Hero's Coffin Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Somehow, they hadn't given him any hints when gathering information about the missing persons earlier while he stood idle. Perhaps it was all for this moment. He swallowed a sigh internally.

From the moment Harenir had taken him out of prison, he had said he needed the souls that Isaph commanded.

"What do I need to do with the summoned undead?"

"I'd like you to survey the 'paths' of the Encroachment Zone as much as possible. Living beings start to become contaminated the moment they enter the Encroachment Zone, so if we scout the paths with souls in advance, it will be easier to move around inside."

Ah, so that's why they need a necromancer who could control souls by the dozens or hundreds. It would be difficult to survey the vast Encroachment Zone with just one or two, and he also intuitively guessed that even undead probably couldn't wander around for long periods in such a space.

So they had to survey the interior of the Encroachment Zone at once, and within a short time. He was essentially playing the role of a shortest route finder.

"If you sense any areas where the contaminated energy feels particularly strong while surveying the space with souls, tell me. It will probably be energy emanating from stones about the size of Kalterik's body, and there should be several of them."

Harenir was finally giving him an explanation, but aside from the fact that the content was not at all welcome, he suddenly felt puzzled. The description of the stones was quite detailed.

"Have you been inside the Encroachment Zone before?"

"Yes. When I was young."

"I guess even heroes played in dangerous places when they were young..."

As he spoke indifferently, Harenir hesitated for a moment before simply smiling. And somehow, there was a bigger reaction from the others rather than from him.

"You...!"

"How dare...!"

Kalterik and Noi suddenly flared up and glared at him, and Mela's eyes also turned cold. Her navy blue eyes stared at him coolly like the deep sea. He had a terrible feeling that he had touched on something wrong, but Harenir's instructions continued calmly.

"Anyway, though the chances seem low, if you happen to sense any trace of the missing persons, identify their locations too."

While he was giving instructions to him, it was also firmly suppressing the actions of the others. It seemed less like he was helping him and more like he was trying to prevent unnecessary commotion.

He nodded dazedly and asked,

"So I just need to survey the paths and draw them on a map?"

"You'll have to guide us from the front, won't you? How else could we trust that the map isn't false?"

"..."

That's true... If he were to deceive them about the paths with the intention of tricking this group, they would wander endlessly inside the Encroachment Zone and become contaminated. It was an aspect he hadn't considered, but it was such a valid point that he didn't even feel wronged. By now, he found himself agreeing along with that matter-of-fact voice.

Well, then it seems I should summon the undead now...

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Look down at your shadow.

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A blue window popped up in front of his eyes as if it had been waiting. Hah, although he really didn't want to do it, anticipating side effects, summoning the undead was a condition of the contract. Forcing himself to calm down, he followed the status window's instructions.

The moment he lowered his head to look at the shadow at his feet, his vision swayed—woozy. Once again, a strange sensation of losing control of his body welled up like nausea. However, now the sight of the shadow at his feet vibrating grotesquely was even more shocking.

The pitch-black shadow trembled, and finally, like vomiting a sticky liquid, it expanded in all directions. It happened in an instant. The shadow grew endlessly, and before he knew it, he was reaching his hand down. As a deep purple energy poured from his palm—

[Uuugh...]

[Ah... ah...]

Dozens of souls rose up. Their appearance was very much like zombies rising from graves. Heads suddenly shot up, and some crawled up while grasping the ground. There seemed to be about thirty of these translucent souls.

While this scene was incredibly shocking to see for the first time, it was also a bit disappointing. If he was going to summon undead, he had hoped they would appear like cool subordinates, but the souls standing before him now looked too ordinary. They were creepy with holes and smudges here and there, but overall they looked like very common villagers...

"You, trash of a bastard!"

"How could you bring out the victims of the Klam Massacre..."

What did they say?

Kalterik and Noi looked at him in shock. Klam village. The place where Isaph had tortured and killed all the villagers to obtain aggressive undead. He had heard that after committing that massacre, Isaph was arrested and imprisoned... Fuck. This wasn't what he had wanted either.

Noi muttered, trembling, that he hadn't known it would be this bad, Mela looked at him with even colder eyes, and Kalterik tried to rush at him with vicious curses. Harenir stretched out his arm to stop him, but there was clear disgust in the blue eyes that looked at him.

"I had no expectations of you, but this is surprisingly shocking."

He had no words to say, as he deserved all kinds of curses. Fully agreeing with their feelings, he wanted to join them in cursing Isaph, but unfortunately, he was inside Isaph's body.

Isaph was said to control undead by the hundreds, so why had he only summoned thirty now, and why these particular ones? Perhaps this was also an effect of becoming weaker. He felt frustrated, wishing he could read a skill description or something, but there was nothing like that.

Thud.

At that moment, the black cat approached and lightly pressed against his leg. Was it trying to be affectionate, or what? The NPC's approach was entirely unwelcome in the current situation, so he subtly moved to the side.

Whoosh— Just then, all the souls flew towards the forest together. His movement must have looked as if he had cleared the way for them. Like trash who just commanded undead without caring about the angry gazes from the Order members.

Unable to explain the situation, he finally resigned himself and decided to maintain a brazen face. He vaguely speculated that the reason the flying souls looked smudged might be due to the torture they had endured.

Whooosh—

A chilly wind blew from the Encroachment Zone. The gray forest trembled as if rejecting the external energy. A chilling sound rang out as if trying to drive away the undead, but the souls enveloped in purple energy smoothly penetrated the gaps.

Even though they were far from the Encroachment Zone, a creeping chill spread, causing the holy knights to warily watch the forest, while Noi, seeming distressed, took out a translucent mask from his bag and put it on. The mask that stuck closely to the lower part of his face seemed to function as a gas mask.

There was no time to be glad that their gazes had left him. Right now, he was suffering from a truly bizarre sensation.

"Ugh..."

Dozens of viewpoints were being shared with him. He had expected the undead to scout the Encroachment Zone and return to report the information to him, but that wasn't the case. The scenes they were seeing unfolded directly before his eyes.

It was like watching dozens of CCTV feeds simultaneously, or sometimes all those scenes overlapped. The scenery in his vision changed depending on how much he concentrated. Extreme motion sickness and a headache hit him at the same time.

He couldn't tell if seconds or minutes had passed. While he was suffering from the flood of information, the souls returned to his side and even knelt down, looking up at him. It was as if they were serving their master with utmost devotion. Was it because they had been subjugated by necromancy? Whatever the reason, keeping them summoned was burdensome, so he casually waved his hand, and they faded away.

This gesture of dismissing such troublesome beings must have seemed quite shocking, as Kalterik ground out a curse.

"You bastard, really...!"

"It was your superior who brought me out knowing all this."

Anger welled up suddenly. He was struggling to organize the information flooding his mind, so why the provocation? It was Harenir who had dragged him out of prison and requested 'cooperation' despite knowing about the Klam Massacre incident and that he was a necromancer reviled in the Holy Empire.

As he glared at Kalterik while panting, Noi unexpectedly flinched. Kalterik, seeming even more enraged, shouted "What?!" but this time Mela stopped him. Glances were exchanged, silently telling him not to cause unnecessary commotion since the commander was staying calm.

Harenir quietly looked at him and asked.

"...So, did you survey the Encroachment Zone? What about the missing persons?"

His blue eyes were infinitely calm. A gaze as if looking at a necessary evil. After all, summoning dozens of souls, sending them into the forest, and then having them return to his side had essentially proven his ability.

Somehow, a sneer escaped him. It was amusing that even 'the' Harenir had to wait for his answer in this situation. How ironic that the necromancy they so condemned was the only way to survey the Encroachment Zone.

Deliberately taking a deep breath, he answered leisurely. Even though Harenir knew he was putting on airs, he didn't rush him and waited, which somewhat improved his mood.

"There are five stones in total. As for the missing persons, well, I don't think I saw any movement of living beings."

"Are you sure you checked properly?"

"If you can't trust me, why don't you go in and check for yourself."