Necromancer Survival-Novel

Chapter 401

Seo Dawon handed over ownership of Moon Issak to Bang Eunji. The stigma the Mage had carved onto Issak's forehead changed from his to hers as the owner had changed. Overwhelmed by the shock, Moon Issak twitched like a bug before finally rolling his eyes back. Of course, Bang Eunji, his new owner, paid no attention to his convulsions.

Bang Eunji broke Moon Issak down into pieces before storing him a box she usually used to store large dolls. When the lid slammed shut, the stench penetrating her nose slowly disappeared.

"…Where's Lim Jisoo?"

Now that ‘Moon Issak' had been cleaned up, everyone's attention turned to focus on the whereabouts of another enemy: Lim Jisoo. Seo Dawon gestured, as if he were looking down into dungeon–

[This is the passageway.]

The Mage led everyone to what seemed to be an empty wall, but, when he flicked his finger, the wall opened and a narrow passage appeared. This way, everyone was able to reach Koo Hui-seo's ‘room' without much difficulty.

"Hngh… Hnrkk…Hnrkk…" However, when they arrived, they could could only see Koo Hui-seo scratching at his neck, attempting to injure himself. Lim Jisoo was nowhere to be seen.

Seo Dawon slowly scanned Koo Hui-seo's wet face and opened his mouth–

[What about Lim Jisoo?]

After Dawon repeated his question a few times, Koo Hui-seo returned to his senses, "She… Ran away. She took… something strange from her person…and tore it apart…"

Koo Hui-seo was aware of his own mistake–he let an important enemy escape. His large, intimidated eyes shook anxiously. However, Seo Dawon didn't question Koo Hui-seo anymore and pointed at one of the murdered corpses that littered the ground.

[Shinigami's Book.]

Then, Choi Lee-kyung's voice echoed from somewhere. Everyone besides Seo Dawon raised their heads, reacting to that voice. Strangely, though, Choi Lee-kyung couldn't be seen even though they had definitely heard him.

"Lee-kyung-ssi…?" Koo Hui-seo looked around, bewildered. He wasn't the only one; the servants also slyly searched around, but they could see neither hide nor tail of their Master.

"Gurghh… Gurgle…"

Nevertheless, the skill had been activated properly. The dead man's mouth–dry like a mummy–opened. The dead person began to tremble, mouth wide open. It looked like a sinner awaiting judgment after death.

Seo Dawon looked at it with an indifferent expression. Then, he asked–

[Where did Lim Jisoo run away to?]

"…Searching…memories…"

The deceased moved its stiffened tongue and hesitantly responded; then, it soon began to shake its head wildly. After a short while, it straightened up into a very rigid posture. A smooth voice began to emanate from its mouth, as if someone had pressed a button on the radio. "If we fail to lock up Seo Dawon… Hm, there's a big risk on this side as well."

Startlingly, the words that flowed from the dead person's mouth sounded like Lim Jisoo. Also, unlike before, the voice wasn't inarticulate. Rather than a paltry imitation, it was as if Lim Jisoo had actually embodied the corpse; her voice itself cout of its mouth.

That wasn't the only startling thing.

"Then, take this scroll."

Suddenly, Bae Jaemin's voice–not Lim Jisoo's–began to flow from those dead lips. Furthermore, as if acting out a scene, the dead person moved, raising its withered arm and handing something over.

The corpse stood still; then, it slowly toppled forward as if indicating that it had finished its duty. Thump–! And, just like that, the body, which was solid and retained a hint of its former shape until mere moments ago, scattered into the air like grains of sand.

Seo Dawon had no more interest in this ‘shinigami's' final moments. The swas true of the others.

Kim Olim, who had been silent all this while, said, "What's the range of a movement scroll? Can we search this up somehow?"

Jung Garam and Bang Eunji answered almost simultaneously, "A radius of 10 kilometers would probably be the limit."

"10 kilometers."

At their responses, Woo Ragi opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, then looked at Seo Dawon and closed his mouth again. He frowned.

Then, Kim Olim gave voice to what Woo Ragi clearly wanted to say, "If it's 10 kilometers, they haven't gone very far. I'll go for her."

However, Seo Dawon dissuaded her–

[If he only brought one teleport scroll, that plan might work. But considering that rat's character, he likely prepared several. Of course, maybe only one of those scrolls can be immediately used for urgent cases, but…]

"……"

[There's a possibility that they'll slip through our fingers, right before our eyes.]

Kim Olim nodded at that reasonable statement.

Seo Dawon continued–

[Also, there's no need to chase her right now. We have two people on our side who have the ability to stay in pursuit.]

With that said, he looked at Jung Garam and Bang Eunji. The two activated their respective search skills at the stime.

"[Mapping]."

"[Chaser]."

The two had much experience combining their skills. Soon, the red dot that Bang Eunji created began to move around on Jung Garam's map. The red dot, presumably Lim Jisoo, was moving rapidly.

"……"

At that moment, Koo Hui-seo, who had been at the margins and ignored by everyone, also sneaked up to look down at the map. His eyes, scanning the coordinates, gradually darkened. However, Seo Dawon didn't bother to stop him.

"[Bloody Nightmare]." Koo Hui-seo said.

Then, a small cloud of black smoke rose over the map. The smoke quickly caught up with the red spot, which was soon shrouded in the murky smoke and stopped moving.

Koo Hui-seo–looking very much like he had done this before–stabbed his hand with his tentacle and began to bleed tar-like blood.

[……]

Seo Dawon, detecting something within that blood, looked fiercely at Koo Hui-seo. However, Koo Hui-seo didn't notice Seo Dawon's bloodthirst and raised his split fingertip to the map.

Drip–!

An ominous, sticky, and black blood droplet fell over the coordinates; the red dot had now turned a similar murky black.

Koo Hui-seo closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. His black pupils returned to their usual hollow, glossy appearance. Seo Dawon looked down at Koo Hui-seo and, without any warning, grabbed the back of the ex-chimera's head and twisted it abruptly.

"I-It hurts…" Koo Hui-seo seemed beaten down, but his tentacles were not as submissive. Thin, strand-like tentacles were creeping up towards Seo Dawon's hand, which was still gripping the back of Koo Hui-seo's head with enough force to break it.

Koo Hui-seo blinked, unable to understand the turn of events. However, Seo Dawon didn't hesitate.

Cr-r-r-r-unch–!

The Mage just broke Koo Hui-seo's neck, then and there.

Koo Hui-seo's eyes lost focus, as if he had fallen unconscious. Soon, his back began to swell, and a pile of tentacles started pouring out. However, as soon as the tentacles wrapped around Seo Dawon's hand, they lost their strength and fell to the ground.

"Unnngh…" Ever since Seo Dawon mercilessly broke his neck, the easy-going Koo Hui-seo started to cry with his mouth wide open. Despite looking down at Koo Hui-seo's pained expression, Seo Dawon didn't loosen his grip; he opened his inventory with his free hand.

[Are you unable to distinguish what you should and shouldn't eat?]

"Cough, cough…"

[How many times now have you betrayed Lee-kyung? Even a dog recognizes its owner.]

Cold anger filled Seo Dawon's expression; without hiding his contempt and disgust, the Mage opened the lid of a flask containing transparent liquid.

No one stopped the Mage. In fact, everyone in [Red Lotus] had wanted to remove this inauspicious omen–this chimeric monster and collection of curses–from their Master's view at spoint or another.

"Glurgle…"

Thus, even though they knew what Seo Dawon was feeding Koo Hui-seo, no one tried to stop him. Koo Hui-seo struggled as the horrific liquid burned in his mouth, and, with a kick to his stomach, his ribs were broken.

Koo Hui-seo groaned at this almost familiar pain; he eventually stopped his rebellion and obediently opened his mouth. This was the first the'd experienced such one-sided violence since his mother died…

"I…I did wrong…" Strangely, this oppression brought Koo Hui-seo an ironic sense of comfort. The anxiety that had always made him feel watched, as if someone were constantly monitoring him, was now exposed by Seo Dawon's violence. Of course, to put it another way, this peace was forced upon him–he was made obedient…

[If you don't understand next time, you'll die by my hands.]

Koo Hui-seo was more familiar with this method.

He felt pain and comfort, joy and ridicule at the stas he swallowed the mouth-burning holy water. After releasing Koo Hui-seo's black hair, Seo Dawon shook his hands as if he had touched something dirty.

—

Beca member!

TL: Oh god… Koo Hui-seo…