Dawn of the Dead?
"……"
At 7 p.m., Uriel sat in the central hall of A dormitory, forcing down her unease as she propped her chin on her hand.
"Uriel."
"What."
"Sit properly."
Propping her chin like a flower pedestal with both hands might have been tolerable, but using just one hand twisted Ferzen's nerves—especially since he was watching from right beside her.
"I'm not your student. Do I really have to take pointers on my posture from you?"
"……"
She had a point, irrefutable enough that Ferzen found no retort and simply closed his mouth, staring at her in silence.
As if refusing to back down, Uriel glared back with the intensity of a staring contest. Ferzen's eye twitched; he extended his foot and nudged her chair.
"Ack……!"
Her propped arm slipped, throwing off her balance. Uriel scrambled to steady herself with both legs. In the process, her shaking breasts tormented Ferzen's already unfocused gaze, deepening the furrow between his brows.
"You……!"
She readjusted her tilted brimmed hat, scowling, but when Ferzen suddenly stood, she flinched unnecessarily and dragged her chair back.
"H-Hey, where are you going!"
"A cigar."
Without so much as glancing her way, Ferzen pocketed his hand mirror and strode out of the dormitory.
"What the hell……"
"……"
Ferzen made his way toward A lecture hall along the path softly illuminated by luminous stone streetlamps.
The hand mirror that had revealed the underground scene… and the internal collaborator who appeared there…
'No sign of panic.'
On the contrary, he'd shown a calm composure, as if patiently awaiting Ferzen's arrival.
'The corpses…'
Best not to bring them up. The information Ferzen wanted was the method to induce a vegetative state. No need to provoke the enemy unnecessarily.
Besides, the collaborator was part of the imperial mage corps. Unless one walked the path of an Aura Knight, there was little risk without prior preparation to control the corpses.
"You've arrived."
"……"
Thud.
Thud.
Ferzen von Schweig Ruerg, the legitimate heir with Brutein's blood in his veins, entered the underground chamber beneath the lecture hall with unwavering steps and came to a halt.
"Don't do anything foolish. Depending on your answer, I have no intention of handing you over to the imperial family."
"Haha!"
Babel burst into loud laughter at Ferzen's words.
"A faithful hound of the emperor, you with Brutein's blood—you say that, and who would dare believe it?"
"I'm quite serious…"
"120 years ago, a mere seven-year-old emperor ascended the throne. The regent who wielded imperial authority in his stead was the head of Brutein at the time… and he harbored no ambitions, stepping aside cleanly the year the emperor came of age."
"……"
"Brutein's grand righteousness is singular: unwavering loyalty and integrity toward the emperor. With such a long-ingrained history, do you think anyone would be fooled into seeing the ancient oak as a mere reed?"
Sizzle—!
Violet liquid dripped onto the five corpses Ferzen had dubbed rats, melting flesh and bone as it bubbled furiously.
"My family name now is Ruerg."
"And?"
"In exchange for the method to induce a vegetative state, I could cooperate—even if it means you lot point your swords at the imperial family."
Twitch.
Deeply etched, rooted in place. Ferzen's ego churned with fierce rebellion.
But he—neither Ferzen nor Lee Seojin anymore, a third entity—seized that emotion, slammed it to the ground, and crushed it underfoot.
"Enviable."
"What is?"
"To discard Brutein's name means you possess the resolve to bear the infamy of betraying the imperial family to uproot this disloyal seed."
Why does our kingdom lack such talent… Babel gave a bitter smile.
"Indeed, I…!"
"And perceptive as well. How did you notice…?"
Irritation flared in Ferzen at the sensation of conversing with a wall, but as he took a step forward—
Babel produced a vial of violet liquid and raised it above his head. Ferzen halted.
A Netherworld gate loomed behind him; rash action would turn priorities upside down.
"But do you know?"
"……"
"That the disguised corpses aren't limited to this place."
Creeeak!
The door swung open. It connected to the Netherworld's second layer—Raurava.
Transaction Method: Immediate Payment
Deadline: Indefinite
Item: Descent
⟨ Netherworld Gate Plaque ⟩
The ever-shifting Netherworld gate fixed its form, the plaque atop it solidifying.
'Ha…'
Watching the scene, Ferzen sighed inwardly.
Unlike the vulture-like monstrosities of the first layer, those named and ascended to the second rarely accepted deals without substantial offerings—especially not direct descents.
Yet this transaction concluded instantly.
Which meant the black mage had offered his own life as sacrifice.
"A fool with convictions is fearsome, they say…"
A black mage's altar isn't bound to form. One could tattoo it onto the body instead of an object—but why not?
Because, as in this spectacle, a black mage could offer their life in a final gambit to summon a Netherworld monstrosity.
That's why enemies always carve out such tattoos from captured foes.
Of course, to offer life as payment… one's social status, bloodline, honor, and achievements must hold value.
Otherwise, in eras of constant war, black mages would have been suicide squads through and through.
"Foolish, stupid, idiotic, moronic."
"……"
"I'll spell it out nice and slow since you're dying anyway. Listen up on your way to the afterlife."
Sweeping back his bangs, Ferzen spat with utter disdain.
"I! Want to live! More desperately than anyone! So if we'd found common ground, we could have been allies."
Babel's eyes widened at Ferzen's words, but he replied with a wry smile.
"The deal is done. No amount of acting can cancel it now. As fellow black mages, you know that."
"You mad—! Fucking bastard!"
Discarding decorum, Ferzen hurled curses at the dead-end wall of an enemy.
「 Waaah—! 」
From the open Netherworld gate, beyond Raurava.
A massive infant's head protruded abruptly…
Crunch!
And swallowed Babel whole in one gulp.
Grind!
Squelch!
Flesh crushed, bones splintered in grotesque cacophony.
Drip!
Viscous red blood trickled from the child's mouth, mingled with half-chewed human chunks that made any witness grimace.
"……"
That was the black mage's end—his life not merely pledged, but instantly surrendered.
「 Burp—! 」
The child belched and crawled out of the gate.
Length: roughly 15 meters.
Width: about 8 meters.
A grotesque Netherworld monstrosity with a human infant's head atop a centipede's body. Gazing upon it, Ferzen opened his subspace and set Isabel's coffin on the floor.
Boom!
Shattering the chamber wall with unknown force, the child crawled up into the spacious auditorium above and peered down through the gaping hole at Ferzen.
「 Waa… 」
But contrary to expectations of an attack, the child shuddered as if terrified and fled the lecture hall in a flash.
Ferzen paused at the oddity but soon shook his head and pursued.
No hostility toward him was strange, but first priority was preventing casualties—no deaths meant no ties to bind him.
There were more vegetative corpses, but likely distributed to commoners.
Casualties among noble heirs were the only ones that mattered.
Crunch!
"……"
Outside, the monstrosity gnawed on the clock tower atop the main building, yanking rebar through the structure.
'Gravity…?'
Ferzen wondered if the beast's innate power was gravity, but…
Thud!
Wood splintered by the rebar flew toward it—only to rebound. He reconsidered.
Gravity pulls; repulsion doesn't exist.
'If the monstrosity manipulates magnetism…'
Straightening his loosened tie, Ferzen activated Isabel's corpse—expensive as she was—and transmuted mana into electric current.
Elemental mages who convert mana to current held the advantage of striking before spell formulas registered, but more crucially, current interfered with magnetism.
Not for nothing was it called electromagnetism.
Crackle!
Faint but even currents spread like spiderwebs, charging nearby objects positive and negative.
"……"
Yet Ferzen caught currents bending faintly.
'The beast's body itself is some kind of magnet…?'
Crunch!
Crunch!
Charged objects attracted each other, forming an opposing magnetic field—but only briefly…
Clap!
As the monstrosity clapped, they tore free and flew toward it.
Boom!
'Repairs will cost a fortune…'
Buildings crumbled skeletal from yanked rebar, but aside from dorms, the main building and lecture halls were empty—fortunate.
'That side's chaotic too.'
Amid the uproar, agonized screams echoed sporadically from B dormitory.
The uncooperative insider aimed to cull future imperial pillars as well.
'For now…'
Joining them seemed wisest. Euclid rank equated to 2 numerically; second-layer Netherworld beasts were 2.5.
If the monstrosity was ferromagnetic, even max-output current wouldn't pierce it.
Priority one: neutralize the magnetism coursing through its body.