Chapter Thirteen: The Pursuit

The undead that fled burst out with astonishing speed, vanishing into the darkness around the mine’s bend in the blink of an eye.

Could that be the little boss?

But wasn’t it a mage? How could it run so fast?

Eric mulled over various possibilities, yet did not hesitate in action. Grabbing a torch, he swiftly gave chase.

“I’ll pursue it; you all hold this side!”

As he ran, he opened his interface and navigated to the job advancement menu.

【“Swordsman (Apprentice)” has reached the level cap. Please select a job advancement path——】

【Advance to “Swordsman (Skilled)”】

【Change job to “Highland Warrior (Apprentice)”】

【Change job to “Light Infantry (Apprentice)”】

Seeing the menu and options identical to his previous life’s, Eric wasted no time and chose to advance his initial job.

【“Swordsman (Apprentice)” successfully advanced to “Swordsman (Skilled)”】

【Gained trait: “Keen”】

【“Brave Warrior” job system advanced to Tier 2】

He quickly scanned the new bonuses from the advancement. For the second job system, he made the same choice.

The mine corridors twisted and dark; the torchlight illuminated only a small area ahead. Still, hearing footsteps echo in front, Eric knew he hadn’t lost the target.

“Running so fast, aren’t you afraid of losing all your rotten flesh…”

Eric cursed inwardly. He had been fighting continuously and was already near exhaustion.

Fortunately, judging by the footsteps ahead, the undead’s speed seemed unsustainable—it had slowed considerably compared to when it first fled.

Gritting his teeth, Eric dragged his weary body onward, occasionally dodging decayed corpses lying on the ground that hadn’t been purified in time.

He thought that, sensing something was off, he should have stopped advancing earlier. But relying on their overwhelming strength against the mine’s undead, he had been careless.

After chasing for a while longer, guided by the torch’s light, Eric could faintly make out the limping figure ahead.

…Is that it?

Eric frowned, feeling that the figure looked different from what he had seen before.

Though the corpses in the cave seemed copied repeatedly from one model by a lazy designer, there were still subtle differences between individuals.

He allocated a free attribute point to agility.

At this close range, there was no need to hurry. After a few breaths, Eric finally caught up to the corpse and, using his momentum, thrust his straight sword into its back.

With a thud, the corpse fell forward without any struggle, showing no movement except escape until death.

Yet Eric gained no experience points.

“…”

Within a step’s distance, he could clearly see another wound on the corpse’s back.

It was also a sword thrust through the heart, but from the opposite direction, front to back.

That strike was his as well.

When they first passed this way, it had already died once.

This was a true corpse.

He had been tricked.

Eric turned his head just as a black spell silently flew toward him from the other side of the tunnel, now dangerously close.

On the ground behind, what he had thought was an unpurified corpse was holding a staff aimed at him; its rotting face twisted into a triumphant sneer.

“Die!”

It struggled to contain its emotions—it had risked nearly half its life for this moment.

Just driving the undead to continuously attack those formidable guards had drained much of its spirit;

When they finally exhausted themselves, it barely managed to disguise itself as a low-level corpse and sneak past, only to be spotted by this reckless kid. It had no choice but to keep running.

Undead Whip, Frenzy Command, Desperate Dash… all the spells it normally used to control corpses, it now cast on itself.

It was already dead; these spells took effect, but the side effects were severe. In its wild sprint, the flesh on its thighs was nearly gone.

And yet it still hadn’t shaken him off!

What had it ever done to him?

If anything, he had struck first—a kick upon meeting—and it hadn’t even made a sound when knocked down!

When it discovered it was trapped in the mine two hundred years ago, it hadn’t hated him this much.

To escape, and to take revenge on that reckless kid, it used its remaining magic to control a corpse on the ground to run, while it lay pretending to be dead, finally deceiving the boy into lowering his guard.

Its attack was a killing blow—it intended to punish harshly!

“…”

Watching the necromancer on the ground, Eric tightened his grip on his sword, bent his knees slightly, his mind focused on a single thought.

—Being a warrior is truly wonderful.

Storm Step!

Just as the smoky black spell was about to hit his face, Eric suddenly vanished. In the next instant, he appeared above the corpse on the ground and swung his sword down hard.

Slash!

The corpse’s face still wore a wild joy and stunned disbelief at the sudden disappearance of its target. The downward stroke aimed at its neck.

At the critical moment, the necromancer corpse strangely pulled back its neck with agile reflexes, narrowly avoiding decapitation.

Clang!

The sword struck the hard rock floor, sparking and ringing sharply.

Eric’s hand went numb from the shock, but his knees quickly dropped, using his body weight to pin down the struggling corpse beneath.

Crack!

The corpse’s fragile bones shattered under the heavy, aggressive kneel; the necromancer, who had just been sneering, now howled more miserably than a pig about to be slaughtered.

“Ugh—”

“You still feel pain? Don’t worry, it won’t last long.”

Kneeling made it difficult to wield the sword, but Eric didn’t slacken in close combat. Clenching his left fist, he struck the back of the corpse’s head.

Crack!

This was his most instinctive form of combat, part of his childhood training. Given his warrior attributes, even an unarmed punch could shatter skin and bone.

The necromancer let out a muffled groan and then went silent.

Its shattered skull revealed bone and flesh, white through black, exuding a foul stench. The faintly glowing blue fluid—perhaps mutated blood or brain matter—would have made Eric exclaim “Alien!” in another situation.

“Disgusting…”

Without time to clean the rotten flesh and bone off his fist, Eric pressed his knees harder on the corpse, rose slightly, and thrust his sword fiercely into the cracked opening at the back of its head.

Boom!

A black mist exploded without warning, plunging Eric into utter darkness.

Blindness Spell…

The moment it struck, Eric realized his status and then felt frustrated:

How had he forgotten about this skill?

In “Thorn Soul Crown,” magic users, fragile in body, universally had a defensive skill—like the fire mage’s Fire Resistance Ring, ice mage’s Ice Barrier, or arcane mage’s Blink.

The necromancer’s self-defense spell was Blindness. It temporarily deprived enemies within a certain radius of sight and also disrupted their lock-on.

The blindness lasted five seconds. Eric could see nothing.

But unlike in the game, he wasn’t relying on keyboard and mouse to lock on; he was himself.

As long as his body remained pressed on the corpse, he wouldn’t lose his target.

Moreover, the foe had already lost its ability to fight.

Five seconds.

For the necromancer on the ground, that brief time meant its last hope was rapidly slipping away.

***

Its sneak attack failed, it was punched nearly unconscious in close quarters, woken at the critical moment, and barely managed to cast Blindness to buy some time—but it still couldn’t escape danger, leaving only despair.

Struggling to turn its heavy, dazed head, it saw the grim reaper behind it, eyes hollow but hands searching to clamp down on its neck.

Then, a crushing grip.

“…”

Most of its physical sensation had vanished with its death two centuries ago, yet today it once again felt goosebumps crawling all over its body.

That tremor was called fear.

True death was imminent.

The five seconds passed in an instant.

Vision cleared, Eric released his grip and stood up. A swift kick sent the corpse’s head flying. His sword followed, slicing through.

Stirring, then piercing completely.

The battle was over.

【Swordsman job gained 3,500 experience】

【Swordsman job advanced to level 16】

【Swordsman job advanced to level 17】

【Cultivator job gained 3,500 experience】

【Cultivator job advanced to level 16】

【Cultivator job advanced to level 17】

The experience from soloing the mini-boss was so generous that Eric, already in his first job change, leveled up twice in quick succession.

“…Finally done with it.”

His nerves suddenly relaxed, and the tense body could no longer maintain its prior state. The accumulated fatigue and pain caught up with him belatedly. Just as he stood, Eric sank heavily to the ground, gasping for breath.

Relief mingled with lingering fear.

If he hadn’t been cautious and invested points into agility to activate Storm Step, the outcome of this fight would have been uncertain.

A first-tier necromancer didn’t have the power to kill him outright, but could completely disrupt and destroy his mind.

Losing resistance before a necromancer was far more terrifying than death.

Though he wasn’t alone, after all.

The torch was tossed a short distance away, its flame flickering in the dim corridor as distant chaotic footsteps gradually approached.

Leslie and the others were retreating while fighting, probably close to arriving.

Glancing at the corpse, now completely cold, Eric struggled upright and searched for loot.

“What did the first mini-boss drop again… weapon-wise, only a staff?”

The corpse was tattered, and indeed, the only proper loot was the staff held in its hand.

A line of translucent white text appeared out of thin air.

【Blood-Soaked Wood Staff】

‘Soaked in blood and dried with flames that burn human bones, a crude apprentice-grade staff.

Slightly enhances necromancy spells.’

Looking at the cracked shaft, Eric’s verdict was simple: junk.

But maybe he could sell this broken staff to the Spellcasters’ Association for a bit of money, so he didn’t discard it outright.

As for other items…

Pocketing the staff, Eric looked toward the depths of the mine where the footsteps came from, already seeing the dancing shadows beneath torchlight.

They must all be hiding in the hall at the end of the tunnel.