Chapter 6

Chapter 6 : Undead Transformation

[Disguise]

A skill of Antagon’s Rune that consumed mana to temporarily alter one’s appearance.

As the skill level increased, it became possible to transform into monsters as well.

I could only transform into monsters I had defeated at least once, and there were also stat restrictions, so it was impossible to abuse the skill in some childish way, such as polymorphing into a Golden Dragon and sweeping through everything, but....

In a situation like this, it could be put to good use.

“This is my first time transforming into a monster....”

I recalled the appearance of the Skeleton I had defeated.

Bones turned yellow with grime, pitifully gaunt arms and legs, and a jaw that clattered ceaselessly as it moved.

For some reason, however, no change occurred in my body.

‘That’s strange... It was definitely on the list of possible transformations.’

Was there some special condition required when transforming into a monster?

Perhaps I had to immerse my mind as deeply as possible into that monster.

If it was Velheim, with its perverse obsession over the smallest details, that was entirely possible.

I stopped merely trying to imitate its outward appearance and instead tried to manifest a complete Skeleton.

The source that moved a Skeleton revived from a hopeless sentence of death.

An endless craving, desire, and envy toward living beings.

I tried to understand its obsession and madness for warm flesh and blood, and to accept them entirely as my own.

The cold gaze that had glared at me from beyond its empty eye sockets.

The moment I understood that gaze, where ugly desire and thirst mingled together―.

“Walker in death, rise again and walk.”

SHRIIIIIIK...!!

When I recited the spell that surfaced in my mind, my flesh rotted away and sloughed off in an instant, and before I knew it, I had become a pile of bones.

A single Skeleton, weak, yet with empty eyes that gleamed with ambition.

I slowly clenched and unclenched my hand in admiration.

Oh... This is fascinating....

Those words never made it out of my mouth.

From the oral structure of a Skeleton, whose vocal cords had long since withered away, only the voice of a third-rate monster spilled out, something like Kuhelkelkelke―.

Whenever I saw monsters in the game letting out their clichéd cries, I had thought the developers were being far too lazy, but after experiencing it myself, perhaps it had been a matter of realism after all.

｢You have transformed into a Lesser Sailor’s Skeleton!｣

｢Nahgal, a fisherman who was leisurely fishing, was kidnapped by pirates, only to be caught up in a Lich’s attack and become an unfortunate Skeleton.｣

｢Because your current level and stats are low, you cannot draw out the Skeleton’s full power. Agility decreases. You become extremely vulnerable to Divine Power. Insight is fixed at the lowest value.｣

｢Due to the traits of a Lesser Skeleton, Strength decreases.｣

｢You can gather Bone Fragments to strengthen your body!｣

‘...I see.’

So this was what happened when I transformed into a monster with my current specs.

Even though I had only become a mere Lesser Skeleton, the debuffs were this severe.

After taking off the captain’s clothes, I slowly headed toward the door.

My body was heavy and slow.

It felt as though I was walking along the bottom of the sea.

I had expected to become nimble and light if I transformed into a Skeleton, but with a body that had neither muscles nor cartilage, perhaps this was only natural.

Feeling the unexpected hardship that low-ranking undead must have endured, I confirmed that there was no sign of anyone nearby, then slowly opened the captain’s cabin door and stepped out.

Before I settled matters with Orgilian and left the Ghost Ship fleet, there was something I had to do.

That was none other than......

‘I’m robbing the Lich’s treasure hold!’

I smiled darkly, my jawbone clattering.

It was a plan that would have made the pirates who had only just survived by the skin of their teeth fall over in shock if they had overheard it!

It was an idea that only I, who had tempered my courage through all manner of misfortunes, could have come up with.

However, I was not doing this purely out of greed.

‘Velheim isn’t an easy world.’

Even if I immediately sailed the ship away and escaped this place, I would probably be able to scrape by.

Using my knowledge of the game to hunt small-fry monsters like Kobolds or Goblins and sell their materials would be enough to keep food on the table.

But that would not be enough.

In Velheim, gold and silver were needed for truly every sort of reason.

Mercenaries needed equipment and maintenance costs.

Peddlers needed customs duties and tolls.

Bakers had to pay windmill taxes and oven taxes.

Mages needed reagents and the cost of maintaining their dignity.

Even if I saved every coin I could and succeeded in buying a house of my own, taxes were charged on the number of windows, fireplaces, and stairs in that house.

Even breathing was taxed.

That was not a metaphor. 

If one failed to pay the tax offered up every quarter, one became a serf or was banished from the city.

If one was driven out of the city, one might survive for a short while, but in the end, only a miserable fate awaited.

Without sturdy city walls, one would be swallowed whole by a monster that came in the middle of the night, or be exposed directly to periodic disasters like floods, droughts, and Meteors fired by some senile, deranged terrorist of a mage.

In other words, money was necessary to survive in this world.

And this plunder would become the first stepping stone that allowed me to adapt to this world.

If only so I could spend my later years at ease in a mansion with powerful cooling magic.

‘Let’s see... The sailing ships where the Lich stored his treasures were definitely a Spanish-style galleon and a carrack, weren’t they?’

Even in the game, the Lich had been programmed to act according to an extremely high-level algorithm and artificial intelligence.

If the Lich was cunning, then of course he would divide his precious treasures and armaments among several ships in preparation for a situation where his flagship might sink.

And the method of identifying those ships was not difficult.

Death Knights, Dullahans, Doom Knights, and so on....

Large sailing ships swarming with high-ranking undead that made one’s bones tremble just from looking at them!

If I could rob even one of the treasure holds on those ships, I would become absurdly rich, but for now, that was nothing more than a pie in the sky.

If an ordinary Skeleton like me loitered near a treasure hold, it would not be strange if I were kicked straight into the sea.

Needless to say, that was even more true of the Lich’s flagship and treasure ships, where even the lowest-ranking soldiers were elite monsters on the level of bosses.

Furthermore, if I drew close to the Lich’s aura, which had a magic-nullification effect, there was a chance that my Disguise skill would be undone.

Then did I have to give up and suck on my finger bones?

‘Of course not.’

The Mary Celeste fleet had several ships where captured spoils were gathered.

Odds and ends too trivial to be called treasures, yet too wasteful to throw away.

These antiques were usually distributed to low-ranking undead who had distinguished themselves in battle or used when trading with other monsters, but among them were items whose true value had not yet been discovered.

The items I was aiming for were precisely those kinds of items.

And one of the ships where such junk was gathered was....

‘...This one!’

After scurrying diligently along the mooring line that connected the ships, I arrived at a medium-sized carrack.

When I trudged toward the hatch entrance, two Skeletons pointed their old spears at me and stood on guard.

I headed toward the stern of the ship, beyond the guards’ line of sight, and searched the deck.

Creeeak―.

‘As expected, there it is.’

*-A wooden plank that had rotted from rain and wind, leaving a gap open.

I immediately grabbed the plank and pulled, but with the weakened strength of a Skeleton, I could not tear it off.

It would be nice if I had something to use for leverage....

‘...Should I try using this?’

I wedged Barbo’s cutlass, which I had brought from the captain’s cabin, into the groove like a lever and pulled.

Because my strength had weakened after transforming into an undead, my bones rattled and trembled, but when I pulled with all my might, the plank sprang loose along with its rusted nails.

After confirming that the Skeletons standing guard were not coming, I slipped my body through the gap before anyone could see me.

‘I never thought even a small detail like this would be recreated exactly as it was....’

In the past, while giving magical advice to Lich Mortemius on this ship, I had once suffered the misfortune of my foot falling through the floor.

At the time, I had cursed the undead for their poor maintenance, but to think it would help me in this way in the distant future!

Without lowering my guard, I looked around the inside of the cabin.

The interior was dark, but not to the point that I could not see at all, and captured items bearing the marks of time and battle had been piled up haphazardly.

It was a sight reminiscent of a garbage dump.

I took down the kerosene lantern hanging on the wall and shone it over the arms and armor.

Cracked helmets, rusted longswords, plate armor left abandoned beneath a layer of dust, and so on....

Antiques that were difficult to find even in a museum, and that made it easy to understand why they had been thrown into a place like this.

The odds of finding a decent item in this heap of scrap were terribly low, but if one knew what to look for, it was not particularly difficult.

As I carefully rummaged through the tower of junk....

‘...Found it.’

I discovered an old greave beneath a suit of thick plate armor.

A metal greave, covered in scratches and unimpressive in appearance.

No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like a common junk item, but the true value of this item would be revealed once certain conditions were met.

I tied the greave to my ribs to secure it, then climbed the tower of junk toward the hole in the ceiling through which I had entered.

Other than this item, there was nothing especially useful here.

There was no need to take a risk just to bring one or two more pieces of junk with me.

Just as I was about to leave the hold, satisfied with the item I had obtained,

‘Huh...? Was there always something like that here?’

When I was only one step away from the exit, a wooden box sitting alone in the center of the room came into view.

When I had come here in the latter half of the game, there had been no such thing, had there?

Unable to resist my curiosity, I approached as though bewitched.

The wooden box was locked, but after pulling out the lacrimal bone from inside my eye socket, splitting it thinly like a pair of tweezers, and poking it into the lock, it opened easily.

And inside it was something utterly unexpected.

｢You have discovered a Supreme-Grade Orb of Curses!!｣

｢It is an item belonging to the Cult of God Andira, capable of placing a powerful curse or greatly strengthening undead.｣

｢Because you are in an undead state, you do not receive a debuff.｣

｢Please be careful, as it can be damaged easily even by a small impact!｣

‘Th-That’s insane...! Why... why is this here...?’

I stared down at the black orb, a round object the size of a fist that hummed and vibrated intensely.

A treasure of the Cult of Andira, the god who governed death in the world of Velheim.

Considering its rarity and the difficulty of obtaining it, it was practically something that could be called a sacred relic.

It was an eerie item that caused debuffs to pile up just by touching it.

The problem was that, judging by its color, it had already been activated once, and someone was currently being cursed even now....

‘I-I should take it for now....’

This orb had limited uses, but if I found the right buyer, I could sell it for a high price.

Even if it was an unsettling item belonging to the cult of an Evil God, it was still a treasure approaching the level of a sacred relic.

Though the odds were extremely slim, if I found the person who had been cursed and struck a deal with them, I might be able to exchange it for an immense amount of gold.

One thing was certain: this was absolutely not the sort of item that should have been mixed in among such shabby odds and ends.

I placed the orb inside my eye socket and tied cloth around it, disguising it like an eyepatch.

This way, I would look like an ordinary one-eyed pirate Skeleton.

Just then, voices of the undead sounded from above my head.

―Hey! Are you keeping a proper watch?

―S-Sir Imarit! We were k-keeping watch diligently, just as you ordered...!

―Then hurry inside and bring back the wooden box Lord Mortemius entrusted to us.

―B-But it’s time for our shift to change....

―Do you want to become a figurehead ornament? Bring it quickly.

―Y-Yes, sir!

‘Oops....’

Had they come looking for this orb?

Using my wits, I swiftly removed an iron ball from a sling lying nearby, placed it inside the wooden box, and slipped out of the hold.

With this, they would not notice until they opened the box themselves and checked its contents.

At the very least, it should buy me enough time to escape the Ghost Ship fleet.

‘...When they find out later that the sacred relic was switched, they are going to be furious!’

As I grinned and left the junk ship by crossing the mooring line, a notification updated at just the right time.

｢Orgilian is looking for you.｣

｢Go to his cabin before the Death Knight releases the Wraiths and begins hunting you!｣