Chapter 26
It was a complete transformation.
Just moments ago, it had been a corpse smashed to pieces, but now it had become a figure radiating overwhelming intimidation simply by standing still.
The blood mist pouring from the cross-section of its neck looked pretty damn cool, too.
When I heard it was necromancy, I'd first imagined zombies or dokkaebi.
I never imagined it would become something wearing such magnificent armor.
Of course, we'd have to part ways soon.
I'd have to handle the promotion match alone and leave it on the previous floor.
“Wow…”
The thought made me feel so good.
At last.
It really was, at long last.
The moment had finally arrived when I no longer had to worry about that door suddenly flying open.
At the very least, I'd have time to prepare beforehand.
So at first, I'd thought it would be nice if I could make even a scarecrow that only functioned as an alarm…
But seeing this guy's appearance, it looked like he could serve as a decent bulwark in his own right.
If so, it was time to test how strong he was.
“I was told I could just give him commands verbally.”
I extended my index finger and pointed into empty space.
“Go…! Attack!”
Whoosh!
The Blood Knight's form vanished from my field of vision.
Immediately afterward.
KABOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sound came first.
Then a tremendous gust that blew up out of nowhere sent my silver hair flying.
Whoom-!
“……”
I was rendered speechless.
‘Holy shit…’
I turned to check where the sound had come from and was left dumbfounded.
The wall on the far side of the marble chamber.
The Blood Knight stood there, having gouged a massive crater into the marble wall with a single fist.
“It… broke the Tower's wall…?”
Of course, I'd heard that the innermost surface of the Tower was made of ordinary stone, but this was the first time I'd ever seen a wall damaged like that with my own eyes.
I swallowed hard.
Strength, Agility.
It was clear that, at the very least, those two physical stats were far higher than mine.
My hands trembled slightly.
I wasn't intoxicated by the strength of the undead entity I'd summoned.
Of course, this was also the time to be happy about it…
But then a thought occurred to me.
“I was in real danger…”
According to Necromancer Gonic's explanation, Spiritblood Tea Ceremony necromancy drew out roughly 90% of the skill the corpse had possessed in life.
In other words.
It meant I'd been fighting something even stronger than this.
…Even thinking about it now, it was incredibly fortunate that I hadn't crossed blades with the swordsman even once.
The fact that it had been an opponent I could never have defeated without using my instant-death skill had just been proven.
…
I stared blankly at the Blood Knight.
Once I'd confirmed its physical abilities, its empty hands began to look painfully conspicuous.
“Right… I should give it a sword.”
I opened my inventory and took out the greatsword this man had held in life.
“Here. Take this.”
When I held out the greatsword, the headless knight strode right up to me and knelt on one knee, like a knight receiving a holy relic.
Then it carefully accepted the greatsword in both hands, as though it were deeply honored.
<…Obedience…>
Schring-.
The Blood Knight rose to its feet again.
“Give it a swing.”
At that moment.
I realized that, until just now, I had been underestimating this knight.
An eerie killing intent began to rise, incomparable to before.
My Senses stat screamed.
‘This is an opponent I could never defeat.’
That instinct kept forcing the thought into my mind.
I shook my head.
“No…”
There was no need to think of it as frightening.
It had become my subordinate, after all.
And.
“If it's stronger than me…”
I could have it handle the promotion match.
I'd been told that all the experience gained from monsters defeated by an undead entity came to me, so there'd be no reason not to.
In the end, though, I'd have to leave it behind, which meant the floors I had to conquer alone could become more difficult…
I could just use [Death Sentence - Slash (斬)] to take care of those floors.
“…For now, shall we climb together?”
Before that.
To report my success with the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony, I brought up the gallery.
_______
Title: I succeeded!
Author: ㅇㅇ(60F)
{Photo of the red knight standing with the greatsword in hand, seen from behind}
I succeeded with the fifth stage of the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony using Blood Command.
I named it the Blood Knight.
I just tested it, and it was so fast that I was surprised… It seems stronger than me.
For now, I'm going to climb with this guy.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(574F) : Good.
ㅇㅇ(353F) : Oh, he did it!!!
ㅇㅇ(435F) : Is this necromancy or summoning magic? Why does that undead look so cool?
______
Then the anonymous necromancer from Floor 702 made a dramatic appearance.
ㅇㅇ(702F) : ??????;;;;;;;; You actually succeeded at this?
ㅇㅇ(702F) : You used Blood Command < what the fuck does that mean?????
ㄴㅇㅇ(247F) : Guess it worked when he tried it lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : It's fucking absurd that he just skips over that in one sentence. How can someone who isn't even a vampire use Blood Command right away????
It's true that it was difficult.
I'd been on edge the whole time, worried that the blood suspended in midair might come crashing down at any moment.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : And how did you clear Stages 3 and 4 of the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony on your first try?
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Don't tell me you controlled it with Blood Command.
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : That's what I did hehe
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : No, fuck, that's insanely dangerous;;; If you used Blood Command on your own body, your own blood could flow backward, too;
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : Oh, I didn't know.
So it was that dangerous?
Then again, I'd never received even a single word of explanation about Blood Command.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : It makes no fucking sense that you succeeded immediately without any explanation ;;;
ㄴㅇㅇ(465F) : You succeeded, so have a drink.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : None of this makes any sense. Why are you pulling off the most difficult thing?
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Why couldn't you do it with the intact corpses, but forced it to work on a rag using Blood Command??? Why does this work? What the hell are you???
ㄴㅇㅇ(435F): Mutter, mutter, mutter, mutter lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(384F) : He's practically writing the entire comment section by himself.
ㄴㅇㅇ(674F) : Is the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony really that difficult?
ㅇㅇ(702F) : No, it's not just the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony. That's a Cupless Tea Ceremony (無盞茶禮)…
ㄴㅇㅇ(461F) : Cup. Less. Tea. Ceremony.
ㄴㅇㅇ(513F) : The sudden four Chinese characters are fucking hilarious lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(351F) : What the fuck is this even about lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(436F) : Anyway, it does look fucking amazing, yeah.
Floor 702 was practically exploding with frustration.
Why was he acting like that? I'd thought he'd be happy for me.
ㅇㅇ(702F) : You're seriously fucking ridiculous. It took me 30 years just to learn the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony;;;;
ㄴㅇㅇ(466F) : Watching a mediocre guy spray his inferiority complex in every direction as it spins 360 degrees is fucking hilarious lololololol
ㄴㅇㅇ(248F) : An inferiority-complex sprinkler lololololololololol
ㅇㅇ(702F) : It's because you don't understand. The real Cupless Tea Ceremony is fucking impossible;;;;
ㄴㅇㅇ(354F): Then what the hell is a Cupless Tea Ceremony? lololololol
ㄴㅇㅇ(610F) : So he succeeded without a cup(?)
Cupless Tea Ceremony.
It seemed that performing necromancy on a nearly formless corpse through the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony was what it was called.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : The Spiritblood Tea Ceremony centers on blood circulation, so it requires a fresh corpse… It's only the penalty of that requirement that makes it so powerful, but the Cupless Tea Ceremony, which draws out that power even from a damaged corpse, can practically be considered the pinnacle of necromancy.
ㄴㅇㅇ(499F) : Exactly, exactly!
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : That's what I'm asking! How the fuck did he use Blood Command??? ;;
ㄴㅇㅇ(384F) : Succeeding at Blood Command in four hours is fucking insane.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Not in four hours—he did it immediately;;;;
ㄴㅇㅇ(384F) : Seriously?
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : It was difficult, but after trying a few shapes, I got the hang of it.
ㄴㅇㅇ(432F) : If you do it, it works.
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Ah.
ㄴㅇㅇ(384F) : ?
ㄴㅇㅇ(462F) : He felt the gap lol
It was then.
The anonymous user who had commented when I first acquired my Circle appeared.
ㅇㅇ(710F) : Oh, yeah, yeah. Feeling it now? Do you understand how I felt when he figured out the Four Extremes Realm all by himself?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : No, you bony bastard, how is that the same? The Four Extremes Realm only had to be imagined, while this had to be actually carried out…
ㄴㅇㅇ(198F) : Out of nowhere, pure slander lololololol
ㄴㅇㅇ(279F) : Everyone, this is how frightening an inferiority complex can be.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : No, no. Figuring out the mechanism of the Four Extremes Realm from scratch is even more impressive. Necromancy is just playing house. It's not even invincibility or instant death…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : Yeah, fuck off. The Cupless Tea Ceremony is definitely harder.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : I've seen registered users fight, but it's been a while since I've seen two people from the 700s fight lololol
ㄴㅇㅇ(136F) : People in the 700s usually think they're lofty immortals, so they rarely fight. This is fascinating.
ㄴㅇㅇ(302F) : ? What's this guy's deal?
ㄴㅇㅇ(136F) : I'm entering Floor 137 next year, so stop fighting already, okay?
It was a somewhat chaotic moment.
The expert in Spiritblood Tea Ceremony necromancy who had led me down this path appeared.
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Sigh… Newbie.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Gasp, Professor has arrived.
ㄴKnows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : I'm honestly so shocked that even my fingertips are trembling…!
ㄴKnows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : I truly can't believe it…
ㄴKnows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : To be honest, I expected it to take quite a long time… at least… more than half a year…
ㄴㅇㅇ(451F) : ? Then shouldn't you not have taught him?
Her tone was unusually agitated.
It even seemed tinged with guilt.
She continued.
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : That's right… I'll confess… My plan to have Newbie learn the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony within 24 hours… was selfish of me…
ㄴㅇㅇ(651F) : No, you crazy woman, Newbie doesn't have time, so you were trying to make him sick of necromancy lololololol
ㄴㅇㅇ(677F) : He succeeded, so it's fine.
ㄴㅇㅇ(574F) : Hmm.
ㄴKnows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : But… you went and did it in only four hours… and it was even a Cupless Tea Ceremony… It's truly astounding…
ㄴKnows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Please curse this wicked me…
ㄴㅇㅇ(279F) : Mama did nothing wrong…
So that was what had been going on…
But from my perspective, since I'd succeeded right away, I could only thank her for teaching me.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : No! Thank you for teaching me.
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : I'm the one who should be thanking you… for using that shining talent of yours on necromancy… ^^
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : And although the Cupless Tea Ceremony is the pinnacle of the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony, the necromancy you will learn from here on still has deeper, more fascinating possibilities… If you're truly willing to enter the world of necromancy, I'll teach you everything I have…
ㄴㅇㅇ(541F) : I’ll tell you e v e r y t h i n g.
ㄴㅇㅇ(279F) : Teach me too, Mama…
“All right.”
I had gained one more teacher.
Unlike a certain someone, I liked her gentle way of speaking.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : Understood. I'll properly dive into necromancy from now on. It seems to have a lot of appeal.
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Appeal…
ㄴㅇㅇ(431F) : Uh-oh, don't lose your words.
ㄴㅇㅇ(651F) : Is that the kind of appeal you mean?
ㄴKnows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Mmm. So you've awakened to the pleasure of drinking tea…! I'm touched…! ^^
ㄴㅇㅇ(541F) : What's tea drinking?
Tea drinking (飮茶).
The third stage of the Spiritblood Tea Ceremony.
The Chinese characters literally mean “drinking tea,” but in reality, it's an agonizing process of taking spirit blood into the body's three apertures.
“It's not that I found that appealing at all…”
She seemed to have misunderstood.
In fact, the thought of doing that again made me feel faint.
I couldn't understand at all how anyone could compare that to pleasure.
I had to change the subject.
ㅇㅇ(60F)(Author) : …For now, I'll go test how this guy performs in actual combat and come back.
I headed for Floor 61.