Chapter: 155
The white hair cascading down like a waterfall appeared as noble as the moon shining in the winter night sky, and her tranquil eyes were as beautiful as a golden lake reflecting the sunset, yet there was an eeriness about them that hinted at depths unknown.
Her beauty, while enchanting, felt like a mesmerizing blade—something that shouldn’t be approached lightly. Despite not getting any special care, her smooth, soft skin, long lashes, and gentle lips resembled those of Iris.
‘So, this is why Iris is so pretty.’
Lian, lost in thought, stared at the Duke’s face with the vacant expression of a man who had just gained enlightenment. It was only after her hand fell away that he snapped back to reality and shyly averted his gaze.
“Fortune seems to favor me—there doesn’t seem to be a fever—”
“Haha! You’re right! Rather than feverish, I’m overflowing with strength! Thank you for worrying about me!”
The Duke misinterpreted Lian’s nervous reaction to her sudden touch.
‘Ah, so he’s not used to being cared for. Despite living that kind of life, he still remembers his manners and shows gratitude…’
This world wasn’t a fairy tale or a lighthearted gag universe. It was a dark fantasy realm filled with tales of despair.
In such a world, finding genuinely good people with a troubled past was surprisingly difficult.
‘If that is not a facade…’
The Duke mused, suddenly smiling bitterly.
‘… Perhaps a new hero has emerged.’
Considering the possibility of Iris, the Hero’s daughter, becoming the next hero might suggest that heroism runs in the blood, but that’s a misconception.
A hero has the strength to defeat the Demon King, and thus they are born with a stronger body and a reservoir of Divine Power greater than that of ordinary people. But that was about it.
Those of outstanding ability felt similar to noble bloodlines that had successfully maintained their lineage.
The position of a hero is not inherited through blood but is determined by a divine selection. Regardless of whether one is a commoner, noble, or priest, the chosen one is someone who possesses immense Divine Power and a natural talent for swordsmanship.
The remarkable skills that transcended mere genius, his Divine Power that healed the Duke’s injuries in an instant, and the sight of him smiling even after stabbing himself— it was completely understandable for the Duke to misinterpret Lian as the new hero.
Thanks to this bizarre misunderstanding, the Duke’s gaze softened more than usual. Any of her long-serving servants witnessing such a sight might have fainted outright, though the change in her demeanor wasn’t outwardly noticeable.
“Ahem! Well then, let’s find a way out of here again!”
“Sure.”
Together with Lian, the voices of a certain magical sword began pouring out suggestions for escape.
*
Meanwhile, at that moment.
The Necromancer, the luckiest of all, who trapped both the Empire’s strongest and the inhabitants of a gag world, was anxiously pacing around the room.
“What do I do? Should I go now? But what if they’re alive? Then all my efforts will go to waste!”
She fidgeted and teared up, finally bursting into tears with a loud wail.
Clatter.
“I had everything in my grasp! How can this happen?”
Clatter, clack.
“They said I was lucky! Uuuugh!”
Clatter, clatter.
Amid her cries, the sounds of the Skeleton Major opening and closing its mouth echoed continuously. Annoyed by that oddly irritating noise, she shot a glare at the Major.
“Geez! Why is it so noisy today?”
Clatter.
The Major, who always stood still like a statue, raised a finger and pointed to itself. She widened her eyes at the unheard-of action.
“W-Why are you moving on your own…?”
After hastily wiping the tears from her cheek with her sleeve, she approached the Major, who seemed to want to say something, pointing its finger at its own body and then the crystal ball.
“So you’re saying… you want to go check it out?”
Clatter.
The Major nodded. Her mouth fell open as two conflicting thoughts raced through her mind.
‘What is this? There’s no way I harvested a soul, so how can it have any cognition?’ versus ‘Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I could just send an Undead in my place! All I need to check is if it’s alive or dead!’
Despite her skyrocketing curiosity, the Necromancer suppressed it. What really mattered now was capturing the Duke, known as the Empire’s finest sword.
“Alright! Then hurry up and go check it out!”
With an excited face, she reverse-summoned the Major and summoned three Skeleton Majors, ten Skeleton Knights, and two Skeleton Rangers above the ground. She was also hiding in the underground space like Lian and the Duke, so it was a necessary procedure.
‘Even if I encounter some monsters along the way, with this amount of force, I should be just fine.’
She grinned as she sent the Undead towards the hole that had swallowed Lian and the Duke.
It was possible to command the owner of the forest to move underground like a mole. But that would consume over ten times the magical energy compared to moving above ground, causing the fog settled over the forest to disappear.
“Muahaha, now all I have to do is wait…”
As if to indicate she hadn’t cried at all, she settled on a fancy chair she bought secondhand, crossing her legs. Her pure white, smooth legs were clearly visible.
“Please wait a moment, Lord Erboan. I’ll be right there—”
Again lost in her fantasies, she daydreamed with a goofy smile about being pampered by Erboan, imagining giving birth to ten children while grinning widely.
“Eh…?”
Suddenly, the Undead party she had sent out began to reverse-summon. Since she could only share simple information if they were too far apart, she promptly sent a signal.
“Red… Beast?”
Before she could glean any further information, she froze with a blank expression, shaking her head to collect herself.
“Ha… haha… Maybe I encountered a strong monster. I should tell them to take another route.”
She summoned more Undead and sent them on a longer detour. Feeling the magical energy of the Undead distancing from her, she grew anxious.
As they got closer to the objective than the first Undead party, her tension started to ease. Luckily, whatever the “red beast” may be seemed like a territorial monster.
“Hehe… Maybe I’m really smart today?”
Muttering such an incredibly lackluster statement, she shrugged her shoulders. But as she felt the Undead party nearing their destination, she jolted to her feet.
“This is no time to dawdle! I need to prepare for the ritual right away!”
Though she had already finished some preparations, she felt the need to double-check. With a flushed face from excitement, she opened a door on one side of the wall and moved to the next room. The room, lacking even a single window, overflowed with a gloomy atmosphere.
The floor was drawn with a blood-red magic circle made from precious herbs and monster materials, and in the center lay a slab large enough for a person to lie on. Emblazoned with geometric patterns, the altar emanated a sinister aura.
After checking the altar’s condition, she meticulously confirmed that there was enough blood required for the ritual. At that moment—
“Eh? Again?!”
The connection with the Undead party started to be cut off once more. She promptly commanded the three Skeleton Rangers to flee. If they remained still like before, they could be wiped out in an instant.
While she could just resummon any fallen Undead, losing them too quickly would mean she wouldn’t be able to gather proper intel.
She rapidly began to process the information that the Rangers were sending about the incoming enemy.
“A white-haired human woman…?”
While she was struggling to picture the kind of monster that could be dubbed “the red beast,” the information that came through made her freeze.
“So, wait… Are there really two powerful beings here who could wipe out an entire knight squad? And one of them is a human?”
She hadn’t eased up even after capturing the owner of the forest, having meticulously reviewed the levels of monsters dwelling in the area. There were cases where aberrations grew in strength due to the fallen owner of the forest, but that was extremely rare.
Yet now, out of nowhere, two strong beings, one of whom was a human, were roaming around?
She wanted to cry out “Waaaah!” again.
But her misfortune didn’t end there.
The Skeleton Rangers, faster in the forest than any other Skeletons, quickly closed in on her hiding spot. As soon as the Undead stepped within a 10m radius, she could steal a glance.
Immediately casting magic, a shining red glare illuminated the eye sockets of the empty skull. This was the sign that the Necromancer was borrowing the vision of the Undead.
‘S-She’s a real human?!’
Her face went pale at the sight of Iris, charging toward her at great speed with her flowing white hair.
‘Wait a second… I feel like I’ve seen that human before—’
Just as she began to grasp that Iris looked remarkably like the Duke’s doppelgänger.
Crack!
A few trees beside the Ranger were torn apart as if crushed by a massive boulder.
“Grrr…”
Emerging from the chaos was a Beastman with red hair, called Jess, complete with animal ears and a tail.
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