Awakening: I Ascend As A Legendary Ranked Necromancer

Chapter 121: A hand

The Blood Necromancer smiled tightly behind his mask. "Ahahaha. You have really cornered me. But do you really think your people will be able to save her and get out of there alive? You aren’t that naive, are you?"

He narrowed his eyes. "What did you do?"

"Let’s say I left a surprise behind."

Just then, Kaelith flinched. "I see. So Kaidos is dead. Then it won’t be long now. Enjoy this sense of victory while you can, because it won’t last long."

I watched him break the shield and turn away, leaving Thayer confused. Thayer frowned deeply. "You’ll be able to counter any trap, won’t you guys?"

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

With Litha leaning against me, I supported her as we made it to the door alongside Temur—right before we felt it. An aura brushed against my senses, making my skin crawl. I flinched.

"What is it again?" I growled.

We turned, and I saw Kaidos’s body twitch. His stomach swelled, his skin squirming as if something was moving beneath it.

"You killed him, right?" Litha asked.

"Yes, he’s dead for sure," Temur said flatly. There was no doubt about that. And yet...

"Don’t tell me he can come back to life!" I shouted. There was nothing worse than an opponent with powerful regeneration—let alone one that could revive.

Kaidos’s stomach burst open. Blood erupted upward, followed by the largest worm I had ever seen. It turned toward us, hissed, then burrowed back into Kaidos’s flesh, slurping liquefied meat.

A wave of disgust washed over me. I grimaced. "That looks like one of the blood worms Kaelith uses, but what’s it doing in that guy’s stomach?"

Litha grimaced. "I think Kaidos might just be a source of food right now. If this was something Kaelith left behind, then we have to exterminate it before it does whatever it’s planning."

"I’ll do it," Temur said.

"No," I said immediately. I helped Litha down to the ground and stepped forward. "I’ll handle this."

I walked toward the body. "Let’s see... Onus."

Power flowed into me. I spread my hand over the corpse and pressed down hard.

The air above the body shuddered, but just before my force could slam down, something shot out. I jerked back instinctively.

A hand.

Black. Shell-like. Long claws. Jutting black spines at the joints.

I stepped back further just as the body exploded, chunks of flesh splattering through the air. "This is different from what I was expecting."

A monster crouched before me. My first thought was that it looked like a cockroach shaped like a man—black, shining shell, flat head, and even wings.

It shook them.

The sound was like metal grinding against metal.

"Let’s see if killing insects still works the same way," I shouted, "by stomping them hard!"

I brought my hand down. My force crashed with the weight of a charging bull.

The monster was crushed instantly. A sharp crack rang out.

"Ahaha!" I laughed. "I was worried for a moment, but it seems you’re not that strong! Come on, let’s get out of here."

I turned back toward Temur and Litha—and froze.

A sound behind me made my spine stiffen.

I turned slowly.

Two worms writhed on the corpse of the creature I had just killed.

Then, in the blink of an eye, two monsters stood up.

Identical.

"Shit," I muttered. "Did they just multiply? What kind of magic is this?"

I shuddered. They didn’t look strong, but multiplication... Was this Kaelith’s trap?

"I’ve said it countless times," I growled, "but I really hate cockroaches!"

I thrust my right hand forward.

Bang!

My force erupted outward, sending both monsters flying. They slammed into the wall and burst apart with a wet pop.

I noticed immediately when Kaelith became restless, and I knew immediately that things must not be going his way. I grinned behind my mask—so the guys have done it!

So what will you do now, Kaelith? Since your card has been checked, I thought. Will you continue your calmness or do the next possible thing—take another hostage? Me!

At the end of the hall, Kaelith turned and looked my way, and the two of us locked eyes. I grinned. "I haven’t fought in a long while. Let’s see, I have some already bought goods. Let equip!"

I scrolled through my Grimoire and began to press ’yes’ to what I needed. Just then, I suddenly leaped up, and my movement was graceful but still unusual—because why was I jumping into a party?

They knew soon enough—flat tentacles of blood red curved and rose from the floor, slashing the air toward me. I wove among them as if I were air.

People shouted in alarm and flinched back, murmuring and pointing. They were surprised but not that alarmed. This wasn’t the first time they would be witnessing something like this; assassination is a common thing after all.

But what alarmed them was the target. It’s me—Torvan Argent! As I predicted earlier, Awakeners rushed forward, and the room exploded into bright lights as skills filled the air, followed by a shockwave that made the room shake.

When the dust settled, there were at least four Awakeners dead with their throats slashed brutally, and one neck was taken off cleanly.

"Ah, now he’s done it," I said from above. I was standing above the ground, my legs firmly on compressed air. "Now you’ll have to kill everyone to keep yourself safe. Oh wait, no matter what, you’ll have to run again after today with the Tower after you."

Kaelith was past caring. His eyes hardened, and he ripped the mask on his face away. "I’ll kill you, Torvan, even if it’s the last thing I do, but I must first secure you as a valuable hostage first."

I looked at the Awakeners gathered below and saw fear in them. Maybe they might have fallen on the blood Necromancer if he were weaker than them, but now that they knew his silver rank, they began to give space.

Lord Ola was standing with the two silver ranks among them, and the stance was clear: they wouldn’t be standing with the Argent tonight. It was a risk against their business when this was all over, but at least they’d still be alive.

"Do you see now?" Kaelith began to walk forward, taking his time, and each step he took expanded the pool of blood that began to grow under him, rippling with each movement. "At the end, they won’t throw their life away; at the end, they choose the one that’ll guarantee their life. You should have put this in your plans when you decided to box me in."