Monarch of Death

Detzras was momentarily stunned, wearing a blank expression.

“…”

It wasn’t common for a human to burst apart so cleanly.

The horror was so extreme that it almost felt unreal.

However, the subsequent hail of flesh and bone fragments, the fragments of intestines dancing like snakes, and the eyeballs rolling around like marbles were more than enough to drag him back to reality.

“Aaaargh!”

Detzras recoiled in terror, stumbling backward repeatedly.

Even he, a wicked necromancer who had committed all sorts of atrocities, could never have imagined such a hellish scene.

“You… you devil!”

Weren’t those people alive just moments ago?

No matter how much of a necromancer he was, how could one do this to another human being?

“How can you do such a thing while wearing human skin!”

Karnak tilted his head quizzically.

“Did I do something that terrible?”

He didn’t particularly feel offended by the insult. He had lived his entire life enduring far worse.

But he hadn’t expected to hear such words from a fellow necromancer.

“I just blew up a couple of corpses, so why’s he making such a fuss? He’s a necromancer too.”

Serati, finally coming to his senses, stammered out a response.

“…It is an incredibly gruesome act, Lord Karnak. If others see this, they’ll definitely try to kill us first.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Yes.”

Serati answered firmly.

She needed to make sure Karnak understood this now, so that maybe, just maybe, Karnak would be a bit more cautious in the future.

Karnak and Barros showed a glimmer of remorse.

“I knew it was something I’d be scolded for, but I didn’t think it was this bad.”

“Indeed.”

The problem lay in how far outside the norm their reactions were.

“I suppose from now on, I’ll have to kill anyone who witnesses a corpse explosion.”

“And make sure to clean up more thoroughly afterward.”

Serati, exasperated, asked, “…Isn’t there an option where you just don’t use that spell?”

Both men blinked simultaneously.

“Why?”

“Why not use it?”

She sighed in exasperation.

‘Ah, they really don’t understand, do they?’

Usually, in situations like this, people at least try to offer some sort of excuse.

They might argue that their lives were on the line, so they couldn’t afford to be picky about methods, or that they didn’t care about the trivial opinions of others.

But these two were different.

They looked like swordsmen who had been told not to use their swords, or mages who had been told not to use their magic.

Making excuses was something people did when they at least realized they were in the wrong.

“Sigh, forget it.”

With a sigh, Serati looked over at the Golem Knight.

The massive stone giant was no more; only two stone feet remained standing.

The Golem Knight, which had withstood so much pummeling, was shattered in a single blow.

It was indeed an incredible display of destructive power.

Given that they had simultaneously detonated two corpses filled with necromantic power, the outcome was inevitable.

Karnak, with a cold smile, glared at Detzras.

“So, got anything left to pull out of your sleeve?”

Detzras bit his lower lip.

He was right. With the Golem Knight shattered, his mana and necromantic power were completely drained.

“Ku, kukuku…”

A hollow laugh escaped his chest.

“You are strong, unbeliever. Truly strong…”

Now, he had only one option left.

‘I’ll have to kill myself before I divulge the secrets of the cult…’

Drip…

Blood began to trickle from the corners of Detzras’ mouth.

It was the result of the self-destruct spell, Heart Explosion, that Kale and Olt had used before.

Of course, Karnak was dumbfounded.

“This guy is an idiot too. Killing yourself in front of a necromancer is pointless.”

Karnak immediately summoned the Hand of Darkness, intending to subdue Detzras’s soul just as he had done before.

However, it seemed that Detzras was different from his two subordinates.

“Tesranak… please, take my soul…”

As he was dying, he uttered his final words. At the same time, a pillar of black light surged up from his entire body.

Paaaat!

The Hand of Darkness, which Karnak had extended, collided with the pillar of black light and was repelled.

“Damn!”

Karnak’s face twisted in frustration.

He had a rough idea of what that black pillar was.

‘A pre-contracted soul transfer spell!’

It was a necromantic technique where a soul was branded in advance and then collected upon death.

At this rate, the cult of the Dark God would reclaim Detzras’s soul.

“Damn it, did I underestimate him?”

Karnak hurriedly tried to break the spell, but the black pillar moved faster.

The darkness deepened and began to engulf Detzras’s corpse.

Soon, his soul started to disappear into the darkness.

“Damn it…”

Karnak was left helpless, watching the soul slip away before his very eyes.

Just then, a ghost suddenly popped up at his feet. It was Detzras’s soul, which had just vanished into the darkness.

With a bewildered expression, Karnak looked down at the ghost.

“…?”

The ghost also looked up at Karnak with a bewildered expression.

“…?”

For a moment, both were frozen in place, their minds confused.

‘Wasn’t this guy supposed to go to Tesranak?’

‘Why am I here instead of in the presence of Tesranak?’

Of course, the awkward silence didn’t last long.

“Tsk tsk, looks like your spell got messed up.”

Baros’s mocking tone snapped Karnak back to reality.

Indeed.

When you think about it, how many times had his necromancy spells gone awry?

“You should have mastered the basics first.”

With a smirk, Karnak extended the Hand of Darkness once more.

Soon, the black fingers grasped the ghost by the hair and dragged it back.

“Aaaargh!”

As Detzras’s soul screamed in agony, Karnak smiled gleefully.

“Well then, we’ve got a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

***

After securing Detzras’s corpse and soul, Karnak and his companions moved to a new location.

The building where the necromancy had been performed was now completely destroyed, so they needed another discreet place.

Finding such a spot in the slums wasn’t too difficult. They found a sufficiently ruined structure and went inside.

Baros placed the corpse he had been carrying on the ground. As Karnak prepared to use necromancy, he muttered to himself.

“This time, it’s going to take a while. There’s a lot we need to find out.”

Serati, who had been keeping watch, suddenly asked, “Won’t we be keeping Prince Lloyd waiting too long?”

Karnak responded nonchalantly, “Well, he’ll just have to wait. What else can we do? I can’t exactly perform necromancy in front of him.”

“I was just worried he might start getting suspicious.”

“If he does, he does. How can you be a necromancer if you worry about every little thing?”

Serati inwardly accepted his confident response.

‘As expected…’

She figured that the reason necromancers who were skilled at lying eventually got caught and beheaded was probably due to personalities like Karnak’s.

Of course, she kept that thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Karnak was looking down at Detzras’s corpse with a serious expression.

“This time, I’ll need to focus.”

Noticing his unusually serious demeanor, Serati asked curiously, “Oh my, why?”

Barros answered for him.

“Young Master has been so good at subduing souls and extracting information from them with ease that this might seem like a convenient method, but in reality, it’s quite dangerous.”

The pain and madness of the souls summoned through necromancy could also affect the necromancer.

If the necromancer had a strong sense of empathy, just performing this act could make them experience death so vividly that their heart could stop.

Even an ordinary human would eventually go mad, corrupted by evil energy and malevolence.

“This isn’t a technique to be used lightly, even for a necromancer.”

It’s much safer to extract information by torturing a living person with a hot iron than to cross such a dangerous bridge.

“So, what about you, Lord Karnak?”

“Well, I’m an exceptional necromancer.”

“More accurately, it’s because you don’t have any proper empathy, Young Master, which is why you’ve been able to do this so comfortably.”

“You’re not wrong, but somehow that doesn’t sound very nice.”

Grumbling, Karnak clasped his hands together.

“This guy is quite skilled, so he’s likely prepared defenses against necromancy.”

A necromancer of his caliber would have taken all sorts of measures to protect his soul.

Carefully, Karnak summoned Detzras’s soul.

“Come forth, my servant… Obey the command of your master…”

With a chilling voice, the ghost materialized, and simultaneously, pitch-black shadows began to rise from the surroundings.

Kyahhhhh!

A terrifying wail echoed as a black wave spread in all directions. The sudden shock made Serati stagger backward, her mind reeling.

“Ugh! What is this?”

Baros, remaining vigilant, spoke up, “As expected, an evil spirit of madness was guarding him.”

It was one of those necromantic spells designed to trap the soul of anyone who dared to confront it.

There’s a saying: when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes back at you.

The moment you try to invade the soul, the evil spirit of madness drives you insane.

However, the situation was unfolding in an unexpected way.

The evil spirit of madness locked eyes with Karnak and let out a hideous scream.

Screeech! Aaaagh!

The black shadow began to tremble violently, shrinking in place.

It was obvious that it had seen something it wasn’t supposed to.

‘What the…? Wasn’t it supposed to drive him insane?’

Serati blinked in confusion.

“Then why is it going berserk instead?”

As if he expected this, Baros nodded knowingly.

“Like I said, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.”

“…And I’m the abyss?”

With a disgruntled expression, Karnak watched the evil spirit of madness fade away.

It really seemed like the evil spirit had been utterly terrified and crushed by something incredibly dark and horrid.

Karnak muttered in frustration, “Is my soul really that horrifying? It can’t be that bad, can it?”

Baros, with a look of disbelief, asked, “Do you truly believe that?”

“Haven’t I become a lot kinder? I’ve even made a lot of effort to live like a decent person since my return.”

“You have indeed. But do you think a century of accumulated filth can be washed away in just a year?”

“Is that so?”

Upon reflection, Karnak nodded in agreement.

“I guess I’ll have to try even harder to live like a decent person.”

Serati, overhearing their conversation, remained silent.

“…”

From what she had observed, Karnak wasn’t exactly a villain. He was genuinely trying hard not to do bad things. She had to acknowledge that.

But does that mean he’s actually living a good life now? That didn’t seem quite right either.

‘No, wait, why does Sir Baros think he’s fine? Is it just because he’s comparing himself to Lord Karnak?’

In any case, the evil spirit of madness had vanished. This meant that Detzras’s soul was now ready to spill everything.

“Let’s ask again.”

It was time to resume the questioning that had been interrupted earlier.

“Answer me.”

Facing the trembling ghost, Karnak asked, “Why did Prince Alford switch bodies with Prince Lloyd? What could he possibly gain from it?”

***

In a shabby shack tucked away in the corner of the slums, Prince Lloyd had been hiding, keeping himself concealed in one corner of the hut.

‘When is Lord Karnak coming back?’

The entire slum had been shaking with tremendous explosions, the noise echoing continuously, making him too afraid to show himself. All he could do was wait, hoping that Karnak and his group would return soon.

How many hours had passed?

It was only after the explosions ceased, and the surroundings had fallen into silence for quite some time, that the awaited party finally returned.

“Oh, you’re back! How did it go?”

Karnak calmly gave his report.

“We defeated the enemies and completed the interrogation of the necromancers. It seems we’ve roughly figured out Prince Alford’s intentions.”

“Is that so!”

This was precisely the news Prince Lloyd had been anxiously waiting for.

He asked urgently, “What was the reason? Why did Alford target my body?”

“Well, about that…”

With a wry smile, Karnak shrugged.

“It turns out he never had any interest in coveting your body from the start.”