Chapter 367
Grrrr!
Grrrrrrrr!
Werewolves began leaping out one by one from the darkness-tainted forest.
They were fully grown adults, and judging by the reddish gleam on their fangs, they seemed to be an especially dangerous pack, even among werewolves.
Simon held out Herseba, now in the form of a staff, and spoke.
“Herseba, you’re going to fight with your power from now on. Tell me about your special ability in detail.”
Herseba looked utterly shocked.
[W-What are you saying?! I haven’t even given you permission yet!]
“Permission, my foot!”
[Ack! Agh! Don’t grip me so hard! Your hand’s all sweaty! Disgusting!]
Even as a staff, the Lich never stopped talking.
Just then, a werewolf crouched in the lead, waiting for a chance, suddenly pounced.
“Herseba!”
Simon shouted urgently. With a grimace and eyes tightly shut, she lifted her staff body high.
And then—
Thwack!
Not the werewolf, but Simon’s head was struck hard with the tip of the staff. At the same time, the werewolf’s sharp claws slashed across him.
Clang!
Yelp!
The werewolf howled in pain and tumbled to the ground. As if it had slashed a solid rock with its claws.
Simon’s entire body had turned into gleaming gold. His statue-like form returned to normal after a brief moment.
“Whoa!”
Simon looked astonished. As he regained his senses, he saw the werewolf that had lunged at him now sprawled across the ground.
[That’s my ability.]
Herseba said.
[I turn anything I touch into gold. A power that would drive merchants and collectors insane, don’t you think?]
She flicked the sand on the ground with a slight movement, and the scattered grains of sand turned gold, gathered in the air, and formed into the shape of a woman.
A beautiful woman with long hair, presumably what Herseba looked like in life.
Sitting atop the staff like a witch, she stretched out her fingers.
[The duration of the golden transformation is about thirty minutes for living beings, about a week for non-living objects? Though, now that I’m undead, I’m not sure. Ah! And since I’m a staff now, I don’t even have hands!]
“Amazing.”
Just hearing the explanation was enough to inspire awe.
But there was no time to rest, another werewolf was charging in from behind.
[You got the hang of it, right?]
Herseba, now in her radiant feminine form, wrapped her arms around Simon’s shoulders and placed her hand over his, the one holding the staff.
“Yeah.”
The two of them pointed the staff at the charging werewolf and shouted in unison:
“Golden Transmutation!”
[Golden Transmutation!]
Clang!
The werewolf was turned into gold in mid-leap.
[And at the same time!]
Herseba’s eyes sparkled. The werewolf, now solid gold, suddenly shot high into the sky, dozens of meters up.
[I can control all gold in this world, including what I’ve transformed!]
The werewolf lost its golden form midair, plummeted from a great height, and crashed into a rocky cliff—dead on impact.
[And, whew! Huff! Please don’t turn living things into gold if you can help it! It’s exhausting!]
“Okay. So the main thing is transmutation of objects, and then control.”
Herseba mimed flicking Simon’s forehead with her finger. The sand forming her womanly shape crumbled and settled on the ground.
Simon, now fully grasping the power, gripped Herseba with both hands and lowered his stance. Three furious werewolves were charging at once.
‘Golden Transmutation!’
Simon struck the ground with the staff’s tip, and a radius of several meters turned into golden earth. The charging werewolves skidded and slipped as if stepping onto ice.
‘And now, control!’
He lifted the staff briefly, then slammed it back down on the golden ground.
Shluk! Shluk!
Spikes of gold shot up from the golden floor, piercing the werewolves’ abdomens. They burst through to their backs, killing them instantly.
[You’re good, kid.]
Simon muttered in amazement as he stared at the spikes he’d created.
Upon closer inspection, they weren’t just spikes, they resembled the pointed roofs of buildings.
“That’s odd. I didn’t imagine anything like that when I gave the command.”
[You gave the command, but ultimately, it’s my power.]
Simon was pleased. The responsiveness was great, and the power was solid. But above all, the best part was—it didn’t consume any of his own Darkness.
This was the Lich’s power. Even though Simon had just fought, it was all Herseba’s doing. In a way, Simon had taken down monsters by swinging a staff without using a single ounce of his Darkness.
‘With this……!’
There’d be no more collapsing from exhaustion after summoning the Royal Guard. And when he truly needed all his strength, he could use both the Guard and the Golden Transmutation together.
For Simon, whose endurance was his current weakness, this was the perfect summon.
‘…?’
Then Simon looked down at his own arm.
From his hand holding Herseba up to his arm, black and gold ribbon—or perhaps a bandage-like material—was swirling around him at a short distance.
“What is this?”
[……Hm?]
Herseba reformed her female shape with the surrounding sand and stroked her chin.
[Cloak of the Golden King. The symbol of the Golden King. Normally, it appears when I use my power, but for some reason, that cloak went to you.]
Simon, not quite understanding, touched the strange bandage covering his arm.
It felt metallic, yet also like fabric. And it was slowly spreading from his right arm to the rest of his body.
[That means you now possess the authority of the Golden City.]
“? Never heard of that in my life.”
[Shall I make you understand?]
Suddenly, Herseba’s gaze sharpened.
[Keep using the ability, kid. Until the Cloak of the Golden King covers your whole body.]
Then her form crumbled and settled back into the sand.
Simon nodded grimly and continued using the golden transmutation on the remaining werewolves.
By the time he had subdued about ten of them—
[Alright. That’s enough. Lay me flat on the ground.]
Simon followed her instructions and planted Herseba into the ground.
Ruuuumble!
From the golden land that had spread around Herseba, something began to rise.
‘W-What is that?’
They were buildings, structures in an unfamiliar architectural style.
This time, not just the roofs—entire buildings were rising from the ground.
Soon, the doors of the fully risen buildings burst open, and something stepped out from within.
‘No way……!’
Kyakkyakyakyak!
Creatures wrapped entirely in bandages.
Simon had never seen them in person, but he recognized them from the undead bestiary.
They were legendary undead, said not to exist on the continent but beyond it.
‘Mirra!’
Herseba continued raising the buildings of the Golden City with her power, and from within them, mummies emerged one after another.
They all stood, awaiting Simon’s command.
[Keh keh keh! This is fun!]
Apparently observing the situation, the badge of Feer spoke up.
[I wondered why you were so desperate to make a Lich, but it seems you hit the jackpot, boy!]
The true ability of the Lich Herseba, it was the power to endlessly summon mummies from the Golden City.
[So the 7th Legion has gained the legendary army of mummies as well! Congratulations, boy!]
“……Ah.”
Simon was a little dumbfounded, but he couldn’t suppress the joy swelling deep inside his chest.
[Hmm~ After becoming undead, the specs of my ability have changed, it seems.]
Herseba said this time.
[Originally, creating undead like those wasn't part of my special power.]
“Oh, really?”
[Looks like the specs of the golden transmutation were downgraded, and a new ability to create undead as a lich has been added. Hm.]
But then, a problem arose.
The werewolves had all been repelled, but the mummies had begun to multiply endlessly.
The Forbidden Forest was a student-restricted area, and it was already the late hours of dawn.
If caught by the wardens, it would be trouble. So Simon pulled Herseba out and held her in his hand.
And just like that, the golden city and the mummies began to scatter in the wind, as if they had never existed in this world.
[Wait, wait. There’s still one last thing left.]
“The last?”
[Yeah! I don’t know if your power, while wearing the golden cloak, will be enough to reach it, but shall we try?]
Vvvvvvmmmmmm!
A massive golden light poured out from the staff.
[Listen closely. The first stage of my special power is golden transmutation. The second stage is the golden city and its inhabitants. But my true value begins at the third stage of power!]
Before he knew it, Simon’s entire body had been clothed in a complete robe of black and gold.
[I’ll show you! The end of my power!]
In that instant, Simon felt his mind grow hazy.
And then—
───────────!
He was invited into a world covered in sand and gold.
[Commander! Commander!]
When Simon opened his eyes, he saw Erzebet’s face full of worry.
‘Ah.’
Simon was resting with his head on her lap. As he slowly raised himself, he saw the Ancient Undead gathered around.
[Looks like the final power was too much to handle, huh.]
Herseba said, who was tied up in spiderwebs and hanging from a tree in her staff form.
[Shut your mouth, Lich!]
Erzebet’s lips parted like a spider’s, full of rage.
[How dare you treat the Commander like that……!]
[H-Hey, I didn’t think it would turn out like this either!]
The eyeball on the staff spun around wildly.
[Still, it was quite the experience, wasn’t it, kid?]
“………”
Simon clenched his fist and nodded firmly.
“Yeah. I definitely want to go back to that world again someday.”
[I’m too tired, Commander. Please rest today.]
Erzebet said softly.
“Yeah, alright.”
Simon stood up.
A smile wouldn’t leave his lips.
He truly felt like he had obtained a powerful summon.
* * *
The next day was the weekend.
After waking up at Feer’s ruins, Simon immediately headed to Rochest.
Gellen Eclipse, the master of subspace, was supposed to be on Roke Island for about a week, so Simon met him with Benya.
“You want me to create a personal subspace? Like for Overlord?”
Simon nodded eagerly, over and over.
“Yes! Yes! Just like Overlord! A setup where the main body is safely stored in subspace but can still influence the outside world! Is that possible?”
“Not hard. I’ve made one before.”
Gellen replied as he gave Simon two options:
Create a completely new item from scratch or modify a shelved item into a dedicated subspace tool.
The Overlord subspace had been the latter.
“Since you’ll only be here for a week, I’d like to go with the fastest option, please!”
“Alright then! Let’s go with modifying a shelved one.”
Gellen rummaged through a brown pouch and dumped it out onto the table.
Dozens of shining accessories spilled out. Each of them was a subspace tool.
“There are a few decent ones in here.”
Gellen smiled as he picked through the accessories.
“So you just want it to connect to the outside world from inside the subspace, right?”
“Yes! And I want it to last as long as possible!”
Right now, Herseba’s biggest flaw was that the lich couldn’t move.
Originally, as a lich, she would’ve needed to wield the staff herself to use her powers. But now her mind resided within the staff.
Simon planned to store the main body inside subspace, just like with Overlord, and only pull out the staff to fight. If an enemy accidentally struck the life vessel, not only would the 25,000 gold be gone, but so would the Mirra legion.
Gellen said he’d notify Benya when the customized subspace item was ready. He also offered to upgrade the existing Overlord subspace as an after-service if Simon wanted, so that was entrusted to him as well.
‘Can’t wait for the day I get to use Herseba in real combat!’
Simon felt like he would go crazy from anticipation.
For now, it was time to go all-in on special ability training.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters