Fragment of the Undead King (1)
It was dangerous.
‘I bit down unexpectedly and didn’t expect my teeth to get stuck…’
Perhaps it was a constant protective barrier because the intensity wasn’t that high, so it quickly broke under the crushing power of the black magic-enhanced undead, but it prevented serious damage.
Jereph was equally flustered when he was repelled by the burst of black magic.
Not knowing much about the magic of this world, I found it hard to respond.
Fortunately, I was able to move the zombie behind him to hinder him, but I almost failed without even trying out my plan.
I stared blankly at Jereph’s corpse.
A village’s young zombie was still clinging to his neck, tearing at it.
Those guys were bad from the start.
All the undead here, including that zombie, were people who had fallen victim to them.
Maybe that’s why, even though I killed someone for the first time, the psychological shock wasn’t that great.
No, to be honest, if it weren’t for the “Mind Hub,” it would’ve been dangerous, but fortunately, it just felt like I killed a character in a game.
There was a problem I needed to think about.
‘In fact, I had planned to hit him on the back of the head with a rock later.’
Watching Jereph’s actions made me so angry that I decided to act right away.
But as I developed a malicious intent to attack, ‘Hains’ instinctively aimed for Jereph’s neck with his teeth.
After that, my response was almost guided by my physical instincts.
‘But it’s a bit much to say this was out of my control.’
Though I moved instinctively, I only let it happen because it was an urgent situation; I could have controlled it well enough.
And it was definitely more effective than aiming for the back of his head with a rock.
Had I gone according to plan, I probably wouldn’t have broken the barrier.
‘Still, if I really had to break it down…’
Yes, to put it metaphorically, it was like habit engraved in my body.
I could control it well enough if I was conscious, but it moved without me realizing it in the subconscious.
I realized I couldn’t ignore the influence of the instincts engraved in my undead body.
Of course, it didn’t have any particularly negative effects on my body back on Earth, and rather, I might even be able to use this point, but I should still be cautious.
It was about time to proceed with the next plan.
*
Malcolm, the village chief.
No, one of the elders of the organization active on the continent, the “Oath of Reversal,” Marcos Giocali, was watching the scene before him with satisfaction.
A black gemstone pulsing as it absorbed the energy of death from the surrounding undead.
It had been decades searching for the “Heart of the Undead King.”
But after all the hardships, what he finally found was merely an incomplete fragment.
And there was a risk of being discovered by the continent’s order during the process of transporting it back to their base, so they chose a remote mountain village where people wouldn’t come, sealed the fragment there, and began the maturation process.
A year had passed.
‘It’s almost time. Just a little longer, and finally…’
A considerable amount of resources had been poured into the ‘Fragment of the Undead King.’
It was to the point where his own position was wavering.
‘But if this is completed, everything will turn upside down. Stronger than ever…’
[Master?]
Suddenly, a message came in from the disciple guarding the entrance.
[What is it?]
[Master. It’s outside right now…]
*
“So, my brother is inside here!”
“So that friend left not long ago, right?”
I was causing a stir in front of the village.
The person in front of me was the middle-aged man I had first met when I discovered the village.
“No, I’m telling you, the signal is definitely coming from here! Just let me check inside!”
“On what basis do you think I would let an outsider in so freely?”
“Oh, then let me speak directly with the village chief!”
If I could get the chief out like this, that would be great, but I didn’t care if he didn’t come out; I could still gather information.
If he wasn’t coming out, it meant that something important was happening, and there was only one important thing in this village.
“I am the chief. What’s the matter that’s causing such a commotion?”
I expected that he wouldn’t easily dismiss or harm me.
Given that someone came looking for a corpse thought to have no ties, there was no reason for another incident to happen.
I greeted the chief, Malcolm, with a warm smile.
“Hello. I’m Hainz. It seems my twin brother, Hans, is here, so I apologize for the intrusion.”
“Hmm, Hans… I remember. But wasn’t that young man traveling alone and got lost?”
“Ah… I’m embarrassed, but we had a big fight not long ago and parted ways. I still feel the need to reconcile, so I came to look for him.”
He wouldn’t have any reason not to believe me.
After all, my face looked exactly like ‘Hans’.
And now, it really didn’t matter how they came out.
I had already achieved my purpose.
*
Once Hainz stirred up a commotion outside the village and confirmed that chief Malcolm had come out, ‘Hans’ immediately moved.
I thought there was a good chance he’d ignore it, but I was lucky.
Since it was an important moment, he probably wanted to make sure to check every little detail.
He most likely didn’t expect that even if a dangerous situation arose, it would start from the barricaded innermost area.
Uuung—
Thanks to that, I was able to stand in front of the ‘Fragment of the Undead King’ without any interference.
When I approached the fragment directly without going through the zombie rat, Alfred, I began to understand what maturation meant.
Why the surrounding undead were set up like that.
‘Am I absorbing black magic from the undead? Or is it resonance?’
The fragment wasn’t just absorbing black magic.
Somehow incomplete, it was absorbing black magic while simultaneously taking in missing information and synchronizing to stabilize itself.
Now that I thought about it, the undead standing around looked intimidatingly powerful, including ghosts and headless knights.
The weakest-looking among them was the skeletal knight, but even that seemed much stronger than what I saw in the warehouse.
‘Wait, so the warehouse I was in was a factory for defective products? Suddenly, I feel quite bad.’
Those inferior undead were probably nothing more than impurities in that ‘maturation’ process.
The ones who killed me were probably tossed to the fragment as food once decent undead emerged.
In the end, they didn’t meet expectations and got stuck in a defective product warehouse.
‘But that’s rather fortunate, though it’s oddly infuriating?’
As I got closer, I felt my body’s black magic being sucked in alongside an overwhelming presence.
And at the same time, I realized the danger it posed.
If a living being carelessly touched it, they would surely become undead, and those with weak bodies would die in just a few breaths nearby.
Separately from the power it possessed, it was like a massive concentration of curses.
I reached out towards the ‘Fragment of the Undead King.’
‘Can’t be picky. Let’s try out some of these defective goods.’
Of course, it wouldn’t just willingly submit.
There were things I had some trust in.
*
“So, we’re twins. We can tell where each other is from birth.”
“Haha, that’s hard to believe…”
The softly smiling chief’s face suddenly stiffened.
Then it began to warp into an expression of horror as he turned toward the village.
Something was wrong with the fragment.
This wasn’t the time to be bickering with this insignificant brat.
“Kill that thing over there!”
Malcolm immediately shouted as he called on his black magic to head towards where the fragment lay.
At that command, the middle-aged man at the village entrance, Bowkal, the dark knight of the “Oath of Reversal,” turned to kill Hainz without hesitation, but…
“…When?”
No one was there anymore.
*
[Kill them.]
…Fear, despair, sorrow, pain, oppression, madness, deficiency, hatred, malice, desire, rage…
All kinds of negative emotions surged in endlessly.
[Hate all the living. Cover this land in despair. The more the world is painted in death, the stronger your power will grow. Long for life. Take away what you cannot possess…]
‘Wow, this is seriously no joke?’
The information filtered through the “Mind Hub” was immense.
Under ordinary circumstances, a mere mortal would undoubtedly become undead from this inherent energy, and their mind would be utterly shattered, consumed by the fragment.
I mean, does anyone really exist who could withstand this while being in their right mind?
‘But that’s not my concern.’
I continued the task at hand.
Since Malcolm must have sensed something and was heading this way, time was running short.
‘He must’ve taken some precautions too.’
At this point, it could be called an obsession.
If I could withstand the influence of this fragment, I would probably carry it around all day.
‘Let’s just try it out; who knows, it might work. Seems like I’m almost there.’
Using the black magic being absorbed as a medium, I attempted to synchronize with the ‘Fragment of the Undead King.’
Normally, this would have been a wild dream.
But I was undead, and I could maintain my self-identity while ignoring the violent mental assault transmitted from the fragment.
‘If it works, great, but even if it doesn’t and it gets ruined, I’ll still have the satisfaction of having hindered them.’
The fragment was incomplete and was left vulnerable, resonating with the surroundings to fill in the gaps.
I slipped ‘Hans’ in to fill that deficiency.
And the results became clear soon.
《The entity has achieved the conditions and is evolving. Acquiring special skill “Evil Wisdom.”》
The phrase appeared before my eyes.
But even before I got to see it, I could recognize my changes.
My body still looked like a skeleton, but the level of my existence had shifted.
And new knowledge comfortably imprinted itself in my mind.
[Oh! Now you can talk, right?]
I recorded my voice through the resonance of black magic, but that was just a trivial change.
I lowered my head to look down at my body.
A black gemstone pulsing between my ribs.
I had gained a heart.
[Entity Information]
-Entity Name: Hans
-Race: Undead (Demi-Lich)
-Common Traits: “Mind Hub,” “Super Recovery”
-Entity Traits: “Corrupted Heart,” “Evil Wisdom,” “Mana Affinity”
-Special Note: Increased rank through the power of the ‘Fragment of the Undead King (1/3)’. The black magic latent in the fragment merged with the entity. Due to the influence of the “Mind Hub,” mental corruption did not occur.
And thus, I evolved from an ‘Elite Skeleton’ into an immortal wizard known as a ‘Demi-Lich.’
*
Huyan sat lazily in front of the secret passage once again.
It was punishment for not being able to handle a zombie rat that slipped out yesterday.
‘Ah, I got dragged into this because of that jerk Jereph.’
It had been quite a while since he went in, but Jereph still hadn’t come out.
‘What’s new? He’s probably just sulking, given his personality.’
Huyan leaned back into his chair.
A year had gone by, but today, this backwater village was as quiet as ever.
The only thing he did today was relay the news from the village entrance to his master inside.
[Huyan! What the hell are you doing right now?!]
Kwa-dang!
Suddenly, the communication magic of his master made Huyan fall over along with his chair.
[Yes! Master! Nothing seems to be going on here!]
Quickly getting back up, Huyan readjusted his chair while rubbing his neck and answered energetically, but his master’s voice didn’t settle down.
[Nothing’s going on?! What the hell are you talking about… no, check on the fragment immediately! Quick! Contact Jereph too!]
[Yes, yes! I’ll check right away!]
Due to the barrier surrounding the area with the fragment, a special magic tool placed at the entrance was needed to send communications inside the warehouse.
[Hey! Jereph! Stop messing around, and check the fragment… Huh?]
Hastily trying to get in touch with Jereph, Huyan stopped his movements and checked the magic tool again.
He sent another message.
[Jereph? Hey, Jereph, can you hear me?]
There was no reply.
It was only natural.
After all, the connection had never gone through in the first place.
“Uh… what’s going on here?”
Just as Huyan stood up in confusion, Uuung—
The magic circle leading to the warehouse reacted, and the door slid open.
“Hey! Jereph! Why suddenly…”
As Huyan turned around with a smile at the opened door, he immediately froze.
Standing in the doorway were not Jereph.
“Uh… uh… no, why…?”
Undead, led by a skeletal figure emanating a sinister aura, filled the passageway.
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