Episode 378

Lee Han ground his teeth at the enemy’s repugnant suggestion.

“Cowardly scum. They want us to trigger any traps above first.”

-There are no traps above.

“Pardon?”

-There aren’t. This isn’t a prison anymore—why would there be traps?

“…?”

Lee Han was confused.

“Then why are they telling us to go up? Is it a trick to keep us from using magic?”

-They’re not that kind.

“Then what is it?”

-…I don’t know.

The undead mage honestly admitted it.

It was the first time he’d seen those berserkers from the prison behave so obediently.

Lee Han cautiously peeked out.

The undead berserkers were beckoning with blunt gestures for them to come out.

‘If this is a trap, it’s awfully brazen.’

Feeling uneasy about just walking out, Lee Han waved his hand.

It was a signal to step back.

Amazingly, the undead berserkers stepped back.

“…?!”

-They really moved back?!

Both the undead mage and Lee Han were surprised.

Were these really the same berserkers who’d stormed at them like lunatics before?

“I’ll go check.”

Ogoldos said, leaning on his staff for support.

He couldn’t stand the feeling of being dead weight since getting separated, and wanted to contribute, even a little, by doing something.

“Eh? It’s fine. Let’s cast some fog and approach together.”

“……”

Ogoldos felt his resolve evaporate.

• * *

They approached warily, but the undead berserkers truly did not attack.

They simply watched as Lee Han’s group climbed up through the ceiling.

-Entangle and become steps… I really didn’t think they’d stay put.

“Do we need magic to get up this way?”

-The spell’s already worn off. In normal times, you couldn’t break through this ceiling.

The undead mage said as he climbed the sloping bones.

The underground prison for inmates was reinforced by strong magic. Normally, nothing could break it.

The explosion had been impressive, but if the prison magic was intact, the ceiling wouldn’t have budged.

The undead mage now had to admit what Lee Han had said earlier.

Something must have happened to the master of the palace!

-Truly astonishing. For something to happen to the king…

“……”

Lee Han broke into a slight cold sweat. Ogoldos saw this and worried inwardly.

‘Are you really okay? Did he maybe overuse his mana? Should I ask… No, that’d just make me look like I’m complaining.’

“So… Do you still pledge loyalty to the king? Frankly, in my view, he seems to have quite a few personality flaws.”

He tried to sow discord, but the undead mage didn’t catch on and answered candidly.

-Kings are supposed to be violent, you know.

“I… is that so?”

‘If he’s violent enough to imprison people on a whim, shouldn’t someone chop his head off?’

-But whether I resent the king is a separate issue. I resent him for ignoring my advice, but he’s still my king, so I am loyal. The strong are entitled to rule.

“…Wait, so if he becomes weak, what then?”

-Then he should die. A weak king is unfit to be king.

There was a nodding sound from behind.

Lee Han’s party turned to see the undead berserkers stopping and nodding in agreement as they followed them.

Ogoldos let out a choking gasp.

-When did those guys… How did… wha…?

“They don’t seem like they’re about to attack. Right?”

-Seems that way. Don’t provoke them.

Despite the undead mage’s words, the berserkers simply followed quietly.

Whenever Lee Han’s group stopped, they stopped; when Lee Han’s group walked, so did they.

Repeated fear tends to fade with familiarity.

Lee Han began to grow curious about what kinds of actions would affect these undead berserkers.

“Could you pick up some bone shards for us, please?”

-I said don’t provoke them…

The undead mage almost yelled, but the berserkers surprisingly obliged and picked them up.

-!

“Oh…”

-We ought to run some tests.

The undead mage’s eyes lit up. He spoke to Ogoldos.

-You try asking too.

“…Please pick up some bone shards.”

At Ogoldos’s request, the berserkers just stared blankly, as if saying, “Who do you think you are to give orders?” Ogoldos shot the undead mage an embarrassed look.

-That’s…

“What is it?”

Lee Han looked to the undead mage for his insight.

-They seem to have accepted you as one of their group.

“……”

For a moment Lee Han thought he misheard.

Passing a test, winning a fight, or at least being so powerful they didn’t dare attack—there were many better explanations, but “accepted as one of their own” came out?

“How does that make any sense?”

-They are all just brawlers who banded together, so it’s not too nonsensical…

“When have I ever been a brawler?”

-They may have mistakenly thought you caused the undead explosion earlier.

Lee Han, indignant, protested.

“It was this mage who did that!”

But the undead berserkers looked on blankly as if they didn’t understand a word.

The undead mage spoke as if to say, “Give it up.”

-If they responded to words, we wouldn’t have had so much trouble. You can’t reason with them.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Suddenly lumped in as one of the group, Lee Han looked at the berserkers with a sour face.

-It’s not a bad thing, you know. If you weren’t accepted as one of them, you’d have had to fight to the death against them downstairs.

“If it’s so great, you be one of them, Mage. Go on, tell them.”

At Lee Han’s venomous words, the undead mage drew back, intimidated.

-I’m telling you, you can’t talk to those guys…

“Haa… fine. So, how much farther is it?”

The undead mage, having escaped the prison and ascended into the palace interior, had a single goal.

To check the throne deep inside the palace and find out what became of the king.

Lee Han raised no objections. After all, he needed to find the others and escape as well.

With the undead mage, who knew the palace well, reaching the inner throne, they could use the palace’s power to locate the scattered others.

‘There is no king.’

And Lee Han was certain there would be no king.

…Because he’d beaten him up!

-We’re almost there. Unbelievable. For him to be gone… Has the king really left…?

The mage muttered, tapping the wall with his staff.

The wall opened, revealing a passage. The previous route disappeared beneath the floor.

“!”

Lee Han’s expression changed.

At some point, the quality of mana in the air had shifted.

Sensing this, the undead mage spoke.

-You’re sharp. The pressure you feel is due to the powerful mana, especially as a young magician.

‘I don’t feel anything.’

Lee Han, used to overwhelming mana, felt no such pressure, but played along.

“Yes.”

-It’s the mana radiating from the king’s chamber. It’s what sustains this palace, the core. When the king sat in there, you could barely breathe.

Creak—

A huge stone door opened onto a vast audience chamber. No one was inside, and the undead mage clacked his bones in disappointment.

-Truly shocking…

Begone.

“!?”

At the voice ringing from the throne, both the undead mage and Lee Han were startled—Lee Han most of all.

The King of Ghouls whom he’d defeated before.

It was the exact same voice as that king.

‘He’s already recovered!?’

He’d known the king had been sent back to his own dimension after being driven off the continent, but for the king to have recovered so quickly…

Lee Han bowed his head deeply. Ogoldos, not understanding, looked puzzled.

-Are you the king?

That’s right. How dare you enter my audience chamber! Even the most dreadful punishment would not suffice, but I’ll let it pass this time. Leave.

“Let’s go.”

Lee Han whispered.

Thank goodness—the king didn’t seem to have recognized him.

If he left when “forgiven” was offered…

But the undead mage replied sarcastically.

-You’re not the king.

What?

-All your subordinates are gone, the flames that lit the palace are extinguished, and the prison’s walls have vanished. What king are you, with no followers, no palace, no majesty?

“Did you really have to provoke him?”

Lee Han tried to reason with the undead mage, but it was pointless.

What the beings of the undead dimension sought was the logic of strength.

It was fine for the King of Ghouls to be a tyrant so long as he had substantial power.

But in this weakened state, that same logic now worked in reverse.

How dare you, when you’re so weak now?

-You seem to be badly hurt. I don’t know how you ended up like this, but…

If you want to die, I’ll grant that wish.

-Try it.

Not only the undead mage, but the berserkers behind stepped up as well.

Their eyes had not a hint of loyalty—only a desire to test how strong the being who once stood above them really was.

And the berserkers patted Lee Han on the shoulder and pointed at the throne.

“…Wait. Don’t tell me…”

Were they asking to fight alongside him as comrades?

Lee Han wondered how to convey “I’m human and you’re undead” to them.

While he hesitated, the undead mage launched an attack.

-Come, false king! Show us your ability once more!

‘God, why are all these mages so different from how they look?’

The previously calm, rational, and cool-headed undead mage turned bloodthirsty upon seeing the King of Ghouls weakened.

It was the logic of power that only the undead understood.

Mana began to gather in the throne at the center of the huge audience hall. The King of Ghouls, forcibly absorbing the residual mana, let out a threatening roar.

Even if I’m wounded and recovering, do you think I could lose to a magician like you?

Just as the undead mage surmised, the King of Ghouls was drawing in all of the palace’s resources to heal from the terrible damage suffered on the continent.

From the flames outside to his followers, everything.

Having been sealed away for so long, then freed only to be beaten and driven away, the damage had been severe.

But he never dreamed he might lose.

With just the power recovered in this palace, he felt sure he could handle these prisoner scum.

-Poison, arise…

When the berserkers rushed forward, the King of Ghouls glanced at them with annoyance.

Those prisoner riffraff from the underground jail were causing endless trouble by crawling back up and meddling.

He’d let them be before, since they’d only attacked one another…

Now die.

Crack!

The King of Ghouls focused his shifting form and appeared in front of one berserker.

He landed a punishing blow—the berserker’s thick torso was pierced clean through.

“…!”

It was a bone-chilling attack, but neither the undead mage nor the berserkers seemed fazed—they had expected as much.

“…Spread with the mist!”

A deadly poison cloud spread around the throne. The King of Ghouls twisted his form, swiftly trying to slip out of the poisonous fog.

The berserkers chased after and attacked. The King of Ghouls nimbly twisted his body, dodging their blows.

“Burn!”

Just then, flames flew after the King of Ghouls. They weren’t large, but even the tiny flames radiated intense heat. The King of Ghouls, sensing real danger for a moment, retreated.

You…?

A strange, unpleasant sense of familiarity crept over the King of Ghouls. The enemy mage’s face was hidden by a bone mask.