From Player To Npc

Chapter 160: The Necromancer

The rest of their time passed peacefully, even if they were under watch for most of it. Then, Hineko suggested, taking them by surprise and attack to weaken the enemy, but just killing the scouts would deal any big blow to the Boss's force. They wouldn't attack either, as it did not create them for that.

Twenty-four hours passed, and Shingi once more could use his Spirit Mana, which fortunately didn't count as one of the Basic Elements of his Mana Pool. He tested things a bit to see if everything was ok, and they started their way towards the Boss.

Finding it wasn't so hard for them. They just had to follow the corruption in the air at its source. Usually, it would be hard to detect, but to Shingi, it was clear, especially after his last task completion.

"You all remember what I told you, and we have discussed. We all need to get the Boss down first, or we have no chance to survive." [Shingi]

This, of course, wasn't the plan, as the Boss could manipulate his students and possibly Syra. But he and An would be safe, as they had their special eyes active. They monitored them during their trip to the Boss's place, so they discussed the actual plan through the Party's Chat. This was just to throw the enemy off even a bit.

They soon reached an abandoned building, looked to be an old hospital.

Hineko and Little Phoenix were in front, looking for Physical Traps and the other looking for Magical Ones. Most of the time, the traps of the Necromancer were Dark-Based, meaning Little Phoenix had the most significant chance to detect them. There were some traps, but nothing they couldn't disarm or go around.

They finally reached a big room, which probably was where they had the beds for multiple ill people to be treated, most likely if there was a big spread.

The room was empty, and instead, there was a throne made of bones and skulls, another creation of the Necromancer. It didn't have any unique properties, but for some reason, this was the second thing he created after the black crystal for his staff.

There was a humanoid figure on the throne, but instead of the old human Necromancer, there was a young human, but she was dressed exactly as the Boss would wear. Shingi didn't detect any Illusion magic on her and could tell that she was strong, as strong as the Boss would be. She even emitted the corrupted aura that corrupted the entire floor, which should be the Boss.

There weren't any other creatures in the room that could be seen, but Shingi detected many of them hidden.

"You are finally here. You took your sweet time." [Female Necromancer]

"Who are you? Where is Kelvin?" [Shingi]

"That old dude? He was in charge and failed too many times, so we ended the circle. I am in charge now. You can call me Nivlek if you want, but I would prefer you don't speak to me much." [Nivlek]

Shingi focused his PERCEPTION Skillfully on her for any clues, and he finally found something. A familiar M-shaped burn mark on her neck, almost entirely hidden by her hair.

"So you work for Mikhail." [Shingi]

Her eyes went wide, and she soon noticed that her hair had moved a little, showing part of the burn mark, but to the eyes of Shingi, it was like all of it was out in the open.

"You are more perceptive than the rumors said. How interesting. No wonder the Boss showed such interest to you." [Nivlek]

"Why were you sent that low in the Tower? Why does he care about this floor to send one of his minions?" [Shingi]

Nivlek released as much of her energy to make the air thinner and harder to breathe.

"I..amnoMINION. UNDERSTOOD?!?" [Nivlek]

Everyone but Syra, who didn't need to breathe, and Shingi, who had encountered this kind of trick in the past, had fallen on their knees. He couldn't speak, though, as he had to give what air he had in him.

Shingi started using his last gained Element in action. He started controlling the surrounding Air, which was more corrupted than the one that made the whirlwind, but he actually had an easier time managing it than back then.

He reached the state of controlling just his air around him, to allow him to breathe with no problem, but just for him.

He started walking towards her, and she tried to focus more of her power on him. Still, he vigorously fought back, having to stop sometimes to adjust before continue walking. When he started, he was close to ten meters away, and he seemed to have reached his limit halfway there.

So he used his Blessing to boost his INT and started slowly walking towards her, but this time with no breaks.

"What are you?" [Nivlek]

She seemed to be surprised by his progress. Her power was at the same level as what Mikhail showed him when they first met. But there was a fundamental difference between the two. Mikhail back then used only part of his power, while Nivlek used almost all she had. She still held a little back, but Shingi could tell that she wasn't far from her limits.

He was less than a meter from her as she took the staff that was just lying next to her, and for the first time since they entered the room, she had it on her hands.

The Black Crystal was to be used by Kelvin only, but others could use it with enough power. But it was helpful for other things.

The crystal had part of the Spirit of Kelvin, which Shingi could detect, meaning that she did not complete the Boss dead, and that's why the floor didn't reset. As for her becoming the Boss, even if everything looked like it was the case, Shingi knew it was impossible. The floor was connected with the soul of Kelvin, not his power, so taking his place was impossible. You could only control his power, making you seem like being the Boss.

Generally, after the death of Kelvin, the crystal would slowly start losing its properties, but since it wasn't the case, this meant that Kelvin wasn't dead yet.

Nivlek pointed the staff at Shingi as her power increased a bit, but enough to stop him.

"Finally. Look what you made me do. I don't particularly like using those tools. Boss doesn't want you dead, but he said nothing about having some fun with you." [Nivlek]

She started moving towards Shingi, as when they were half a meter apart, she made a sword out of her energy. Then, she turned a bit to the left to move beside Shingi.

"Let's first deal with the unwanted guests." [Nivlek]

She made a few steps but then turned to deflect the blade of Shingi, who was acting as he got affected by her power.

"You are good at acting. But you need to work on your speed." [Nivlek]

She started her swings towards her, but Shingi deflected them all.

He still was slower than usual because of the surrounding air, but he could keep up for now. She kept attacking with no break, pushing him back, as he kept deflecting or dodging her attacks when possible. Finally, he reached the throne, but he had moved a bit to the left to avoid it, but he wasn't far from getting the wall behind it.

'I guess we should get serious now. What do you think?' [Shingi]

He sent a mental message to the only one he could communicate this way; his sword, Sinhunter. He got a mental nod as his answer.

His blade became completely white, as a thin layer of Spirit Mana had surrounded it. He cast his Spirit Blade and had actually used a Mana Fruit for it, making it the stronger one he had made until now. It was much smaller than the Light Blade he used at the Lava Dragon, but the Spirit Blade effect didn't need space, just precision to control the mana.

His understanding improved after the lessons with Syra, forming the Light Blade and its effect reaching a new level. When the Spirit blade finished getting formed, he changed from defense to offense.

Nivlek tried to deflect one attack, but Shingi's blade passed through hers, and she reacted too late as she got slightly touched by the edge, but didn't leave a slash like it just passed through her too. However, it affected her, making her control over the energy harder to maintain. Usually, this corrupted energy would hurt its user, and even though she had natural defenses against it, the Spirit Blade weakened those defenses.

Shingi cast HASTE on himself using a Mana Seed this time and charged towards her. One swing after another, leaving her no time to breathe, and the more hits connected, the weaker she got, making Shingi get faster as the surrounding Air became less effective against him.

It didn't take much time until she fell to her knees, unable to move. The pressure of her power affected her. How ironic was that?

But the Air returned to normal for everyone else. Just the power she was naturally emitting around her affected her and her very near environment.

She hadn't taken a single point of damage as the Spirit Bladed didn't have that purpose, and the pressure wasn't damaging her, just restricting her and consuming her SP.

Shingi brought out a robe and started tying her up, as he also stored the staff with the crystal in his Ring.

They had a lot to discuss.