Hero's Coffin Chapter 46

Chapter 46

He tried to imagine that scene once in his mind but quickly discarded it. It even gave him goosebumps.

Still, as long as he was an efficient means, they probably wouldn't let him die. Even if he couldn't hear a kind promise from Harenir, he turned his gaze away, valuing survival based on usefulness as more meaningful.

The day was gradually fading.

***

Although they had obtained information about the Encroachment Zone from the thieves, they decided to move after confirming it with their own eyes. The reason was that they couldn't fully trust the thieves' words, and moreover, given the suspicious situations observed, they needed to grasp the situation clearly and prepare.

"I'll take the night watch."

"But..."

"I want to see it with my own eyes."

Harenir volunteered to take the night watch for the camp. Mela and Kalterik insisted on doing it themselves, uncomfortable with their superior staying up all night, and Noi even suggested taking turns, but Harenir shook his head.

"It's fine. With Solnium's grace with me, how could I possibly collapse from mere fatigue?"

The smile he wore then was so perfect it could have been painted, and his subordinates couldn't find any more words to object. It seemed they judged that going against his will when it was so firm would be disrespectful, and also that worrying about him would be blasphemy. They might have thought that resting well themselves to be in perfect condition for tomorrow would be more beneficial for him.

Of course, he had already prepared his sleeping place in the building long ago, so he was far from things like night watch duty. It was a bit amusing but also natural that no one had glanced at him during this entire conversation. This body would collapse even if it slept and ate on time.

He envied the stamina of the hero who didn't even get injured because of God's love. He felt like he was losing stamina just by breathing quietly...

When he woke up in the middle of the deep night, he accidentally discovered Harenir.

"..."

Under the desert night sky studded with stars, Harenir's back view as he stood at the edge of the hill, quietly looking down at the Encroachment Zone, was serene. The only movement was his golden hair occasionally swaying in the predawn breeze, his hood removed. It was an extremely static scene.

Even though it was the middle of the night shrouded in darkness, the Encroachment Zone existed ominously, exuding a sense of dissonance, and Harenir calmly gazed at it. He could only see Harenir's back, but his appearance, completely unruffled even in this deep night, seemed very reliable and yet... suddenly, very suddenly, he thought Harenir looked like someone being chased.

It was a truly strange impression. To have such a feeling while looking at such a perfectly calm figure. He rubbed his eyes and chose to go back to sleep. He must be dazed from waking up in the middle of sleep.

When they had encountered such nights about twice, an anomaly was finally witnessed.

"There really is a sound of rocks being carved. The terrain is changing too."

It was exactly the same phenomenon that the thief leader had testified to earlier. This increased the probability that the story about "the sky being torn" wasn't a lie either.

In the deep night, Harenir ordered everyone.

"Let's depart."

They couldn't wait until morning as it would be easier to grasp the situation if they went when the commotion occurred. The companions immediately followed him, gathering the luggage they had prepared in advance. A solemn look settled on everyone's face.

Only he moved in a half-asleep state, having just woken up. He wasn't at all keen on entering the Encroachment Zone in the middle of the night, but he had an intuition that they needed to be seriously wary of 'that phenomenon' enough to enter even enduring this darkness.

Whoosh—

The wind blowing from the canyon carried an ominous sound. It echoed as if stagnating in the huge valley, sounding just like a scream. Though he had been worried when entering the forest that was the southern Encroachment Zone, because this place was a canyon with winding rocks, it felt like voluntarily entering a maze of death.

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Look down at the ground.

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But without fail, the blue status window that didn't care about his feelings at all appeared. He followed the instruction while inwardly swallowing a sigh. Right, when had this game ever gone according to his wishes?

As he looked down, the darkness at his feet wriggled. Even though it wasn't the deep night casting thick shadows, the darkness reacted as if the place where Isaph stood was his domain. Ping— As his vision shook, the expected but still unfamiliar dizziness came sharply.

As darkness spread around him, undead were summoned.

[Grrrr...]

The sight of them rising from the ground like zombies was still unsettling, but this time, his attention was drawn to something else rather than their movement. Oh, somehow...

"The number of undead has increased this time...?"

Noi spoke while he was uncertain. It must be certain since it was him with his genius-level memory who said it. He swallowed his surprise, trying not to show it outwardly. The number had really increased compared to before. Had his body condition improved so he could summon more undead? ...Hmm, that didn't seem to be it.

Then perhaps he was gradually adapting to the possessed state? Had he leveled up without realizing it? But whatever the reason, all the newly summoned undead still looked like ordinary humans and didn't seem particularly strong. They had a more intact appearance than the Klam victims who were mangled all over, but they didn't look very reliable.

Did Isaph only absorb souls like this?

He inwardly sighed and followed the next instruction from the status window, stretching his hand forward. Whoosh— As the undead entered the Encroachment Zone, his vision began to split into pieces. As the number of undead increased, so did the scenes he shared. He focused on the sight unfolding before his eyes while stubbornly enduring the headache.

However, perhaps because it was deep night, or because the pitch-black fog of the Encroachment Zone was thicker than before, the visibility was too blurry. The more he tried to forcibly look into it, the more a nauseating revulsion rose like vomit.

Ugh, as he staggered, leaning against the nearby rock, Harenir approached. He probably meant to support him, but he blocked him with his hand.

"Don't interfere."

He knew that stopping the hero with just a gesture and treating him as a nuisance would seem impudent. Indeed, Kalterik ground out "You..." in an angry voice but swallowed the rest of his words. He must have judged that it was right not to break his concentration, as they acknowledged his necromancy at least.

He painfully analyzed the undead's vision. It was ridiculous that he was searching so diligently while being in a position of being forcibly dragged here with a collar, but he had to prove his usefulness to be protected. Moreover, since it was a space he would have to enter, he wanted to check it properly if possible.

"Bleugh."

But it was too much after all, and finally his knees buckled as if he were a piece of paper being crumpled. Just before he fell to the ground, Harenir stretched out his arm to support him. He panted, almost dangling from Harenir's arm.

Harenir spoke in a somewhat stiffened tone.

"Don't exhaust yourself too much before even entering."

"This is, huff, why you brought me..."

What was this person saying, when he would send him back to prison if he couldn't do it properly? He surely wasn't worried about him. As he looked at him as if it was absurd, Harenir pressed his lips tightly.

After a strange silence, he slowly nodded, which seemed to mean 'that's true', making him feel annoyed, but he just sighed and moved away from him. He knew his staggering appearance would look ridiculous, but he disliked being close to him.

Leaning against the rock and regulating his breath, he spoke. The summoning of the undead had been cut off internally, but fortunately, he had managed to analyze.

"Phew, I only see three cores. I looked around more because it was unsettling that there were only three cores in such a widely contaminated space, but the center was completely covered in black fog, so I couldn't peek at all."

"The center... That's where the terrain changed."

Harenir calmly nodded and then took off the bracelet from his wrist and held it out to him. It must be a holy relic to slow down the rate of contamination in the Encroachment Zone.

He saw Noi gasp "Ah!" from behind, so he guessed this was also an extremely precious treasure. But everyone knew that the necklace he had been wearing before had broken at some point, so they didn't show any objection.

He tried not to recall the situation related to that reason and received the holy relic as calmly as possible. He was glad that the support was clean in proportion to his hardship.

By the way, Harenir seems to wear quite a lot of holy relics on his body. Is it natural since he was close to the temple from birth as the son of the Holy Knight Commander?