The Black Necromancer

"YOU FILTHY SCUM!" Artox growled angrily as he turned his gaze back to the boss. "Unhand my child!"

"Oho? Calling me a scum?" The boss chuckled and raised a long finger to wag it at Artox. "I am also doing what I must to thrive. This is a dog eat dog world where those who do not have the power to hold their ground get eaten up by the bigger dogs." His tone became deeper with each world.

"You are already a Peak A rank being, what more do you wish for?!" Artox refused to back down.

"Very funny coming from you, Pangolin King." The boss chuckled and his yellow eyes glinted. "You know exactly how special your offspring is. If I can purify his core, then I will be able to break free from my shackles!"

Artox gritted his teeth and his body shook. Leon watched all this with a strange expression. He turned his attention back to the Diamond Pangolin child that was restrained in the air. His eyes could not pick up anything physically, but he was easily able to spot the other special features of the underdeveloped Diamond Pangolin when he knew what to look for.

'Amazing! There's a trace of Divinity in that monster's core!' Leon realized with a start. He then began to understand why the boss of the dungeon had kidnapped the child. He probably wanted to absorb that wisp of Divinity in order to gain a basic comprehension.

He recalled the progression path of beings that had surpassed the limiters set by the System. The only way forward was to comprehend Divinity and shed their mortality by merging with Divinity and cleansing their vessels with this otherworldly energy. Only then could they truly begin their journey to Godhood.

It was obvious that the shackles that the boss monster spoke about was the dungeon itself. If he was able to comprehend Divinity, then he would surely be able to escape from this prison that he had been trapped in for an unimaginable amount of time.

"Hold on." Leon stepped forward. He guessed that the boss monster recalled his past life as a followed of Michael. That was how he knew what needed to be done in order to break free of his shackles and escape this prison that he had been put in.

The monster turned to Leon and asked. "What is it?" Leon prepared himself before speaking up.

"You probably remember your past life, as Michael's comrade, right?" Leon chose to go straight to the point. He had never been good at word games and dragging things out.

The boss monster's eyes narrowed and he took a step forward. "Indeed, I was sure that Dardan would have noticed my actions and sent someone to put me down. However, he sent someone too weak. I will crush you and free myself! Down with the Gods!"

Much to Leon's surprise and dismay, it seemed that the mention of his past escapades had triggered him! The air around the boss monster immediately boiled!

"I, Onyx, will smite you and claim my freedom today!" The boss monster, Onyx, spread his arms wide and declared!

'Crap! He isn't listening. And I don't think he plans on it!' Leon announced to his comrades, but Artox was left out of the mental communication because he lacked the connection with Leon.

"Undead, I will leave the ranged bombardment to you." Artox turned and told Leon before rolling himself up and launching himself forward.

"Wait! We haven't formed a plan!" Leon tried to stop him, but the Diamond Pangolin King was already far too swept up in his fit of rage. He was feeling and urgent need to rescue his son. "Damn idiot!" Leon exclaimed when he saw that Artox wasn't stopping. He turned around to address his summons, but they already knew what he expected of them.

"Fools. You actually think you can defeat me?" Onyx sneered when he saw Artox's spiky form heading right for him. The giant rock eye in the sky blazed with power and thousands on golden lights fell from the sky like drops of rain.

"Those are... monsters?!" Leon was taken aback. He only calmed down a bit when he felt that the strength of the monsters were B rank. It would have been nigh impossible to beat them if they were all A rank. In fact, there were a few A ranks mixed in between, which was already enough to pressure them, but thankfully, Leon was a Necromancer, so he would be able to balance up the scales.

"I didn't think I would need so many summons." Leon sighed as he spread open his Domain. However, as he did so, he felt a strong resistance pushing back against him, limiting how well he could open his Domain, and spread his influence.

Onyx's yellow eyes turned to him at that moment with a squint to them. "You are quite strong, to be able to even spread the tiniest bit of your influence in my own Domain. Perhaps I should acquire you after this battle." He said to Leon, not even hiding his greedy expression.

"Acquire me?!" Leon felt a shiver of disgust wrap around his spine but he did not relent in his efforts. A moment later, he was able to establish the connection and dozens of his summons appeared with each passing moment.

"Oh, you are a Necromancer?" The sight of Leon's summons appearing was something that snatched even more of Onyx's attention and he finally turned to Leon. He completely disregarded Artox who was currently mowing through hundreds of B ranks to get to Onyx.

The reason why Onyx was attracted by Leon's Necromancy was because he was a summoner himself! The thousands of B rank monsters that were piling themselves up against Artox were his summons that he had gathered over the years he had spent as the boss of the Labyrinth of Madness.

When Onyx had arrived in this dungeon after the end of the war that marked the end of the Era of Gods, he had been stripped of as much of his power as the Gods could get away with. If not for the fact that he was stuck in an A rank dungeon, he would have been ranked even lower, instead of the Low A rank that he had been reduced to.

One thing most people did not know was that it was hard for dungeon monsters to grow. The reason why was because of the fact that not only were they frequently cleared out by adventurers and soldiers from the kingdoms that presided over that dungeon, but the dungeon itself repressed their growth to limit them up to a certain extent.

It had taken a painstakingly long time for Onyx to reach this level of strength. It was only after he had become the boss of the dungeon that he was able to regain his summoning skill, and ever since then, he had been growing it into what it was right now.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Onyx tapped his long claws against his palm as he watched Leon's summons appear all around him. There were all kinds of summons. Monsters and humans alike.

"You have gotten yourself quite the collection, I must say. How long have you been stocking up?" He asked mockingly. He knew that for a Necromancer to have such a diverse variety of summons, they must have been through their own fair share of wars and battles. After all, who would let a Necromancer grow freely? Surely, Leon must have been through the struggle before joining a faction, right?

"Let me shut him up, Master." Nero grunted and stepped forward.

"You can't beat him alone. Not yet, at least." Leon shook his head and focused on summoning more creatures. All his elite summons stood around him, ready to protect him from any attack while he focused on maintaining the connection.

"But if we all join hands, maybe we can." Fenrir suggested.

"We can't." Aristodemus shook his head. The Cowardly Knight King had not come with them to the dungeon, as he had already broken through to A rank, and wanted to fight more on the battlefield with the Demons. However, he was one of the first to step through the summoning when Leon called.

"Why do you say so?" Kaladin turned to the large armored summon.

"Because I see it." Aristodemus replied as he looked at the distant figure of Onyx. His invisible eyes were trained on the figure of the boss, and he could see the wisps of energy that radiated off him like a sun. "He is powerful."