Musou Slime 41

Test

41. Graveyard Reaper [Side - Raize]

"This really isn't a place you want to come at night..."

Splitting up from Arx, I found myself at the town cemetery.

To prevent undead monsters from venturing into the town, the cemetery is surrounded by a 5-meter tall stone wall.

"...and it's open after all."

A large lattice gate stands at the entrance to the cemetery. 

It's usually securely closed, but now it's lazily open.

With heightened tension, I slipped through the gate and proceeded inside.

The cemetery is vast, with numerous tombstones buried in the soil.

Among the tombstones engraved with personal names, some had fresh bouquets of flowers.

"...This one!"

As I examined the tombstones, one of them felt off. There was a hole dug in front of the tombstone, as if by a dog.

"No way, not this one... not this one too!"

Once I noticed one, my gaze wandered to other tombstones. Looking around, I realized a certain fact.

All the tombstones around here have holes in front of them. And not just a few, but numerous holes dug as if by living creatures.

It's easy to imagine why this is the case. The bodies buried in the ground have crawled out.

It's a thought I'd rather not entertain, but it only adds credibility to what Arx had mentioned.

And his speculation was correct.

Which means, there might be ringleaders nearby!

"Hey, did you run away from the town and hide in the cemetery? If that's the case, you're quite a fool."

A voice came from behind. I immediately turned around and braced myself.

"...Wait, it can't be you."

I recognized the man in front of me. No, he shouldn't be here under normal circumstances.

"You... Raize!?"

The man glaring at me—the mastermind behind this incident was Dan.

"Why!? You're supposed to be dead!"

"Yeah, after you and Arx made a mockery of me, I got crushed. But, I managed to come back."

"That's impossible! You can't just come back from the dead!"

"It's because something impossible happened that I'm here, right? I remember everything, kicking you out, being forced to grovel, and wanting to inflict more pain on you than death."

Dan chuckled. Goosebumps ran down my spine involuntarily.

It's incomprehensible. A dead person coming back to life.

"Just to make sure, you're the one wandering undead monsters in the town, right?"

"Exactly. With my power, I turned the people in this cemetery into monsters."

"For what purpose?"

"Like I said before, to get revenge on you and Arx."

Dan said so and began to breathe heavily, scratching his hair like a dog.

"I remember your faces clearly. You were grinning smugly when you saw me crawling on the ground, begging for help. No matter how good a woman I had, the memories would fade away in a day. But, I still remember your expressions vividly from that time!!"

Furious, he kicked the ground violently and then started laughing as if his personality had changed.

"So, I've decided to kill both of you. Because of you, the people in town will die. And you two will suffer the most cruel torment in this world and then die. By doing so, I can finally forget about you!!"

"...You're insane."

At this point, I couldn't believe Dan was sane. He was already a strange person, but now he's beyond that.

"Dan, you're completely mad. I'll send you back to hell."

"Hahaha! Can you really do that, you weakling!!"

"I'll shut that mouth of yours!"

Magic circle deployed. Water generated. The temperature dropped rapidly, condensed!

From the blue magic circle that appeared at my feet, several water spheres rose. 

As the temperature gradually dropped, they transformed into blocks of ice.

"Freeze!"

I dropped my heel towards the magic circle. 

The moment my foot touched the ground, the ice was released towards Dan like gravel.

"I'll riddle that body of yours with holes!"

Blocks of ice advanced at the speed of a swallow. However, Dan showed no sign of flinching.

"...Hey, do you really think I'm defenseless?"

A chill ran down my spine. The next moment, a suspicious purple light emanated from around Dan's body.

"<Ghost Hand>."

Dan murmured. A gigantic skeletal arm appeared beside him, shredding the gravel of ice into pieces with its scratching motion.

"What have you done!?"

"This is my new power! Look!! This is the appearance of the reaper who will kill you all!!"

Dan laughed maniacally, and something faint appeared behind him.

It was a purple skeleton. Something resembling a giant 5-meter-long skeletal upper body was moving behind Dan.