile, the Reaper continued hunting Skeletons one after another.

"Seriously, amazing..."

Skeletons were no match for us.

We were utterly dominating.

Then—

"Whoa, one’s coming this way—"

A single Skeleton, having evaded attacks from the three of them, headed straight for me.

Should I have someone intercept it, or—

After a brief hesitation, I raised my sword.

I needed to fight sometimes too, to sharpen my instincts in battle.

"[Extending Arm]!"

My swinging arm extended far beyond the usual sword range, striking the approaching Skeleton.

This was a new skill I had acquired after making the Reaper my servant.

"[Slash]!"

I followed up with another sword skill, taking down three more Skeletons.

Though I’d lost Mirage, my stats hadn’t decreased, nor had I lost access to his skills.

Apparently, once I gained stats and skills from making a servant, they didn’t disappear even if the servant was gone.

…Well, Mirage hadn’t been completely destroyed; it was more like he’d "lost his power" and was temporarily out of commission.

Before long—with the efforts of my three servants—the Skeleton army was annihilated.

"Alright, let’s turn them all into servants."