‘Then is the Nameless Constellation the Great Sage Heaven's Equal?’
It was a little puzzling.
The owner of the Golden Fillet is Shakyamuni Buddha. But it didn’t seem like Shakyamuni Buddha would disguise the Golden Fillet with his hair.
If it had been disguised with hair to steer my choice, then the possibility of the Great Sage Heaven's Equal seemed more likely.
Anyway,
‘I’ll use it well.’
I planned to make full use of Ahram’s skill that I had stolen with the Golden Fillet.
To do that, there was something I had to do first.
<‘Golden Fillet’ plunders one innate skill from the sealed target, ‘Ahram’.>
Skill Plunder!
At that moment, Ahram recoiled in shock and twisted his whole body like a pretzel.
-You, you thief bastard······ Kuaaaaargh!
White King’s Gift <End of Volume 2>
Innate skills.
Not ordinary skills, but skills that each individual has uniquely built up over time.
The crystallization of an ability soaked with an individual’s life and experience.
Naturally, they are stronger than normal skills.
That’s why there is only one of them, a singular thing like an “authority” that cannot overlap.
The Golden Fillet steals exactly such an “innate skill” from a sealed target.
-No, don’t······!
Ahram screamed.
Then, from Ahram’s body, three smoke-filled bubbles floated up, as if a soul were being pulled out.
All three of those must be Ahram’s “innate skills.”
-I’d rather you kill me, kill me already······!
It was miserable.
Not once, but twice.
Even after swallowing a star and growing stronger, he still lost.
If he’d lost and died, that would be one thing, but instead he was sealed alive and was on the verge of having even his unique powers taken away.
What humiliation could be worse than this?
“Swamp of the Dead, Sword of the Dead, King of the Dead.”
I called the names of the innate skills in order.
I was saying the names written on the bubbles one by one, trying to gauge Ahram’s reaction.
-‘Sword of the Dead’ alone, not that······!
Ahram blurted out urgently.
Sword of the Dead. It was surely that gigantic greatsword he used.
But even without thinking, I could tell that reaction was a lie.
Because when I said the others, he reacted even more strongly.
‘You really can’t act, can you.’
He seemed to want me to take that sword no matter what, but too bad.
Expecting me to fall for acting this clumsy was foolish to begin with.
Well, when would Ahram ever have had to act?
He was a guy who had ruled like a true king, calling himself the gatekeeper of hell. There was no way he’d ever had experience faking anything to someone.
-A, ah, no! Please stop!
I reached out without hesitation.
<You have plundered the innate skill ‘King of the Dead (Lv 10)’.>
As the bubble flowed into me, I felt a new skill being carved in.
I checked it immediately.
【King of the Dead (Lv 10)】
-Innate skill of Ahram, King of the Dead
-Draws in the dead, and dominates them.
-The dominated dead can be implanted into other bodies.
-If you dominate dead rated at raid boss level or higher, you gain additional stats.
The description itself wasn’t hard.
A skill that lets me dominate the dead and use them like vassals.
“It links with the Grandmaster of Corpse Arts.”
For this body, the Corpse Crow’s “Grandmaster of Corpse Arts” skill, it perfectly covered the weaknesses.
“Corpse Arts can’t move freely.”
Corpse Arts is about “making.”
Stacking, connecting, assembling, that was all it did.
To make those things move, so far I’d only been able to summon other Corpse Crows and have them carry or drag them around.
I made golems and attached multiple Corpse Crows to fight, but there were limits.
But “King of the Dead” lets me implant the dead I dominate into the artworks I create.
Meaning, once implanted, they can move freely.
‘So that’s why Andasar’s head was there.’
Only now did it make sense.
Why Andasar’s head had been in that place.
Because of this skill, it must have naturally ended up there.
Then, perhaps after falling under Ahram’s domination, it had begun its “madness.”
‘If you dominate dead rated at raid boss level or higher, you gain additional stats.’
Not only that, you get extra stats depending on the dead’s rank.
Perfect timing.
Andasar’s head was here too.
When I turned my head, I saw Andasar’s head shoved into a corner.
Along with it, the Dullahan’s body cradling that head came into view.
“Open your eyes.”
The moment I finished speaking, Andasar’s eyes snapped open.
Since it had been dominated by this skill once already, dominating it again wasn’t difficult.
<You have succeeded in dominating ‘Andasar’ with the ‘King of the Dead’ skill.>
<‘Andasar’ is a ‘super elite raid boss (Lv 9)’ dead.>
<By dominating ‘Andasar’, your star power permanently increases by 3.>
My star power went up by 3.
But the wording felt off.
“Don’t tell me?”
I checked my status window in a hurry.
<Stats>
Level : 6
Strength : 82(72+10) Stamina : 82(72+10) Agility : 82(72+10)
Intelligence : 82(72+10) Star Power : 85(75+10)
At that, my pupils trembled slightly.
“It raises pure stats?”
Not a “+” bonus, but it adds directly to the base stat.
Normally, added stats disappear if you lose the source or stop wearing the item, dropping back to zero.
But base stats that rise like this are applied permanently.
Even if you lose the skill.
“It breaks the level cap line. It really deserves to be called an innate skill.”
Each level has a defined cap line.
Usually, the cap was 10 stats per level.
For me it’s 12, but without leveling up I can’t go beyond that.
But the “King of the Dead” skill raised that cap line.
And since it stays forever even if I lose the skill, it was top-tier power among everything I’d earned so far.
-You, you damn········· Kuaaaaargh!
Maybe it was agony from having his authority stolen.
Ahram writhed in pain.
The Golden Fillet was automatically inflicting pain on him.
“Only think good thoughts, say good words, caw. Then the pain will go away, caw.”
It was like an automatic correction device.
The Golden Fillet causes pain when a sealed target harbors bad intent.
And having had a skill plundered, Ahram’s body had shrunk even more.
From child-sized to now about the size of two adult fists together.
‘I’ll make him submit and squeeze out some information.’
No matter who Ahram is, that pain looked far from ordinary.
Sooner or later he’d break, and then I’d pry out information about the Demon Realm and the Demon King.
Ahram was useful in more ways than just skills.
More importantly,
‘Ahram is also dead.’
Ahram is dead too.
Not right now, but once he submits, or when I grow more, I’ll be able to dominate him.
“Who······ are you?”
At that moment, a faint voice suddenly flowed out.
Andasar.
She, resting in Dullahan’s hands, was speaking to me.
“Do you know Priest Andrew, caw?”
“Who······ is that?”
She’d even forgotten Priest Andrew, her biological father.
A dead one.
A lost one.
I’d suspected it, and it seemed all her memories had been wiped clean.
“Do you remember when you were an Eldritch, caw?”
“······I don’t know. Other than my name being Andasar, and that you are my new master, I remember nothing.”
White-bleached hair and red eyes.
Her body and head moved separately, but Andasar was Andasar.
When she’d become a Hybrid Core, she was pure frenzy, but after I dominated her, her reason seemed to return.
The problem was her memory.
‘Maybe it’s better this way.’
Honestly, it might be a blessing that she doesn’t remember.
She became an Eldritch because of Eldritch’s Cursed Black Grimoire, then a Dullahan because of the Death King, then the core of a giant hybrid because of Ahram, King of the Dead.
‘···What a turbulent life.’
Thinking again, those memories are good for nothing.
Forgetting them is a hundred million times better.
Priest Andrew would weep, sure, but what can you do?
Building new, good memories beats reliving horrific nightmares for both their happiness.
If the Goddess Church found out he had a daughter who became a Dullahan, he’d be defrocked, but, well······ that was none of my business.
“Fifth Great Master, may I come in?”
“Come in, caw.”
Soon, the Death King appeared.
Since this was his castle in the first place, he must have been curious what I was doing.
The Death King looked at Andasar and Ahram and was greatly surprised.
“Hmm, astonishing. You’ve completely subordinated the two of them?”
“One is being trained, caw.”
-Kuaaaaargh!
Who was being trained was obvious without asking.
“Huh. Not only did you seal the gatekeeper of the Demon Realm, you’re even training him······ You always exceed my imagination.”
“What do you want, caw?”
“After long deliberation, the White King has decided on the reward to give you.”
The Death King’s tone toward me had changed strangely.
At first it was mere curiosity, but now he seemed to be acknowledging me.
“I’m curious, caw.”
“A territory. I will grant you one city you desire. Since all Four Great Masters have their own cities. For reference, this Kramdel is jointly owned.”
“What city are you talking about, caw?”
“Which city do you want?”
Wait.
······Which city do I want?
Here, I felt a pang of suspicion.
He wasn’t listing the cities they ruled, he was simply asking, “Which city do you want?”
Something about that intention felt odd.
“······? Any city is fine, caw?”
“Ah, there are exceptions. Cities in the southern continent guarded by the Black King, and cities owned by the ‘Arhon Empire’ are excluded.”
“So I choose one city from all others besides those two, caw?”
“Exactly.”
Crazy.
Only then did I really understand what he meant.
‘Even if we have to conquer it and take it, we’ll give it to you.’
It was just, insane.
There was nothing more radical than this.
If there was a city I wanted, they’d seize it and hand it over.
Of course, “give” doesn’t mean “manage it for you and protect it.”
After they transfer it, it’s on me.
Still, this was truly mad.
Is there a city the White King and Four Great Masters can’t conquer?
‘There isn’t.’
There’s no city they can’t take if they decide to.
Arcana, the golden city?
Garden of Knights, a ruined city?
The great capitals of various kingdoms?
No one could stop them.
Except for the one and only empire on the continent, “Arhon,” there wasn’t a force that could defend against their invasion.
And the Arhon Empire was the only place still untouched by players’ hands.
If my guess was right, every player, every faction’s final goal was to devour “Arhon.”
‘I need to be more careful than ever.’
This······ isn’t something I can choose right now.
I need to grasp the continent’s situation far more carefully, and pick the place that benefits me the most.
A reward plan I never even considered.
It even went far beyond my expectations.
“Someone like you could take any city, but if it’s under the name of us Four Great Masters and the White King, won’t there be fewer hassles?”
The Death King added.
If they conquer it, that place becomes my city in that instant.
He meant they’d make a declaration under their names.
A force that would openly oppose the White King and Four Great Masters?
Like that could exist.
So there’d be no “hassles.”
“Do I have to choose now, caw?”
“The White King isn’t very patient.”
The Death King pressured me for an answer.
Like he knew what the star guardians were trying to offer me.
‘He’s listening too.’
I was sure.
They’d sent the Death King on the surface, but the White King was listening to this conversation.
‘He’s wary of me.’
The White King was wary that I might choose the seat of a star guardian instead of becoming a Fifth Great Master.
It was an enormous reward, but if he was wary, there was no harm in being cautious.
It wasn’t just simple caution at the idea of one more star guardian.
‘The White King sees me······ as a threat.’
At the welcoming ceremony.
He thinks I could threaten him.
This wasn’t mere caution.
‘He’s treating me as an equal.’
An equal. He judged me as a weight class he couldn’t casually ignore.
That’s why he was forcing a choice.
Will I become his enemy, or his ally?
“Is there any need to worry? What the star guardians are offering is nothing but a ‘title,’ isn’t it?”
······As expected, he knew.
He knew, and still tested me.
The star guardians promised to bestow a “title” if I officially became a star guardian.
It might sound trivial, but that “title” raises stats.
Like the Giant of Annihilating Evil.
A title whose rank was raised by the unanimous acknowledgment of the star guardians, a title that would itself carry mystery and unique honor.
So that “title” was never trivial.
‘Rather, it’s enormous.’
The star guardians would grant me an official name and recognize me.
They might even hand over clues to other stars more readily.