Book 2: Chapter 413
Silence fell upon the room as if time had frozen.
They had all been surprised by Lukas’ appearance, but it didn’t take too long for them to regain their composure.
Pale was the first one to open her mouth.
“…wow.”
Pure admiration glistened in her eyes like starlight.
“It’s been a really long time.”
When he heard her unique, bubbly voice, Lukas briefly turned his eyes to look at her.
“Was it like that for you too?”
The person she was talking to responded with an embarrassingly emotionless tone and expression. Nevertheless, Pale bobbed her head and giggled as if nothing happened.
“Not really.”
Pale hadn’t stayed in the dump site with Lukas for 4,000 years. Because Lukas hadn’t met her at all in his time there. She’d probably left right after she’d disappeared.
And here, ‘outside’, the flow of time was different from the ‘time inside’.
From Lukas’ perspective, their last conversation had been a long time ago, but it wouldn’t have been the case for her.
“It seems my advice worked.”
“Advice?”
“Huh. Don’t you remember?”
“…”
Lukas turned away instead of answering. It was an act that seemed dismissive at first, but Pale didn’t seem to be displeased as she continued to smile brightly. It was almost as if she was happy just looking at Lukas’ face.
“…”
The other two.
Their gazes were not as friendly as Pale’s.
Deep, sunken eyes glared at Lukas. At the same time, the intangible aura in the room became sharp and pressed heavily on his entire body.
Focused aura seemed to stab into his body.
Despite the pressure being so strong that it wouldn’t be weird if he had trouble breathing or was writhing in pain, Lukas’ expression didn’t change. Naturally, he didn’t stop walking either. After walking up to the table, he looked around and said.
“It doesn’t seem like there are any more chairs.”
“There aren’t.”
It was Corpse Ghost who responded.
There was a faint smile on his badly wrinkled face.
“That’s because I only invited two people here.”
Lukas tilted his head slightly. He looked at Corpse Ghost as if he was observing him. He was certain of one thing. Unlike before with the skeletons, this time, he was not possessing anything.
In front of him now was the main body of the Corpse Ghost, one of the Twelve Void Lords.
“Then, why don’t you give yours up?”
Corpse Ghost smiled as if he’d just heard something funny.
“There are a total of three people sitting here right now. Isn’t that right?”
“Right.”
“So among the three, why are you asking me to give mine up?”
“A chair is a device that is usually used to reduce leg fatigue. By placing your butt on it.”
Corpse Ghost gestured as if telling him to continue.
Lukas continued in the same indifferent tone.
“You don’t have legs or a butt, do you? Instead of sitting on the chair, it’s more like you’re resting on it.”
“So you’re saying since I don’t need a chair, why not give it to you? Kukuku! Hahaha!”
Corpse Ghost couldn’t hold it in any longer and let out a laugh.
His spine rattled. His body was moving so much that it wouldn’t be strange if he tilted and fell over. In fact, skeletons standing behind him flinched constantly, as if they were anxious.
After a while, Corpse Ghost stopped laughing and said.
“…that’s an interesting perspective. No, really. But you seem to be mistaken about something. The chairs here aren’t for reducing fatigue. They serve as a kind of qualification.”
“Qualification? What qualification?”
“The qualification to talk to me.”
Lukas looked at him indifferently.
“That’s not something I want to have.”
“Hoh. We share the same thought. I don’t want to talk to you, either.”
[It’s as he said.]
Agreeing with Corpse Ghost, Diablo rose up from his seat.
There seemed to be a peculiar aura swirling within his bony eye socket.
[I can’t believe it. I suppose you are the ‘Lukas Trowman’ I know and made contact with…]
“…”
[How surprising. I didn’t think you’d be in this world… More than that, I didn’t expect to meet you in a place like this.]
“Is that so?”
Lukas replied in an uninterested tone.
Almost at the same time, pitch black energy gushed out of Diablo’s body.
[Although you seem aloof now, you probably hate me a lot, don’t you?]
Diablo’s gaze turned to the screen. Just in time, the figure of the Black Knight was reflected on it. Scattering black energy, the Black Knight toyed with the test participants.
No, it was Lucid, the Sword King, who had become an undead.
[I brought your friend back to life.]
“…”
[Defiled his soul, corrupted him, and resurrected his rotten corpse. Then, after weakening his mind with various methods of torture and brainwashing, I made him obey my commands. Did you know that?]
“I know.”
[Do you really not care? Or are you simply suppressing your emotions and forcing yourself to remain calm?]
“Why are you curious about that?”
Instead, Lukas asked back.
Diablo closed his mouth as his expression changed subtly.
“Diablo, I have no interest in anything like that.”
[…is that really the case?]
Diablo couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of incongruity.
Did Lukas really just say that?
Most beings in their fundamental universe had forgotten about Lukas. So in a sense, Diabo was the person who knew Lukas the best.
He knew just how much the Great Mage Lukas Trowman cared about his past friends. That’s why he was so dumbfounded. If it was the Lukas Diablo knew, he never would have disregarded this matter.
[Are you really Lukas Trowman?]
Lukas didn’t answer.
It was then that Diablo realised something.
When he first appeared, Lukas had looked around like he was observing the room. Afterwards, he talked to Pale and turned his gaze to her for a while.
And since then, he’d been staring at the Corpse Ghost.
His eyes hadn’t turned to Diablo. It was as if to say he’d already figured out everything about him when he first looked at him.
[…]
He felt insulted.
Even if his body was already dead, his pride still remained.
Diablo’s aura changed.
Pitch black energy swirled around his entire body. The table covering fluttered and Pale’s hair whipped around wildly. With a soft cry, she clutched her hair.
Wriggle-
The pitch black energy gathered to the tip of Diablo’s pure white finger. It was so black that it seemed as if the darkness itself had wrapped around his finger.
Shuk.
With the sound of the air splitting, the pitch blackness* shot forward like a beam. (*: 칠흑. Yes, exactly that.)
As soon as Lukas’ gaze turned to the pitch blackness, the pitch blackness changed from its linear form.
Fwoosh!
Like a viscous substance in an explosion, it spread widely like the jaws of an animal trying to devour Lukas.
Taking two steps back, Lukas raised his hand.
There was no energy around it. Not to mention absolute, there weren’t even any signs of a defence spell.
Just his bare hand.
[Foolish…]
Diablo scoffed.
At the same time, the pitch black substance wrapped around Lukas’s arm. Then, a strange phenomenon took place.
His skin became dry and wrinkled like a dried fruit, before quickly becoming rough like bark.
Before long, it turned black and fell off like cracked ceramic. It hadn’t taken long for this to happen.
In the blink of an eye, Lukas’ arm had rotted and began to release a bad smell.
Lukas’ response was swift.
Shuk.
Forming a knife shape with his left hand, he sliced off his right forearm. Blood dripped from the cross section.
Lukas didn’t even groan, but with a slightly paler face, he muttered.
“This isn’t absolute.”
Despite losing an arm, he still spoke in a flat tone, but Diablo felt like he was just bluffing.
But the words that Lukas spoke next made him think differently.
“Did you graft it with death energy? A power that burns lifeforce with just a touch… it’s similar to Nozdog’s power, however, it has a more fundamental feeling.”
[…]
The nature of his ability had been discovered in such a short time.
Although he was shocked in his heart, he didn’t show it.
[As expected, you have amazing eyes. But there are things in this world that you can’t respond to even if you know about it.]
“Are you talking about this power?”
[Are you going to deny it? Despite losing an arm to it already?]
Diablo spoke in a sarcastic tone.
[You can’t stop it just by cutting off your hand. Although slower, my death energy will continue to corrode your body. Do you understand what that means? It’s just a matter of time before you die.]
There was a subtle shift in his speech.
This meant that he was no longer showing respect to Lukas. Nevertheless, that didn’t matter to Lukas.
[You intended to feel the nature of my power by touching it directly. It seems like you’ve made some progress… However, you should have been more careful. Even if you didn’t know, isn’t one arm and one life as tuition too expensive?]
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lukas spoke.
“Losing an arm? A life? Talk seriously.”
[Kuku. Pathetic. Even if you deny reality, it will not change…]
Diablo stopped talking.
Then he looked at Lukas.
Just a moment ago, his right arm had definitely been rotten.
But now, the right arm, which he’d cut off himself, was still intact.
[What…?]
Lukas sighed softly.
“…Diablo, is this low level power really all? Is this what you achieved after putting your entire life into it?”
[You, what the hell are you…]
“It was not even worth considering and analysing. To explain it in a way you’d understand, I only made direct contact with it as a kind of entertainment.”
[Don’t be ridiculous…]
Diablo gnashed his teeth.
[This is the power I developed while wandering this world..!]
“And yet, you weren’t able to deviate from the framework of magicology. Your power is still one dimensional, simple, and that’s why…”
Lukas stretched out his palm and pitch black energy formed on it.
“It’s simple to imitate.”
[…impossible.]
There was a strong sense of disbelief in his voice.
[I don’t believe it.]
He muttered again like he’d lost his mind.
Diablo was unable to believe what he was witnessing with his own eyes.
[…you, what the hell kind of trick did you do?]
“Even if you deny reality, it cannot change anything. Don’t you understand yet? Why I didn’t pay any attention to you?”
Even the faint hint of cynicism disappeared from Lukas’ mouth.
“At this point, killing you isn’t a big deal.”
[…!]
“But there is one thing I want to experiment with. What will happen if this power touches you, who has already become a skeleton? Will your bones become powder and scatter?”
[Kuk. Don’t be ridiculous.]
Death energy rose up from Diablo’s entire body. The black smoke rushed towards Lukas like steam.
But Lukas didn’t block or dodge it, he simply accepted it.
There was no effect. Lukas’ skin didn’t rot or wither away like before.
Just as the light in Diablo’s eyes began to fluctuate roughly.
“Enough.”
As soon as he heard the Corpse Ghost’s soft murmur, Diablo’s death energy disappeared as if it had immediately evaporated. This wasn’t Diablo’s doing. He turned to look at the Corpse Ghost in bewilderment.
Lukas’ attention turned to the Corpse Ghost again. In truth, his attention had only been on the Corpse Ghost since he’d entered this place.
“I feel like I have a rough understanding of your power.”
Lukas’ lips twitched slightly at those words.
“You feel like you know it.”
“Why? Do you think I’m lying?”
“That’s not it. I think you’re probably mistaken.”
The Corpse Ghost laughed again.
“Mistaken? Why do you think so?”
Lukas looked at him quietly for a moment before saying something else.
“You seem to like to talk a lot.”
“It’s a part of my nature. Don’t you?”
“Well. I’m not sure what I was like before…”
Lukas muttered softly.
“But I don’t think I do now. Talking doesn’t seem to come as easily to me as it does to you.”
“Hmm. I see.”
The Corpse Ghost nodded and didn’t seem displeased as he opened his mouth again.
“Then I’ll stop talking. Goodbye.”
Squelch-
In the next moment, Lukas’ body melted into a pool of blood.
(TL: The End.)