Thick dust and dirt covered the passageway.
Due to the excessive double cast, I staggered back for a mont.
Perhaps, if I rested a bit, my condition would quickly improve, but now was not the ti to relax.
Fortunately, since we pushed the undead back before using the bomb explosion, there were no casualties on our side.
Therefore, I imdiately gave the command to attack Kyle.
Crack!
Kyle was still alive, just as I had anticipated.
As the dust settled a little, Kyle, in a miserable state beyond recognition, barely blocked Nickel's attack.
"Ugh. Haa. Cough."
After spewing blood, Kyle raised his head and glared at .
"It's not over yet."
"I know."
I had already experienced Kyle's patterns and various phases in the ga.
Soon, we would enter the final phase.
Kwaduk Kwagak!
The shadows didn't spread as widely as before but instead circled around Kyle.
And the previously passive shadows, rely blocking my undead's attacks, began to stick to Kyle's body.
Kyle's final phase.
He was in a state of Shadow Armor.
In that state, engaging in close combat with him, strengthened by potions, and surrounded by shadows, was quite challenging.
'He's just a wizard anyway.'
I had no confidence in fighting against him, who relied solely on physical strength without any systematic fighting skills. Instead, I welcod this last phase.
"Heugh. Huuuaaargh!"
Of course, seeing that reckless mana surge, I wasn't going to be complacent at all.
But I had no intention of backing down either.
Kyle disregarded my undead and dashed straight towards .
Wearing full-body shadow armor, his enlarged body and speed were quite threatening.
Swish!
The shadow-made claws slashed past as if they were about to tear apart.
'It's unfavorable.'
That was my thought towards the opponent.
My talent lies in combat.
Against such novice movents, I could dominate as an overwhelmingly strong force.
No matter how excellent their physical abilities were, unless they were incredibly powerful beyond my comprehension, I could read and predict all their moves.
Swish.
Swooosh!
Huaaang Huwoong!
The shadow claws, reminiscent of a monster's, continued to swing wildly, but they couldn't touch my body. As the opponent grew more agitated, their movents beca more intense, but it only made their actions easier to dodge.
"Why, why aren't they hitting?"
The mont the opponent spoke, a gap appeared.
I didn't miss the opportunity and imdiately thrust my sword deep into them.
'The changing sword.'
A single-minded focus, just like when I pierced through Grace's defense.
At the sa ti, enduring the dizziness returning to my head, I fused the fla magic.
Puff! Fwooosh!
The thrusting sword overca trendous resistance and pierced through the opponent's shadow.
Simultaneously, the sword created from aura burned the surrounding shadows vigorously.
"Kuhaak."
Kyle struggled and swung his hand like a deadly weapon at , but Nickel and Timur, who had been observing, intercepted his arms.
"Die."
Fwooosh!
I increased the output of mana, feeling it draining rapidly.
Then, with a scent of sothing burning, a terrible scream echoed.
"Keeeuaaak!"
Kyle, engulfed in black flas, let out a scream filled with agony as he thrashed about.
In the midst of this, Ludo, who had approached behind him unnoticed, vigorously raised a giant greatsword and brought it down.
Crack Thud!
That was the end of it.
As Ludo's greatsword narrowly brushed past , the space beneath it turned into a handful of ashes.
No, it wasn't just ashes; it should be called dust now.
'If it were any other character, they couldn't have defeated him alone, and even during the final phase, they would have struggled.'
Indeed, it's a real morale boost to be a Necromancer, capable of handling everything on my own.
Besides, the true value of a Necromancer lies not in these small-scale battles but in large-scale wars; that's all there is to it.
Having confird Kyle's death, I dismissed my undead.
Now that I think about it, I ended the final phase too quickly; Kyle couldn't even attempt to escape before it was over.
As the undead vanished, I examined the spot where Kyle was, and there was sothing shining.
When I searched through his burned corpse, I finally found fragnts of Greed.
'What? He had them all by himself?'
He had as many as four gems.
I no longer needed to revisit Muriel to investigate the whereabouts of greed.
'In the ga, I knew the assembly had Greed, and now it seems Kyle escaped and fled to the assembly.'
But now that's history.
Having collected all the pieces of Greed, I took out the expanded bag that I had entrusted to Nickel and gathered the fragnts of Greed.
A total of five gems and one crown.
All the gems had the sa dark crimson color, and rather than feeling dull, they were dazzling enough to captivate anyone.
'If I combine these, will it beco a nad item?'
One concern is if I create it and don't get chosen as its owner. However, it would be a waste not to create greed now that all the fragnts have co together.
'Right now, I won't be defeated by any character.'
Believing in myself, I assembled the Greed.
As I brought the blood-red gems to the crown, they seed to be attracted like magnets and fit into their empty slots.
Once all the gems were attached to the crown, the black crown started emitting a strange vibration.
[Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 2 - Charitable Greed]
[Constant Mana Absorption in the Air]
[Black Magic Consumption 66%, Power 200%]
[Success rate of all magic using precious tals as a dium 15%]
[Mana Storage Function]
[When in possession, subject to curses. (Curses: Greed, Lethargy, Corruption of Wounds, Decreased Stamina)]
[Embedded Skills: 'lody of Greed,' 'Charity']
[Skill 'lody of Greed': Allows hearing hints of valuable items obtainable from the surroundings.]
[Skill 'Charity': Overcos the transcendent emotional state of 'Greed.']
It was a spectacularly incomparable set of specs, just like the one I saw before.
The fact that it incurred curses upon possession was not a problem, as long as one was acknowledged as the owner.
'The real question is whether I can beco the owner.'
Such thoughts were overshadowed by the first reaction of the original sin lurking inside .
["Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0 - Pure Original Sin" has detected "Charitable Greed."]
["Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 2 - Charitable Greed" is subservient to the host of "Pure Original Sin."]
The vibration of Greed stopped.
Then the branch of the original sin hidden within erged and started to swallow the crown of greed.
"Hey, what will happen if you eat that?"
["Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0 - Pure Original Sin" temporarily possesses "Charitable Greed."]
["Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0 - Pure Original Sin" begins to grow.]
I was taken aback by the sudden act of the original sin swallowing the crown.
Unlike Nickel's case, I still don't fully understand the concept of the original sin.
The only fortunate thing was the power gained as the original sin grew.
Since they said it was temporary possession, there shouldn't be a big concern about Greed.
'It's like a young child getting a new toy.'
I could faintly sense the emotions the original sin was experiencing.
['Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0 - Pure Original Sin' has completed its growth.]
['Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0 - Pure Original Sin' is linked to 'Charitable Greed.']
[Basic performance strengthened.]
[Additional skill created.]
Just like last ti, the growth was quickly completed.
And the increased mana was noticeable.
With my body already serving as a storage due to the nature of the Vessel, the sticky energy-like mana seed to overflow and ripple within .
'I probably won't have to worry about mana shortage in the future.'
I examined the improved abilities of the grown sin.
[Codex Apocalypse: Chapter 0 - Pure Original Sin]
[Mana recovery rate increased by 222% - Sloth, Greed]
[Mana sensitivity increased by 77% - Sloth, Greed]
[Special technique usable once every 6 days (currently stored techniques: Sloth, Greed)]
[Mana quality increases over ti.]
[Mana nature becos darker over ti.]
There were no significant changes.
The performance was generally enhanced, and the special technique Greed was added.
'If Pure Original Sin regurgitates sothing in the future, I can use the crown and activate the special technique.'
Among the item skills attached to the crown, 'Charity' seed to be a device to prevent the emotional frenzy caused by using special techniques. If I had been diligent with my Sloth, using the special technique might have suffocated to the point of almost dying.
'Still, I can't use it recklessly. The after-effects are a separate issue.'
While it eliminated the possibility of dying during a proper fight, the potential risk of dying due to after-effects was still present.
'It's better than having nothing. I received an unexpected reward.'
I was pleased to have gained the special technique Greed, which should prove to be helpful in the future.
I had chased after him just to organize things clearly, but I never expected such a reward waiting for .
By the way, speaking of rewards, I rembered Kyle's hideout inside.
In the ga, we never got the chance to obtain fragnts of greed since we missed Kyle. Instead, we received rewards related to the boss raid from his hideout.
"In the end, it's just a ga. Boss rewards should be given for defeating them."
For now, I quickly tidied up Kyle's severely damaged corpse to the point where his form was unrecognizable.
It would have been great if I could summon him as an undead, but due to Ludo's mighty strike that reduced Kyle to ashes, there was no chance to utilize the remains. It's a bit disappointing since it could have been an opportunity to acquire magical undead.
Now, let's enter the inner part of the hideout for the rewards. I felt that sothing was different inside.
'It's a bit different from what I knew?'
There was a lot more than before.
In the ga, there were only a few items that players could take, but now there were several docunts, books, and various research tools scattered about.
Perhaps the timing of my visit was different, resulting in so things that were absent before and so things that had disappeared.
Since I unexpectedly stumbled upon the hideout, I decided to thoroughly examine it, and there I found sothing unexpected.
"Kyle's Black Grimoire?"
.
.
.
.
The frozen land, where the relentless white snow continuously fell.
Amidst such a scene, a black carriage, led by a horse-shaped monster, moved slowly, completely contradicting the serene landscape.
The carriage gave off an ancient aura, but the bone decorations scattered around it added a sense of darkness. Inside the carriage, Hegel was sitting, reading books.
"Hmm?"
Hegel, who had co to search for Sins in the north, suddenly lifted his gaze from the book he was reading as he felt a surge of mana. He then opened the carriage window and directed his gaze outside into the raging snowstorm.
Amidst the heavy falling snow, the northern border's mountain range was faintly visible.
Beyond that lay the Rodren Empire.
'What could have happened?'
He sensed sothing a mont ago.
It ant the death of one of his subordinates planted in the academy.
'Kyle Schutzman. He wasn't an easy target to be killed so easily.'
This was already the second incident.
Even though he had been living in this area for quite so ti, having two deaths occur in such a short period was unusual.
'Is the Holy Kingdom making a move? Or is it just a coincidence?'
To make matters worse, this happened while he was in the middle of searching for sins, causing a headache.
Losing his spy in the academy was a significant loss.
'Co to think of it, Kyle reported finding sothing related to greed recently.'
The more he thought about it, the more tangled the situation seed, making his head ache even more.
Eventually, Hegel reached for the magical communication device displayed in the carriage.
After a mont of waiting, a connecting tone was heard, and soon the other party picked up the call.
"Hehe! Hello!"
"Luna Pendragon."
In response to the crazed voice coming from the other side of the communication device, Hegel addressed the person.
"I have a favor to ask of you."
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