LVVL 41

Chapter 41

“…My lord! Sir!”

“Ugh….”

The collapsed cave.

Eric regained consciousness at the sound of someone desperately calling his name.

“…Lady Leona?”

He lifted his heavy eyelids and turned toward the voice, blinking as he saw Leona running through the rubble in the distance.

“What on earth were you thinking?! You’re not even a knight—what could a powerless person like you possibly do alone, running into a place like that? Do you even understand your position?”

Leona approached him, her expression full of anger as she scolded him.

“Why do you always push yourself so far… You should think about yourself sometimes!”

Her face seemed on the verge of tears, and her voice was muffled by her emotion.

“But Lady Malefica…”

Eric instinctively turned his head to look for Malefica, trying to explain, only to find her hands dirtied and her nails broken. He immediately fell silent.

“…I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Drip…

“Lady Leona! The hero and the priest—”

For a moment, he looked at her with a guilty, lost expression in the ensuing silence.

“…Good heavens.”

Berl, stepping over the rubble cleared by Leona, stopped in disbelief as he saw something.

“Did… did you finish this… all by yourself?”

Before them lay a massive body, chest pierced by a fist-sized hole, limp like a broken doll.

Even with Rilian’s magic having partially destroyed the arms and melted the skin, traces of sword wounds remained here and there. The monstrous scream of the count beyond the debris indicated that the so-called “powerless” Eric had survived the enormous explosion and dealt with a Named enemy all on his own.

“This is impossible! Even if all of us attacked at once, we could barely hold our ground…”
“The so-called reckless Ather… the hero, wasn’t he powerless?”
“Even when facing undead, he fought incredibly well… but a Named enemy too…?”

The knights who arrived with Berl stared at Eric in shock.

A Named. The weight of that word was immense.

A mutant beyond the limits of its species. A calamity that even heroes renowned across the continent avoided.

This was no monster that a reckless, seemingly powerless person could handle alone. Even multiple knights together had only managed to distract the count and parry his massive arms.

“Perhaps… he’s not actually powerless…”

Berl muttered this thought under his breath, then quickly closed his mouth. He checked Malefica, who was inspecting the count’s body alone, and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t even glance his way.

Eric Ather, the second son of the Ather family, had been confirmed powerless by the Pope himself. No matter how strange the scene looked, no one should question that fact.

If rumors of doubt reached the church, even a single knight like Berl wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences.

“…I’m sorry, my lord. I behaved disgracefully in front of everyone.”

“No, no. You must understand that it came from concern for me. There’s no need to worry yourself too much.”

While the Winterrose knights alternated their astonished and reverent gazes between Eric and the count’s body, Eric finally exhaled and checked the rewards he had put off earlier.

Ding—

[Your body adapts to torn muscles.]
[Strength increased by 1.]
[Your body adapts to explosive movement.]
[Agility increased by 2.]
[Your body adapts to its current limits.]
[Stamina increased by 3.]
[Your body adapts to intense mysticism.]
[Magic increased by 2.]

‘A Named enemy may be dangerous, but the effort is well worth it.’

A total increase of 8 points in his stats. Especially with his Stamina rising 3 points alone, Eric nodded in satisfaction.

‘Now that my Stamina is in double digits, I won’t collapse just from grazing hits from mobs.’

Among the stats, none were insignificant, but Stamina was undoubtedly the priority. Not just for battles, but also for training and for his future responsibilities as the heir managing a territory.

‘Also…’

He checked his stats briefly and turned to the remaining rewards.

[Giant Killing!]
[Rewards for heroes who achieve unfathomable feats are given.]
[Choose one of the following traits to acquire.]
<Giant Strength>, <Necromancy>

Traits. Stats were useful, but nothing was as important as this.

Because he was powerless, leveling up to increase stats quickly wasn’t an option. Gaining traits through “Giant Killing” was a privilege reserved solely for him.

‘<Giant Strength> or <Necromancy>… no need to hesitate.’

Eric glanced at the options and selected without hesitation.

Ding—

[Would you like to choose the trait <Necromancy>?]
[Y / N]

While <Giant Strength> could help in negotiations and managing territory, his current priority was achievements that would strengthen his standing as the heir. Combat-related traits were more immediately useful.

‘Having someone else handle finances is fine. I don’t need <Giant Strength> myself.’

<Eric Ather> Level: -99 Strength [8] → [9] Agility [7] → [9] Stamina [9] → [12] Magic [3] → [5] Traits: <Indomitable>, <Neurotoxin>, <Frost Step>, <Necromancy> <Necromancy> – You can control corpses as if they were limbs, animating the dead.

‘Good. Strength and Agility will soon reach double digits. Not like normal leveling, but this is massive progress.’

With stats and traits confirmed, Eric narrowed his eyes at the eerie aura still emanating from the count’s corpse after acquiring <Necromancy>.

‘…Is that death energy? No. Undead created by the runaway <Life Gem> shouldn’t have death energy.’

The faint, flickering aura seemed like a candle about to be snuffed out. He scanned the surroundings and noticed that other undead from the <Life Gem> outbreak didn’t share this aura.

“Ugh…”
“…Huh?”

His puzzled gaze lingered on the count for a moment. Eric blinked at the small movements of the body with a quiet groan.

“C-Count?”
“Count! Are you conscious?”

The knights rushed to the count and helped him upright.

“…Berl.”
“Yes! Count! It’s me, New Berl!”

The count, regaining his wits, reached out with trembling hands for Berl.

“Ophelia… what about her?”
“She left the forest with the soldiers first. She originally came to help you, Count, but…”

Berl stammered, unsure how to explain that she had gone in search of the count’s relic to secure succession rights after hearing about the incident in the forest.

“It’s fine. I roughly remember what happened after my condition deteriorated.”

The count smiled faintly, signaling that Berl needn’t struggle to explain further.

“…And…”

The count turned to Eric. He swallowed nervously, unsure if the count had seen him perform what could be considered heretical acts.

“Eric Ather.”

The count looked at him thoughtfully, then spoke.

“I heard the Duke worries about his second son. Perhaps that concern was needless.”

Eric let out a sigh of relief. Even without words, the count’s gaze had been tracking him. Despite wet footprints and lingering embers on the ground, the count’s attention had been exactly on that spot.

“…Thank you. For stopping me from becoming this monster.”

Eric shook his head lightly, downplaying it.

“No, it was only natural as a human to act that way.”

Grateful, yes—but he too had been spared from noticing Eric’s miraculous acts.

“By the way… could you tell me what exactly happened in the forest?”

Seeing the count’s energy waning, Eric asked cautiously. He knew it was improper to question someone so weak, but it was necessary to understand the mastermind behind the incident.

“Hero! Right now, Count…”
“It’s fine, Berl. Of course I’ll tell you.”

The count, ignoring Berl’s protests, began recounting.

What he saw in the forest was shocking. Retainers went missing in the Dalnaerim Forest. The count entered the forest to rescue them and saw undead and a figure with a robe pulled tightly over their face. And all of them were controlled by a skeleton radiating sinister energy.

“If a skeleton can expertly control undead in a dense forest like this…”

Malefica murmured with a serious expression, and Eric nodded in agreement.

A Lich. A dark wizard who abandoned life, bound themselves with necromancy, and was reborn as an undead.

In the church’s eyes, a heretic; in reality, a force opposing the will of a goddess. In the game, a Named Monster that could only appear late in the story and was one of the strongest in the Demon King’s army.

“Count, do you remember who the person you saw was?”

The incident involved a far greater figure than expected. Eric set that aside and asked about another matter.

“That was…”

The figure wearing the robe, standing before the Lich. The count lowered his head and spoke quietly after a long pause.

“An astrologer.”

Clear, deliberate words unlike before.

“The astrologer who stood by Alberto’s side.”

At that moment, it was decided: Ophelia would inherit the Winterrose Countship.