The Game of the Greatest Black Mage
Chapter 180

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 180

The two exceptional undead that had slipped in amongst the others.

While the division commander was muttering and trembling from above, the members of the 3rd Assassination Unit quickly came to their senses.

The first few casualties were from the surprise attack.

After that, they tried to fight back, but they died in vain due to the sheer difference in power.

By the time they finally managed to form a line to face their foes, the number of their unit members had already been reduced by more than half.

They tried to face them in groups of fifteen, but by then, it was already too late.

As if they had already achieved their initial objective, the exceptional undead disappeared through a teal portal.

The other undead did the same.

“Th-This… what is this…”

“This is crazy.”

“H-Half of us are dead.”

Only thirty unit members remained. In an instant, over thirty had died.

Such a hit-and-run strategy.

But they couldn't bring themselves to call it cheap.

Because this was strategy, and this was war.

They ground their teeth in frustration and muttered.

“It's infuriating, but things will be different when the commander arrives.”

“That's right…”

“We just have to wait for the commander.”

“Those bastards knew they would be defeated when our commander arrives, so they took advantage of the opening when he wasn't here.”

“We'll go back into hiding.”

As per the instructions their commander had left them, the remaining thirty went back into hiding.

They had lost their comrades, but they responded as calmly as possible.

However, there was one thing that clearly showed their lack of experience: the corpses of the comrades they had been fighting alongside just moments ago had vanished without a trace.

Without realizing it, they went back into hiding and waited.

If the undead legion came again, they vowed, they would wait as long as possible and only reappear when those exceptional ones showed up.

And so they hid, clinging to that vow.

However, let alone the exceptional undead, even the regular undead army did not appear for some time.

Unable to understand what was happening, they had no choice but to wait in silence.

Watching them from beyond a small teal portal were two undead.

Barpur and Leonik, their eyes glowing teal and ultramarine, muttered as they watched.

-Barpur, the Lord says the operation was a success.

-Hoho, that's great, then. Should we go join him?

-That would be best.

Muttering such words, Leonik and Barpur closed the portal and vanished from that place.

It was a portal Seonghyun had intentionally left behind, so the two Death Legion Commanders were able to control it to some extent.

And the place where they reappeared was none other than a wide plain, quite far from Basilica.

Just one of the many wide-open plains scattered throughout the unremarkable Crevice of the Labyrinth.

However, the one who was there was not ordinary.

A bat beastkin who resembled a vampire, with some human facial features remaining.

It was unmistakably the commander of the 3rd Assassination Unit.

And here, he was grinding his teeth, glaring at someone as if he wanted to kill him.

“Sibren!!! You bastard!!! How dare you betray us!!!”

With that shout, a battle began.

He was the commander of the 3rd Assassination Unit, who had clearly been on his way to report to the king.

What could have happened?

The story goes back to before Seonghyun attacked with the undead legion.

8.

The commander of the 3rd Assassination Unit, Nuartein, was heading to the royal castle to report after arriving at the city wall.

He was a bat beastkin of high lineage. Some of his human form remained, but because of that, he was known for being quite strong.

It hadn't been long since he was appointed as an assassin, so his emotions weren't completely suppressed yet.

But with his quick mind and sharp intuition, he was a very promising talent who thoroughly completed his missions.

Therefore, he was on his way to report to the king without a shred of doubt.

Spreading his membranous wings, his speed as he flew quickly over the rooftops was faster than expected.

But why?

‘I feel impatient.’

For some reason, he felt a sense of impatience.

There was clearly no reason to be anxious or impatient. And yet, to feel this way meant that something had definitely set off his intuition.

Was it because he was now on his way to the king to report that there was a spy? If so, who could the spy be?

As it happened, there was one very likely suspect.

‘The 2nd Assassination Unit, Commander Sibren.’

Commander Sibren of the 2nd Assassination Unit, who had returned not long ago.

The 2nd Assassination Unit carried out many assassination missions, but they were the best at intelligence gathering.

Sibren, in particular, possessed incredible abilities and could be said to specialize in espionage.

What if such a man were to become a double agent and pass on this place's information?

‘That makes no sense.’

There was no reason for Sibren to betray them, nor could he.

What reason would the emotionally suppressed Sibren have to betray them?

In that moment, one hypothesis came to his mind based on several clues.

What if Sibren was already dead, and they made an undead out of his corpse to act as a spy?

The current enemy was definitely a being who controlled undead.

Or perhaps, multiple beings.

Could Sibren have already died and become an undead?

No.

Just today, when the king declared war, Nuartein had also been present.

But there was no stench of a corpse coming from Sibren's body.

Not only that, but the unique atmosphere that could be felt from Sibren was also the same as always.

‘Can a creator of undead make such a high-level one?’

He didn't know.

He didn't know much about undead.

Then… could it be that someone is watching from the sky, not a spy on the ground?

That thought crossed his mind, and before he realized it, Nuartein instinctively looked up as he flew.

All he saw was a sky filled with dark clouds.

Between the heavy overcast, slivers of red moonlight peeked through from time to time.

But that wasn’t particularly important.

Nuartein dismissed it and continued heading toward the royal castle.

That was when he spotted a familiar face on top of a nearby roof.

‘Sibren?’

Why is he here?

Finding it strange, Nuartein stopped flying and approached Sibren.

Sibren noticed him too and turned his head.

“What is it, Nuartein?”

A voice stripped of any emotional inflection, utterly flat.

That alone confirmed it was Sibren.

Though the fact that he knew his name already made it clear.

“An undead legion appeared near the eastern wall. It didn’t seem normal, so I was on my way to report it to the king.”

“The east, huh. That’s the direction of Ninyaru.”

“Are you seriously implying those cat bastards are commanding undead? No way… Did you go to Ninyaru and see something?”

Caught off guard by the sudden information, Nuartein quickly fired back.

Sibren nodded.

“Yes. I saw it.”

In that instant, something flashed through Nuartein’s mind like a bolt of lightning.

He saw someone controlling the undead there?

Then why didn’t he report it to the king?

The moment Nuartein realized that—

He understood Sibren was the traitor.

And immediately tried to escape.

In terms of pure strength, Sibren was stronger than him.

Just as he spread his wings to take flight—

A void opened beneath his feet, and a clawed hand sprang out, seizing him.

Before he could resist, the same void spread open again, and a dark abyss swallowed him whole.

And when he came to—

Just moments ago, he’d been on a rooftop near the royal castle.

Now the scenery had completely changed.

A wide-open plain stretched out before him, and in the far distance, the silhouette of Basilica could be seen faintly.

Stunned by the sudden shift—

A teal portal opened before Nuartein, and from it emerged Sibren.

Seeing him, Nuartein exploded in fury.

“Sibren!!! You bastard!!! How dare you betray us!!!”

As Nuartein, consumed by rage, shouted and lunged toward Sibren—

-Kuhahaha!!! A battle, is it!!!

“For the Lord, I’d charge into a pit of fire without hesitation.”

“Oho~ A vampire, huh~?”

-L-Lord said to leave the body in one piece i-if possible… S-Sorry, but could you kindly die without a fuss?”

-Is that the one we’re offering to the Lord?

-Ah, don’t worry. He’ll be just like us soon enough.

-PIYAAAAAAAHHH!!!

-KYAAAAAAAHHH!!!

“Ahahaha, don’t scare them like that, guys. I’ll make it quick.”

All of Seonghyun’s familiars appeared.

Sensing the ominous mood, Nuartein instinctively began stepping back.

But Seonghyun stepped in front of him, holding a book infused with the energy of destruction, crafted from magic, and blocked his path.

“It’s been a day, so Helena’s resurrection skill should be off cooldown, right?”

At his words, the look in the familiars' eyes changed.

Until just now, their intent had been to subdue without causing too much damage.

Now, it was clear they were ready to kill—by any means necessary.

It was as if they'd been granted full permission to go all out.

The familiars charged at Nuartein with that mindset.

The first to act was Seonghyun himself.

A destructive spell burst forth from the Book of Ruin.

The space around Nuartein began to twist, and the shape of his right shoulder contorted violently—

Crack!

“Gaaaahhh!!!”

An unbearable wave of pain surged through him as his entire right shoulder was ripped off.

It was as if the space itself had torn it away.

Normally, physical dismemberment in this game would only occur after taking a significant amount of damage.

But the spell ignored that rule and tore his arm off directly.

Seonghyun marveled at the spell's power and stepped back, allowing his familiars to fill the gap.

With his right arm gone, Nuartein’s combat ability dropped sharply. He couldn’t withstand the onslaught from the familiars.

Still, perhaps because he was considered a hidden raid boss-tier monster, it took a few minutes.

Even after transforming into Phase 2, Seonghyun’s familiars continued to overwhelm him with ease.

In the end, there was nothing he could do. He fell quickly.

Sibren had been weakened after being resurrected, so it couldn’t be helped.

Afterward, Seonghyun and his familiars used Helena’s power to restore Nuartein’s missing parts, even though it was just a corpse.

It healed despite being dead.

Then Seonghyun used [Creation of Death] to prevent the corpse from rotting, summoned a standard undead, and fused it with Nuartein’s body using the same skill to turn him into a living undead like Sibren.

But the most important part was yet to come.

"I-I’m sure I died…?!"

Nuartein’s soul was in shock.

As soon as Seonghyun absorbed his memories—

[You have shown power beyond your current capabilities through an ‘Unknown Power.’]

[Strength +3, Agility +2, Stamina +2 permanently increased.]

His stats increased.

"Ah! Ahh! So that’s why you betrayed us, Sibren! Khuhuhu! I will also serve the honored one!"

Nuartein cried out gleefully.

It was the natural outcome.

With his soul now instilled, Nuartein was completely restored to how he had been in life.

With both the 2nd and 3rd unit captains now turned into spies, Seonghyun smiled and sent them back to the Basilica using Helena’s Abyss skill.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting.

Still...

“When are they going to show up?”

He scratched his head, wondering about the White Knights who still hadn’t arrived.

If they were going to be this late, maybe he should keep pushing a little more?

“Let’s send in the regular undead legion as a jab and test things out.”

But to the enemy, this jab was no light blow—it was a heavy straight punch that struck the Basilica’s eastern wall again.

A few hours later—

The White Knights finally arrived near the Basilica.

Silberion, looking up at the walls, gasped for breath and asked,

“Huff… huff… why does it look like the place is already falling apart even though the battle hasn’t even started yet?”

The Basilica’s walls made it clear that too much had already happened before their arrival.

Still panting, Silberion was met by Seonghyun, who approached her and said,

“So you’ve finally arrived.”

It was the kind of remark that could easily irritate someone, but Silberion didn’t even have the strength to be annoyed. She simply nodded.

Then—

“Well then, shall we begin the real attack?”

“…???”

That wasn’t the real attack?

Then what would it be like when they launched the actual assault?

More importantly—

“Do… do they even need us?”

Even that question crossed her mind.

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]