Wrapping Up (1)
We searched the village from top to bottom and gathered everything usable in one place to sort through it.
Of course, all I did was point. The work was done by my subordinates, whose numbers had nearly reached two hundred.
[Hmm, I had my hopes up since, even if it was a slash-and-burn farmers’ village, it was still a place occupied by black mages. I thought they might have quite a lot. But this is pretty decent in its own way.]
After thoroughly ransacking the personal lodgings and belongings, we searched the village chief’s house and found a fair amount of currency and valuables that seemed to be public funds used during their operation.
[They must have spent a lot while staying here for so long, but these guys were richer than I thought.]
I didn’t know much about the value of this world’s currency, but gold coins were generally high-value currency, so it had to be a lot.
Above all, we even found a few gold ingots.
[...Is this real gold?]
How would I know, when I’d never touched gold in my life?
I quietly bared my teeth and bit into one of the ingots. Seeing the tooth mark left behind, it was probably real gold, right?
My mood suddenly improving, I looked over the other items.
The weapons and armor used by the henchmen would be put on the undead and used as they were.
What stood out more than those were the magic tools the black mages had used.
Starting with staffs and robes, there were also many tools that helped with daily convenience.
For now, I put on one robe that looked clean.
It was a robe with temperature control and a simple defensive function. I didn’t need the temperature control, but the defensive function would probably help at least a little.
Besides, I couldn’t keep walking around naked with nothing but bones forever.
[...Ah, this is a bit.]
After examining myself in the robe, I immediately took it off again.
Maybe because I was nothing but bones, it had no style at all.
[If I do this like this...]
I put on cloth clothes, wore leather armor with thick shoulder parts over them, then put the robe on again.
[Mm, this is better than before.]
As expected, a man’s shoulders made all the difference.
Next, I looked through the staffs and picked the one that seemed the best.
[Hey, Malcolm. Come here.]
[...Yes.]
[Here. Take this. Give me the one you have now.]
And I made a barter exchange with Malcolm.
After all, the one Malcolm had been using was bound to be the best item.
I held the skull staff with gemstones embedded in its eyes and tapped it once against the ground.
The earth beneath my feet was dyed black, and the undead carrying all sorts of equipment and loot sank into the ground one by one.
Lastly, I looked around the village.
It was the first village I had visited in another world, but now it was utterly desolate, without a single living person left.
I slowly moved my steps and took everything in one by one.
I passed the water barrels and the pile of firewood at the village chief’s house where I had stayed, and brushed past the building that seemed to be the village hall where I had once been trapped as an undead.
Whoosh—
Everywhere I passed, black flames rose and burned the village.
With the blaze at my back, I reached the center of the village, then stopped for a moment.
It was the place where the completely destroyed undead had been gathered.
On one side, the corpses that seemed to be the original villagers lay together.
Most of the weakest zombies had been destroyed during the battle.
There were quite a few zombies that could have been revived, but I did not revive them and instead gathered them in the center of the village.
My eyes met those of the only surviving zombie, standing in the middle of the place where the villagers’ corpses were gathered.
[Graaa...]
Though it had been damaged here and there in the fierce battle, I could recognize it at a glance.
The young zombie who had helped me kill Jeraph.
I met his gaze for a moment, then gave him a light bow and turned away.
Soon, the black flames burned everything.
He, who had tried to protect his loved ones, completed all his revenge only after death and entered eternal rest together with his family.
Fwoooosh—!
The entire village was burning.
At last, I passed the wooden fence I had helped repair and approached the village entrance.
I could feel the barrier, now blurred by the effects of the fire.
‘Outsider detection, dark mana concealment, even emergency defensive functions... Including the barriers that were inside, they’re quite high-level, aren’t they?’
In particular, the dark mana concealment function had been included as a necessity in every barrier I had passed through so far.
It must have been to hide the “Fragment of the Immortal King.”
‘Well, now that it’s become one with me, it won’t mean anything anymore.’
Still, it looked useful, so I built a dark mana concealment field around my body, following what I had seen and learned from the barriers.
Since dark mana seemed to be taboo, it would be better to hide it if I could.
As I left through the entrance, I set the wooden fence on fire as well.
Crackle— Whoosh—
The flames lit by this magic would burn only what I wanted, and after everything had turned to ash, they would die out naturally, so there was no need to worry about a forest fire.
And so, I left the first village I had ever visited and moved my steps into the forest to the east.
***
The Auterica dimension, the holy land at the center of the continent.
Among them, in the chapel of the Rosellia Grand Temple at its very heart, a girl was kneeling before the statue of the chief god and praying.
A gentle dawn light began to linger over the silver-haired girl, who prayed with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together.
At last, the light faded, and the girl opened her eyes. She slowly rose from her seat, bowed reverently to the divine statue, and carefully left the chapel.
“Saintess.”
The priests in pure white vestments waiting outside the door approached and bowed their heads to the girl.
“Bishop Martin, may I ask you to contact the others?”
“Yes? What kind of...”
The girl, Riesta, Saintess of the Church of the Chief God, looked west with a stern expression.
“An omen of the Immortal King’s resurrection has been detected in the west.”
“The... the Immortal King, you say? Understood. I will inform them immediately and convene a meeting.”
Greatly alarmed, Bishop Martin greeted the Saintess and hurried away.
The name of the Immortal King, who had plunged the entire continent into terror hundreds of years ago, was that significant a matter.
‘I won’t let something like that happen again!’
The Saintess bit her lip tightly, clenched her fist, and strengthened her resolve.
Hans had thought there would be no problem as long as he hid his dark mana, but the Saintess’s ability was of a kind that exceeded his imagination.
And so, one of the continent’s greatest powers became aware of Hans’s existence and began tracking him.
***
“Mm... I’m craving gukbap today.”
Heinz, who had been getting ready to return home after exercising, headed straight to a nearby gukbap restaurant.
There was no need to agonize over the menu.
“Please give me one bean sprout gukbap, one sundae gukbap, and one ox-head gukbap. And please pack the yukgaejang and seolleongtang to go. Ah! A large boiled pork platter too, please.”
He just had to order whatever he felt like.
As the number of mouths to feed increased and his appetite grew, he had started to enjoy tasting various kinds evenly.
Normally, he would have restrained himself a bit, but today he was in an excellent mood, so he ate as he pleased and brought back a generous amount of takeout.
‘Mm... What’s the price of gold these days again?’
With the state of affairs being unstable, it seemed like gold prices had risen quite a bit.
While eating the gukbap Heinz had brought back, I browsed the internet.
After doing a rough calculation, warmth spread through my insides, and I felt full.
‘This place’s gukbap is good.’
Hans was currently moving east while pushing through the forest, so he couldn’t bring the gold ingots right away, but they were as good as already in my hands.
Right now, I felt like I could be magnanimous about everything.
Even if I met a troll in a team game, I could probably laugh it off.
“What the hell is that bastard doing over there?! I said come here!”
Mm... I guess that was still impossible.
While picking up pieces of the boiled pork we had brought back and eating them, I watched Heinz playing a game to help with digestion and used “Mind Hub” to calm my mind.
Peace came to my heart.
‘This might help with mental training too.’
While cleaning up the empty bowls, I checked on Hans’s situation.
After Hans became a demi-lich, he naturally began to emit a fear effect around him.
Now that his dark mana was concealed, the effect had been reduced by half, so fear would only be felt when facing him directly. But even that seemed to be enough, as there had not been many attacks from magical beasts.
The magical beasts that occasionally charged in only relieved my boredom.
‘And I can use them to increase the undead too.’
It had already been a week since Hans left the village.
Just as distrust began to sprout, wondering whether there really was a city to the east and whether I should never have believed Malcolm after all, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘I dealt with quite a few bad guys. Shouldn’t I have accumulated a decent amount of karma by now?’
They had been plotting in secret in their own way, hadn’t they? Their level had been fairly high too.
Expecting a nice profit, I opened the Karma Shop.
『Karma Shop』
『Enhance Unique Skill (600,000)』
『Enhance Status – View Details』
『Karma Possessed - 792,208』
I had expected it to some extent, but it was strangely generous.
‘When I last checked, I think it was a little over 400,000... Were they really that impressive? Or did I do something else?’
I thought about it for a while, but there was no other reason.
‘Well, I guess they were that evil. More importantly, should I enhance my Unique Skill?’
After all, all I had done was steal the Immortal King’s heart and beat up those black mage bastards.
《Mental strength has exceeded the standard value. You have acquired the skill “Still Mind.”》
When I enhanced my Unique Skill, a brief headache came over me, and a message appeared saying I had acquired a new skill.
It was a skill that kept my mind from being shaken by external stimuli and defended against mental attacks.
‘I have “Mind Hub,” but that only applies to avatars. It’d be even better to have a skill that can be applied to my main body too.’
And right then, I realized that I could use one more avatar. The timing was perfect.
‘Since Hans will have a hard time operating among people. I can send Heinz, and use the new avatar for outside activities.’
Hans discovered traces that seemed to have been left by people passing through.
***
Hans was riding along a forest path on a giant skeletal saber tiger.
After spending a long time breaking through the forest full of magical beasts with Malcolm and a few other undead, he had turned the magical beasts that attacked along the way into undead and used them as mounts.
‘Riding is faster, and more importantly, it looks cool!’
An undead mage riding around on a skeletal magical beast—wasn’t that every gamer’s dream?
It seemed like it would be good to hunt in large numbers and create an undead cavalry unit outright.
But it wasn’t as if there were no problems at all...
‘It’s uncomfortable! Sitting on top of it is damn uncomfortable!’
To begin with, he was an undead made of nothing but bones.
Every time it ran, he rattled and shook, and it was no joke.
And clinging on without even a saddle was enough to make his head spin.
‘I’ve wedged my feet between its ribs, so I won’t fall off... But this is an issue worth considering. Should I make a different type of undead for riding?’
As he moved along the forest path while lost in thought, the trees gradually grew sparse, and he soon realized he had reached the edge of the forest.
[...Over there.]
Malcolm, riding a skeletal wolf, approached and pointed somewhere with a finger bone.
When I turned my gaze that way, I saw walls rising in the distance.
[Ooh... So there really was a city? That old man Malcolm wasn’t lying after all.]
As I muttered and glanced at Malcolm, who was riding a skeletal wolf beside me, he flinched and slowly edged away.
That was because, after seeing nothing but forest no matter how many days we traveled east, I had been picking on Malcolm every chance I got.
Malcolm no longer had memories from when he was alive, but that didn’t mean his wrongdoing had disappeared.
I had harassed him while making all sorts of excuses.
‘Well, since he’s an undead without pain and with only faint emotions, it probably didn’t mean much.’
I turned my gaze away from Malcolm and looked at the distant walls.
[Good. Then let’s move. You lot, go inside.]
There was no reason to move around all together near the outskirts of the forest, so from now on, I decided to move alone.
Still, if I went out of the forest in an undead body and got caught, it could cause misunderstandings. So I did not leave the forest and instead moved along its edge, getting as close to the walls as possible.
Hans couldn’t enter the castle, but I planned to move near it first and then switch with Heinz.
There was still one day left before the interdimensional transfer circle could be used again.
***
-Individual Name: Heinz
-Common Traits: “Mind Hub,” “Super Recovery,” “Still Mind”
-Individual Trait: “Sturdiness”
-Special Notes: Han Seonghyeon’s second avatar. Due to the effects of “Sturdiness,” stamina and physical durability have increased.
Heinz finished the transfer and opened his eyes.
The walls Hans had discovered were visible before him.
They were a fair distance away, but close enough that walking for about an hour would be sufficient.
Then he turned his head to look at Hans and involuntarily flinched.
‘Oh man, look at how vicious he looks...’
This was the first time another avatar had faced Hans since he had become undead, and the impact was far greater than expected.
The aura of fear that was a basic ability of a high-ranking undead demi-lich, and the ominousness that seemed to pour out from his entire body.
A skeletal mage, holding a skull staff in his hand, sitting atop the imposing skeleton of a saber tiger and looking down with blue-glowing eyes.
It was truly a synergy straight out of fantasy.
‘If you ran into him in the middle of the night, you’d seriously piss yourself.’
In truth, if not for “Mind Hub” and “Still Mind,” he himself would have been the same right now.
If even I felt like this, how would he look to others?
Just encountering him could give someone trauma.
‘Hans should stay out of sight of others.’
After sorting out my thoughts, I began preparing so we could each head to our respective positions.
Heinz changed into the otherworld clothes and leather armor Hans had prepared, then took a weapon and plenty of travel funds.
Hans took several useful magic tools, including gold ingots and valuables, and held them in his hands.
Since I wasn’t sure whether items could be summoned from Earth, I decided to safely bring them directly.
And a short while later, Heinz headed for the castle gate alone.
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