The undead on the fourth floor are not your typical undead.
They are corpses made from those who fought in the God-Slaying War, so each one is at least the level of a veteran adventurer by today’s standards.
They might just be corpses, leading to physical limitations and a lack of intelligence due to not having someone to command them, which prevents them from demonstrating their true abilities.
Instead, skeletons tend to swarm with at least ten or more appearing at once.
Strong base stats and overwhelming numbers.
That’s the concept of the fourth floor and the reason many are taken aback.
So far in the labyrinth, they probably haven’t experienced such a severe numerical disadvantage.
But.
“Ha-ha! Wipe them all out!”
About twenty skeletons burst forth from the ground, only to have their heads smashed in.
Surrounded by a sinister aura of death, and with the blue flames of their cursed nature burning bright… but it’s only about twenty of them, right?
Even if my thirty skeletons take one each, it’s a one-hit kill.
Plus, my skeletons are wielding weapons soaked in holy water.
It’s automatic hunting, as easy as pie…!
Of course, the real action is about to start.
“Arise. And join me.”
Responding to my voice, the skeletons, which must have had their heads smashed, start rattling away.
The broken skull fragments stick together, and they emerge from the ground intact.
The cursed flames in their eyes have now transformed into a light pink hue.
Nice. That makes fifty skeletons now.
There seems to be ample room for the limits I can sense through my powers.
I pulled out three from the neatly lined-up skeletons.
One lays face down to be my seat, while the other two lift it by its arms and legs as if carrying a sedan chair.
It’s a bit shabby, but Benny chuckles in disbelief at the sight of me riding atop this makeshift carriage.
“Is this… right? You’re actually going to increase more from here?”
“Next monster we defeat will add more, for sure.”
Pulling a rib from the skeleton that’s serving as my seat, I engraved some letters on it with the Unicorn Dagger.
This skeleton turned out to be quite hefty, possibly because it’s not human but rather from a beastman race, making it just the right size for both seating and note-taking.
If I fix the engraved bone, it can be reused infinitely…!
The mana required for this level of recovery is minimal, so there’s no need to worry.
Benny, now puzzled beyond words, finally managed to speak again.
“While it’s rare to have the power to control undead, there are a fair number of people out there who do. Among high-ranking adventurers, there’s one known as Sweet Death…”
“Oh! I’ve heard of that. Don’t recall their name, though.”
“I don’t know the name either. They keep it fully secretive. Maybe the guild higher-ups know. Anyway, I have gone on a few missions with Sweet Death in the past.”
“…Benny, is it you?”
“Hey! I’m a high-ranking adventurer too!”
While I know this, somehow Benny seems so lacking in grandeur compared to Elina and Lydia.
I recall seeing her fight at full strength, and I recognize she’s genuinely strong…
“Must be because of her looks.”
“What’s wrong with my face?”
“Cute, I mean. Anyway, why bring up that person all of a sudden?”
“Back when I asked that, during a siege on the seventh floor, she scoffed at me and said something incredibly ignorant. What an annoying person…”
“Well, don’t just burst into tears, tell me the reason.”
“Right. I totally forgot.”
Realizing she was about to choke up, Benny cleared her throat and continued.
“Hmm. Anyway, when I brought up that topic, she said it’s more efficient to focus on the quality of undead rather than quantity. The maximum number one can control is set for each person, and it increases very slowly, plus controlling multiple at once becomes tricky without sufficient mental power?”
“Ah, I think I get it. If you strengthen a few over time, the connection deepens, making it easier to control and reducing mental energy consumption, right?”
“But how come you can control so many, Jonah?”
“Well, that’s because I’m an incredible genius?”
“……”
Benny stares at me with even more incredulity than when she almost cried. She looks hurt…… but just seems to be enjoying it instead.
“I’ve made Benny angry! I can control Benny’s emotions!”
“Hey!”
As Benny hops up and down in place, I chuckled and handed a small pouch filled with holy water to the newly joined undead.
Best to provide them with holy resistance and let them wield holy water-drenched weapons… but if I did that for every new undead, my divine power would surely run out in less than thirty minutes.
So, just in case, I’ve strapped on some holy water bombs for potential self-detonation.
“Well, honestly, I do have an idea about it.”
“Really?”
“Yup. If it’s just about temporarily reviving them, I could raise as many as I want, but maintaining a connection to control them is the hard part.”
“Sure, that makes sense.”
“And why can’t I just spawn endless undead? Because I need to rip a part of my soul and infuse it as fuel, along with a terminal for the connection.”
“Souls?! Isn’t that kind of dangerous?”
“No worries! That dangerous bit is what my powers ensure is safe. Even if the undead I control disappear, the soul fragments return to me. Though, putting extensive time into it and having a deep connection might lead to some impact… but generally, that’s how it works.”
“…So that’s why she treats her undead like precious treasures? I thought it was just because she’s quirky.”
“…You have an interest in male undead?”
“No, it’s that she prefers non-human undead. They have been modified to be partially humanoid; fundamentally, they remain beasts, tentacles, or some other forms.”
-………..
Wow. Monster muses and necrophilia, huh?
Shaking my head to rid myself of such horrific imagery, I continued explaining.
-It’s that kind of power, but as you know, who am I? The disciple of the Goddess of Love. To achieve great ambitions, one needs a great vessel, and that vessel is the soul.
“Oh. You can’t be serious?”
“Yep. While I might not know much else, my soul’s vessel is likely the best from Pangrave. Adventurers can grow their souls as they climb ranks, but… reaching the seventh floor is no match.”
“……”
Seeing Benny halt her speech, her mouth hanging open, I sighed internally while pulling out my finger and playfully tugging at her soft tongue.
It’s true; my elevation of spirit and capability rose sharply after becoming the Avatar of Love. It was painful enough that death seemed like a better option, and I still vividly keep the memories of those sensations.
However, that alone doesn’t fully explain how I can control over fifty undead while still having ample room.
The main reason is probably… being something akin to a creator of this world.
I can’t say that anywhere, though.
Nodding internally, I urged the skeletons that were ready.
-Now that preparations are complete, let’s keep moving. Time isn’t exactly on our side.
“Uh? Oh, right.”
After a brief moment of contemplation, Benny, as if following my lead from my undead carriage, began tailing me atop a shadow.
What followed was an absolute slaughter.
Skeletons emerged, crumbling out of the ground or reassembling from the floor, only to have their heads smashed again.
Occasionally, those already assembled would easily break under a disposable weapon.
Of course, we faced some losses… but it was nothing major like a ruptured spine or an arm being yanked off.
Those were just minor wounds easily recoverable. After all, as long as the skull remained intact, who cares?
As we pressed on, smashing skulls and reviving them for reinforcements repeatedly, how long did it take until we passed the entrance where skeletons appeared and headed toward the mid-section filled with diverse undead? We now commanded close to a 140-strong army.
Having gotten a bit carried away from our pride while we ignored the middle section for a mindless rush.
The first opponent we encountered in the mid-section was a ghoul.
Unlike skeletons, ghouls retain a beast-level intelligence and still possess decent flesh, maintaining similar agility to when they were alive.
As always, such undead rely on their former strength.
While many skeletons were human or of varied races, it seemed the ghouls were resurrected from crazed monsters.
Looking up at a half-bone, half-flesh Tyrannosaurus about three stories tall.
“A chicken turned into a monster…?”
“That’s a Lesser Drake ghoul! Why are you zoning out! Quickly attack!”
Why the sudden jump in difficulty? Are they moving around in family groups with four at once?
“Dang it! I don’t know! Charge! If it looks dire, just break the holy water vial!”
Skeletons poured in like an ant swarm. The ghoul, with its mangled flesh, was surprisingly easy to stab.
Of course, it was massive, but… as some skeletons self-detonated with holy water, chunks of flesh burst off.
Sure, the ghouls were definitely stronger, but facing them wasn’t overwhelming either, considering how things unfolded.
Since, unlike before, I couldn’t just stand by in the back. This time, I gripped the Unicorn Dagger and threw myself into the fray directly.
Dashing across the ghoul’s rotten back, I sliced through it with my dagger and shot it in one of its legs, using a crossbow enhanced with Argetlam adorned with holy water vials, sending it crashing down, then lynching it with my skeletons.
I revived the fallen Lesser Drake mid-battle, initiating a monster showdown between the last remaining ghoul and it.
After some trouble, we achieved victory, yet lost nearly fifty skeletons in the process.
Roughly, all that was left of our original force, except for the holy undead, was wiped out.
“At least we got the King Dragon.”
“Since it’s a Lesser Drake…?”
Isn’t a drake every adventurer’s dream?
As I shook my head at Benny’s dim-wittedness, pushing forward didn’t stop for long.
“I’m handling this! You go ahead!”
“But…”
“I’m not letting my little brother become a widower! Someone has to jump out to report the anomaly to the guild!”
“…Got it. Just hang in there until I return with support. Understand?”
“Ha! Don’t worry about me; just don’t stay late.”
An unexpected melodramatic scene unfolding in the adventurer party.
With that, the last remaining adventurer lifted a massive hammer with heroic resolve.
“Right! Are you my death? But don’t think I’m going down without a fight!”
-???
“Let’s go!”
An aura ignited like a blazing life as the adventurer charged forward.
Why is this happening…?
