<The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Chapter 9>
Group 20
Group Leader: Park Ki-hyuk
Group Members: Princess Merhem, Han Jun-woo
That’s it.
There were only three of them.
Truly.
The Academy was thrown into an uproar.
Was this reasonable? Could a group with merely three members even be called a group?
“Three people! Oh my goodness, where in the world are there groups of just three people?”
“This is all because Park Ki-hyuk didn’t know any better and took the test! This reeks of the group leader’s authoritarianism and overreach!”
“What is the educational philosophy of our Korea Academy? Isn’t it about teamwork, cooperation, and organized hunting? This is unacceptable regardless of the reasoning.”
However, there were those who opposed this outcry.
“What is the controversy here? Whether it’s three people or two, it’s at the discretion of the group leader, isn’t it? As long as the chosen ones take responsibility, I see no problem.”
“You’re right. Looking back, cases like this haven’t been unheard of. Park Su-hyeok’s group is one example, isn’t it?”
“Five, six, eight… there were quite a few cases where groups were formed around the idea of a small elite team. Though most dissolved before passing the ‘midterm exam’, but who knows? Maybe Park Ki-hyuk will successfully build a team like his brother.”
The responsibility placed on a group lies solely with the group leader.
Even though the South Korean Academy emphasized both collaboration and independent, creative growth, too much interference could harm that principle.
Merhem initially supported the opposing side outright.
A group of only three people? What kind of ridiculous joke is this? It’s insane! Even if Yggdrasil did recommend Park Ki-hyuk, this is unacceptable! No way.
‘I’ll see just how long this lasts. I’ll quit today!’
She left home with such resolve.
Even thirty minutes earlier, as she stepped into the gate that Park Ki-hyuk arranged, this resolve hadn’t wavered.
Fifteen minutes ago, when Park Ki-hyuk effortlessly decapitated several Nolls, she intended to leave immediately with a cool “This is where I get off.”
But then ‘those things’ stood up, and the situation changed.
She could barely believe her eyes as slender bone fragments—ones that looked like they might break at a touch—slaughtered Noll troops, making the term ‘hunt’ seem too dignified for what was essentially a massacre.
Huh… uh… you see…
I don’t want to admit this…
“Maybe, it could work.”
Squawk!!
An earsplitting scream rang out.
For the sake of my poor ears, the noise needs to stop.
Crrrrkkk.
The neck of the creature turns. As the Noll collapses behind it, the skeleton rises with a flourish, and a dozen skeleton soldiers dash past me, driving their swords into the Noll forces.
Skeleton
The starting and foundational magic for necromancers.
A magic that is mostly overlooked. Often considered merely a stepping stone before learning higher summoning magic.
But did you know?
This basic magic that is often dismissed as merely something to move past is what brought me to the position of Demon Lord.
Crack!
The skeleton is shattered by a Noll’s axe. As bone fragments scatter, it seems the skeleton will turn to dust, but…
Absolutely not.
Scattered bones reassemble in the blind spot and drive a blade into the neck of the Noll that broke it.
Squawk!!
Next to that, another skeleton faces off with a Noll one-on-one.
Perhaps others observing this situation would be as astonished as Merhem.
Shouldn’t skeletons just mindlessly charge into battle? Yet, my skeleton maintains a low stance as though it were a knight entering a duel, carefully calculating distance.
Advancing and retreating cautiously, it finally provokes the Noll into a lunge.
Whish!
It sidesteps, delivering a swift horizontal slash, cleanly severing the Noll’s head.
Almost immediately, a voice comes from behind.
“…This can’t be real. That thing is a skeleton, right?!”
“…!!”
Merhem stared in shock, as if she’d seen a ghost, while Han Jun-woo too was awestruck, his jaw almost hitting the ground despite remaining silent.
It’s understandable why they were shocked.
I studied a lot of videos to adapt to this world. You can see videos from all around the globe with just a click.
Inevitably, superhuman combat videos became the most popular among those.
With millions of views and popularity rivaling mainstream entertainers, this highlighted the status of superhumans in this world.
Anyway, among them, I fortuitously came across a video labeled ‘Necromancer.’
In this video, skeletons and ghouls were summoned to fight the enemy… But I doubted my own eyes.
The skeletons were completely untrained!
Not to mention ‘acquiring’ combat skills, the so-called ‘necromancer’ in the video didn’t even command them!
It was hard for me to believe as a former Demon Lord.
What kind of skeletons were these? These were walking corpses!
After days of research, I was utterly amazed to find out that this world seemed alarmingly ignorant of summoned creatures.
So much so that it amounted to outright neglect.
As a result, summons were deemed weak and sluggish, and naturally, they were relegated to a niche that was largely ignored.
But my skeletons were different. Everyone could see how nimble and agile they were.
Although their conditioning wasn’t yet optimal, hence their defensive and offensive capabilities hadn’t surpassed the limits of ordinary skeletons, they used calculated and seasoned combat techniques targeting vital points, skillfully trading damage for victory.
To those who’ve only seen standard skeletons, the fact they could fight like this must be a cultural shock.
At a glance, they seemed more shocked at this than they were upon learning I could use mana. Merhem was so stunned she collapsed and could only sit and watch the skeletons fight.
I had accidentally shocked them, but it was a pleasant surprise.
“Do you want to see a little more?”
I licked my lips and ‘called’ on my right arm.
Black smoke curled up my wrist. Sticky and humid, the smoke gradually formed a clear shape.
Soon, my faithful right hand, Baphomet, appeared.
“Open your eyes.”
In response to the command, Baphomet opened its eyes and…
At that moment,
The d*ath soldiers stood up.
After tidying up the battlefield, we had a brief rest period.
I wiped off the bl**d and retrieved a chocolate bar. However, I could feel piercing gazes coming my way.
“…”
“Stop staring already.”
“…Ki-hyuk, you tricked us. You know how to use mana.”
“Did I ever say I couldn’t use it?”
“But Ki-hyuk, you have Mana Deficiency Syndrome, so I naturally assumed you couldn’t use mana.”
“Of course, of course… Princess, nothing is ‘natural’ in the world of sorcerers.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly that. Sit here. Let’s have a discussion about it.”
Good timing. I was already planning to handle this, as our two group members had completely opposite tendencies, so we needed some hierarchy. This discussion with our Princess would set the precedence.
“What is a sorcerer?”
“Sorcerer? Is it not someone who uses magic?”
“So, anyone who knows how to use magic is a sorcerer?”
“Isn’t that the definition?”
“Uh, no. A sorcerer is someone who seeks the truth within the path of magic.”
Truth lies everywhere. In the moving winds, in the striking waterfalls, in the fluttering heartbeats. A true sorcerer must study and contemplate the truth through the path of magic.
“Mana Deficiency Syndrome. A body unable to receive mana. Is such a phenomenon even plausible? Think about it. If every world we live in contains mana, how could only I not contain any?”
“…”
Of course, this could be true for “Giants,” but unknown to Merhem, I might be a solid example of this phenomenon.
Han Jun-woo also subtly sat beside us, his thirst for improvement genuine. He seemed to lean in, hoping to gain something even if he pretends not to listen.
“How about we look at skeletons? I’m sure the skeletons you’ve seen before were slow, dull, and no better than punching bags that could only charge recklessly. How were the skeletons you saw today, Merhem?”
“They were fast. They were like savage beasts.”
“And you, Jun-woo?”
“They displayed an understanding of combat.”
“Indeed, completely different, right?”
They both nodded in agreement.
“See? Nothing is ‘natural.’ It’s just a perception of something we think is natural. That’s why we begin with questions. Always ask yourself questions, understand from where the power we use comes, what mana truly is, and what these gates are.”
“To whom should we address these questions?”
Han Jun-Woo asked, and I smiled faintly in response.
“Why not question that too? The answer is already within you.”
Step 1.
Breaking fixed notions.
This would be my first lesson for them.
‘And while I’m teaching them,’
I had a ‘job’ of my own to do.
They were far worse in condition than I had expected.
My gaze was fixed on the skeletons.
*
Indeed, I began with the task of strengthening the skeletons after the gate trip.
The process of strengthening skeletons has three steps.
The first is ‘conditioning.’
This involves reinforcing the skeleton’s bone structure, which improves the basic attributes such as attack and defense.
The next step is ‘acquisition.’
This step inputs combat skills such as swordsmanship or spear techniques to the skeletons, allowing them to use their enhanced capabilities to their fullest extent.
The final step is ‘command.’
While the first two steps improve individual skeletons, command is about controlling a group or a crowd of skeletons as if they were limbs of the caster.
Among these, the most challenging step by far is the ‘command.’
Controlling a few skeletons is easy; managing a hundred is doable. But when you reach thousands or even tens of thousands?
The caster gets overwhelmed. I call this ‘spiritual immersion.’ When the caster’s spirit cannot contain the magic and gets consumed by it.
Then?
The skeleton collapses into pieces.
This is why necromancers chase after ‘d*ath Knights’ so desperately. If you have d*ath Knights who command themselves, you don’t have to bother with the cumbersome task of controlling the whole group.
Thus, conditioned, acquiring, and commanded skeletons go through these three steps.
Currently, the ‘basic construction’ I am working on involves creating skeletal frameworks for conditioning the bones.
Crrrrck!
I inspected a lying skeleton by disassembling its tibia. Tapping it lightly with my fingers, I sniffed it.
“It’s human.”
The skeleton’s bones were completely basic – human bones.
A totally elementary form of skeleton.
There was no point in examining further. Tossing the bone fragment aside,
I inserted a bone from my subspace instead.
It was the tibia of a Noll.
“Nolls are unexpectedly sturdy in the lower half as low-level monsters.”
I replaced the entire lower half of the skeleton with Noll bones and proceeded upward, using Orc bones this time since they were the most viable options among the monster bones I had access to.
Crrrrck, Grind.
It might appear like piecing together a puzzle in a straightforward manner, but this process is surprisingly intricate. You need a deep understanding of each creature’s anatomy to transplant monster bones into a human skeletal structure.
The number of ribs, the length of arms, each joint, and most importantly, the spine itself.
You fill in any missing parts and trim off any excessive ones to create the perfect skeleton.
This completes Stage 1.
Now onto Stage 2. Pulling out a dagger from my subspace,
A fine engraving dagger made purely of magic gem. Frankly, the technical aspects here in the Academy seem better than in the Empire.
Using the dagger, I carved magic arrays onto the bones of the finished skeleton.
Shhh… shhh…
As I draw dots, lines, circles, and angles,
‘Hardening’ and ‘Resilience’ are completed.
Ideally, I would like to work on the nervous system as well, but that is currently beyond my reach. Let’s leave it here and do a neat job.
When the magic array work is done, Stage 2 is complete.
Stage 3 is Equipment!
There’s a saying, “a master doesn’t care about their tools,” but honestly, that’s nonsense. The more skilled the craftsman, the more they care about their equipment, don’t they?
That’s why I’ve prepared this! With thanks to Mom, here’s the equipment set.
“Kyah, just look at that lustrous shine.”
A powerful axe and shield made from Cyclops bones, renowned for their durability.
This set should last well through the middle stages. Thanks again, Mom.
Equipping the skeleton’s hands with these completes Stage 3.
Finally, here’s the ultimate step.
This step’s core element: soul inscription.
Swish!
Raising the kn*fe, I carved my palm.
Drip, drip, bl**d fell onto the skeleton. The bl**d droplets seep into the carved grooves of the magic array and how much time has passed?
A bizarre red pattern bloomed on the lying skeleton.
“Phew.”
Now it’s time for mana.
“Come, Baphomet.”
My right arm Baphomet revealed itself in the air.
“Eat.”
The black smoke swirled around the lying skeleton, then vanished without a trace.
With this, all the work is done.
Let’s check it out.
“My vassal, by your master’s decree.”
Awaken!
Instantly, a curtain of black smoke spread out.
And from behind the curtain, the skeletons emerged.
The bl**d-red magic arrays glowed like tattoos.
