Chapter 114. Hain Al Gul (4)

Undead that got turned by Hain?

He'd never heard or seen anything about the undead under Hain's command having any sense of self.

Jeonghyeon raised the zombie to its feet.

Hiss—!

Even as his hand burned from the poison clinging to the zombie—Hain's venom—Jeonghyeon didn't let go.

Instead, he wrapped his skin in Ignirn's mana.

As Ignirn's mana enveloped him, the pain faded along with the wound.

"What the hell? Why're you saving a monster?"

Junseok was still wary of the zombie, spear tip trained on it.

"Junseok, use your head. You think Jeonghyeon'd be crazy enough to save it if it was just some monster?"

Before Jeonghyeon could even explain, Nus jumped in and scolded Junseok.

"How should I know! That guy's impossible to read anyway..."

"Th-this isn't some weird monster! I'm a person!"

The zombie sounded genuinely aggrieved, as if it understood Junseok's words.

As it waved its hands in protest, Junseok reflexively swung his spear.

"Graaack!"

One of the zombie's squishy arms flew off.

"What the hell're you doing!"

"That thing was coming at me!"

"No... I'm not! Why won't you listen..."

Jeonghyeon yelled at Junseok.

Junseok snapped back.

The zombie tried waving its hands again, and Junseok moved to strike once more.

The scene devolved into chaos in seconds.

It was Garibaldi who finally put a stop to the marketplace brawl.

"Hold. This isn't what's important right now."

Everyone fell silent at Garibaldi's low, steady voice as he raised a hand.

"Jeonghyeon is this party's leader, after all, and he knows our enemy Hain Al Gul better than anyone. He must have a plan."

Jeonghyeon nodded at Garibaldi's words.

"That said, Junseok has a point. Blindly taking in a monster doesn't make sense. It could be a spy planted by Hain."

"Exactly! And besides—"

Junseok probably hadn't thought that deeply—he just wanted to kill the monster—but things settled into a tense standoff anyway.

"Jeonghyeon, you get why it looks like a monster. But it says it can understand speech, so ask what the situation is."

"I can understand human speech."

The zombie turned to Jeonghyeon in panic at his words.

"No, can't you hear me? I'm human! A human!"

"...What?"

The zombie's words hit like a bombshell.

"What'd the zombie say?"

"It says... it's human."

"...What?! Human?! A hunter?!"

Even Garibaldi's calm eyes widened.

"Hunter...? No, not a hunter... just human."

"Where're you from? How'd Hain catch you?"

"I used to live in the southwest of Afraksas."

Afraksas's south was home to vibrant ancient civilizations and the races that thrived on them.

But the southwest was the polar opposite—a city of the dead.

The only life there was massive venomous scorpions and centipedes.

'But that's a story from at least five years from now... which means.'

"There were... humans in southwest Afraksas?"

"Not anymore..."

"Why not?"

"Because Hain Al Gul destroyed our civilization... So please, as a fellow human!"

"..."

"My body's like this, but... I'm human too! Help us!"

"Us...?"

"Us who became undead... Save us from Hain Al Gul."

Save the undead?

Even Jeonghyeon, who would recruit anyone regardless of race as long as they could help take down the Demon King, hadn't anticipated this.

And the opponent was the Undead Lord.

No easy task.

'But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I have to take down Hain Al Gul anyway...'

She was an enemy he'd face eventually, but thinking of Horakti and his beastkin, it had to be now.

As Jeonghyeon wrestled with the dilemma, a status window appeared before him.

'Ah, so that's how you wanna play it?'

Giving choices in every quest now meant each decision shaped what kind of Demon King Jeonghyeon would become.

Pure Malekith content.

'He figures since I've fought Demon Kings, I know how strong their allies are. Using that confidence against me.'

Considering how formidable Hain had been, how many humans she'd slaughtered, turning her into an ally could be smart.

It would weaken Malekith's forces and save lives that should've been lost.

But every time Jeonghyeon saw Hain Al Gul, he'd relive the agony of his past life.

Hain had butchered his comrades, turned them into undead puppets—no rest in death, just eternal servitude.

Turn yesterday's enemy into today's ally? Or learn from yesterday to triumph differently today?

Malekith was finally playing mind games with him.

Which meant Jeonghyeon had grown as a Demon King.

Having sorted his thoughts, Jeonghyeon shouted like a vow.

"Whatever you're scheming, I'll win anyway... so just wait!"

Every blatant status window from Malekith only fueled his fire.

"Everyone, let's hear the story first."

Horakti's message came via mana.

Thanks to Uldran's transferred mana and the epic item Ruler's Circlet from Elkalabi's orb, Demon King-level beings could communicate mind-to-mind.

"Horakti's safe."

Hain Al Gul hadn't tracked them to their hiding spot.

Horakti's forces, fled to the high elves' domain, were barely healed and in hiding.

'Good.'

They'd bought time. Now proceed step by step.

"First, zombie. Tell your story."

The zombie nodded.

"I... lived in a small kingdom called Andellia in the southwest."

The zombie's tale began a thousand years ago, in the kingdom where it once lived.

Recalling the memory seemed agonizing; the zombie gnashed its tattered jaws.

"We must stop Hain. Or more will suffer."

The zombie clutched Jeonghyeon again.

"Help us...!"

Who knew what was truth or lie in this unidentified zombie's tale?

But if even a one-in-a-thousand—no, one-in-ten-million chance it was real...

'Every undead I've met... were humans who lived in Afraksas?'

It explained the hordes of human-like zombies and undead.

How Hain built her army.

All riddles solved.

Junseok, hearing it all through Jeonghyeon's translation, pondered before spitting out:

"Fuck. Who're we supposed to believe with that bullshit?"