Necromancer Survival - Chapter 205

   At this point, Seo Dawon was looking our way; I didn’t particularly want to do so, but I quietly stepped back. Then, I used my skills to deal with the [Jiangshi]s rushing around.

     At that time, Seo Dawon, Woo Ragi, and Jo Chanyoung had almost knocked down the guardian, [Black Imugi].

     “[Wave].”

     No matter how high the [Black Imugi]’s magic resistance was, its scales were only a physical barrier and failed to withstand the shock of the three’s attacks. The guild members avoided the [Jiangshi] and moved to ransack the serpent’s inner organs.

     Just like a car crash, a car’s frame may look fine but the insides may be messed up–there were no problems with the outer skin, but the inner viscera had been damaged. Dark, viscous blood began to flow from the Imugi’s mouth. Its long, drooping tongue had begun to hang out of its mouth.

     Of course, the [Black Imugi] wasn’t going down peacefully. Now, there was a visible difference in its attack patterns; there was no time to take a step towards the monster because the serpent had sprayed its poison mist everywhere.

     However, there were three long-distance damage dealers on our side.

     After transforming into a phoenix, Jo Chanyoung couldn’t be touched by poison. He annoyed the Imugi by shooting blessings at it from midair. When the [Black Imugi] tried to attack the floating Jo Chanyoung, Woo Ragi fired his echo blades at it, drawing its aggro yet again.

     In the midst of this snail’s pace battle, Seo Dawon began hitting the serpent with his attacks, consistently. Even if a single attack seemed to have no impact, there must be accumulated damage, for the serpent clearly moved to avoid the spells in self-preservation.

     Above all–forget avoiding all three attacks–the [Black Imugi] had no choice but to let itself be hit. The [guardian] of a dungeon had no choice but to protect the boss monster from Users. So, while [Daji] sat perfectly postured in her pavilion, the serpent had no choice but to block all attacks directed at her with its body.

    At some point, Seo Dawon began to direct his skills towards [Daji]’s location and not the Imugi, and, ever since then, the Imugi had been dragged around by the Mage.

The serpent moved towards Seo Dawon on numerous occasions in order to kill the Mage, but it had no easy access. The guild members surrounded Seo Dawon, keeping the Mage in the center,  so no one could approach the Mage while he used his skills. That was why I was also not directly attacking the [Black Imugi].

     A Mage was a truly powerful damage dealer, but their slow skills left them vulnerable to attacks. Therefore, protecting Seo Dawon was a priority, and I took care of the [Jiangshi] rushing at the Mage. If Kim Olim were here, this role would have been played by her; however, since she was absent, I had to step forward as a close-combat DPS.

     “[Gravity].”

[Kyaaaaaaa–!]

      Finally, the Imugi went down with the last attack, slowly collapsing. The system had also notified me with the experience and randomly distributed items that I had received.

However, we observed [Daji] without relaxing in the wake of victory.

     Usually, hardcore boss monsters, after the [guardian] that protected them had been felled, would ‘awaken’ into a more powerful second phase complete with new attack patterns. As expected, [Daji] looked at the fallen [Black Imugi], raised her head, and closed her eyes. Soon after, her white and beautiful skin cracked like rice paddies during a drought.

As he observed [Daji]’s transformation, Seo Dawon briefly began to lead us all. “The [Jiangshi]s will become stronger soon; the corpse in [Daji]’s embrace, [De Xin], will be resurrected soon. [De Xin] will perform a large-scale attack every three minutes. However, if there’s a danger signal, leave its surroundings immediately and try not to jump as much as possible.”

     “Understood.”

“Also, don’t make eye contact with [Daji]. According to the scenario, [Daji] was a powerful witch, puppeteering the living and dead alike. Everyone should spread out; do not approach guild members that are acting strangely.”

Listening to his explanation, I looked forward nervously.

     As Seo Dawon said, [De Xin] had been resurrected. [De Xin]’s movements were grotesque–as if his body were being pulled by strings–but he was still very fast and powerful.

     [De Xin] staggered around and equipped the bow he had stored on his back. Afterwards, he repetitively pulled at empty bow strings. Even if no actual arrows were notched, his attacks still flew towards us.

     Reading the airflow, I tilted my head. At that moment, I confirmed out of the corners of my eyes that the attack had cut off some strands of my hair. Tension began to rise throughout my body.

[It was you who called me from the moon.]

[You reached your hand out from the pond and said]

[‘If you tell me your name, I’ll do anything for you.’]

     Fascinating despite its insidiousness, [Daji]’s voice reverberated in my ears.

     [Daji] sang sweetly and richly–her voice melting honey. A curse was definitely permeating through that song; despite Seo Dawon’s warnings, I kept wanting to turn my head to look at her.

     “Bae Jaemin?”

     “……”

However, I wasn’t the problem this time; instead, the issue was with Bae Jaemin, who was supporting us from the rear. At some point, the shield that had been protecting us had disappeared. When I looked back, Bae Jaemin had lowered his hands, looking at some strange place with a blank expression.

     I didn’t bother checking what Bae Jaemin was looking at and, instead, flew towards him. Even after he was pushed down by my attack, Bae Jaemin continued to blink without much focus.

     “What should I do with this bastard?”

“”

     “Garam-ah, get away.” Seo Dawon warned me. I was briefly puzzled, but then I thought deeper. I had approached Bae Jaemin even though I was told to stay away from guild members that were acting strangely.

     Sheepish, I tried to get away, but Bae Jaemin had already placed his hands on my eyes. “[I shall block the enemy’s view].”

     As soon as the Priest placed the debuff on me, my vision became dark for a while; soon after, all the guild members around me began to look like [Jiangshi]. Even where Seo Dawon had stood just a minute ago, a [Jiangshi] was spreading out its blue hands towards me. My head was spinning.

     “Dawon-hyung?” I asked.

[Growl…]

     I couldn’t even hear the guild members’ voices; all I could sense was a mass of flesh walking towards me. However, I backed away while lowering my dagger. If I swung my dagger in this situation, I would most likely harm the other guild members.

Fortunately, my [Confused] condition didn’t last long; my perception returned to normal.

     The problem, though, was that in that short time, Bae Jaemin walked away from our range of control towards [Daji], moving as if he were being controlled–just like [De Xin].

     I knew that I would be attacked if I were to approach the Priest, so I stood there, helpless. I directed a question to Seo Dawon, who had arrived by my side in the blink of an eye. “What should we do about that basta–Bae Jaemin?”

     “…For now, it’s better to observe him. [Daji] wants to use him as her slave; she won’t kill him.”

     Fortunately, our situation didn’t seem too dire yet. Furthermore, Seo Dawon must have expected something like this to happen; the Mage ordered Jo Chanyoung to lure [De Xin] away from the Priest.

     Watching that, I complained, “Honestly, why did he look at her when told not to…”

     “It’s hard to resist [Daji] when you first come to this dungeon. Those of the holy attribute are especially weak to her…” 1  He looked over at Bae Jaemin as if he were a naive child.

     When I saw Seo Dawon’s worried gaze rest on Bae Jaemin, my mood worsened quickly, and my brows frowned. However, before I could express my feelings, Woo Ragi approached us with light jumps; his expression was far more menacing than mine. “Is he possessed too? Kim Olim also flipped out on me.”

     “[Daji] is particularly discordant with those with holy-attributes. It can’t be helped–their natures just don’t match.”

     “What are you going to do? If you make a large-scale attack, Bae Jaemin will set up a shield.”

     I almost blurted out that we should do that, but, fortunately, I drawed upon superhuman patience just before I opened my mouth. While I was silent, Seo Dawon stared blatantly at Woo Ragi.

     “What’s with those eyes? What are you going to make me do now…” Worried for himself, Woo Ragi backed down–quite unlike his usual bluster. Seo Dawon, though, caught his arm before the swordsman could move away.

     Disgusted, Woo Ragi tried to shake the Mage off, but, once again, Seo Dawon was faster. “Ragi-yah.”

     “What.”

     “I’m afraid I need your help.” Then, before Woo Ragi could react, Seo Dawon shouted “[Warp].”