The Path of the King (3)
Comet kept the necromancer’s hideout a secret from Dan Gayeon and left Yeouido alone.
Hmph! Hmph!
“Are you still sulking?”
A mere commoner has no shame. To think that torturing a member of the imperial family only warrants the question of whether I am sulking.
“But souls don’t have basic human rights. This is perfectly fair treatment.”
That is merely a statement that reveals the inferiority of human civilization. You are always so quick to rationalize your pitiful shortcomings.
“I suppose so.”
Hmm. So when exactly will you offer me your blood? You received payment and still subjected me to torture, did you not?
“Oh, that looks like a shortcut. Let’s go that way.”
Hey?
The place they arrived at was an officetel whose construction had never been finished; only the bare concrete skeleton remained. Glassless windows revealed the raw concrete walls. Comet peeked into the first floor. Concrete corridors and concrete stairs came into view. The necromancer was probably hiding somewhere on one of the upper floors.
Comet stepped back far enough to take in the entire building at a glance. She calmly studied the bleak, dreary concrete skeleton. There was no deeper meaning to it. She simply wondered if living in a place like this could possibly be comfortable. The government provided food, clothing, and shelter if you relied on them, so she couldn’t understand why anyone would go through the trouble. Still, she felt a twinge of sympathy for someone persecuted simply for being a necromancer.
Hm? Did you not just hear something?
“A sound?”
It was clearly a scream.
Comet listened carefully. Sure enough, the princess was right. A faint scream, almost drowned out by the ambient noise, reached her ears. It didn’t sound like the wail of a soul; it sounded like a human scream.
“Looks like he’s torturing a person. The sound is so small he must have applied some alchemical treatment to the hideout.”
Comet circled the officetel, checking for anything that stood out.
Why would a necromancer torture a living person? If he wanted to interrogate someone, wouldn’t it be far easier to work with their soul?
“Some of the elite-minority build factions that start with spiritual chimera research also study alchemy on the side. They sometimes transition from biological chimeras to spiritual ones. A necromancer from that kind of faction wouldn’t hesitate to torture a living person.”
What possible meaning could that have?
Comet examined the concrete outer wall, gauging whether any traps were present.
“Usually none at all. It’s just for stress relief. I’ve heard that faction has so much work researching both necromancy and alchemy that even when they produce results, they’re treated as half-measures. So they tend to accumulate a lot of stress.”
Ha. This is so absurd I can’t bear to listen any longer. Go rescue them at once!
“Doesn’t look like there are any alchemical traps. Should I? Oh, the screaming stopped. Guess they died.”
Ughhh.
Comet gripped her knife and entered the first floor of the officetel. There was nothing noteworthy there. She headed for the stairs to the second floor. A magic circle drawn in liquid mana was visible on the steps, large enough to separate the first and second floors. After checking its effects and finding only utility functions, Comet climbed to the second floor.
The moment she passed the circle, the smell of blood hit her. Long streaks of red stained the concrete floor. Judging by the signs of struggling, it wasn’t a corpse being dragged but a living person. The first floor had been relatively clean, as if someone had bothered to tidy it, but from here on it seemed the resident had grown lazy about cleaning and simply lived as he pleased.
She examined the spaces that had been intended as offices. There were bloodstains and scattered pieces of corpses, but nothing else of note. The second floor appeared to have been left empty as extra space. She continued to the third floor. Another magic circle was drawn on the stairs. Comet crouched in front of it and studied it closely. It had soundproofing and intruder alarm effects. She channeled spiritual energy into her index finger and poked the edge of the circle.
Her energy raced through the circle’s weak points. In an instant the magic circle lost its light, and the liquid mana that formed it evaporated. Comet stood up, dusting off the hem of her dusty dress.
There must be a survivor.
Just as the princess said, the sound of stifled sobbing reached her ears. Comet scratched her cheek and looked around the third floor. After passing a few rooms, she located the source of the crying.
A girl who looked like a middle or high school student was trapped inside a prison made of magic circles. Comet stared at her quietly. The girl, who had been hugging her knees, suddenly stopped crying. She looked up at Comet with trembling eyes, then hung her head low. The third floor fell silent.
What are you doing? She is clearly misunderstanding the situation.
“It’s not exactly a misunderstanding, is it? I’m a necromancer too. She’s lucky it’s me. Normally that wouldn’t be the case.”
The princess let out a sigh. Comet walked over to the magic circle that served as a prison and crouched down. She watched the girl for a moment before speaking slowly.
“Hello?”
The girl trembled with her head still bowed. Comet simply watched her in the silence. After a while the girl’s body shook violently, and she struggled to lift her head. She glanced around nervously before opening her mouth.
“……Hello.”
Her face was a mess of tears.
“When did he catch you?”
“……Not long ago.”
Comet blinked and asked again.
“Specifically?”
The girl’s lips quivered. A single tear fell.
“A… an hour ago…?”
No wonder her clothes still looked neat. Having satisfied her curiosity, Comet poked the magic circle exactly as she had before and shattered it. The girl stared blankly at the collapsing prison. Comet stood up, looked around, and moved.
“D-did you come to rescue me?”
The girl, who had remained still as if the prison were still there, finally asked. Her voice lacked conviction; the words sounded like nothing more than a desperate hope.
Comet suddenly fell into thought.
“I didn’t come here to rescue you, but you’ve been rescued anyway.”
She left the room where the girl had been held and examined the third floor. It seemed to be the necromancer’s living space; a bed was visible. Imagining a necromancer from an elite-minority build—who would naturally lack strength stats—laboriously carrying things all the way to the third floor was rather comical.
Comet suddenly spotted a refrigerator and walked over. She had no idea where it drew power from, but it was running.
Is your treatment not rather cold?
“What do you mean? Oh… right. It does feel a bit careless, and since no one’s watching, I ended up acting sloppy. I’ll be more careful next time.”
She saw some canned drinks and took out two.
“Should I apologize while offering her a drink?”
That would be good.
Comet nodded, picked up the drinks, and returned to the room where the girl had been. The girl was gone. Looking at the path down to the second floor, she saw faint dust still drifting in the air. She must have slipped away the moment Comet turned her back.
“She’s quick. Decisive too. Maybe I should have tried talking to her.”
Comet put the ownerless drink back in the fridge and opened the other one. The sound of carbonation fizzed out.
“With this layout, the research workshop is probably on the fourth floor.”
She sipped her drink while taking a casual look around. The stairs leading to the fourth floor were covered with a magic circle that provided both soundproofing and intruder alarms. It would be better if the necromancer came down on his own; fighting inside the workshop might destroy all his research.
“Let’s just wait here for now.”
Comet tore open a bag of snacks that had been sitting next to the fridge and sat down in a chair. She munched on snacks and sipped her drink while chatting idly with the princess. At one point she discovered a game console tucked in a corner. She decided to let the princess experience human culture and played for a little while.
Play properly. Why do you keep getting them wrong?
“It’s a nonsense quiz. The creator’s mindset matters more than logical reasoning, so there’s nothing I can do. The fun comes from being shocked by the ridiculous answer after you get it wrong.”
Your excuses are lengthy. If I were to solve it, I would have gotten far more correct than you!
“Want to try? Just tell me the answers and I’ll press the buttons for you.”
There is a cultural difference. What exactly are you expecting?
“I’m not sure who has the longer excuses here.”
The necromancer came down from the fourth floor right as Comet was making an answer sheet for the quiz. A young man wearing bloodstained clothes—perhaps he had been disposing of a body—descended the stairs and stared at her blankly, listening to the game sounds.
“Hello.”
Comet set the console down and greeted him.
“What the hell is going on…? Why is Comet here?” the man muttered.
“I came to kill you.”
Comet gave him a bright smile.
“……Fuck!”
The man scrambled back up to the fourth floor in a panic.
Are you just going to let him go?
“If he jumps from the fourth floor it’ll be annoying, but since he’s not a close-combat build like me, I doubt he can.”
Comet turned off the game and cleaned up the trash. While she was blowing snack crumbs off the table onto the floor, the necromancer came back down. He was now fully armed, wearing a robe that looked like he had made it himself. The necromancer stared at Comet with trembling eyes and spoke quietly.
“I haven’t done anything to you. Why did you come to kill me? There must be some misunderstanding.”
Despite being fully armed, the necromancer tried to talk. Comet nodded obediently.
“You haven’t done anything to me, that’s true.”
“Then why on earth—?”
“You don’t need a reason to kill someone, do you? You were just here, so I came.”
Comet shrugged. The necromancer’s face twisted into an expression that said the entire situation was so unfair he might die from the injustice. He looked like someone who had been doing well only to be struck by a natural disaster.
“As the top-ranked member of my school, I have a conscience, so I’ll yield the first move to you.”
Comet gestured with both hands for him to hurry up. The necromancer’s face contorted.
“Do you think you’re the only one who’s gathered souls?! I have too! I’ve gathered them too!”
“Sure, sure.”
The necromancer stretched out his hand and fired streams of spiritual energy. The energy twisted through the air as it flew toward Comet. She clenched her fist and struck the empty space with force. A shockwave surged, pushing the air aside and shattering the incoming spiritual energy. In that brief opening, a knife reached the necromancer and slashed him. Chant omitted. Soul Severance. The knife stabbed into him, leaving a black wound.
Even without PVP experience, any necromancer would know how to deal with this spell. It wouldn’t end here. The necromancer raised his spiritual energy in resistance. The black wound scattered, and the clash of spiritual energies caused an explosion. The necromancer, struck directly by the blast, was sent flying, smashing through a wall and disappearing beyond it.
From beyond the wall came the sound of a boiling chant. Countless souls swirled and merged, forming one massive spirit. It took the shape of a quadrupedal beast. Its size reached the ceiling, and its spiritual energy fluttered like fur. The giant beast bared its fangs and howled.
“Go! Fenrir!”
In an instant the wall shattered and the beast charged.
Fenrir? What a cute name. Comet reached out toward the charging Fenrir. Her spiritual energy moved silently. Chant omitted. Spiritual Domination.
“Here, puppy. Come to me.”
The pressure that seized control engulfed Fenrir.