The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

Almost there. I follow the presence and proceed cautiously.

It was a lot of work to advance through the gloomy labyrinth while avoiding the assailants. Even more so, when I had to do it while enduring the pain from Sable’s curse that’s been tormenting my whole body.

I somehow managed to keep my consciousness that was on the verge of disorganizing from the pain. The labyrinth was really vast, with many hidden traps. What makes this underground labyrinth actually kind of difficult is that it’s 3-dimensional instead of 2-dimensional. There are secret openings and narrow passages here and there on the high ceiling and the assailants are also attacking from there. On the contrary, there’s also a chance that at the end of those passages is what we’re looking for. If I didn’t have the ability to detect the Night Crystal, I wouldn’t be sure if there even was a goal.

The castle of the Mirage King was on top of a steep cliff. It would be hard to create a vast labyrinth in its basement unless you used the legendary space distorting magic. The multi-layered underground labyrinth must’ve been the solution for that. It’s not very convenient but Golems won’t complain and well, ordinary undead wouldn’t grumble about it either.

But, it’s the identity of this ‘enemy’ I’m curious about. There’s no way the defense mechanism from when Mirage King was alive would still be in place. As expected, too much time has passed and we should think that we fell for a trap.

If you think it about it logically, It’s the Mayor of Dessend, the person who hired Mister Lazar’s group and revealed the existence of this place to Senri, who’s the most suspicious. However, as I also felt earlier, this trap and the underground labyrinth aren’t something a human could make.

Senri was silent for a while after my question and said quietly.

“The undead created by Necromancers ―― generally can’t use magic.” “Eh…? But I can use it though? Besides, vampires do have mana.” I only learnt small magic that could be used in everyday life myself, but it’s still magic. Besides, if I remember right, vampires are strong against curses and combat magic because of the enormous amount of mana within them. Senri answered my question quietly.

“They only just have it. It might be the source of their resistance and powerful physical abilities, but it can’t be transformed into the phenomena of magic. You are ―― special.”

“… I see. For safety, huh?”

Necromancers are cautious. And the advantage the masters have over the undead with strong physical abilities and immortality is magic.

I did think that it was strange. The definition of the ‘King of the Dead’ is a Necromancer that evolved into a special undead. Then, what exactly does that ‘special’ mean?

Why isn’t a powerful undead who grew through continuously evolving called ‘the King of the Dead’?

At first, I thought it referred to the undead who had special curses like ‘Curse Steal’. But that probably isn’t the only condition. If that was enough, there would be more ‘Kings of the Dead’.

The answer to that is ―― necromancy. When we first met, Sable saw me use necromancy and her expression changed.

I’m sure ‘the special undead’ are the undead that can use necromancy. And I’m also pretty positive that ordinary undead can’t acquire necromancy later in life.

Vampires are already resistant towards necromancy. There’s no way of knowing how long the authority of absolute orders will work on them. If vampires, who have all the time in the world acquire magic, they would also be able to take off the shackles that had been put on them. There’s no way their masters would allow that.

“Yes. Intelligent undead might bite at their masters, so ‘Necromancers’ limit their ability to learn magic.”

I don’t have those kinds of shackles probably because the Lord intended to use my body. With all kinds of fortunes overlapping, I’m here right now.

I cut off the arrow released by the Golem with a clear sound. In the darkness, the poisoned arrow rolls on the ground. Senri says with a serious voice.

“That’s only released for ―― the most trusted retainers.”

I’ve already lost count of how many Golems I’ve destroyed. Golems that attack in the darkness are neither strong nor weak. But that’s only from my perspective. If these Golems teamed up and attacked the town, a small town wouldn’t be able to deal with them. I’m not knowledgeable about the Golems, but they would have to be quite a powerful spellcaster to create this many Golems and control them. “In other words… it’s a troublesome enemy, huh.”

“The longer they live, the stronger and smarter the undead become.”

I don’t like this. I don’t particularly hate fighting. It’s because it makes me feel alive. However, I like fights that I can win and I’d like to avoid mortal combats like what I’ve had until now as much as possible. If my opponent is both smart and strong, it’d be different from the enemies I’ve fought until now. I have Senri with me this time, but the enemy is taking countermeasures against Death Knights, so thinking about the worst case scenario, I might’ve been more relieved if she wasn’t here.

I wonder if even undead can learn healing magic. As I was silently pondering, Senri added.

“You’re already smart and troublesome enough though, End.”

“…”

I want to drink blood. Despite my looks, I’m walking while enduring the pain. Even I’m surprised at the fact that I can move this well. I feel like patting my own back.

It doesn’t matter who the enemy is. I try and say it with a cheerful voice.

“Let’s resolve this quickly and go back to the inn so I can get blood.”

This is my driving force. I glanced at Senri’s face and saw her sigh slightly.

This means it’s A-OK. I’m suddenly more motivated. It’s self-interested and when I’m like this, even pain becomes somewhat enjoyable.

I slightly straighten my spine and walk faster.

Anyway, this is a really intricate labyrinth. No matter how wide it is, there should be a limit, but I can’t seem to reach the Night Crystal that’s supposed to be right around the corner. If the presence was behind the wall, I would destroy the wall to advance, but that’s not the case either. Just how wide is this place?

I’m still fine because I love miasma, but it would be a heavy burden for the Senri, a human, to stay at this place with hardly any oxygen for long.

I stop. Senri, who was following behind me while being cautious of the back, also stopped without bumping into me.

And I strongly slam ‘Blood Ruler’ against the floor. I close my eyes. I ignore the pain and feel the sound, vibrations, the impact and the tremors in the air.

My sense of smell is the best out of my five senses because I ate Albertus, but it’s not like my other senses are dull. It’s a hastily learned trick, but it has a high physical performance, so it’ll work out somehow even if I do it casually.

The information rushes into my brain that’s writhing in pain. And I open my eyes.

“… How strange. This Labyrinth doesn’t seem… that wide.”

I roughly know its structure. The paths are certainly complicated but it’s not wide enough to walk around for so many hours. No ―― to start with, it’s absolutely strange that we can’t reach the Night Crystal.

As I frowned, I heard a gruff voice in my mind.

“The Labyrinth of Deterrance. There seems to be something… something they really want to hide.”

It’s the Lord’s voice. The Lord inside of me is speaking to me. The Labyrinth of Deterrance. The barrier of confusion. It’s the magic the Lord used to conceal his base.

If I remember right, its effect was to ―― make the intruders lose their way unless they had guidance. Hmm… in other words, we were made to walk in circles?

I was drawing the map inside my brain while enduring the pain. I was confident that I wouldn’t get lost, but if there’s magic involved, it’s all over. The Lord is useful sometimes.

“It’s no use, Senri. Looks like it’s the Labyrinth of Deterrance… and it had a barrier of confusion.”

“!! I see… We need to either break the origin of the spell or find a guide.”

‘It is foolish to destroy the source of the barrier underground. It will collapse.’

“It’s foolish to destroy the source of the barrier underground. It’ll collapse.

”Foolish… I see.”

Senri’s excitement slightly fell compared to before. I’m not the one who said it. It was the Lord. But I also think that it’s foolish… I mean, if the basement collapsed, I’d be fine but Senri would die and if I was the spell caster, I’d prepare a trap to bury others alive if the source of the barrier was destroyed.

‘Stop following the presence for the time being. Check the surroundings, End.’

Looks like the Lord has something on his mind. Did the Lord, who always only appeared when I was in trouble and disappeared after saying something useless, have a change of heart? Since I didn’t have any hints, I checked the surroundings as instructed by the Lord inside my mind. Perhaps noticing that my demeanor changed, Senri silently went along with me.

I open the door, climb the ceiling and check the stairs leading further back. There are Golems and traps everywhere. But as I thought, I’m encountering Golems the most when I’m getting closer to the Night Crystal. I’m sure I’d reach it easily if not for the barrier.

After a few dozen minutes of investigation, around the time when I was getting bored despite bracing myself, the Lord in my brain spoke up.

‘Hmm… I see. As expected from the ‘King of the Dead’, it is complex.’

“Hmm… I see. As expected from the ‘King of the Dead’, it’s complex.”

“… Did you find out something?”

Looks like The Lord in my brain sensed something that the clever Senri can’t understand. The only thing I understood is the fact that it must’ve been very difficult to create this big underground labyrinth. As I blinked and waited for the next line, the Lord said with a somewhat amused voice.

‘Fool. Just what have you been looking at? Have you not noticed? ―― this underground labyrinth itself is a ‘three-dimensional magic circle’ for rituals.’