*
Though the voice was distorted, I could feel the emotion. The man, expressing rage that seemed about to burst, suppressed himself with a deep breath.
He was suppressing his emotions as much as possible, but the murderous intent that was outwardly revealed made my neck tingle.
Since I had never seen another human here, he must have held a grudge against the woman next to me.
'But why does he keep looking at me?'
I can't say I've lived an entirely righteous life, but I haven't done anything wrong since coming here.
"Do you know him?"
"I don't know that kind of guy... and that's not what's important!"
"That's right."
I wondered if he was a human with a grudge against the messenger of God next to me, but judging from her reaction, she didn't seem to know him.
It wasn't strange that she didn't recognize him since he was wearing a strange mask.
The black flame surrounding the masked man began to burn with an ominous energy.
Louie had experienced a similar energy before. It was the feeling he got from the priests of the Freya Order, from the power they commonly called divine power.
It was a black flame that burned in stark contrast to the pure white light that signified purification, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was unsettling.
"Would you mind telling me who you are?"
"Get lost. I have nothing more to say."
I was a little taken aback by the other party's attitude, which showed no intention of conversing, but either way, he was someone I had to kill.
The condition was to kill all the humans inside this Gate, so it didn't matter who the other party was.
The humans who lived here hunted monsters to obtain spoils, but this place was a burial ground for corpses with no commercial value.
The energy of death permeated the area. The thick energy, which could only be felt on a battlefield, strengthened the necromancer.
The man probably didn't realize it, but the corpses of all sorts of monsters were buried inside. I was planning to kill him with a corpse explosion if he came any closer.
Of course, it was possible to detonate the corpses right now, but the further away he was, the longer it would take to issue the command.
It seemed better to wait for the man to approach, as detonating them at close range would be faster and ensure he was dealt with properly.
Not knowing what means the other party would use to attack gave me a huge advantage.
So, to deal with him properly, it was better for him to come just one step closer. There weren't that many corpses on his side anyway.
'...Come to think of it, that's strange.'
The distance between the man and me was exquisitely perfect. Unlike the densely packed corpses around us, he was standing exactly where the corpses were sparsely buried.
It was a distance that would be impossible unless he knew there were corpses on the ground and that I could explode them.
'It must be my imagination.'
The man raised the corpses around him through necromancy. The corpses around him were already under his control.
Goblins, recently deceased and full of malice, reached out from the mounds of dirt and climbed upwards.
It must be a scene he was seeing for the first time, but his calm response was unsettling. Still, how could he, alone, defeat an army of death numbering in the hundreds?
Dozens of goblins, crossing the wall of death, charged to take down the man.
"I can't draw attention. Deal with him quietly!"
"Understood."
The difference in numbers usually leads to an absolute outcome. A person's arms and legs are limited, so they can only perform one action at a time.
How could he possibly respond to dozens of goblins attacking at once?
That's what I thought, but the man swung his sword without a moment's hesitation.
He lightly dodged attacks coming from behind as if he knew them in advance, and began to ravage the goblins with ominous black flames.
"Imperial swordsmanship...?"
The Imperial swordsmanship, which could only be seen from knights, was unfolding before my eyes.
The goblins began to fall like autumn leaves in a series of attacks that continued cleanly without a 0.1-second pause.
As if knowing that he couldn't stop the goblins by cutting off their heads or bursting their hearts, he was disarming them by removing their arms and legs.
The black flames were especially dangerous. The goblins were suffering fatal wounds as if they had touched a hot griddle with just a brief touch.
I didn't know exactly what kind of power it was, but it was definitely a fatal energy for a necromancer.
I was full of questions as to why a human using Imperial swordsmanship had suddenly appeared here, but that didn't matter.
The man was surrounded by goblins with their arms and legs cut off. If he had known about the corpse explosion, he wouldn't have acted like that.
The moment Louie reached out to explode the goblins, smoke rose from around the man with a small explosion.
The smoke screen obscured Louie's vision. The goblins belatedly began to explode, but all the explosions failed.
"In front! In front! In front of you!"
"..?"
A round object was rolling under my feet. Louie, instinctively sensing danger, used a shield to respond to the attack.
While my attention was on the bomb, the masked man was running towards me.
"It's impressive that you took my attention, but there..."
The moment I tried to explode the corpses after seeing the man's movements, smoke bombs exploded in all directions.
Pyeong! Pyeong!!
I belatedly exploded the corpses, guessing the man's location, but he had already moved quickly.
I hurriedly detonated the corpses around me repeatedly. Even so, the man began to avoid the explosions as if he knew everything.
Moreover, every time an explosion occurred, he kept throwing smoke bombs around, so the smoke didn't disappear.
The sound of approaching footsteps was getting closer and closer in the obscured vision.
Is such movement even possible for a human?
Could there be a human who could run like that, knowing that there were mines everywhere?
It was an impossible movement unless he knew in advance where and how they would explode.
I clearly couldn't sweat since I was a skeleton, but I felt like I was breaking out in a cold sweat.
In that brief moment, the distance was getting closer and closer, and Louie made a decision.
If exploding one wasn't enough, I could explode several at the same time.
No matter how fast and great his movements were, he wouldn't be able to avoid an explosion that detonated over a wide area.
As the distance narrowed, I felt fear without realizing it.
Pyeong!! Peoeong!!!! Pyeong!!!
It was difficult to predict the distance because of the explosions, but I designated the range by predicting the speed that was slightly visible as the smoke cleared due to the explosions.
The moment I thought the man had arrived, I detonated all the corpses around him at once.
With a huge roar, the ground was turned upside down, and pieces of flesh, bone fragments, and monster entrails flew in all directions.
The number of exploding corpses was so great that a huge pit was created in front of the necromancer.
I blocked the various fragments flying in with a barrier due to the aftermath of the explosion.
"What are you doing! I told you to deal with him quietly!!"
The dust settled, and the devastated surrounding scenery began to appear.
"He was an unavoidable opponent. I couldn't see his movements..."
I turned my head because my neck still tingled, and the masked man, who had retreated far back, revealed himself.
"Now, there won't be any corpses, right?"
"No way!! You mean you were aiming for this from the start?!"
The masked man chuckled and started running towards me.
Louie hurriedly began firing Dark Arrows and Dark Fireballs at the man.
Black magic, which was incomparably more dangerous than ordinary magic, flew towards the man, but it was meaningless if it didn't hit.
He began to close the distance in an instant with the same bizarre movements as before.
Occasionally, one would hit the man, but it was mercilessly cut off by the man's swordsmanship.
The man's sword energy, spinning with a roar, looked dangerous at a glance. I clearly had a body that had transcended death, but I felt fear rising.
"Hey! Do something quickly!!"
"Do you think I don't want to! He's moving as if he can see the future!!!"
How could I deal with an opponent who moved as if he knew when I would attack and where I would attack?
When I came to my senses, the distance had already narrowed.
I belatedly activated a barrier, but the masked man's sword, which sounded like a chainsaw, tore through the barrier in an instant.
Anti-magic ability was the opposite of necromancy. The black flame began to burn the evil energy as if it were purifying it.
'In this case, the only one I can trust is him!!!'
Louie turned his gaze to the black orb floating behind him. A power that defied the natural order.
The masked man had now entered the Cult Leader's domain. Didn't they say that even the best Hunters couldn't use their power in a space under the Cult Leader's control?
The orb behind me shone and suppressed the masked man's power.
"Ha! You didn't know this!!!!"
It was over if I attacked the defenseless man with magic. No matter how great a human is, he is still just a human.
Louie's gaze, as he was about to attack with magic, changed strangely.
"You're the ones who don't know."
The man's sword cut Louie's body in half. The sight that entered his bewildered eyes was the black flame resisting the Cult Leader's power.
"This useless bastard, seriously!!"
When Louie turned his head at the voice coming from behind, the woman was already opening a portal and trying to escape.
'But there's still hope. As long as that orb is there, I....'
"Goodbye, you son of a bitch."
His hope didn't last long. Did he know that the source of my power was that orb?
Because the sword, burning with fierce momentum, was cutting the orb in half.
"Ah..."
It was all over. Louie lost consciousness just like that.
"Haa... haa... Annoying bastard."
A woman in assassin's garb was hiding behind a tree, silently watching the scene.
"..."