The Temple of Loreliess.
The temple, perfectly separated from the world, was cracked open by a powerful force called the System, resulting in exposure to the outside.
It began to be affected by incursions and interference from other worlds.
“The corpse demon Kofus. Because his dimension is so close to this place, demon beasts keep popping out through that gap. It’s a real headache.”
“Kofus?”
The Lord of Corpses and a madman who raises false lives.
His feature is that he resurrects corpses that have lost their lives and uses them as servants, but the problem is that those resurrected lives become worse than dolls.
They have no self and lose nearly all their abilities from their former lives; they are literally corpses.
Thus, wherever that guy appears, it’s always filled with corpses, but the problem is not only that he raises corpses but also kills living beings and resurrects them as corpses.
He’s distinctly insane.
‘Is he saying he’ll turn them into corpses if they aren’t already?’
As a high-class demon, he rampaged too much, and in a clash against another demon, he was crushed down to the last shard of his soul and perished.
“Kofus is dead.”
“Was he killed by a high-class demon? Demons really don’t spare each other. It’s hard enough just dealing with the enemy in front of them.”
“Isn’t that the same for the celestial race?”
Celestial beings also kill each other.
Of course, unlike demons who kill simply out of bad mood or for gain, they shove some ‘righteous cause’ in your face.
‘What a bunch of nonsense about righteousness.’
That’s why I hate the celestial race even more than demons.
If they’re all trash, they might as well remain trash; disgusting, they prattle on about how they are the just ones and their enemies are shameful existences.
“Kofus has perished, but the dimension he left behind still remains. It’s because his dimension formed a contract with the demon realm.”
If it were a place created by Kofus’s power, it should have vanished immediately after his death, but that place is part of the demon realm.
Even now, it remains imperfectly cut off from the world, still spreading its effects.
“It would be nice if I could go there and clean it up myself, but unfortunately, I cannot leave this place. I can only deal with the demon beasts crawling out through the gaps.”
“Should I go and sweep it clean?”
“From what I see, you seem to dislike demons just as much as celestial beings. It’s not a bad suggestion.”
“……”
Demons. They’re indeed bothersome.
From a human perspective, it’s obvious that demons are more disastrous than celestial beings.
When demons appear, the world becomes filled with death and turns into land where nothing can survive.
Celestials aren’t innocent either, but the disparity is much larger.
Loreliess stretches out her hand.
The tiny gap has widened enough for me to pass through.
Kiaaaak!
From the widened gap, more howls and ominous magic flow out.
“Moreover, they are the dead ones who have lost their master, so granting them rest wouldn’t be bad, right?”
“…Rest, huh?”
Clang!
“I’ll be off.”
■
The sky flows with ominous magic.
A vile poisonous cloud covers the sky, and the earth is filled with rivers of blood and filthy plants. Corpses are scattered everywhere.
The bodies lie toppled over, disconnected from the thread of life, aimless.
It looks like something that could never happen, yet just a slight touch…
Thud.
Kiaaaak!
Kiaaaaaaak!!
Kiooooooo!!!
The earth stirs as the corpses rise.
There are indeed various kinds.
Humans, beastmen, orcs, goblins, elves, trolls, wyverns…
Clang!
Should I be grateful that there are no undead dragons?
Just a quick glance reveals thousands of them.
They must be more than just here.
I can see them.
‘Their souls are bound.’
Kofus is dead, but due to the laws connected to the Demon Realm, he cannot be reborn and continues to wander this land as a corpse.
Unless he’s lucky enough to slip through the cracks of the temple, he’ll be trapped here forever.
‘…No.’
Many souls have faded and shattered.
Even if they become free, it seems that not many can be reborn.
The bodies of the corpses move under the influence of magic, rushing towards me as if to make me one of their kind.
I imbue my hammer with holiness.
Paaaah! As the pure white holy power takes form, the corpses that came close to me are purified and vanish without a trace.
Luckily, there is a technique effective against undead.
A blunt technique created alongside the Dragon Lord.
Blunt Technique, Light Dragon.
Kwaaaang!!
As the hammer swings, an explosion of light occurs.
The explosion leads to more explosions, and the undead disappear without a chance for regeneration.
Before long, there is no one left in this vicinity except for me, radiating pure white light.
After wishing them rest, I moved on to the next location.
■
In Kofus’s demon realm, corpses gather in four directions: east, west, south, and north. If one area isn’t cleared, corpses from another direction swarm in.
So, I quickly cleared the south, then dodged the swarming corpses to head north and tidy up there.
While a hammer is great for a single blow, a spear is better for multiple opponents.
Ten thousand corpses are torn apart under the rain of holiness.
Though they have no self and feel no pain, I can see them.
I can see their already shattered souls.
Fearful of an insurmountable power, yet at the same time relieved.
Fearing the power I can’t wield, yet feeling a strange sense of relief.
Are they beginning to realize that the end is near?
—Such a violent way to provide rest.
“Is it just you guys?”
—Well, it doesn’t seem too different.
Hehe.
There’s a hint of laughter in Loreliess’s voice coming through telepathy.
It’s oddly grating, but once this trial is over, I won’t have to see them again.
I should wrap this up quickly.
After a brief recovery, I moved swiftly to deal with what remained in the East and West.
In the East, there were beings closer to ghosts than corpses.
In the West, countless bugs came rushing in—a terrifying number of ten thousand. I handled them all with the spear of pouring rain.
The level of the demon beasts was at most that of a normal monster at level 80.
A couple here and there could be taken care of by a decent ranker, and up to one hundred would be easy for someone ranked in single digits.
It would be hard to manage from a thousand, but if it were before Leona lost her powers, a Sword Saint would handle it just fine.
‘As long as we assume we can withstand the magic.’
After all, it’s only possible to confront them in Deoen, but fighting directly in the Demon Realm would make even ten of them a struggle.
The thick magic of the Demon Realm and the corrupted ground give immense power to the undead.
Especially with ghosts, it’s tough to fight them with physical attacks, but merely approaching them cloaked in holiness immediately leads to purification.
Anyway, out of the hundred thousand demon beasts here, I’ve killed 99,000 of them.
Only a thousand remain.
In my mind, Loreliess’s voice resonates.
—Now you just need to defeat the Six Heavenly Kings.
“Six Heavenly Kings?”
That name doesn’t sound good at all.
Not the Six Kings, nor the Heavenly Kings, but Six Heavenly… what?
—That guy admired the six Demon Kings of the Demon Race. It would’ve been natural for someone who became a demon, but the direction he took was slightly different from that of ordinary folks.
“Mutants are common, right?”
Compared to the Celestial Race, the Demon Race seems to be a breed with lots of eccentrics, perhaps due to their specialization in magic.
—Kofus split his power after a contract with the Demon Realm to create the Six Demon Kings. Of course, they were pathetic compared to true Demon Kings, but he was quite satisfied.
Kofus, who had always enjoyed controlling corpses and standing above others.
It wasn’t enough for him to merely imitate the number six that symbolizes the Demon Kings; he even bestowed each one with their own power and the title of Six Heavenly Kings.
To the higher-ups, it might look like just role-playing, but for demons of similar or slightly higher rank, it was different.
In the end, Kofus was crushed soul and all by a Top-Class Demon due to the “blasphemy.”
“Demon Race blaspheming?”
—That’s how we’ve recorded it. To put it in the Demon Race’s terms, it’s more like ‘you were asking for it and got killed.’
In the first place, it’s highly likely that even among the Top-Class Demons, their loyalty to the Demon Kings was more like, ‘Who do you think you are, imitating a Demon King?’
“Who do you think you are imitating the Demon King?” was probably a more accurate thought.
The Demons, unlike the Celestials, are fiercely individualistic and often engage in underhanded tactics to climb higher.
In the end, no matter what, Kofus was destined to die.
─ Kofus is dead, but due to the contract with the Demon Realm, the Six Heavenly Kings remain. Eliminate them all and seize the heart of the ‘One’ Demon King.
“How strong is he?”
─ The subordinates of the Six Heavenly Kings are weaker than the Commander of Knights. They had great skills in commanding numbers, but alone they weren’t that strong.
But the One Demon King is different.
─ That guy is Kofus’s masterpiece. His power is equal to or even exceeds Manus.
“Manus…”
Manus was pretty strong, but even stronger than that…
It might be a tough battle.
■
My name is the Demon King of the Three.
I am the servant of Kofus, the Lord of Corpses, and an existence born with the ability of ‘Necromancy,’ specialized in commanding something.
A long time has passed since the connection with Kofus was cut, but I have never doubted or failed to trust him.
Of course, some of the Six Heavenly Kings arrogantly thought otherwise, but I alone followed him wholeheartedly.
And then…
“The Six Heavenly King has fallen! Cause of death: spear wound…”
“The Six Heavenly King…!”
“The One Heavenly King has fallen too! How could this happen in such a short time—”
“We have urgent news! The Three Heavenly King has passed away…”
What on earth is going on?
Was it about 2 minutes since I heard the news that 100,000 corpses in the Demon Realm had died and that an enemy was breaching the Outer Fortress?
Why did three die in such a short time?
Moreover, the one causing this madness is an Angel—
“Here she comes!”
KABOOM!!!
The gates of the castle of the Demon King of the Three were shattered as a white woman entered.
Even though a clear enemy had entered, no one was able to stop her.
Creeeaaak…
Uuuh…
Just approaching caused rotting corpses to disintegrate.
The only thing that remained unrotted was her minions, made of her power, but they couldn’t get close either.
The hammer draped over her shoulder sways arrogantly.
“This Demon King is a Lich.”
“…That damn woman!”
The power of Necromancy used by the Demon King of the Three raises a skull.
And then…
CRUNCH!!
The hammer crushed the Lich.
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