Necromancer Survival

Chapter 128

At first, I didn’t think he was a User–after all, there were tangled, white bones where the head should’ve been.

However, as soon as the bone mass collided with the floor, it shattered and scattered; the face of the young man hidden behind it was finally revealed. It was a face I had never seen before. However, since he may be someone related to Lim Jisoo or Bae Jaemin, I decided to meticulously scrutinize him.

“Co-ough…”

There was no severe trauma on the outside, but the man was bleeding from his nose. Even after he had returned to consciousness, I suspected he had a concussion–he couldn’t maintain an upright balance.

Soon afterwards, though, he shook his fist in the air and unfurled it; in his palm was a commonly used recovery potion. I was sure he was a user just from that.

Then, with his shaking arms, the man looked down at his slightly twisted wrist, sighed, and opened a new potion bottle. Strangely enough, he didn’t go on to contact his fellow colleagues he must have entered the <Tower of Command> with, nor check his current location, nor examine his weapons…

“What’s this…” he gasped–a strange sound. He picked up and examined the [light] item from the floor. From then on, I felt a bit stifled (is this the correct word? Uncomfortable? restless? I don’t know the perfect english word but I know this word in Korean) with his actions.

‘I don’t know how long I’ve been stuck here, but…’

However, before I died, didn’t the difficulty mandate that the <Tower of Command> be accessed by Users at least level 80 or higher?

Let alone level 80, the man I was watching could not have been level 50 from his slow movements and his naive behavior. In addition, he directed the [light] in the same direction constantly–his manner of searching was futile.

No, to be exact, he was like someone who had never explored and investigated before; in gaming terms, he had a newbie’s unique clumsiness. He seemed to be working hard, but it seemed to be, to say it lightly, a waste of time?

Watching him dither around meaninglessly for dozens of minutes, I wondered how many times this guy would have died if there were any active monsters–like those I encountered before my death–around.

‘He probably would have died once every 30 seconds?’

Nevertheless, this man was special to me.

[A special benefit has been added to the ‘Demon King of Revenge‘ scenario]

[If you proceed with the scenario now, you obtain the ‘Wise Man’s robe’ that contains the ‘Star’s Orbit’]

[If you proceed with the scenario now, the Demon King’s henchman–Succubus Lupetia, will be fully loyal to you.]

Why? Because the system, as if it were undergoing a seizure, threw new perks at me, enticing me to accept the scenario, whenever I looked at that man.

Of course, I had no intention of becoming a dungeon boss and a monster, but I needed to consider the meaning of the scenario further. Especially with how it came into view, trying to steal away my attention from the man.

Thus, I concluded this:

‘If I were to get entangled with that man, the [Demon King of Revenge] scenario will not develop or will be batted away.’

Otherwise, there would be no reason to flood my view with dozens of messages to accept immediately.

However, the identity of the man was still unknown; I was frustrated from my inability to do anything but observe him.

However, I soon learned that there was no need for me to step in. Searching this dungeon properly would lead to [a new discovery], which would help lead to the next step. Only when certain actions had been made, the [a new discovery] alert would be renewed, furthering progression.

Although the man was slow, he seemed to find the [new discovery] and followed it diligently in his own way. Then, he stepped on the broken staff and tripped over it. One step ahead of him, I had found the corpse ahead and had been examining it.

“Did a monster do this?”

The issue was…the corpse was something that imitated my death. The same with the tattered robe wrapped around the body, the collapsed posture, and the recently discovered broken staff…these were all clues that were indexical of my death.

As soon as I saw that sight, I turned to the man, who was just staring at it with fear; he didn’t show any signs of agitation or acknowledgement.

Was he truly someone irrelevant to my death? While I was still full of suspicion that was soon becoming uncertain, the man followed the trail of [new discoveries] to my corpse.

“Urgh, I guess I have to take it out.”

While hesitating, he cringed and touched the black wedge stuck in my corpse’s back.

He plucked it out; simultaneously, I felt an extreme pain–one I hadn’t felt in many years–spread from my back. I crumpled, unable to make sounds at the fiery pain. But, something weirder than that appeared in front of me.

[‘D※mon ♠ng’ Sce…n…….r…….o……….◇]

The scenario window for the [Demon King of Revenge] scenario, which had been persistently dodging my view, gradually became transparent and soon deteriorated until it was unreadable.

[A new scenario has been added.]

[You can now begin the scenario, ‘A Summons After Death’]

[The scenario ‘Demon King of Revenge’ will now proceed automatically if the ‘A Summons After Death’ scenario fails. Currently, that scenario is in a locked state.]

And, as soon as that window disappeared, a new message appeared. Pushing through the torturous pain, I pressed the button that would manifest a further detailed explanation for the new scenario.

The grade of the scenario, [A Summons After Death] was classed at SSS grade–a first of its kind from what I could see. There was even no guidance on how to progress with the scenario or information on achievement conditions.

However, below, the reward was clearly listed.

[Reward: It may be possible to completely and perfectly resurrect the dead party]

‘….The reward is resurrection?’

I opened my eyes wide. I’d refused to become a monster so far, but I didn’t dare to dream that I could live a new life again. I had just hoped to not turn insane–that was all. If I were to be left in this situation for eternity, I was afraid that I would eventually succumb to the allure of becoming a monster, an escape…

Wouldn’t it be better to disappear into nothingness? The long days of worries and agony passed my mind–If I couldn’t survive, then I’d want to let those I cared about in the outside world know of this situation and disappear cleanly. That was all I could hope for.

Resurrection.

As if an asphyxiating person had received a respirator, I began to breathe heavily. The pain that was still lingering in my back began to feel sweet. The pain was like I…

It made me feel like I’d already returned to life.

However there was no acceptance button for the [A Summons after Death] scenario, and I was still trapped in this mental world, same as before. The system window remained the same. As soon as I realized that the answer did not lay within my hands, I immediately looked around the surroundings. Soon after the man held the black wedge within his hands, he collapsed, and I found myself face to face with an unconscious, pallid-faced man.

The moment I saw his face, I was sure.

‘This man is the core of the scenario.’

Time, previously frozen, had begun to flow again ever since he fell in front of me. I looked down at the unconscious man and reached out to him. However, contrary to my expectations, my hands couldn’t even touch the man. However, even though we did not touch, the man frowned and muttered as if I had touched him.

“Seo Dawon…”

My name unexpectedly popped out of his mouth.

He murmured my name as if he knew me. I had never seen him. But, just in case, I observed his face meticulously again.

He looked a bit younger than me–did he just recently turn 20? I don’t think my guess was too far off given the bumbling appearance he showed before he collapsed.

I had no knowledge of his level or class… He had no defining weapon nor specific body features that could be a marker. I could only shallowly remove certain classes, ‘I’m guessing he isn’t a Warrior…?’

Then, suddenly, the man convulsed; he breathed in raggedly as if he were being strangled. I reached out my hand to help, but, frustratingly, I could do nothing.

TL: Imagine being turned into a monster that Users kill after death–honestly this is basically dystopia.