Chapter 119 – 17th Floor. Navigation

‘What is this sense of discomfort?’

Kwaaaaang—!!!

Fragments of wall, crumbling like cookies and scattering violently from an enormous force, and gray dust clouding the vision.

Through this, a man running quite well despite carrying what appears to be an extremely heavy chest.

A being possessing fragments of new knowledge that he himself had been searching for, and one who foolishly rejected his offer.

‘I thought he wasn’t ordinary, possessing such a complete and stable spirit that even I couldn’t obtain…’

Look at what this fellow is doing as if it’s the most natural thing.

“If I’m going to be stalked, I’d rather it be by a pretty woman than a dick bastard! Better if she had big tits!”

While spouting vulgar words befitting only of underlings, he lightly avoided the reaching hands of spirits.

Sometimes ducking his head, sometimes bending his waist, sometimes twisting his body, sometimes kicking off the wall while running.

“Tsk. Block the path.”

If he’s going to slip away like an eel with inhuman movements, I also have plans.

Following my hand gesture, paintings imprisoning souls shoot forward.

Obeying their rightful master’s command, hundreds and thousands of frames efficiently build a solid wall in the middle of the corridor, creating a dead end.

Clap!

“Intertwine with each other!”

Paintings drawn with oil paint that had been forcibly infused with human souls, giving them a slight sense of self.

When given an order by their master, they can pour all their resources into executing the command, surpassing their usual flailing movements to operate as precisely as machines.

With the order to intertwine, the arms extending from the paintings grab each other, becoming a single combined entity like links or chains.

Is that alone enough? Of course it is.

This act means that beyond what’s visually apparent, the spiritual connection transforms the wall assembled from tens of thousands of frames into a single, complete wall.

“Now the game is over…”

But the man ran toward that obstacle without concern for its emergence.

‘What is this? Has he given up on living?’

I had no intention of killing him if he would just transfer that beautiful masterpiece to me.

Of course, he would make an excellent specimen, but considering he had already killed me twenty-six times in that short period, even being immortal, dealing with him was tiresome and irritating.

Moreover, if I received the transfer, I had many questions about the masterpiece’s origins.

So as I extended my arm to stop the man…

“Come forth, Holy Slime Grenade!”

Squish?!

But that was the wrong prediction.

The man hadn’t given up on life; he simply had a way to break through.

In his hand was a slime mass almost the size of a person, with golden fluids and an ominously white glow.

When he had been holding it, where it had come from—completely unknown—but the man threw it with all his might toward the wall in front of him as if it were nothing.

Squiiiiish—?!?!

The elastic surface of the slime spread widely in the air due to air resistance, but this only caused it to impact the wall with a greater surface area.

【Sanctify】

Flash—

And then, a blinding light.

I had to close my eyes against the light, which had poor compatibility with me.

“Kuk..!”

Rumblerumblerumble—!!!

Though my vision was temporarily stolen, my remaining hearing informed me that the wall of living paintings had collapsed pathetically.

Even so, the pursuit did not end.

This area is my property.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the power of life and death within this realm belongs to me.

It’s merely a question of how long or short the chase will be.

However, that man proceeded as if such principles didn’t concern him, smashing everything in his path.

Picking up a worn hammer dropped in the corridor by some unknown intruder, he instantly pulverized into bone dust the skeleton soldiers raised to block his path. Except for the masterpiece and the slime mass from just now, he seemed to have no magical abilities, so I sent spirit fusion entities, but he turned them into strange-looking dolls. I even sent Death Knights to crush him in the close combat he seemed to favor, but they were turned to statues by a scroll.

‘As if he prepared specifically to face me…!’

He caught flying statues and threw them at paintings to shoot them down, neutralized zombies by throwing healing potions at them, and dodged the sword strikes of Death Knights hidden at corridor bends with tumbling moves.

And when I tried to immobilize him with the touch of death after time had been dragged on, he blocked the flying rotten flesh pieces with a magic shield, as if taunting me, leaving me no choice but to furrow my brow intensely.

Rather than combat, it was escape.

Rather than escape, it was acrobatics.

Rather than acrobatics, it was artistry.

Rather than artistry, acts approaching eccentricity.

“Kwiik..!”

More troublesome than when I destroyed my home country where I was born.

I’d rather face hundreds of knights and tens of thousands of soldiers. I could just order my minions, and that would be the end of it.

“Haha! Idiot! Already tired? Just like a premature ejaculator.”

“Vulgar bastard..! Would you be able to say such things to me if I crushed your vocal cords!”

“Your mother’s insides go boom~”

Gnash-

My mind bubbles like boiling water.

Though necromancy is said to be a malicious power, at its foundation, it’s just one school of magic.

The unshakable mind that had entered the realm and reached imperturbability on the path of that magical way was beginning to crack at this cheap provocation.

‘What is this…!’

Almost within grasp, yet just out of reach.

Anger rising toward that man who continued this unfunny escape drama as if mocking me.

How far back in my memories would I have to go to recall feeling such emotion?

Inappropriate to the situation, but the Necromancer, now legendary, was momentarily distracted by a sudden memory from the past, about to stop his pursuing legs—

Kuguuuuuuuung———!!!

A violent vibration, like a strong earthquake, struck the Infinite Gallery of Knowledge.

“Whoa!”

The force echoing from afar created cracks in the stone floor—crack, crack—undulating like waves and causing everything standing on it to lose balance.

Unfairly, the floating statues and paintings without legs were unaffected, but the Death Knight, who had been pretentiously riding a skeleton horse, rolled ungracefully on the floor along with me.

Clatter-bang!

Rolling so thoroughly across the floor actually lessens the embarrassment.

“Oh my poor back… What kind of cruelty is this, risking damage to my precious back…”

Lightly tapping my lower back with my fist, I cautiously stood up and turned around to see Levand staring at the wall with a serious expression.

‘No. Not the wall, but the hiding place that was sealed off.’

For something to distract the attention of someone who can’t die even when killed, especially when he was about to catch me, there could only be one reason.

If not that, then his dead parents had returned or something.

Since that’s impossible, the most likely scenario is that Albert or Blue Tongue had done something.

“This is…!”

“Hey, corpse-stuffer.”

I was planning to find the hiding place and finish him off myself, but with the situation turning this way, there’s no reason not to take advantage.

“I’ll settle the debt of your disregard for my goodwill later. Now is not the time.”

“What if I have no intention of letting you go?”

Grind-

To Levand, who was making a frighteningly teeth-grinding sound, I lifted the corner of my mouth without averting my gaze and threw an axe at the staggering Death Knight as it rose.

Crack!

【You have defeated the Death Knight.】

With the dull sound of a skull breaking, the armor and bones comprising the Death Knight poured onto the floor.

But neither Levand nor I had the mental capacity to spare attention for such things.

Our gazes collided in midair as we continued our standoff, emanating murderous intent toward each other.

“If you must…!”

The one who broke that tense line first was Levand.

He must know that the longer time passes, the more advantageous it is for me, as the fire is now under his feet.

Ominous green magic power glows, aimed at me.

“No, no. I won’t block it. Isn’t it a waste of time to be caught up like this? I’ll let you go.”

“What?”

I’ll let such a guy go.

“Why? Don’t you believe me? Look, I’ll even raise my hands!”

The sword in my hand fell to the floor with a clang and my empty hands spread wide and raised high, causing his expression to change oddly from one that seemed to ask what nonsense I was talking about.

His handsome face crumpled as if he was clenching his molars, making it finally worth looking at.

“You’re a madman.”

“I do shine a bit. Should have been moderately good-looking, right?”

Seeing me twist my body in response to the sudden compliment, not knowing how to react, Levand finally clicked his tongue softly and pointed his hand toward the wall.

And then came a strange burst.

Light created by forbidden magic that brushed against the skin.

After that instant passed, the place where the light receded no longer had a wall.

“…I don’t know what you’re plotting, but I hope you remember that you’re next in line.”

“Yes, sir. I know. I sure do.”

Though he looked at me skeptically as I giggled, Levand soon turned away to avoid the worst-case scenario of his source being attacked.

And I…

“What are you doing?”

“What?”

“I don’t think you’re asking because you genuinely don’t understand my question.”

Following behind Levand heading toward the hiding place, I’m receiving automatic guidance.

“The navigation system in this house isn’t very good.”