No, I Said I Won't Buy It

Barkal and I turned our gaze in the direction Serena pointed. Deeper within the underground waterway. A man was looking our way.

Even at a glance, his hollow eyes screamed, 'I'm a necromancer!'

*〈'Necromancy Tracing' level has increased.〉Necromancy Tracing [1] -〉 [2]

The 'necromancy tracks' around him were blatantly visible.

And yet, he claimed not to be a necromancer? I could bet my hands to Thrag on that.

*〈Thrag wishes for the eradication of the disgusting life.〉

Even Thrag was contorting himself in disgust.

So, our course of action was simple.

"Thrag! The sacrifice to send to you is ready!"

The first to leap forward was Barkal.

A barbarian swinging his battle axe wildly as he charged. That alone was enough to terrify anyone seeing it head-on.

― Kaaaah...!"

However, the necromancer screamed and began casting a spell.

A dark energy flowed from the necromancer's fingertips and soon enveloped Barkal's body.

Exchange Curse.A curse spell used by necromancers.Its effect is to deal damage to the opponent's health or mana equal to the amount of their own health consumed.

― Kaaaah...!

The necromancer casting 'Exchange Curse' began moaning in pain. Meanwhile, Barkal swung his axe nonchalantly, as if nothing happened.

Of course.

Did a necromancer's health even compare to a barbarian's?

"Kahaha! That didn't hurt at all, foul necromancer! Thrag protects me!"

Grin.

I couldn't help but smile at the necromancer's actions.

That was your first time using 'Exchange Curse', wasn't it? You wouldn't have tried it on a barbarian otherwise.

Which means.

"Barkal, subdue him without killing!"

He'd received the spell only recently.

With luck, I might have a chance to learn necromancer magic myself.

Just the thought made me smile.

This is exactly why one should capture necromancers.

"For whatever reason, understood, brother!"

Barkal shook his head vigorously and closed in on the necromancer like a hunter stalking his prey.

This time, maybe the necromancer actually thought for a moment and began casting a different spell instead of 'Exchange Curse.'

"Be careful, brother! He's trying something else again!"

With the necromancer's gesture, dead ratmen began slowly rising.

Raise Dead.

A spell to revive dead bodies as one's minions. Unlike 'Summon Skeleton', which only requires bone and blood, this spell requires the corpse itself.

But that was a poor choice, too.

Unlike 'Summon Skeleton', 'Raise Dead' is heavily affected by the strength of the corpse.

Corpses here are just ratmen at best.

― Squeak, squiiiii...!"

Killing something you've already killed before is no trouble at all.

Right, Serena?

"Now, return to nature!"

That's right, our Serena is doing great.

Seeing Serena bashing the 'Raise Dead' minions, I felt reassured and turned my attention back to Barkal and the necromancer.

*【Using Summon Skeleton.】

Good thing I tattooed Barkal as well when I inked Serena earlier.

*【Skeleton Promotion effect activates.】*【Summoning Warrior Skeleton.】

A text appeared that I'd never seen before.

Now that I think about it, I had one ring from killing a necromancer earlier.

Was it the 'Black Yoke Ring'? I think it had a 'Skeleton Promotion' effect.

"Oh!"

Barkal gave a cheer from the front; I looked over and saw a zombie ratman biting his arm.

Thankfully, its teeth didn't pierce Barkal's arm. The 'Skeleton Exoskeleton', now thicker, had blocked the ratman's bite.

"Thrag's armor has become thicker! He's witnessed my faith!"

Laughing thunderously, Barkal grabbed the zombie ratman's mouth with both hands.

"This is my answer, O Thrag!"

And then, rip!He tore the zombie ratman's head in half.

"For Thrag!"

It wasn't because of his faith, but simply because the grade of 'Summon Skeleton' had gone up; still, since Barkal seemed happy, I let it slide.

Anyway, the exoskeleton created by the 'Warrior Skeleton' caught my eye.

A much thicker exoskeleton. Thanks to that, the wearer's strength visibly increased.

Doesn't this mean the more necromancers I catch, the higher the chance my spell grade will go up? Thinking that made me want to catch even more necromancers.

― Kkgh...!

The necromancer tried to flee after his attacks failed.

"My experience points are running away!"

"Brother, what are experience points?!"

Oops, wrong thing to say.

Barkal and I started chasing the fleeing necromancer.

He wasn't running very fast. He'd gone into hiding due to an injury from something called 'Dark Shade' or whatever. Must have been because of that.

Perhaps that's why Barkal quickly caught up and subdued the necromancer instead of killing him, per my request, slamming him to the ground instead of using his axe.

― Kuugh, kaaaah!"

"Barkal, keep him still! I'll find something to tie him with!"

"Understood, brother!"

While I was looking for a rope to bind the resisting necromancer, an argument rang out from behind.

"Be still!"― Kyaaaak!"

Thud!

"Be still!"― Kya..."

Thud!After a few dull thuds from behind, things quieted down.

"Brother, I made him stay put!"

Looked like there was no need to find a rope.

* * *

I began searching the necromancer's body, who had been knocked out by Barkal.

First, I looked for equipment usable by 'necromancers'.

Starting with rings, then earrings and necklaces.

Weapons, gloves, clothing, hats—I checked everything.

To sum up, all the clothes this necromancer wore were mass-produced items.

A necromancer worshiping an evil god would've had at least one piece of gear imbued with divine power.

"Ugh..."

As I rifled through the necromancer's belongings, Serena, watching by, looked disgusted.

Honestly, I understood. The necromancer's body was festooned with all sorts of things.

Among them, some internal organs were even visible. Some seemed bigger than those of a ratman, but I decided not to look too closely at whose they were.

― Cough, cough...!

While I was at it, the knocked-out necromancer began to regain consciousness. Barkal took a bold step toward him.

"Be still!"

"Stop it, Barkal."

If I hadn't intervened, he would have punched him again, just like before.

― Ignorant trash...!

The necromancer hissed curses at us. Time to confirm something.

"We've come to retrieve the equipment you stole."

― Equipment...? D-don't tell me, are you those Dark Shade guys?

From his reaction, he was clearly the necromancer Camilla was searching for.

That made this a major turning point. What should I do?

First, the equipment stolen by the necromancer.

Any items blessed by the 'God of Truth and Pursuit' must be destroyed immediately.

If that went back into Camilla's hands, it could expose me as a necromancer.

What would happen if I were exposed?

I'd probably end up like the necromancer sprawled here.

― Heheh, if you mean that orb, I've already sacrificed it to my god.

Offered it as a sacrifice to his god?

Ah.

Thinking it through, I realized what the necromancer meant.

Dungeon God was a game where raising the faith for your chosen god was important.

Sacrifices for raising faith weren't limited to what the god 'liked'.

In fact, destroying items the god hated,items blessed by rival gods,that too could count as 'sacrifice'.

In other words, Camilla's item had vanished from this world.

"Thanks."― Huh...?

Whoops.I spoke that out loud again.

Still, it worked out for me. Now the equipment that could expose me as a necromancer was gone.

"I have a question as well!"

Suddenly, Barkal cut in during our talk. He held out the 'Wolf Fang Necklace' he'd obtained earlier.

"Do you know who wore this necklace?"

Seeing Barkal thrust his face forward, the necromancer, perhaps afraid of being punched, shrank back, flailing awkwardly.

But on seeing the necklace, he shook his head furiously. He did not want another beating.

Let's wrap things up.The tracking equipment was gone.The necromancer was captured.There was no need to kill him here.

Why?They said capturing him was worth 10 gold coins.

What would I do with 10 gold coins?Should I split it? Well, since we worked together, I suppose I should.

Divide 10 gold into three, and it's 3, 3, and 4.

I suppose I'll take the 4.

― You, you...!

As I considered this happy problem, the necromancer looked at me and spoke.

― Why, why are you mingling with humans? Aren't you a necromancer too?!

Hey.Hey, hey!What nonsense are you spouting all of a sudden?!

Someone shut that gold coin mouth!

― Our Goddess Mortis has been waiting for...

Thwack!Just as he was about to keep talking, the necromancer's head was chopped off and rolled to the depths of the waterway.

"How dare you insult my brother! I can't stand such a disgusting creature!!"

Barkal had struck the necromancer's head with his axe.

It was a gruesome sight, but Serena nodded in understanding at Barkal's action.

I looked at the necromancer's corpse. Just a monster's corpse that could speak.

Thinking of it that way, I felt almost nothing.

From 10 gold coins...It dropped to 5.Half price now.

* * *

Come to think of it.

If he sacrificed the item, didn't that mean he performed some kind of ritual here?

A 'player' who can directly see 'text' has no need to perform rituals, but in most cases, rituals are performed to communicate with a god.

Ah, there it is.A bizarre magic circle. Around it were scattered flesh and intestines, and at the center, a single orb was placed.

Orb Devoid of PowerGrade: Low

So this was probably the item Camilla mentioned.

If I showed this and said, this is what happened, she'd probably put the pieces together.

*〈Mortis is watching you.〉

As I retrieved the item from the ritual circle, a message appeared.

You again.Thanks to the necromancer mentioning it before he died, I knew.

Mortis had gotten beaten up by Thrag previously, but obviously hadn't died. Gods have a way of coming and going like that.

*〈Mortis is watching you.〉

So what if you keep watching me? If this goes on, should I call for Brother Thrag again?

*〈Mortis wishes for your conversion.〉

What?Seeing Mortis's demand, I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.

Conversion (apostasy).

Abandoning your current god and turning to another. In other words, switching gods.

Actually, 'conversion' is a common tactic in Dungeon God.

People often start out worshipping a beginner-friendly god, then convert to a different one later.

Of course, there's punishment for betraying (apostasy). Even now, 'Thrag' is sending apostles to kill apostates.

Still, conversion (apostasy) is well worth considering.

Why else would the game be called Dungeon God? Using gods wisely was the key to the game.

*〈Mortis wishes you to convert.〉

But I have no intention of converting right now.

Because of the contract with 'Thrag', I'm still tied to him.

Besides, 'Mortis' is the god of monsters anyway.

*〈Mortis wishes you to convert.〉

No, I said I won't.

Swoosh.

I started erasing the ritual circle with my foot.

*〈Mortis is saddened.〉

Ah! I said I'm not buying!

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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