Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Invasion of the World Forest
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The World Forest, assaulted by the imperial army.
With no guides available to lead the way into the World Forest—a place impossible to enter without one—the imperial forces had advanced with elves at the forefront.
Yet when they arrived at their destination, all that remained was the trace of a massive explosion.
The Curse Demon King they had come to stop was nowhere to be seen.
When questioned, the elves feigned ignorance.
This wasn't out of any particular loyalty to Leyzon.
He had said he would return in ten days.
This might have been a warning.
A warning that he would return in ten days and exact thorough revenge if word got out.
So the elves all kept their mouths firmly shut.
Better to cover for him than make an enemy of him.
In the end, the imperial army had to retreat empty-handed.
Ten days passed like that.
Poison Spider was studying manuscripts as usual.
He was working diligently, having been tasked with research by Leyzon.
Even now, he shuddered recalling the events from ten days ago.
'To block the Curse Demon King...'
Leyzon had introduced himself as a friend of the Abyss.
But even a friend of the Abyss blocking his undead was another matter entirely.
'Perhaps...'
A vague thought.
But an undeniable possibility arose.
'What if Leyzon himself is the Abyss?'
If that were true, Poison Spider had gotten tangled up with an incredible figure.
The Abyss was the pinnacle of necromancers, after all.
'Is this really okay for me...?'
He had lived a quiet life, quietly researching poison magic.
And somehow, he had ended up entangled with a massive heavyweight.
As Poison Spider worried vaguely,
knock knock—
A sound echoed from someone tapping on his window.
Poison Spider looked up.
Beyond the window, a face appeared.
A man floating lightly, stepping on shadows.
Poison Spider flinched and hurriedly opened the window.
〔Leyzon!〕
"Man, those empire bastards are more persistent than I thought."
Leyzon climbed in through the window, complaining about the trouble.
〔The imperial army should have left the forest right away, though?〕
Poison Spider revealed his puzzlement as he tidied the room.
"Ah, they had a separate strike team operating."
To confront the Curse Demon King,
the imperial army had come more prepared than expected.
As a result, Leyzon had ended up playing an extended game of hide-and-seek with them.
"But I shook them all off in the end. No problem."
〔That's a relief.〕
Poison Spider sighed in relief.
If the imperial army had kept tailing him, it would have put Poison Spider in a tough spot too.
Leyzon flopped down on the same sofa as last time as he said that.
Then, a doll rolled down from his shoulder with a tumble.
Poison Spider tilted his head at the sight of the doll.
The doll exuded an eerie chill that sent shivers down his spine.
What is that thing?
"The others want to come out too. That cool with you?"
In the meantime, Leyzon cracked his shoulders and spoke.
Poison Spider showed his doubt once more.
〔Others?〕
"You're gonna be seeing their faces a lot anyway, so no point hiding."
With that, Leyzon tapped the shadow on the floor.
"Whoa!"
In that instant, a Sword-Tooth Clan boy popped out from the shadow.
Poison Spider's eyes went wide at the sight.
The boy, wagging his four tails, looked at Poison Spider and bowed his head.
"H-Hello. I'm Hanok Wilbria."
Hanok greeted him shyly, hiding his face.
He seemed fragile in every way.
Soon after, another figure emerged from the shadow.
A girl with snow-white hair, the tips dyed black.
Even Poison Spider, an elf, gasped at her beauty.
But he didn't voice admiration for her looks.
His instinctive body began trembling uncontrollably.
Cold sweat beaded on his face.
What is that? What the hell is that?
A being that suppressed fear and death itself.
Something no words could describe.
"Oh right, you're a necromancer."
Leyzon understood the situation from Poison Spider's reaction.
"Syria, can you tone it down a bit more?"
"Mm, this is pretty much max already."
"Guess necromancers are sensitive to undead power."
Poison Spider looked bewildered.
Undead?
That's undead?
Poison Spider turned to Leyzon amid his cold sweat.
〔U-Um, Leyzon, undead—no, this person is...〕
Typos kept creeping into Poison Spider's writing.
A sign of how tense he was.
"Syria Nosferatu, my undead Vampire Queen."
Poison Spider's face froze solid.
The Vampire Queen was one of the known undead of the Abyss.
The fact she was Leyzon's undead meant...
Leyzon grinned.
"Yeah, I'm the Abyss."
Poison Spider dropped to his knees on the floor.
He looked ready to prostrate himself at any moment.
"Enough of that. I'm not revealing myself for worship."
Leyzon waved it off, telling him not to mind.
But Poison Spider couldn't stop his body from trembling.
He had vaguely considered the possibility that Leyzon might be the Abyss.
But him actually being the Abyss was a whole different story.
"He's totally spooked."
"I figured he'd have caught on by now."
Leyzon smiled wryly and rose from the chair.
"Poison Spider."
Poison Spider snapped his head up at the call.
"That throat of yours—it's from a curse, right?"
Poison Spider flinched, clutching his scarred neck.
〔Yes, it is.〕
It was an old wound with a story behind it.
Leyzon placed his hand on the table.
The doll sitting there climbed onto his palm.
"I'll lift that curse for you."
Poison Spider's eyes widened.
"I'm the type who prefers clear give-and-take, especially since I'm outsourcing work to you."
Leyzon smiled faintly.
He had decided to fix it the moment he saw the neck.
〔But this curse isn't something that can be lifted easily...〕
This curse was etched into his very soul.
Not even a skilled curse sorcerer could dispel it easily.
"Iden, think you can handle it?"
Leyzon asked, seeing Poison Spider's distress.
Poison Spider realized he was addressing the doll in his hand.
Unaware of the doll's identity, he looked puzzled.
"Doesn't seem too tough."
A languid voice soon came from the doll.
Poison Spider's face lit up in shock.
He hadn't expected the doll to speak.
"She says she can."
〔C-Could it be...?〕
Poison Spider cautiously voiced his guess.
"Yep. Iden Yufera, the Curse Demon King."
Poison Spider quietly made a tearful face.
Poison Spider ultimately decided to go through with the curse treatment.
Iden felt his neck with her straw hand.
Poison Spider looked a bit uneasy but stayed still.
He didn't want to risk a slip-up and lose his head.
"Mm, yeah, not too hard after all."
Iden drawled lazily.
"Might sting a little."
At that moment, Iden's straw pierced into Poison Spider's neck.
A little sting?
It was the kind of scene that made him flinch just recalling those words.
But Poison Spider had half-expected it and squeezed his eyes shut, enduring.
Then, Iden's straw began turning black.
A moment later, once it was fully blackened,
Iden withdrew the straw.
Poison Spider slowly opened his eyes.
His neck was now smooth and scarless, completely different from before.
Poison Spider touched it in astonishment.
Then he instinctively started trying to finger-write words but stopped midway.
"Ah... a-ah."
Soon, Poison Spider produced a voice.
His pupils dilated hugely.
Leyzon smiled faintly.
"Sounds good."
Poison Spider's voice had returned.
His eyes widened massively.
Soon, with a choked expression, he covered his mouth.
"Yes... Leyzon, thank you. Truly, thank you so much."
The frustration of being unable to speak all this time.
With it all released, Poison Spider was on the verge of tears.
Thud! Roll roll roll—
At that moment, a sound of something dropping rang out.
A basket full of apples had spilled, dropped by Piran.
Poison Spider's disciple Piran stared with eyes wide open.
"M-Master, your voice..."
"Yes, Piran. Leyzon here restored it for me."
Poison Spider smiled kindly, and Piran rushed into his arms.
Poison Spider caught him and wore a tearfully joyful smile.
Leyzon watched the scene warmly.
"Leyzon."
Just then, Iden—who had absorbed the curse—called to him.
Iden held up her blackened straw.
"This has the power of the Evil Transcendent on it."
Leyzon's gaze sharpened at her next words.
"Evil Transcendent?"
Leyzon looked up at Poison Spider.
What the hell had happened
for him to carry a curse infused with the Evil Transcendent's power?
Poison Spider set Piran down upon hearing Iden.
"Well, this curse came from a certain dark elf.
I didn't know him personally, but he was an acquaintance of Piran's mother."
Leyzon's gaze shifted to Piran.
But Piran wore an expression of ignorance.
"That bastard made a pact with the Evil Transcendent."
"...Yes. And he's the one who exterminated the dark elves to fulfill his contract with the Evil Transcendent."
Leyzon's eyes slowly widened at those words.
"What?"
"You didn't know?"
He hadn't.
There was no mention anywhere of the dark elves being wiped out.
"The only dark elves left in the world now are half dark elves.
All pureblood dark elves were offered as sacrifices to the Evil Transcendent.
They were few in number to begin with and rarely showed themselves to the world, so it's no surprise no one knows."
It was shocking news.
At the same time, Leyzon realized why he hadn't known.
'The empire.'
The empire had clearly intervened directly to erase the information.
The reason was simple.
'The necromancer attached to the empire side is a dark elf.'
Leyzon clutched his face in disbelief.
'The empire is harboring an Evil Transcendent contractor?'
Are they insane?
He couldn't fathom what the imperial family was thinking.
'Underestimating the Evil Transcendent has its limits.'
This was the kind of situation where the empire's destruction by the Evil Transcendent wouldn't surprise anyone.
The empire falls in 100 years.
If the Evil Transcendent is the cause of that fall,
Leyzon ground his teeth.
'I have to stop the Evil Transcendent.'
Leyzon would be in the worst position if the empire collapsed.
He was racing toward the ending.
The world forming the basis of that ending couldn't disappear.
Leyzon's gaze fell on Iden.
Iden's daughter had been offered as a sacrifice to the Evil Transcendent.
A wild leap, but...
'Maybe.'
Perhaps even Iden's situation was connected to that bastard.
With that thought, Leyzon's eyes gleamed coldly.
Some Evil Transcendent worshipper brazenly poking around everywhere.
'Time to crush him.'
He didn't know who yet.
But he was certain this one needed to be smashed.
"So that curse came from him."
"...Yes. I caught it while trying to save Piran's mother."
Poison Spider stroked the dejected Piran's head.
Watching that, Leyzon sat back on the sofa.
Then he slowly looked up.
"Syria, Iden, Hanok."
Leyzon called his subordinates.
"If you fought the Evil Transcendent, think you could win?"
At the question, they exchanged glances.
"Is that even hard?"
Syria answered as if it were nothing.
"If it's Leyzon's order."
Iden would follow any order from Leyzon.
"Uh, um, would my spear work on the Evil Transcendent too?"
Hanok tilted his head, utterly unafraid of battle.
This was enough.
Leyzon's eyes gleamed with chilling resolve.
'Anyone who gets in the way of my goal...'
Evil Transcendent or whatever.
I'll sweep them all away.