Chapter 143
Chapter 143
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: The Silent Approach
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Victoria and the others, breathing inside their water droplets, were making faces and hand gestures asking why they were doing this.
Normally, they could just use holy magic to deal with the undead and pass through.
Just as the Lich of the Holy Kingdom had done, and as the Dullahan had, undead and holiness were opposites.
- Make a sound and you die.
However, I felt something was amiss and had no choice but to send this type of mental message to my comrades.
Survival instinct takes precedence over reason.
Surprisingly, humans are quite adept at sensing this kind of danger.
In fact, there had been times when I survived the battlefields where life and death were a thin line precisely because I followed my instincts.
- Look.
As I said that, I opened my palm and fired a Magic Missile at an undead nearby.
Pop, fwoosh.
The blue mana collided with the skull's head and exploded, and the undead, having lost its head, crumbled to the ground.
- It's just a normal undead, isn't it?! Why are we being so cautious....
- Shh, look at this.
Victoria expressed her thoughts to me through inner speech, and I put a finger to my lips, making a gesture to be quiet.
At that moment, shadows began to converge on the spot where the Magic Missile had exploded.
Grotesque beings with faces made of countless tentacles. They were laying waste to the area where the sound had originated.
"......"
As soon as they saw that scene, all the other comrades were at a loss for words. It was a speed you couldn't react to even if you saw it with your eyes.
Even if you purified the surroundings with holy magic, if your head was cut off before that, it would be useless.
- This must be why Necrovel is also famously known by another name: the Graveyard of Heroes.
The reason even former Tower Masters and Swordmasters died and were buried here was likely because they underestimated the enemy like this.
After all, the general common knowledge was that undead types like skeletons or ghosts were weak against holy magic.
Moving my familiar as slowly as possible, I hoped the shadow-like beings wouldn't notice us.
- It's reverse thinking. When weaklings like that die, it makes a stronger one immediately track that location.
I thought it was somewhat impressive how Romulus had used his head.
All the Four Heavenly Kings I'd met so far were true to their own desires, trying to toy with us rather than seizing the chance to kill us.
If I had let my guard down thinking he'd be similar to the others, and if I had used Perception Hindrance Magic to enter, it would have been a disaster.
If I had accidentally killed an undead or revealed that the Hero's party had arrived, I would have been dragged away and met my death without a sound.
- It would be best if we could defeat Romulus without being discovered like this....
With each step, I needed precise control to avoid touching other undead.
As I became drenched in sweat and the air inside my comrades' water droplets was nearly depleted...
- From here on, we'll have to go down.
Looking at the numerous tombstones inscribed with the names of heroes and the sheer number of undead densely filling the area, I made a face that said there was no other choice.
This was an area ahead that couldn't be traversed using familiars.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Having disembarked from the familiar, we were carefully entering the center of Necrovel, trying not to be noticed by the undead.
The gloomy fog made visibility poor, and we had to be cautious even of the small sounds made by the passing undead.
- Uwaaah, aaaaah!
- Save me, is there anyone there? Please save me! Hahahahaha!
- I want to eat meat. It's been ten years since I've eaten anything. Huh? Can a person live for years without eating? Who am I? Who am I, I say, save me
We also saw undead like humans with severed limbs crawling like bugs, and grotesque figures with eyes on their hands and the bodies of lions.
Beings who had lost the concept of death were luring the living with a mix of screams and laughter.
At first, we were tempted by those voices and even tried to rescue any remaining civilians.
But this was the central part of the Demon Realm, closest to the Demon King's Castle. The humans here were often already one with them.
- Victoria, prepare to use holy magic.
Frowning at the horrifying appearances that made me want to retch, I sent a mana-written message toward Victoria.
At this rate, even we would be discovered by screaming or dry-heaving before reaching Romulus and all die.
- Huh? But earlier, you clearly said not to use it....
Victoria was questioning me in return through inner speech, and in response, I curled up the corner of my mouth and wrote the solution I had thought of.
- Cast holy magic like a barrier around us. If we activate it beforehand, before making a sound, it should be safe.
If needed, we can supplement it with Idea. That other personality's ability, which shaves away all matter it contacts, should be able to repel even those shadows.
Of course, this method was also unusable if we were discovered first by making a sound.
- Understood.
Victoria nodded twice, then began creating a spherical halo of light using holy magic to envelop our surroundings.
Whoosh.
As the light that parted the darkness and fog appeared, the undead nearby began dragging their few remaining arms, entrails, or legs toward us.
Thud.
Thud, thud, thud.
Soon, eerie sounds echoed as they crashed their bodies against or used claws or other weapons to try and break the holy magic Victoria had created.
"What do we do? There are too many! No matter how strong I am, I can't hold this...."
Victoria, horrified by their numbers, continued using holy magic to prevent the undead from approaching further.
A battle that would end the moment one side broke.
"I never said you had to hold it alone from the start."
To break the stalemate of that tug-of-war, I overlaid Idea, created by my other personality, like a barrier.
Then, blood and entrails splattered, and the dark energies of shadows or ghosts turned into crimson dust and vanished.
- Aaaaaaaah...!!
- Stop, please stop! What wrong have we done?!
The undead screamed at us with resentful cries, and in stark contrast to the uneasy expressions or looks from my other comrades, I remained impassive.
They were already dead people.
The fact that they had already transformed into beings that could no longer be called human was reflected in my eyes.
The mana or magic circuits visible on them were closer to those of monsters or demons, and some even had demons inside them, as if they had sold their souls.
"Get lost, you bastards. Where do you dead undead think you're acting human?"
I contorted my face and spoke to the enemies emitting screams so horrific my comrades had to cover their ears.
Unlike the other Four Heavenly Kings, Romulus's method of handling humans was more persistent and cruel.
It was annoying that he didn't just place living people to evoke a bit of pity, but killed everyone from the start and used them as bait.
Plop.
Then, suddenly, a profound silence, devoid of even noise, descended, only to be filled by the laughter of madmen.
-Discovered?Discovered?Discovered?Discovered?
- Hahahahaha! Hahahaha! Hahahaha!
I couldn't quite understand their appearance, enjoying themselves even as their bodies were torn apart by Idea.
It was just a guess, but perhaps, having become undead, they wished for someone to kill them.
Like moths leaping into a flame.
Only after painting the surrounding land entirely with blood and entrails could we finally move forward.
"Lord Astal...."
"My stomach doesn't feel good."
The scenery before our eyes was more horrifying than expected. It was a mistake to let my guard down, thinking that an undead domain wouldn't look grotesque.
Suppressing the rising nausea that made my stomach churn, I walked forward.
A little more, and we would reach the Demon King's Castle.
Beyond this lay my parents' enemy, the being who sought to bring about the world's destruction.
A castle so massive it was visible to the naked eye even from afar. That arrogant, spiky structure, looking as if it would pierce the heavens, filled my mind with the thought that I had to fight.
"Grrrrrr...."
At that moment, a being so dark it felt like I had closed my eyes revealed itself before us, its two eyes gleaming.
A wolf whose throat interior was pure white, opposite to its exterior, as if it had swallowed light.
"So you're Romulus."
It matched the information I had heard about Romulus. The creature had its mouth torn as if it had been fighting another enemy, dripping with blood, but...
"Awoooooooo─!!"
Before I could even figure out the cause of that dissonance, Romulus let out a loud howl toward the sky and charged at us.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Romulus, jaws stretched wide open, trying to swallow us whole in one bite.
Famous by the epithet 'The Wolf That Devours Time,' I predicted his scheme was to send us into the future like the other heroes.
So, *pop*.
As if blowing up a balloon, I swapped the Idea surrounding us with my own and expanded its size.
"Grrrr.... Arf! Arf!"
Unable to swallow us due to the suddenly enlarged Idea, Romulus made barking sounds and retreated.
Crunch, cr-crunch─!
He repeatedly bit and released the Idea, gradually creating openings.
And at that moment,
Another wolf I had failed to see bared its fangs at me.