"Be careful, Captain."
Scott, who said that, dismantled the Corpse Abomination he had dragged into the forest, reshaping it into human-sized undead soldiers, and personally controlling them as they advanced.
If he had simply let the undead move autonomously and follow behind, he said he might lose control here.
In other words, right now the undead were all being directly manipulated one by one by Scott.
"First, send an undead soldier ahead."
"Yeah."
At Azadin's words, Scott agreed and sent forward an undead soldier armed with a wooden cudgel.
At that moment, from above the dense trees, a pitch-black shadow swooped down and struck the undead soldier.
Peurk!
With a single blow, the undead soldier's head flew off. Seeing the hobgoblin skull shatter like a watermelon, it was clear that even a living person would not have survived such a ferocious strike.
"Damn it! I worked so hard to prepare that one!"
Scott, enraged that his undead soldier had been so easily destroyed, began controlling the other undead soldiers.
But…
Peupeupeuk!
The black shadow that had ambushed from the trees began swinging its forelegs.
The undead soldiers collapsed one after another like autumn leaves in a gale, unable to resist.
"It's huge," Shati exclaimed in awe.
The attacker that had swooped down from the treetops was an enormous black panther.
But its body was far larger than a normal panther, comparable to a northern tiger—or perhaps even greater—and all over its body, bark jutted out like natural armor.
"What a terrifying monster. As expected…"
Azadin drew his bow and loosed an arrow.
It seemed unlikely that an arrow would have any effect on such a gigantic panther, but Azadin's arrow pierced through the beast's nostril, driving straight into its brain.
"Graaah!"
The startled panther writhed in agony, swiping at the arrow embedded in its nose, but the shaft broke halfway.
The more it struggled to pull it out, the more the brain was stirred and damaged.
In the end, unable to endure, the panther collapsed and breathed its last.
"Good grief. Undead soldiers defeated in a single strike… I even used ogre muscle."
Scott grumbled, then cast a spell to control the panther Azadin had just slain.
"Send it again."
"Got it."
When Scott sent forward the undead panther, the jungle once again stirred in response.
This time, a pack of wolves as large as calves appeared.
"Grrrrrr!"
Drooling as if rabid, the wolves, like the earlier panther, had bark sprouting across their bodies.
"So these too," someone muttered.
"This time, let me handle it."
When Shati cast a spell, tough grasses shot up, entangling the wolves.
As the wolves forced their way through the thicket, tufts of fur were torn out, and because their speeds differed, they could not all attack at once.
"Nice!"
That alone gave Scott's undead panther more than enough of an opening. He controlled the panther to smash the head of the foremost wolf with a forepaw, then bit into its nape, killing it.
Other wolves, belatedly freed from the vines, rushed the undead panther, but it went berserk, striking with its forelegs, while Azadin also fired arrows to support.
"Oh, good. We took them down without much harm?"
"It's probably because you're trying to control too many at once, Scott. First, try sending just one wolf."
"Understood, Captain."
Following Azadin's words, Scott controlled a wolf with necromancy and sent it forward. Sure enough, the forest reacted again, and a massive spore monster emerged.
"A spore monster. Nothing worth keeping."
Scott sent the wolf charging, then used corpse burst to explode it, damaging the spore monster.
"Why?"
"The body of a spore monster isn't suitable to make into an undead once it dies. Controlling multiple corpses at once just lowers combat efficiency, so it's best to use them up."
With that explanation, Scott sent another wolf, detonating it as well, and completely tore the spore monster apart.
***
Only after breaking through several such layers of defenses did Azadin's party finally reach the swamp.
At the swamp's edge stood a tree in the shape of a person. From the part resembling a human face, red, translucent sap dripped to the ground like bloody tears, seeping into the swamp.
No doubt, beasts that drank water mixed with this sap became the minions of Grimslawn, and so threatened those who approached.
"Is this Grimslawn's body? The one said to have given revelation to the Sky Lord of the Blue Sky Order?"
To protect itself, Grimslawn's fragment again tried to draw up massive ancient trees from the swamp.
But Azadin, kicking off the ground like the wind, accelerated and in an instant stood before Grimslawn.
"So this is the fragment of Grimslawn that gave teachings to the Sky Lord?"
As Azadin reached out toward Grimslawn, suddenly, a lightning bolt struck him.
***
"Now then, foolish disciple. These are the words of the nether. Do not look upon them carelessly."
"Huh?"
Azadin suddenly lifted his head.
There stood Kazas's hut, the very place where Azadin had spent most of his childhood, the place where he had been trained by Kazas, the scenery of that day spread before him exactly as it was.
"Huh?"
"Strange, isn't it?"
Kazas showed Azadin the letters written in the book he had opened.
The nether characters writhed upon the surface of the book as though alive.
"The letters change. Do not gaze upon that change for too long. The weak-willed may go mad just by looking."
"This is when I was learning the nether script…."
Azadin tried to say it was when he was learning the nether script, but Kazas seemed to interpret his words differently.
"Yes. A book for learning the nether script. What is written here is not the language of our dimension. Look, at the shadow cast by that tree…."
"?"
"In our world, that tree is the essence, and the shadow is cast into a lower dimension, a two-dimensional world. Likewise, the nether language written here is only fragments of shadows cast by the true essence. But if one correctly perceives that dimension and pronounces it…."
So saying, Kazas pronounced the nether tongue.
In that instant, part of Kazas's tongue transformed, and a worm appeared.
Kazas immediately cut his tongue with the obsidian blade he carried, severed the worm, flung it to the ground, then stamped it beneath his heel.
"Astonishing. And you, are you unharmed?"
Seeing Azadin watch calmly, Kazas was amazed.
"Well, of course."
This was not Azadin's first experience. Long ago, when dragged along to assist Kazas in his nether research, he had already gone through this.
Back then, he had trembled in fear at the evil power contained in the nether words Kazas pronounced. He had been pained, terrified.
But for the present Azadin, such nether words posed no difficulty.
"Remarkable, Azadin. Your resistance to magic is beyond my expectations."
"Master, is this a dream?"
"…Ah, perhaps not? You are falling into delirium. Are you all right?"
Kazas thought Azadin was becoming delirious because of the nether language.
'Judging by this reaction, this doesn't seem to be a mere dream.'
As Azadin sank into thought, Kazas grew flustered.
"If you are unwell, shall we rest? Surely you are not going mad already?"
"I am fine. No, more than that."
Azadin imitated exactly the nether tongue Kazas had spoken.
"!?"
The nether's power tried to invade Azadin's tongue as well, but he blocked its intrusion with the light of the king's virtue, the power of the Book of the Divine King dwelling within him.
Even Kazas had needed to cut his tongue with an obsidian blade, yet Azadin remained unscathed.
"Good heavens. You… what are you? A genius? Something like that?"
"Of course not. But, Master, I have a question."
"…What is it?"
"What is the Demon King who devours grimoires?"
The Demon King who devours grimoires. That was what the world called Kazas.
"Ah, that, where did you—why do you know of it? Hm. I see. Aldis told you beforehand?"
At Azadin's unexpected question, Kazas only shrugged.
"Yes. I was once one who fed on humans under the naga empire. I could absorb the grimoires of those I devoured, and through them I mastered every manner of magic. Before long, even the nagarajas feared me, and I myself gathered many followers. I taught magic to many mages, and turned their achievements into my own once more. People feared me, and so they called me Demon King."
"What magic did you first study?"
"At the very beginning, blood magic. I taught blood magic to many humans and helped them escape from the naga empire. Some remained my followers even after they escaped, and I became their king. From that time I was called Demon King. Thereafter many challenged me, and as I studied blood magic, I slew them, consumed them, and grew in power."
"And how did it end?"
"When the naga empire fell, the small kingdom of my mages also perished. I judged that blood magic had its limits, and I learned necromancy."
"And how did that end?"
"I was defeated by the emperor and his followers. Perhaps they deemed my knowledge of various magics useful, for the Aragasa took me in, and I became their adviser in magical research."
"When then, did you become an elder?"
"When Chief Hatir came to lead the Aragasa. He freed me as promised, and gave me the chance to study nether magic. Or rather, forced me to study it. I roamed far and wide, devouring those who studied nether magic and stealing their grimoires. Of the miscellaneous grimoires stored in my body, I erased them by clashing them with the nether's power, prolonging my life while studying nether magic."
So Kazas answered, then suddenly froze.
"Amazing. Why am I telling you this? You are… not the you of this time!"
"…Yes."
As Azadin nodded, Kazas stepped back and drew his dagger.
"Good heavens! Boy, what are you?"
"Who knows?"
Azadin then heard the distant voice of the nether. It spoke in the nether tongue, and it was likely the voice of Grimslawn.
"So this must be, the Way of the Azure Sky, or some truth like that."
Azadin gave a bitter smile, and awoke from the dream.
***
"Are, are you all right, Captain?"
"Hey."
Scott and Shati approached Azadin in fright.
Meanwhile, Jiswa was bowing to Azadin.
"L, Lord Sky!"
"Hm?"
Azadin noticed that the tree, said to be a fragment of Grimslawn, had stiffened.
Just moments ago, it had looked like a human weeping tears of blood. Like a wooden statue so lifelike it seemed alive.
But now, it was only a vague, distorted humanoid shape, one that could scarcely be called human unless one were severely near-sighted.
In its place, Azadin found that his hand held an unknown piece of wood.