Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 23
(Into the Darkness (3))
“···Could this really be happening?”
The King of Knights muttered in a grave voice.
It was because of the message sent through lingering thoughts by the second knight who had returned dead, Lionel.
He had clearly said this:
‘A mage possessing items has intruded.’
He knew of the mage's existence.
Because it was that bastard who had killed Gawain.
But···
“Carrying items?”
Mages were beings who did not particularly obsess over items.
Because they boasted overwhelming power even without relying on weapons.
Lower-tier mages, in particular, strongly tended to view using items as a disgrace.
Which meant, conversely···
“It means they're at least 6th-tier···”
No matter how much a mage one was, upon reaching a sufficient realm, they would carry around a small wand like a toy.
There wasn't a single fool to be found across the entire dimension who would speak of being item-reliant to a 6th-tier mage.
But the King of Knights could not accept it.
Why would a noble mage of Arcane come to a barbaric dimension where conquest had only just begun?
Moreover, when they were supposed to know each other well enough, why come to another's perfectly fine business and cause trouble?
“Nonsense. Lionel must have seen wrong.”
Hwoooosh!
The King of Knights scattered Camelot's phantoms.
To ascertain the identity of the mysterious intruder.
And before long···
He let out a sigh.
“···It was real?”
What the phantoms discovered were charred black corpses.
Juvenile vampires raised for conquest.
He had no time to be devastated by the deaths of those he cherished.
Because even though they were juveniles, they were beings approaching the 8th-tier.
Meaning this was no ordinary enemy.
A tension that seemed to suck the marrow from his bones swept over the King of Knights.
And then···
“······”
The phantoms' gaze captured additional evidence.
Dense bars emitting a mysterious blue light.
An abomination with a shape never seen before, whose purpose couldn't even be guessed at··· yet it was undoubtedly emanating the aura of an ‘item.’
“Impossible···”
He wanted to deny it.
But when he discovered the blue ‘portal’ moving along Camelot's colon through the phantoms···
He could no longer turn away from reality.
Portals were the exclusive domain of manipulation-type mages.
“Ah···”
The King of Knights finally realized.
That a madman from the Arcane dimension had come to wreak havoc.
After standing frozen for a moment, he called forth a spirit.
“Lancelot.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I must summon you.”
Lancelot's spirit spun around and tried to dissuade him.
“The Chamber of Commerce will not stand idly by if they find out.”
Lancelot's summoning tier was a staggering 7th-tier.
The King of Knights had lowered his own tier to 8th to comply with the Chamber of Commerce's restrictions; Lancelot was stronger than even himself.
It was clearly forbidden,
but the King of Knights had nothing left to hold him back.
“I've already crossed the river. I've staked my entire fortune··· At this rate, it's the same whether I die by this or by that.”
The King of Knights's bones trembled.
“He's a bastard without even the will to talk. He clearly intends to covetously snatch Camelot's harvest. No doubt he entered without informing even his own dimension.”
If that happened, the King of Knights would suffer a tremendous ‘Loss.’
And the Chamber of Commerce never forgave such ‘Loss.’
The greatest sin an existence could commit.
That was the meaning of Loss understood by all dimensional beings.
“···Understood.”
Lancelot agreed heavily.
The King of Knights called forth the remaining three skeleton knights.
Tristan, Mordred, and even Percival.
And then···
Shwick!
He beheaded them all in a single stroke.
Three enhancement stones emerged thus.
The loss of magic stones invested in them was enormous, but the King of Knights endured it with tears held back.
Then, he poured them all into Lancelot alone.
“Come forth.”
Kugugugu···
Cursed armor forged from the void.
Three lights seeped into it.
Soon, Lancelot, emitting red eye-light, prostrated before his lord.
“O great master of Camelot. Command me.”
The King of Knights received the phantoms' gaze once more.
Dududu···
The trembling of the cursed Castle Camelot.
Camelot was voraciously chewing the corpses of the dead juvenile vampires.
Amidst the writhing stone walls and stairs, a blue portal being swept along carelessly caught his eye.
Where that bastard was headed was already decided.
The most sacred place symbolizing Camelot, and also its greedy digestive organ.
The ‘mage’ was moving through the portal directly toward that place.
Flap!
The King of Knights fluttered his cloak.
“Let us go. We must teach the naked barbarian from the Arcane dimension a lesson.”
“I shall follow.”
The two skeletons strode side by side thus.
***
The vampires' corpses were no longer recognizable in form.
Because the wriggling stronghold had torn them to pieces and pulverized them.
On the other hand, the subspace portal was immune to such physical impact, so it was separately spat out during the final process of ‘digestion.’
Thus, the place we fell into was a massive space with a circular domed ceiling.
Though we couldn't know whether we had gotten closer to the exit, we could faintly guess that we had traveled quite a distance.
The space was shaped like the nave of a grand cathedral, yet it was a space where grim arched frameworks were blatantly exposed without the ornate decorations typically seen in cathedrals.
“Where···”
First, I got out of the portal.
Grand hallways stretched out in all directions, so I needed to check if there was a proper exit.
Just as I was looking around my surroundings···
Kugugugu···
The massive stone wall vibrated, bricks rattling.
The ceiling was shaking the most.
The dome at the very center, surrounded by four hemispheres.
Its center twitched and squirmed.
And before long···
White sticks rained down.
Rattle!
Thud thud!
Rattle-rattle-rattle!
And finally,
Thud!
A skull with particularly sharp fangs fell with a loud sound.
They were unmistakably the remains of the vampires we had captured.
I was certain of it.
That this place was no ordinary castle.
That it was perhaps closer to a living creature, devouring blood and flesh.
By this point, I was beginning to roughly guess what the King of Knights had intended to do with this castle.
“You son of a bitch···”
The massive castle walls, and finally the lid covering the sky.
This place was unmistakably a cauldron.
The King of Knights had intended to boil soup with the hundreds of thousands of citizens enclosed by the castle.
Including my older sister, Kim Sol.
‘Should I really put it in the subspace···?’
I was contemplating such a method as a last resort.
Click.
Click.
Footsteps sounded from afar.
Along with a voice.
“The famous name of Arcane must weep. To think it would stoop to entering such a hole-in-the-wall establishment···”
Two skeletons approached leisurely from one side of the entrance.
A characteristic grinding sound echoed from the armor they wore.
One had a long blue cloth hanging from its helmet, while the other strode majestically, a blackish-red cloak fluttering.
I could tell at a glance.
The one wrapped in the cloak was the owner of this castle, the ‘King of Knights.’
The bastard spoke.
“Let me ask one thing. I can understand if an eminent mage has suddenly been blinded by greed, but why come to another man's business and wreak havoc?”
Arcane, mage, business.
The bastard was spewing incomprehensible words.
“You'd best answer straight. No matter if you came from Arcane··· I'm in a situation with no way out now myself.”
I couldn't answer.
How could I speak without knowing anything about what he was saying?
But that in itself seemed to provoke his temper.
“You don't even want to exchange words? Damn··· Are you mages so high and mighty?”
Suddenly the bastard exploded.
I didn't know exactly what was what, but it seemed discrimination by education, race, and hometown existed even among these alien bastards.
Truly, there was no difference from where humans lived.
The bastard's one-man play reached its climax.
“···You will die here today. Does it sound like a joke? You must be thinking that even if two 8th-tiers fought, you couldn't lose even if you tried to. But your mistake was thinking only that far.”
Huu.
The King of Knights, letting out a deep sigh, spoke.
“Kill him, Lancelot.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Tak!
The skeleton knight flew in, the blue straps of its helmet fluttering.
Kaaang!
When I blocked its sword strike with a portal, the King of Knights, watching from afar, let out a hollow laugh.
“···Absurd. Using a portal barrier as a defensive measure?”
This time, it was my attack.
Using
Hwaruruk!
They were fierce flames.
But···
Shushushushuk!
Shushuk!
Tung!
Taang!
Tatang!
The bastard swung his fists at fierce speed, not allowing a single strike to connect.
Faint embers of [Ignition] lingered on the gauntlet, but that was all.
The bastard still showing overwhelming might was a powerhouse incomparable to the two knights I had faced before.
That was when it happened.
“Wait···!”
The King of Knights urgently stopped his subordinate.
Lancelot too whirled back to his master's side.
The King of Knights spoke in a trembling voice.
“You··· you're not a mage?”
I was finally found out.
The bastard clattered his bones, muttering as if witnessing a miracle.
“Don't tell me you're human? How on earth did you get so many items···”
Items.
He seemed to be talking about the flaming bowling balls.
I had felt something was different since they were items using enhancement stones, but I hadn't expected them to catch the King of Knights's eye.
The King of Knights slowly approached me.
As if strolling through a flower garden, casually kicking aside the dozens of flames scattered around.
His gaze reached me.
I remembered.
A look I knew all too well.
Around a month before my discharge, the administrative supply officer who had looked at me had certainly worn those eyes.
Even though skeletons didn't have eyes.
The bastard spoke.
“You can duplicate items. Can't you?”
Found out.
Though I hadn't particularly hidden it.
I didn't answer.
Even so, the bastard burst into mad laughter.
“Hahahaha! Have I seen such a crazy blessing! Human··· do you even know what ability you've obtained?”
I didn't know.
I just wanted to take my family and leave this filthy castle.
I had been racking my brain over how to get rid of that troublesome Lancelot.
The bastard made me a proposal.
“You, let's go into business together. Listen to me, and you'll definitely realize that you need me too.”
The bastard walked toward a pillar of the hall, thud thud.
Then he tapped the pillar as he continued speaking.
Just like a drill sergeant flapping his tongue to explain what a wonderful and magnificent profession being a specialist was.
“If you can duplicate items, I can use this Camelot to produce enhancement stones. Do you know what that means? If we join hands, we can endlessly mass-produce infinitely enhanced items!”
“Oh···”
It sounded quite tempting.
I was already endlessly mass-producing things, but if enhancement stones were replenished, I could create new weapons, and of course, make even higher-grade items.
“Well, the human sacrifice process in the middle is a bit troublesome, but it's no big deal when you can get enhancement stones.”
“Ah···”
That wasn't so good.
No matter how much I needed enhancement stones, I didn't want to obtain them by grinding up innocent people.
Perhaps because of my hardened expression,
faint killing intent emanated from the bastard's bearing.
It was only natural.
Though he had called it a proposal, it was essentially coercion.
Having confirmed superiority in power, he would try to subjugate me and use me as a slave to his taste.
I relaxed my expression and asked the bastard.
“This castle called Camelot··· can you properly control it? It would be problematic if it arbitrarily devoured me too.”
“Hehe··· Such cute worries, fitting for a country bumpkin. Don't worry, this Camelot is also an ‘item.’ It's a greedy fellow, but it cannot escape its master's control.”
Perhaps to ease my anxiety, the King of Knights spoke.
“Rather, you'll be safer. Now the knights belonging to Camelot will protect you.”
The bastard tapped the armor of Lancelot standing beside him, thud thud.
As if telling me to feel that sturdiness for myself.
Indeed, Camelot's function wasn't limited to merely producing enhancement stones.
The skeleton knights I had encountered so far.
They were all inhabitants of this Camelot.
The bastard added one last thing.
“So you're finally tempted. Good thinking. With your ability and this Camelot alone··· it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say we could sweep up all the magic stones of the multiverse.”
“······”
His rosy business presentation reached its conclusion.
I buried my face in my hands.
Roughly shrugging my shoulders, feeling the surging waves of deep emotion.
Perhaps because that sight looked very strange, the King of Camelot asked me.
“···Why do you do that?”
“···King of Knights.”
I added.
“For the business item··· I'm so grateful I'm moved to tears···”
“···What?”
I immediately requested.
“Pax, put Camelot in the subspace.”