Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Hahoe Mask (2)
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Heinz 2nd was traveling smoothly with the siblings.
He kept his energy concealed and rarely stepped forward himself, hiring mercenaries with his overflowing funds to handle scouting and escort duties.
“Urgh... m-monster...”
Of course, some of them turned into bandits midway.
It was unavoidable in a world like this.
“Tch, what a waste of good blood.”
I pulled my fangs from the last mercenary's neck and tossed the shriveled corpse aside.
Piles of similarly withered bodies were already stacked there.
I wiped the blood from my lips, straightened my clothes, and turned to step out from the thicket.
“Ah! Mister! Are you done?”
“Yeah, let's get going now.”
I helped the waiting siblings into the carriage, climbed onto the driver's seat, and urged the horses forward.
Ever since learning from the first coachman I hired, Walter, I could now handle the reins on my own to a decent degree.
It was the result of practicing whenever I had spare time along the way.
'These latest mercenaries were duds. Can't help it with security being such a mess.'
Even mercenaries who seemed fine could turn bandit the moment they left the city.
The fact that nothing had happened until now was probably just good luck.
'Still, it was nice to get a proper feeding in after so long. I could hold out longer, but with the limits on my power, it's best to top up whenever I get the chance.'
Especially scum like these who made a habit of murdering clients and stealing their goods—no mercy needed there.
'We're still heading steadily east for now... but I can't keep this up forever. Time to start thinking about our next move.'
We could move undetected in this remote western fringe of the continent, but who knew what might happen next.
As I pondered while driving, I glanced back casually.
The thicket where I'd just been.
For a split second, a black shadow rippled.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Hmm, drained corpses make for seriously low-quality material.]
Probably because even the energy for their transformation into undead had been siphoned off.
Hans eyed the four skeletons standing before him, then stored them in his subspace and turned away.
They were low-grade, but better than nothing.
[I've bought some time coming to this world. Now to find a quiet spot and delve into the mysteries of magic.]
No need to eat, no need to sleep.
With no metabolic needs at all, every moment could be devoted purely to magical research.
I levitated my body and headed deep into the forest.
Strictly speaking, the monster forest where I'd first encountered the black mages might be even better, with no human presence.
But that place...
'Feels like it'd lead to clashes with vampires or black mages. Better to hole up in some nameless mountain cave far away for undisturbed study.'
I selected a cave deep in the mountains and settled in.
First, I politely asked the resident goblins to vacate, but they just collapsed in fear, so I had no choice but to turn them all into undead.
The reborn goblin undead then cleaned the cave, including the puddles of urine from their panic.
I had no sense of smell, but cleanliness felt better regardless.
[Time to set up some barriers. The constant concealment field is good, but let's make it airtight.]
I deployed every new trick I'd learned: black magic concealment barriers, illusions, perception disruption, cognitive distortion, directional disorientation, intruder detection—you name it.
I wouldn't be staying long, but vampires stinging from their losses against Hans would be gnashing their teeth right now.
True Bloods might even track me with methods I didn't know about.
[...Good enough. This should hold.]
I sat in the center of the cave and focused.
'Let's start by analyzing the spells.'
And so, the serious research began.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Ajantu.
This city had belonged to the Brocoslak Clan's vampire forces until recently, but now it was under the Church of the Main God's control.
Of course, the church couldn't openly occupy another kingdom's territory.
They'd requested troops from the Kingdom of Talia, who were now garrisoned here, cooperating on the investigations.
In the process, the city's leadership—who'd all been enthralled by vampires—were rounded up one after another.
The back-alley gangs were no exception.
Clank, clank.
A Holy Knight in gleaming white plate armor passed through the corridor toward the basement.
The place bore traces of battles everywhere.
“Archbishop Latius.”
The Holy Knight addressed the middle-aged man standing silently inside.
“You've arrived, Sir Tuskin. How goes the work?”
“Yes, sir. We're wrapping up the last of the vampire remnants. The kingdom's soldiers have been a huge help.”
The clash with the vampire clan had come completely out of nowhere.
They'd succeeded in killing most through encirclement, but took heavy losses themselves and let a True Blood and a few others slip away.
Later investigations revealed they weren't allied with the Immortal King's successor, but vampires were unambiguous evil regardless.
The real issue was their purpose.
“Our goal is stopping the Immortal King's revival. We couldn't ignore the evil right in front of us, but it's time to move on. He's gathering strength even now.”
They were a unit formed specifically to thwart the Immortal King.
While tracking his movements and investigating Ajantu, they'd stumbled on vampire traces and purged them with the kingdom's army—but they couldn't linger here forever.
“Of course. But we still can't pinpoint where he's vanished to. Until the Saintess contacts us again, we have no choice but to wait.”
All traces had suddenly cut off.
They were stuck waiting here.
That said, they hadn't just been hunting vampire stragglers.
“Fortunately, we've made some progress. From that small village near the western monster forest to the events here in the city.”
Latius had focused on reading the land's lingering memories via divine spells at sites thick with the target's traces.
Time and mana interference had fragmented and blurred them, preventing perfect clarity.
But parts were unmistakable.
'My name is Hans.'
'Remember this. I am Hans of the Oath of Reverse Heaven!'
A figure in a bizarre mask, exuding ominous energy from its entire body.
A chilling voice echoing like it came from hell.
The majesty of commanding undead and unleashing black magic.
Hans, successor to the Immortal King.
'It won't go as you plan, Hans! Even if it costs this life, I'll stop you!'
Archbishop Latius clenched his fist, steeling his resolve.
Bzzz—
At that moment, the church insignia around his neck vibrated.
“This is... Sir Tuskin, give me a moment.”
“Don't worry, Archbishop.”
As Tuskin gripped his sword hilt and scanned the surroundings, Latius knelt on the spot, clasping the insignia in both hands and closing his eyes in prayer.
[Archbishop Latius. Can you hear me?] [Yes, Saintess.] The Saintess's voice from headquarters echoed in his mind.
It was a long-range communication spell using the insignia as a medium.
[We've recaptured the Immortal King's energy signature. It's faint, but... I think we can track the direction.] [That's great news! I've made some discoveries investigating here too.] The Saintess and Archbishop exchanged information via the link.
[...I see. Hans. He's growing faster than expected. We assembled a subjugation force the moment we confirmed his emergence, and he's already this strong...] [We can't delay any longer. We'll resume tracking immediately.] [Please do, Archbishop. I'll keep watch in case he vanishes again.] Bzzz—
The communication ended with their farewells.
He rose and looked to Tuskin, who had been guarding him.
“Sir Tuskin, prepare for departure. The Saintess has located him.”
“...! That's wonderful! As expected of the Saintess.”
“We don't have an exact position yet—some trick of his—but we know the general area. We can investigate from there. The rest is up to us.”
“I'll get the unit ready right away.”
Holy Knight Paladin Tuskin hurried off to rally the troops.
Latius scanned the surroundings briefly.
The site thick with his traces.
Squeeze—
'This time, for sure!'
He clenched his fist once more, renewing his vow.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A week had passed since Hans holed up.
It wasn't creating magic from scratch but more like disassembling and reassembling, so progress was visible.
He captured wild mountain beasts midway for live testing, immersing himself in the work.
On the tenth day.
He finally completed it and was thrilled, but animal trials showed it lacked subtlety.
Black mana leaked out, and eyes turned bright red—anyone could tell something was off. Back to revisions.
Second week.
Reducing activation mana for stealth backfired on stability.
Boost stability, and infectivity vanished. Headache after headache.
Third week.
Grind— crunch! Snap!
I was gnashing my teeth furiously.
Black aura billowed thickly from my entire body.
If not for the pre-set barriers, it would've been dangerous; I forcibly calmed the rampant energy.
'Now I get why programmers grind their teeth during debugging.'
Fix one thing, another breaks. untouched parts resolve on their own, only to explode in the final stretch.
It was a true trial of patience.
Meanwhile, Heinz had passed through villages and cities to reach the kingdom's heartland, but pouring mental energy into Hans left him spacing out often.
The siblings worried so much he had to dial back accordingly.
'Anyway, it's really done now...! Seriously the last time!'
He stepped out of the cave to test the formula dubbed 'Infectious Familiar Magic Final Revision_2nd_TRUE FINAL(3)_NoReally'.
To try it on live animals.
He cast enticement on some flying birds to lure them over, applied the test spell, and released them.
'So far, so good. Now just wait for results...'
As he waited, he sensed links forming one by one from the contagion effect.
He could control the number of linked subjects.
No point crowding them; it'd just waste mana uselessly.
He was running the experiment, maintaining the spell at proper intervals, when something felt off.
'What? Detection spells show nothing unusual.'
The movements of the spellbound animals were strange.
They should act normal except when sending info to him, but now it was like...
'They're scared? All the ones I sent out? Of what?'
For the experiment, he'd set their info trigger to 'encounter a monster'.
No info came, but they were frightened...?
'No way.'
He hurriedly changed the trigger.
To 'encounter humans'.
ZZZzt—
Info flooded in from all directions simultaneously.
'How? Detection spells picked up nothing!'
From the animals' reports.
An invisible group was surrounding the area, slowly closing in.