Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: The Moving Black Castle
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I’ll awaken Pauli’s mind through undead fusion.
With that decision, the undead fusion activated.
Leyzon’s body shrank endlessly until it was no bigger than a palm. In that instant, antennae sprouted from atop Leyzon’s head.
Syria, Iden, and Hanok watched him silently, without a word.
Yet none of them let their guard down.
They had placed curses on Leyzon and Pauli beforehand.
But in case something went wrong with Leyzon, they were all tensed up, ready to respond immediately.
A heavy silence filled the Black Castle.
As everyone stared at Leyzon in utter quiet...
His antennae twitched to a halt.
Then, Leyzon slowly raised his head.
“I’m fine. No problems here.”
Leyzon flashed a grin to tell them not to worry.
The three finally relaxed their expressions.
They’d all been so concerned about him.
Leyzon swung his fused undead arm lightly.
His body felt stiff, probably from the curse.
“Leyzon, how’s Pauli?”
Syria’s question prompted Leyzon to plop down on the floor, butt first.
“No response yet. So now, I’m gonna wake him up proper.”
Unlike with Syria and Iden after the fusion, he hadn’t heard a peep from Pauli.
It feels like his consciousness is asleep.
Now that the fusion was active, he could sense it.
Pauli’s mind was sunk deep in something like pitch-black ink, lost in profound slumber.
And Leyzon intended to drag it back to the surface.
I have no idea how the Black Castle turned into a dungeon.
But if he woke Pauli, he’d get answers.
Leyzon closed his eyes.
Truth be told, he had no clue how to awaken someone’s consciousness.
His class was Poison Necromancer, after all.
Not a soul necromancer—nothing like that was even possible.
So, he’d decided to borrow help from elsewhere.
Resonance World.
The Resonance World was a place that drew in souls.
And undead fusion was a skill that blended body and soul.
Which meant...
During the fusion, he could drag Pauli into the Resonance World too.
Just borrowing the space for a bit.
Leyzon unilaterally notified the Resonance World’s owner, Firsiran.
Soon, he slipped into the Resonance World.
The sensation of his soul detaching from his body and stretching into another space.
A bizarre feeling he’d experienced several times before.
Leyzon’s eyes opened.
The familiar room of the Resonance World came into view.
He blinked a few times to shake off the daze.
Then quickly scanned his surroundings.
There, on the desk, sat an ant.
A crowned ant gazing quietly at the ceiling.
Bingo.
Pulled in together, just as he’d planned.
“Pauli.”
Leyzon called the ant’s name.
Moving Black Fortress
Pauli Poatrice
At the call, Pauli slowly turned his head.
“Who dares call us by name so boldly?”
A crushing pressure bore down on Leyzon’s entire being.
The whole Resonance World twisted as if under immense suppression.
A mere word had shaken the soul chamber violently.
Leyzon figured Firsiran must’ve jumped in surprise.
But he had no time to worry about that.
Even in the soul world, his power shines through.
He felt anew just how dangerous a level 18 Fallen was.
And one thing became clear.
In the Resonance World, Pauli didn’t recognize him.
My form here is Ryu Han-hyuk’s.
Not Leyzon, but Ryu Han-hyuk.
He’d considered this possibility.
Looks like his undead saw Ryu Han-hyuk as Leyzon no more than others did.
It stung a little, but it was only natural.
Which meant he couldn’t show any weakness here.
“A so-called king whose mind got hijacked and turned into a puppet—what right do you have to strut around?”
Pauli’s antennae twitched.
He was aware his body had been taken over.
“The least you could do is say thanks for waking you from that mental takeover.”
“...You awakened us?”
Leyzon grinned at Pauli’s question.
“Yeah, I did. Well, precisely, I woke just a part of your soul.”
He leaned casually against the wall.
“This is the Resonance World. Your real body’s out there with its mind asleep.
More accurately, it’s being used as the dungeon boss.”
“Dungeon boss...”
Pauli mulled over Leyzon’s words.
Then covered his face with his front legs.
“So that’s it. That’s how it happened.”
“How’d you end up as the dungeon boss? You didn’t choose that yourself, I’m guessing.”
Pauli’s mouthparts twitched.
He fell silent for a moment, as if choosing his words.
“Truthfully, we don’t know the exact reason either.”
Not the response Leyzon hoped for.
“One day, a bug shaman came to us. He introduced himself as a shaman from a foreign land.”
Foreign bug shaman.
Leyzon’s eyes narrowed at the words.
The skull at the top of the tower.
That must’ve been the bug shaman who visited Pauli.
“Foreign land—you don’t mean...”
“He claimed to hail from beyond the Empire.”
Leyzon’s eyes widened.
Beyond the Empire.
The world outside the Empire, only mentioned in the lore.
This meant the outside world truly existed.
And someone crossed the barrier, no less.
Regret flickered in Leyzon’s eyes.
He wished he could’ve spoken to the bug shaman himself.
But the guy was already dead.
Leyzon could create undead, but not raise the already dead.
Need to find a necromancer with a skill to raise the dead.
Should gather that bug shaman’s bones carefully.
And who knows—there might be more like him inside the Empire.
If one got in, there could be two, three.
Leyzon smacked his lips.
Time to expand the intel search.
They might hold the key to the world’s secrets.
“The bug shaman coveted us. He sought to treat us like any other insect.”
The outcome went without saying.
The bug shaman lay dead as a skeleton.
“True to his foreign origins, he wielded powers unlike any I’d seen.”
“Unfamiliar powers?”
“Hard to explain. It was a bizarre sensation, as if our worlds existed on different planes.
Like a skill, yet not quite a skill.”
Pauli shuddered, recalling the moment.
A skill-like, yet un-skill sensation.
Leyzon rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
...Skills are remnants of the Kaltura Empire.
The Kaltura Empire had suppressed people’s talents back then.
But those beyond the walls hadn’t been suppressed.
They weren’t Kaltura subjects.
Here arose a question.
...Even for smooth governance, imposing talent suppression with external forces out there seems risky, doesn’t it?
Leyzon’s face grew complicated.
Of course, that suppression gave the current imperial family its overwhelming power.
Only those they permitted could wield strength.
His thoughts veered elsewhere.
Just a hypothesis.
What if the Kaltura Empire’s true goal wasn’t suppressing talents for control, but gathering them in one place?
A world where only the permitted wield power.
What did they plan with those talent concentrations?
The most basic reason to amass power: victory in conflicts with external forces.
Building the barrier to seal off the outside implied threats beyond worth blocking.
And to counter that fear, they created talent aggregates.
Even if it meant crafting a talentless world for others.
There had to be a reason to push forward.
The Bluebird Knights were purged by the Empire itself.
The Bluebird Knights who ventured beyond the barrier.
Perhaps they learned forbidden truths out there.
“The bug shaman perished after a fierce battle with us.
He was already dying anyway. Afflicted with some disease I’d never seen.”
Even in that state, he’d fought Pauli to a standstill.
In full health, he might’ve won.
“The trouble came after.”
Pauli’s tone grew uneasy as he recalled it.
“Something black erupted from his body like a mushroom and burst.”
“A black mushroom?”
“Yes, we know not what it was. But right after, it felt like some entity seized our body. An unknowable, colossal being.”
An unknowable, colossal being.
Like a transcendent entity?
Killing foreigners from beyond can spawn dungeons.
Cause unknown, but...
Best keep it in mind.
“Got the picture.”
Foreign bug shaman, dungeon origin.
Two pieces down—now the main point.
“Pauli, think you can reclaim your mind if you wake up now?”
“...Uncertain.”
“Alright, let’s try this hypothesis.”
Leyzon raised a hand with a sly smile.
“Your Black Castle fulfilled the dungeon conditions somehow.”
Leyzon didn’t think killing the foreign bug shaman alone triggered it.
There must’ve been other conditions tied to Pauli.
Dungeon conditions: boss, subordinate familiars, and a massive space qualifying as a dungeon.
His three guesses.
“Shatter enough of those, and the dungeon might collapse.”
“You mean slay us?”
It was a method, sure.
But dungeons just respawned bosses anyway.
“No.”
So Leyzon shifted gears.
“Destroy the dungeon—the Black Castle itself.”
Pauli’s antennae froze.
This was like saying he’d smash the home he’d built with care.
But if he didn’t want to live as a dungeon forever...
No other way.
“The Black Castle is immense. Destroying it won’t be easy.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll have you do it yourself.”
“With our own hands?”
“Oh, didn’t mention that?”
A chilling smile crept across Leyzon’s lips.
Something about it made Pauli shrink back inexplicably.
“We’re fused, you and I.”
“What?”
“Since it’s the master fused in, don’t hate it too much.”
Pauli’s body began to stiffen gradually.
His shell turned pure white bit by bit.
He’d realized what Leyzon meant.
“L-Leyzon?”
“See you soon.”
With that, Leyzon exited the Resonance World.
The dungeon’s conditions.
The massive space: Black Castle.
Time to smash it to hell.