Ruler of Death (3)

The Abyss.

That cursed place, where not a single ray of light could penetrate, was only known to the people of the continent by rumors.

Even Van, who had traveled across the empire for his special investigator mission, had never set foot in such a place before.

The pitch-black darkness, where it seemed impossible for any life to survive.

Only the being in front of him was shining faintly in the midst of it.

It was the sight of the living death, gesturing at him with its empty gaze.

-“Eternal darkness, where no light can reach.”

-“Do you know what kind of creatures live in such an abyss?”

There was no lie in the words that the creature conveyed with its raised hand.

Faced with the death that spoke to him, Van had to ponder his situation.

Why did he fall into the abyss?

And what was the thing in front of him?

If he didn’t know that, it would be impossible to get out of this place.

“Hey, why… why am I in the abyss?”

That’s why Van pulled out his sword belt from his waist.

He had to fight back with his sword belt if he had no sword.

That was the only chance he had to survive.

The death kindly answered Van’s question, who raised his sword belt.

-“It seems you have no interest in the life of the abyss. But if you want, I’ll tell you everything.”

“…I don’t care about those things.”

-“Did you ask why you came here? That’s a simple story. I invited you myself.”

It was certain that the being in front of him had called him.

But he didn’t know how it had summoned him to the abyss.

Even if he asked about the way it had brought him here, there was no guarantee that he could fully understand it.

The form of death that reflected in Van’s eyes was alien to humans at a glance.

Van’s question continued as he pointed his sword belt at it.

“Why did you call me here?”

-“Because there is someone who broke my doll, I invited you here myself.”

At Arcrosis’s words that he had broken his doll, Edella’s face flashed through Van’s mind.

The moment Van’s sword strike cut off Edella’s breath.

He had to face her exploding flesh along with a strange voice.

From the moment she bled black blood, it was clear that Edella was no longer human.

The doll that the being in front of him spoke of was none other than Edella, who had become an undead.

“Then let me ask you one last thing. What are you… what is your identity?”

The death with a form had brought a human from the surface to the abyss.

And it had turned a promising dark mage into an undead and controlled her.

What kind of being could do such a thing?

As Van asked that question with curiosity.

The death in front of him smiled.

-“Did you ask about me?”

Even though it was hard to distinguish his face, Van could feel that he was laughing.

The being in front of him was laughing.

He was mocking him for asking his name.

Feeling a cold chill, Van nodded.

Seeing his attitude, he told him his name with a smile.

-“My name is Arcrosis. You humans call me by many names, but my essence is only one.”

King of the Dead Arcrosis.

Van felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard that name.

He had heard of that name from the old legends of the dark mages.

Arcrosis.

The oldest demon.

The one who made a contract with the first dark mage.

And the one who ruled over the depths of life and death.

That was the identity of the being in front of him.

“A… Arcrosis…”

-“It seems you know about me.”

Anyone who knew about dark magic would not be ignorant of Arcrosis’s name.

He was literally a legend.

A monster that should only remain in stories, never to reveal himself in reality.

Yet such a being was in front of Van’s eyes.

He was surrounded by countless bones, looking down at Van from a far higher dimension.

“…I met a being that shouldn’t exist.”

Van wondered how the dark mages of the abyss could be so confident, and it seemed that Arcrosis in front of him was the reason.

Crunch.

Van gritted his teeth as he learned his identity.

The words of the monster who introduced himself as Arcrosis were undoubtedly true.

He felt it too, a presence he had never sensed before.

-“An existence that shouldn’t exist. What an interesting expression.”

In the rippling waves, countless bones poured out endlessly.

The abyss he was standing on was already Arcrosis’s domain.

He had no chance of winning against the necromancer who was ready at the peak.

Even if this wasn’t the abyss, Van would have no possibility of defeating Arcrosis in front of him.

There was an insurmountable gap between the devil of defeat and the young genius.

‘It seems like I can’t go back.’

Van felt uneasy as he faced the existence of the underworld.

No matter what he did, he couldn’t beat the necromancer in front of him.

Arcrosis was such an existence.

He was a monster of the underworld who lived in eternal immortality.

‘Is Van Krite, the best in the world… going to die here?’

He couldn’t win.

Even if he met his glorious end here, no one in the empire would be able to find his corpse.

In such a place, Van had to fight with a sword that had nothing but a hilt left.

It was a ridiculous situation.

He had to fight by infusing aura into a crude hilt.

-“Are you afraid of death?”

Did he read Van’s inner thoughts?

Arcrosis asked with a click of his finger that had nothing but bones left.

Van smirked at Arcrosis’s words.

He wasn’t afraid of death because what he had achieved would disappear.

It was because he wouldn’t be able to grasp what he would achieve in the future.

“If I say I’m not afraid, it would be a lie.”

Van’s eyes glared at Arcrosis as he gathered the last remaining flame.

Whoosh.

The last courage that remained in his heart became a flame and rose up.

Aura was the fruit of courage given only to those who crossed the boundary of life and death.

If he couldn’t overcome the threat of death, that small flame would fade away and go out at any time.

So those who wielded aura always had to choose.

Would they burn everything and become ashes?

Or would they become embers without even producing a proper flame?

“Still, fighting is the role given to me.”

For Van, the former was always the only choice given to him.

He had to burn everything he had and become a fire that never went out.

That was the only way he could strike a sharp blow to the enemy in front of him.

His enemies had changed over time.

Once, they were robbers in the back alleys.

Another time, they were evil black mages.

And now, they were the oldest demons.

He always had to do his role, as usual.

-“How brave.”

Death, who was watching him struggle against his fate, spat out a pleasant voice.

Van, who was aiming at him with a hilt covered with blue aura, uttered his last regret.

No one would find him if he died in the abyss.

And even his soul that would perish here, might not be able to enter heaven.

“If I knew I would die in the abyss, should I have prayed more often?”

-“Unfortunately, praying won’t help you.”

Arcrosis denied Van’s voice.

It didn’t seem like it was simply because he was an existence that opposed the six heavenly gods.

There was something that only an existence that had lived for a long time could see.

Something that would make even a small prayer a futile struggle.

-“The sky has tilted. The world has begun to go against the order, and the harmony has rejected the light.”

“······I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

-“So don’t hope for salvation. The world is a battlefield of great beings, and everything on the earth is nothing but a pawn.”

The oldest demon had a different idea of the world.

He could see that from the way he spoke of things that Van couldn’t follow even if he staked his whole life.

Of course, he had no life left.

Van Krite would die here today.

Van ignored his nonsense and focused on the hilt that was burning with the flame of his soul.

“A pawn… Yeah. Maybe so.”

He did his best at this moment, even if someone else had created the reality he faced.

Van grabbed the hilt and ran forward, cutting through the darkness.

Thud thud thud thud——.

Every time he took a step forward, the flames that lit up Van’s path went out.

In the narrowing distance, Arcrosis’s hand with a ring on it reached out to Van.

-“It’s been a long way since we first talked.”

He adjusted his rough breath and measured the distance between him and the monster.

Left. And right.

Van’s swordsmanship tore off the undead that popped out irregularly.

Crackle.

The undead’s hands that touched the aura turned into ashes and collapsed.

The dry hands of the dead could not stop Van, who burned everything.

His sharp slash cut through the undead and quickly closed the gap between him and Arcrosis.

It was only a little more until he could reach Arcrosis with his sword.

-“Let me ask you one more time. Have you ever faced the creatures of the abyss?”

Even in the narrowing distance, Arcrosis maintained his relaxed attitude.

He folded his fingers in the wriggling darkness.

The surface began to ripple.

And beyond that, sharp eyes began to leak out.

Van finally understood why Arcrosis asked him that question.

“Well, yeah, it wouldn’t be easy as I thought…”

The depth of the water covered by darkness was different from what he felt at his feet.

In the spreading waves, an unknown existence began to rise up.

The reason why Arcrosis asked him if he knew the creatures of the abyss.

It was because Necromancer King Arcrosis had turned them into undead himself.

At the sight of the monster that defied its lifespan and revealed itself, his feet stopped for a moment.

-“Let me introduce them for the first time. They are the slaves of the abyss.”

As soon as he finished introducing the monsters of the abyss that appeared with the huge darkness,

The giant monsters that emerged from the shadows rushed towards Van.

A huge shadow spread over Van’s head holding a hilt.

He couldn’t avoid it. Not to mention block it.

There was only endless shadow spreading beyond the horizon.

At the last moment when he faced an unstoppable attack,

“Ha…”

Van Krite closed his eyes tightly.

Thump.

That was the last time his heart stopped.