Fragment of the Immortal King (2)
My eyes met those of the black mage guarding the entrance.
He was the fellow who, together with Zeraph, had been a great help in gathering information.
[Hello? Lovely weather today, isn’t it?]
Out of sheer delight, I tried offering him a greeting, but what came back was an icy snub.
The moment I spoke, he began fleeing without even looking back.
[Come on, ignoring me like that hurts, you know.]
To soothe the pointless pang of disappointment brought on by his cold reaction, I looked around at the reliable friends accompanying me.
[Kkeuheuheuuh...]
Clatter— clatter—
Within the pitch-black passage, darkened by the aura of death emitted by the undead, echoed ghostly wails and the glow of hundreds of blazing eyes.
The silhouettes flickering in and out of view were all far from ordinary, and their powerful, imposing presence was reassuring beyond words.
‘Mm... I guess these guys do look a little scary.’
But no matter how threatening my friends looked, discriminating against people based on appearances was utterly unforgivable.
What mattered more than the outside was the inside.
And I had confidence in my insides.
‘Yeah, a skull like mine has a handsome enough shape. The bones are sleek and well-proportioned too.’
[Kkihihihik—]
“Ugh—! When did you get all the way here?! Get away from me!”
Boom—!
The fleeing black mage was surrounded by ghosts that sprang out from the floor by the building’s entrance, and, unable to run any farther, he began fighting.
In truth, I had never intended to let him go in the first place.
I planned to eliminate every black mage and minion in this village.
I immediately gave an order to all the undead under my command.
[Kill every human in this village. Don’t let a single one escape.]
I wasn’t worried that innocent people might be held captive here.
My “Vitality Detection,” now that I had evolved into a demi-lich, covered the entire village, and I could even perceive the black mana of the beings within it.
Among those alive in this village, there were no innocents.
[Kieek—!]
Clack, click!
The hundreds of undead behind me streamed past the black mage at the entrance and were unleashed into the village.
They would encircle the outskirts first to prevent the enemy from escaping, then attack inward.
Fwoosh— Boom!
“Kuhuk, I... I can’t die in a place like this...! To things like you!”
Trapped in the middle of the undead, the black mage was desperately struggling for his life, deploying every kind of magic he had.
And I pressured him with the undead while carefully controlling the pace so he could bring out all of his abilities.
It wasn’t as though I was being considerate. Rather...
Fwoosh—
[Hmm... Like this? It isn’t that difficult.]
I muttered while looking at the black flame burning above my hand.
“Evil Wisdom” had granted me absolute understanding and talent regarding black magic.
But it did not directly impart the “knowledge” required to use it, so I needed to learn separately.
The barrier at the entrance to the secret passage could be broken after I touched and understood it directly, but other black magic was a different matter.
[Keueoeoe—]
Slash-slash-slash—!
And here, I had excellent teaching material.
As I watched the undead being torn to pieces by black magic, I absorbed all that practical knowledge like a sponge.
And “Evil Wisdom” allowed me not merely to imitate, but to realize more advanced improvements, applications, and even derivative abilities.
“Kuhuk... Cough!”
I thought I had been giving him ample leeway while applying pressure, but perhaps the black mage reached his limit from overusing magic; he spat blood and collapsed.
‘Well, I think I’ve sucked him dry of everything worth taking. It shouldn’t matter now.’
I glanced at the black mage as he was buried beneath the undead rushing at him and organized my thoughts.
‘Killing Zeraph with a surprise attack really was pure luck.’
There was no way an elite skeleton could have gone up against an opponent of that level.
Zeraph must have been on par with that black mage, so if anything had gone wrong, I would have been smashed to pieces before I could do a thing.
‘Now then, preparations are more or less complete. Shall I welcome our guest... no, the robber who stole my house?’
Kwaaaang—!
The barrier enveloping the entire building shattered, and something flew in front of me before breaking into countless pieces.
It was one of the undead I had sent out earlier—the strongest among them, a death knight.
“You... How dare you...!”
An old man entered the building, his face twisted and trembling. It was Malcolm.
At some point, he had put on a black robe, and in his hand he held a skull staff.
I looked behind Malcolm.
I had attached all three death knights I had to him to buy time, but they must have all been defeated; all I could see were fragments.
I had already guessed as much when the connections were severed, but I couldn’t help feeling regretful.
Though they hadn’t been in the best condition, death knights were still top-tier undead, difficult to obtain.
They were too valuable to be consumed merely to buy time, but I had no other choice.
When I detected the entire village, I was able to gauge this old man’s strength, and I judged that the undead I possessed could do no more than buy time.
So I needed time to become accustomed to black magic before facing him myself.
[Hello, village chief? It’s been a while. Have you been well?]
“What?! Who are you?!”
[Huh? It’s me. Me. Don’t you recognize me?]
Had he already forgotten my face and voice? How hurtful.
Scratching my skull with one hand, I continued speaking in a voice resonating with mana.
[Hmm, if you don’t remember, then I suppose there’s nothing to be done... I was originally supposed to stay for only two days, help with the village work, and then leave, wasn’t I?]
“Two days...? You’re Hans! You should have become an elite skeleton, so how?!”
[Think about that on your own. In any case, I ended up staying longer than expected, didn’t I? So I thought I should help with the village work a little more to make up for it.]
“Help? After making this mess, what bullshit are you spouting?!”
Malcolm shouted through gritted teeth, but I stood proud.
[I mean cleaning up the trash. I’ll give this entire village, filled with waste that can’t even be sorted for recycling, a thorough cleaning. Ah, there’s no need to thank me. People like us ought to help one another, shouldn’t we? Hahaha.]
As I spoke, I grew proud of myself and laughed affably.
Who knew volunteering could feel this good?
I should try doing volunteer work back on Earth too. As an avatar, of course.
“...You bastard. What in the world did you do with that ‘Fragment of the Immortal King’?”
‘Ah, is this as far as it goes? I wanted to provoke him a little more.’
Following Malcolm, who was raising his black mana as though he would attack at any moment, I prepared my own magic and scraped at his nerves to the very end.
[You mean this? Thanks to you, village chief, I lost my heart, didn’t I? So I put in a new one with what was in the storage room. It’s still far from enough, but for now I have no choice but to make do with this, do I?]
Kwagwagwagwang—!
The moment I finished speaking, black thorns surged up from the floor and attacked.
I reacted immediately, raising a shadow wall around myself to block the thorns.
And just as I counterattacked by firing off the black flames I had just learned—
“[Finger of Death]”
Piiing—
A black flash extended in an instant.
In the fleeting moment Malcolm’s voice reached me, it pierced straight through the shadow wall and even the mana barrier I had deployed around my body, blowing off my entire right arm.
[Tch... Old man, aren’t you embarrassed to shout the name of every technique when you cast magic?]
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. [Call of Hell]”
‘What a flashy old geezer.’
From what I had understood of this world’s magic system, constructing mana was what mattered; there was no need to recite spells one by one like that.
If it was a routine to make concentration easier, then I had nothing to say.
Rattle, clatter—
[Geueoeo...]
The evil spirits crawling out from beneath Malcolm’s feet tangled with the undead under my command.
Misshapen beings like roughly clumped clay and piles of bones bared their teeth at one another, each trying to destroy the other.
Even as we continued exchanging attacks and defenses, we kept up our war of words without pause.
“You took the ‘Fragment of the Immortal King,’ and that’s all you can manage? You bastard, do you even know what that thing is?! It was not an object meant to stop at turning a mere elite skeleton into a half-baked demi-lich. [Guidance of the Dead!]”
[Oh, come on! It was incomplete, so what did you expect? It’s only because it’s me that it can even be used this much. If it had been you, you wouldn’t have had a chance!]
“To think you forcibly fused an unripe, incomplete fragment into a low-grade body... All my efforts have come to nothing. Do you know what I went through...? [Chain Bone Explosion!]”
Ghostly wails shook the battlefield, and black flames and bone fragments erupted here and there.
Even amid that, our argument continued.
‘Hmm... So it’s like applying an endgame enchantment to a beginner’s wooden sword. I feel a little bad.’
That was a lie. In truth, I didn’t feel bad at all.
“I don’t know how you overcame its erosion, but I’ll dismantle your body piece by piece and use you as an experimental subject! [Broken Ectoplasm]”
At the destructive energy that burst forth, I hurriedly unfolded a black barrier and blocked the attack.
But as I continued listening to his verbal abuse, I started to feel annoyed.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. No matter how anyone looked at it, wasn’t I the victim here?
And adding a technique name to the end of every sentence was irritating too!
On top of that, the last spell name had a subtly different naming style! Be consistent!
Still, by now I had grown used to the high-level black magic Malcolm was using.
Thanks to that, although we had exchanged attacks numerous times after my arm was blown off by the first strike, I had taken no further damage.
I had learned enough from Malcolm too, so it was about time to end this.
Kwaaang!
Black thorns shot up from the floor and rushed toward Malcolm.
At the same time, a black flash extending from him shook my barrier, but now that my eyes had grown accustomed to that attack, I would no longer be caught by it.
After exchanging one more spell like that, I pointed at Malcolm with a finger full of irritation and resentment and declared proudly.
[I will kill you and avenge Alfred.]
***
At Hans’s sudden words, Marcos was momentarily flustered.
‘Alfred? Avenge him? Did he know someone in this village?’
There was no way he could remember the names of every villager sacrificed a year ago.
No, he had never known them in the first place.
Perhaps the subordinate who had first been dispatched to this village to gather information and find a region suitable for maturation might know.
‘If he had already known a resident of this village, that means he noticed from the start and infiltrated anyway... Is he also connected to that fellow Heinz who came to the village earlier? How much does he know, and from where?’
His thoughts multiplied and his mind grew complicated, but right now, that was not what mattered.
Puhwaak— Boom!
‘He’s getting more and more used to the black magic I use!’
Not only the way he responded to attacks, but also the level of black magic he used to counterattack was rising steeply.
Now it was reaching the point where Marcos was having trouble holding out.
‘He was an ignorant fool who knew nothing about magic and merely got lucky enough to gain power!’
There was no way an ordinary person who had simply become a demi-lich overflowing with black mana could grow that quickly in such a short span of time.
‘His learning speed is clearly abnormal. Is it the power of the fragment within him?’
Marcos, unaware of the effects of “Evil Wisdom,” had no choice but to think that, but in truth, that skill had also been obtained thanks to the “Fragment of the Immortal King,” so it wasn’t wrong either.
‘I can’t delay any longer! Even if I must accept other sacrifices, I’ll pour everything into this!’
“[Oath of Ruin!]”
***
As I was driving Malcolm into a corner, I immediately sensed a change.
Separate from this place, the fierce battle raging in the village suddenly tilted sharply to one side.
That was because all the black mages resisting the undead I had sent died on the spot.
Now the only ones still resisting in the village were minions who used black mana.
But contrary to that, I could feel Malcolm’s black mana amplify greatly in an instant as he absorbed the souls of the black mages.
“[Crown of the Unholy], [Sanctuary of the Dead]”
A black crown was placed upon Malcolm’s head, and the earth beneath his feet turned black as undead crawled out.
‘Ah... Is this phase two? It’s nice to see new magic and all, but I’d like to wrap this up soon.’
But I merely watched it with indifference.
《The individual has gained enlightenment through knowledge. Skill “Black Magic” acquired.》
Malcolm seemed to think he still had a chance to turn things around, but he was already far, far too late.
***
As expected, Malcolm’s desperate struggle did not last long.
“Cough... Keheok!”
I absorbed all of Malcolm’s black magic, then returned the very spell that had blown off my right arm, piercing a hole through Malcolm’s chest.
“Kuhuk... So, so emptily... If only... if only my undead had remained...”
He wasn’t wrong.
His other black magic was high-level as well, but Malcolm’s specialty, to the very end, was that of a necromancer who advanced behind his undead.
If he had not, in his greed to quickly complete the “Fragment of the Immortal King,” offered up a vast number of high-ranking undead as sacrifices, this would have been a difficult battle.
I looked around at the undead nearby, all battered after the fierce fight.
Then I crouched down in front of Malcolm, who had collapsed on the floor.
[Old man, your undead were seriously awesome.]
“Keuheoheok— Kehak!”
Soon, Malcolm vomited blood from his mouth and breathed his last.
He must have felt so wronged that blood even seeped from his wide-open eyes.
[Tch, this is what they call karma. You should have had a kinder heart.]
Just in time, the battle in the village also came to an end, and silence descended over the village in an instant.
There was no longer a single living person left in this village.
I rose to my feet and lifted my head.
The ceiling had been blown away entirely by the fierce battle, revealing the night sky where stars glittered beautifully.
[Alfred... Are you watching?]
I have seen your revenge through to the end, so rest easy now and sleep in peace.
At that moment, a shooting star fell across the night sky, like Alfred’s final farewell to me.
Or maybe not.
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