Chapter 25 - It Was Ghost Assembly

Chapter 25 : It Was Ghost Assembly

===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===

「Now then, my loyal servant… come here.」

Jean spoke as if beckoning a child.

And I responded to his call with magic.

「Fireball.」

「… Eh?」

Yup, his magic was ineffective after all.

I wouldn’t be able to attack him if I was under his control.

「HIIIII?!」

Jean dropped to the ground upon seeing the sudden, oncoming lump of flame.

Unlike his appearance, he had a nimble body.

It seemed he had a lot of combat experience.

But of course, I would be the one in trouble if he died from this slow-moving attack.

「I-Impossible?! How can you attack me?! My spell should be working!」

His eyes opened wide; it seemed he had yet to realize his failure.

In short, he was still unaware his spell didn’t work on me.

… Eh?

Did that mean… it was impossible for him to purify me as well.

What a letdown.

No, it was still too early to give up.

I should try to ask the person first.

「… Hey.」

I called out to Jean as I approached him.

… DAMM*IT, now it looked like I was threatening him.

「!!!」

Thanks to that, he stepped back with a frightened face, like a mouse in front of a giant snake.

Maybe I felt nervous as well since he was a human.

Yup, this guy was still a living human.

I wished he was an undead instead of a living human.

I mean, we could at least have a proper conversation if he was an undead.

Unfortunately, my first good idea in a while was rather messed up.

「!!!」

The sole remaining female undead stood in front of me.

「N-No… I don’t want… to vanish… yet.」

However, her face was covered in tears.

Most likely, she couldn’t go against Jean’s order.

… Yup, even I would have a hard time against this.

Even if she was an undead, part of me still wanted to avoid killing a powerless woman.

Noticing my hesitation, Jean saw his chance and took out something that resembled an ancient jar from his overcoat.

「… Yeah, I still have this! I wanted to keep this guy as my trump card, but it seems I have no other choice!」

Just as I began to wonder what he was up to, he threw the pot.

The pot broke upon crashing to the ground.

And then, an extremely disgusting and malicious sign unleashed from the broken pot.

It was something darkish.

Even though nothing came out of it, I was sure that there was “something” inside that pot.

Moreover, it kept piling up infinitely while wriggling like a worm.

『HatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHatefulHateful』

『UnforgiveableUnforgiveableUnforgiveableUnforgiveableUnforgiveableUnforgiveableUnforgiveableUnforgiveableUnforgiveable』

『DieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDieDie』

The invisible something that spread out was a neverending clump of malice.

The flood of repulsive emotion, which would drive anyone to madness just by witnessing it, wriggled in my direction.

「Ghost… is it?」

Ghosts didn’t have physical bodies. They were the kind of undead that loitered around in the living world in their spirit bodies.

What emerged from the pot was a vast number of ghosts.

「AHAHAHA! MY SECRET COLLECTION, THE GATHERING OF NUMEROUS GHOSTS THAT I RAISED CAREFULLY! CAN YOU WITHSTAND THE MIGHT OF THREE HUNDRED EXTREMELY VENGEFUL GHOSTS?! EVEN THIS GREAT ME HAS BEEN TROUBLED WITH KEEPING THOSE THREE HUNDRED IN CHECK!」

You should gather more of them, you know.

I felt that way from the bottom of my heart.

The mass of ghosts coiled around the body of the female undead, the closest one to them.

『COME.』

『COME HERE.』

『BECOME PART OF US.』

「S-STOP! GET AWAY FROM MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!」

It seemed those ghosts had dragged out the female undead’s spirit body.

They could do that too, huh…

The female undead stretched her hand toward Jean, her face stained with tears and mucus.

「Please, Jean-sama! Save me!」

「You’re also useless. Become part of them.」

「Why?! You said that we’d be together forever, right?!」

「AHAHAHA, I don’t remember ever saying that.」

「How can―No-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!」

After the exclamation that felt like the greatest rejection in the world, the female undead’s body crumbled down like a puppet that had its thread cut.

「NOOOOOOOOOOOO?!」

The spirit body of the female undead screamed incoherently until it had been swallowed into the lump of malicious ghosts.

「Ahahaha, this guy will grow endlessly by feeding its spirit body!」

『『『OAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!』』』

And then, it looked at me.

… WOAH, THAT WAS SCARY, MAN!

Anyhow, the lump of ghosts approached me with an expression as if they were cursing the world.

If I had faced this thing when I was alive, I’d already be done for.

I mean, I ended up screaming inside.

IT WAS COMING!

『『『O-AAAH?』』』

Thereupon, for some reason, it stopped its approach.

Eh?

Could it be that it listened to what I said?

No, no, no, that was too good to be true.

In addtion, it was the scream of my heart.

… But maybe I should… try it out for now.

Turn three times and bark.

As if these ghosts would do tha―

Turning around x 3.

『『『BARK』』』

WHAT THE FU*CK?!

THEY DEFINITELY TURNED AROUND THREE TIMES AND BARKED JUST NOW, RIGHT?!

Yup, I should make it harder.

Sit!

The ghosts sat on the ground immediately.

Belly up!

The ghosts showed their belly at once.

… Seriously, they were just like a dog.

It was even more impressive since there were more than three hundred of them.

「W-What’s the meaning of this?! I don’t remember ever giving such an order!」

Jean was flustered.

I had no idea why this happened, but it seemed these ghosts were abandoning Jean and completely under my control right now.

… Uhm?

In that moment, I suddenly heard the true voice of the ghosts that were suppressed beneath their deep malice.

『KILL ME!』

『I WANT TO DIE!』

『I’ve had enough of this already.』

… I see.

Just because they looked like this, it didn’t mean that it was what they wanted.

It was that ba*stard Jean who forced them to stay in this world with his necromancy.

I, of all people, knew just how blasphemous his act was.

「I see… All you want is to rest in peace.」

They nodded obediently when I spoke.

I unleashed my magic to answer their wish.

「Fireball!」

The crimson flame stayed right there without any instruction from me.

Magic didn’t work on the spirit body―that was common sense, but the rules didn’t seem to apply to my own magic.

The ghosts raced amongst themselves to be the first one to enter the blazing flame.

『Aaah…』

『Finally… I can rest in peace.』

『Thank you…』

Thus, the mass of ghosts faded away and vanished into nothing.

Oh, it seemed this fire magic of mine had the power to purify ghosts.

… And yet, it didn’t work on me.

「S-Such a thing… such a thing is….」

Jean trembled after witnessing that scene.

「Communicating with ghosts and controlling them at will… No way, you are…」

And then, after all the ghosts had vanished…

I glared at Jean. This was the first time I felt anger toward someone since I awakened as an undead.

「HIIIII?!」

Jean fell on his rear right where he stood.

I approached him, step by step my feet echoed on the ground. Then, my long fingers grabbed his throat and head.

「A-A-A…」

「I have a question for you. Do you… know the method to purify me?」

「Uhi…. UHIYAHIYAHIYAHIYAHIYAHIYAHIYAHIYAHIYA!」

… What was so funny about my question.

「Such a thing is impossible, even for me! IHIHIHI! But, right! The Royal Capital! You might find something in the Royal Capital of this country! Uhihihihihi!」

Royal Capital, huh.

As I thought, it seemed this necromancer couldn’t answer my question either.

「I see… Well, goodbye then.」

I increased the power I used to grab him, crushing his throat and skull at the same time.

And then, as the body of that necromancer crumbled to the ground…

「F-FOUND YOU!」

―That female Holy Knight had finally caught up with me.