The Necromancer's Nightmare
A few hours before the curse took hold, I immediately hailed a taxi and headed for Hongdae the moment contact was lost. I never imagined that drug-dealing scum would have any connection to the Prophet. "And he actually triggered an EMP for this?!" Right in the middle of Seoul, too. The guy was completely insane.
When I arrived in Hongdae, the entire area was encased in a transparent barrier. "Hmm..." I tested it by tossing a rock, which passed through without issue. "So inanimate objects don't matter." That gave me an option. It was a bit of a hassle, but rescuing Ha-im came first.
Smoke gathered and formed into a long smoking pipe. I closed my eyes, placed the pipe in my mouth, and let the smoke rise from the bowl as it passed through the barrier. First, I needed to find whoever had cast this thing. "Right, I think I know where you are."
The location of the barrier caster floated into my mind. The smoke rose into the sky and revealed a woman. I lost my words when I saw her sleeping peacefully on the rooftop. "You've got to be kidding me."
Sleeping when enemies could attack at any moment? She reminded me of that incompetent idiot general from the other world. "Because of that bastard, the demon invasion happened...!" The memory still made me furious, but I held no real grudge. Too much time had passed, and in the end I'd fed that fool into a blender for the pigs. "Still, experiencing it myself is pretty unpleasant."
It felt like she was ignoring me, and the feeling soured my mood. Was this how the demons had felt? The smoke took the shape of a fist, grabbed the barrier caster by the throat, and lifted her into the air.
"Kuh...!" The sudden pressure forced the caster's eyes open. She looked around in confusion. "What the—?!"
"Hello there."
"......!"
The caster was flustered. White smoke had taken human form and was now strangling her. How was this possible?
"Drop the barrier. Now."
"What? Why would I listen to someone like you—?!"
"Then die."
"......!"
The smoke forced its way inside her body. Strange characters flooded her mind. What came next was simple. Pop! Blood suddenly burst from both her nostrils. I wanted to kill her, but I needed a witness, so I settled for knocking her unconscious. At the same time the barrier dissolved from the top down, restoring contact with the outside world.
I removed the pipe from my mouth and coughed violently. "Kuh! Kuh...! It's been so long since I smoked that it's killing me...!" Ever since returning to Earth I'd tried to quit, but the world refused to let me. Hopefully I wouldn't need to smoke anything like this again.
"Unni!"
"......?"
A familiar voice called from a distance. I turned to see Rona running toward me.
"What are you doing here...?"
"I was shopping and— No! That's not important right now!"
Rona's expression was the most serious I'd ever seen on her.
"What's wrong?"
"Ha-im is in mortal danger!"
"...!"
My own sister? "Tell me everything."
"Yes!"
I listened as Rona explained what had happened. Anger surged to the top of my head. "That brain-dead bastard...!"
"U-Unni, please calm down..."
Rona tried to soothe me, but the situation demanded swearing. Fighting an enemy in an unfavorable environment when you could choose a favorable one? How stupid could someone be?
"Damn brat! Just wait until you get back...!" I'd have to force-feed him every tactic I'd learned fighting the Demon King's army. "Where is she now?"
"Th-that's the thing, I don't know either. It looks like she's trapped in some gloomy space he created separately..."
"..."
Absolutely hopeless. What on earth did she have to do with that guy that she'd jump in like this...?!
"Haah... Rona, give me a lift."
"Okay!"
Rona princess-carried me without question and took to the sky.
"Can you find it? He said it's a mental space that doesn't physically exist..."
"Wait. I'm divining right now."
I closed my eyes and reached out with my hand. I could sense it. The location where Roun and Ha-im were facing off was indeed a mental space. What a ridiculous guy.
"Rona, do you think it's possible for someone to create a space completely cut off by external means?"
"Uh... In manga it's possible, but..."
Right. In manga. Only in manga.
"It's obviously a lie. How could an A-rank weaker than you create something like that?"
"Ah... When you put it that way, it does sound convincing. So where exactly is it?"
I raised my index finger. Rona immediately understood and rocketed upward. Once we passed the clouds she asked, "How much higher do we need to go?"
"This should be good."
At my word she stopped beating her wings. Only clouds surrounded us. Nothing else was visible except the occasional bird.
"Where is it?"
"Right in front of us."
"Huh?"
Rona couldn't see it, but it was crystal clear to me. I looked up at the massive black sphere. "Why hide it here? It really is well concealed."
Curious, I tapped it with a finger. It didn't seem like it would break under ordinary attacks.
"Should I try breathing on it?"
"No need. This is enough."
I bit my finger, pulled out a talisman, and wrote a character on it—the one meaning "rust." When I stuck the talisman in the air, part of the sphere began to corrode. Rona pressed her claw against the rusted section and it crumbled away, leaving a perfect hole.
"...Could you wait outside?"
"Outside too?! Are you serious?"
I nodded. Rona sighed, clearly intending to persuade me.
"She's not as strong as me, but she's really powerful. Almost at Ha-im's level when she's at full strength..."
"It's fine. According to the divination, I'll win."
"......"
Rona stared at me for a long moment before sighing again. She had no choice. I didn't want her to see what was about to happen inside.
"If it looks dangerous, you have to call me right away."
"I will. Don't worry."
I landed briefly, then stepped through the hole. All to save my damn little sister.
***
Back in real time.
"You've got to be kidding me. Who the hell called you 'Oppa'?"
My dear little sister looked startled, as if she hadn't expected me to show up.
"You and I are going to have a talk later."
The man sitting on the skull throne in the distance took priority. Look at that face. It practically screamed "drug dealer."
"Hello. This is our second meeting."
"Hmm, have we met somewhere before?"
Unfortunately, he didn't seem to remember me. Well, it was only natural that a top-tier idol wouldn't remember an ordinary citizen like me. It didn't matter. That wasn't the important part right now.
"Right, that's not important. What's important is that I was about to expose your precious little secret?"
"......!"
Roun's pupils widened in shock. Of course he was shocked. To anyone else I looked like an ordinary woman. He must be dying to know how I had learned his secret.
"...Who told you?"
"Told me what? It's written all over your face: 'I'm a drug dealer.'"
"......"
Roun's expression twisted. Whether he believed me or not didn't matter. He was going to die anyway.
"So why did you come? Don't tell me you came to save that exhausted weakling over there?"
His finger pointed at Ha-im, who was barely breathing.
"Well, that too. And while I'm at it, I figured I'd beat you up a little."
"...Puhahaha!!!!"
Roun threw his head back and laughed, hand on his forehead. Because it's funny, right?
"You think you can kill me? Don't talk nonsense."
"......"
"I'll show you my trump card as a special favor."
A massive horse and an undead soldier wielding a greatsword crawled out of the ground.
"This one took quite a bit of effort to turn into an undead. My greatest masterpiece."
'I didn't ask...' He was explaining anyway. Was this what they called an exposition fiend in manga?
"Well? Still feel like fighting me?"
"Why don't you just attack already? The more you talk, the more pathetic you look."
"......"
The moment I finished speaking, the skeleton knight and countless other skeletons charged at me.
'This reminds me of the old days...'
The Demon King's necromancer had played with undead just like this brat. Of course, I'd captured him and tortured him to death with holy power. Enough reminiscing. I pulled out another talisman.
'Hmm, how about a little prank?'
An amusing idea had come to me. It was a bit of a gamble, but worth trying. This time I wrote otherworldly characters instead of Chinese ones. The talisman instantly burst into flames and vanished.
The undead rushing toward me suddenly stopped and retreated back into the darkness. Roun couldn't take his eyes off the sight.
"What...?! How did you—?!"
"...Pfft, puhahaha!!!!"
"......"
Look at that face. How could I not laugh when he was so obviously panicking over something he didn't understand? I wiped away tears of laughter and spoke.
"You deal with death energy, don't you?"
"......!"
His expression told me I was right. He was exactly like the necromancer from the other world. How could every single necromancer be so identical?
"What did you do?! Tell me!"
Our dear idol shouted at me with a fierce expression. What a shame the fangirls couldn't see this side of him. I shrugged, still amused.
"Simple. I stole control of the undead by using more death energy than you."
"That's impossible! How could someone like you handle death energy—?!"
"Why do you think it's impossible?"
"......"
For some reason he had no answer. The talisman's effect was "Comparison." The stronger the subject of comparison on my side, the more it stole from the opponent. Of course, it wasn't omnipotent. I had to be certain I was stronger, and the price for losing was steep. Naturally, the subject of comparison in this fight was death energy, and the way to accumulate it was simple.
"Karma." The more people you killed, the more karma you gained, and the more karma you accumulated, the stronger your death energy became. Everyone possessed some amount of death energy. The difference lay in how much they had and how skillfully they could use it. Look at me—I had an enormous amount, yet I couldn't control undead at all. That's why I'd used the talisman to steal control of his.
While we talked, the talismans had already bound Roun's arms and legs.
"......!"
The moment he'd entered this space, the talismans had wrapped around him. He struggled desperately to break free, but it was useless. I smiled and walked toward him slowly.
"This can't be! I killed hundreds of thousands in the war—! Kuh...!"
I grabbed his throat with my own hand to shut him up.
"You think unifying a continent looks impressive? How pathetic. Hundreds of thousands? Try millions. Tens of millions. Then maybe you'd stand a chance."
I paused, thinking. "Hmm, just killing him feels unsatisfying..." Death wasn't enough for this bastard. He needed something far more terrible than death. Another good idea came to me. Using the blood still on my finger, I wrote two characters.
Nightmare.
'Oh, that came out prettier than I expected.'
While I admired my own handwriting, Roun asked urgently, "What?! What did you write?!"
"Experience it for yourself."
"Answer me right now—! Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!"
The red characters on his forehead glowed. Roun screamed in agony, but only for a moment. His eyes suddenly closed as if sleep had overtaken him. The talismans released him and he collapsed to the floor with a thud. I checked his pulse. Thump, thump. He was alive.
'My skills haven't dulled at all.'
The curse I'd placed on him was the Nightmare Curse—a punishment that forced the target to relive their most horrifying nightmare until the day they died. Everyone had different definitions of horror, but he'd probably spend eternity being gnawed on by the very undead he'd created.
"Oppa..."
'Ah, right. There was still one more thing.'
I turned my head. There stood my battered little sister. I walked toward Ha-im to finish the remaining business.
"Thank you. For a second I thought I was going to die—!"
Smack! I slapped my foolish little sister's cheek with all my strength.