Is the Careless Supporting Character Lucky? (2)
Fortunately, the boss and his subordinates had no idea that the supporting character had gone far away, so he didn't get scolded. After informing his subordinates that he had returned, the supporting character went back to his room.
"Inventory."
At his words, a two-slot extradimensional space appeared near him. It had started with just one slot, but for some reason it had increased to two slots a few days ago. The supporting character kept two books in his inventory. One was the [%#$%] that the boss had called a forbidden book, which the supporting character had roughly translated as Book of Souls. The other was the Book of the Dead, which had been with the Book of Souls and which he suspected was also forbidden.
The supporting character pulled the Book of the Dead from the floating inventory and opened it.
"Let's see~"
He slowly scanned the table of contents.
0. History of the Family.
1. Chapter of Death.
2. Chapter of Regret.
3. Chapter of Hatred.
4. Chapter of Grudge.
5. Chapter of Pain.
6. Chapter of Despair.
7. To the Successor.
Excluding chapters 0 and 7, chapters 1 through 6 of the Book of the Dead were all filled with magic—the unique black magic that only the Ruin family had used. It was a forbidden tome created so that a single successor could inherit the family's exclusive magic.
Thanks to his divine language translation ability, even the supporting character, who wasn't the successor, could read it.
Which chapter had the summoning method again?
"Ah, found it. Chapter of Regret."
Each chapter contained fixed spells:
Chapter of Death — Foundational black magic of the family
Chapter of Regret — Undead summoning magic
Chapter of Hatred — Undead buff magic
Chapter of Grudge — Debuff magic
Chapter of Pain — Defense and attack magic
Chapter of Despair — Undead evolution magic
It was an all-purpose book that let one use many different types of magic. Although the supporting character had read the entire Book of the Dead, he had never had a chance to experiment with the spells. Now he intended to try them.
The hideout was still noisy even after night fell.
Guess the boss was right about it being a busy time.
The supporting character had planned to sneak out toward the corpses, but realizing that was impossible, he decided to simply walk out of the cabin openly.
"Where ya goin', kid?"
One of the subordinates who occasionally spoke to him called out.
"Just going for a night walk."
"At this hour?"
"Yes. I went out during the day, so I wanted to try going out at night too."
"Monsters roam around when it's dark. Dangerous."
"Don't worry. I'll only go nearby and come right back."
"...Really?"
"Really."
"Alright. Come back quick."
"Okay~"
After spending over a month together, the subordinate didn't think the supporting character would run away, so he easily gave permission. Promising to return soon, the supporting character set off, retracing his memory to find where the corpses were. It wasn't far, so he located the place without getting lost.
A dark sky. A nauseating stench. Corpses whose time of death was unknown, some reduced to white bones. Black birds—crows or something else—pecking at the rotting flesh. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie, and even though he had come prepared, cold sweat ran down the supporting character's back.
"I-I'd better hurry and finish this."
Still, he had no intention of turning back. Stammering, he took out the Book of the Dead from his inventory. Unlike the other malignant magic books he had read so far, the black magic recorded in the Book of the Dead required preparation.
Walking carefully into the middle of the corpses while holding the book in his left hand, he closed his eyes.
"Hoo~ First, to begin... [Chapter of Death.]"
Flash! Rustle-rustle-rustle!
As if responding to his words, the Book of the Dead began emitting a black light and flipped open on its own. With his eyes closed, the supporting character continued chanting without knowing what was happening.
"[The First Footstep.]"
A single black star rose from the book.
"[The beginning of death is birth.]"
The black star began circling around him.
"[The beginning of birth is the soul.]"
His inventory opened on its own and the Book of Souls inside flew out.
"[The beginning of the soul is truth.]"
A white star rose from the floating Book of Souls.
"[One who has reached the truth of the soul.]"
The white star circled him together with the black star.
"[From here, I shall advance toward the truth of death, which is the end.]"
Finally, both stars sank into his chest and disappeared.
"...Did it work?"
When he cautiously opened his eyes, the stars were already gone and the Book of Souls had returned to his inventory.
"It worked, right?"
Nothing seemed to have changed from before he chanted. But fortunately, something had changed.
You have acquired the title — 'The Last Successor Who Began Exploring Death'.
"Oh. It worked."
The supporting character opened his status window to check the title.
Name: Ju Joyeon
Age: 19
Titles:
• Modern Man Who First Felt Mana — Increases mana comprehension.
• Modern Man Who First Understood the Substance of Souls — Can sense souls.
• Modern Man Who First Completely Read a Forbidden Book — Slight stat increase each time a forbidden book is read.
• The Last Successor Who Began Exploring Death — Increases understanding of death.
Cognomen: —
World: Modern World
Abilities:
• Language Translation (God-tier)
• [Wood Flame] (E-rank) — A spell to ignite dry firewood.
• [Reverse Gravity] (F-rank) — A spell to float in the air for 1 second.
• [Light] (F-rank) — Slightly brightens vision in darkness.
• [Water Walk] (E-rank) — Walk on water for one step.
• ...
• [Mini Heal] (D-rank) — Basic recovery magic
• [Chapter of Death] (C-rank) — First Footstep activated
• [Chapter of Regret] (linked to Chapter of Death)
• [Chapter of Hatred]
• [Chapter of Grudge]
• [Chapter of Pain]
• [Chapter of Despair]
"Another vague effect. Well, at least all the other spells from the book made it into the status window too, so that's something."
After reading through the notifications and finishing his preparations without mistakes, the supporting character relaxed slightly and moved on to the next step.
"[Chapter of Regret]"
Rustle-rustle-rustle!
The Book of the Dead began flipping open on its own just like before. The supporting character started the incantation for the summoning magic.
"[Death is equal to all, yet its timing is greatly unequal.]"
Gray energy spread from the book, seeped into the supporting character's body, and began sinking into the ground.
"[In moments of sudden death, regret always accompanies it.]"
The gray energy created an unfathomably deep pit centered on him and began swallowing the two corpses within its range.
"[Those who regret, rise.]"
"[Abyss Pit That Pulls Up the Dead]"
Along with his chant, the corpses that had disappeared into the pit re-emerged as complete white skeletons, crawling out slowly.
The successor's first follower, a Skeleton, has been resurrected.
"...Huh?"
Instead of an exclamation of success, a question escaped the supporting character's lips.
"Uh... what? The description said the summoning range was from a minimum radius of 100 meters up to the caster's line of sight, right?"
The notification confirmed that the spell had activated properly. Yet instead of a 100-meter radius, it had only activated within a scale of less than one meter. Disappointment welled up in him—he had only managed to summon two skeletons when he had intended to turn all the corpses into them.
Furthermore—
"Now that I think about it, if I make them into skeletons, I won't be able to tell who they were at all."
Unable to achieve his original goal, the supporting character was overcome with a sense of futility. On top of that—
His vision began to spin.
"Ughhh... mana depletion..."
The spell had been too large for his mana reserves; even though it had activated on a tiny scale, dizziness washed over him.
I need to get back to the hideout...
Awooo~!!
He flinched. The howl of a beast came from nearby. The chilling sound made his nerves stand on end, but his eyes began to close again from mana depletion.
"Uh... wait, at this rate I'll die..."
Thud.
The supporting character lost consciousness and collapsed.
Dark night. A forest with almost no visibility. The distant howls of beasts echoed somewhere.
Who am I?
Who am I?
Amidst the dozen or so corpses, the two neatly standing skeletons began to think.
I was... the butler of the Larasia family.
I was the maid of the Larasia family.
The two skeletons retained memories from before their deaths. After the world had been strangely altered by the being called God, the master and young master had left with the knights to assess the situation. What came to the mistress and young lady waiting endlessly at the mansion was not their returning family, but bandits who took advantage of the chaos.
The mistress lost her life to the bandits. While fleeing with the few remaining knights to protect the young lady, they one day encountered a young boy and girl running from a massive ogre. Discovered by the ogre, the entire group was annihilated along with the children.
Young lady...
The young lady...?
The two skeletons found the cold corpse of their former young lady among the bodies on the ground. Clack... As if trying to bite their lips, the butler's jawbone rattled. They also realized their bodies had changed.
Awooo~!! The beast howls grew closer.
This time, I must protect them.
At least the new master.
Following the instincts gained upon being resurrected as undead, the two skeletons who retained their memories began to move. The only living being among the corpses—the new master who had resurrected them, Ju Joyeon—had to be protected.
"Awooo~!"
Brushing through the undergrowth, a wolf with a gray mane appeared.
Wolf.
We must protect the master.
Rustle. Rustle. There wasn't just one or two. Roughly several dozen wolves were slowly approaching Ju Joyeon, eyes gleaming. Two unarmed white skeletons versus dozens of wolves. The odds looked hopeless.
Kill them all.
Anyone who tries to harm the master.
Red light began to swirl in the empty eye sockets of the skeletons.
"Keh! Keh!"
"Grrrr!"
But the two undead skeletons paid no attention to the golden notification. They began fighting the dozens of wolves charging toward them.