Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: The Lich Queen's Requiem
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As the eerie, spine-chilling funeral dirge echoed out, the corpses' bodies began to change.
Stronger. Tougher.
And more perfect. Their very presence had shifted. I could feel it in every fiber of my being—the corpses growing stronger by the second.
The level of grudge they carried had changed.
"Heavens."
Countless pipes attached to the massive pipe organ belched thick black smoke, blotting out the sky.
Enormous pupils appeared in the blackened heavens. They were eyes with slit pupils like a serpent's, stretched vertically. Inside those vertically slit pupils were crammed full of jagged fangs.
As if they weren't pupils at all, but the maw of some beast.
—Ahahahahaha! Keehehehek! Kkhek, hek! Ahahahahaha!
Laughter rang out from the sky, accompanied by the grinding of teeth.
Slowly, centered on the massive organ, thick veins began snaking out across the ground. The closer to the organ, the denser they grew, until they blanketed the earth entirely.
With thuds, dozens of enormous tombstones plummeted from the sky, embedding firmly into the ground. And then, the dead corpses rose once more, spewing their rage toward the living.
The sight was enough to strip away the courage even from veteran soldiers who'd witnessed countless horrors.
"Now that's more like an Erosion Core nucleus."
The one I killed back in Jaun Valley must have been pretty pissed. It probably had power like this too.
I handed the crown to Han Sang-ah.
"Why give this to me?"
Instead of answering, I pointed to the tombstones embedded in the ground.
"Use the crown to deal with those. They're amplifying the organ's performance. Jeong No-hoon, you support Han Sang-ah from here."
"What about you?"
I jerked my chin toward the organ.
"I've gotta disrupt that thing. Oh, and lend me your shoes for a sec."
I'm lending you the crown in exchange. Call it a trade.
"Fine."
I need to interrupt that organ performance. The buffs it's giving the undead are insane. Corpses under its influence are at least five times stronger.
I slipped on the shoes Han Sang-ah handed me and stood. That's when Ramin spoke up.
"I'll go with you and the elite troops."
You're coming with me? I eyed Ramin suspiciously before replying.
"Don't talk nonsense. Get close to that organ, and you'll all die."
From here, the organ's music doesn't affect the living soldiers. But the closer you get, the more those vibrations will hit them.
Probably burst their heads open.
"You guys smash the tombstones too. The walls are toast anyway—give 'em up."
Still, thanks to my strategy paying off, we'd secured a decent number of heads. Roughly a million, give or take.
Of course, if they die, that million turns into undead. But with priests around to bless the dead and prevent reanimation, the losses won't be too bad.
"But we need this."
Ramin said that, then carefully set a small box on the ground and knelt before it.
It was a box adorned with white ivory, ebony, and gold. I let out a low whistle.
"Impressive."
"Yeah, looks expensive."
As Ramin knelt praying before the box, Jeong No-hoon whispered beside me. I glanced at him.
"Not the box—the contents are what's impressive."
I could sense an overwhelming power from whatever was inside. Ramin carefully opened it.
"...It's a nail."
A single rusted nail lay within. Jeong No-hoon looked a bit disappointed. But I had a completely different assessment.
Holy shit. Is this the nail they used to crucify your world's savior? With power like this, it has to be. Where the hell did you even get it?
"It chooses its wielder. Right now, only I, who bears the saint's bloodline, am permitted to touch it."
Ramin looked at me with a stern expression.
"Without this, we can't take down Parhel, one of Valia's high priests."
So that's why you wanna tag along. I stared silently at the rusted nail in the box.
"Permitted?"
As I took a step toward the box, the nail trembled violently. Ramin looked flustered.
"It doesn't welcome your approach."
I ignored him and reached for the nail. In that instant, a hole punched through my hand—like I'd been stabbed by the nail itself.
"..."
"Any closer is dangerous! That was just a warning. Next time, it'll go for your heart!"
Blood dripped from my hand.
Tools that pick their users? I hate that kind of gear the most. On top of that, Parhel's a powerful lich. If I bring Ramin, I'll have to protect him while fighting her. No thanks.
Why raise the difficulty on an already tough fight? Unless there's some sweet loot dropping, nah.
"Try that shit one more time. You damn nail scrap."
Swords tempered in demon blood, pens made from angel feathers, cloths that shrouded saints' remains.
They all rejected me at first. But in the end, they all ended up in my hands, used exactly as I wanted. The method's simple.
"One more twitch, and I'll burn you to ash. Nothing left."
I ignited Paradox Flame on my bleeding hand and stared down the nail in the box.
The nail's wild shaking gradually subsided. I reached out and grabbed the rusted nail. This time, it didn't pull any stunts.
"See? Sometimes physical therapy's the best medicine."
I pocketed the nail up my sleeve, then turned to Jeong No-hoon and Han Sang-ah.
"Once the tombstones are smashed, you two can join up."
With Han Sang-ah and Jeong No-hoon, they should be able to approach safely once the amplifying tombstones are gone.
Conversation done, I leaped from the wall, landed on the ground, and swung my spear viciously before charging straight toward the distant massive organ.
"Ah, this feels great."
This wasn't Earth. And it was vast. I kicked off hard, launching into the sky, then plunged down, slamming my spear into the earth. The ground exploded, sending shattered corpses flying.
"Get lost!"
Today, I just felt like running like mad. Every time I pushed off my legs, the vein-wrapped earth detonated, corpses flying everywhere.
I wasn't even fighting the corpses right now. I was just running, and they were exploding on their own.
"No need to worry about cleanup either."
Casualties? Honestly, no reason to care. This wasn't Earth—no need to think about the aftermath of the destruction.
Parhel said she couldn't fight at full strength in the cave. Truth is, I can't go all out on Earth either.
"Once all this is over, I've gotta keep living on Earth!"
I thrust my hand at a corpse ahead, slapping its gut. It rocketed away with a boom, smashing into a pile of others like bowling pins scattering everywhere.
I charged nonstop, finally arriving before the massive organ in question.
"Hey, come on out."
No excuses later that I wrecked your organ first. At that moment, the organ blared at tremendous speed, unleashing destructive soundwaves.
The spreading waves swept the surroundings. Corpses couldn't withstand the destructive melody and burst apart standing up.
"Cut the crap."
The blue trajectories cloaking my body vibrated, dampening the waves crashing toward me. Amid everything exploding from the soundwaves, the veins blanketing the ground writhed like sea anemones, trying to coil around my legs.
At that instant, the blue trajectories activated, slicing the veins to shreds.
"Impatient guys got no charm."
A girl emerged from the blanket of veins. Parhel. She was wrapped not in clothes, but in the veins covering the ground.
The writhing veins pierced her skin, connecting directly. They bulged, pumping something into her body. Probably the fear and despair from the battlefield.
"Sucking up to corpses? What's that get you?"
"So mean."
A conductor's stand rose from the ground.
An organ stand with eight hand manuals and four foot pedals.
"You like music?"
Parhel sat naturally at the stand, placing her hands on the keys as she asked. I lunged to attack, but veins erupted from the ground, forming a net to block me.
"More than you think."
Parhel burst into laughter. Veins sprouting from her back tangled into tentacles, pressing the hand and foot manuals on the organ stand.
The massive organ's roar, once leisurely, picked up speed.
"..."
I wiped the thin trickle of blood from my mouth with the back of my hand. Bones surged from the ground, instantly forming a wall, and atop it, soldiers sculpted from flesh took positions.
As if responding to the organ's melody, a fortress rose before my eyes in moments, guarded by forces materializing one after another.
"Alright, now that's what I call a lich."
The pinnacle of necromancers, called summoners of the dead.
A lich is a one-man army. You need deep mastery over corpses and spirits to become one.
"My castle. I'm the queen. You'll die here. I've decided it—so all that's left is for it to come true."
Flesh lumps atop the bone walls nocked arrows at me and floated magic circles in the air.
Over those walls waited powerful undead that could take on a knight solo.
"We're mighty and tenacious. And we keep coming back. If someone asks your corpse about infinity, tell them about my legions."
Parhel, perched beyond the walls, casually raised her hand.
"Let's begin. Amuse your queen, clown."
Parhel raised her hand, having conjured a castle guarded by countless undead legions in an instant.
This tiny lich just called herself queen and me a clown?
Fine, I'll play along. I gave a slight bow and said,
"Here's my first joke of the evening. Hope you like it."
The moment I finished speaking, Paradox Flame spread from my body, engulfing the fortress, Parhel, and the entire area.
"What the—huh? What?"
Soon, Parhel visibly panicked, glancing around.
"Welcome to a world without perspective."
What Paradox Flame burned was depth perception. Now, in this area, no one could tell how close or far things were.
Far away was no different from right in front, and close up was indistinguishable from distant.
If I had to compare it to art, it was like fighting inside a Picasso painting.
"Ever fought in a state like this?"
"..."
As if she had. She wouldn't be panicking otherwise. I'm fine. That's why I created this situation.
Losing depth perception isn't the same as closing one eye.
This world was all too familiar to me—but alien to her.