10 Chapter 10: Ascension (1/2)

I probably blanked out while devouring the poor Demon Lord, so lost was I in my instincts that I couldn't remember anything.

Best to keep it that way, to preserve my sanity. That was assuming that I still had my sanity in the first place, of course.

Shaking my head, I kicked the remains of the Demon Lord into the channel of water flowing through the sewer, and staggered toward the open. Rubbing my eye and stretching myself after such a good meal, I proceeded toward a corridor that was dimly illuminated by a tiny ray of sunlight. Even though we started the fight at noon, only a scant few hours had passed, and it was well before evening. The sun had yet to set.

That was good. I didn't want to fumble around in a sewer when it was totally dark.

Pushing my glasses up, I surveyed my surroundings. The place looked relatively new, as if it was recently built, and was quite modern given the medieval setting. That was fine by me, given that I had to traverse it.

While I did so, my intuition alerted me to the update in my skill set and I flicked my hand in reflex. A small blue window appeared right in front of me. I glanced at it, and was so stunned by the updates that I came to a stop.

Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

Species: Undead

Job/Rank: Gravekeeper/Lich

Special Abilities: Adamantium Will, Regeneration, Devour, Lord of Darkness

Yeah, I had been promoted to a lich. I supposed I meant I could summon zombies and control them. And my job had changed from being a zombie to a gravekeeper, whatever that meant. I had no idea what a gravekeeper did. Guard graves? Protect a cemetery? Watch over the dead? I tapped on the word, but it didn't provide any details.

On the other hand, Lord of Darkness seemed to provide a whole host of details that I plundered from the Demon Lord thanks to my Devour ability.

Lord of Darkness: As Master of Darkness, you have gained access to powerful arcane spells and bonuses of ominous origins.

Spells: Reanimate, Thousand Astral Graves, Doombolt, Corrupting Darkness, Shadow Lunar Fang, Dark Barrier

Bonuses: Resistance to darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, power of darkness-type spells and attacks enhanced by 200%, energy cost of casting darkness-type spells decreased by 500%, durability and magical energy buffed by 50%, Machiavellian Charisma (all demons are 50% more willing to obey you), Dark Weapon Mastery (adept in any weapon of slaughter)

Hell, no! No way in hell was I going down that ridiculous route! My name was not Nagumo Hajime! I had plans of revenge, and I planned to go through with them, not play house with a growing harem that included a loli vampire, a dumb rabbit girl, a former classmate and more. Nor was I going to conveniently find a cute classmate who was abandoned and killed by Kobayashi, revive her as my slave, and have her fall for me, then end up having all the girls in class in my harem while hypocritically killing all the guys.

I wasn't Katsuragi Daichi either.

”I probably need to test out these new abilities,” I remarked as I dismissed the blue holographic window. While these spells, bonuses and special abilities sound amazing on paper, I didn't know how they would work out in reality. For one thing, there was no indication of levels, so I wasn't sure how vast the gap between my strength and my classmates' were. Surely I didn't surpass their power levels and six months' of experience just from eating a Demon Lord, right?

While, I would find some way to find out sooner or later. I hope. Preferably before I encountered any of my evil classmates, who were most likely celebrating their victory over the Demon Lord right now. Making use of this opportunity, I fled through the sewer and reached the corridor that was bathed in relatively bright light. Looking forward, I saw a small gate at the end of the corridor, barring my way out. A verdant overgrowth had grown around the grilles, Nature forcibly reclaiming her territory as she curled her vines and leaves over the black metal.

I decided to help her a little, and while at it, test out my new spells. Raising my hand, I directed my palm toward the metal grille and took a deep breath.

”Doombolt!”

I felt stupid shouting the name of the technique out, but I didn't know how else to cast them. The techniques listed in my special ability column provided no details on how to execute them, and the system wasn't intuitive. That is, I didn't ”automatically” know the casting process or had the information uploaded to my brain after gaining it.

So the only way was by imagining how I thought it would be and hoping it manifests when I shouted the name of the spell. Damn it, and while I was floundering in a clueless manner, my classmates had all the access to whatever resources and training they needed, and six months of experience. I was so far behind.

The unfairness of it all struck me and I clenched my fists, feeling a spike of rage. As if in response to my boiling emotions, a black bolt of energy leaped out of my right hand and hammered into the grille, disintegrating both the metal and the overgrowth curling over the bars in one hit. My jaw dropped as I watched the aftermath of my attack.

If that had been a human…

I grinned. Yeah. I was so going to enjoy casting this on my fucking classmates. They deserved to be obliterated in a similar manner.

For now, I had to rein in my excitement and proceed outside, back to the surface. The dins of battle had died out, and I scrambled into the open air, relieved. The air outside was a lot fresher. For some reason, the sewer didn't stink as much as I thought it would, but it still felt suffocating and constrictive. Perhaps my sense of smell had mercifully dulled upon becoming an undead, or I just didn't give a shit about shit, but whatever the case, I felt relieved upon emerging into the forested area that waited beyond the exit.

The sun was no longer at its zenith, but it was shining through the scattered canopy of the forest that welcomed me. The din of the battlefield sounded so far away, but I knew it wouldn't last long. The humans had won. The Demon Lord had been slain – even if not by the hand of the heroes, then at least eaten by me. The war was over.

Any time now, the demons would be fleeing. Or it would become a rout, with the demons fighting futilely to the very last and getting wiped out.

I feel sorry for them.

I glanced in the direction of the battlefield, feeling a little tang of pity. Even though they were enemies who had tried to kill me, such an action was because they were trying to survive against the human army that I was a part of. They held no grudge or bore no resentment toward me, but operated out of necessity. Kill or be killed. I couldn't begrudge them for their efforts – after all, it was the instinct of every living thing to stay alive.

On the other hand, my classmates weren't under such restrictions. They tried to kill me not because of necessity or to survive, but because they enjoyed it. They thought it was funny, and it assuaged their ego and made them feel powerful. There was no necessity, nor would any harm befall them if they didn't bully me, but they did so out of free will, out of choice, and not because their hands were forced in any way.

Put it in this manner, I could clearly see who the real demons were.

Why do they call them demons anyway? Ah…because of the kanji magic.

For some reason, the kanji ma (魔) always had a negative connotation. The Demon Lord Maou (魔王) and the actual word for devil, akuma (悪魔) all possessed that word, and bestowed upon it a sinister, terrifying meaning.

But perhaps they weren't so much as menacing but misunderstood?

”Well, no point philosophizing over this right now.”

Pushing my glasses up, I shook my head to clear it of unnecessary thoughts and proceeded through the forest. I was still dressed in the silver knight armor of the human kingdom, so I could continue to pass off as one of them and infiltrate the city. My original goal to reach the capital and gather intelligence remained unchanged, for I had no other alternative. I knew too little about Restia and the heroes. Even if they were my classmates, they had undoubtedly changed tremendously over the last six months.

I must find out more about them and their abilities.

”Let's hurry.”

I hoped I could reach the Demon Lord's fallen castle in time, before the human army left. I doubted they would leave the castle alone, though. Surely they would post an occupying force there. But if my goal was to follow the main army back to the capital city of the human kingdom, then it was completely pointless to end up doing sentry duty on a fallen castle so far away from human civilization. It wouldn't be the end of the world, and I could still collect information from fellow soldiers there, but it wasn't ideal, and the intelligence I could gather would be severely limited.

No, it would be better for me to get to the capital. Though that would be dangerous in its own right, what with my classmates living there, I might actually be safer there than I thought. My classmates would never imagine that there would be an enemy living right under their noses. And what was that old adage?

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Yeah, keeping my classmates closer would actually be a good move.

I picked up the pace and hurried toward the castle, which towered over the tall trees that surrounded it. I could still hear faint sounds of clashing, though they had grown a lot softer and more spaced apart. The battle was clearly in its final stages, the demons either being routed or fleeing after learning the news of the demise of their Demon Lord. The knights, buoyed by the victory of their heroes, would probably gain a new surge of strength for this last stretch.

Gripping my sword, I ran.

”!”

Before I could get very far, however, I instinctively dodged to the side as a flaming projectile crashed toward me. My hand drew my sword before I knew it, and I rolled up in an offensive stance, the weapon feeling so natural that it felt like an extension of me. A few arrows and icicle spells rained down on me, but I deftly cut through them without pausing. I sprang forward without consciously making the decision, my eyes scanning the clearing and instinctively sweeping for enemies.

Dark Weapon Mastery.

I couldn't believe it. The ability was real. My body was moving in accordance with skills I definitely hadn't learned before. Even though I had some experience with kendo, I had never trained to the extent where I could slice through magic spells effortlessly and move toward the closest enemy instinctively to hunt them down.