Struggling (4)

The numerous graves engraved on the vast field were eerie but magnificent.

The unreadable characters written on the tombstones were also like that.

I twisted my side hair for a moment. Is it because the build is different? That side is necromancy, and I mixed wide-area build with blood magic.

Compared to how I can read the ancient characters engraved when inscribing formulas on blood-red magic circles, it’s like that.

I saw the skeleton army digging into the ground.

“Doesn’t it take too long? It seems tough.”

“That’s how labor is. It’s the intersection of persistent sweat drops and exhaled breaths.”

The Reaper said that while starting to slowly dig a huge grave.

“It’s the same with breathing life into dying people. Even if your fingers all break, you become satisfied with the result you’ve achieved.”

Though she says that, it’s pitiful that she can’t hide her tired appearance.

Given the atmosphere, it seems better to go along with it. I nodded roughly and looked around.

The skeleton army was digging into the ground at their respective positions, all panting. The escaping souls rippled and screamed.

One skeleton tried to catch it and fell face-first on the ground.

“That one’s defective.”

With one gesture from the Reaper, the skeleton shattered with a terrible sound. Bones fell.

“That’s cruel.”

“The world of survival is ruthless. There are plenty of replacements.”

The Reaper glanced at me as if she didn’t expect me to say such a thing, then lifted her shovel again.

I pondered for a moment. Still, that’s sad.

“I’ll help you.”

“You?”

“Labor should be efficient, right?”

I can’t compose a necromancy-specialized build. For example, those skeletons visible there and the reapers wandering the graveyard.

It’s not a combat-type build. They’re just weak servants solely for harvesting.

“When the skeletons pull out the souls, you just need to harvest them all at once, right?”

“It’s not that simple. You need to accurately grasp the structure of the souls and the location of the chain links.”

“I know that much too.”

If there’s something they need to care about, it’s that the amount of harvest is large. Skeleton and reaper-type builds for soul harvesting have no self-awareness, so they struggle to harvest if the soul structure is even slightly distorted.

In the first place, because souls themselves have no standard structure, such incidents become even more frequent. Like that skeleton that just perished.

I raised the knife and sliced through the air. A blood-red mark rippled from the torn rift. Nitrogen and oxygen mixed with magical power to outline a demon.

I cut my arm with the blade. Blood splattered and red drops synthesized the demon.

Wings stirred the air. A scythe was raised. Howls filled the air.

“Ta-da!”

“It’s a combat-type build, isn’t it?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

The important point is that it has self-awareness.

“It’s different from necromancy-specialized builds that need commands injected every time. Combat-type builds act by accepting what I think.”

In a way, it’s an obvious story. Because it’s a demon specialized for combat.

The skeletons all dug into the ground at once. Souls were drawn out and the demon swung its scythe. The swinging curve cut dozens of souls at once.

“…..What.”

It was the most emotional voice I’ve heard recently.

“Watch.”

The oval souls that had been decomposed into pieces began to recombine. Chains diagonally bound the souls and compressed them into small cubes. Black cubes filled the air and lined up in a row.

Currents were drawn and the sky rippled. A long path of light followed the cube array and emitted radiance. The array settled into place and established itself in a ring shape.

“Isn’t it cool?”

The Reaper was silent for a while. Is this surprise? Or dejection?

“How annoying. What have I been doing all this time? If I knew it would be like this, I should have switched to a different character.”

“You’re silly!”

She grasped her face with one hand and wiped it.

“Damn necromancer level.”

“Gasp! Stop cursing yourself!”

Nothing hurts more than self-hatred. Really.

“I think one more time should do it.”

Anyway, labor is repetitive. Although I focused on efficiency, I still need to go through the minimum actions.

Cubes piled up in glass bottles. The Reaper blinked at the 10 glass bottles floating in the air.

“Good job?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Well, I did do everything!”

“Thank you.”

A moment of silence fell. I twisted my side hair.

“You must want something?”

“You’re perceptive!”

I wrote down formulas in the air. Blue sentences were engraved and flashed.

“A necro army set to 50 mobility, 20 magic, 30 joy.”

“That’s a lot of spells.”

“It’s not difficult, is it?”

The actual modification and control will all be done by me, so it doesn’t matter. Anyway, since they’re also of the necromancer race, there’s no better dress rehearsal for the Alliance.

I smiled slightly.

I dusted off my blood-stained hands and opened the Association office door.

“You’ve come.”

I blinked.

“Now you even welcome me?”

“It’s fine since no one else is here, right?”

The Director put down the report. Turning my gaze, I saw one employee sitting at the far end of the office.

Is that not even considered a person?

“Erica seems to be in a good mood these days.”

“Erica does?”

“She used to be unable to hide her tired appearance before.”

“…..Is that so?”

I twisted my side hair for a moment.

“What on earth did you do to make her like that? Did you seduce her?”

Several things came to mind. However, I didn’t feel much anxiety. Anyway, this relationship will be redefined today.

“I’m not sure?”

I brushed it off and took out the knife.

“Ah, it seems you’ll have to do some work after a long time today.”

“When you say it like that, doesn’t it make me sound like I don’t work and just slack off?”

Isn’t that right?

“Please send some reinforcements to the Alliance building in the afternoon. I don’t think we’ll need that many….. Maybe some medics and a few reinforcements?”

I swung the knife.

“I’d like it if you could restrain yourself a bit.”

“I’ll try. Anyway, it’s beneficial for the Association too, right? Please turn a blind eye.”

The Alliance side will also find the Association’s quick response helpful in building their image. Hunters rushing in as soon as terrorism occurs. That would make quite a movie in itself.

The conference room door opened. I hurriedly put away the knife.

“Erica!”

“…..You came early?”

“Yeah.”

I hesitated for a moment. Why am I like this?

Suddenly, anxiety set in. I fiddled with the black cube pieces in my pocket.

Outside was cool. The blowing wind tickled my hair and the sunshine was incomparably warm. Was the walkway always like this?

“The weather’s nice.”

“My situation of going to work on a day like this is miserable.”

“I’m going too, you know.”

That’s true.

“Aren’t you tired?”

“Of what?”

“Working.”

The answer was brief. So was Erica’s reaction.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re lying. You’re tired.”

Erica blinked. Then she turned her head.

“…..I said I’m fine.”

“Shall we drink sometime?”

“Drink?”

“Yeah.”

Suddenly, I remembered my body’s tolerance for alcohol. I can handle dozens of bottles.

“Do you get drunk easily?”

“…..A little?”

“How much?”

“I’d say I start blacking out after one bottle.”

“Is that considered weak?”

For an ordinary person….. is that okay?

“N-normal? I’m not sure.”

“I want to see drunk Erica too.”

“…..Don’t say weird things.”

“If I ask for aegyo, will you do it?”

“I absolutely won’t drink with you.”

That would be cute. She’s cute now too.

To put it simply, it’s dangerously so. Erica needs to be aware of her relationship with me. Judging by her recent behavior, it seems like she’d listen to whatever I say while acting tsundere.

Who agrees so easily to drink together? What if I try to do something?

I twisted my hair. Because it was tangled, it was difficult to untangle.

Entering the Alliance building, the place Erica pointed to was the conference room. Entering the room, I saw a small chandelier and a large round table circling around.

“The second meeting is long.”

“That’s good.”

Leaving Erica with a puzzled expression, I took a seat beside her. I heard that not only Alliance hunters but also high-ranking officials from each important facility would participate.

It’s regrettable that they’ll get caught up in this, but it can’t be helped.

As people gathered and seats filled, the lights began to turn off one by one. A huge screen emitted light.

“Welcome to the Alliance General Assembly. I’m Lesker, serving as the vice assembly representative for this time.”

The surroundings were quiet. The jingling of cube pieces felt in my pocket was enough to stimulate my ears.

My heart beat a little faster.

“As you saw in the official document received at the first meeting, this conference will be long. It’s also the stage where we finalize the plan.”

I leaned slightly on Erica’s shoulder in a creaking posture. As if familiar, her hand came and stroked my hair.

It’s peaceful.

“Different officials have come to this meeting, but I think everyone is curious about one thing.”

What if this daily life continued? If I didn’t spend nights coughing up blood, if there was no blood that felt ecstasy from killing someone.

If I had been a little more ordinary, if I had been a being who could spend cozy daily life.

But that can’t be. It doesn’t suit me who has fallen into self-hatred countless times. It’s been long since I diverged from the sprout of return.

I wandered without even knowing my own identity. I dreamed of something countless times but betrayed and gave up just as much.

My heart started to beat even faster. Realizing my inherent duty, my hand trembled. The jingling intensified. Noise and clamor mixed.

“The one thing you all have been looking at until now–“

I grasped the cubes. The black solids went wild and took on a life of their own. The ground turned black and rippled.

Everywhere quickly became noisy. People hesitated and only faint death throes were heard. The current went berserk.

“What is this…..”

“Kieeek!”

Terrible screams rang out and countless tombstones rose from the ground. Bone arms touched the ground. Numerous swords and shields appeared and helmeted heads popped out.

“Erica.”

Amidst the urgent situation, Erica stood up and looked at me hurriedly.

I smiled slightly.

“Please take care of this too.”

The skeleton army touched the ground and leaped at the hunters. The current shook and fluctuated. Wind blew and metallic sounds rang out.

“It’s an attack! Everyone, wake up!”

“Aaagh!”

Flapping my wings, I flew into the air. Rising to the high ceiling, I scattered cubes. I swung the knife. The black cubes split, shattered, and poured out liquid.

The black stream mixed with magical power and solidified. A huge golem was created and screamed. Its fist plunged towards the hunters. The ground shook and explosive sounds rang out.

I cut off my arm with the knife. Blood went berserk and filled the air red. Sharp thorns were created all over the ground and pierced the fighting hunters one by one.

“Don’t fall! Don’t sit down even if it hurts!”

When I sprinkled the red blade once more, screams rang out again from all over. Blood stimulated noses and shook brains.

Amidst the festival of screams, I saw Erica. Her snow-white pupils shook as she looked at me.

Anger and bewilderment crossed countless times.

It was natural.

This is the natural result.

This is what I’ve been wanting.

Now she just needs to open her mouth and pour out condemnation towards me.

“O-Orli.”

The current rapidly subsided. Everywhere became quiet and Erica grasped her sword.

Now tell me.

You just need to say it.

That I’m a bad woman, that I’m trash.

That I’ve been deceiving you all this time.

That you were a fool for trusting me.

As expected, you’re beyond saving-

Her lips moved. The sword fell to the ground.

“Y-your arm. Doesn’t it hurt…..?”

The knife fell from my hand.