Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Fragment of the Immortal King (1)
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It had been close.
'To think its teeth wouldn't even pierce when I bit its neck out of nowhere...'
Was it some kind of constant protective barrier for emergencies? The strength wasn't that high, so it shattered quickly under the undead's bite force enhanced by black magic, but because of it, I couldn't land a fatal blow.
I'd been just as flustered when Jeraph blasted me away with his black magic.
I didn't know much about this world's magic, so it was hard to respond.
Fortunately, I managed to block him with the zombie behind him, but I'd nearly failed the plan before even trying it.
I stared down at Jeraph's corpse.
The village youth zombie was still clinging to his body, gnawing at the nape of his neck.
These guys had been rotten from the start.
All the undead in this place, including that zombie, were people sacrificed to them.
Maybe that's why killing a person for the first time didn't hit me too hard mentally.
No, without Mind Hub, it might have been dangerous, but thankfully, it just felt like killing a character in a game.
More importantly, a new issue had come up.
'I was actually planning to wait for an opening later and bash the back of his head with a rock.'
I'd watched Jeraph's behavior and gotten pissed, so I decided to act right then.
But the moment I harbored killing intent and attacked, 'Hans's' body instinctively went for the neck with its teeth.
The follow-up responses were more like the body leading the way.
'Though it's not like it slipped out of my control.'
It acted on instinct, but in the urgent situation, I just let it be—I could have controlled it if I'd wanted.
And it was definitely more effective than aiming for the back of the head with a rock.
If I'd stuck to the original plan, I probably wouldn't have broken the barrier at all.
'Still, if I had to put a name to this feeling...'
Right, it was like habits engraved in the body.
I could control it consciously, but unconsciously, it moved on its own.
I realized I couldn't ignore the instincts imprinted on this undead body.
Of course, it wouldn't negatively affect my main body back on Earth, and I could even use this to my advantage, but I should still be cautious.
Now it was time to move on to the next phase of the plan.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Malcolm the village chief.
No, Marcos Giocalli, one of the elders of the organization lurking on the continent, 'Oath of Reverse Heaven,' watched the scene before him with satisfaction.
The black gem pulsating as it absorbed the aura of death from the surrounding undead.
It had been decades since he'd started searching for the 'Heart of the Immortal King.'
But after all that hardship, what he'd barely found was just an incomplete fragment.
And transporting it to the main base risked detection by the continent's church, so he chose a remote mountain village no one visited, sealed the fragment there, and began the maturation process.
A year had passed.
'Almost time. Just a little longer and finally...'
He'd poured no small resources into the 'Fragment of the Immortal King.'
His position was already shaking because of it.
'But once it's complete, everything flips. Stronger than ever...'
[Master?] A communication came suddenly from the disciple guarding the entrance.
[What's wrong?] [Master. Well, outside right now...] "So, my little brother is in there!"
"I told you, that guy left a while ago."
I was causing a commotion in front of the village.
The man in front of me was the middle-aged guy I'd first met when I discovered the village.
"No, the signal is definitely coming from this direction! Just let me go in and check."
"Why would we let some outsider waltz in?"
"Then at least let me speak to the village chief directly!"
It would be ideal if I could lure out the chief like this, but even if not, I could gather info.
Not coming out meant he was busy with something important, and in this village, there was only one such thing.
"I'm the chief. What's with all the fuss?"
And I'd predicted they wouldn't ignore or harm me easily.
Someone had come looking for a person they'd already assumed rootless and killed. They wouldn't want repeats, so they'd want to assess the situation first.
I greeted the chief, Malcolm, who smiled kindly.
"Hello. I'm Heinz. I think my twin brother Hans is here, so I apologize for the intrusion."
"Hmm, Hans... I remember him. But didn't that young man say he was traveling alone and got lost?"
"Ah... embarrassing, but we had a big fight and parted ways recently. Still, I came to make up."
He had no choice but to believe.
My face looked exactly like 'Hans.'
And now, it didn't matter how they responded.
I'd already achieved my goal.
'Heinz' caused the commotion outside the village, and the moment Chief Malcolm emerged, 'Hans' moved immediately.
I'd thought there was a good chance he'd ignore it, but luck was on my side.
Hearing it was a crucial moment, he'd want to handle even minor details carefully.
He probably never expected trouble from the outside when the core, surrounded by barriers, was the real vulnerability.
Hummm—
Thanks to that, I stood before the 'Fragment of the Immortal King' without interference.
Touching the fragment directly, without Alfred the zombie rat as intermediary, I understood what 'maturation' meant.
And why the undead were placed around it.
'Absorbing black magic from the undead? No, resonance?'
The fragment wasn't just absorbing black magic.
Somehow incomplete, it absorbed black magic while taking in missing information, synchronizing and stabilizing.
Come to think of it, the undead around were all intimidating: ghosts, headless knights, nothing weak.
The weakest-looking was a skeleton knight, and even that outclassed the ones in the warehouse.
'Wait, does that mean the warehouse I was in was for rejects? My mood just tanked.'
Low-grade undead were probably impurities in that 'maturation' process.
They'd tossed me in after I killed one because decent undead went to feed the fragment.
In the end, I'd ended up in the reject pile.
'It's actually fortunate, but it pisses me off anyway.'
The closer I got, the more overwhelming presence pulled at my body's black magic.
And I realized its danger.
Any living being touching it rashly would turn undead; the weak might die just breathing near it.
Regardless of the power it held, it was a massive curse incarnate.
I reached out toward the 'Fragment of the Immortal King.'
'Picky eating won't do. Time to taste some defective junk food.'
Of course, I didn't expect it to go down easy.
I had my reasons for confidence.
"So, we're twins. We've always been able to sense each other's location since birth."
"Hohoho, that's hard to believe..."
The chief's smiling face hardened instantly.
Then it twisted into a demonic scowl as he turned toward the village.
Something had gone wrong with the fragment.
This wasn't the time for bickering with some punk.
"Kill that bastard!"
Malcolm yelled as he rushed toward the fragment using black magic.
At his command, the middle-aged man at the village entrance—Baukal, the dark knight of 'Oath of Reverse Heaven'—turned to kill Heinz.
But...
"...When?"
No one was there.
[Kill.] ...Terror, despair, grief, pain, oppression, madness, deprivation, hatred, murderous intent, desire, rage...
All sorts of negative emotions flooded in relentlessly.
[Hate all the living. Cover this land in despair. The more the world drowns in death, the stronger your power grows. Yearn for life. Seize what you lack...] 'Whoa, this is no joke.'
The sheer volume of information filtered through Mind Hub was immense.
Anyone average would have their body turn undead from this inherent energy alone, their mind shattered and assimilated by the fragment.
Could anyone withstand this sane?
'Not my problem.'
I continued my work.
Malcolm had noticed and was heading here, so time was short.
'He must have some countermeasures in place.'
At this point, it bordered on obsession.
If he could endure the fragment's influence, he'd probably carry it everywhere.
'Let's see if this works. It's almost done.'
Using the draining black magic as a medium, I drew on the sensation of controlling undead to attempt synchronization with the 'Fragment of the Immortal King.'
Impossible for most.
But I was undead, ignoring the violent mental assaults and maintaining my ego.
'If it works, great; if not and it breaks, at least I disrupted them.'
The fragment was incomplete, resonating vulnerably to fill gaps.
I slotted 'Hans' into that gap.
The result came quickly.
⚔ STATUS UPDATE ⚔ The entity has met the conditions and grown. Acquired special skill Wicked Wisdom. The message appeared before my eyes.
But I sensed my change before reading it.
My bony body was the same, but my existence had elevated.
New knowledge imprinted naturally in my mind.
[Oh! Now you can speak?] I could resonate black magic in my vocal cords to speak now, but that was minor.
I looked down at my body.
A black gem pulsating between my ribs.
A heart had formed.
⚔ ENTITY INFO ⚔ 📛 Name: Hans 🧟♂️ Race: Undead (Demi-Lich) 🔗 Common Traits: Mind Hub, Super Recovery ❤️ Entity Traits: Corrupted Heart, Wicked Wisdom, Mana Affinity Special Note: Existence elevated by the power of 'Fragment of the Immortal King (1/3)'. Black magic latent in the fragment has assimilated with the entity. No mental corruption due to Mind Hub influence. And so, I'd evolved from an 'Elite Skeleton' to a 'Demi-Lich,' the undead mage of immortality.
Huyan sat guarding the secret passage as usual today.
Punishment for failing to deal with that escaped zombie rat yesterday in time.
'Damn, all because of that Jeraph jerk, now I'm paying for it.'
Come to think of it, Jeraph had gone in a while ago and hadn't come out.
'Obvious. With that temper, he's probably venting somewhere.'
Huyan leaned back in his chair.
A year had passed, but the backwater village was as sleepy as ever.
The only thing he'd done today was relay the village entrance news to his master inside.
[Huyan! You bastard! What the hell are you doing?!] Crash!
Huyan's sudden communication from his master made him topple backward in the chair.
[Yes! Master! Nothing wrong here!] Huyan jumped up, righted the chair, rubbed the back of his head, and replied briskly, but his master's voice didn't calm.
[Nothing wrong?! What the fu... No, check the fragment now! Hurry! Contact Jeraph too!] [Yes, sir! Checking now!] Because of the barrier around the fragment area, communications inside the warehouse required the special magic tool at the entrance.
[Hey! Jeraph! Quit messing around and check the fragment... Huh?] Rushing to contact Jeraph, Huyan paused and checked the magic tool again.
Then tried again.
[Jeraph? Hey, Jeraph, you hearing me?] No reply.
Of course not.
The connection hadn't gone through to begin with.
"Wha... what the hell?"
As flustered Huyan shot to his feet.
Hummm—
The magic circle at the warehouse entrance activated, and the door slid open.
"Hey! Jeraph! Why so sudden..."
Huyan turned excitedly, then froze.
It wasn't Jeraph at the door.
"Wha... wha... no way, why...?"
Hundreds of undead, led by an ominously glowing skeleton, swarmed the passage.
Controlling the undead was easy.
The amount of black magic in my body now was leagues beyond scraping together scraps before.
I couldn't share senses with all of them like with Alfred, but it was satisfying enough.
Especially since my forces included zombies, skeletons, and the higher-tier ones near the fragment.
'Their states are poor from having their energy sucked by the fragment for so long...'
Still, this haul was fortunate.
The floor around the 'Fragment of the Immortal King' was littered with undead remains, showing how many had been sacrificed.
I led the undead majestically through the passage.
The exit soon came into view.
'Barrier there, so I can't just walk out... Smash it?'
After a moment's thought, I realized something and raised my hand over the door like Jeraph had.
And experienced the effect of Wicked Wisdom firsthand.
Hummm—
The magic circle reacted, and the door opened.
Black magic was no longer an unknown mystery to me.