Chapter 25

Kang Yuseong’s senses sharpened in the swamp of putrid blood.

Squelch- squelch-

Suddenly, a thick fog descended, and the sound of something approaching reached his ears.

Kang Yuseong’s brows furrowed slightly.

‘A monster? No, this is…’

The footsteps were too light for a monster.

‘Ugh!’

At that moment, a sickening stench of blood suddenly assaulted him.

It was a foul, putrid scent of decaying blood, strong enough to make him gag.

The moment he caught the scent, Kang Yuseong tightened his grip on his sword.

It was a smell Kang Yuseong knew all too well.

The stench of blood clinging to hardened lumps of fat and bodily fluids, decaying over a long period.

Kang Yuseong gritted his teeth.

‘Ghouls…!’

They were Ghouls, undead creatures said to feed on corpses.

They weren’t monsters.

They were beings who could neither live nor die, summoned by a Necromancer.

Squelch-

Kang Yuseong felt continuous ripples in the swamp where his feet were stuck.

With visibility obscured by the thick fog, those ripples told him much.

‘Ten, twenty… no, more than that!’

Thirty… forty…

The frequency of the ripples told him that an innumerable number of Ghouls were closing in on him.

Kang Yuseong’s eyes sharpened.

Even a Magic User couldn’t master Necromancy.

Magic Users were only permitted white magic, such as elemental or consecration spells.

That meant the one controlling the Ghouls was a Necromancer who had been surviving in these ruins for a long time.

Kang Yuseong hadn’t encountered many Necromancers, but that only made him more aware of their tenacity.

‘I’ll strike first!’

Ghouls also possessed very strong attack power.

What was more troublesome was that they felt no pain or fear.

Even monsters possessed an instinctive fear, but Ghouls were driven by a singular force.

An intense craving for flesh, and nothing else.

With his five senses enhanced by Chakra, Swordsman’s Mindset, he pinpointed the Ghouls’ positions.

‘Right… ten paces.’

Squelch-

In an instant, Kang Yuseong kicked off the swamp water and lunged to the right.

Swish!

Simultaneously, his sword flashed, cleaving through the pale mist.

Slide- splash!

And something collapsed before his eyes.

It was a completely rotten corpse.

Its head, oozing rotten blood, floated on the swamp and drifted towards him.

One eyeball bulged grotesquely, while from the other socket, only thick, viscous blood flowed, a truly chilling sight.

Clack-clack-

Even with its head severed, it clacked its black, discolored teeth, attempting to gnaw on something.

Crunch!

Kang Yuseong simply lifted his foot and stomped on the head.

Like crushing a rotten watermelon, an unpleasant sensation traveled up his leg as the creature’s head was pulped into a squishy mess.

“Keeeh-eeek!”

“Kee-eek!”

At that, the Ghouls let out a chilling hiss, having heard the noise.

Whoosh-

But Kang Yuseong was already darting through the mist, cleaving a path.

Swish!

The sword cut through the air, and another Ghoul fell, headless.

“Kee-eek!”

At that moment, countless Ghouls rushed towards Kang Yuseong.

Their obsession with flesh was truly terrifying, drawing them in a swarm even through the obscuring fog.

Szzzzzz-

At that moment, Chakra Force erupted from Kang Yuseong’s sword.

Flash!

Chakra, Flame Barrage!

Instantly, crimson flames bloomed spectacularly in all directions.

Boom-boom-boom!

The flames unfailingly pierced the Ghouls’ necks, and the Ghouls toppled forward with the momentum of their charge.

Flash!

Before they even fell, Kang Yuseong was already spinning his sword in the air and slashing sideways.

Slice!

A sickening stench billowed out as several Ghouls clutched their bellies and fell. Their abdominal skin was completely severed, revealing their rotting entrails spilling forth.

“Kee-eek!”

But their numbers were simply too great.

And visibility was terrible because of the fog.

‘I need to find the Necromancer!’

Kang Yuseong knew that simply slaying Ghouls like this wouldn’t solve anything.

There must be countless corpses submerged in this swamp.

The Necromancer could simply hide somewhere safe, reanimate the corpses, and keep attacking.

There was only one way to defeat him.

Speed and decisiveness.

Kang Yuseong immediately kicked off the ground.

Chakra, Flame Barrage raged fiercely in all directions.

Like fiery embers raining from the sky, the blazing flames, coupled with the sharp blades hidden within them, snuffed out the Ghouls’ lives.

Wherever the flames swept, rotten limbs were torn away, and jaws were severed.

Clatter!

Yet, even with half their jaws blown off, they charged, eyes burning, desperate to gnaw on Kang Yuseong’s flesh.

Swish!

“Kyah-aak!”

The instant Kang Yuseong swung his sword, cleaving through the approaching Ghouls, one Ghoul was suddenly right beside him, jaws wide, lunging.

A terrible stench wafted over him, but he had no time to mind it.

Too close to use his sword.

At that moment, Kang Yuseong’s body moved like a shadow.

He pulled one leg back, tilted his upper body slightly, and the Ghoul narrowly lunged past him.

At that moment, his knee shot up.

Crack!

Splat!

With his knee, protected by steel pads, the Ghoul’s jawbone shattered with a crack, and its neck snapped, its head jerking back at a ninety-degree angle.

Thud!

Targeting it, Kang Yuseong slammed his shoulder into the creature.

Splash!

Struck by the powerful force, it collapsed to the ground.

‘Where is it!’

As he did so, he tried to ascertain the Necromancer’s location.

From his experience, the closer he got to the Necromancer, the more ferocious the Ghouls would become, their skin stained pitch-black by dark magic, their eyes glowing with a sinister red light.

It was the same principle as dryness intensifying closer to a flame’s source.

Still too weak.

If so…

“Kee-eek!”

At that moment, several Ghouls let out incredibly ferocious screeches and lunged at Kang Yuseong.

Thud-

Kang Yuseong spun on the spot, his elbow smashing one Ghoul’s jaw, then he leaped, delivering a kick that shattered another’s head.

Crack!

In an instant, he gripped his sword, struck off another’s head, then fiercely spun, severing the legs of a different Ghoul.

‘This way!’

These Ghouls possessed much greater power than before.

“Haa-aat!”

He immediately dashed in that direction.

Squelch, squelch-

Even with his feet sinking into the mire, a condition that should have rapidly drained his stamina, Kang Yuseong’s speed didn’t falter.

Instead, his eyes held a glint of madness as he sliced, shattered, and crushed the heads of every Ghoul that dared to approach.

He delivered punches that exploded heads, and reached out, savagely tearing off their skulls as he pressed forward.

The sword in his hand shrieked a chilling note as it pulverized the Ghouls, tearing their bodies to shreds.

But the Ghouls’ strength was growing steadily.

At this, Kang Yuseong’s smile deepened.

He was getting closer to the center of power.

Come to think of it, the surrounding fog had also thinned considerably.

And up ahead…

A very tall, gaunt figure, cloaked in a deep black hood, came into view.

In one hand, he held a grotesque wand that appeared to be a human arm bone, and from his other, a dark aura pulsed, shrouding his entire form.

‘Necromancer!’

Kang Yuseong instantly knew this was the Necromancer, the one controlling all these Ghouls.

Thud-

In an instant, he powerfully kicked off the ground, rocketing forward.

“Kyah-aak!”

Ghouls, reeking of putrid breath, tried to block his path, but they were instantly shattered and dispersed. But in that same moment, he saw the Necromancer vanish.

“Stop right there!”

Kang Yuseong unleashed his Chakra Force.

Boom-

A massive pressure exploded around him, spreading in all directions.

“Kee-eek!”

The Ghouls surrounding him were pushed back slightly.

Flash!

At that moment, his sword flashed wildly in the air.

His sword, revealing a sharp edge, tore apart everything that got in its way, and a group of Ghouls fell.

The swamp had ended, giving way to an expanse of unsettling blackish-red soil.

Kang Yuseong quickly dashed forward.

The Necromancer.

Towards where he had vanished.

* * * * *

After that, the Necromancer remained out of sight for a long time.

He had reached the stairs leading down into the catacombs.

The stairs were ancient, worn and crumbling in places, but the Necromancer had undeniably disappeared below.

Kang Yuseong felt certain the Necromancer was connected to the Plunderer’s Legacy.

The report.

Because it stated that the Plunderer’s Legacy was located within a vast underground tomb, where countless corpses and skeletons lay buried together.

‘I won’t let it get away!’

Kang Yuseong’s eyes gleamed.

He immediately descended the stairs leading to the catacombs.

Damp, unpleasant air assailed him.

But Kang Yuseong wasn’t feeling it.

He had only one thing on his mind.

The Plunderer’s Legacy.

Because he was focused solely on that one thing.