Iron Blooded Hound

Chapter 199: Cursed Confrontation

Wearing a bone helmet and armor and a cloak that seems to reflect only the darkest parts of the night sky.

It stood at the center of the ruins, the master of the nine thousand dead who roamed the land.

And Vikir saw right through its ominous identity.

<Seere, the Eight Corpses>

Danger Rating: S

Size: ?

Found in 'Serpent's Womb', deep within the Gate of Destruction.

Nicknamed 'Eighth Corpse'.

One of the Ten Plagues, natural enemies of mankind, is incomprehensible and unkillable.

"Herds of cattle and beasts shall perish."

The Ten Commandments 10: Top.

The eighth demon is Seere.

The highest-ranking demon crossed over to wipe out mankind.

Vikir swallowed hard, a groan boiling in the depths of his throat.

'... I never thought I'd meet you so soon.'

Set, the 'Inferior Second Son', Dantalian, the 'Face of a Thousand', and Seere, the 'King of Corpses', appeared rather abruptly.

Vikir recalled a memory from before the regression.

The black mage was called the King of Corpses. Seere was a master of bringing the dead back to life.

When the army of the dead, a marionette circus of corpses, came to town, all living things held their breath and feared him.

Vikir also knew the identity of the one who had contracted with the Eighth Corpse Seere.

Unlike the other contractors in the Ten Corpses, Seere's contractor was relatively well known.

It was Marquis Morg Snake.

He was the highest-ranking member of the Dark Hall of the Mage Family Morg.

Morg Snake had always secretly practiced black magic, so he would have been a perfect match for Seere.

'He was a rival of the mad Adolf and a formidable force to be reckoned with, even in his lifetime.'

Morg Snake is a high council member of the Dark Hall, and Morg Adolf is a high council member of the Light Hall.

For some reason, the two had not been on good terms for a long time, and the head of the family, Morg Respane, was barely able to control it.

Before his regression, Vikir hadn't known for what purpose Snake had contracted with Seere, but he remembered clearly enough that the results had been disastrous.

'This is the time when Morg Adolf is still a Class 6 Mage. If that's the case, then Morg Snake might not be at a very high level of mage yet either...'

But. Vikir's thoughts were interrupted.

The King of Corpses had sensed Vikir's intentions.

[Who is there?]

A booming voice called out.

Surprisingly, the voice, somewhat muffled with demonic energy, clearly belonged to a woman.

"...?"

Only then did Vikir take a closer look at the woman.

It was different.

Something was different from his memory before the regression.

Morg Snake, the man who should have been the King of Corpses, was tall and unnervingly thin.

So much so that when he walked, he looked like a clown on a pole.

Once a target for assassination, his appearance and strength were things Vikir knew best.

But the King of Corpses in front of him was about the same height as Vikir.

What's more, it had a well-trained body and balanced proportions, quite unlike the Morg Snake.

Moreover.

'... woman?'

Vikir's mouth was half open in disbelief.

Judging by the height, chest, and hips, the Corpse King's body was definitely female.

Something is amiss.

Seree's contractor has changed.

According to the original history, Morg Snake should have been the contractor for Seere.

But that was long after the fact.

But now, Seere's contractor is already here, and she's nothing like Morg Snake.

The Corpse Queen.

She was clearly a woman, though it was impossible to make out her face as she wore a helm made of skulls.

She turned around, her long hair flaming red beneath the skull helm that covered her entire face and her black cloak fluttering at the same time.

"...."

Vikir frowned slightly behind his mask.

I don't know what's going on here, but it's good.

Morg Snake was a high-ranking mage who even Vikir couldn't guarantee victory against, and if such a being had made a pact with a demon, it would have been even stronger.

But it was not him, but someone else entirely, who became Seere's contractor.

The aura emanating from her is peculiarly half-human, half-demon.

Perhaps that makes her a little easier to deal with.

'Luck of the draw, the heavens have helped. If I do well, I may be able to kill Eight Corpse today.'

Debating whether or not to retreat in the face of the Eight Corpse, Vikir turned toward the battle.

At the crossroads of death or death.

The demon and the demon hunter faced off.

* * *

The devastation began minutes before Vikir's arrival.

[....]

The Corpse Queen.

She stared at the ruins of what was left of the building.

I don't know what happened, but there must have been some sort of massive explosion.

[Dantalian, you lowly thief, how dare you steal from me?]

At the same time, she stretched out her hand and emitted an aura that was like the darkness of the abyss.

Crackle- crackle- crackle- crackle-.

Suddenly, the pieces scattered throughout the remains moved and gathered into thin air.

Bitterness, sadness, anger, hatred, longing...

Drops of congealed blood, torn flesh, shattered bones, missing hair... ....

Traces of the dead that have not yet been sorted out remain tangled here and there, without distinction between those of the soul and those of the body.

They have gathered in one place at the call of the Queen.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

A black magic circle appeared from nothing, and a woman's body began to regenerate on top of it.

Geronto. The red-haired undead reappeared.

The Corpse Queen looked at the resurrected Geronto and stroked her hair.

So Seere's power is working to some extent—the ability to 'find the person you want to find'].

The Corpse Queen stroked Geronto's hair as if she were handling something very precious.

['Rose', I managed to find this child, but I still couldn't find... who I really wanted to find.] [Perhaps I shouldn't have believed everything the demon said.].

A Demon Contractor. But I have yet to make that power fully mine.

So, the Corpse Queen was working hard on her closed training without missing a single day.

She had closed herself off from the world.

[After all, the only way to fully master this power is to cross the gates of death once and for all; for now, I am only halfway there.].

I have not yet made the power completely my own.

So when I brought Geronto back to life, I wasted mana unnecessarily, raising up a bunch of random corpses as a plague.

I still need to train more to be able to use my power where it's needed.

And then.

[...!]

The corpse queen sensed an unwelcome visitor.

A monstrous figure in black robes and a plague doctor's mask.

An ominous aura radiated from him.

"Eight Corpse Seere. 'King of Corpses'. You are my copycat."

An eerie voice modulation came from his mouth.

The Night Hound. The worst villain to terrorize the Imperial City, and indeed the entire Empire, in recent times.

The Corpse Queen, however, shook her head at the sight of the Night Hound.

[Who are you?]

"Do you not know me?"

[I don't know you.]

"You don't seem interested in what's going on in the world. Don't you even read the newspaper?"

The Corpse Queen snorted lightly at the Night Hound's question.

[...Newspaper? Why would I read such a thing? I have no more interest in this world.

Yes, I do. Newspapers are a tool to inform us of worldly events.

Those who have no interest in the affairs of this world have no need for newspapers.

The Night Hound and the Corpse Queen. Two masked men and women face each other.

Neither revealed their identities to the other, but the enemy they harbored was clear.

"The demon slays."

[Do it if you can].

The Night Hound drew his black bow, Anubis.

The Corpse Queen also summoned her dead soldiers, including Geronto.

Cuddle-Up.

Deep underground in the orphanage. Unexcavated bones, flesh, and ghosts rose to their feet.

<Skeleton>

Danger Rating: C

Size: 1.7 meters

Found on: All continents

-Name: 'The Bone Man'.

A common wraith that can be found in graveyards, battlefields, abandoned houses, and sewers.

In rural areas and run-down cities, they are almost as common as rats.

<Ghost>

Danger Rating: C

Size: ?

Found on: All continents

-Name: 'The ghostly remnant'.

A ubiquitous wraith that can be found in graveyards, battlefields, abandoned houses, and sewers.

In rural areas and run-down cities, they are almost as common as rats.

<Ghoul>

Danger Rating: C+.

Size: 1 meter

Found on: All continents

name 'corpse eater'. Ghoul.

A low-level demon that can be found in graveyards, battlefields, abandoned buildings, sewers, and other places where corpses are found.

They are not a resurrected form of the dead, but an entirely different species of undead that twists to feed on corpses.

Unusually, ghouls are not known to be undead creatures born from the dead, and it is said that once a ghoul has died, it cannot be reborn as an undead again.

In other words, it's not known where they come from or where they go.

Skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and ghouls. The most basic forms make up the Black Mage's army of the dead.

As place is place, many of the resurrected undead were once children of the orphanage or were twisted to feast on its corpses.

Tsk.

The Corpse Queen clicked her tongue at the gathering undead.

As if she didn't want them around.

Then the night hound's attention was drawn to a skeleton in the forefront of the group.

Rattle.

A golden necklace glowed brightly around the small skeleton's neck.

'Nymphet'

The moment he saw the words.

"...."

The Night Hound bared his teeth.

"You will not die a pretty death."

Fierce. Even more fiercely.

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