LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 91
The undead who live in death cannot have life.
They only forget and wander, gradually losing themselves.
We believed that making all things into undead was the only means for us to achieve equality.
‘Was that not the case?’
Barugore’s eyes flickered with life. His heart raced, and he gasped.
Is this exhilaration? Am I truly deluding myself?
How can this form, filled with the desire for life more than anyone, be?
“Barugore.”
A cold breath escaped from Calandas’s mouth.
He wanted to ask: Why are you alive?
And he also wanted to know: How are you alive?
Though he had no heart, his chest beat fervently. Heat radiated from a body that should be cold.
“You are different from me.”
Your existence denies me.
Even an undead could live.
“I admire you. I envy you madly.”
I am so very envious of you, who have embraced life as an undead.
Calandas slowly, very slowly reached out his hand.
Shaking joints touched Barugore’s chest. A vibrant pulse was transmitted, trembling faintly.
“I want to be you.”
I desperately want to know what it feels like to sense life in that body, how life stems from the undead, and what it feels like for you who savor life.
I wanted to know with every fiber of my being.
The fingertips that had made contact with him fell to the ground.
Calandas’s residual life began to fade gradually. Even so, his eyes still contained Barugore distinctly.
“Ah…”
A trembling tone escaped. Calandas’s limbs slackened. His body started to quiver at its own whim.
The fear of death. It was chillingly terrifying and cold enough to make him shudder.
“Ah…”
Calandas soon immersed himself in ecstasy, shaking all over.
That an undead like me would tremble in fear of death.
“I, too, was alive.”
How could an undead be afraid of death?
Because I am alive. It is because I am alive that I fear death.
“Like you… I am alive too.”
At the threshold of death, I felt the sensation of being alive.
Even as my vision blurred, Barugore’s form was captured clearly.
Calandas reached out a hand toward him. It trembled helplessly in the air, unable to reach.
Ah, Barugore. Now, I finally understand you.
What it feels like to sense being alive in a dead body.
“Truly, it feels good…”
The bony finger fell to the ground. Even the dim glimmer of his eye lost its light.
The Lich King’s residual life was extinguished.
***
Even after continuing to observe, that guy’s light had definitively gone out.
The Rank 5 Lair Boss, Calandas, was dead.
“Ha…”
Only then did the suppressed coolness of relief burst forth.
Exhausted, the Moonlight Sword slipped from my grasp. Naturally, the heartbeat in my chest ceased.
Thanks to Luna’s exhilaration, I had felt alive for a brief moment.
Now that I had confirmed his death, it still felt quite surreal.
I had killed Calandas in the Corruption Cave with my own hands.
No matter how much of a type advantage it was, I just couldn’t grasp it. Although I had suspected something like this would happen in the back of my mind.
It was so reflective that I couldn’t help but wonder if I was the same person who had bluffed my way through.
Regardless, Calandas was dead, and as if to prove that, the magic circles he had set up everywhere vanished without a trace.
The undead horde that had roamed the Empire would have completely perished along with the Rank 5 Corruption Cave.
He may have been ranking third or fourth due to his amassed power.
Conversely, he had wiped out his forces just before his death, and with his physical condition weakened, his rank must have plummeted vertically.
However, unlike other 72 dungeons, the Lair would reset to the initial ranking.
It didn’t matter if Calandas had been promoted to Rank 3 or had dropped in rank at the last moment.
Under the premise that the newly created dungeon was Lair, a new Rank 5 dungeon would be born unchanged.
‘Was it supposed to be Sara according to the canon?’
The new Rank 5 Lair would be the cathedral of devout apostates.
The demon named Sara, who bore a baptismal name, was to be chosen as the Lord.
This was something that might have been twisted due to the butterfly effect.
I shook my head at such thoughts.
Right now, I was more worried about potential repercussions than the new Lair.
It was quite the big deal that one Lair had killed another, and it also meant that humanity had, in effect, been saved.
Roxanne was sure to have her eyes blazing red, preparing to execute me during the gathering of the 72 Lords.
I had my countermeasures in place, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious.
‘Would the Old One react as well?’
Given the unprecedented internal strife, it would not be strange if the Rank 1 Old One attended.
Of course, I wouldn’t even make it to that step; the moment Roxanne stepped in, I would die emptily.
…For now, I should organize the situation.
There was still much to handle before worrying about things that had yet to happen.
I opened my mouth before ascending the central stairs of the Imperial Palace.
“I know everything over there.”
Up the central stairs, a presence stirred in the right corner.
“If you don’t come out, I’ll kill you.”
From where my gaze landed, a person revealed themselves.
Their level was that of an ordinary citizen, and they trembled like a aspen tree.
Just from their attire, it was evident they were nobility, which was to be expected in the Imperial Palace.
On the other hand, it was unexpected. I had thought Calandas would kill every last one of them.
‘The goal was the dungeon core, after all.’
Perhaps he just snatched the dungeon core of the Forbidden Connection and disregarded the humans.
It felt like it wasn’t worth worrying about.
In Calandas’s eyes, even the forces of the Imperial Palace were nothing but flies.
Perhaps it was of no value to pay attention to or perhaps he didn’t have the time.
But, what does that matter now?
“What are you?”
“I-I am Lord Courtier Bertolech…”
“Where is the Emperor?”
If he had sensed Calandas’s movements, he would have fled outside the Imperial Palace.
Even if not, given the wartime situation, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to be absent.
Yet seeing the Lord Courtier made me wonder if perhaps…
The royalty. Maybe the Emperor or the princesses could still be here.
“W-Why are you asking about His Majesty the Emperor…?”
Of course, he wouldn’t tell me.
Even if I killed the Lich King, in their eyes, I was still a Lair Lord.
I subtly lifted the Moonlight Sword.
“If you don’t speak, I’ll kill everyone.”
“There’s no need for that.”
A feeble voice resounded from a distance.
An elderly man was descending the stairs, and I could see a crown studded with jewels atop his head.
The Emperor of the Empire, Julius Tumanist.
I was rather relieved. Since he was here, it would make dealing with the aftermath more manageable.
[Lv. 65]
[Lv. 68]
[Lv. 74]
[Lv. 82]
A dozen knights stood vigil around him, as though guarding him.
They ranged from low sixties to mid-eighties. They were the Imperial Guard responsible for the royal family’s protection.
Each one drew their swords and aimed them at me, which left a sour taste in my mouth.
“Put your swords away.”
As if he had seen into my inner thoughts, the Emperor spoke.
The knights obediently sheathed their swords. They only sheathed them but didn’t put them away.
Next to the Emperor stood a small girl and a beautiful woman.
The girl was the fifth princess, but I couldn’t remember her name. It was so insignificant.
The woman was the second princess, Elize, who held a definite position as a heroine in the game, so I distinctly remembered her.
Not to say she wasn’t just beautiful, she was extraordinarily beautiful.
I didn’t care since I was asexual, but it was quite the sight.
Clearing my mind of distractions, I spoke.
“The Lich King is dead. The undead across the Empire have been entirely annihilated.”
The Empire must endure.
If humanity perishes, Roxanne stands to lose greatly, and as for me, I can’t wish for humanity’s destruction.
After all, I am human too.
“The war has ended, so unite the people. Restore and rebuild the Empire.”
Fortunately, the Emperor was fully alive and so was his lineage.
It would be gratifying if they could rally together around the royal family to reunite the Empire, but conversely, they could also blame the royal family for the war.
I didn’t wish to think too deeply about that.
I only hoped they would cooperate sufficiently to restore the Empire.
But not so much that they flourish.
If I had to raid the dungeon again later, I would regret today’s events.
“…Do you not resent me?”
It was the Emperor’s question.
For some reason, his solemn expression focused directly on me.
Do you resent me? I pondered for a moment, but I couldn’t understand the meaning behind it.
“I ordered the execution of Sir Lucas. So why have you not killed him?”
Now that I think about it, I did hear Lucas had been executed.
But, well… does it matter? After all, I wasn’t Lucas.
I wondered why my level was black, and perhaps he thought I had come for revenge.
With the notion that he couldn’t escape from me, he must have stepped back and meekly accepted his death.
“Didn’t you wish for revenge against humanity? It was out of revenge that the Death Knight became a beast of the Lair…?”
“I have no desire for revenge. However, there is no goodwill either. My assistance to the Empire was purely for my self-preservation.”
To save humanity was secondary; I could not get too close to them.
After all, I was the boss of the Seven Lairs.
I had survived the summons, and it would be troublesome if I were accused of secretly forming a bond with the Empire.
The act of taking down Calandas was solely for my own safety.
I needed to draw a line here with the Empire.
“Take care of the rest yourselves.”
With that, I turned my back.
The last I saw of the Emperor’s level was a faint green.
It made me think the Empire was quite in its twilight when the head of state felt favor toward a Lair Lord.
“Lord Lucas!”
I slightly turned my head at the call.
A platinum-haired woman, Princess Elize, approached, clutching her skirt and walking briskly.
The moment I spotted her level, I involuntarily flinched.
‘Why is it pink?’
I wondered if I had misread it, but it was still pink upon a second look.
In fact, a deep pink.
What the hell?
Amidst my confusion, Elize reached me, looking up at me intently.
“Th-thank you very much for… saving us…”
Stuttering, she struggled to finish her sentence.
Typically, one would look fearful in such a situation, but Elize’s cheeks were flushed, clearly displaying her shyness.
‘What the hell is going on?’
The reason I was astounded was not only due to our relationship.
The fact that she was Princess Elize played a part as well.
In the game, Elize was indeed a formal heroine, but her noble status and proud demeanor made her one of the hardest to pursue.
Although I often saw her with a green level, a pink level was something I would only see after countless hours of play.
I only saw a pink level from Elize after forcing in over a thousand hours.
She was a princess who wouldn’t even spare a glance at a player’s advances.
For her to admire me, a Lair Lord, a non-human Death Knight, made no sense at all.
‘The Empire really has gone mad, huh?’
Could she possibly be a bone-watcher? That’s why she was so hard to navigate when I was a player back then?
“Uh… I truly thank Lord Lucas. For rescuing us…”
She couldn’t maintain eye contact, struggling to form sentences, which left me completely confused.
Up until now, the pink levels had been just whatever, but I couldn’t comprehend Elize’s level in the least.
Why does the Empire’s princess care about me at all?
If this news spread far and wide, even a princess would surely meet a guillotine’s end.
‘Did she just call me Lord Lucas?’
She referred to me not as just Lucas but as Lord.
Just by this, it seemed like she had a deeper connection than just Cecilia.
That was of no concern to me. I had no desire to delve deeper into it.
“Rest now.”
In my flustered mind, I produced some nonsense.
Feeling embarrassed, I fled the scene like it was nothing.
“Lord Lucas…”
I ignored the voice that followed me from behind.
A bone-watcher princess? The Empire has truly gone bonkers.
It’s a good thing I almost got wiped out by Calandas because of this.
…Though it’s mostly my fault.