I Became a Ruined Character in a Dark Fantasy

Chapter 80

With a shriek that echoed through the mountains, Ian launched into a sprint, the ghostly wails reverberating in his ears.

Damn, that's noisy, Ian thought, irritation flickering across his mind.

He drew his necromancer's wand, not out of preference, but necessity—it was the only method that came to mind in the heat of the moment. For Ian, there was no better weapon than the Sword of Judgement. Yet, facing a phantom whose only vulnerability lay in its skull-like core, physical attacks were futile against its formless mass.

Stripping away its armor was a strategy to expose the core, but the battle had swiftly escalated to a final phase, rendering this approach impractical without the sword. With no opportunity to search for his blade amidst the chaos, magic remained his only option.

It's been a while since I've had to rely solely on magic in a fight.

he mused, just as the Gatekeeper began its charge towards him. In a few strides, the foe raised its greatsword high, a dark blue taint of corrupted magic coursing along the blade.

Despite the distance, Ian slowed, ready to dodge. The creature brought down its sword as it landed.

Boom, boom, boom.

A massive shockwave kicked up dust and snow, swirling around him.

Even if this monster only wanders around the mountain ranges, shouldn't a monster this dangerous be dealt with? Thinking this, Ian launched himself forward. The wind wrapped around his entire body, forcefully pushing him.

With a roaring sound, the shockwave dissipated.

It looked as though it had been bombed. Indeed, to subdue such a monster, at least a paladin-level commander or a high-ranking wizard, or otherwise, a barbarian warrior with years of experience would need to be mobilized. Ordinary soldiers would only end up as chunks of meat, and merely revive as undead.

Moreover, this creature was originally a specter that roamed around the vicinity of the Ahigorn Mountain ranges, leading an insane undead legion that, like itself, still believed the giant kingdom was thriving.

The mountains were also filled with countless buried dead. Thus, in the game, it could almost infinitely summon the dead. In that aspect, the current situation was better. This wasn't a snow-covered mountain forest, and the dozens of undead it had brought along were elsewhere. Its appearance far from the mountains here was probably due to the mark engraved on Ian's hand.

The ranting about the usurper and all. It seems the gate it is guarding isn't the ruins beneath the mountains after all.

So why am I the usurper? Mulling over the unanswered question, Ian raised his magical power.

With a roaring sound, a series of fireballs blossomed in the air, flying towards the Gatekeeper swinging a greatsword.

The creature raised its arms to cover its face. Although there was no face to cover, to begin with. The insane specter seemed to believe it was still alive, firmly maintaining its defensive posture.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, the creature was pushed back. Ian, unbothered, sprinted forward, preparing his next magic.

Red is half effective, and blue is immune, right?

Soon, a gray wind was swirling at the tip of the raised magic wand.

Zip— Zap—

With crackling sounds, the spreading blue sparks soon turned into streaks of lightning. As the explosion subsided, Ian completed his spell and extended his magic wand.

Zap—

A lightning storm blasted toward the Wraith Giant. The thick blue light of its eyes was revealed through the dispersing smoke.

"■■ indeed...!" The specter, having shielded its face with its arm, stretched it forward.

Woosh!

The tainted magical power surged up from beneath it, colliding with the tornado.

Ian used the Dazzling Flash. The lightning streaks were torn apart by the magical power. Ian's brow furrowed.

It's blocking it with magical power, not physically, so its weaknesses haven't changed.

From this distance, breaching its defenses seemed difficult. The casting time for gray magic of the lightning category was too long.

Fuck, is it going to be a close combat again?

"Usurper—!"

At that moment, the specter charged again. Though its movements seemed slow, it was actually faster than a human sprinting with all their might. The giant, the size of a small building, quickly closed in.

Only a few steps to striking range.

Then, the spell was completed. Ian's eyes flickered red.

With a roar, a massive wall of fire rose up, blocking the creature's path. The spell didn't end there. Ian immediately added chaotic energy, casting a mid-tier blue magic, the Glacier Wall. The Gatekeeper, attempting to pass through the Flame Barrier, instantly froze, crashing into the rising Glacier Wall with its shoulder.

With a rumble, cracks appeared in the middle of the ice wall. Without the chaotic energy, even with the amplification from the wand, it wouldn't have been possible to stop that charge.

With a roaring sound, the Flame Barrier engulfed the specter. Ian unfolded his next magic.

Swoosh!

The next magic was the mid-tier red magic that had struck a blow to Ascold, Pinpoint Explosion. While it was difficult to hit a moving target due to the focused range of firepower, against a large and stationary target like this, it could demonstrate powerful firepower.

"Uoooooh—!" Amidst the flames, the creature howled.

At that moment, Ian was tirelessly preparing for the next spell. Essentially, all the spells before were just to buy time to complete this one.

Crackling sounds filled the air as lightning surged from the tip of the magic wand, branching out in all directions. Suddenly, the lightning enveloped the wand like a cocoon and streamed down, swelling around Ian's wrist. As the light emitted by the lightning grew increasingly blinding,

"Never ■■■ ■ be!"

With a roar filled with magical power, the wraith enveloped in flames twisted its body.

Boom, boom.

The greatsword that tore through the ground shattered the Glasier Wall and soared up as if to cleave Ian in two.

Swoosh!

In the moment Ian's eyes widened, a fierce whirlwind swept up around him, violently hurling him through the air. Almost simultaneously, the lightning that had gathered on his magic wand burst forth. Amidst a feeling of extreme crisis, Ian perceived all these rapid changes. The magical power infused in the greatsword tore through the wind, drawing thick arcs, while the Chain Lightning, leaving the wand, spread out in all directions, blossoming like flowers.

Crack!

The arc surged past Ian's thigh, narrowly missing it, yet the sheer force of the wind was enough to tear through his leg armor, causing blood to splatter from his thigh. Then, the world seemed to spin and recede in a whirl. Ian captured this entire scenario as if it were a slow-motion video, with snowflakes appearing to rush away rapidly.

Beyond this turbulent scene, the ruins of what might have once been a quaint village came into view. Undead swarmed towards a half-destroyed house at the center. Among them, Thesaya, fighting like a bear guarding its cave, stood out. Around her were piles of bones.

Whoosh—

In the brief moment that his body spun in the air, Thesaya smashed the forearm of an undead soldier and was gripping its skull. A shadow hawk that had flown up slammed its body into the skull of an undead on the roof.

She is probably quite low on blood. But I see her trying hard. Ian spun once more.

Meanwhile, he watched Thesaya, who had just crushed the skull of an undead, shout and her mouth's shape was etched into his memory clearly and slowly.

“When are you coming, you damned beast!”

And that beast was now outside the palisades.

Swoosh—

His body spun in the air again.

Wasn't launching the caster himself a bit too much, even at maximum amplification? Ian thought, noticing Charlotte.

Already dark, she was drenched in ink-like fluid, shimmering. In front of her lay a giant warrior with both arms severed. She was striking down on the giant's neck with one sword, having thrown the other somewhere. The giant warrior's neck was as thick as a tree trunk, seemingly impossible to sever in one go. The black fluid that splashed along the trajectory of the sword stained the surrounding snow and Charlotte herself even darker.

Whoosh—

The screeching wind that had filled his ears began to quiet down. The flight was over. Only the fall remained.

At that moment, Ian realized that not all of the whirlwind that had launched him had dispersed. The fierce wind, like Wind Blades, enveloped his entire body. Snowflakes that were falling at a similar speed were caught in the wind and carried upward. He wouldn't have to worry about crashing to death. Ian then thought of Miguel, specifically the amulet he always hid around his ankle.

He said it would carry the person who used it far with the wind. I've always wondered how the landing worked.

Perhaps the magic inscribed on that amulet was of the highest level of the Whirling Barrier. Not just protecting the user momentarily, but completely removing them from danger. Like a scene from a skydiving video he had once seen, Ian finally looked down at the dazzling light below. The Glacier Wall and the Flame Barriers were long gone. Instead, the Chain Lightning spread along the greatsword, racing through the Gatekeeper's entire body.

Crackling fiercely, the thick armor was useless against the thousands of lightning strands. The specter's bulky form evaporated in chunks with each flash of lightning, its deep blue light flickering with shock and pain. Finally, Ian extended his magic wand towards the creature.

Zip— Zap—

The whirlwind centered around the magic wand intensified. Blue sparks followed the pattern, and the snowflakes drawn into it evaporated without a trace. By the time the spell was complete, the fall was nearly over. The lightning that had enveloped the Gatekeeper was more than half scattered. The completed lightning storm shot out.

Crackling—

The whirlwind, filled with bright blue lightning, reached the creature without being blocked by corrupted magic this time.

With a Dazzling Flash, the lightning swept across the specter's entire body. The dispersing Chain Lightning was drawn back in, burning the specter's mass.

Whoosh—

The subsequent whirlwind caught Ian as he fell, lifting him up as if snatching his body from the descent.

Ian landed lightly. A tingling sensation spread through one thigh, and just as he grimaced, a wave of dizziness hit him. This was a common reaction to the rapid consumption of a large amount of magical power.

I'll probably be bedridden tomorrow. Even with this thought, he continued to conjure fireballs.

With a whoosh, the fireballs shot out simultaneously.

The Gatekeeper, still unable to move properly and being electrified, needed a decisive finish, something Ian understood well from past experiences.

Bang! Boom! Bang!

The explosions followed one after another. The Gatekeeper, barely maintaining its form, burst apart like smoke.

Clang— Clunk—

The armor it wore was scattered by the explosions. With each explosion, the Gatekeeper’s form shrank further. Ian, moving forward, did not stop producing fireballs, hurling them continuously. Finishing off an enemy that had taken a critical hit was best done with magic that had a short casting time and was straightforward.

Bang! Bang!

When Ian finally stopped, the Gatekeeper had transformed into something resembling a lump of black mud. Yet, even as he looked down at the creature, now only reaching up to his waist, Ian conjured another fireball.

With a loud explosion, the black mass was scattered in all directions, the viscous remnants sprinkled on the snowbank evaporating into smoke. Among the dispersed remnants, a large skull was revealed, vastly larger than that of a human. The blue light flickered in its eye sockets, and the creature's jawbone twitched.

"Excellent... ■■.... Usurper...."

Ian, dropping his magic wand, didn't reply and drew a dagger instead. A rare-grade imperial dagger made by a dwarven smith of Ninglosth.

"■■... Eternal... kingdom...."

Crack!

With a reverse grip, the dagger plunged into the center of the skull. As spiderweb-like fractures formed, dark blue magical energy spread out like smoke.

Swoosh!

With another strike, the skull finally shattered. Blue light burst from every orifice, a cry close to a wail echoing around, as a stream of blue light was sucked into Ian's grasp.

"...?"

Ian looked down at his hand. The resonance quickly subsided. The magical energy within the mark became as quiet as if it had fallen asleep. A quest completion window followed, a proof of qualification.

"I've proved the Usurper's qualification... Is that it?"

Muttering to himself, Ian looked down at the giant's skull lying.

Drip drip, a dark red circle spread on the snow underfoot. It was blood from his nose. Overwhelmed by severe dizziness that made him sit down, Ian chuckled bitterly and grasped the Necromancer's Staff within reach. The wailing in his ears echoed. After shoving the magic wand into his pocket dimension, he wiped the blood from his nose and barely managed to stand.

"Indeed.... Fighting with magic alone...."

Is not something a ruined character like me should do.

With that thought, Ian turned around. He wanted to pass out right then, but the battle in the village was still not over.