Revenge On Sylvan

“Why are you here?”

“Do you need a reason just because an adventurer is in a dungeon?”

He crossed his legs on the throne, leaned his elbow on the armrest, and looked down at Sylvan with a haughty air.

“You really are someone I can’t stand…”

Sylvan, who was used to looking down on others but not to being on the receiving end, glared at me with hatred.

Sylvan looked around and fixed his gaze on the dungeon core sitting on the pedestal in the center of the inner chamber.

“I’d like to ask if you defeated the Crimson Vampire Princess, but I already know the Crimson Vampire Princess has been slain. That means you didn’t clear the S-rank Dungeon by your own skill. You just happened to reach the deepest part a little earlier than I did. Sorry, but I’ll be taking the Dungeon Core.”

“There’s no way I’m handing it over. And you may think you came down here of your own will, but don’t pretend you didn’t notice you were being guided.”

“…Guided? Could that black monster have been one you controlled? —The Shikai Tribe is the only clan that manifests the Necromancer class. But I’ve never seen such a black monster.”

“Oh, you’re perceptive, aren’t you, Prince?”

Snap――with a finger snap I summoned a Minotaur out of the shadows.

“Why did you set us up? Why would you do such a thing?”

“Let me correct myself about you being perceptive—you still wouldn’t understand even if you saw this Minotaur.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am――the slave you discarded as a decoy to stall the Minotaur――Sid Ranorus.”

For a moment—Sylvan’s face changed to one of shock.

“I see… so it’s revenge. I don’t know why a dull-witted slave managed to survive—but there are things even I won’t concede. I will become King, so the Dungeon Core is mine!”

Apparently, my survival wasn’t particularly important to Sylvan.

It didn’t matter to him.

Whether the slave he left to die was alive or dead, whether he returned for revenge or not—what mattered to him now was eliminating obstacles and seizing the Dungeon Core.

“Show me then――Prince.”

――――I hate him. I was itching to kill him every day.

“BRUGAAARGGHHHH!!!!”

I ordered the Minotaur to attack Sylvan.

“Ugh!”

I checked Sylvan’s status.

His Level was the same as when he abandoned me.

It seemed he hadn’t been able to do much exploration.

Shadows never grant Experience no matter how many you defeat.

—In other words, Sylvan’s chance of defeating the Minotaur was almost zero.

“What’s the matter? Don’t you want the Dungeon Core? You left your party and went solo, and this is all you’ve got?”

“Don’t get me wrong! If we recover the Dungeon Core the dungeon will vanish and the living will be returned to the surface! I made the best choice out of concern for my comrades!”

“You’re saying that after abandoning me.”

“A slave as a comrade? Don’t flatter yourself!”

“BRUGAAAHHH!!”

“Oops, better to move your hands than your mouth, isn’t it?”

Sylvan narrowly dodged the Minotaur’s attacks.

He would occasionally counterattack, but barely grazed the Minotaur.

“How about it? Do you understand a little of the despair I tasted?”

“You piece of trash!”

“I don’t need you to tell me. I know I’m scum—unlike you.”

Sylvan used his skills to somehow withstand the Minotaur’s onslaught, but his limit would soon come.

――A few minutes later.

“…Kah! Fr—frustrating!”

“BRRLL…!”

Sylvan was driven against the wall; his armor was broken in places, his face filthy, and blood flowing from his brow ran over his eye and down to his chin.

The royal beauty that had captivated every woman was ruined.

“I’ll give you credit for not breaking mentally until your HP reached its limit.”

“Hah… hah… Don’t think you’ll get away with laying a hand on me… Shikai Tribe.”

“That’s only if evidence remains. If we recover the Dungeon Core the dungeon will vanish. Only living humans are sent back to the surface.”

And if I hide the S-Rank Dungeon 【Crimson Might Moon】‘s Dungeon Core inside Vanargand’s body, the truth will be buried.

“I’ll show you mercy at the end. I’ll let you see your lover. Lucky you to be able to have a romantic death.”

I gave the order to Vanargand.

A round, dark-colored rift in the dimension appeared vertically in the ground beside the throne.

“Wha… th-that corpse is…!?”

What emerged from the rift was—the Mage of the Hero party and Sylvan’s lover――Lilium.

“Agh… Aaaah…!”

They had hidden it from others, but as someone who’d acted as their pack mule, it was obvious to me that the two were lovers.

“Lilium… what happened to you…?”

I strangled Lilium with a slave collar and then bound her as a servant with Necromancer.

I took particular care to use Necromance that leaves a corporeal form, rather than Shadow Necromance.

Unlike a Shadow, Lilium retained a body, her neck tightly constricted by the slave collar.

Her face was distorted and discolored; the image of the beautiful girl she had been in life was almost gone.

“Y-you… rotten bastard!!!”

――Whoosh!!

Enraged at Lilium’s mutilated form, Sylvan threw the longsword he held at me.

“A futile struggle—”

“Sid, no! Dodge!!”

Ekarraat’s fierce voice—the sword point aimed at my heart—

“—Vanargand!”

—Just before the longsword would have pierced my heart, a dark rift that had opened before me swallowed the blade.

Even if the Undead me had his heart pierced, it should no longer be a vital weak point.

Yet Ekarraat’s voice remained frantic.

I pulled out and inspected the swallowed longsword.

It was a sword inlaid with a large gemstone—it looked extremely valuable.

A sword that robs you of your Undead ability—if that had pierced me, I might have actually died.

“So it really was Balmung…”

“Ekarraat… you saved me. If you hadn’t been here I might have died.”

“Well, it’s only natural that being Undead dulls one’s sense of danger. I’ve been defeated for that reason before as well.”

“…Damn!”

Sylvan realized even his last struggle had failed, slid down the wall, and sat with his back against it.

“No, you did well. Among that useless Hero party, you cornered me most effectively. But—when it comes to sheer luck, I don’t feel like I’ll lose.”

I once again ordered the corpse Lilium to kill Sylvan.

Lilium groaned and slowly moved toward Sylvan.

“Sy…l…van… Aagh! Syl…van…!”

“St-stop… don’t come closer…”

Unarmed, Sylvan no longer had the strength to throw off the small girl; Lilium pinned him down, her neck bent unnaturally from the constriction.

He desperately pushed at her shoulders to shake her off, but in his battered state he couldn’t.

“Stop! Stoppppp!! Don’t touch me, monster!!!”

“Sil…van… I… I… love… you… I like… you…”

Lilium whispered “I love you” as she bit Sylvan’s lips off—she tore them away.

“Waaaaaaaahhh!!!!”

Lilium tore into Sylvan’s face, and on the third bite he died.

Even after that, Lilium continued to devour Sylvan.

“For the sake of the woman who still adored you in that state, at least return a word of love at the end.”

“People’s true feelings come out just before they die.”

“…Indeed, that might be true.”

But I was truly relieved.

That the Hero party was all trash.

That in the end there wasn’t a single one who would sincerely apologize to me.

I was convinced my choice hadn’t been wrong.

“So—Sid, will you whisper words of love to me as you die?”

“Whatever I say here won’t have any credibility. That’s something to look forward to until the moment of actual death.”

“Kukaka—then I’ll eagerly await that moment. What a twist—even after dying once, one can still have the pleasure of looking forward to the next death.”

“Also, we’re not in that kind of relationship to begin with.”

This incident proved that being Undead wasn’t without flaw.

Someday my death will come too.

I wonder what I’ll think at that time…?