Chapter 179
Thud!
Prince grabbed the Hellhound's front paw with one hand and pinned it to the floor. He looked like a small-framed boy, but his strength didn't lose out to the massive chimera.
[And I brought this because you told me to.]
Prince took off the crown on his head, hooked it on his index finger, and shook it. It wasn't a replica made with Prince's power—it was the real crown the original had worn.
[You really planning to use this?]
"!"
The moment Simon saw the crown, strength surged into his eyes and his fingertips trembled slightly. He had thought that the addiction symptoms would have subsided after some time, but they hadn't.
Simon responded with a strained smile.
"I don't want to use it if I can help it, but just in case."
While Prince and the Hellhound wrestled for dominance, a swarm of Blood Zombies began flooding into the carriage. As Lete prepared to cast holy magic in response, Simon raised his arm to stop her.
"It's okay."
"Huh?"
Prince was already putting the crown back on his head.
Flash!
Prince's pupils turned golden. Then, the dozens of charging zombies flinched and their eyes also turned gold.
They immediately changed targets and began climbing onto the Hellhound's body.
"What the—? What's wrong with them?"
Lete lowered her arm in a dazed expression.
"Prince is controlling them."
The Hellhound thrashed and swung its other foreleg wildly, but the zombies clung to it tenaciously, grabbing onto its neck and various parts of its body.
Simon then opened his right hand. Since Prince had been Legionized, zombies he controlled could be detonated by the Legion Commander using Corpse Explosion.
'Corpse Explosion!'
KABOOOM!
The zombies exploded in succession, and the Hellhound howled in pain, flailing violently. Taking advantage of the opening, Prince straightened his knees and leapt, slamming a fist into the Hellhound's face.
Crack!
The massive Hellhound's body was hurled across the carriage, crashing into a weakened wall and smashing through it, tumbling out of the train.
Simon and Lete gasped in unison. Prince caught the crown so it wouldn't fall and landed on the floor.
[Oh~ You can use Corpse Explosion without wearing the crown now?]
"Yeah, I trained hard with my father over the break."
The two bumped fists lightly. Then Prince noticed Lete, who was crouching in a seat like a hyper-alert cat.
[But who's she? A priest?]
Smack!
The moment Prince took a step closer, Lete recoiled in horror and slapped him hard across the face.
"You lunatic! Stay away from me!"
[Ouch!]
Prince snapped, flaring up.
[What the hell was that?! Who slaps someone they just met?! Simon! Can I kill her?]
"Calm down. Try to get along."
Lete stared at Prince, scanning him up and down with a serious expression.
"...That energy I feel, it's definitely undead. But how is he speaking?"
"Prince is an Ancient Undead."
At Simon's explanation, Lete turned to him in shock.
"You're a Legion Commander too...?"
"Yeah. I told you before."
Though Lete had never seen a Legion Commander in person, she'd heard the rumors.
The greatest obstacles to the Dark Alliance's conquest, monsters who commanded hundreds of thousands of undead and controlled the mysterious Ancient Undead.
A flicker of fire lit in Lete's eyes.
'This bastard's getting ahead of me. Damn, I really need to become a Saint soon too.'
Prince shot her a final glare and turned his back.
[Let's go.]
The three quickly advanced through the train.
With Prince present, it was a breeze. He wore the crown, controlled the zombies, and turned them into his troops. The unsuspecting cultists were caught off guard and taken down by the betrayal of their own undead.
As they pushed forward through the train—
BOOM!
One of the train's walls was ripped away, and the Hellhound, which had been thrown out earlier, reentered the carriage. It had caught up by running alongside the train.
[Persistent bastard!]
Prince took off the crown and tossed it to Simon.
[I'll handle him. And word of advice, don't wear it if you can help it. It's not good for your mental health.]
"Thanks for the tip."
Simon immediately stored the crown in dubspace.
As Prince and the Hellhound clashed once again with deafening roars, Simon and Lete moved on to the next carriage.
"Ugh! Just how many of these bastards are there?"
Followers of the Blood Heaven Cult had built barricades out of beds and were hurling blood magic. Behind them, more zombies stood waiting.
"Looks like this one will take a while too."
"We can't keep wasting time like this. Let's split up."
Lete tilted her head.
"Split up?"
"You keep pushing forward and rescuing the captives. I'll climb onto the train roof and head straight for the engine room. Once I've cleared it, I'll attack them from behind."
In the end, both Lete and Simon would end up defeating enemies and meeting in the middle. Lete nodded.
"Better than dragging things out."
The strategy had changed. Simon opened the ceiling of the carriage and climbed up.
Clatter-clatter!
With the clanging of rails and tracks, strong headwinds whipped at him. Simon shielded his face with an arm and looked around.
Blood Zombies were still charging across the plains, and cultists and undead were continuously being summoned from the magic circles drawn on the train's walls.
'Let's move. I'll figure out what's going on once I reach the engine room.'
Simon began to run.
"An intruder!"
There were several Blood Heaven Cultists and zombies stationed on top of the train as well.
While running, Simon extended his right arm. Subspace opened, and the bones of a skeleton shot out, covering his arm completely.
It was a new technique he had developed over the break. Simon extended his arm and aimed at the approaching zombies.
Whirrr!
The center of the handgun rotated like a wheel, and from the launch port on his wrist, bones were fired like bullets.
Pop! Crunch!
The zombies hit by the bone bullets flying at incredible speed either collapsed backward or were flung off the train entirely.
'It's my first time using it in a real fight, but not bad. Reload!'
Thanks to the skeleton's restoration technique, the bullets could be reused. The fired bones returned and clicked back into the slots between the handgun's wheel.
Ratatatatatata!
While pouring bone bullets at the swarming zombies, Simon kept running. Shouts from cultists could be heard from all directions.
"This bastard! He's a necromancer!"
"Surround him!"
As the cultists closed in, Simon stomped hard with his left foot. This time, the blade of Overlord swept out, hurling all the surrounding cultists out of the train.
"Huff! Huff!"
Before he knew it, he had reached the front of the Holy Train, near the engine room.
Simon dropped carefully down the side of the train like a spy, smashed a window with both feet, and entered.
He rolled and sprang to his feet, scanning the area.
"…Ah."
This was the crew lounge, and the Holy Train's crew lay collapsed, soaked in blood.
Simon hurried toward the engine room beyond.
'I'm too late.'
The chief engineer, the only one who could control the train, was already a cold corpse. That meant there was no way to stop the train.
Simon looked around, hoping to find some kind of clue. Then he spotted a map lying on the floor.
It was the kind of map typically posted in passenger cars, showing the train's stops, but one spot was marked with a red 'C'. Although the map normally just showed forest in that area, someone had drawn a long red line in pen.
'So this is the C-route we've entered.'
Simon's eyes followed the red line all the way to the end, where an 'X' was marked.
He didn't know what kind of place that was, but it was clear that the mastermind behind this incident was trying to bring the Holy Train and its passengers to that destination.
Before the train reached its goal, they were sending in cultists and zombies to clean out any remaining resistors, and then likely intended to capture the passengers who couldn't escape.
'But wait.'
Simon frowned, crumpling the map and stuffing it into his pants pocket.
'What the hell were the Inquisitors doing while things got this bad?'
It was hard to believe the powerful priests had already been taken out, but considering he hadn't seen a single one so far, there was a chance they'd been completely wiped out.
Simon left the engine room and walked through the corridor, from the engine room to the crew lounge, and from there to the Inquisitors' break room.
"…Ah."
Simon gasped in horror.
Five Inquisitors lay dead in their chairs, their chests pierced open.
They were all familiar faces, the ones who had interrogated him before.
'This was definitely an inside betrayal.'
Just then, a painful groan echoed through the room. Simon whipped his head around in shock and saw one Inquisitor, bleeding heavily, dying in the corner.
It was Metin, the one who had persistently harassed Simon.
'He's still alive!'
Simon rushed to him and examined the wounds. Placing his left hand over the worst injury, he cast Heal and poured a potion from subspace into Metin's mouth.
His internal and external wounds gradually began to heal, and Metin's breathing slowly returned to normal.
'That should be enough to save his life.'
After finishing the treatment, Simon stood up.
"…Why."
As he moved to head to the next car, a faint voice came from behind.
"Why… are you saving me? I'm the one who…"
Simon didn't reply and kept walking. Metin spoke again.
"Beware the tiniest… droplet of blood. It's smaller than you think."
Simon stopped in his tracks.
"…The bishop of the Blood Heaven Cult is on this train."
Simon turned to stare silently at Metin. As if having said everything he needed to, Metin lowered his head to the floor again and gasped for air.
Simon locked that information into his mind and headed toward the next car.
Clatter! Clatter!
This area had clearly seen intense fighting. The walls had collapsed, allowing wind to rush through the gaps, and the sound of the speeding train rang out clearly. Blood was splattered everywhere.
'No useful clues here.'
As Simon cautiously moved toward the next car—
'…!'
Floating in the air was a tiny red droplet of blood, so small you wouldn't notice it without looking closely. Simon immediately rolled backward.
BOOOOOM!
The droplet exploded with massive force. As Simon stepped back, he realized the floor and walls were also splattered with droplets.
He clenched his teeth and rolled across the floor.
BOOM! BOOOOM!
Barely dodging by a hair's breadth, Simon stood up, panting.
"Nice reflexes."
A man was approaching from the opposite end of the car.
A man with reddish-brown hair and red eyes. His tattered clothes were unmistakably the uniform of an Inquisitor.
"What's with that sudden mask drama…"
The man chuckled, looking at the mask Simon wore.
Even without prior information, Simon could tell, this man was the bishop of the Blood Heaven Cult. His power radiated clearly.
"I am the bishop of the Blood Heaven Cult, Aloken. You look like a necromancer, so why are you attacking us?"
Simon narrowed his eyes.
"Because I'm a necromancer, you think I should be helping you?"
"Not necessarily, but we meet as fellow necromancers in hostile territory. Isn't it better for kin to support each other?"
He raised his arm.
"The Inquisitors and priests we eliminated here, if war breaks out, they would've been burdens to the Dark Alliance anyway. From a war perspective, we achieved great results…"
"That's only true during wartime."
Simon cut Aloken off, lowering his stance with a furious expression.
"You're just a terrorist."