My Necromancer Class

Chapter 272 Life Cycle 1

When Handy ran back through the main chamber again, Jay acted.

“Alright, it’s time.”

Jay quickly ran into the passageway on the right side of the gate, closest to the staircase that Red and the other skeletons were protecting.

Once inside the passage, he formed another plug with bones, yet he also held his necrotic gauntlet up.

Thick streams of swirling green mana left through each claw point, and a large orb of the glowing mana appeared, mixing into the bones. It became their core, causing them to float and swirl around it.

Strangely, Jay thought it seemed like an egg yolk among the whites; of course, rather than a chicken, skeletons will rise instead.

“Hmm… I’ll add some non-human bones, too. That way, the chimera research skill goes up.” He thought, and dumped some Perreton wolf, soap rat and silt wolf bones into the mix, which assured Jay that with each summon, it would make a hybrid skeleton.

Jay checked the skill to make sure he used it correctly.

< [Mass Summoning] >

- Can summon multiple skeletons at once.

- Can create a mana well within a pile of bones; skeletons will continue to resurrect until the mana runs dry or the bones run out.

- Requires free skeleton slots. Does not sub-resurrect.

Jay had only formed a small energy well of twenty-eight mana, which would only be enough for two skeletons. He wanted to add more, but it was all he could spare.

Many more bones were there than necessary, as some were to form a barrier; Jay wanted to waste as much of the knight’s time as he could, and this was simply part of his strategy.

As the skeletons are all level four, they each require fourteen mana to summon. Jay only has eighty-seven mana, but having just summoned four skeletons, it left him with a measly thirty-one mana. After using the mass summoning skill, it left only three. A far stretch from the fourteen needed to raise.

“It will be worth it.” He thought, “besides, the skeletons can take turns fighting, and use their bone eater skill to stay alive… without an enemy flanking them, they will hold on.”

As for being flanked, well, Jay was counting on it. His intuition told him they were already planning it, and there was no counting on them to remain passive.

These skeletons and masses of bones being left behind were simply to buy some time for his mana to regenerate; if he was stuck inside this castle with dwindling mana, well, he would not last long.

However, this chamber was an excellent choke point, and his skeletons would reap some easy exp without effort.

Jay went back to his staircase and topped up the bones again, then continued with his plan.

(Blue.) Jay called.

The skeleton rushed over, kneeling before its master and showing honor, even in this desperate situation.

“I’ll be taking Red with me and leaving. Hold this position as long as you can. When there’s only two of you left, I want you to retreat that way. Try to lure them as far as possible.” Jay pointed past the mass summoning bone well he just created.

“It might be good to split up when you retreat to confuse them even more.” Jay said suggestively.

“Red and I will go the opposite way.” Jay pointed to the empty passageway on the other side, free of any bones or signs that a necromancer may be there. Neither did it have the sickly green glow of a necrotic mana well.

Blue bowed its head, accepting its duty with honor.

“Hmm, I better make use of my rearguard.” Jay thought.

? “Blue, let Sweeper do what it wants to with these.” He said, and many bones appeared, all of them oddly uniform in both shape and size.

Jay dropped all of Sweeper’s defensive spikes on the ground; they were simple stakes made to hamper an enemy’s advance.

No, Jay didn’t see how they would be useful in a flat stone passage, as there was nothing to prop them up, but he believed in his skeletons, and thought Sweeper would make the most of them.

Jay waited longer, periodically checking below the gate enclosure to see if the intelligent knights were still making plans or if they had left to execute their missions yet. In the meantime, he simply let his mana regenerate while many knights perished to the skeletons guarding the stairs.

[1840 Exp] (16 knights eliminated)

With the situation stable, Jay analyzed one of these knights.

< [Security Staff - Level 4] > (Parasitized)

[Type - Human, Parasite, Clone]

[50 HP]

< [Skills] >

[Pheromone Sanctity] (Parasite)

- The parasite communicates through pheromones.

[Diluted Life Force]

- The ultimate blessing, or the ultimate curse

- No longer alive, but undying. This being found a new life force.

[Cranial Lodging] (Parasite)

- The parasite grew upwards into the skull, and now controls the associated organs.

< [Description] >

[They told us our shift would be over soon. It was fun at first, but now it’s kind of draining. I feel so tired all the time.]

“Ugh. Staff? Poor bastards. Someone lied to them.” Jay shook his head.

“I wonder if I would do the same?” He scratched his chin.

“Fifty health? Probably for the bodies of the knights and not the parasites controlling them.”

“So, the diluted life force must keep them alive. I’ll be it’s that green liquid they have for blood… huh, more people pursuing immortality. I wonder what drove them to it, though.”

“The Helvetians were driven by revenge, but clearly knew the downside of being immortal, or at least they learned it. I guess these knights didn’t exactly gain it, although their bodies did. Seems like something always goes wrong with the minds; the Helvetians lost them and so have the knights. I’ll bet that’s why the immortal book attempts to change my mind first? Hmm.”

“Maybe the mind itself is perishing along with our bodies.” Jay ponded, then shook his head. “It’s not the time to think about this.”

Suddenly, the knights below moved, however it wasn’t the knights on the inside of the gate - it was the ones outside.

It surprised Jay, as they could do nothing to him; there were no other ways into the castle than through the gate which he had sealed.

Moving to the arrow slit in the wall, Jay watched a large group of them march out through the small outer buildings.

Jay looked towards where they were going and saw lights in the forest. Dancing flames of torches; more appearing with every second.

Still, it was nowhere near the size of the knight army. About thirty in total. They were a force of malnourished men, susceptible to fear and pain, and unreliable allies in battle.

“… Landen? Oh no, you idiot, please don’t tell me.” Jay frowned.

It was hard to see, as it was so far away, but there were faint gleans of recycled knight armor among the band of foolhardy humans carrying torches. They had followed the trail of destruction Jay had left, and after getting themselves some fresh metal suits, they saw the knights were not all-powerful, and it reignited their battle spirit.

However, Jay had quite a different opinion.

“You fucking idiots. You will all die. For nothing.”