Chapter 127
Plop.
Roll, roll, roll.
Prince’s head hit the ground and rolled away. Only then did Simon release the breath he’d been holding.
[Not yet! Don’t let your guard down, boy!]
Sssssss.
Prince’s headless body turned pitch-black as if its soul were being drained, then dispersed like smoke. All that remained in its place was a regular zombie body, the kind scattered all over Deathland.
'No way……!'
Simon quickly turned his head.
Among the zombies that had dropped from the ceiling earlier, now idling aimlessly after losing their commander, a bolt of black lightning suddenly struck one.
Rumble!
The zombie’s body began to turn black. It looked as if a soul were coiling around the body.
The pitch-black zombie’s form shrank and then completely transformed.
[Impressive. I didn’t expect to lose my life so easily.]
The zombie had turned into an exact replica of the Prince who had just been decapitated. Down to the crown and the clothes, identical.
Simon gripped his sword tighter, his face tense.
[You’d better not come any closer.]
Prince grabbed Maelyn’s arm, who was lying on the ground. Simon ground his teeth.
“Don’t touch Maelyn!”
[That depends on what you do.]
Prince effortlessly hoisted Maelyn over his shoulder and grinned.
[Simon, was it? If you want to save her, come to that mansion from earlier. And of course, come alone—without Feer. Just so you know, hiding him in subspace won’t help.]
Prince stomped his foot. With a single leap, he soared up to the sewer ceiling.
[See you later.]
“Prince!!”
Prince waved his hand and vanished.
Simon tried to chase after him, but zombies shrieked and lunged at the fallen Dick and Kamibarez.
“Damn it!”
Simon rushed forward, swinging his greatsword. The zombies’ bodies were cleaved apart in chunks.
Just as Simon was about to chase after Prince again—
[Calm down, boy!]
Feer’s voice echoed.
[There’s no point in chasing after him now! He’s obviously going to use that girl as a hostage in some pathetic little game!]
“……”
[Gathering intel comes first! I captured some interesting humans at that mansion earlier. Interrogate them!]
Simon’s eyes widened.
“Humans, in Deathland?”
* * *
Prince arrived at the mansion with Maelyn slung over his shoulder.
'Feer, you really went all out.'
All around, the corpses of zombies were piled like mountains. The black blood flowing from them stained the garden and formed a river.
Even so, if it meant keeping Feer restrained, this level of sacrifice wasn’t bad.
Prince casually strolled into the mansion.
“Two people got captured? What the hell were you doing?”
“S-sorry!”
“It all happened in an instant……!”
Human voices echoed from inside the mansion. Prince scowled and kicked the door.
Bang!
As the door swung open, three humans flinched visibly.
[When did you get here, Javier?]
Javier was an elderly necromancer with deep wrinkles. He held a staff in one hand and, as always, had two cigars in his mouth.
“Hohoho! You’re here, Prince!”
Javier smiled warmly like a kind old man.
“I just arrived myself, you see. Had to stop by for the usual transaction.”
Javier gave a nod, and his subordinates brought in a large box on a cart.
“Added two more units on top of the agreed quantity. Go ahead and check.”
Prince stepped forward and opened the box.
Inside were rocks that looked like lumps of coal—obsidian infused with high-purity Darkness.
[The count seems about right.]
“Heheh, when have I ever given you the wrong amount?”
Javier had retired from professional necromancy and now ran a corpse business.
He collected bodies scattered throughout Deathland that hadn’t turned into natural-type zombies and sold them on the market for profit. In return for allowing this activity within his dominion, Prince received offerings of obsidian.
A sort of symbiotic relationship.
Prince also needed to consume obsidian to maintain his powers.
[Good.]
Prince gestured, and waiting zombies stepped up to carry the obsidian boxes elsewhere.
“More importantly, Prince. What’s with the girl?”
[Found her.]
Prince let Maelyn’s body drop to the floor. Javier squinted and looked her over, then his eyes widened in surprise.
“Isn’t that a student from Keyzen? How did such a precious young lady end up in Deathland……!”
[Seems like they come here once a year for class or something. Must be nice having that kind of life.]
Prince plopped onto the sofa and tilted his head back.
“But why the girl……?”
[There’s someone I want to kill who’ll come crawling here for her. When he shows up, I’ll kill him.]
‘Who does he want to kill?’
The thought crossed Javier’s mind, but he didn’t ask. His gaze remained fixed on the unconscious Maelyn.
Javier’s tongue flicked as he scanned her body up and down.
“Sell her to me.”
[I thought corpse dealers only dealt with corpses? Didn’t know you moonlighted as a slaver.]
“Sometimes living people can be useful too. I’d like to buy her for twenty obsidians.”
Twenty obsidians was a tempting offer.
That was nearly half the amount he’d just received.
[Do what you want. I just need her to lure that guy in.]
“Hehehe!”
Javier nodded, and his subordinates took the unconscious Maelyn away.
* * *
Clatter, clatter!
Inside a rattling carriage, Maelyn slowly opened her eyes, her head pounding. Her mind was foggy, and her throat felt parched.
‘What is this?’
As she blinked and looked around, trying to gather her thoughts—
Why am I in a carriage?
Did I pass out and get sent back to Keyzen?
What happened with the evaluation?
What about Simon and the others?
As she sat there, full of questions—
“You’re awake?”
Suddenly, the wrinkled, liver-spotted face of an old man loomed in front of her. Startled, Maelyn tried to scream.
But no sound came out. Even her body wouldn’t move freely.
Her mouth was gagged with cloth, and her hands were tied tightly behind her back. She couldn’t even channel Darkness—whatever they did to her, she couldn’t use it.
She immediately recoiled, curling up and drawing her legs in.
“Mmff! Mmmmmm!”
“I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
Javier clicked his tongue as he said so.
‘What, what, what is this?! Who is this guy!?’
She needed to grasp the situation fast. She turned her head to look out the window.
Darkness. In the black sky floated those familiar red clouds.
Unfortunately, this was still Deathland. The coachman driving the carriage wasn’t even human, it was a skeleton.
After that fight with the weird zombie kid, she must have passed out and been taken by this man.
But it didn’t make sense. She wasn’t bitten or eaten by zombies, so why were there humans in Deathland?
Javier sat silently, staring forward. His face looked zombie-like, but he was definitely human.
‘Maybe he’ll understand if I talk to him? If he saw the Keyzen uniform, he should know better than to touch me recklessly.’
Just as Maelyn was thinking that, a wrinkled hand was approaching her thigh.
‘@%&^$*%@!!!’
Maelyn let out a terrified scream and kicked Javier’s face.
Wham!
His head snapped back with a loud thud.
“Keh-heh!”
Javier lifted his head again and laughed. Blood streamed from his nose, but he licked it up with his snake-like tongue.
“Full of spirit, just like a young lady should be. I like that!”
Maelyn shuddered from head to toe.
“Mmff! Mmmmfff! Mmbbbbbb!”
“Hm? Can’t really understand what you’re saying.”
“Mmmmmm!”
Javier smirked and approached, then untied the cloth gagging her mouth.
“Huaaah! “
She exhaled sharply, then glared with wide eyes and shouted,
“Don’t you dare touch me, you filthy son of a bitch!”
“Heheheh!”
Javier flicked his tongue without a hint of shame. Maelyn raised her knees and sat up.
“I’m Maelyn Villene, first-year at Keyzen and a member of the Ivory Tower! Do you even realize what you’re doing right now?”
“To be precise,”
Javier grinned.
“A corpse who was from Keyzen and the Ivory Tower. That’s what I see in front of me.”
“......!”
“Unfortunately, this old man doesn’t have the guts to capture a Keyzen student just to negotiate for ransom. You’ll make a very fine undead.”
Suddenly, Javier grabbed her necktie.
She fell forward onto his lap, powerless, and Javier lifted her chin.
“Guh……!”
“The Ivory Tower makes excellent materials! You might become a Skeleton Mage, or even a Banshee.”
Javier ran his fingers across Maelyn’s cheek.
“Of course, it’s a shame, really. Such a beautiful face and hair, it’s truly a pity to lose them, but it can’t be helped. Let’s hope you become an undead and meet a good master—”
Crunch!
Maelyn bit down on Javier’s finger with all her strength.
“G-gyaaaaagh!”
She clenched her eyes shut and bit with everything she had. Her teeth sank into his finger, the taste of blood filling her mouth.
As Javier writhed in pain, she released his finger and raised her head. Then—
Thunk!
She slammed her forehead into his with all her might.
The wrinkled old man let out a wail and rolled across the floor of the carriage.
‘That’s it!’
She’d bought herself time.
Her eyes darted to the carriage window.
She couldn’t use Darkness, and her hands were tied, if she jumped from a moving carriage, she might die. But still, anything was better than becoming an undead to that creep.
Once she decided, she didn’t hesitate. She threw her body toward the carriage window.
Grab!
“……!”
Just as she was halfway out the window, a strong hand seized her ankle.
“Wahaha! It’s no use!”
And with a single pull, she was dragged back into the carriage.
Crack!
A brutal impact struck her abdomen, and she collapsed onto the floor of the carriage.
Then Javier grabbed her sky-blue hair, flicking his tongue again.
“Well done, girl! Even without your hands or Darkness, you found the courage to act! It just proves Keyzen doesn’t accept just anyone. But!”
Javier reached for her uniform jacket.
“This is the end.”
She shut her eyes tightly.
It was disgusting. She hadn’t achieved anything since entering Keyzen, and now she was going to die like this, so miserably……
Boom!
At that moment, a tremendous impact hit the carriage ceiling. The horses neighed in panic and veered off, shaking the carriage violently.
“Hm? What’s going on!”
Crash!
A giant white greatsword burst through the ceiling. Maelyn hiccupped from shock, and Javier’s face turned pale.
The greatsword traced a triangle in the roof, opening a hole. Through it, a man dropped into the carriage.
‘……Wh-who?’
He wore a cloak, and underneath, what looked like khaki-colored workwear. Bones clung to various parts of his body.
As the man turned around, Maelyn pressed her back to the end of the carriage, trembling in fear.
‘I-I can’t even breathe……!’
His presence was overwhelming, suffocating.
Half of his head and face was covered in a skull, only his mouth visible. In one of the skull’s eye sockets, a blue flame flickered like a torch.
The man silently stared at the rope binding Maelyn’s hands and her disheveled clothes.
Then he turned his head to look at Javier.
“I-I’ll ask again. Who are you……!”
Slam!
The man’s foot flew forward at a speed too fast to see and drove into Javier’s stomach. His body bent in half, and he coughed up blood.
Crack!
Next, the man stomped on the back of Javier’s head. The carriage floor cracked, and Javier’s head sunk downward.
Crunch! Crackle! Tear!
The man didn’t stop the violence.
“Ah, aah……”
Maelyn trembled in fear as she watched.
The man, now covered in Javier’s blood, lifted his limp torso with one foot, then kicked him with the other.
Smash!
Javier’s body crashed through the side of the carriage and flew outside.
With a wretched scream, a grotesque sound of bones shattering echoed through the air.
Superb.