Reincarnated as a Sword Vol. 2

by Yuu Tanaka

  “Hmph.”

  Fran, stop glaring at the magi! We still have lots to go around! You could afford to share a plate or two of your curry. My little girl tended to get aggressive when it came to food.

  Jet was munching on the femur of a Lizard Skeleton he received from Jean. The density of bone made for a delectable chew for the Direwolf.

  I asked Jean about necromancy since we had some downtime. I had learned from our experience with Amanda that asking an expert was more effective than researching the subject by myself.

  “I applaud you for having curiosity and being forthcoming! Ask me anything you want!”

  Jean was more than happy to tell me about his craft since he was a researcher. In fact, he needed no prompting and just spoke off the cuff about things I didn’t even ask. We learned a lot about necromancy as a result.

  What surprised me most was the concept of a soul. I initially thought necromancy as a craft where one manipulated souls into inhabiting dead bodies and then controlled them. That was not the case.

  In this world, only the gods had the authority to affect souls. Upon death, a soul would make its way to the Netherworld, home of the God of the Dead. This was why people of this world tolerated necromancy. Not to sound crass, but a corpse without a soul is little more than an empty shell: close to worthless now that a soul was no longer inhabiting it. Not everyone felt the same way, of course.

  In any case, necromancy did not disturb the restful sleep of the dead, it did not manipulate souls of the dead into doing one’s bidding, and it certainly was not an evil, sacrilegious practice.

  The Necromancy spell, Create Undead, could only control a corpse by imbuing it with a pseudo-soul created with mana. In that, it was closer to a golem than an undead proper. Necromancy awakened the memory of old spells and skills that a body still had in it. The body’s memory of its past life was what allowed it to move.

  Massive accumulations of mana could have a similar pseudo-soul effect on a corpse lying next to some crystals. This was how undead came about in the wild, and they were just as soulless as the domesticated type.

  There were special cases, however, like the Vengeful Spirit skill that Andy had.

  When a creature is on the brink of death, it is overcome with the overwhelming desire to survive. This act of will is akin to a candle burning its brightest before it goes out. It is so strong that it binds a part of the creature’s soul with its crystal, creating a Vengeful Spirit when turned into an undead.

  This was the reason why using Vengeful Spirits was highly recommended for Necromancers; they could be purified and ascend. It meant saving the lost souls who wandered the world holding painful grudges. Purifying a Vengeful Spirit meant one less threat to humanity. There were even necromancers who made the purification of spirits their mission, travelling from country to country.

  “I never did care for people much. That is why I have them fight for me in exchange for purifying them. It’s a bit of a give-and-take, you see. Heh, I can’t believe any of them would thank me after I was done with them. Such foolishness! Hahaha!”

  You say that, but you cast Ascension on Andy today.

  Ascension was spell which cleared a soul’s conscience and allowed its soul fragment to ascend. It was the signature spell of Nether Magic, and I first read about in the Guild’s Reference Room.

  The spell consumed a lot of mana to affect an individual soul. The spell was also known to reduce the caster’s lifespan if the soul bore a lot of resentment. In practice, Jean had not been in top fighting shape ever since we landed. He didn’t have to cast Ascension on Andy—the Bone Wyvern would’ve simply dissipated with time—and yet he did.

  “H-hmph! A proper send-off was the least I could do for a loyal subject such as Andy. Do you have a problem with that?!”

  “Nope. Good job.”

  No objections here.

  “Woof!”

  “Y-you really think so?”

  We shared a heartfelt moment together. Jean looked like he felt embarrassed for instigating it, though. He was blushing all the way to his ears. He changed the subject by talking about our next step in a loud voice.

  “Aha-ahahaha! Now we can advance to the second floor!”

  I decided to cut Jean a break and let the moment go.

  Do you really have no information about the second floor?

  “Not in the slightest!”

  That wasn’t something to be proud of.

  “But fear not! For I have a plan!”

  “What kind?”

  “This kind!”

  Jean took out a familiar-looking Summon Sphere in response to Fran’s question. He must have a special monster ready like Selkan. I couldn’t wait to see what came out of it.

  What’s in it?

  “You’ll see… Heheheh… Now, make way!”

  We backed off, and Jean started casting his summoning spell again.

  “Summon High Undead!”

  Jean’s undead summoning had become a familiar sight to us by now.

  Something rushed out of the crystal. It was either mist or steam, I couldn’t tell. In any case, the summoning ritual produced a formless gas creature.

  “A cloud?”

  “Meet part two of my ultimate plan for dungeon domination! This is Fly, the Custom Gust!”

  Name: Fly (Custom Gust)

  Race: Undead

  Status: Contract; Undead

  Level: 7

  HP: 22; Magic: 401; Strength: 8; Agility: 36

  Skills: Dispersion 7; Cartography 6; Communication 3; Shadow Clone 7; Mana Absorption 6; Trap Sense 3; Physical Immunity

  This guy was specifically tailored for exploration. He was a mist monster called a Gust.

  Fran reached out to touch the fluffy Fly, but her hand passed right through him. Jet followed his master’s conduct and tried to bite into the cloud, but he might as well have been chewing smoke.

  “Oooh.”

  “Woof!”

  They seemed to have fun with the necromancer’s minion, playing with the puff of white smoke. The heartwarming sight was almost enough to make you forget you were in a dungeon.

  “Fly will chart the map with his Cartography and send it to us with Communication. We would be able to get a full map of the dungeon without lifting a finger! Mwahaha! My genius makes even my own hair stand on end!”

  Exploration would be a cinch with Fly around. His mist form could get through every nook and cranny, and could immediately send the information he gathered to his master. His Shadow Clones also allowed him to cover a lot of ground at once. He was also hard to kill thanks to his survivability skills.

  “Now go, Fly!”

  Fly began splitting himself into twenty clones, all of them weak, but fighting wasn’t exactly their purpose, anyway. The clones began to quietly move out, and to the untrained eye, they looked like mist being blown about by the wind.

  “And now we wait for the map information.”

  And what’s our formation?

  “Same as always. Selkan takes point. You take care of any long distance threats.”

  “Got it.”

  Fran hadn’t had her fill of battle yet. The trash mobs had been too easy for her. She puffed out her chest and pumped her fist in a show of enthusiasm.

  “I couldn’t go beyond this floor last time. And I had Fly scout ahead, too.”

  So you have the basic layout of the floor in your head?

  I thought he said he didn’t know anything about this floor.

  “I don’t. Fly wasn’t able to move past this area last time. I’ve made improvements to him so we shouldn’t have any problems now.”

  “So you don’t know what’s ahead of us?”

  “Well, I do know one thing. The Counterfeit you’re looking for spawns in the next area. That was what stopped Fly from advancing last time.”

  Really? Nice! Now I’m motivated!

  “Yeah.”

  “Aroo!”

  That was the entire reason why we c
ame!

  “All right, take this. Eat it before the battle starts.”

  “What are these?”

  “Mwahaha. These are my specialty Soul Potions! Drink it, and you will reduce the incoming damage of Undead types, and it increases your resistance to attacks such as Mind Control.”

  That’s an amazing potion! It must be expensive, huh?

  “’Tis nothing. You could find one in the marketplace if you looked hard enough. They go for 100,000G a potion.”

  That’s expensive!

  Should you really be handing expensive stuff like that out?

  “It’s all pennies to me. Besides, the ingredients barely cost 20,000G!”

  There’s a B-Rank adventurer for you, calling 100,000G pennies. But I guess the image of fast money was the entire reason behind dreamers becoming adventurers.

  “I’ll take it then.”

  “Use all the items I give you as you see fit. It would be to my disadvantage should we get separated.”

  I was so happy we had a generous client for once. Still, I was a cheapskate by nature, and tended to end up hoarding most of my usable items. I was the kind of guy who would save the best healing items like Elixirs and Yggdrasil Leaves all the way up to the end of the game and end up not using any of them. Not that I would stick to that policy if Fran was in danger.

  “Onwards!”

  And so we made our way down to the second floor.

  The entrance to the second floor was a long corridor. Countless half-visible shadows jumped around us as we walked down the long, narrow hallway.

  This corridor was in fact our destination.

  Among these spirits were Mimics, and we might run into its stronger cousin, the Counterfeit, in the mix.

  Come on out, Counterfeit!

  Thirty minutes had passed since we charged through the hallway.

  Raaagh!

  “Ooo…”

  Dammit! That one was no good, either. What about you?!

  “Ooorg…”

  Still nothing!

  “Wooo…”

  “Ooo…”

  This is getting frustrating! Which one of you is a Counterfeit?!

  We continued to fight in the hallway. Spirit-type monsters like Wraiths, Ghosts, and Specters boxed us in from all four directions. Sometimes they would even come out of the ground and the walls.

  I used Elemental Blade: Fire, just so I could deal damage to the spirits. This tactic would’ve been impossible if I didn’t have any mana.

  We had increased the level of Mana Absorption earlier. The bodies of these Spirit monsters were composed entirely of mana, making them weak to Mana Absorption. We bumped the skill up to Level 3 for dual purposes of attack and mana recovery.

  I was left with 1 EP now. The skill would come in handy during long fights so I considered it a worthwhile investment.

  Add that to Elemental Blade and I was taking down these spirits with one slice. I was maintaining my 1500 MP no problem. Now we just had to kill a Counterfeit and take its Fake Identity skill.

  Jean! Have you found any Counterfeits on your side?

  “Not yet, no.”

  “Are they even here?”

  “I do not know!”

  We’re only fighting out of faith, here!

  “Woof, woof!”

  Fran and the others had their hands full as well. Every Mimic could be a Counterfeit in disguise. I was on Mimic/Counterfeit-slaying duty so the others wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the Counterfeit’s crystal.

  The Spirit Potion had been effective in shutting out the Mental Status Effects the Spirit types tended to inflict on their prey. They were little more than an annoyance now since their physical attack power was laughable.

  Another thirty minutes went by. I was cutting down my umpteenth Mimic of the day when I felt a strange sensation.

  What was that…?

  The crystal counter went up by too much for it to be an ordinary Mimic. It felt like a stronger, higher-ranked Mimic.

  I frantically reached for my skills.

  Unique Skill Fake Identity!

  The skill I had been working so hard to attain had now been added to my list.

  I got it! I got Fake Identity! Finally.

  “Excellent! Then our work here is done.”

  Damn right it is!

  “Finally.”

  “Arf.”

  Frustration had been building up for a while. Fran, Jet, and Jean took all their pent up frustration and unleashed it in the form of magic. The barrage of ranged magic annihilated everything in the hallway, and the stragglers were easily picked off with lower level magic.

  The battle, which had been going on for over an hour, was over in an instant. We would’ve been able to clear the hallway in about five minutes if we hadn’t been looking for the Counterfeit.

  “Hm?”

  “Woof?”

  I’m sorry. Please don’t look at me like that. I really wanted Fake Identity. We’ll just chalk it up to necessary struggle and be done with it.

  “Congratulations, young Teacher.”

  Thanks. I’ve already set it but how does it look? I’ve hidden my skills and reduced stats, but can you still see through it with Soul Sight?

  I asked Jean to examine me with Fake Identity on. If it could fool Jean’s identification skill then it was good enough to fool the rest of them.

  “Well?”

  “Hmm… Yes, perfect. Your stats are about half of what they were before.”

  “And the skills?”

  “I can’t see the skills at all. You should put more thought into its usage, though. It would be much too suspicious for you not to have a single skill. You must craft your identity so that it won’t seem blatantly obvious.”

  Yeah, I know.

  What fake information should I put up? I could have some fun with this. Now, I could fool enemies into thinking, “Your power level is only at five? How weak,” and then going, “Actually it’s at fifty-three thousand,” after showing off our real strength.

  Heheheh. We’re in for some fun times.

  “Teacher, you’re being creepy.”

  Back to clearing the dungeon.

  We began to advance again with Fly taking the lead. Fly’s abilities were much more powerful than I thought. We were making our way through the uncharted second floor as quickly as we did the first. Moreover, we knew the exact location of every treasure box.

  We had no holdups after the Spirit Hallway, and soon reached the second floor boss room.

  Felling the boss only took us a few minutes. A barrage of Flame Magic made quick work of the giant Ogre Zombie. I got a decent amount of crystals out of it, too, making it quite the tasty meal. I had my points stored and was ready to invest.

  The long-awaited system voice chimed in my head the moment I absorbed the Ogre Zombie’s crystal.

  You have reached a new evolution level. You have gained 50 EP.

  Yes!

  Mwahaha! Now I could get even stronger! What should I level up this time? Then again, maybe I should wait until after we were out of the dungeon.

  Name: Teacher

  User: Fran

  Race: Intelligent Weapon

  Attack: 524, MP: 3000/3000; Durability: 2800/2800

  Mana Conductivity: A+

  Evolution: [Rank 10; Crystals: 4511/5500; Skill Capacity: 89; EP: 51]

  Skills: Identify 7; Identity Protection; Change Shape; High Speed Self Repair; Telekinesis; Telekinesis Up (low); Telepathy; Attack Up (low); User Status Up (medium); User Recovery Rate Up (low); MP Up (low); Skill Capacity Up (medium); Bestiary; Skill Sharing; Mage

  My Mana Conductivity had finally increased! I was getting closer to my ultimate goal. I got a new skill out of it, too.

  Change Shape: Consume mana to change one’s shape.

  Did that mean I could turn into another weapon? I would have to test it on the enemies we ran into after this.

  Still, this raid was surprisingly easy.

  Compared to the
struggle to land on the island, the interior of the dungeon had been too lax… was I overthinking it?

  We fought more zombies and skeletons on the third floor. There were more dangerous traps, but they were of no threat to us, thanks to Selkan.

  We were going at a good pace with little to no time wasted.

  Now we just had to look for Jean’s Ghost Eater. It’d be best if we could clear the dungeon, of course.

  So what does this Ghost Eater look like?

  “Mwahahaha! I haven’t a clue!” Jean exclaimed, puffing out his chest boastfully.

  What? But I thought you wanted to capture it.

  How could he not know when capturing the Ghost Eater was his entire reason for coming here?

  “They say it initially looks like a normal zombie you’d find anywhere. But it is not limited to looking like that since it started eating ghosts. The Ghost Eater was a giant being the last time I saw it before making my retreat. I have no clue what it looks like now.”

  Where did you see it last?

  “In the forest above the dungeon. The Dungeon Master must have summoned it to chase me away.”

  “You couldn’t beat him?”

  “Indeed. I am not a powerful necromancer. I have thought of several anti-Ghost Eater measures, however. Not that it displayed its full strength. My minions were consumed by the Ghost Eater before I could bring my plan to fruition. A pitiful thing.”

  It sounds strong.

  We were dealing with a creature strong enough that Jean, a B-Rank master of necromancy, couldn’t defeat it even with preparations.

  “Well, it’s all right if we can’t capture it. We don’t even know where that thing is. I had initially wanted it for the purposes of clearing this dungeon. I don’t need it anymore now that you’re here.”

  So we don’t have to look for it?

  “Indeed.”

  It was easier for us that way. Looking for the spawn location of a single monster in this big dungeon was undoubtedly difficult.

  “We’ll cross paths with it if the gods would have it.”

  So we carried on deeper into the dungeon without stopping for detours.

  Two days had gone by since we entered the dungeon. We had cleared the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth floors. We faced weak enemies all the way up to the sixth floor which made for perfect hunting grounds. I even had enough leeway to test out Change Shape.