The Monster Roars
The monster roared. Several days had passed.
I told you to just die already!
“Kyaaaak—!”
The screams that shook the entire mansion had become such a routine occurrence that they could now serve as an alarm.
“Master, breakfast is ready.”
“Did Locke make it?”
“…Yes.”
Even as she answered, Kaede made no effort to hide her discontent. The reason was simple: Evan preferred Locke’s cooking to hers.
“As compensation, I passed a new technique on to Natalia.”
“…Did you now?”
“Yes. The hero seems to cherish her quite dearly, so wouldn’t making her stronger count as repayment to him?”
You’re not just encouraging her to use that technique on the hero, are you?
It was obviously laced with considerable malice, but Evan chose not to intervene. Forgiveness and reconciliation were their business. As long as the fight didn’t escalate to the point where the hero died, it didn’t matter.
“Have you stayed up all night again, Master?”
“Well, yeah.”
Evan gazed at the Holy Spear leaning against the table.
“It’s fascinating. It’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun.”
I experienced it once before, but…
Divine power was indeed different from mana. Before, he had thought both were ultimately nothing more than fuel to achieve something. That had been a foolish assumption born from never having felt divine power himself.
If mana was like oil, for example—no matter how much you gathered, without igniting or boiling it, it would remain unchanged forever.
Divine power, however, was different. If he had to compare it… it was like waves, or ocean currents. Simply by a large mass of divine power gathering in one place, a specific directionality would emerge. It moved in accordance with that direction, interfering with the outside world. Anything that didn’t match or went against the flow was repelled. If one tried to seize it by force, it would attack.
Yet if an existence that matched that directionality appeared—a hero like Locke—it would allow them to wield this sea-like power at will.
That must be why someone can use the power the instant they grasp the Holy Spear, even if they know nothing about it.
The directionality of the divinity dwelling in the Holy Spear was ‘absolute hit’ or ‘tracking.’ Add the user’s will to that, and the divinity inside the spear would move on its own, completing the miracle of flying unfailingly toward its target.
It was still only a hypothesis; he needed to experiment further—but that was exactly when his thoughts reached that point.
Crackle—!
The Holy Spear spat lightning from his hand and flew away from Evan.
Evan blinked, then spotted Iris standing where the spear had landed, her face full of dissatisfaction.
“…Iris?”
“It’s not sprouting.”
At her sullen complaint, Evan’s shoulders twitched.
“I-is that so?”
“Isn’t it because Evan-Evan keeps taking the spear away?”
“Uh, well.”
“You only ever call me over to draw blood. You never play with me, you just take the spear.”
“Sorry.”
Watching Iris broadcast ‘I’m sulking right now’ with her entire body, Evan quickly approached and placed a hand on her pink hair, gently stroking it.
“Hehe… No! This time I won’t let it go!”
Her sulk seemed especially deep today. Iris firmed up her face that had been about to melt and deliberately turned her gaze away.
“Play with me!”
“Um…”
“Otherwise, no more spear from now on! I won’t draw blood either!”
Evan found himself in a serious predicament. Iris’s protest was perfectly justified. As her friend, the only thing he had ever given her was a necklace.
So he was willing to indulge her demand for ‘play’ in exchange for the spear research and repeated blood draws.
But…
“What do you want to play?”
Play. By definition, a voluntary activity using tools or objects purely for enjoyment, not for livelihood or duty. It was a word that had nothing to do with Evan, who resolved even the basics of living with minimal effort.
“Anything!”
That kind of answer was extremely difficult. He needed some reference memory to draw from…
Hehe… Let’s go play again.
Now that I think about it.
Even if he saw it as work, if Iris saw it as play, that should be fine.
“Shall we go out… No, shall we go play?”
As expected, Iris’s eyes sparkled instantly. He knew he had chosen correctly.
“What are we going to do?”
“…Treasure hunting?”
In an open plain rarely seen even in Abaddon, dozens of skeletons and ghouls were gathered, all digging at the earth together.
“Jiangshi big sis! What are you all doing here?”
“We are searching for something, so we are turning the ground over.”
“Treasure?”
“…Yes, it would not be wrong to call it treasure. It is quite valuable.”
“I want to search too!”
Without waiting for an explanation, Iris squeezed between the undead and began digging with gusto.
“Lady Iris, your clothes will get dirty.”
“It’s fine!”
“But…”
“Leave her be.”
Evan stopped Kaede. Whether it was digging holes or hunting for treasure—if Iris was enjoying herself, the goal had been achieved.
Good thing I put the priests to sleep before coming.
If they saw this scene they would surely throw a fit, screaming something like “The Saintess is performing manual labor among impure undead!”
Benefactor, may this one ask what you are searching for by summoning not only the head maid but even the lich?
“Sure. If possible, I’d like to help too.”
Even though he had told her there was no need to follow, Natalia had come anyway, and Locke trailed after her. Evan spoke as if it were nothing important.
“I have to dig up what’s buried here so I can keep my promise with the hero…”
“…Did you bury something like a demonic sword?”
A prisoner is buried here.
Instead of Locke, the lich answered.
A prisoner, you say?
Our king never personally sends undead to the afterlife. When that happens, those who cross the line inevitably crawl out.
A rebellion?
Not to that extent. If it were that sort of creature, the head maid would not have left it alone. It was simply that its pride and ego were too strong to control… that would be the accurate description.
The lich’s voice sounded as if it had a headache.
Your Majesty, do you truly intend to bring it out? It will undoubtedly cause trouble.
“Even so, I can’t send you or Kaede in my stead. I have a method in mind, so go do your work.”
Yes, Your Majesty.
The lich flew off through the air, then began overturning the earth with magic from afar.
Then we are searching for that undead’s remains in this place?
“…Isn’t this a bit too unplanned?”
Locke frowned as he surveyed the vast plain.
“To blindly dig up and turn over a plain this size would require far too much time and effort.”
“Well, that’s true. In fact it’s buried at least dozens of meters down, so disturbing the surface won’t help much.”
Then why are we doing this…?
“To torment it.”
Both the human Locke and Natalia, who had not been undead for long, tilted their heads in confusion.
“Whether you burn it to ashes or tear the body to shreds and bury it, undead do not die. At least not in Abaddon. It will regenerate no matter what.”
Then was there a reason to bury it? Would it not have been better to simply subdue and bind it…?
“It was a creature that couldn’t be handled that way, and recovery is slower in places the Black Sun’s light doesn’t reach. Well, the important part isn’t that…”
Evan smiled like a mischievous child.
“Even while its head is completely blown away and regenerating, its consciousness remains intact and it can still perceive external stimuli. The same when torn to pieces.”
Is that possible?
“What’s so surprising? You don’t have eyeballs yet you can see right in front of you.”
Ah.
“Understand now? So this is basically noise between floors.”
From the moment Evan decided to dig the creature up, he had installed a spell across the entire area—one that amplified surface sounds dozens of times and directed them all underground.
It should start reacting soon.
Sure enough, the ground began to vibrate faintly.
“It’s awake.”
Pardon?
“It’s going to get noisy. Cover your ears.”
Evan reversed the spell. From deep within the earth, an enormous roar erupted.
Stop! Stoooop—!!
It’s so loud I’m going to die! Damn it! When I get out I’ll rip out every one of your skulls and make them all the same—!!!
He traced the source of the sound and pinpointed its location.
…Found it.
His past self must have found the creature incredibly annoying to have buried it this deep, Evan thought as he cut off its voice.
I could just grab it and pull it out like this.
But there was no need to waste resources, and more importantly this was supposed to be ‘play’ for Iris.
Evan walked over to Iris, who was still happily digging in the dirt without a care in the world.
“Evan-Evan! Look at this! I already dug this much!”
Evan peered into the hole Iris had made. It was deep enough to stand three people in a straight line.
Was she a rabbit or an earthworm in a previous life?
If he left her alone for a week, she might actually find the thing herself.
“Did you find any treasure?”
“No!”
“But you look happy.”
“Yeah! It’s fun!”
Then that’s good enough.
“I found the treasure.”
“Already?!”
“But the spot is a little hard for me to reach, so I’d like you to go bring it up for me.”
“Okay! I’ll go fast! Where is it?”
Instead of answering, Evan opened a path right in front of her. A passage leading straight to the creature he had just located. Iris’s face lit up and she dashed inside.
Watching her fearlessly race down the dimly lit stairs, Evan called out with a touch of worry.
“It’ll be pretty heavy!”
“It’s okay—! I’m strong—!”
The echoing reply came back. He stood guard at the entrance, deciding that if she took too long he would go down after her.
Locke approached and stared into the dark opening.
“Evan, what exactly is the thing you buried here? Is it stronger than that lich?”
“When it comes to smashing and destroying, it’s far more efficient than the lich.”
Evan spoke as if he understood the hero’s concern.
“You can relax. I don’t plan to keep the promise half-heartedly. It’s an existence that can perfectly replace your role.”
“If you say that much…”
“The only problem is that its pride is so strong it refuses to listen to a damn word.”
Rumble—!!
The earth began to shake. It felt like a mountain range stretching after a long sleep.
“It recovered already from the energy that flowed down the passage. Take Natalia and step back. This will also make a good demonstration.”
“Recovered…? Then the Saintess…!”
“Who exactly are you worrying about?”
At last the ground split in two. With an ear-splitting roar, a massive bone foreleg burst forth. It was large enough to crush a person in its grasp.
[Krgh…! Damn brat…!!]
Next came a hideous maw filled with jagged teeth and a skull crowned with long horns. Inside the lizard-like bone head, fierce ghostly lights burned.
“That’s…!”
Finally, bat-like bone wings and a long tail emerged. Black flames coated the wings where membranes should have been, and a single lazy sweep of the enormous tail whipped up a gale.
It was a Bone Dragon—the highest of the highest-tier undead, a monster created from a dragon’s corpse.
[Kraaa—!!]
“Kyaa—!!”
The monster roared.
“Evan-Evan! I picked up the treasure!”
…It roared pathetically.