440 Part 1

The Black Demon King

Chapter 23: Holy Maiden of Helvetia

Episode 440: An Encroaching Nightmare (1)

“Please, leave this to me.”

After I kicked the freshly severed head of that good-looking wild man, I stared fixedly at where I had to go next.

I realized that this man was a good spear user after seeing his series of violent thrusts. Because he looked different from the Crusader soldiers, he must have been a skilled mercenary or simply someone special amongst their ranks. Regardless, there was no doubt that he was one of the strongest enemies, so just in case, I decided to make sure he was dead.

I knew that he would die instantly because the first shot made with the regular bullets pre-loaded in “Dual Eagle” made a big hole in his chest.

Even so, I’ve already had the bitter experience of being counterattacked after dropping my guard for a second, so I attacked him again. I had to do this while I could.

With that, I could be 100% sure that I had killed him, and thankfully I was able to help Eliwood just in time. It was a good idea to buy a High Potion back in Spada just in case.

Incidentally, Eliwood seemed to have lost his weapon, so I wondered if I should look around for a halberd and a tower shield that those Armor Knights used and give them to him. That Gladius he had on his hand didn’t look too reliable.

Hitsugi, let’s look around for a suitable weapon among those lying around on the ground. By the way, that was a rude way to apply a High Potion to someone, splashing it around like a bottle of champagne…

“Understood, Master.”

Replying as if she didn’t have the slightest hint of remorse, Hitsugi stretched out her tentacles in all directions, searching for a weapon that wasn’t too damaged.

“Should I go get the one that made that barrier…?”

I hesitated a bit about going straight ahead.

We were in a strange stalemate. I was completely surrounded by those Crusader soldiers, but none of them had taken a step forward to launch a simultaneous attack on me.

I wondered if they were finding it hard to set up a proper assault since I had suddenly appeared in the middle of a single combat between that red-headed man and Eliwood. But because of this, I wasn’t sure when the enemy would come at me like an avalanche.

I knew they were still in danger, but I was curious about the other members of the assault team who were still struggling.

Apart from Eliwood, there were two other survivors. There were only two, but they were still alive. And I had the power to help them.

“But killing the barrier girl will also help our allies.”

Rather than take risks, I had to try to get the best results I could. I couldn’t afford to hesitate.

In order to succeed, I would have to take full advantage of the abilities that were relatively new to me, and those I had never used. Although I was worried about them, I had to trust they wouldn’t be defeated.

Well, let’s try using this for now.

“Sing, Haunted Grave!”

What I took out in my right hand was the longed-for cursed large naginata “Cursed Carnival”, which I obtained at the end of a fight to the death.

I’ve used this only once before. Back when Mary used up all of her strength in front of the old castle of Iskia, I used Haunted Grave’s special ability “Dead Alive” to revive her.

But this time I was using it the same way it was used against me in the arena. In other words, the singing voice of resurrection was echoed toward the innumerable corpses that were scattered around in this battlefield.

There are plenty of spectators here to listen to your song. Now, play the melody of abominable resurrection.

GYOAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!

From the black blade I raised to the heavens, the gruesome screams of a woman echoed repeatedly through the air.

Hearing such a horrifying singing voice, the surrounding Crusader soldiers turned pale and hurriedly covered their ears. Their disgust and feelings of rejection must have been quite strong, since they didn’t hesitate to let go of their weapons so that they could cover their ears with both hands.

When I heard this voice in the arena, it felt as discomforting as hearing the sound of scratching a blackboard with a piece of glass, but now… it seemed so strange that it didn’t really feel so bad when I was the one using it. Looks like I’ve grown used to this tune.

“Kyaaa! Amazing, Mrs. Gravekeeper!”

Hitsugi seemed as excited as if she was watching a live performance of her favorite band. Well, this cursed melody seemed to be popular not only with the dead, but with other cursed beings.

At any rate, I hadn’t used this just to please Hitsugi, nor to simply scare the Crusader soldiers. The main goal was to…

“Alright, that’s a good number of them moving around.”

Everywhere on the battlefield, I heard Crusader soldiers screaming as if they had seen someone not from this world, and groans that literally echoed from the bottom of the Netherworld.

Taking a quick look around, I could see that about ten, twenty… fifty corpses had turned into low-ranking zombies and stood up again with their weapons in their hands.

The probability that a corpse will turn into a zombie using “Dead Alive” was far from 100%, but with such a large amount of dead bodies littering the battlefield, I was sure to get an acceptable number of them to get back on their feet.

Those who have black or darkness magical power in their bodies, and those who have a grudge beyond the fear of death, could almost certainly become undead, but it was impossible to tell which of those were true for these fifty-or-so. From my point of view, all of them were equally just filthy zombies.

“Gather round, those who are no longer dead. Strengthen our defenses.”

Waving the Haunted Grave, I gave commands to those corpses that had begun to move.

Back when Saeed used it, he was clearly manipulating those zombies to stop me. It’s very convenient for whoever wielded this naginata to not only be able to revive a corpse, but also to allow them to control it at will, like some sort of lord of the dead.

Actually, I should say that its accursed power is just that strong. The deep-seated grudge of the gravekeeper who lost his beloved boy must have been something formidable.

In response to my call, zombie soldiers immediately start gathering around. Rather than the sloppy movements normally seen in horror movies, they were running as fast as they could, doing hops, steps, and jumps. With a tremendous sense of dynamism, they gathered around me one after another.