Damn Necromancer

Chapter 425: Proselytizing

'Their intention must be for me to save my points and buy those secret treasures or elixirs over there.'

Kim Minwoo smoothly scanned the expensive items positioned at the very top of the shop list.

[Bone Dust of a Transcendent], [Elixir of Divine Power Liberation], and so on.

In the eyes of ordinary challengers, they would be Mythical-rank secret treasures they would want to obtain even if they had to risk their lives.

However…….

'They are all trash items to me anyway.'

He was already a Higher God.

Obtaining those would neither raise his divine status nor strengthen his authority.

Ambiguous cost-effectiveness.

Ambiguous performance.

Honestly speaking, their cost-effectiveness was far lower than that of the prospective believers.

Monopolizing the 500th-floor named boss.

Added to that, the points that had piled up steadily while giving them a bus ride while climbing the floors.

There was one notable fact in that breakdown.

That was exactly…….

'Even the points earned by the Legion Commanders all flowed into me.'

In fact, it was a natural occurrence.

The essence of the Legion Commanders was that of summons, was it not.

Ananke's thread of fate and the disguise masks.

He had merely deceived the system with the power of chaos on top of that, but fundamentally they were his summons.

So he had quite a lot of points.

Enough that it would be fine even if he put water and bread into the mouths of 30,000 people for a whole week.

Kim Minwoo walked with leisurely steps to the front of the most massive golden vending machine located in the center of the square.

And after pulling the quantity of the basic necessities bulk purchase button to the maximum, he pressed the payment button without lingering attachment.

Jjeojeojeojeok―!

Kwaaaaa―!

At that moment, the dispensing slot of the massive vending machine opened with a scream, and bottled water, rye bread, and top-grade recovery potions literally began to pour out like a waterfall.

"Uh, uheo?!"

"J-just what is that……!"

The 30,000 challengers who had been sprawled in the square raised their bodies in astonishment.

And the participants who had scraped together their remaining money and hurriedly ran to other vending machines simultaneously held their breaths looking at the red error messages displayed on the vending machine screens.

[SOLD OUT]

[Someone has monopolized all the inventory of basic necessities within the base. They can no longer be purchased.]

A perfect supply monopoly where one couldn't buy a single sip of water even if they had money.

The gazes of the 30,000 people fallen into despair simultaneously focused on one spot.

In the middle of the marble square, the hard rye bread and water bottles that had just poured out were piled up like a mountain, forming a massive tower. It was the result of thorough cost-effectiveness, having swept up only the cheapest basic necessities worth 2,000 points.

"……."

Kkorreureureureuk.

As the pressure of the 12-hour starvation penalty slowly tightened around their necks, the tens of thousands of challengers swallowed their saliva looking at that massive mountain of rye bread.

It was an instinctive survival desire that if they couldn't immediately swallow a piece of that dry bread and a sip of water down their throats, they would be forced to die instantly according to the rule.

'Sh-should I steal it……?'

Someone in the crowd was gripped by a very fleeting impulse, but soon shook their head.

Dare to take that by force?

Who were the five people setting up camp in front of that mountain of food.

They were the out-of-standard stagnant waters who had sliced the 500th-floor named demonic dragon in a single strike on the 150th floor, and ground up the disaster-class gatekeepers of the remaining hundreds of floors as if running a weed whacker.

All 30,000 of them knew bone-deep that carelessly laying a hand on their belongings was the fastest act of suicide.

On top of that…….

The gazes of the 30,000 people who had been in despair began to waver carefully.

'Could they have possibly bought that mountain-like pile intending to eat it all themselves?'

'It doesn't make sense within common sense. Then…… are they planning to share it with us?'

The dry saliva of the challengers went down with a gulp.

However, at the same time, terrible doubts also bloomed.

'Where in the world are there such pushovers!'

Taking the lead on the stairs, slicing monsters, and giving them a bus ride could be somewhat understood.

They might have just engaged in eccentric behavior because they were bored.

If it meant taking a loss to save them, it would be a different story.

It was an action with no great gain or loss.

But these are points.

Emptying their blood-like private assets that could raise their own specs to give out food as charity to 30,000 complete strangers?

In the midst of these viciously murderous prices?

'A-at that point, aren't they basically angels?'

Compared to the real angels trying to starve them to death from above in the sky, that farmer's party with demonic martial prowess looked hundreds of millions of times more benevolent and holy.

The crowd, merely drooling, succumbed to the overwhelming martial prowess and noble capital power.

Kim Minwoo, who was satisfyingly watching that marvelous sight, set up a stall and picked up a megaphone imbued with amplification magic he had purchased from the vending machine.

"Ah, ah, mic test. Everyone pay attention."

At the voice ringing loudly across the square, the challengers flinched and trembled.

"Those angel bastards raised the prices of basic necessities without any business ethics, so I just bought them all out. As of this moment, I am opening a large-scale free soup kitchen hosted by the Death Cult."

"F-free soup kitchen……?"

"Yeah. The bottled water and bread piled up like a mountain here. I'm handing them out for free, two meals a day. It means I won't let you die from the starvation penalty."

At that unconventional declaration, the challengers' eyes grew as if they would pop out.

But there is nothing free in the world.

Kim Minwoo smirked and lightly tapped the transparent crystal orb placed on the table.

"However, if you want to receive food, just offer a short, sincere prayer to our God of Death, Kim Minwoo, once. Once it's confirmed that even a tiny light flickers in this faith orb, I will immediately distribute food. Continuously for a week."

At that moment, one of the participants threw a question with a suspicious face.

"What is the condition for the orb to light up?"

"I told you. Offering one prayer to the God of Death. That's all."

A heavy silence settled among the challengers.

It was too easy.

Even if it was easy, it was far too easy.

'Will it really light up just by offering a prayer once?'

'Isn't the baseline for it lighting up high? It's definitely a trap where it only lights up if you beg to the point of almost selling your soul.'

When no one could readily step forward and was just reading the room.

A man with suspicious eyes parted the crowd and walked out.

"Alright! I will give it a try. But before that, may I first check if this orb hasn't been tampered with?"

"By all means."

The man carefully placed his hand on the crystal orb.

He was a thorough atheist who had only swung a sword his entire life.

Sure enough, the orb maintained a dead, pitch-black light.

"Hmm. It's not a defective product that just reacts to anyone at least."

The man let out a fake cough, squeezed his eyes shut, and began to mutter.

"Uh, ahem. Oh great…… God of Death, please look after this lacking one."

His voice was full of awkwardness and a hint of doubt.

However, the very next moment.

Paaat―.

Inside the pitch-black crystal orb, a very minute light flickered.

A shallow and flimsy proof of survival-type faith, looking like it would go out if one just blew on it.

The man broke out in a cold sweat with an awkward expression.

"A-although it may not look like it, for a very brief moment, my sincerity was……."

"It's confirmed."

Kim Minwoo handed over two pieces of bread and two bottles of water into the man's arms with a teok, without lingering attachment.

"Come again tomorrow at this time."

"……Pardon?"

Not only the man, but the jaws of the 30,000 challengers watching dropped wide open.

It was real.

Readily giving away blood-like basic necessities worth 4,000 points in this hellish base where it was hard to survive even a day or two?

Just for one shallow prayer like that?

The crowd's reaction was sharply divided into two paths.

"Don't be fooled! They might be in on it together! It must definitely be a trap to plant a shill and bind our souls whole!"

The top-tier masters, who were highly suspicious and still had some leeway, backed away, still unable to lower their guard.

However, the gazes of the lower-tier stragglers, who were on the verge of dying from the starvation penalty if they starved for even half a day right now, were different.

What did it matter if it was a shill or a trap.

Their breath was about to be cut off right now!

"M-me too! I will pray too!"

"Move aside, I'm doing it first! Ohh, great God of Deathhhh!!"

Eventually, thousands of stragglers, who had lost their reason and their eyes rolled back, began to rush toward the orb like a horde of zombies to get bread and water.

The top-tier powerhouses, watching that pandemonium from afar, smacked their lips with complex expressions.

"Can't be helped. Let's just hold out chewing on sandwiches or beef jerky, however lacking it may be."

The top-tier masters still had some leeway in their pockets.

They could have bought a good elixir or secret treasure if they saved on food expenses for a few days, but even so, they couldn't kneel and sell their souls to an evil god they had never met.

'If we wait, a loophole to earn points might appear.'

'Right. The Ascension Ritual won't just starve us to death. There must definitely be a hidden element.'

They turned their eyes away, struggling to deny reality like that.

Only a few peculiar guys like Kyle had bowed their heads early on and were praising the God of Death; the vast majority of elites were protecting their shallow pride.

"There's no need to be anxious. As we always have, let's train and maintain our edge."

They took a spot in a corner of the square and pulled out their respective weapons.

The more extreme the situation, the more one must maintain composure.

It was the secret to how they could rise to the apex in their respective dimensions.

Shuuuung―!

Paaat!

On one side, a man called the Sword Demon was spewing sharp sword aura, and on the other side, archmages were deploying complex mana circles and writing formulas in the empty air.

But it was at that time.

"Tsk, tsk. That, that's not how you do it."

Before he knew it, an old man leaning on an old cane had soundlessly approached behind the back of the man training while scattering sword aura.

The man jumped in surprise and withdrew his sword.

'This old man…… he's one of those monsters from earlier.'

Cedric. He clearly remembered that overwhelming martial prowess that smashed the heads of boss monsters on the stairs with a cane.

The man swallowed dry saliva, intensely tense.

"What do you…… mean?"

"Your posture, I mean. There's way too much tension in your shoulders. The way you push mana to the tip of the sword is also too outdated."

"……Pardon?"

"Lower your right shoulder by half an inch, and twist the mana in your dantian to ride the bloodstream of the sword.

At the point of impact, twist your wrist snap by 15 degrees."

The man's brow furrowed.

His swordsmanship was his family's secret art, perfected through decades of bone-cutting training.

A mere passing old man was trying to fix that with a few words of advice?

However, the opponent was the stagnant water among stagnant waters.

The man, figuring he had nothing to lose, corrected his posture as Cedric told him and twisted his mana up.

And the moment he lightly thrust his sword toward the empty air.

Kwaaaaang―!!!

A lightning-like sword aura that burst from the tip of the man's sword smashed all the marble floor of the square and stretched out dozens of meters away.

It was a strike one and a half times more destructive than the sword aura he originally used.

"E-eh?!"

The man let out a bizarre scream looking at the sword held in his hand.

It was a lie.

What did he just do?

This was a wall he hadn't been able to cross even after coughing up blood and training for the past 10 years.

The ultimate martial art of the sword that he might or might not reach even if he honed it his entire life.

But he had pierced through it in a single breath with a single word of advice from a passing old man?

The eyes of the other top-tier masters watching that sight flashed wide open.

They couldn't help but know how ridiculously difficult that was.

Breaking down the wall of those who stood at the apex of a dimension with a single word from someone else was like a miracle.

"The array is crude. Try reverse-calculating the 3rd circle and the 7th circle and overlap them. The casting speed will become twice as fast."

"The flame dies because you punch like that! Trap your breath in your dantian and explode the fire ki at the point of impact!"

"Your footsteps are too loud. When melting mana into the shadow, start by slowing your heartbeat in half."

Merhen passed by and corrected an archmage's formula with a tap, and Vulcan casually pointed out the breathing methods of those who handled flames and martial arts.

Even Olivia pointed out the stealth techniques of assassins erasing their presence like a ghost.

"Ohh! M-my magic power is amplified twofold!!"

"H-hellfire has permeated my fist wind!!"

"H-heok! My body has completely assimilated with the shadow……!"

"In our Cult, all these tutoring sessions are also a free service."

Free. That word struck like lightning into the minds of the top-tier masters.

Points to buy secret treasures or elixirs?

What's the point of saving them!

If they just stamp their thumbprint here and offer a prayer once, not to mention basic necessities, they break down walls that couldn't be crossed even by dedicating a lifetime!

"Move asidddde!"

"M-me too! I want to pray too! Ohh, great God of Deathhh!!"

"Instructor! Please take a look at my swordsmanship just once too! I'll even dedicate my soul!!"

The eyes of the top-tier elites, who had been holding onto their shallow pride, completely rolled back.

Throwing aside the lower-tier stragglers begging for food with force, the masters scrambled to slide in front of the faith orb.

In an instant, the square transformed into a brawl for class registration among fanatics trying to receive the top-tier tutoring of the Death Cult.

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