Hero's Coffin Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Oh, so that's why Noi had come along into the Encroachment Zone. He was a hidden talent. Seeing trees with intact colors in the black and white forest was so welcome that his tension even dissipated completely.

While he was marveling, the knights moved quickly. The core was where the Dium had just fled from, that is, the place where it had appeared leading the other Diums. They probably couldn't hide it far away due to the rush.

However, the path to the core wasn't easy either.

[Kiiiieek!]

There were a few Diums that had nimbly avoided the rising tree trunks. They rushed at Mela and Kalterik, blocking access to the core, while meanwhile, the Diums inside the tree prison were frantically tearing at the trunks.

It was natural for new sprouts barely emerging from lifeless soil to be fragile. Under the Diums' tremendous grip strength, the trunks broke one by one, and while the larger Diums couldn't escape through the gaps, the zombies were trying to squeeze through and escape.

"Ugh, urk...!"

Noi barely managed to add more energy to pull out more trunks. He reinforced the prison with new trunks, but even that seemed to be gradually overwhelming him. The Encroachment Zone was a space where living beings became contaminated. The tree trunks Noi had raised gradually lost their color, and as the trees' vitality was drained, it seemed to take a toll on Noi as well.

Though he tried to endure stubbornly while sweating profusely, Noi's concentration finally wavered. Taking advantage of this gap, some zombies escaped, and they immediately charged at Kalterik. He, who had gotten closest to the core, flinched and stepped back. His face turned pale, having almost cut down a zombie.

Perhaps he wanted to return at least the intact bodies to their families.

"..."

He watched the scene blankly. In terms of attack power, the zombies were much weaker than the Diums, but the knights struggled more in front of the zombies. Flinging the zombies far away seemed to be the best solution they had come up with.

They could just cut them down.

...At this point, it would be standard to criticize the foolish behavior of these game data fragments. To sneer at their inefficiency, to click one's tongue at their frustrating display, saying that both the zombies and knights were just the same data. Whether it's a holy knight's oath or personal sentiment, the factors holding them back shouldn't mean anything to a game player.

But was it because the game was unfriendly? Because the UI was terrible, because it was a terrible game that didn't provide the player with any of the functions games typically offer.

And yet, it made all these scenes as vivid as reality.

Crack-crack-crack!

All of Noi's tree trunks broke. In the end, as they became contaminated and rotted, the Diums tore them apart. Dozens of Diums and zombies rushed towards the two knights. The vibration of the ground shaking as they charged was unnecessarily clear.

Fucking terrible game.

He stretched out his hand and recited the words that appeared in the status window before him. When the blue window popped up, he was probably sneering. The target of that sneer was not the foolish believers, but himself.

"Block."

Dozens of undead rose from the ground. Even though it was a land where sunlight didn't reach, a dark purple shadow spread from under his robe, instantly expanding its area, and then, as purple energy burst out explosively under his hand, the undead were summoned all at once.

They immediately obeyed the command. Whoosh! The swiftly flying undead clung to the zombies. It was quite a bizarre scene. While they all looked like ordinary villagers, half had lost their color, and half had become translucent, engaging in a fierce melee.

It would be nice if he could summon strong undead to hunt even the Diums, and he had secretly dreamed of such cool scenes ever since hearing the necromancer profession...

"Urgh."

Sadly, this was his limit. The shock from using the skill hit him much harder than the previous two times. Dizziness struck, and he staggered and fell. He barely avoided falling face-first onto the ground by leaning against a nearby rock.

He heard Noi calling his name like a scream, and he answered wearily, "I know..." while continuing to stretch out his hand. The summoning of the undead didn't stop.

"...Must... do it...!"

"..."

He heard the knights shouting something from afar. His head was buzzing so he couldn't understand properly, but it seemed they had assessed the situation and concluded to move quickly together. With the zombie obstacles gone, the two picked up speed in their advance.

Bang! Boom! There was no hesitation in the swords swung at the Diums. As he struggled to watch, his vision kept flickering. Why was using the skill more burdensome than other times? Was it the effect of staying in the Encroachment Zone for too long? How much time had passed? It seemed well over an hour, so he was reaching his limit...

He pressed hard between his eyebrows. Just as he was thinking that everything would somehow work out if they could just destroy the last core.

[A living human, I see.]

Just as he felt the chilling words of a being that had approached without even the sound of footsteps settling near his ear, suddenly his body toppled sideways. The cat had suddenly flown at him and pushed him.

Simultaneously, crash! The rock he had been leaning against shattered into pieces.

"Gasp..."

Goosebumps ran all over him. If the cat hadn't pushed him, he would have ended up just like that rock. After breathing roughly, he managed to shift his gaze. As he looked at the being that had destroyed the rock, his vision kept shaking. Was it an aftereffect of the skill, or was it instinctive terror?

A Dium with two horns stood before him.

It looked somewhat different from the Diums he had seen earlier. It was twice as large, its armor was more intricate, and it even wore a helmet, but the horns protruding from both ends of its forehead looked terribly sharp. Perhaps this Dium was the leader of this Encroachment Zone. Moreover, hadn't it just 'spoken'?

"T-two of them..."

Noi's entire body trembled violently. For the first time, he read fear on that face. Recalling how he hadn't been afraid even when the horde of Diums appeared earlier, he could tell how dangerous the current situation was. Kalterik and Mela were nowhere to be seen, having gone to find the core.

The helmeted Dium looked back and forth between him and Noi.

[I thought fairies had gone extinct in this land long ago... Hmm, one of the few remaining descendants?]

In any creative work, when monsters, demons, ghosts, etc. can 'think', the difficulty of dealing with them increases sharply. It's tricky to face beings with intelligence. As the Dium stared, Noi's complexion turned pale as if terrified.

Would it kill the fairy it was interested in first? What should he do, among the souls he could summon, there didn't seem to be any undead that could stop this Dium...

[Your sorcery is the most irritating right now, so I'll have to eliminate you first.]

Ah, it's me first?

He blankly marveled at the Dium's gaze turning towards him. Well, it would be a waste to kill a rare fairy. Wouldn't it be worth keeping alive, either as an experimental subject or a collectible? Was it because all his concentration was focused on maintaining the summoning of the undead even at this moment that he felt no sense of reality about his own situation?

I see. 'Death' was listed as the quest failure penalty, but he could die even just while progressing the quest... No, is that the same thing? If I can't stop this Dium, that would be quest failure.

While making such idle judgments, he looked up curiously at the approaching Dium, and subconsciously thought it was unnecessary trouble as Noi came running, screaming from afar.

Crack- The moment the Dium's 'mouth' opened, he froze. Its entire black face split open like a Venus flytrap, revealing sharp teeth. Ugh, damn. It's not a mouth, but the whole face opening up. Why does the last thing I see have to be such a disgusting sight...!

Whoosh—

At that moment, a golden energy rushed in like a flood, filling his vision. It boasted a vivid presence like a wave soaking dry land, or sunlight falling on a dark, treacherous place. Though he had seen the holy power used by the two knights earlier, the owner of this light, so distinctly different, was clear.

"I'm late."

Harenir. He rolled that name in his mouth before finally swallowing it.

By the time the brilliant light faded, the scene before his eyes had changed. Harenir was standing right in front of him, and somehow the Dium had been flung away and crashed into a tree. He thought he might have vaguely heard a thud just before.

[Cough...]

The Dium, its upper body deeply slashed, coughed up black blood. But Harenir's pure white sword had no foreign substance on it. Though it seemed that something black had splattered for an instant, it disappeared as if burning away in the sunlight with a sizzle. Was this what they called a holy sword?

Then Harenir turned to look at him with a strange expression. As if he had grasped the entire situation just by glancing around lightly, he moved his lips a couple of times before speaking.

"...Good work."

"Yeah. I worked hard."

Though it was probably just a courtesy, he didn't reject it. He quickly nodded, welcoming Harenir's praise this time. With the quest failure penalty having come so close, he strongly emphasized that he had cooperated, feeling even more desperate for a reward.

Even if he died, if he died after helping the hero, couldn't it be judged as a quest success?