Conquering the Academy with Just a Sashimi Knife (Novel) - Chapter 123 - King of the Dead (2)

Chapter 123 – King of the Dead (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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I suddenly asked Abel:

“By the way, when you took care of those undead earlier, you did say ‘forgive me,’ right?”

“…What, you heard that from that far away?”

Abel’s eyes widened. I answered in a flat tone.

“My hearing is pretty good.”

“If you can hear someone muttering to themselves from twenty meters away, isn’t that practically a superpower?”

In reality, I had gained senses close to a superpower thanks to the [Blessing of the Sword God] buff, but still.

This was a world overflowing with blessings and magic to begin with.

So it was a little funny hearing Abel say “superpower” in such surprise.

From my perspective as someone from Earth, the sword strike she had displayed was far more unreal.

Letting out a short sigh, Abel said:

“It’s just like a habit from long ago. My father used to say that even a single blade of grass has life dwelling in it, and the same goes even if it’s a magical beast.”

“But those things earlier were undead. They were already corpses.”

“That’s exactly why you should show them even more courtesy. Do you know why heroes hesitate to subjugate undead?”

“Because they’re humanoid magical beasts? Since it feels like killing a person?”

“Feels like killing a person… that’s half right and half wrong.”

I did not know the detailed settings for each kind of magical beast. It was not information that mattered much for subjugation anyway.

I only vaguely knew it was because they were humanoid. The magical beast encyclopedia had written it that way too.

Abel said:

“Undead were originally humans too. None of them were like that from the start.”

“…They were people? Then why are they like that now?”

“I don’t know the exact process either. But as you know too, Geom-ma, undead only appear here.”

Abel tapped the ground lightly with the tip of her shoe. Then she continued her explanation.

“Which means the problem is the place itself. People who drift in here end up becoming walking corpses somehow. I don’t know because of what, but it’s certain there’s something here.”

The hypothesis Abel put forward was quite sharp.

If what she said was true, then there was definitely something behind it, and with high probability it was Draugr. It roughly matched the effect of that bastard’s magic staff too.

I listened closely to what Abel was saying. Even a small offhand remark like this could later become a meaningful clue.

Suddenly, Abel gave a snort.

“And another thing, isn’t it ridiculous to call undead magical beasts in the first place? Just because they’re not people now, they’re ‘evil beasts’? And have you ever seen an article saying undead came out of the dungeon like other magical beasts and attacked people?”

I certainly had never heard anything like that or seen such an article.

Compared to their grotesque appearance, undead were magical beasts whose harmfulness was never really mentioned at all.

Even those mild buffaloes sometimes showed up in articles for injuring humans.

Abel knit her brows. In a tone that clearly said she did not like it, she spoke.

“In the end, living people, no, the Hero Association just assigned them a danger rating however they wanted. That’s why heroes who know the truth dislike subjugating undead. Calling dead people magical beasts, that’s completely insulting the deceased.”

At those words, I felt puzzled. No matter what, had Abel not just cut down undead? All five of them in a single exchange.

Just as I was thinking that.

“…Even so, once we’ve entered this place, subjugating undead is unavoidable. In the end, we came here because we have a purpose. Regrettably, we can’t go around avoiding them forever.”

Abel murmured that as if she had read my thoughts. At this point, it was worth genuinely suspecting that she knew mind reading.

For an instant, a look of blank dismay crossed her face. Then she shook her head and quickly regained her composure.

“Anyway, praying for their repose is the least courtesy I can offer, that’s all. A swordsman is someone who cuts down the enemies blocking the path ahead.”

Having finished what she wanted to say, Abel turned her head forward. She walked on calmly.

“……”

I quietly stared at her back for a while.

‘So she’s the type whose consideration and violence coexist….’

They said children grew up watching their parents’ backs.

Abel was becoming frighteningly similar to her grandfather.

* * *

I had guessed it from the outside already, but this dungeon had a far more enormous area than I had imagined.

“Grrrraaaaghhhrrrghhh.”

The undead showed up in tottering formation. It was so sloppy and slow that calling it an ambush would have been embarrassing.

Slicck.

Abel’s shoulder shifted. A ray of light severed the vocal cords of six undead. The heads that hit the floor crumbled weakly.

As I took in that scene, I tilted my head.

The feeling was strange.

How should I put it, were those things really charging at us with hostile intent?

The way they came toward us with both arms stretched out almost felt like they were welcoming us.

Abel seemed to have felt something similar, because the more she kept cutting them down, the darker her expression became. And her silent prayers for the corpses lasted longer than they had at the start.

‘This is a strange dungeon in many ways.’

It was not only the question of whether Draugr existed. I felt a more fundamental difference here. A sense of dissonance washed over me.

‘…It feels like we’ve gotten fairly close to the dungeon’s depths, so I should check in the middle for a status update.’

I closed my eyes. It was the meditation I had practiced while sitting in quiet contemplation with the Sword Emperor.

I emptied my mind completely and erased each sense one by one.

Condensing the sensory field before expanding it. Concentrating the nerves so a clearer image could be projected inside my head.

That process was carried out keenly and cleanly. It was the moment the results of my meditation training revealed themselves.

Back then, I had thought it was a useless act that only wore down my joints….

I felt my five senses sharpen like an awl. But stopping here was not enough. I had to radiate my senses over a far wider range.

I pulled them up to the limit with the [Blessing of the Sword God]. Then I scattered that sensing ability in every direction at once with the [Blessing of Transference].

Wooooong.

My eyes were closed. Yet I was surveying this entire area. My endlessly expanded field of view swept through every corner of the dungeon.

How many undead lurked ahead, which direction we had to turn at the fork, where Draugr might be sleeping.

All of that information was projected vividly into my mind.

Like a bat finding its way through a cave with ultrasound. The waves bounced off the walls and ceiling and returned to become my compass.

That was how I used the [Blessing of the Sword God] as a catalyst to inspect roughly thirty percent of the dungeon’s geography.

At this point, I was starting to wonder whether we even needed a map anymore. I was a human GPS.

Of course, there was also a physical burden, so using it without restraint was impossible. If I estimated it, the maximum was probably around twice a day.

It was then.

‘…What’s that?’

One eyebrow twitched beneath my closed eyes. About fifty meters ahead, a single figure was waving a hand this way.

At first I thought it was an undead. In a place with no sign of life at all, there was no way there would be a living human besides us. And there was no way some thug bastards would settle down in a place like this either.

I drew out my sashimi knife. Then I said to Abel and Shail:

“I think there’s something like a person ahead.”

“…A person in a place like this?”

Without a word, I nodded. The presence was drawing closer and closer. It was not a situation where I had the leisure to add explanations.

The two of them seemed to understand too, because they shut their mouths tight. They silently drew their weapons as well.

…Step, st… ep.

The footsteps were unstable. It was a cold sound with no flow of life to it. But it was different from the other undead.

I did not rush out recklessly. We were depending on nothing more than a small hand light. I could not run at an unknown opponent like a moth into a flame.

Steee… p.

At last, the creaking sound stopped ten meters ahead.

As if she had been waiting for it, Shail shone her flashlight forward. Our field of vision immediately cleared brightly.

“Zig…!?”

“Wh-What… is that?”

Our pupils, which had shrunk after adjusting to the dark, widened at once. Confusion passed across our faces too.

“Ughrrraaarghhh….”

Some undead(?) was covering its face with both hands to block the light.

It looked back at us while its legs trembled like a frightened person.

Abel could not bring herself to swing her sword at once. She asked back in a mutter:

“It’s… undead, right?”

“I think it’s a little different, milady.”

Just as Shail said, there was a difference compared to the ones we had seen so far. Maybe its condition was relatively good.

For an undead, even its joint placement was fairly normal. There was a decent amount of flesh still attached to its bones too, so at a glance it looked almost human.

However, the lower half of its face was especially badly decayed. Its tongue drooped like a purple rag, and its jawbone was hanging on by a thread.

‘Well, that much is nothing compared to the other undead that were almost bare skeletons….’

As our gazes moved back and forth between the three of us, the undead groaned again.

“Uranglaaaarghrk.”

I scratched my head with the butt of my hilt. The undead’s shoulders lurched violently.

Was that not a gesture of panicking in advance? Even if I merely moved my hand, it hurriedly stretched both arms out farther. It was clearly showing an intention not to resist.

I asked Abel and Shail:

“It looks like some sense of self is still left. What do you two think?”

“…Uh, judging by how it’s reacting.”

Abel looked extremely flustered. She had been cutting down everything that popped out up until now.

Then suddenly an undead that acted like a person appeared. Abel’s mind was probably nothing but confusion right now.

Instead of the hesitant Abel, Shail spoke first.

“It might be a magical beast with intelligence pretending to be undead. I think subjugating it here would be correct.”

“Urrraaarghghh…!”

The undead waved its hands frantically. It seemed to have something it wanted to say, but its jaw was completely ruined, so it could not protest.

I stared fixedly at the undead for a moment while thinking.

At a glance, the thing in front of us did not look dangerous at all.

Of course, like Shail said, there was a possibility that it was concealing a dagger.

However, if that was not the case, the story changed.

An undead with intelligence left. If things went well, could it not serve as a guide through this filthy enormous Undead Dungeon?

If so, then it was unquestionably a necessary existence for me. I had looked around with my blessing, but if there were a guide, we could reduce wasted time.

And if we got lucky, we might even obtain information about Draugr.

‘…But with its jaw like that, I do wonder whether it can properly act as a guide.’

After staring at the undead for quite a while, I said:

“Let’s spare it.”

“…Even so, it could still become a danger.”

“What Miss Shail says has a point too. But honestly, it doesn’t look like it can harm us. And I’m not saying we should just let it live for nothing.”

At my words, both Abel’s and the undead’s eyes widened. Abel looked pretty, while the undead looked disgusting.

Anyway.

“It seems to have intelligence, so I thought maybe it could guide us. We were starting to get tired of walking, and it felt like we were just circling around one place anyway.”

“…If that’s possible, it would certainly shorten the time. But still….”

Shail suddenly cast a sidelong glance at the undead. It was still shivering coldly like a puppy soaked in rain.

Its ashen pupils were staring fixedly only at the steel poker in Shail’s hand.

“……”

At that, Shail let out a sigh and said:

“Understood for now. What about you, milady? Do you agree with what Lord Geom-ma said? If you dislike it, please say so. I’ll deal with it immediately.”

“N-No, it’s not that. I was just flustered because I’ve never seen an intelligent undead before.”

Abel steadied her breathing. Then, wearing a bitter expression, she shook her head.

“That one was originally a person too, wasn’t he? I don’t want to use unnecessary force.”

“Yes, if that is milady’s wish.”

Having finished speaking with Abel, Shail observed the undead carefully, then addressed me.

“However, Lord Geom-ma. That undead doesn’t look capable of speaking at all…. And as the saying goes, I think communication is important for a guide….”

“Ah, that’s fine.”

“…Pardon?”

Turning my back on the two of them, I approached the undead up close. The sound of its trembling bones was loud.

The undead only raised its eyes slightly to look up at me. To it, I said calmly:

“Bear with it even if it stings.”

“?”

With a flick of my hand, I stripped off the scabbard.

At the same time the blade released light.

[By displaying righteous chivalry, the rank of your spirit rises.]

Crunch!

“Ack!”

Just like that, the hilt smashed into its dangling jaw.

[The Blessing of Regeneration manifests.]