NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24
Hahoe Mask (2)
Heinz II was traveling smoothly with his siblings.
He concealed his energy and rarely showed himself, hiring mercenaries with the overflowing money for guidance and protection.
Grr… monster…
Of course, some of them transformed into thieves along the way.
It was an inevitable situation in such a world.
Tsk, I’ve lost my appetite.
I pulled my mouth away from the last mercenary’s neck and threw the scrawny corpse aside.
There were already many corpses that looked the same piled up there.
I wiped the blood from my mouth, adjusted my clothes, and turned my body to step out of the bushes.
“Ah! Mister! Are you done?”
“Yeah, let’s take off now.”
I helped the siblings into the carriage and sat on the driver’s seat to steer the horses.
After learning from Walter, the first driver I hired, I could now steer fairly well on my own.
It was the result of practicing whenever I had some free time.
‘The mercenaries I hired this time were trash. It can’t be helped since the security is a mess.’
Even those who seemed fine could turn into thieves the moment we left the city.
It was rather lucky that nothing had happened so far.
‘Still, thanks to that, I could drink blood after a long time. I could hold out longer, but since power restrictions arise, it’s better to feed on blood whenever I have the chance.’
Especially with those who regularly kill their clients for loot, there was no need to show mercy.
‘For now, we’re still moving east, but… I can’t keep doing this forever. I should start thinking about what to do soon.’
Since we were on the outskirts of the continent’s westernmost end, I could travel undetected for now, but who knows what might happen next.
Lost in thought while driving, I glanced back.
Just a moment ago, from the bushes I was in.
A black shadow flickered.
*
Hmm, the quality of the drained corpses is significantly lower.
It must be because the energy that would have transformed them into Undead was also siphoned off.
Hans looked at the four skeletons in front of him before stowing them away into the spatial dimension and turning away.
They were low-tier, but better than nothing.
With some time bought after coming to this world, I should explore the arcane secrets in a quiet place.
I didn’t need to eat or sleep.
I didn’t require any metabolism either, so I could dedicate all my time entirely to researching magic.
I floated my body and headed deep into the forest.
To be honest, the Forest of Monsters, where I first encountered the dark magicians, might have been a better choice for a secluded place.
But that place…
I might run into vampires or dark magicians there. It would be quieter to hide in some unnamed mountain far away and conduct my research more peacefully.
I selected a cave located deep within and made my home there.
I politely requested permission from the residents who were already living there, but they sat there saying “screw off,” so I had no choice but to turn them all into Undead.
After being reborn as Undead, I made the goblins clean the cave interior, including their own puddles of urine.
Even if they had no sense of smell, feeling clean was still nice.
I should set up a barrier. While I always keep a concealment spell active, it’s better to be more thorough.
With the concealment barrier hiding my dark magic and all newly acquired knowledge combined, I meticulously hid my hideout.
I wouldn’t be around for long, but those vampires would be gnashing their teeth at Hans.
With Truebloods around, there was a chance they could track me down using means I was unaware of.
…Done. This should be enough.
I carefully set up barriers around external detection, dark magic concealment, illusions, cognitive disruption, perception distortion, and disorientation.
With that level of security, nothing of a reasonable caliber should even come close.
I sat in the middle of the cave and focused.
‘Shall I start with analyzing magic first?’
Thus, the serious research commenced.
*
Azhantu.
Not long ago, it was a city that belonged to the vampire clan of Brokoslac, but now it was occupied by the Holy Church Order.
However, the Order could not directly occupy territories of other kingdoms.
They requested the Talia Kingdom to station troops and proceeded with the investigation with their cooperation.
During that process, the city’s leadership, which had been bewitched by the vampires, was arrested one after another.
Of course, the organizations in the back alleys were no exception.
Clank, clank
A Knight in pure white armor passed through the corridors and headed to the basement.
It was a place where traces of battles remained everywhere.
“Archbishop Latinus.”
Upon arriving in the basement, the knight quietly addressed the middle-aged man standing inside.
“You’ve come, Sir Tuskin. How goes the work?”
“Yes, we are now in the final stage of rooting out the remnants of the vampires. The kingdom’s soldiers have been quite helpful.”
An unexpected confrontation with the vampire clan.
They succeeded in killing most of the vampires through the siege, but they suffered significant losses as well, letting some Truebloods slip through their fingers.
Later, while investigating the traces, they discovered that those remnants were not allied with the Undead King, but vampires were undeniably evil, so it didn’t make a difference.
But the problem lay in their intentions.
“Our goal is to prevent the resurrection of the Undead King. Though I couldn’t turn a blind eye when faced with evil right before my eyes, it’s time to move again. He must be regaining power as we speak.”
Originally, they were a unit formed to stop the Undead King.
While tracing his movements and investigating Azhantu, they discovered traces of the vampires and began rooting them out alongside the kingdom’s troops, yet they could not afford to spend time on this forever.
“Of course. But right now, we have no idea where he has disappeared to. We have no choice but to wait until the Saint contacts us again.”
With the sudden cessation of all traces, they had to wait in this place.
Of course, that didn’t mean they were only dealing with the remains of vampires.
“Nevertheless, fortunately, we’ve had some results so far. The traces of his activities started from a small village in the western Forest of Monsters and all the way to the events that took place in this city.”
Latinus focused on using the Holy Law to read the memories left on the land, where the traces of the creature lingered.
As time passed, and under the influence of magic, the memories had become fragmented and blurred, making it impossible to grasp perfectly.
However, he could confirm some elements for sure.
‘My name is Hans.’
‘Remember it. I am Hans of the Oath of Reversal!’
A bizarre figure wearing a mask, exuding ominous energy from all over his body.
His haunting voice echoed as though emanating from Hell.
A master of Undeads, casting dark magic with authority.
The Undead King’s descendant, Hans.
‘You won’t have it your way. Hans! I swear, even if it means sacrificing myself, I will stop you!’
Archbishop Latinus clenched his fist, vowing.
Voom—
At that moment, the holy insignia hanging around his neck vibrated.
“What is this…? Sir Tuskin, pardon me for a moment.”
“Don’t worry, Archbishop.”
As Tuskin gripped the hilt of his sword and began to be on guard, he immediately knelt right there and held the holy insignia with both hands, closing his eyes to pray.
[Archbishop Latinus! Can you hear me?]
[Yes, Saint.]
The voice of the Saint in the headquarters resonated in his mind.
It was a long-distance communication spell utilizing the holy insignia.
[The energy of the Undead King has been detected again. It’s faint, but I believe I can ascertain the direction.]
[That is a relief! I have also gathered some information while investigating here.]
The Saint and the Archbishop exchanged information about their findings through the communication.
[…I see. Hans is growing faster than expected. We formed a hunting party as soon as we confirmed his appearance, but he’s already gotten this far…!]
[We can’t afford to waste more time. I will begin tracking him immediately.]
[Then I’ll leave it to you, Archbishop. He could vanish again, so I’ll keep a close watch as well.]
Voom—
After exchanging their farewells, the communication ended.
He rose from his position and looked at Tuskin, who was guarding the side.
“Sir Tuskin, prepare for departure. The Saint has located the creature.”
…! That’s truly good news! The Saint is indeed remarkable.
“While we are still uncertain of his exact location or any tricks he might be up to, now that we gained a rough idea of where he is, we can begin our search around there. The rest is up to us.”
“I’ll prepare immediately.”
The Knight, Paladin Tuskin, hurried off to organize his troops.
Latinus briefly surveyed his surroundings.
The place where traces of the creature remained.
Crack—
‘This time, I will definitely stop him!’
He clenched his fist once more, reaffirming his determination.
*
It has been a week since Hans holed himself up.
It was closer to a process of assembling rather than creating completely new magic, so his efforts were yielding some results.
Occasionally capturing mountain beasts for testing, he immersed himself in his research.
On the tenth day.
Finally, he cheered, declaring completion, but the results of testing on animals showed that the stealth was too low.
Of course, dark magic was leaking, and his eyes turned bright red, making it obvious that there was something wrong, so he had to go back to the drawing board.
On the eleventh day.
In the process of improving, perhaps it was due to reducing the activation amount of magic that stability dropped too far.
However, stabilizing it seemed to eliminate the infection, so he had to scratch his head for a while.
On the twelfth day.
Crackling— crack! Crackle!
I was grinding my teeth diligently.
A black aura swirled ominously all over my body.
If I hadn’t set up a barrier in advance, I would have emitted a level of energy that could have been dangerous, but I barely calmed down and settled.
‘I now understand why programmers grind their teeth during debugging.’
Every time I fixed one thing, another problem arose with the other, and sometimes things would miraculously resolve without my input, only to explode all at once during the finishing touches.
It was truly a test of endurance.
Meanwhile, Heinz passed through several villages and towns, reaching the heart of the kingdom, but every time he poured his mental energy into Hans, he often found himself spacing out.
Each time, the siblings worried excessively, forcing Heinz to adjust his role accordingly.
‘Anyway, this is really it…! This is the absolute last time!’
I ventured outside the cave to test my so-called ‘Final Version of Infectious Familiar Magic_Revision_2nd_FINAL(3)_TheRealLast.’
I went out to hunt some animals for direct use.
I cast an enchantment spell on a few flying birds to lure them over, then released them after casting the magic for the test.
So far, everything seems fine. Now I just need to wait for the results…
As I waited, I could feel links connecting one by one due to the infectious effect.
I could adjust the number of connected entities from my side.
Having multiple creatures crowded in one spot would be useless and only waste magic.
So, while conducting the experiment with appropriate spacing, I sensed an unusual feeling.
What is it? There doesn’t seem to be anything off in the detection magic…
The movements of the enchanted animals seemed different.
Normally, they would move as usual unless they were sending me information, but their current movements were as if…
Are they scared? All the animals I sent in different directions? Scared of what?
I had set the trigger for the enchanted animals to send information when they encountered a monster.
But no information was coming, yet the animals were exhibiting signs of fear…
Could it be?
Quickly, I changed the trigger.
To when they encountered a human.
Zzzz—
Simultaneously, information flooded in from all around.
How? The detection magic didn’t sense anything!
The information relayed by the animals showed that an unseen group was surrounding and slowly approaching.
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