How to Raise Your Skeletons

A new legion rose from the front lines, shrouded in black mist.

“Gwooh!”

The sight of a thousand dullahans, headless knights, howling to the sky was grotesque. Their right hands gripped various weapons while their left held their heads.

This is horrifying.

I was shaken. These dullahans, a popular pick among necromancers, were A-rank monsters. Even a single one would be immune to attacks from the ghouls or specters swarming the battlefield. And now there stood a thousand of them right before me.

This was overkill for an A-rank dungeon. But that wasn’t all.

“Death knights…” One of the soldiers muttered.

“D-Death knights… Fuck… Knights of death…”

Fear started to creep into the soldiers’ eyes. The fear spread like a contagion through the ranks, and one by one, they began to panic.

“Death knights? Is this real?”

“I’ve heard of them. There’s a story about another city being destroyed by just ten of them…”

“And there are a hundred here? How the hell are we supposed to stop this?”

Panic spread.

“You’re sure we saw that right?”

“There’s no mistaking something so terrifying.”

“We’re finished… Utterly finished. Not even the gods could stop that. We’re all going to die here…!”

“This fight is pointless. We should run now! If we leave the city, we might survive.”

“I’d rather live in the mountains than face those monsters!”

Soldiers began throwing down their weapons and running. Usually the commanding officers would have yelled at them, but…

“…”

They, too, were staring dumbfounded at the Immortal Legion, unable to stop the fleeing soldiers. Faced with such an overwhelming enemy, they had lost all will to fight. What stood before them was no longer just monsters but death itself.

The soldiers saw death in the Immortal Legion, which covered the battlefield with thousands of undead. What they saw was a tomb.

—Swirl…

Then the death knights, exuding a dark aura, were deployed to the front lines.

“Neigh!”

They rode sturdy phantom horses and boldly advanced in front of the dullahans. Their auras resounded as if in harmony. Their presence silenced the murmuring soldiers like a stone dropping into a still pond. The sound they made was undoubtedly louder than that of the soldiers.

“This is…” Lee Sunah muttered under her breath. “Even for me, this is impossible to handle… One hundred death knights and ten liches…” She shook her head in disbelief. “Dealing with the death knights is one thing, but the liches…”

Liches—S-ranked monsters, strongest among its rank. Just one lich could rival a necromancer’s unique ability—not just any necromancer but a top-tier, S-rank necromancer. It was like fighting ten low-ranked rankers simultaneously.

“This is absurd. The information we received was completely wrong.”

“…”

Her despairing words cast a pall over the group, and a heavy silence fell.

“…Goodness. Dungeons really can be eccentric sometimes,” Kang Jihoo finally spoke but fell silent again momentarily.

He seemed to be choosing his words carefully, unsure if it was even worth voicing his thoughts.

“They restrict our numbers and then throw monsters of this caliber at us… It’s as if there’s no way out but death. Furthermore…” He glanced at me. “The system clearly stated that it reassessed the necromancer’s level, right? That’s why the dungeon’s difficulty increased…”

“Hmm.” Lee Sunah nodded. “Even though Skeleton Lord is only B-rank, his potential is nearly that of a ranker. After all, he can craft S-rank weapons…”

“Or perhaps,” Kang Jihoo added, his eyes filled with suspicion, “he’s been hiding his true abilities.”

“…”

The air grew even heavier. The other members of the Black Sword Squad remained silent, their gazes fixed on the ground.

I clenched my jaw.

He’s not wrong.

I had been hiding a lot—like that the essence of my skeletons came from beings considered absolutes in their worlds. Or that my mentor could easily surpass the strongest rankers in this world. They didn’t know any of this. But…

“Everyone, calm down.”

Now wasn’t the time for finger-pointing. The dungeon had thrown a challenge at us, and we had to solve it immediately. And there could be no mistakes in the solution—the cost of a mistake was only death.

I opened my mouth to say, “Honestly, I don’t know why this is happening either. Maybe it’s because of my potential, as the Black Sword suggests, or maybe I’ve been hiding my abilities, as the vice leader suggests.”

“I knew it…!” The vice leader opened his eyes wide.

“But does it matter?”

I planted my feet firmly. My energy surged through my body with every beat of my heart, following the principles of the Great Blue Heart Technique.

“We’re in a dungeon, and dungeons are inherently mysterious. What we need right now isn’t to analyze the cause—we need to solve the problem. We need to survive.”

Oddly enough, the unease I had felt earlier had dissipated.

Is it because the worst-case scenario has already happened?

It felt like a premonition, much like how the stock market reacted to news before it happened. Once the bad event was in front of you, there was no reason to panic anymore. Therefore, I felt calm.

Honestly…

I thought I shouldn’t have expected anything else from them. Maybe it was because I had faced so many ridiculous dungeons before.

“The Skeleton Lord is right.” Lee Sunah nodded. She turned to Kang Jihoo, her expression serious. “Vice leader.”

“…Yes?”

“Blaming others doesn’t help. I’m sure you already know this, right?”

“…I didn’t mean to blame anyone. I was just wondering if there was something Skeleton Lord wasn’t telling us. If that made anyone uncomfortable, I apologize.” He gave me a respectful nod.

It was a good, clean gesture, but… People! Now was not the time for this!

“Screee!”

Suddenly, the ten liches began glowing with a crimson light.

“Graaah!”

“Kiyahhh!”

—Rumble!

And at the same time, the Immortal Legion charged toward us.

“Fight! We can’t just sit here and wait to die!” I shouted.

I turned to my surroundings. Their numbers were overwhelming. Far too many.

Fighting here in the open field would be disastrous—we’d be surrounded and overwhelmed in a disadvantageous position.

We need to use the terrain…

I scanned the area. There was only one option.

“The gate!”

—Thud!

I launched myself toward the gate.

“Head for the gate!”

“The gate?” Lee Sunah asked as she followed me.

“Yes! We’ll use the narrow passage to our advantage. We don’t even need to go up the walls!”

“Yes! That way, we can at least prevent us from getting surrounded.”

Soldiers were being massacred across the open field. I felt sorry, but we couldn’t save them. In the heat of battle, a warrior consumed by fear is worse than useless.

“Over here!”

I reached the wall and quickly set up a defensive position.

—Thud! Thud! Thud!

I summoned Boney 4 and its minions, arranging them in a semicircle formation around the gate.

“Formation complete, Master.”

I placed Eldrin and Boney 5 in the rear, while Boney 1 and Sunny took up positions with Boney 4’s minions, weapons ready. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

“Graaah!”

However, the advance of the Immortal Legion was quick. A death knight had already reached the front lines, swinging its eerie blue sword at Boney 4. Behind it, dozens of dullahans rushed forward.

“Hold them! Use everything you’ve got!”

I raised my spear and joined the fight. I stabbed precisely at the throats of the enemies striking Boney 4’s shield.

—Thwuck!

A sickening sensation traveled up my arm as my spear pierced their flesh.

“Hmm.” Next to me, Lee Sunah lowered her sword. “Thunder Annihilation and Black Wind Sword won’t do for undead of this level.”

She leaped into the air, rising three meters above the ground. Then…

—Crack! Crack!

She extended her arm in a fan shape toward the front lines.

Black Sword Flight Arts.

Area-Wide Technique.

Third Form: True Clap of Thunder.

—Rumble!

Her sword came down like a thunderstorm.

—KABOOM!

The dullahans screamed as their phantom horses were caught in the blast, the thunderous strike setting their heads aflame. The surrounding air filled with thick, black smoke.

“Impressive.”

I couldn’t help but admire it. Her skills were as exhilarating as they were powerful.

Lee Sunah smiled modestly. “Thank you, but the downside is that this skill consumes a lot of energy, and the area it affects is limited.”

With that, she dove back into the fray, slicing through the dullahans with movements as light as a butterfly and pushing back the death knights.

As expected.

Even in this dire situation, her movements were controlled and stable—truly the mark of a ranker.

“Haah! Die!”

“Hmph! Vice leader! The death knights’ attacks are too strong!”

“Hold on! You take the left, Jinsoo. And Yoojung, you take the right! Got it?”

“Yes, sir!”

Vice leader Kang Jihoo and the Black Sword Squad members fought valiantly alongside us. I, too, took a deep breath and refocused on the battle.

While Lee Sunah had dealt with a significant portion, it was just the tip of the iceberg. Numerous adversaries remained.

“Come at me, all of you!”

The skeletons would handle their roles on their own. They would fight tirelessly until my energy was exhausted. What was needed now was for me to contribute my power.

“Graaaah!”

Whether it was a lowly ghoul or a specter, I would eliminate as many as possible to lessen the burden on my summoned creatures and the Black Sword Squad members.

With determination, I thrust my spear into the ghoul’s throat.

These creatures were resilient; attacking their hearts or other organs was futile. But they could be prevented from rising again by precisely separating their heads from their bodies.

I kicked the creature’s torso while withdrawing my spear.

“Worthless scum, is that all you got?”

Like Sunny did in the Ancient Desert, push me to my limits! After enduring, I’ll grow even stronger! Besides, what was the worst that could happen? Death?

I continued to thrust my spear relentlessly. Occasionally, when a skeleton was unsummoned, I would resummon it, but otherwise, I remained wholly immersed in the battle.

At that moment, a piercing scream erupted from behind.

“Kyaaah!”

What was that?

I quickly turned to see Kang Yoojung, a member of the Black Sword Squad, clutching her left shoulder and rolling on the ground.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” the vice leader shouted frantically, swinging his sword.

I furrowed my brow and calmly observed through the rising dust.

“Ugh, it hurts! It hurts!”

Then I saw the blood spurting and the severed arm—Kang Yoojung’s left arm had been cut off.

Damn it. This was the first injury a team member suffered during this battle.