Holy Emperor's Grandson Is A Necromancer

Ten holy zombies appeared before me.

The shoulders of the newly summoned zombies sagged a bit. They slightly raised their heads and took in the sight of the surroundings. Then, their jaws dropped wide after spotting the zombie bear.

Their mouths opened so wide that the jawbones actually dislocated and the cheek skins almost tore up. And then….

– Kiiiiiieeeeeehk!!

As if the hymn of a second ago was nothing but a lie, they spat out a screech far more bizarre than that of a regular undead. Their muscles writhed and wriggled. Blood vessels seemingly puffed up on the soles of their feet pressing down on the ground.

The ten zombies crouched into a pouncing position, then they exploded forward by kicking the ground. They dug into the bear"s defences with an astonis.h.i.+ng turn of speed.

They violently, speedily tore and sliced into the bear"s fur and hide with their own sharp claws.

– Kku-ruk??

The zombie bear confusedly turned its head. The part with torn hide began melting down now.

– Kkiiiaaahk!!

The holy zombies opened their maws wide and pounced on the zombie bear to bite and tear the monster down. The thick hide was bitten through and the creature"s rotting muscles were extended like melting cheese before being severed.

Ten holy zombies relentlessly ripped and devoured the undead bear. The hulking monster howled out every time chewing, grating noises resounded out in the cave. Its large body tottered and it began retreating somewhat.

"It"s working."

I formed a faint little smile. I started believing that I might survive this ordeal.

Not only these holy zombies could break out into dashes, their physical strength was also on another level altogether. Their attacking abilities were also far higher than regular zombies from what I could see.

Yes, this was the correct answer. As expected of a Necromancer, this was the standard procedure of overwhelming the enemies with sheer numbers.

Didn"t the various ‘tokusatsu" and dime-dozen RPGs amply demonstrate it? The dirtiness of five or more characters cracking open a can of whup*ss on a boss monster! Now that"s truth, folks.

The numbers game didn"t care if you were a superhuman. That"s why….!

The zombie bear raised its paw and smashed down at the holy zombies.

CRACK-!!

Accompanied by the sounds of something rupturing wide open, the upper torsos of two holy zombies got torn in half and flew away to crash into the rocky walls of the cave.

My expression froze right there and then; I s.h.i.+fted my gaze over to the broken zombies smashed into the walls, before looking back at the zombie bear.

The hulking creature smashed its paw down once more.

Its wide and heavy front paw smacked and ripped apart a hapless holy zombie"s body like a piece of worn-out rag.

And then, while the zombies were doing their best to gnaw at the undead bear bit by bit, the dang thing simply flung itself at the rocky wall.

BOOM-!!

Three of the holy zombies clinging onto the bear were crushed flat and went splat in an instant.

Maybe it was now too annoyed to care, the zombie bear simply ignored the rest still clinging onto its body and began marching towards me.

I could only stare up dazedly at the monster.

"….I"m screwed."

I had no freaking clue that this thing was so powerful. I mean, wasn"t it way too overpowered even if it was a zombified bear?!

Whatever, I needed to get out of this place. This guy, it was not something I could fight head on.

"I better start runni….!"

The zombie bear"s eyes widened, then it lowered its posture. Like spring, it leapt up after kicking the ground. Even though it possessed such a large, heavy body, it was probably the quickest out of all the predators when it came to its ability to charge forward.

Huge, lengthy claws that I nearly mistook for actual scythes took a swift swipe at me.

Son of a….!!

I immediately imbued the blessing on the shovel. I tried to raise my only equipment up to defend myself, but the bear"s paw struck me and my entire body tilted to the side.

BANG-!!

My hands ached. No, hang on a minute - it was more like the impact force akin to bones popping out from their spots, instead.

"Uuuk…!"

A short scream leaked out from my lips, my consciousness almost abandoning me. That attack just now, it was more than enough to break the shovel and rip my body in half.

However…

A Rune letter was engraved on the shovel as the faint light oozed out from it.

[Divine Aura has activated.]

[Your equipment has been temporarily enhanced.]

What? Divine…. what was that?

My eyes nearly popped out from their sockets after hearing the message resounding inside my head.

The shovel didn"t break. I felt this wriggling sensation in my grips as it got even more secured within my hands. Instead, the zombie bear"s dangerous-looking claws developed big cracks before shattering into pieces.

Of course, it wasn"t as if I managed to block out all of the impact forces.

I did defend against the attack, but I still ended up cras.h.i.+ng into the rocky wall of the cave like some kind of an airless ball. I vomited out blood as pain akin to my whole body ripping apart tore through me.

What the h.e.l.l? I survived?

I glanced down at the shovel. The s.h.i.+ning Rune letter gradually disappeared. What was it again? The message definitely said [Divine Aura], didn"t it?

Such a thing was not among the skillset in the game.

Hang on, now wasn"t the time to sweat over something like that, right?

I defended the attack with the shovel, but this intense, horrible pain from my innards made me wonder if all my internal organs had been destroyed or something.

"Euh-euh-euhk…."

I inadvertently leaked out a painful moan, my gaze s.h.i.+fting back to front. I heard loud, thudding footsteps - the zombie bear was staggering towards me.

At this rate, I would die for sure.

I tried to use the shovel as leverage to stand up, but I plopped down on the ground again, instead.

‘Ah… I"m definitely screwed."

I couldn"t muster any strength in my legs.

"D*mn it, if only my skill proficiency was higher!"

I should"ve at least meditate seriously and absorb lots more divinity or something while staying in the monastery. If I did that, I could"ve really overwhelmed the zombie bear with sheer numbers befitting a Necromancer.

The bear switched its stance to all four legs. Perhaps realising that its target couldn"t escape anymore, its gait had become relaxed, too. The creature soon stopped near my position and looked down on me, the corners of its lips arcing up.

Urgh, this crazy son of a….

Through the creature"s expression, I could tell - the unknown Necromancer was busy controlling this very undead right now. The b*stard must"ve been watching everything through the monster"s eyes all along.

So, the kidnapped woman was definitely a bait, then?

Didn"t take a genius to figure out that the woman was probably dead by now. No, my opponent just wanted to show everyone the woman being kidnapped alive, and since she"d serve no purpose to the Necromancer while still breathing….

If she was still alive, then only as some sort of a lab rat. Or, she"s already dead and turned into another undead to use as a tool to lure more hapless villagers to their doom.

What a cheap and underhanded method that was. As expected of a Necromancer.

The zombie bear opened its maw wide.

What kind of nonsense was this? I couldn"t be sure of whether this was a reincarnation or possession, but here I was, already h.e.l.l-bound only after three months of living in this place?

Ah, ahh, dear Gaia! If you"re watching, can"t you help a poor man out for once? I mean, you"re a G.o.ddess, aren"t you? The G.o.ddess of love and mercy, no less??

In that case, you certainly can show me some love and mercy by saving my b.u.t.t, right?

A lovable grandson of the Holy Emperor is about to get killed, so are you really going to let it happen?

….All sorts of nonsensical stuff filled up my head. I should blame the fear of death on that one. Probably.

My complexion paled and I ended up muttering out the thoughts bubbling in my head. "G.o.d d*mn it, no way I"d be rescued by reciting this dumb prayer…."

– Kuuu-ooohhhh!

The zombie bear"s wide-open mouth was about to pounce on me, but then….

But then, I saw it.

I saw a whitish object sneaking out from behind the zombie bear.

No, hang on a minute, that"s a person….?!

….And it"s a girl?

She also happened to carry a kitchen knife, too.

"Eh?"

A stupid-sounding gasp jumped out of my mouth all on its own.

H-hey, where did that girl pop out from?

Even as my brain failed to fully process this sight, the girl hanging on the bear"s neck proceeded to stab the knife into the creature"s eye.

STAB-!!

Was it because it lost its sight just now? The zombie bear howled out loudly and violently shook its head. She yanked the knife out, but then, stabbed it down again in the monster"s eye socket. Her movements were super-quick and violent, but also unnervingly precise, as she stabbed over and over again.

Flesh and blood splattered everyone.

I finally had regained my wits by this point and raised the shovel up high. This was my chance. If I didn"t take it, then I"d really die here!

"Get out of the away-!!"

Did my voice get to her, or was it because of the zombie bear"s resistance?

The girl was flung away from the creature as if she got thrown away. She roughly crashed on the ground, perhaps not knowing how to land properly.

In the gap created between that moment and the bear turning its head in my direction again, I managed to inject some more divinity into my shovel.

Although faint, pure-white aura had permeated into the ends of the tool"s blade. I summoned all my strength and stabbed it into the creature"s forehead.

STAB-!!

I was initially greeted by this disgusting sensation of contact, and then, by the sound of something snapping in half.

All movements of the bear suddenly stopped. The shovel"s edges pierced past the monster"s thick hide and penetrated straight into its skull.

And just like that, the creature stopped moving altogether like a stuffed animal. The housing for the demonic energy to animate the undead, the skull, had been destroyed, and that cut off the flow of the energy from the Necromancer, too.

I glared deeply into the eyes of the zombie bear that gradually lost its light. I was sure that the d*mn Necromancer as*hole was watching me through them even now.

I spoke while staring straight into those eyes. "Sit tight and wait for me, because Imma pay you back in full for all the sh*t you just put me through."

I released the shovel.

Boom-!!

The zombie bear lost its balance and fell to its side. The demonic energy that made this big hunk of rotting flesh move had completely dissipated now, and the remote control was cancelled as a result.

Argh, so b.l.o.o.d.y tiring.

I plopped down on my b.u.t.t once more.

What an unnecessary hards.h.i.+p this was. I heard that MCs from other fantasy novels caught in this kinda situation would suddenly turn into munchkins, but I….

"….I have to go through this c**p."

This was patently unfair.

Why wasn"t I given an once-in-lifetime talent or something? I was certain that you wouldn"t get to read a novel with such a sweet potato-like plot progression nowadays.

I sat there, inwardly complaining bitterly to high heavens, only to notice that someone was approaching me. I raised my head to see the girl from earlier standing before me.

Her white hair was dyed in blood. She stared at me wordlessly with her equally-crimson and sunken eyes. The bear"s fur and b.l.o.o.d.y flesh remained stuck to the kitchen knife in her hand, blood dripping from it.

"What now?"

My words caused the girl to flinch a bit, and she for some reason raised the knife and waved it around. Her lips twitched and formed a grin.

Could it be that she was trying to greet me?

Well, that"s the kind of a grin that the serial killer from a slasher film might make, actually.

I suddenly recalled the incident of me ruthlessly smacking her in the head with the shovel not too long ago. Maybe I should"ve held back a bit back then?

You, uh, you ain"t trying to stab me with the knife, are you?

"Imperial Prince-nim!! Your highness…! Are you alright?"

Rather belatedly, the voice of salvation entered my hearing.

What nice timing this was, since I couldn"t even move my body properly at the moment. It"d be very difficult to emerge unscathed if I got attacked by something hostile in my current condition.

More importantly, though, I needed someone to do something about this awkward atmosphere between me and the girl. The villagers eventually got to my location, discovered the zombie bear, and froze up instantly.

Mister Hunter among the rescue party took one look at the unmoving bear and his complexion became ice-white. "This, isn"t this the King of Gluttony???"

What a scary t.i.tle that was.

I just had to ask our Mister Hunter about it. "You know about this thing?"

Hunter Hans alternated his gaze between me and the zombie bear, then replied with an awkward expression on his face. "This guy, he"s one of the most dangerous creatures out here. It lives in the Land of the Dead Spirits, and it mainly eats zombies as its food."

According to him, this b*stard of a bear enjoyed such a thick hide that it could easily withstand dozens of zombies attacking it at the same time. As a matter of fact, it was so scary that, were it to find a mate and get itself a little offspring, they could even hunt down an actual ‘Troll", too.

That"s why it was so strong, huh.

"Did you actually kill this thing, your highness?"

"No, it was already a corpse when I got here."

I simply shrugged my shoulders.

Things might get complicated if the villagers learn that I killed the monster by relying on Necromancer skills. Hang on, now that I thought about it, there"s a witness here already, wasn"t there?

I s.h.i.+fted my head and looked at the girl. She was looking back at me while tilting her head.

There was a pretty good chance that she saw me summon the holy zombies. However, she didn"t say anything about them and simply stood there. Either she wasn"t a talkative type or didn"t see anything.

The villagers looked at the girl with the kitchen knife and then at me while forming strange expressions.

"Why is this little girl here?" I asked, and that prompted Gril to form a troubled expression.

He replied. "We had no idea she was following us either, your highness. Just as you got dragged inside the cave by the wolf, she jumped out from the bushes."

She surely couldn"t have chased after me thinking that she didn"t want to lose the target of her vengeance in this fas.h.i.+on, right?

A rather ominous thought decided to make camp in my head. The knife in her hand seemed to gleam even more so for some reason.

I smiled awkwardly and tried to get back up, but staggered about as I had no strength in my legs still. She reached out and held me up.

I flinched and looked back at her only to discover her expressionless smile. Her lips might have curled up, but there was no movement in her eye muscles whatsoever. Anyone could tell that she was forcing out a smile. It only managed to chill my backside, instead.

Please, please! Someone else help me out here! This girl, she might suddenly stab me in the stomach with the knife, you know!

It was unknown whether Gril knew what my current thoughts were like or not; he simply alternated his gaze between the girl and me before pointing towards the exit of the cave. "Well, let"s get out of here for the time being. You look really tired, your highness, so let"s go back and rest before…."

"Why do you want to leave so quickly? We should finish it since we"re here."

"Pardon me??"

I pointed to the deeper part of the cave. "Let"s end this now."

"B-but…."

Gril looked at the bear with the imposing name of the ‘King of Gluttony". I said that the creature was already dead when I found it, but he didn"t seem to believe me.

But then again, there was a hard-to-miss shovel sticking out of its forehead, so anyone could tell that it was killed by someone.

The villagers must be scared of another zombified bear potentially hiding deeper within.

The girl seemed to be blessed with quick wits because she helped me towards the shovel. I struggled a little before yanking it out from the dead creature.

"I"m guessing the other side have no more zombies left," said I.

"Your highness??"

I was merely guessing. No guarantee that our enemy no longer had any more of the undead troops left. However, I came this far already and there was no way I"d let the b*stard escape.

"There are no more zombies. Even if there are, they should be on the same level as the ones you fought off back in the monastery. Not only that…."

I took a look around our surroundings. Only then did the villagers notice the strangeness of the cave they were in. As in, the cave where not a lick of light should exist was lit up brightly.

All thanks to the faint trace of divinity still remaining.

"The b*stard will escape if we don"t act now."

Since the whole cave was awash with divinity, zombies should not present us with problems.

I studied the deeper parts of the cave shrouded in darkness and spoke. "Necromancer, that b*stard is at the back of this place."

Right, I simply couldn"t back off until our enemy had been caught.

I must make the fool pay for putting me through such a wringer!

< 009.="" imperial="" prince="" is="" hunting="" a="" witch="" -2=""> Fin.

(TL" "Tokusatsu" is a collective term for the j.a.panese live-action films and TV shows that feature heavy amount of special effects, such as Kamen Rider series.)

(TL: "Sweet potato" is a Korean slang term denoting anything that"s frustrating. Its opposite is "cider", which stands for anything that"s refres.h.i.+ng.)