18 CHAPTER XVII: PREPARATION




 The Lord's appearance was uncanny. The power I felt from his back was so evil that even I, an undead man, was drawn to it.
 As a result, the slave Luu's expression was becoming more agitated than ever.
 He's yelling at me, but I'm just doing what Lord tells me to do and helping him with his experiments.

 On the other hand, what I was doing remained the same.
 I didn't train in combat, I just followed Lord's instructions and gathered the power of death.

 The second package I received from Huck was the same black tusk.
 I don't know what it's for, but I've done all I can do. All I can do is leave the rest to chance.

 Deadly sorcerers and the Knights of the End. Lord and Senri. Who will it be?

 No matter how it turns out, the situation will change. I can feel my spirit stirring with tension.
 Will I be able to survive in this desperate situation with such a low chance of winning?

 After the hunt is over, the Lord calls out to me in a rare moment of clarity.

"End. A ritual will be performed. Through it, you will become the strongest. The mightiest-- the King of the Dead.

"The strongest is ...... what?

 It was a question from the bottom of my heart.
 What is the strongest? If you do the ritual, will it make you stronger than the first class knights who have tremendous supernatural power? Can it overwhelm Senri and those knights of the end? Will I be able to live in peace, with no one to restrict my freedom?

 But the Lord won't answer my questions. He looks at me with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
 Of course. The words were half a soliloquy, not asking me to understand.

But that would require, at the very least, mutating into a Dark Stalker. Or it should be. You are undoubtedly the best undead I have ever dealt with, but you are too weak to be a werewolf ....... If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. It was fortunate that the last undead was you, End, at this time.

 "Lesser vampires.

 The more advanced the rank mutation, the more energy it requires and the harder it is to mutate.
 I haven't even become a Dark Stalker yet, so I have a long way to go.

 Lord says that my mutation rate is abnormal. Assuming that Lord's words are true, what a long story it would be if my longing was to create the King of the Dead.

 The Lord's voice sounded a little feverish, as if he had hardly slept at all.

"Your soul continues to fall toward the darkness. I know, "Dark Stalker", ......, you can make it. My Purgatorial Maze will not be so easily broken. End, kill, kill! Collect death with all your might! Eat the corpses and defile the souls!

"............ Yes, of course.

 My emotions are unsettled. My emotions do not waver.
 In my mind, Holos Kamen was the perfect enemy. In all ages, the rituals performed by necromancers have been known to be trivial.

"d*mn, time is running out. ...... They come in the daytime, when the undead are weak. Don't let your guard down.

I don't need to be told what to do.

All right. End, get back to the morgue!

 The Lord never fails to give orders, does he?

 Half-impressed, I obeyed the order and returned to the morgue. Lu, who had been helping Lord in the lab, looked at me, but I turned away without looking at him for long. The deal is already done.

 I still have a trump card left. I cut it off once, but Lord knows what to do with it.

 The owl is staring at me.
 The Lord said I'd make it, that I'd have a little more time. But he's wrong.

 There's no more time. Lord, we don't have time.
 I've already made my decision. He'll be ready. The only one who's not ready is Lord.


§§


 And then, two days later, at an unusual time, Lord came in bloodthirsty with countless skeleton knights.
 It was roughly the time I expected. As I understood what had happened without even hearing his voice, Lord said in a broken voice with an unfathomable anger.

"The Knights of the End, they're here. It's too early ...... for this shit! I'm not sure what to make of this. No, that's the only way I can think of. I'm just a merchant. Did you sell me out for money?

"......



 Lou was bound by command. He had a chaperone, me. It seems that even the Lord never suspected such a slave.
 His eyes gleamed with a strong will to fight.

"Fortunately, there don't seem to be any knights of the first rank. We have no choice but to repel them. There's no time to put up a ward to buy us time. The ritual is not complete. They're-- they're right under our noses. Yes, yes. Hypocrites who seek to thwart my long-cherished desire. The King of the Dead is not finished, but I will show you the secrets of necromancy.