Chapter 19: Battle and the Identity of the Dark Sorcerer

I returned to reality, leaving behind the shattered barrier like shards of glass. The place I returned to was still filled with villagers who resembled zombies, dancing away. However, I felt relieved in my heart.

"How did you do it?"

Even though he wore a mask, the trembling voice of the dark sorcerer couldn't hide his uncertainty. As I looked beside him, I could see another black spherical barrier.

"Is that Vivian?"

It seemed that creating that black barrier was the ability of Nate's page. I couldn't be certain, but I wondered if the transformation of the villagers was not the sorcerer's ability but rather the power of that item.

"What if Ivy is being controlled?"

Just then, a black dart flew towards me unexpectedly and struck my calf. "How did you manage to escape? Did you break Nate's curse?" The dark sorcerer's surroundings were filled with three floating dark spheres. From their inferior magic, it seemed that their skill level wasn't impressive. However, they posed enough of a threat to me in my current state.

"Moreover, Nate's page might possess additional abilities."

With that thought in mind, I decided to make my move.

"Do you know about the assembly?"

"…!"

He visibly flinched at the mention of the assembly. It seemed that he was secretly involved.

"How do you know about the assembly?"

"Why should I?"

Although it was only elementary-level sorcery, the battlefield was in my favor. Besides, since others were also trapped within the barrier, there was no need to worry about being observed.

[Elementary Command: Summon Skeleton.]

[Twenty-four corpses detected.]

[Caster's ability is insufficient. Nine corpses respond.]

[Elementary Command: Summon Skeleton successfully.]

[Summoned seven regular skeletons and two skeleton soldiers.]

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

The villagers killed by Vivian rose as skeletons. "Necromancer!"

Perhaps due to their low skill level, it was clear that they were hesitating. At first, they made bizarre noises and appeared like final bosses, but now they were faltering. I picked up Christopher's sword, which had fallen while I searched for a way out.

"In the name of the assembly, I will collect your Nate's page."

I used the name of the sorcerer's assembly to provoke him further. And indeed, I could see him wavering.

"That's impossible. You already realized the assembly's existence."

"Leave. Charles, Hans, Alex, Alice, Jace, and the others."

The skeletons, following my orders, charged at the dark sorcerer.

"Even if you came from the assembly, you cannot capture me."

Clang! Squeak!

The durability of the ordinary skeletons proved to be pitiful. The dark spheres created by the sorcerer tore through my skeleton.

"Grease."

Although he momentarily nullified the friction on the ground, he nonchalantly evaded my magic and retreated. My remaining skeletons, reduced to three by the sorcerer's magic, fearlessly advanced.

Thud!

Just then, the remaining villagers rushed out and blocked my skeletons with their grenades. However, the second-tier soldiers, not ordinary skeletons, pushed aside the villagers and continued toward their target.

Crack!

"A black shield. A mid-level sorcerer, I see."

It felt like the sorcerer was mocking me with his sneer. He created another dark sphere, despite the skeletons clinging to him.

Boom! Boom!

Following that, when the villagers exploded, my remaining skeletons shattered into pieces.

"Even if you claim to come from the assembly, you are too insignificant. You managed to escape Nate's curse with such skill?"

I drank healing potions and stamina-boosting potions from my bag, summoning a skeleton once again. Although their numbers had decreased, seven skeletons rose to their feet.

The sorcerer, still surrounded by the black shield, confidently created another dark sphere.

"Do you think the same method will work?"

He sure loves to talk. I effortlessly evaded the incoming attacks, moving my body with ease.

"What kind of sorcery is this?"

Having previously portrayed that I barely managed to block the attacks with my Earth Shield, I could see the confusion on his face when I easily avoided them.

"I wonder if straight-line attacks are difficult to evade unless they are bullet-speed."

I felt confident that if I knew the direction of the muzzle in advance, I could dodge even bullets.

In my past life, I had demonstrated that level of performance.

With that in mind, I finally saw Nickel appear behind the dark sorcerer after a while of waiting.

"Damn!"

Zing!

The sorcerer realized Nickel's presence too late and hurriedly turned around, casting a spell. However, the black shield shattered.

"A mere skeleton like you!"

Apparently, the fact that Nickel's appearance wasn't much different from an ordinary skeleton caused the sorcerer to overlook the fact that the black shield had been broken.

He retaliated immediately with a dark sphere, but Nickel, unperturbed, deflected it with his sword.

"Who is this skeleton...?"

It was only then that he noticed Nickel was not an ordinary skeleton. In a hasty motion, he pulled something out of his pocket.

"Nate's page."

Seeing the strange cube he took out, I immediately rushed towards him. Although Nickel chased after the dark sorcerer at an incredible speed, Nate's page activated faster.

Shrrrr!

The cube-shaped Nate's page emitted black light and began to rotate. Suddenly, the ground around the dark sorcerer turned black, and six gigantic and pale hands emerged.

Crunch!

Nickel dodged the swinging hands and stepped back. Each hand had long, red fingernails and was the size of a human. Seeing that Nickel's sword didn't even leave a scratch on them, it was evident that they were incredibly resilient.

"These damn things! I worked so hard to gather this power!"

It seemed that the dark sorcerer had finally used the power he had been accumulating through the village residents. Even though I didn't know the exact nature of his magic, it was clear that he had used a significant amount of power.

"I should have killed him with that last attack."

His reflexes were better than I expected.

Even while having such thoughts, the white hands were targeting Nickel.

Bang! Bang!

"How can mere skeletons be like this!"

The sorcerer was completely fixated on Nickel.

That won't do.

Swish, thud!

As I approached the dark sorcerer, one of the hands flew like a whip and struck the spot where I had been.

Though I didn't see it, it would have been a deadly blow if it had hit me.

Apart from summoning the hands with Nate's page, it seemed that the sorcerer could also use magic. But he still ignored me and focused on Nickel.

Even though he had expended mana like that, he continued to cast spells, probably thanks to Nate's page increasing his mana capacity.

Kikigik. Thump!

As expected, Master of the Previous Life.

Although I couldn't manipulate mana with a body without a core, my consciousness, experience, and swordsmanship remained sharp.

Nickel, as before, was not pushing too hard but focusing on evading and blocking the attacks as much as possible.

But as the black ground expanded and the range of the white hands increased, Nickel began to be pushed into a corner.

Nickel, well done.

Now it's my turn.

"Damn lunatic. What are you going to do when the sorcerer comes himself? Do you think you can fight with your fists?"

As I approached him, he summoned a thorny whip and swung it mockingly.

Certainly, it was difficult to predict the whip's movements, but unless the opponent was a master with it, it was easy enough to dodge.

Moreover, the closer the distance, the greater the delay in the whip's attacks due to its characteristics.

Thanks to that, I evaded the attacks and easily reached him.

"That's right. This guy. This is the fist of the Special Forces of South Korea."

Phew!

I never even thought that he would swing his fists, but he didn't even prepare for it. My fist hit his face squarely.

His mask flew far away.

"Butler of the Balorik Viscount?"

With passing thoughts, I didn't lose momentum and swung my fist again.

"This is Charles's share."

Pow!

"This is Hans's share."

Thump!

"This is for the rest of us!"

"Ahhh!"

The screaming sorcerer fired magic from a distance.

With a quick sidestep, I narrowly avoided it, and it grazed my shoulder.

In that moment, as I stepped back and stood up, blood dripped from my nose and mouth, and his face, flushed red, spoke.

"You damn bastard! Die!"

Two of the hands that were targeting Nickel came towards me.

I quickly avoided their grasp and tried to approach the sorcerer.

"You're going to die, die, die!"

Once again, magic went wild, and his magic poured down without distinguishing between me and the hands.

Thanks to the huge hands blocking most of the magic, I managed to avoid harm.

Crack!

Thump!

Nickel, who had regained his composure, attacked the dark sorcerer.

Desperately, the sorcerer used the Black Shield, but it shattered just like before.

The hands that had desperately clung to Nickel once again protected him, and I shouted to Nickel.

"Nickel!"

Understanding my intentions, Nickel threw his sword.

The thrown sword rotated and flew towards the dark sorcerer.

"Huuk!"

Twisting his body, the dark sorcerer barely avoided it.

"I never expected to be hit by such an attack..."

Seok.

As the dark sorcerer twisted his body, I caught the sword that Nickel had thrown and rotated my body, beheading him.

From the dark sorcerer's neck, which had turned into a thin line, his head rolled off.

His face still wore a smile.

In the first place, the sword thrown by Nickel was aimed at me, not him.

As I snatched Nate's page that I still held onto even in death, it was the moment when Codex Apocalypse, one of the ending items of the game, came into my hands.