Backstory (1)
I rummaged through the village, gathering all the useful items in one place.
Of course, I just pointed fingers while my nearly two hundred subordinates did all the work.
[Hmph, I was expecting a little more from a village overrun by black mages, but this isn’t too shabby.]
After raiding personal lodgings and possessions, I found a decent amount of coins and precious metals that seemed to be public funds used during our operation from the village chief’s house.
[They must have used quite a lot of this while staying here for a long time; these guys are wealthier than I thought.]
I didn’t know the exact value of the local currency, but gold coins were generally high-value, so I figured it would be a significant amount.
Most importantly, I found several gold bars.
[…Is this for real gold?]
Having never touched gold in my life, I wouldn’t know.
I took a subtle bite out of a gold bar, and seeing the bite marks, it seemed to be real gold?
Feeling elated, I checked other items.
Weapons and armor used by the subordinates would go straight onto the undead.
What caught my eye, however, were the magical tools used by the black mages.
From staffs to robes and various helpful everyday tools, there was a lot.
I decided to put on a nicely clean robe.
It had temperature control and simple defensive properties; I didn’t need temperature control, but even a little defense wouldn’t hurt.
Besides, I couldn’t keep wandering around as a naked skeleton forever, could I?
[…Oh, this ain’t right.]
While checking myself out in the robe, I quickly took it off again.
With nothing but bones, I didn’t look appealing at all.
[Let’s do it this way… ]
I donned some cloth clothes along with a thick leather armor on my shoulders before putting the robe back on.
[Hmm, this is better than before.]
Indeed, a man’s charm relies on his shoulders, doesn’t it?
Next, I browsed through the staffs and picked out the one that looked the most promising.
[Hey, Malcolm. Come here.]
[…Yes?]
[Here, take this. Give me what you have now.]
And I exchanged it with Malcolm.
After all, his items had to be the best.
I held a skull staff embedded with jewels and tapped it on the ground.
The earth beneath my feet turned black, and undead wearing all kinds of equipment and loot began to sink to the ground one by one.
Lastly, I surveyed the village.
This was the first village I had visited in this other world, yet now, it looked eerily desolate with not a single living soul.
I walked slowly, absorbing each sight.
I passed by the place where I had stayed at the village chief’s house, with a water container and stacked firewood, and brushed past what seemed to be the village hall where the undead had been trapped.
Fwooosh—
Black flames erupted everywhere I passed, incinerating the village.
As I turned my back on the blazing inferno and reached the village’s center, I stopped for a moment.
A place where completely destroyed undead were gathered.
On one side, the corpses of what appeared to be the original villagers lay together in a heap.
Most of the weakest zombies had been destroyed during the battle.
There were plenty of zombies that could be revived, but I chose to leave them as they were, gathered in the village center.
I locked eyes with the only surviving zombie standing at the center of the pile of villagers’ corpses.
[Graah…]
Though damaged in various places during the battle, I recognized him instantly.
He was a young zombie who had helped me kill Geraf.
I met his gaze for a moment, lightly nodding in respect before turning away.
Soon, the black flames engulfed everything.
He had fought to protect his loved ones, and only in death had he completed all his revenge and fallen into eternal rest with his family.
Fwooosh—!
The entire village was ablaze.
I then passed by the makeshift barricades I had been helping to fortify and approached the village entrance.
I could feel the barrier’s presence, now faint from the fire’s influence.
‘Detection of outsiders, concealment of black magic, emergency defensive functions… The inner barriers are quite advanced, aren’t they?’
Especially the concealment of black magic, which was a common feature among all the barriers I had passed so far.
‘They probably wanted to hide the ‘Fragment of the Undead King.’
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now since I’ve become one with it.’
Still, since it looked useful, I reconstructed black magic concealment barriers around myself, as I’d seen from the others.
Given that black magic seems to be taboo, hiding it would be a good idea.
As I left the entrance, I set fire to the barricade.
Fwooosh— Fwooosh—
The flames conjured by my magic would burn only where I desired, and they would naturally extinguish once everything turned to ash, so I wouldn’t have to worry about a forest fire.
Thus, I departed the village I had visited for the first time and headed into the forest to the east.
*
In the dimension of Auterica, at the sacred site located in the center of the continent.
In the worship hall of the Rosellia Temple, a girl was kneeling before the holy figure of the Holy God, offering a prayer.
With her eyes closed and hands clasped, the silver-haired girl began to be enveloped in a gentle heavenly light.
When the light finally faded, she opened her eyes, slowly rising from her spot, respectfully bowing to the statue before carefully exiting the worship hall.
“Saint.”
Priests dressed in pure white robes who had been waiting outside approached the girl, bowing their heads.
“Bishop Martin, may I ask you to contact the others?”
“Yes? What…”
The girl, Saint Liesta of the Holy God sect, fixed a serious gaze towards the west.
“Signs of the Undead King’s resurrection have been detected in the west.”
“Y-you mean the Undead King? Understood, I will inform them to convene a meeting immediately.”
Bishop Martin, aghast, bowed to the saint and hurried away.
The name of the Undead King, who had plunged the entire continent into fear centuries ago, carried significant weight.
‘I won’t let such a thing happen again!’
The saint bit her lip tightly and clenched her fists in resolution.
Han thought that as long as he concealed the black magic, there wouldn’t be any issues, but the saint’s abilities exceeded anything he could imagine.
Thus, one of the greatest powers on the continent began to recognize and track Hans’s presence.
*
“Hmm… I’m craving some gukbap today.”
On his way home from exercising, Heinz headed directly to a nearby gukbap restaurant.
No need to ponder the menu.
“I’ll have one each of bean sprout gukbap, blood sausage gukbap, and beef head gukbap. Please pack some spicy beef soup and seolleongtang too. Oh! And a large portion of boiled meat as well, please!”
I could just order according to my cravings.
As my appetite expanded and I indulged in a variety of flavors, I found great joy in sampling different dishes.
I would have usually restrained myself, but today I felt incredibly good, so I indulged in whatever I wanted and brought home a generous takeout.
‘Hmm… What’s the gold price these days?’
With the state of affairs being chaotic, I thought the gold prices had increased substantially.
While eating the gukbap Heinz took home, I browsed the internet.
After some rough calculations, I felt my insides warm up and my belly full.
‘This gukbap is really good.’
Right now, Hans was moving east through the forest, so I couldn’t fetch any gold bars immediately, but it was almost like they were already in my hands.
At this point, I felt I could be generous with everything.
I could probably laugh it off even if I encountered a troll in a team game.
“Hey! What the hell is that guy doing over there?! Come over!”
Hmm… Maybe that was a bit too optimistic.
After munching on some boiled meat from the takeout while watching Heinz play a game, I used the ‘Mind Hub’ to calm my mind.
Peace settled in.
‘This could help with mental training too, huh?’
Cleaning up the empty bowls, I checked on Hans’s situation.
Since Hans became a demi-lich, he was now unintentionally emitting an aura of fear around him.
For now, he had hidden the black magic, so its effects were lessened, making only those who directly faced him feel the fear, but that seemed to be enough as monster attacks had hardly occurred.
Occasional monster onslaughts merely alleviated my boredom.
‘And I can use those monsters to increase the undead.’
It had already been a week since Hans left the village.
I began to doubt whether there was indeed a city to the east or if Malcolm had just been lying to me.
Then suddenly, a fact dawned upon me.
‘I’ve dealt with quite a few bad guys; with this, I should have accrued a decent amount of karma, right?’
They weren’t just average schemers; their levels had been quite high.
Hoping for some solid gains, I opened the karma shop.
『Karma Shop』
『Unique Skill Enhancement (600,000)』
『Status Enhancement – Details』
『Current Karma – 792,208』
While I had expected some amount, this was extravagantly generous.
‘Last time I checked, it was just over 400,000… Were they really that formidable? Or did I do something else?’
After pondering for a moment, I concluded it was more than likely the former.
‘Well, they were definitely bad news. But more importantly, shall I enhance my unique skill?’
After all, the only noteworthy thing I had done was snatch the Undead King’s heart and take care of those black mages.
《Your mental power has exceeded the threshold. You have acquired the skill “Mind Clarity.”》
When I enhanced my unique skill, a short headache accompanied the message notifying me of a new skill acquired.
It was a skill that would prevent my mind from being swayed by external stimuli and defend against mental attacks.
‘While I have the “Mind Hub,” it only applies to the avatar; having a skill that could apply to the main body as well would be even better.’
And just then, I realized I could utilize another avatar. The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
‘Since Hans would find it hard to operate among the people, I can send Heinz out while using the new avatar for activities outside.’
Hans had discovered signs that people had passed by.
*
Hans rode a massive skeletal saber-toothed tiger down the forest path.
While traversing through a forest crawling with monsters along with Malcolm and a few undead, he turned the monsters that attacked them into undead for steeds.
‘Riding is faster, and above all, it looks cooler!’
An undead wizard riding a skeletal monster—now that’s a gamer’s fantasy!
I could hunt on a large scale to create an undead cavalry unit!
But it wasn’t without its problems…
‘Super uncomfortable! It’s ridiculously uncomfortable riding up there!’
Of course, with just bones as my body.
Every time I ran, it rattled and shook like it was a joke.
Also, being attached without a saddle was making it hard to keep a grip on things.
‘While I probably won’t slip with my feet stuck in between the ribs… This is definitely something to think about. Should I make a different kind of mount for riding?’
As I distractedly moved along the forest path, I noticed the trees becoming sparser, eventually realizing I had reached the edge of the forest.
[…Over there.]
Malcolm riding a skeletal wolf pointed to a location with his finger bone.
Turning my gaze there, I saw a city wall rising in the distance.
[Ohh… There really is a city? Malcolm wasn’t lying, huh?]
Muttering to myself, I glanced at Malcolm, who was riding beside me on the skeletal wolf, and I could see him flinch a bit and slowly try to distance himself.
For days, I had pestered him whenever nothing but forests surrounded us.
Although Malcolm had no recollection of his life, that didn’t negate the trouble I had put him through.
I had tormented him with various excuses.
‘Well, it didn’t matter; he was an undead with no pain or emotions.’
I shifted my gaze back from Malcolm to the city wall in the distance.
[Alright. Then let’s move. You guys stay back.]
There was no reason for us all to crowd together at the outskirts of the forest, so I decided to move alone from now on.
However, I couldn’t be discovered as an undead exiting the forest, or else I might raise suspicions, so I carefully moved around the outskirts, trying to get as close to the city wall as possible.
While Hans wasn’t able to enter the city himself, he planned to switch places with Heinz once they reached nearby.
There was still a day left before he could use the dimensional teleportation circle again.
*
[Entity Information]
– Entity Name: Heinz
– Common Traits: “Mind Hub,” “Super Recovery,” “Mind Clarity”
– Specific Traits: “Toughness”
– Special Notes: Second avatar of Seong-hyun Han. Due to the influence of “Toughness,” increased stamina and physical strength.
Heinz opened his eyes after completing the teleportation.
The city wall Hans had spotted came into view.
It was quite a distance, but it was a walk of just about an hour.
Turning his head back to look at Hans, he involuntarily flinched.
‘Whoa, that’s quite a fearsome sight…’
It was the first time Hans had confronted another avatar after becoming an undead, and it was more terrifying than he had anticipated.
The aura of fear, part of the basic abilities of a high-ranking undead demi-lich, radiated outward, creating an ominous presence.
Seated atop a skeletal saber-toothed tiger, holding a skull staff, he looked down with glowing blue eyes—truly the essence of synergy.
‘If I stumbled upon him at midnight, I’d definitely wet myself.’
In reality, if it weren’t for “Mind Hub” and “Mind Clarity,” he too would be trembling in fear.
If he was feeling this way, how would others perceive him?
Just encountering him could induce trauma.
‘Hans should remain unseen by others.’
Clearing his thoughts, he prepared to separate their paths.
Heinz changed into the clothes and leather armor from the other world that Hans had set aside, gathered weapons and ample travel expenses.
Hans took some magical tools, including gold bars and precious metals, deciding to bring them along just in case he couldn’t summon items from Earth.
Then, shortly after, Heinz made his way toward the city gate alone.
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