Fragments of the Immortal King (2)
I made eye contact with the warlock guarding the entrance.
He was a friend who helped me a lot in gathering information with Zerap.
[Hello? The weather is nice today, isn’t it?]
I tried to greet him with a happy heart, but all I got in return was a cold stare.
As soon as I brought up the subject, he started running away without even looking back.
[No, if you ignore me like that, I’ll get hurt.]
To soothe my feelings of disappointment at the cold response, I looked around at my trustworthy friends who were with me.
[Keuheheu···]
Drumroll— Drumroll—
The ghostly sounds and hundreds of glowing eyes echoed through the pitch-black passages, darkened by the aura of death emitted by the undead.
The silhouettes that appeared here and there were all extraordinary, and their strong-looking majesty was truly impressive.
‘Hmm… these guys look a bit scary.’
But no matter how threatening my friends looked, I could never forgive them for discriminating against people based on their appearance.
It was the inside that was more important than the outside.
And I had confidence inside.
‘Yes, my skull is handsome enough. The bones are smooth and well-defined.’
[Keuhihihihi—]
“Ugh—! When did you get here?! Get out of here!”
pop-!
The fleeing warlock was surrounded by ghosts that jumped out from the floor of the building’s entrance. Unable to run away any longer, he began to fight.
Actually, I had no intention of sending it from the beginning.
Because I planned to get rid of all the warlocks and their minions in this town.
I immediately gave orders to all the undead under my command.
[Kill every human in this town. Don’t miss a single one.]
I never worried that an innocent person might be caught.
My ‘Life Sense’, which had evolved into Demilich, had a range of the entire village, and I could detect the dark magic of the beings within it.
There are no innocent people alive in this town.
[Keeeek—!]
Click, click!
Hundreds of undead behind me poured out into the village, past the warlock at the entrance.
We will surround the outskirts and attack from the inside to prevent them from escaping.
Hwaruk— Boom!
“Ugh, I… I’m in a place like this…! To these guys!”
The black magician, trapped in the middle of the undead, was struggling for his life, using all the magic he could muster.
And I pushed the undead away, adjusting it appropriately so that the bastard could draw out all his abilities.
It wasn’t that I was particularly considerate. Rather···.
Hwaruk—
[Hmm… Is that so? It’s not that difficult.]
I muttered, looking at the black flame burning on my hand.
“Evil Wisdom” grants absolute understanding and talent for black magic.
However, since the ‘knowledge’ to use it was not directly transferred, it was necessary to learn it separately.
The barrier at the entrance to the secret passage could be destroyed after direct contact and understanding, but other black magics are different.
[Sigh—]
Chojwachojwa—!
And here was a great teaching aid.
I watched the undead being torn to pieces by dark magic, soaking up all that practical knowledge like a sponge.
And “Evil Wisdom” did not simply teach us to follow, but also helped us realize more advanced directions for improvement, methods of application, and even derivative capabilities.
“Ugh… Cool!”
I thought I was pressuring him while giving him enough leeway, but the warlock used his magic too much and reached his limit, so he vomited blood and collapsed.
‘Well, I guess I’ve sucked it all up, so it doesn’t matter anymore.’
I gathered my thoughts as I glanced at the warlock being buried by the rushing undead.
‘It was really lucky that I killed Zerap by surprise.’
It was impossible for an elite skeleton to face an opponent of that level.
Zerap would have been on the same level as that warlock, so if anything had happened, he would have been destroyed without being able to do anything.
‘Okay, now that we’re somewhat prepared, shall we greet our guests… no, the robbers who robbed our house?’
Kwaaaaang—!
The barrier surrounding the entire building broke and something flew towards me, shattering into pieces.
It was one of the undead that had been sent out earlier, and among them, it was the strongest, a death knight.
“You… you dare…!”
An old man, Malcolm, with a distorted and trembling face, entered the building.
He was wearing black robes that he had taken care of at some point, and he was holding a skull staff in his hand.
I looked behind Malcolm.
I tried to buy time by attaching all three of the Death Knights I had, but they were all hit, so all I could see were fragments.
I had already guessed it when the connection was lost, but I couldn’t help but feel regretful.
Even though his condition was not good, Death Knight was a top-tier undead that was hard to obtain.
It was a waste of time to waste it, but there was no other way.
When I searched the entire village, I was able to determine this old man’s power, and I concluded that the undead I had were only used to buy time.
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So I needed time to get used to the black magic before I could deal with it myself.
[Hello, village chief? It’s been a while. How have you been?]
“What?! Who are you?!”
[Yes? It’s me. Me. Don’t you know me?]
Sadly, you have already forgotten my face and voice.
I continued speaking in a voice that resonated with magical power, scratching the skull with one hand.
[Well, if you don’t remember, then there’s nothing I can do… Didn’t I originally plan to stay for two days and help out with the village work before leaving?]
“Two days…? You’re Hans! You must have become an elite skeleton, but how?!”
[You can think about that. Anyway, I ended up staying longer than expected. That’s why I wanted to help out with the village work.]
“Help? What are you talking about when things have gotten to this point!”
Malcolm gritted his teeth and shouted, but I stood firm.
[I’m talking about garbage cleaning. I’ll clean up this entire town full of waste that can’t even be separated. Oh, you don’t have to thank me. Shouldn’t people like us help each other to live? Hahaha.]
As I was talking, I felt proud and smiled cheerfully.
I never knew volunteering could be this enjoyable.
I should start volunteering on Earth too. Of course, as an avatar.
“···You bastard, what on earth did you do with that ‘Fragment of the Immortal King’?”
‘Oh, is this it? I wanted to be a little more provocative.’
I prepared my magic and followed Malcolm, who was raising his black magic as if he was going to attack at any moment, and I kept scratching my insides until the very end.
[This is it? Thanks to the village chief, I lost my heart. So I put a new one in the storage. It’s still not enough, but I guess I’ll have to put up with it for now. What can I do?]
Kwakwakwakwang—!
As soon as he finished speaking, black thorns fell from the ground.
I reacted immediately and created a shadow barrier around me to block the thorns.
And the moment when he counterattacks by firing the black flames he just learned.
“[Finger of Death]”
Peeing—
A black flash of light that stretched out in an instant.
In the split second that Malcolm’s voice was heard, the magic barrier that had been deployed around his body along with the shadow barrier was pierced in an instant, and his entire right arm was blown away.
[Tsk… Old man, if you shout out the names of each technique when using magic, it won’t work, right?]
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. [Call of Hell]”
‘You’re like an old man who only cares about appearances.’
The magic system here that I understood was one where building up magical power was important, and there was no need to recite spells one by one like that.
If it’s a routine to help you focus, then I have nothing to say.
Dalgrak, dulgeureok—
[Ugh···]
The demons crawling out from under Malcolm’s feet were entangled with the undead under my command.
Roughly lumped together, clay-like, oddly shaped beings and bones thrust their teeth into each other to destroy them.
We continued to argue constantly as we continued our fight.
“Even after taking the ‘Immortal King’s Fragment’, is that all you can do? You, do you even know what that is! It’s not something that can be finished by just turning an elite skeleton into a half-demilich. [Guidance of the Commander!]”
[Oh, what! It was imperfect, so what can I do? Since it was me, I used it like this, but if it was you, there was no way I could do it!]
“Forcibly fusing an immature, incomplete fragment into a low-grade body, all my hard work has gone down the drain. All the efforts I’ve made…! [Chain Bone Explosion!]”
The sound of a ghost echoed throughout the battlefield, and black flames and bone fragments exploded everywhere.
In the meantime, the argument continues.
‘Hmm… I guess you applied a final-level enchantment to a beginner’s wooden sword. I feel a little bad about that.’
It’s a lie, but in fact, I wasn’t sorry at all.
“I don’t know how you survived its erosion, but I’ll dismantle your body piece by piece and use it as a test subject! [Broken Ectoplasm]”
I quickly deployed a black barrier to block the attack as the destructive energy burst out.
But I started to feel bad when I kept hearing verbal abuse.
Even if the odds are stacked against each other, it’s obvious to anyone that this is the victim.
And it was annoying to have to add technical names at the end of every sentence!
Also, it’s strangely annoying that only the last order has a different name format! Be consistent!
But now I’m slowly getting used to the high-level black magic that Malcolm uses.
Thanks to that, I was able to attack and defend several times after my arm was blown off in the first attack, but I didn’t take any additional damage.
I’ve learned enough from Malcolm, so let’s wrap things up now.
Kwaaang!
Black thorns rose from the ground and rushed at Malcolm.
At the same time, a black flash of light extended from him and shook the shield, but now he was no longer affected by the familiar attack.
After exchanging one more spell, I pointed my finger at Malcolm with annoyance and resentment and declared proudly.
[I will kill you and avenge Alfred.]
***
Marcos was momentarily taken aback by Hans’ sudden words.
‘Alfred? Avenge? Did you know anyone in this town?’
There was no way he could remember the names of all the villagers who were sacrificed a year ago.
No, I didn’t even know in the first place.
If he was the subordinate who was first dispatched to this village to gather information in order to find a suitable area for maturation, he would not know.
‘If he already knew the villagers, then he snuck in even after noticing them from the beginning… Does he have any connection to that guy named Heinz who came to the village earlier? How much do you know about him?’
My mind was getting more and more complicated because I had a lot of thoughts, but that wasn’t important right now.
Puhwaak—Bam!
‘He’s getting more and more used to the black magic I use!’
Not only was the level of black magic used to counterattack, but the level of black magic used to counterattack was also rising rapidly.
Now it was becoming difficult for this side to hold out.
‘A worm who knew nothing about magic just happened to get lucky and gain power!’
There is no way that a normal person could grow so quickly in such a short period of time by becoming a Demilich with only black magic power.
‘It’s clearly an abnormal learning rate. Is it the power of the fragments it holds?’
Marcos, who did not know the effects of “Evil Wisdom,” could not help but think that way, but in fact, it was not wrong since it was a skill obtained thanks to the “Fragment of the Immortal King.”
‘We can’t afford to waste any more time here! We’ll give it our all, even if it means making other sacrifices!’
“[Oath of Destruction!]”
***
As I was pushing Malcolm, I immediately sensed a change.
Separately from this place, the fight that had been raging in the village suddenly shifted to one side.
Because all the warlocks who resisted the undead I sent were killed on the spot.
Now, the only ones left resisting in the village are the minions who use black magic.
But on the contrary, I could feel Malcolm’s dark magic power, which had sucked the souls of the warlocks, being greatly amplified in an instant.
“[Crown of the Unclean], [Residence of the Dead]”
A black crown was placed on Malcolm’s head, the ground beneath his feet turned black, and undead crawled out.
‘Ah… Phase 2? It’s nice to see new magic, but I wish it would end soon.’
But I just looked at it indifferently.
《The entity has gained enlightenment through knowledge. It acquires the skill “Black Magic”.》
Malcolm seemed to think there was still a chance for a comeback, but it was already very, very late.
***
As expected, Malcolm’s tantrum didn’t last long.
“Coolook··· Keuk!”
I absorbed all of Malcolm’s dark magic and returned the magic that had blown off my right arm to Malcolm, creating a hole in his chest.
“Keuk… This is so futile… If only I had the undead left….”
That wasn’t a wrong statement.
Although other black magics were also of a high level, Malcolm’s specialty was necromancer, who led the undead.
If I hadn’t sacrificed a huge number of high-level undead in my greed to quickly complete the ‘Fragment of the Immortal King’, it would have been a tough fight.
I looked around at the surrounding undead, who were left completely wounded after the fierce battle.
And then he crouched down in front of Malcolm, who was lying on the floor.
[Inspiration, your undead is awesome?]
“Khuhuhuk— Khak!”
Malcolm soon died, spitting out blood from his mouth.
It was so frustrating that blood was coming out of my eyes.
[Tsk, that really is karma. I should have had a good symbol.]
At that moment, the fighting in the village ended, and for a moment, silence fell upon the village.
Now there is no one left alive in this village.
I got up from my seat and raised my head.
The fierce battle blew away the entire ceiling, revealing a night sky filled with beautifully twinkling stars.
[Alfred… Are you watching?]
Your revenge has been completely fulfilled by me, so now rest in peace.
At that moment, the shooting star that fell across the night sky seemed like Alfred’s last greeting to me.
No, not that.
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