#102 Northern Mountain Range (3)
His heart beat excessively, and his senses grew endlessly sharp.
A pain as if piercing his brain scratched at his nerves, and groundless irritation surged up.
—So annoying, so irksome, I want to smash it, shall I get rid of it? Yes, let's kill!
A hallucination-like resonance spread inside his head, trying to force his actions.
And in a violent direction at that.
That sudden bout of mad fervor was something happening in real-time inside Halli.
It was a situation anyone would find chaotic, but... 'Hmm, compared to when I accepted the Undead King's heart, this is incomparably weak. I probably don't need to worry much about this?'
Naturally, with 「Mind Hub」, this wasn't a big problem for him.
Halli being a bit off in the head wasn't something that had started yesterday or today.
He ignored the abnormalities assaulting his mind and slowly examined the changes in his body.
It wasn't simply that his heart was beating roughly and his blood flow had quickened.
An unidentifiable aura of 'madness' swirled inside his body, further activating all physical abilities including his muscles and senses.
Yes, this is just like... 'Like these orcs right now.'
Skin that had grown tougher, muscles that had swelled, reflex nerves that had sharpened.
If there was a downside, it would be losing reason and rushing blindly on instinct.
'Of course, it doesn't seem to have that great an effect on me, though.'
The amount of madness currently inside his body was too little to further strengthen his monstrous physique.
To feel a meaningful strengthening effect, he would need to accept dozens of times more madness than this.
'But is it because I accepted it all at once through the magic stone? I couldn't feel it well before, but now the madness spread all around is clearly perceptible.'
That which had spread in all directions accumulated bit by bit in his body every time he breathed, gradually swelling the size of the madness already inside him.
But Halli, who had been diligently moving his body while organizing his thoughts, looked at the few remaining orcs and discovered one difference.
'The amount of madness entering monsters through breathing is different too, isn't it?'
Thanks to his exploits, the battle with the orcs was slowly reaching its end, so he relaxed his body and examined it more closely.
'...Monsters have the highest absorption rate, next is me, and last are humans?'
This difference was likely the cause of the monster Berserking incident, and the reason Halli had been feeling something strange all this time.
'Do monsters and madness have good compatibility? It might be targeting things like wildness and instinct.'
Indeed, rather than someone with strong reason, it would be easier for that side to manifest madness.
To obtain more detailed information, he would have to take the risk of accumulating much more madness than now, but...
'It won't be a problem for me. Well then, shall I try as much as I can?'
To Halli, the savage warrior of experimental subject origin, this was no concern.
"Kurk..."
Thud
—"...It's over. Orcs were always strong in fighting spirit, but they were never at this level."
As the last orc fell and the battle completely ended, the mage Fabiella, who had been maintaining the barrier curtain, let out a short lament.
"They were already troublesome opponents well-versed in combat, but now they won't even flinch at ordinary blows... Honestly, if Halli weren't here, I would have given up and gone down long ago."
Marcus the guide, who had been fighting from the rear to protect the mages and archers, took her words and hurriedly began cleaning up.
He erased the blood splattered on his body and equipment with the issued cleansing magic tool, and applied a liquid to mask the scent.
For now, noise and the smell of blood weren't leaking out thanks to the barrier curtain the mage was maintaining, but the moment it was withdrawn, monsters would swarm in from all directions again.
"Oho? The great Marcus of all under heaven was scared of mere orcs like these?"
"Hoo... Mikel. I think you're forgetting something important."
To Mikel's provocation as she retrieved reusable bolts and wiped off blood, Marcus quietly continued as if scolding her.
"This is the Northern Mountain Range, also called the monsters' homeland. We've only entered this place just a day ago, and our destination is deep enough that we must travel for several more days."
Moreover, it was common sense that the deeper you went, the higher the monster density and the stronger the ones that appeared.
Since there were limits to the magic tools that suppressed their presence, it was obvious that things would get harder from here on.
Mikel seemed to have nothing to say to that, only pouting her lips.
Since everyone was a veteran, the cleanup was done in an instant.
"Hup."
Halli climbed out of the burial pit he had dug while the party was doing other things, patting his shoulder with a folding shovel.
The party had originally planned to move by leaving their position as quickly as possible before the smell of blood spread far.
Burying monster corpses one by one was too inefficient.
But when Halli showed them he could dig a huge pit in just a few minutes with his overwhelming physical ability, the situation changed.
Of course, the method wasn't perfect either, as seen with the orcs that had just chased them, but without it, they would have encountered far more monsters.
With the orc corpse that the swordsman Flora had thrown into the pit being the last, Halli once again covered it in an instant with an enormous pile of dirt using his monstrous strength.
"...It's amazing no matter when I see it. How does he do that every time without any trouble? Doesn't he get tired?"
'The timing is just right.'
Receiving the party's admiring gazes, Halli finished the work in an instant, dismantled and stored the shovel again, and casually brought up the words he had been thinking of.
"Ah, by the way. I'm slowly running out of energy! Could I get my share of the magic stones first?"
"Hmm? What does that have to do with magic stones?"
"Hahaha—! It's the secret shamanism of my tribe. I eat magic stones to absorb the energy contained within, but as you can see from my body, ordinary meals can't sustain me!"
"Aah..."
The party nodded ambiguously at Halli's improvised words, but naturally, not everyone was like that.
"Huh, eat magic stones? Barbarians do such... ow!"
Thwack!
Mikel spoke incredulously before being poked in the side by Flora beside her, and she glared at Flora.
But when Flora confidently met her gaze with a frown, Mikel let out a small sigh and mumbled the words she had been about to say.
"...I've never heard of Southerners eating magic stones..."
'I don't really care even if they call me a barbarian.'
But that was probably a thought that occurred because he wasn't really a Southerner, so he didn't say anything particular to them.
As Halli's importance in the party grew, it wasn't a bad feeling to be accommodated even in such trivial details.
"If that's the case, very well. If we return, I'll see that you receive additional compensation under necessary expenses."
"Ooh— As expected, Sir Knight is broad-minded!"
After receiving everyone's consent like that, time passed, and when the camp they had put their hearts into setting up was established.
'Huh?'
Halli looked at the magic stones they had collected so far, and his expression subtly changed.
He had assumed the monsters' magic stones would be full of madness, but the amount contained in them was somehow strange.
It wasn't completely absent. But...
"...Could I get my share mostly from the ones we caught recently?"
"Hmm? Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. But is there a special reason?"
"Ah! Of course, fresh ones taste better and have superior effects! Hahaha!"
Overall, the amount of madness had decreased significantly compared to what he had first felt in the orc magic stones.
To the point where some magic stones barely had any left.
'...Does it disperse back into the air when the host dies and its utility value disappears?'
And that would then enter another monster's body to become a seed that spawns new madness.
"Then, this should do."
The moment the distribution was over, without hesitation, he grabbed a handful of magic stones and brought them straight to his mouth.
Crunch, crunch—!
"Uh... th-that...!"
Halli ignored everyone's dumbfounded gazes and busily used 「Devour」to chew the magic stones.
With that, his depleted energy began to fill again...
Thump—!
The sprout of madness nestled in his body began to grow like weeds after rain.
***
A chilling, eerie ghostly aura pervaded a space that seemed cold enough to freeze even souls.
Even though it was an ordinary hill rather than a communal graveyard, it had an atmosphere that felt like a demonic realm.
[...Girl, to the King... will you... offer your loyalty...]
A woman's sobbing, ghostly wail echoed in all directions.
At the same time, the surrounding air wavered, and thousands of ghosts prostrated themselves in unison to pay homage.
Ooooh—Phantoms, Wraiths, Specters, and other types gathered without discrimination; those semi-transparent beings all exuded eerie auras, dropping the temperature below freezing merely by existing.
'This is quite a spectacle too.'
Hans, unbothered by that surreal situation, calmly admired the surroundings and looked down at them quietly.
The one who stepped forward at the very front to represent the ghosts was the Banshee Queen, wearing a hat with a black veil over her neatly coiled hair and a dress akin to mourning clothes...
She too was a former top-ranking executive of the Army of the Undead.
[Good work, Olivia. You've gathered far more than I thought.]
[By the King's command... minimizing conflicts with humans... I focused on gathering the children in one place...]
Due to their nature as spectral entities lacking physical form, ghosts were overwhelmingly advantageous for secretive movement.
They had the weakness of taking more fatal damage from auras like magical power or holy power, but when avoiding combat and gathering in one place as now, there was no greater advantage.
Hans looked closely at the Banshee Queen Olivia, who stood respectfully before him.
That noblewoman with pale skin dressed in black mourning clothes was renowned for her ferocious abilities that contrasted with her beautiful features.
To the extent that she appeared in history books, just like Entrasio or Karam.
'She has abilities specialized in mass slaughter. Ordinary people without any spiritual defenses can die instantly just from hearing that cursed scream.'
Her notoriety had become widely known because such an incident had actually occurred.
The incident where tens of thousands of citizens were slaughtered in a city that failed to stop her infiltration due to complacent response was important enough to be treated significantly in the records of wars against the Undead Kings throughout history.
But her true value lay not only in such combat abilities.
[Olivia. There is something you must do.]
[My King... command me anything... I shall... do my utmost to carry it out...]
Hans subtly turned his head to look at a group of humans who were sitting with vacant expressions, drooling.
Those with unfocused eyes staring into empty space—members belonging to the Heaven-Defying Oath.
He had only set them aside temporarily because settling the Army of the Undead was the priority, but if Hans seriously put his mind to it, finding them would only be a matter of time.
Ordinary-level barriers wouldn't be able to avoid the tracking linked by his overwhelming demonic magic power and 「Eye of the Abyss」.
The ones here now had been caught opportunistically because they stood out while he was settling the undead.
'Of course, doing so would take a lot of effort, and it's not like I have the leisure for it yet.'
He had roughly only organized the most urgent western region of the continent; the undead in other regions had not yet been fully settled.
As the continent fell into chaos, 'his' undead would continue to be consumed as well.
While ordinary units were one thing, the executives belonging to the highest ranks were too valuable to lose.
'To think I obtained Olivia in such a situation.'
Ghosts were not bound by physical constraints and could move freely anywhere without special defenses.
And Olivia, who commanded all those individuals—
was the Undead King's chief intelligence officer, responsible for all information necessary in the war against the continent.
[The place these ones belong to.]
Hans looked at the dark mages and continued.
They had gone slightly crazy from interrogation through the 「Eye of the Abyss」, but since he had deliberately adjusted it moderately, there was no particular harm to their lives.
[Dig out everything you can about these ones.]
[I shall obey your command... Please set the final objective... I shall do my utmost to achieve it...]
[Kuhuhuh— Of course...]
Hans laughed eerily and spread both arms.
The surrounding air wavered, and an abyss-like darkness spread as if to swallow the world.
[Absolute obedience.]
What he wanted were those who moved faithfully according to his commands.
Those who obediently complied might gain a temporary reprieve, but for those who refused to follow until the end, there was only death.
No mercy was needed for them.
[As the King wills...]
Feeling the coercion contained in the Undead King's declaration, the Banshee Queen Olivia politely bowed again.
And to proceed with her work, she slowly approached the dark mages who were still sitting vacantly.
After some time had passed like that.
Thousands of ghosts—
secretly dispersed into the world.