NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5
– 1 –
After the interrogation of Remia and Jack, excluding the mage who couldn’t wake up.
I held the hammer that the skeleton handed me.
It belonged to Jack, who had faced off against a goblin before, but it was quite tidy, lacking any flesh.
It seemed well-maintained. Perhaps they were competent adventurers.
Unfortunately, I would meet my demise here, unable to surpass the limits of a novice.
“Y-you said you’d save me! Why did you heal me if you were going to do this!!”
The scream shot past my ears, ignoring the hoarseness of her voice.
On the opposite side, Remia was thrashing in her bindings.
I had consistently shown positive reactions, so she must have fallen into her confirmation bias. The fact that she was divulging information to the enemy of humanity must have been rationalized in her mind.
However.
“I never said that, Remia.”
“…?!”
“If I let you go here, the humans won’t allow me to survive.”
“I won’t say anything! I promise I won’t…!!”
“Too bad.”
Thwack!
It was the first time I had ever swung a weapon.
It cleanly smashed Jack’s head, which had been glaring at me as he woke up.
Naturally, the result was anything but clean. Thanks to the strength within me, I obliterated his head in one go, but blood and flesh bursting out like a watermelon splattered all over my dress.
Stabbing with a dagger seemed too troublesome, and I didn’t want to borrow the skeleton’s weapon again, so I chose the hammer.
If I had known it would be this messy, I should have borrowed a longsword.
‘Huh.’
I thought my clothes were soaked, but for some reason, they didn’t feel heavy.
It wasn’t that my strength made it feel light; the weight truly hadn’t increased.
Strange, I looked at my dress, which should have been stained with blood and muck, and found it clean. As if nothing had happened at all.
I had questions, but for now, this was a welcome fact. I decided to check it later and moved on.
“Why…! Why!!!”
“There’s no chance of survival, Remia.”
“Ahhh – !! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you for sure – !!!”
Listening to her screams, I paused for a moment.
A being that was once human had killed another. Naturally, there would be a recoil.
And then.
“…!”
I shuddered at the wave of nausea rising up from within me.
Anyway, this negative emotion that shook my soul was undoubtedly guilt as a human and shock as someone who had detached from society.
That was it.
Fortunately, I didn’t collapse on the spot or show any response that would disgust the victims and their fellows.
But the shock was certainly there.
Yet I couldn’t stop here.
“I’m sorry. Please do not forgive me for showing you this unnecessary cruelty.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and mourned for those I had killed and those I would soon kill.
Clink.
“Stop. This is my job.”
Clatter…
A skeleton approached me, as if it intended to take over, gripping the hilt of its sword.
I released my intent to stop it, halting its advance.
Though its sulky expression was a bit unfortunate…
“I need to get used to killing.”
There wouldn’t likely be another chance to adapt to slaughter, especially to murder, so easily in the future.
In ‘Mill Don 1’, the time between waves was set to about 2 weeks to 1 month, but there’s no guarantee that the realities of this game would adhere to that rule.
I had to delay people’s awareness of the dangers of the dungeon as much as possible and take this time to adapt.
“Is it fortunate that this is the world of Mill Don 2?”
If these humans had come through specified requests at the guild, I would have detained them and sought other methods first.
It wouldn’t make sense to assign quests and then not watch those performing them.
However, in this time 200 years later, the perception of dungeons as easy targets allowed me to conserve resources while ensuring my survival.
The time they had spent arriving here, combined with their entrance time, amounted to about four days. Returning after dungeon exploration and cleanup would have taken at least a week.
Assuming no one else was keeping an eye on them.
If I killed them all to prevent information from leaking, I could benefit from a minimum of one week. If I confused information through some other craftiness, I could expect to buy two weeks.
So saving one was enough.
“…”
“Filthy demon spawn that can’t go to heaven or hell!!”
The target was either the fainted mage Sonia or the screaming, cursing Remia.
After a moment’s thought, I ultimately decided to save Sonia.
This was because the mark of her as an apprentice from the Magic Guild surfaced from her presence.
A mage belonging to a guild, even if only as an apprentice, would likely make people more susceptible to rumors if they spoke.
And most importantly, she didn’t know my face yet, so tricking her would be easier, alongside my curiosity about the overflowing magical energy within her.
“Break Sonia’s leg. Make it neat so she can be treated soon.”
Crack!
Seeing the skeleton nod its head at my command and approach the mage, I grabbed Remia’s dagger this time.
The next corpse I created had to be as clean as possible.
‘For the harvest.’
Somehow, I ended up using their weapons to kill their original owners.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
The woman, now seemingly exhausted with no strength left to scream, lowered her head.
I yanked her hair and threw her down, exposing her body.
After adjusting her position a couple of times to locate her heart, I struck in one swift motion. It was my first attempt, but that was all it took.
Thud…!
The sensation through my vastly superior hands felt horrific.
The eyes of the victim, unable to tear away from me in hatred until death, were fear-filled.
Beyond her expanded brown pupils shone bright purple irises. In those eyes flickered mixes of light and the cold yet somehow fragile face that seemed as if it could break at any moment.
『Dungeon level has risen. Lv.1 ▶ 2』
『Demon Lord Candidate ‘Libertus’ Dungeon Lv.2』
Fortunately, I wasn’t smiling at all.
– 2 –
“It’s okay.”
I tried saying that to the skeleton, who I had left Sonia with, but the worry I communicated didn’t lessen even a bit.
Of course, I was also speaking words that lacked persuasion.
My own melancholy must have been conveyed to the skeleton.
Still, personal sadness wouldn’t stop the world’s clock, so I couldn’t postpone what needed to be done.
The faster that task was completed, the greater the gains would be. For example, necromancy requires that corpses remain intact to create good summons.
“Now, let’s get started.”
I feigned a bright tone, but it couldn’t be helped that a sense of disharmony arose in my heart since what we were about to do wasn’t so cheerful.
Clatter.
It seemed the skeleton sensed it too, tilting its head as if to question, “Is that really okay?”
But I had to. What else was there to do?
‘Then, first…’
『Congratulations, Demon Lord Candidate!』
The first thing to do was to either deal with the initial intruders or determine their whereabouts, followed by that sparkling message in front of me.
『You successfully dealt with the first intruders! A brutal yet elegant touch. A brilliant start as one destined to become a noble!』
I had gradually felt this before, but it appeared that this message was sent by a living entity.
Moreover, someone who might be watching this place… perhaps the one who sent me here, causing me to abandon everything in reality.
Thinking that way made my disguise feel twisted.
Clink.
“It’s okay.”
Sensing my discomfort, I stopped the approaching skeleton and continued reading the message.
『From now on, you’re able to view the information of your summons!』
“Right. Finally.”
Seeing that message brought me clear anticipation.
In Mill Don 1, the information of summons was rather trivial, so it was almost strange to feel anything.
While the fields of specialization depended on the state of the weapons or bodies they had, ultimately, the specs of mass-produced summons were typically equal.
So the information for common summons like skeletons was compiled into a single display, shown all at once.
By comparing the information of the summons and titles, I could get a rough estimate of the abilities held by the current summons.
In the case of special summons obtained through gacha or heroes that had been successfully corrupted by the demon clan or dungeon lord, they had their own personal status screens, but even that was just a bit of explanation on stats and skills…
In Mill Don 1, basic unit growth elements relied solely on collecting experience for ‘class ups’, so that was enough.
‘But now it’s different.’
If I had simply brought that information from Mill Don 1 over, I would have been truly disappointed.
Since it had become a reality, unclear fragmented information would make it difficult to devise tactics.
Plus, I had information on the necromancy that could enhance summons in my mind.
『Title/Entity Name – ‘Perfect’ Skeleton ‘Swordsman’』
『Title – Perfect: A title affixed to entities that are statistically superior in every aspect compared to existing entities.』
『Title – Swordsman: A title attached to base entities with characteristics of wielding a sword.』
‘It’s true.’
Fortunately, I didn’t need to worry.
Before my eyes was the information screen of a clear individual entity. It was beyond what I expected, even exceeding my hopes.
I anticipated ‘perfect’ but did not foresee that additional characteristics would also be applied to the skeleton.
I lacked experience.
『Attributes – Health 12, Agility 15, Endurance 10, Magic 12, Resistance 13』
“Goodness.”
Underneath the name and titles, the secret of my skeleton’s ability to overwhelm common adventurers was revealed.
For reference, the initial stats of the “Perfect” Zombie I had encountered in the game were Health 11, Agility 9, Endurance 12, Magic 6, Resistance 11.
The average, non-titled regular zombie or skeleton summed up to around 5, maxing out at below 7.
Back then, I couldn’t view each summon’s information, so this was all presumable… but given how many others’ specimens I compared, it wouldn’t be off by more than 1.
Later on, after repeated class ups, it became the highest-grade specimen ‘Gluttony’ which helped me in my comfortable ‘Mill Don 1’ play, and my current skeleton was stronger.
That wasn’t all.
『Specialization – Swordsmanship, Necromancy』
『Swordsmanship – Receives bonuses to all actions utilizing a sword.』
『Member of the Necropolis – This soldier is blessed by your special favor. Raises the highest two stats of the entity.』
Here, ‘Member of the Necropolis’ must be that ‘certain benefit’ from before.
Checking back, my current skeleton received boosts to ‘Agility’ and ‘Resistance’. Exactly +1 each.
It might get better as they level up.
It was a good trait that enhanced strengths. I didn’t feel a desire to thank anyone for it.
What grabbed attention was swordsmanship.