The Necromancer Who Was Despised

To be exact…

‘Is this kid crazy?’

It seemed to be a research lab where they were conducting chimera research on fellow demons.

‘He’s gone around the bend. He came here to invade the Middle Realm, and he’s experimenting on his fellow demons?’

He must have been a subordinate of the Demon King, so he must have been quite 優秀to deceive even the Demon King.

It is one of the things that the Demon Kings forbid, for demons to experiment on demons.

The reason was simple. In the past, the power of the entire Demon Realm was greatly diminished due to the war with the Celestial Realm, so it is said that various restrictions were imposed in order to increase the power of the entire Demon Realm.

One of them was experimenting on the Demon Realm’s race, the demons.

Before that, it is said that it was unknown whether or not they were experimenting on demons.

This is a fact I heard from the Demon King I contracted with in my first playthrough.

“… There was a reason why the magic lamps were still operating even after such a long time.”

“Yes? What is that… .”

I immediately opened the half-broken doors and searched the interior space thoroughly.

I was able to find what I was looking for in one of them.

“… “What is this?”

“The heart of a demon. Tsk. It’s useless.”

The magic power inside was almost gone. All that remained was almost just the shell.

‘It would be useless even if I had it… Oh, no. If it’s for another purpose… .’

I immediately took the heart. Fortunately, the magic lamp did not turn off immediately. Thanks to the remaining magic power, it seemed like it would last for a while.

In another room, I noticed several body parts of demons that were half-rotten and stored in sealed containers, as well as reagents that had become too old to be used.

There was also a spirit herb.

Three blue roots of the Trenesly. It looked like it was hundreds of years old.

A blue root first discovered in the Trenesly region, it is mainly used as an ingredient for elixirs.

It has abundant mana, so it is helpful to eat it as it is.

It is a spirit herb that cannot be bought even if you have money.

If it’s hundreds of years old… you can’t buy it even if you pay for it.

It seemed that the roots were originally stored and left alone for a long time, and then they took root in the cave.

‘It’s not contaminated with magic.’

It was a pity. If it had been contaminated with magic, I would have purified it and used it myself.

It was not a spirit herb for nothing; the inside was filled with pure mana.

‘No, no. There’s still the artifact left. Besides… I also got my hands on the research data.’

I even got my hands on the heart of a demon, even though it was just an empty shell.

Not an ordinary heart, either.

I’ll have to check, but if it’s as written in the diary, this is the heart of a lycanthrope.

The problem was that the corpse of the lycanthrope from which the heart was taken was used to create a chimera, and while there was a record that it was completed, the corpse of the chimera was nowhere to be seen.

‘… There must be a guardian.’

It was likely on the left path.

‘There are probably only monsters at the entrance. They must be lowlifes drawn by the magic.’

Monsters also have a lifespan.

Their lifespan does not increase just because they are contaminated with magic.

‘If anything, it decreases.’

According to the diary, the only successful chimera was the one made from a lycanthrope.

Even that one was disappointing because its performance was poor.

‘It must have weakened since so much time has passed.’

Considering the curse that remained in Tia’s body, there was no way that a chimera that had not been taken care of would be fine.

‘It may have become completely unusable.’

In the first place, this cave was originally a place that was not visible due to the barrier set up by the lich.

After Richie disappeared, the barrier weakened over time and became visible.

In other words, even the chimera couldn’t escape the effects of time.

“…This is all we can manage.”

The magic lantern was stuck in the cave and hard to remove.

“Then shall we head straight down the left path?”

“Let’s go.”

I informed Kyla that there was a possibility of a guardian there.

“If it’s a guardian…”

“It’s a chimera. Made from the corpse of a lycanthrope.”

It’s a chimera made from the finest materials, with a lycanthrope’s body as the base, and a demon’s horns, heart, incubus’s eyes, and celestial’s wings added.

‘The Shadow Demon said that the synthesis failed. That’s fortunate.’

But because the combination was poor, they say its strength was terrible compared to its materials.

Records show that it could only face experts, let alone masters.

I could sense the anger in the records.

‘It’s understandable to be pissed.’

It varies depending on the individual, but on average, except for incubi, each of the lower demons used as materials could easily handle an expert.

But how is it that they became weaker when combined…?

‘The lycanthrope was said to be a demon general when it was alive…’

It was terribly weakened.

Even if you made a zombie out of that corpse, it would be better than the recorded chimera.

It was impossible not to get angry.

“Don’t worry. It’s written that it’s not that strong. Besides, a lot of time has passed, so it’s likely not in good shape.”

“…Is that so? I understand. Let’s go and see for now.”

Since our original goal was there, we couldn’t back down now.

Kyla and I returned to the fork in the road with the skeleton in front, and this time we headed left.

It wasn’t long before we entered that way.

“Creak. Hu, man?”

“…You can talk?”

Honestly, I was surprised.

It was amazing that it was alive and moving, but it could even talk.

‘Is it intelligent? That’s a bit inconvenient…’

Thud, thud, thud.

The creature, sensing our presence, slowly revealed itself.

“…It’s quite large.”

However, it was only large.

Its appearance was abnormal.

Its body was rotting in places, it had only one celestial wing, and its eyes were unfocused, as if it had lost its sight.

There was no sign of the devil’s horns anywhere.

“Life, force. Offer your life force…”

“Master, step back.”

Kayla spoke with a very tense expression.

The guy slowly approached us like a zombie, and even though his size was almost 3m, his appearance was so ugly that it put quite a bit of pressure on us.

“… It’s okay. That thing is just a big piece of trash.”

The magic power I sense from his body is less than mine right now.

Even that was rotten and leaking all over the place from his body.

When I turned my gaze behind him, there was a small altar.

‘… I found it.

There was a staff placed on top of the altar.

“Blood… life… .”

Kayla said as she looked at the chimera muttering while lying flat on the floor.

“Is it because it’s old? It’s definitely weak compared to its appearance. Is it normal for chimeras to not be able to handle their own bodies?”

“Well. They vary greatly depending on the individual. This one was said to be a failure even by its creator, so it’s difficult to compare it to other chimeras.”

The types of chimeras vary greatly depending on the creator’s ability, the quality of the materials, the combination of materials, the degree of completion, and the purpose of creation, so it’s difficult to say for sure.

Just as all humans are not the same, so too are monsters. Even if chimeras are created in the same way, their performance varies greatly.

Even if the combination is made with the same race, there are times when a rejection reaction occurs and it fails. Chimeras are only called chimeras by name, but in reality, each individual has a different personality and ability, so it’s impossible to make a general statement about what a chimera is like.

While we were talking, the chimera’s breath stopped.

“Aside from the altar… and that staff… there’s nothing left intact. Why is there even a space like this… .”

“This was probably the main laboratory.”

“Is that right?”

“The chimera was probably also created around that altar.”

There were many items scattered around that had lost their shape over time.

They were probably things that the Lich had used in the past.

‘But there’s nothing I can use.’

In the meantime, I approached the altar and looked at the staff.

It had a body that looked like wood and a large black jewel embedded in it.

The part where the jewel was embedded was the top, and it was decorated in a shape similar to a skull. The shape of the jewel in its mouth was impressive.

‘It looks like it’s smiling… .’

Its eyes were empty, making it look quite bizarre.

As soon as I touched the staff, I felt magic power trying to penetrate my body.

‘This is the curse that Tia was under.’

The staff sensed that I was not its master and was cursing me.

However, there was no reason for me to suffer, since I already knew about the curse.

It seems that Tia touched this staff… .

‘Did the monsters at the entrance catch Tia, make her fall under a curse, and then throw her away?’

Something’s strange.

The werewolf, who was a chimera, attacked us, saying that he was searching for life force, but he didn’t touch Tia?

That’s when it happened.

-Who are you?

A voice came from somewhere.

-A sacrifice? No, no. Denok is dead. Are you an intruder?

…Ego Weapon…

I could tell immediately where that voice was coming from.

-So this is where I end up. Hehe. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have struggled so pathetically. Who would have thought my end would come at the hands of such an incompetent warlock?

“Who are you?”

“…Master?”

Kayla called out to me in surprise at my sudden words.

But I raised a hand to silence her and continued to speak to the staff.

“Who are you? The Ego Weapon? Surely you’re not the spirit of a lich?”

-Oh? Have you come here looking for whose laboratory this is? It’s a secret place, so you’ve done well to find it.

“You still haven’t answered my question. Who are you?”

-My name is Kumar. I was once a subordinate of Lord Denok.

This Kumar fellow had called that chimera Denok.

“Denok isn’t that chimera, is it? You mean the Denok who was alive before?”

-That’s right.

The lycanthrope who was a general under the Demon King. That was Denok’s name.

According to the information written in the research log, the chimera’s individual name was also Denok, after him.

“But why is a general’s subordinate trapped inside a staff like this?”

-Kukuk. When Elosette betrayed Lord Denok and killed him, I was captured with him. I should have died there…

He said that he didn’t want to die yet, so he ended up submitting to Elosette, the lich.

He cooperated as a test subject, and in exchange, his soul was sealed inside the staff, becoming one of the lich Elosette’s weapons.

-Even in this state, I didn’t want to die. No, in this state, I had to survive all the more. That’s why I possessed monsters and stole their life force.

He said that humans had proven to be the most efficient.

-However, perhaps because of the war we fought with humans in the past, Denok devours humans if they get too close. That’s why I had to leave humans with the Curse of Depletion and chase them out of here.

“…The Curse of Depletion? Doesn’t that curse just weaken the victim’s body and devour it? Could it also transmit life force to this extent?”

Besides, if it was that kind of curse, it wouldn’t make sense for the will imbued in the curse to be so weak.

To be able to steal life force and send it to this distant place, it was far beyond the capabilities of an ordinary curse.

‘No, wait, the Ego Weapon was involved from the start. Could the level of will in the curse have been that low?’

I suddenly felt a sense of uneasiness.

“You’re not a warlock, are you?”

-That’s right. I’m a lycanthrope as well. I know almost nothing about dark magic. That’s why I had no choice but to use the security measures built into the staff itself.

‘…The lich’s level was higher than I imagined.’

I think I understand now.