The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound

Chapter 198: The Corpse Queen (3)

Chapter 198: The Corpse Queen (3)

Night hound in black robes and a plague doctor's mask.

The Corpse Queen, her skeletal armor and helmet hiding her true identity.

In the center of the battlefield, where everything had fallen apart, a man and a woman stood tall.

"Dogs live on bones."

[Dogs that don't know the meaning of the word and show their teeth should be boiled].

Vikir drew on his mana.

At the same time, the hatchling on his left wrist spewed out a web toward the front.

Zap-!

The white mucus, scattered like a sticky mist, spread out in a web, blocking the opponent's vision.

The Corpse Queen, who had been hit in the face by the web, wiped it away with the hem of her cloak.

[...what a dirty trick].

Her reaction made one thing clear to Vikir.

'The current Corpse Queen is weaker than the Corpse King before he was turned.'

The 'King of Corpses', who dominated the Age of Destruction, was the owner of the Nine Heaven's Tomb and a fearsome demon who ruled the Sisan Blood Sea.

How many mortals have despaired in the face of his terrifying black magic as he raised countless dead soldiers and retrieved the corpses of the dead.

If Morg Snake had become King of Corpses as I remembered before my regression, he would not have batted an eye at such an attack.

However, the current Corpse Queen was too inexperienced in battle to react to such a mild attack.

'You've only been under contract for a short time, so you still have the memories of your human past. When you were still a novice black mage....'

That had been the case with Set Les Baskerville, who had also been contracted by Andromalius.

The fear of Hugo that lingered in his bones even after his death, a fear that Set's body remembered, had caused Andromalius to fail at a crucial moment.

And it seemed to be a similar case with the contractor from Seere in front of him now.

'Perhaps it's even weaker than Andromalius the 10th or Dantalian the 9th.

Even though he couldn't let his guard down with a demon of the demon king class in front of him, he still felt slightly more hopeful.

Flicker.

Vikir took a step back after the corpse queen's web blocked his view of her.

'Intercept with bow as far as possible, then sword if distance closes.'

The Corpse Queen does not know the Night Hound.

It had the far greater advantage of not knowing whether his primary weapon was a bow or a sword, while he knew her primary weapon was black magic.

Vikir stepped back as the Madame cub drew back the cobwebs, and then quickly drew his Anubis.

Black Bow Anubis. A legendary bow with five quivers.

Vikir drew five arrows and fed them to the shafts, then nocked them.

Then.

[...!]

The sight of Vikir's bow stance froze the Corpse Queen in place for a moment.

The eyes within the skeleton's orbit wavered.

A slight agitation. It subsided in an instant, and what took its place was....

[You! You barbarian! I'll kill you! I'll kill you...!]

It was a rage so fierce that it could have burned the whole world to the ground.

It heated up so much that black flames flared up around it, turning it into a sea of fire.

Even Vikir was stunned by its terrifying power.

"What is it? Why is it burning?

I don't know what made her so angry.

However, the corpse queen, who had been calm until just now, suddenly changed her demeanor and began to close the distance between them, before spewing out an infernal rage.

[You filthy barbarian, why don't you try blocking me with that little bow of yours!]

At the same time, the flames began to take the shape of an extremely long spear.

Quack, quack, quack!

As if he was facing a berserker, Vikir rolled on the ground to avoid the spear.

Clang! Clang! Clang, clang, clang!

There wasn't just one spear of fire.

Dozens of black spears flew across the ground.

The soil and stones in their path are melted away by the infernal fire and scattered.

The wasteland is turning into a lava field.

...Pot!

Vikir rolls on the ground, dodging a spear of fire.

Crunch!

The ground caved in, and then spikes of steel began to rise from the bottom of the pit.

[Dead Pool!]

The rebar with its sharpened tips snaked out of the death pit created by the Corpse Queen, aimed at Vikir like a snake.

Pooh-pooh-pooh!

The steel snakes burrowed into his body.

In an instant, Vikir was pierced by countless bars.

[You lowly barbarian, you shout and you look bad].

The Corpse Queen slowed her pace, as if sensing that the battle was over.

But.

" ...I know. I know it's only half the battle, but it's still a battle."

Vikir pulled the rebar out of his body with too much ease.

Thud, thud, thud!

The iron spikes fall to the ground.

The bog salamander's wraith, trapped within the magic sword Beelzebub, regenerated the wound in an instant.

Tsutsutsutsuts...

By the time Vikir climbed out of the pit of death, all of his wounds had healed.

Only the cloak that covered him was slightly tattered.

[...What? How?]

The Corpse Queen tilted her head in disbelief.

But the Night Hound did not answer the demon's question.

Vikir closed the distance again and fired another arrow.

Puff-puff-puff!

Five arrows flew in near succession.

Vikir had unleashed the skill of all the Balak warriors, especially Aiyen, who was the best bowman of them all.

Each arrow curved in a different direction, but all were aimed at the same bullseye.

[...This must be the archery of those hideous 'Balak'; I tried to be moderate, but no, I won't kill you nicely].

The corpse queen's neck was covered in blood.

Gurgle!

Next, the four elements tainted by the dark mana simultaneously formed a whirlwind.

Black ice, black fire, black earth, black wind, and black skewers flew toward Vikir.

This much multicasting would be unthinkable for most mages.

But Vikir was used to this sort of thing.

He had seen too many outrageous things in his past life.

Charalak-

Vikir flicked his left hand.

The wire from his sleeve caught on the steel frame of the half-destroyed building.

[Pow!]

Madame cub. The thread from the creature's mouth sent Vikir flying through the air, and he was soon out of the magical storm.

At the same time.

Puff-puff-puff!

Another bolt of arrows flew, aimed at the Corpse Queen.

Thud!

The skeletons, zombies, and ghouls that rose from the ground gathered together to block the arrows.

However.

...BANG!

The wall of bone and flesh shattered far too easily.

Chiiiit!

The arrows melted everything they touched.

The powerful poisonous aura that Anubis possessed was enough to make even the Corpse Queen retreat.

The Corpse Queen took Geronto's hand, which she had revived earlier, and stepped back.

[What a disgusting poison, these barbarians know how to take and ruin the precious things of others].

"...Do you hate the natives of the Black Mountain?"

[Hate them? Hahaha-]

The Corpse Queen laughed once in disbelief.

Then, she pursed her lips, which were barely visible beneath her bony mask, and asked.

[I know the archery you use, what is your relationship with the 'Night Fox' and her child?]

Vikir answered the question as if he knew something.

"I am the hunting party of Balak."

And with that, the corpse queen's fury was unleashed.

[Then you must have been 'there' on 'that night' as well, and I cannot forgive you for that!]

With that, the Corpse Queen drew something from within her cloak.

It was a black bag, ominously black and dripping with mana.

Flutter.

The Corpse Queen snatched the black bag and tossed it to the ground.

Immediately, the contents of the bag rushed out.

Dalgraak- Dalgraak- Tektegurrrr...

It was bones.

Bones covered in ash and the teeth marks of wild beasts, as if they had been burned and then eaten.

What's more, almost all of them were broken and cracked, as if they hadn't died a good death in the first place.

The Corpse Queen threw them to the ground and imbued them with dark mana.

Tsutsutsutsutsuts...

Soon, the bones began to rattle and move.

A shroud of darkness settled over them like a veil, allowing them to lead their miserable lives once more.

Vikir stared at the new undead that had taken on another life before his eyes.

It was a skeleton, a living corpse, covered only in dried flesh.

A high ranking dead man, wrapped in dark mana like a shroud.

<Lich

Danger rating: A+.

Size: 3 meters

Found in: Abyssal Edge

-Named the Exalted Dead.

Some mages have transcended the bounds of time and created a whole new kind of bondage.

A giant, mysterious hand lurks at the bottom of the Abyss of Witchcraft, and by binding their souls to the dark chains of its grasp, they have become immortal.

... but they didn't know it.

If a person dies at my age and then gains immortality, will his age still be my age? Or would he age even after achieving immortality?

Mages who became lichs because they were blinded by the desire for immediate achievement were separated from the world and sank deep into the abyss without even going through proper funeral procedures. After a long time, even their bodies were no longer left, and they crumbled to dust.

But even then, only the souls trapped at the bottom of the abyss remain, still thinking of themselves as mages.

Forever.

Lich. An extremely dangerous demon.

An entity far more powerful and terrifying than even the Gerontos he had faced before.

[grrrr...]

The new Lich slammed into the ground with a snap of its jaws and landed in front of the Corpse Queen.

And then.

"...?"

For some reason, Vikir thought, the lich's face looked quite familiar.

[Yes. A barbarian of Balak is a barbarian of Balak].

The corpse queen laughed in a voice that sounded like she had cried so hard she was hoarse.

Purr!

The Lich draws dark mana at the Queen's command.

Vikir recognized the face of this revived Lich as a high-ranking undead.

"...!"

Brown skin, hair a mixture of black and silver.

Beneath the mask, Vikir's eyes widened to piercing slits.

Vikir knew what that man looked like in real life.

No, he didn't just know it, he knew it very well.

...How could he forget?

That it was the same face he'd spent the last two years with in Balak's tribe.