al_squad
patreon
Hero's Coffin Chapter 102
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 12:53:29 +0000 UTCChapter 102
Though Haren spoke carefully, his strength drained and he only let out a sigh close to a dry laugh. Ah, since he had died being hit by a truck, he must have been broken. Two had been chilling, but three was so absurd it was just funny.
Right, how could a holy knight far removed from necromancy sense the state of souls in the first place? Judging it was clearly a wild guess, he shook his head. The tension disappeared anticlimactically.
While this was happening, Haren was still seriously looking at him, which suddenly made mischief well up.
"I'll tell only you, actually..."
"...Actually?"
"My soul broke from using forbidden power."
"..."
"I received God's punishment for using unholy necromancy in the Holy Empire."
Haren looked at him with bewildered eyes. Though he had deliberately lowered his voice to create a heavy atmosphere, he seemed to notice it was a joke since he giggled as it went on, unable to hold back his laughter.
"Be careful not to break too."
When he gestured with his chin as if what Haren was doing was also a form of necromancy, Haren's face froze completely. It was an expression that concluded he had been stupid for almost taking it seriously for a moment.
Watching him shake his head afterwards, he felt inwardly relieved. Though it was regrettable that he seemed to think he was acting unpredictably strange again, at least this should stop him from trying to sense his soul again.
Ugh, he hadn't expected a surprise event to open like this in a possession story.
"Hey man, I was so startled when undead suddenly fell from the sky!"
"I-it was really scary..."
"...Next time, I'd like you to call us normally."
Just then, Kalterik, Noi, and Mela appeared. They seemed to have been together, as they arrived noisily as a group.
Since the undead didn't need to walk, they had probably flown quickly and dive-bombed upon finding them. From their complaints, it seemed the three had been seriously discussing the changed space when undead suddenly dropped from the sky, startling them, and their faces were somewhat pale.
Of course, their condition wasn't his concern so he just shrugged his shoulders. Wasn't it fine as long as communication succeeded? He turned to look at Haren with a proud face.
"See. This is much more efficient."
"...So it is."
Even Haren, who had tried to stop his actions, nodded as if he could no longer deny it. A faint dry smile spread across his face.
"Ehhh...?"
"C-Commander was here together..."
That sight seemed to strike the three as an unexpected scene. It was surprising enough that he and Haren were together, but above all they seemed very shocked to see the two who hadn't exchanged a single word and had emanated an uncomfortable atmosphere for the past few days now conversing naturally.
Hmm, though he had known the companions had been walking on eggshells around this absurd conflict, it was embarrassing when they reacted so strongly. But hadn't his relationship with Haren never been close to begin with?
Around then, Haren stepped forward with a bright smile.
"I'm glad we met quickly. Is everyone alright? Did anyone get hurt while the space was changing?"
He had somehow approached with a much neater appearance to look after his subordinates. Though just before he had been leaning against the wall covered in cold sweat, now he looked completely fine. His gait didn't falter and his blood-soaked shirt was hidden by his robe. It was amazing acting skill no matter when you saw it. SBS Drama Awards Winner.
While he was holding an awards ceremony inwardly, the three nodded vigorously as if moved by the hero's gentle voice.
"Yes! Fortunately we fell into a wide open space. Except for when the terrain first collapsed, it seems only the scenery changed. Though that was dangerous too..."
Noi seemed to have somewhat memorized the changing scenery even amid the confusion. Moreover, the three said they had quickly noticed that there was 'color' here, meaning it wasn't a contaminated space like an Encroachment Zone.
"Where on earth did we come to? I thought I knew most terrains but I can't get a sense of this. It's harder to figure out since we're inside a cave, and I can't even be sure if this is Solares..."
"I checked the surroundings in advance but couldn't detect any demonic energy."
Mela spoke seriously. She said she had checked whether the Dium might be using demon abilities like in the western Encroachment Zone, or if all this scenery might have been created by illusion magic, but it wasn't like that at all.
Haren nodded at the three's words.
"Then let's start searching in earnest now. First, from the right path..."
"Is that necessary?"
Thud, he cut off Haren's words. Though everyone looked at him at this action that could be considered quite rude, he just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. The reason he could act like this now was...
[Aah, uuh...]
Just then, dozens of undead flew around him. They came pouring out of the right path Haren had pointed to and circled around him.
"Since there was no problem bringing the three back, I just ordered them to look around the entire space. And the exploration is done."
He spoke triumphantly. While the four were having an intense conversation, he had secretly slipped back and summoned dozens more undead to check the cave, and had steadily gathered the shared visual information. Necromancy seemed best when it came to investigating large spaces.
While Noi's eyes sparkled with "Wow" in admiration, Kalterik spoke quietly beside him.
"Ahem, you, you're really u-using your ability properly. Hem, it's really helpful..."
What was with this expression of using it properly? When he looked at him with strange eyes, his fake coughing grew louder. The very embarrassed look vaguely reminded him of a possible reason.
Perhaps he felt sorry for suspecting he was trying to absorb the corpses piled in the Encroachment Zone as undead when he touched them? Since it was such a natural suspicion given Isaph's record that he didn't even feel wronged, Kalterik's reaction was just amusing.
So was this the guy who had shouted he would never acknowledge his help now saying with his own mouth that he was helpful? Though he smirked with a dry laugh, it made him even more confident as he looked at Haren.
However, somehow the face he met was just cold.
"I told you to be careful since we don't know what's here."
"Everything was fine until finding the three, so..."
"Isaph."
"Ah, there's no one here anyway. So it's fine."
He became sullen at the words pointing out his reckless behavior. Though he had actually thought he was lucky too, being called out directly like that was unpleasant. He had thought he would be praised.
...No, not praise, but acknowledgment. Right, he had thought he would be acknowledged.
He quickly corrected the error in his head and whirled his head away. You make a fuss even when I work after being brought to search the Encroachment Zone. Though this isn't contaminated land, isn't it still a space derived from an Encroachment Zone?
The three were looking between him and Haren with dazed expressions. Feeling their emotions directly, he cleared his throat a couple times and spoke.
"Anyway, this place is completely different from the eastern Encroachment Zone, but there's one thing in common."
"A thing in common...?"
"That strange wall. The pitch-black wall is here too."
He had confirmed through the undead's vision that suspicious light was spreading from the wall again. It was truly puzzling. A completely different cave sharing the black wall, wasn't it like spaces connected through it? Perhaps all the other caves they had briefly passed through had that wall too.
At his answer, Noi's face turned white. As if just recalling the shocking event in front of the black wall made his whole body tremble, he crossed his arms and grabbed his shoulders. Kalterik and Mela's faces hardened too.
And as it happened, there was one more peculiarity about this cave...
"Ah, and this cave has no exit."
"What?!"
Kalterik exclaimed. Whether it was a cave buried somewhere undiscovered from the outside, or whether it had been blocked from the outside. Whatever the background, there was only one conclusion.
Haren seemed to guess this too as he spoke in a low, sunken voice.
"...It seems we have no choice but to go to that wall."
Though everyone looked like they didn't want to get closer to the wall, they had no choice. Since they had entered the eastern Encroachment Zone, they had to somehow face this problem to understand the cause of the phenomenon.
