Chapter 132
[Charge.]
Simon issued an Absolute Order through the power of the crown. The swarm of zombies surged like a massive wave and charged at Magnus all at once.
'To the Empire,'
Magnus raised the tip of his sword to the sky. There was no sunlight, only a dark sky and red clouds, but that was his invocation.
'Glory be.'
Magnus tightened his grip on the sword. Drawing a graceful line, the blade slashed down from top to bottom.
Shrrrng!
The approaching wave split vertically, and with a crack!, the zombies were flung in all directions.
—Uwooooooh!
—Kiiiiiiii!
The zombie wave surged again in a second and third strike. Each time, Magnus swung his sword and cleaved the waves apart.
Each strike that calmed the wave proved that the title of Swordmaster was no lie.
Shrrrng!
As he cut down the fourth wave, the split waves parted left and right, and right behind them came the fifth wave, carrying Simon.
[......!]
Though Magnus quickly severed the fifth wave, Simon, perched atop the crest of the wave, shot forward like a comet.
Magnus hurriedly raised his sword overhead.
KWA-A-A-A-AANG!
The swords clashed head-on.
The ground crumbled beneath them, and the wind screamed. The horde of zombies behind Simon and the skeleton army behind Magnus were blown away in all directions by the shockwave alone.
‘Tch!’
In the middle of the power struggle, Simon let out a dry laugh.
This guy is absurdly strong.
[Impressive!]
Magnus seemed to agree, his lips curling upward.
As the two clashed blades in a contest of strength, Magnus subtly twisted the angle of his sword, causing Simon’s greatsword to slide upward.
“!”
His strength was dispersed.
Before Magnus could make his next move, Simon exploded Darkness from his legs and leapt upward in a tumbling motion. Magnus turned to swing his sword, and Simon unleashed a slash of his own.
CLANG!!
The two colossal forces collided, warping the very air.
No sooner had Simon landed than Magnus pursued and swung his blade.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
The two powerhouses exchanged blows. White lines and black lines intertwined, overlapping and slicing through the air in a frenzied dance.
They clashed and retreated, sparks flying, weapons colliding, immersed in a battle trance.
“Guh!”
It was overwhelming. Even with Feer, he was losing in swordsmanship.
[A necromancer has no weaknesses. Superior in every field. But that too can become a weakness.]
Shhhrrraaak!
Simon flinched and glanced down. Without him realizing, his left shoulder had been slashed, sending a fountain of blood spraying. The strike had targeted the gap between Feer’s Bone Armor with frightening precision.
‘He even pierced the Keyzen uniform!’
Simon quickly retreated.
[But I have devoted my soul to the sword and honed it my entire life. To be good at everything… is to be good at nothing.]
“......”
Simon’s eyes turned serious.
Even if he ignored other things, it was clear that Feer’s power alone couldn’t overcome him. He truly was a Swordmaster.
Even so—
“Alright then, here's a question.”
Simon still had composure.
“Why did your kind fall into ruin?”
[......!]
Magnus gripped his sword handle with a pained expression. Simon smirked, then leapt back and climbed once more atop the wave of zombies.
This wasn’t about the clichéd idea that necromancers were trendy and knights were outdated.
Simon’s golden eyes gleamed.
“You're wrong. Being good at everything—”
Simon raised his arm.
“—just means, you're strong.”
—KIEEEEEEEE!
—UOOOHHHH!
Tens of thousands of zombies roared. Somehow, even zombies from outside the estate had joined in, further swelling their numbers.
[Wait, boy! Taking on more thoughts than this is reckless! You’ve already reached your limit!]
“Then I’ll gladly go beyond it.”
Now, no one could stop him. Gripped by a surge of elation and elevation, Simon clenched his fist.
Golden light from the crown erupted like an explosion, wrapping around Simon’s body. His pupils gleamed with electrifying focus.
Once again—
[Follow me.]
Darkness no longer rose as smoke but surged like flames around the zombies’ bodies. The dead roared without end, praising and worshiping their new king.
Once more, an Absolute Order was issued to all zombies present.
An irresistible command from a sovereign being:
[Bring me his head.]
At that single order, the zombies moved as one.
They began climbing atop one another, then again on top of that. No longer just a wave, they became a towering tidal surge.
Magnus looked around, alarmed.
Before he knew it, he was surrounded on all sides by the tidal wave of zombies. His skeleton subordinates, once near him, were nowhere to be seen.
[Khgh!]
A tidal wave, with thousands of eyes, rumbled forward like an earthquake.
Magnus swung his sword in panic. Again and again, endlessly.
But every time he cut down the wave, zombies behind it filled the gap, regaining momentum. No matter how many times he suppressed it, the ferocity didn’t falter.
[KRAAAAAAH!]
And then, the body of the tidal wave crashed down on Magnus.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
Magnus soared into the air, dodging again and again, but in the end, was engulfed by the torrent of zombies.
In an instant, his torso and head were buried, and amidst the swarm's vicious killing intent, only his arm remained visible, before that too vanished from sight.
Moments later, a mountain of zombies formed atop Magnus’ fallen body. And a man stood just ahead, staring blankly at the sight.
‘......How could this happen?’
Prince could only look on in shock at the scene unfolding before him.
This, this was the true power of the crown.
The moment Simon wore the crown, the zombies became legionized and even their physical capabilities increased dramatically—this, too, was something even he had never seen before.
‘Is that guy really human?’
Feer was just as astonished.
[Kehaha! It’s good that we neutralized him, boy.]
He shifted his gaze.
[But like this, we can’t kill him. What should we—]
Feer stopped mid-sentence.
Simon’s condition was abnormal. Even after donning the crown, he had been controlling its power properly, but now Simon’s eyes looked like they were about to lose focus.
[Hey, boy!]
He was intoxicated by power.
Processing too many thoughts had caused a delay, and his reason was starting to evaporate.
Feer urgently severed the connection with Simon and returned to his original form from the Bone Armor. He tried to remove the crown, but it wouldn’t budge.
The crown, and Simon, were refusing.
And yet, Simon was still moving steadily. He was using the mental command to push the zombies back. The massive mountain of zombies had now turned into a hill.
Simon, in that state, was drawing a magic circle.
‘This bastard……!’
Simon hadn’t lost his mind.
At this moment, he was exerting the greatest concentration of his life. Time had slowed drastically for the sake of processing the formula, which only made his body sluggish to respond.
‘Just what kind of magic circle was he forming?’
‘!!!!’
Feer’s jaw dropped as he checked the magic circle.
He had kept a steady eye on Simon’s school life, and there was no doubt, Simon had never learned this magic.
He couldn’t have seen it anywhere, either.
‘……No, it’s not something he learned.’
It wasn’t acquired through concepts or knowledge, it was intuited through natural order.
A method to eliminate Magnus, crushed beneath the pile of zombies.
That result of thought was unfolding in the magic circle drawn on Simon’s right arm.
Even if it was a pre-existing black magic spell, at this moment, Simon was without a doubt creating black magic anew.
“Phew…”
Simon extended his right arm, toward the exact spot where hundreds of zombies were densely packed.
Magnus was struggling beneath, trying somehow to break free. The swarm of zombies trembled.
Feer’s eyes gleamed a cold, deadly blue.
‘No doubt about it.’
That black magic was the technique that had symbolized necromancers during the Hundred Years’ War.
The most dreadful terror.
The flower of zombie sorcery.
Simon slowly rotated his right hand.
[…Corpse—]
Then clenched his fist.
[—Explosion.]
The world turned pure white. The last thing Feer saw was the sight of the cores of hundreds of zombies covering Magnus going berserk, spewing jet-black Darkness. And then—
KUUUUUUUUUUNG!
An enormous explosion, beyond description.
The zombies, having overloaded their cores, incinerated their entire bodies, creating a blast called destruction that swept away everything nearby.
Unable to contain its power, the fiery force surged upward like a geyser, forming a giant mushroom cloud.
KUGUGUGUGUGUGU!
The surrounding trees were uprooted, zombies flew through the air. Every window in the mansion shattered, and walls crumbled.
‘…He’s really…’
Prince stood there, mouth agape.
‘I can only say he’s insane.’
As the smoke of the explosion cleared, Magnus’ torso was nowhere to be seen. Only his skull remained.
True to his Swordmaster title, he had concentrated Darkness into his skull and tried to defend himself until the very end, but in the end, it seemed to have failed.
Simon approached and checked it. Magnus’ lingering thoughts had already vanished and dispersed.
“Rest in peace, Swordmaster.”
Leaving those words, Simon stored Magnus’ skull in his subspace.
[Hey! Boy!]
Feer followed him.
[Are you really alright! That Corpse Explosion, how did you even…!]
Simon couldn’t answer. He swayed, and his body leaned toward Feer.
Thud.
The crown fell to the ground. At the same time, the jet-black Darkness overflowing from the zombies’ bodies gradually began to fade.
“Hehe! Feer, I did well, right?”
[…You reckless brat.]
Just then, Prince staggered over with a dazed expression.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
Simon looked at him and grinned.
“I’d show you how to win.”
[You really are—]
But Prince’s next words didn’t come. Simon collapsed, losing consciousness.
[Honestly, what a high-maintenance commander you are!]
Feer hoisted Simon over his shoulder, and his face was filled with none other than pride.
Superb.