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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Undead (2)
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Another week passed inside the warehouse.
"Clack clack! Clack clack clack—!"
'Aaaah—this isn't working at all—!'
The idea and method weren't wrong.
Thanks to the knack from using Avatar, after several trials and errors, I finally succeeded in moving the undead.
Flail flail—
I sat slumped over, blankly watching a zombie flopping its limbs around like it was dancing right in front of me.
Yeah, the only thing I could move was a single zombie.
The total amount of 'black mana' inside my body was ridiculously low to control multiple undead.
Even after scraping together everything except the bare minimum needed to maintain my body, the weakest zombie was my limit.
Well, elite or not, it was just a skeleton at best.
It wasn't a commander unit to begin with, and it sure as hell couldn't use magic.
Thanks to Mana Affinity, the amount gradually increased as time passed by absorbing ambient energy, but at this growth rate, it was hopeless.
'If it had been a skeleton mage, I wouldn't have to worry about this.'
I was sighing pointlessly and racking my brain for another solution when—
"Squeak—"
A now-familiar rat scurried over to where the skeletons stood and started gnawing at one's toe.
'That guy's pretty diligent... Wait, what if?'
Watching it, my eye sockets lit up as I quietly stood and slowly approached the rat, who was too busy with its teeth to notice.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The undead I could move was just one zombie.
But the zombies standing here were no help in the current situation.
So, what kind of zombie would be helpful?
"Squeak— Squeak squeak—!"
I looked down calmly at the rat wriggling between my finger bones.
Unlike what you'd expect from something that had lived carefree in a bountiful environment, it was quick on the uptake.
I thought it'd be easy to catch off guard, but it noticed me approaching and darted away, forcing me into a real ordeal.
I blocked its holes, even mobilized Sense Life, and threw myself at it with the zombie.
'When I finally smothered it with my whole body, seeing it slip through my ribs nearly broke my spirit.'
In the end, I caught it by ambushing it with the zombies in the direction it fled.
Thanks to involuntarily practicing quick switches in control targets, my undead control skills improved even further.
'Sorry. I won't forget your sacrifice. Alfred.'
I arbitrarily named the rat and stabbed a finger bone infused with 'black mana' into its lower jaw.
The sharpened tip sank deep as it became undead.
Alfred stopped struggling and went still, but I kept injecting 'black mana' without pulling out my finger.
And... its halted body began to twitch again.
I carefully set Alfred down on the floor and focused my mind, watching it circle around.
'Maybe because I infected it directly and it's small? Controlling it feels much smoother, and the connection is stable.'
Now I had a fine companion.
I'll send it out next time the door opens.
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The opportunity came soon enough.
Clank, creak—
"Ugh— so annoying. This is such a pain. Why do I have to do this every time?"
The guard entering the warehouse this time was the complainer, Zephyr.
Before he closed the door, I sent Alfred scurrying out from the entrance corner where I'd positioned it.
With his poor attention span, he didn't even notice something brushing past his feet and grumbled as usual.
"Seriously, just you wait. Later, that old geezer..."
Leaving the muttering Zephyr behind, Alfred cautiously moved into the shadows.
Controlling Alfred was different from how Zephyr controlled me.
Since it was the same undead and I'd adapted the Avatar method, the connection was strong enough for partial sensory sharing.
Not perfect like an avatar, but plenty for gathering info.
Alfred scurried around diligently, but sadly, the intel was limited.
Just a path leading to what seemed like another warehouse and a passage that looked like it led outside.
Not even certain, since...
All the doors were shut tight, impossible to check.
'Ah, close but no cigar. Well, it's a secret spot, so I couldn't expect to slip right outside past one door.'
But I had my ever-helpful ally, Zephyr.
"I'm not the kind of talent that rots away in a dump like this. Incompetents with backers strutting around..."
Sure enough, Zephyr roughly checked my warehouse and headed back to the passage.
Alfred stealthily followed from the shadows.
Zephyr kept grumbling nonstop even as he walked toward the other warehouse.
'Does that guy ever tire? Anyway, what's in that warehouse? More undead?'
Clank—
As he opened the underground warehouse door and entered, Alfred slipped in right after.
What was inside this warehouse? Even Zephyr, who never shut up, went quiet and started scanning the interior.
No, the moment we entered, I understood.
Why he acted like that.
'What is this place...?'
The warehouse was packed with undead, but their presence barely registered.
Because in the center was something radiating an overwhelming aura.
'...What the hell is that?'
Alfred, mere zombie rat, couldn't even get close to check.
Instinct screamed it.
Just approaching would mean losing everything to 'that thing.'
Hiding near the entrance, I watched Zephyr earnestly survey the inside and thought.
'That's what they want.'
Couldn't tell what they were doing amid the undead or their goal.
But when bad guys are up to something, sabotaging them first is just common sense, right?
'Might as well observe more. The 'Zephyr chance' isn't over yet.'
After checking around, he hurriedly left the warehouse.
"Phew, every time I go in there, it drains my energy. How the hell did I end up..."
Alfred followed him toward the exit.
Unlike the usual locks, this door had no ordinary mechanism.
Vmmm—
Zephyr placed his palm on it, a strange rune appeared, and the door slid open.
'Crap, can't get out without that.'
Panic short-lived, Alfred quickly followed him out.
"Oh, you're out? Good work."
"Yeah. That place sucks the life out of me every visit. When's the maturation finishing? Heard anything?"
A young man sat at a desk by the door, doing something. Another periodic visitor like Zephyr.
Probably guarding the passage entrance.
"Dunno, probably soon? Master's been checking it daily. He couldn't today 'cause of comms with the higher-ups."
"Good, wanna wrap this up and bail. 'Fragment of the Immortal King' or whatever—I'm sick of it."
"Same here. Having to check that warehouse every day."
Hidden under the desk in the shadows, Alfred eavesdropped as I mentally cheered my helpful Zephyr.
"Hey, isn't it ridiculous guarding here like this? With the door seal, building barriers, and village-wide wards—who could sneak in?"
"Gotta prepare for ifs. Can't be helped."
"Ifs my ass. No living thing could bypass these layers. Corpses, maybe."
Zephyr cackled and left, saying he was off to rest.
'That guy... seems kinda nice up close? Anyone'd think he was helping on purpose.'
Anyway, Operation 'Walls Have Ears' was a roaring success.
Deep thanks to cooperative Zephyr as Alfred quietly slipped out of the building.
Night outside made movement easier.
Alfred zipped through the darkness, mastering the village.
Most buildings shut, but leveraging his specialty, he infiltrated via rat holes.
Nothing beyond Zephyr's intel, though.
At best, about forty of them, mostly minions, not black mages.
Satisfied with the haul, en route when—
Pfshk—!
A black spike erupted from the ground, piercing Alfred.
"Hmm... Thought it was something. Just a rat pup."
Village chief—no, black mage Malcolm's voice.
'Damn, busted?'
"Undead? No black magic aura... Naturally spawned from black mana? Where'd it come from?"
As Malcolm approached, I quietly severed the link with Alfred.
'He hasn't noticed me yet. Disconnect slowly... naturally, so no anomalies.'
"Weirdly saturated with black mana. Not from magic. Exposed to so much somewhere..."
As the connection faded, I heard Malcolm pause, then sigh irritably.
"Only one place here overflows with black mana. Right—Jeraph was warehouse duty today."
Zephyr, you helped a ton—sorry!
Splurt—!
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The connection cut completely.
Alfred had been fully destroyed by Malcolm.
I held a moment of silence to honor Alfred's brilliant performance and heroic sacrifice today.
'Alfred. I'll avenge you for sure. Watch from there!'
Alfred's enemy was Malcolm. So I decreed.
Ignoring the pang of conscience, I sorted the intel gained.
'Zephyr's real name is Jeraph.'
Huh, useless info.
'They're after the 'Fragment of the Immortal King' maturing in the next warehouse, which Malcolm obsessively guards. Undead ignore the barriers.'
Didn't matter what they planned with the 'Fragment of the Immortal King'.
I just racked my brain to screw them over best I could.
'If I can shake Malcolm...'
Yeah, where there's a will, there's a way.
'Wait for it... Alfred's nemesis!'
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Jeraph was in a foul mood.
Already annoyed at warehouse duty yesterday, then chewed out by his master for negligence.
'Who could've known a rat pup would crawl out!'
Unjustly punished with solo daily warehouse duty for management failure.
Huyan's guard shift that day got similar entrance duty penalty.
'Filthy world! No backing means suffering everywhere! And one rat—what's the big deal? Damn old fart.'
Jeraph swallowed his rage inwardly, not voicing it.
Master could barge in anytime here.
Clang! Creak— Bang!
Storming in, Jeraph flung the warehouse door open irritably and charged inside.
Door shut, he scanned fiercely, not slacking like usual.
"You there! Sloppy alignment! Line up properly, you idiots!"
He snapped at the lined-up skeletons for no reason.
"What the—? What's this? Hey! Stand straight!"
He barked at a zombie leaning with a severed ankle.
It just wobbled, ignoring the order, so he rushed and kicked it.
"Oh, you think I'm a joke? Huh? Do it right! Stand straight!"
After venting awhile, Jeraph stopped kicking and looked around.
All here obeyed him absolutely.
Satisfying.
This was how the world should be.
Glancing disdainfully at the still-wobbling zombie, he moved on.
"Huh? Who's this? That cocky bastard from before?"
Spotting a familiar figure.
Jeraph snickered, prodded the still zombie's shoulder with his staff.
"Hey, say it again. What you said back then. C'mon?"
The early-20s-looking male zombie just swayed without reaction.
"Cat got your tongue? Oh right! I yanked your tongue! Heh heh heh."
Jeraph grinned twistedly.
Perfect stress relief appeared amid his buildup.
"Hoo—that was fun. Hunting villagers one by one."
Thud! Thump!
He kicked the zombie, muttering like a maniac.
"You were especially noisy. Spouting off. What was it? 'Touch my family and you're dead'?"
Grind.
A faint teeth-grinding from somewhere, but immersed Jeraph didn't hear, kept mocking.
"Heh heh heh, put extra effort into you. Watching your family wail right in front—priceless expression."
Reliving the scene while venting on the zombie.
The youth restrained by undead, tongue ripped, weeping blood tears, glaring.
Recalling that thrill, Jeraph sneered.
"But whatcha gonna do? Family you wanted to protect—gone, and you're here alone..."
Crack—!
A gruesome sound, blood sprayed.
A skull had snuck up silently, grabbed Jeraph's shoulder and head, bit his nape.
"Grrgh—! What the hell?!"
His constant mana barrier shattered from the sudden assault.
But it bought a twist, avoiding full nape tear.
Boom!
Jeraph blasted black mana everywhere, shaking off the skull on his back.
Clutching his bleeding wound, he retreated fast, eyeing the attacker.
"Skeleton? Why the sudden—?"
No time to panic.
The flung skeleton sprang up, charging again.
"Tch... Halt! Halt, I said!"
The skeleton ignored commands like it couldn't hear, lunging.
Ambushed and injured in the unexpected mess, but Jeraph was a black mage.
Saw undead, reflexively commanded—but even if failed, counters aplenty.
If only the foe was that one skeleton.
Squelch—
As he tried casting, something jammed his mouth, agony exploding in his throat.
A zombie had snuck behind, shoving hand in his mouth, biting the other nape.
No barrier, fatal strike disrupted mind, canceling spell.
Panicking, Jeraph met lifeless eyes.
The zombie he'd mocked moments ago.
Eyes vowing no mercy till death.
Mana burst wasn't spammable, front skeleton now mouth agape, inches away.
Terror filled Jeraph's eyes.