Monarch of Death

“Well, whatever happens, I guess we should go inside first?” Serati asked, eyeing the half-open door.

“Shall I go in first?”

“No, not there.”

Shaking his head, he snapped his fingers.

Boom!

With a tremendous explosion, one side of the wall collapsed with a loud crash.

Rather than using the perfectly fine door, he deliberately created a hole in the wall.

Looking through the newly made passage into the house, Karnak grinned.

“When dealing with necromancy, the irrational becomes rational.”

Upon entering, they found themselves in a long hallway.

Like the outside, it was a hallway made of colorful candy. The candy-shaped lanterns hanging from the ceiling emitted light, making the space quite bright.

At first glance, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary.

But Serati was utterly shocked.

“Oh my gosh, what is this…?”

Indeed, it was a long hallway.

The candy house was no bigger than a small hunter’s cabin. How could there be such a long corridor inside?

In fact, the size was comparable to the corridors of a decent castle. The height was several meters, and the width far exceeded the actual size of the candy house.

“This is impossible. How can the inside of that tiny house be this big…?”

Unlike the trembling Serati, Karnak and Baros seemed indifferent.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“It’s just a common space distortion.”

With the two so nonchalant, Serati began to calm down a little, though she shot them a glare.

“…It may be common for you two, but it’s the first time I’ve seen something this bizarre.”

“If you understand how it works, it’s not all that amazing.”

As they walked down the hallway, Karnak pointed with his finger.

“The hallway doesn’t actually exist inside the candy house we saw.”

The candy house was just the entrance.

Though they thought they’d broken through the wall and entered, they had actually passed through a dimensional gate.

The moment they stepped into the corridor, they were in a completely different space, separate from the candy house.

“So this is an entirely different dimension?”

“Yep. Just a part of normal hell.”

“Oh, I see.”

Serati paused for a moment.

‘…But isn’t hell, by definition, not exactly normal?’

Surprisingly, the fact that they were in hell didn’t shock her much.

She had already seen windows (?) showing the landscape of hell, met demons from hell, and even worn armor forged there. She felt somewhat accustomed to hearing about hell at this point.

‘Though this isn’t something I wanted to get used to.’

Meanwhile, Karnak was looking around the hallway with great interest.

“The energy here feels somewhat familiar…”

He had traveled through many different hells. Even if the surroundings were decorated with candy, he couldn’t miss the faint traces of demonic energy seeping out.

“What do you think this place originally was, Baros?”

Baros, who had also wandered through hell with him, offered his thoughts.

“It doesn’t seem like a major hell like Gehenna or Tartarus, does it? The demonic energy there is much thicker.”

“This place feels more stuffy and restless, so maybe somewhere between Parphas and Jilong? Who ruled that area again?”

“I believe it’s the domain of the demon count Rota-Boodun.”

“He’s dead, though.”

“In this timeline, he should still be alive. It was during the time when the young master had just become the Death King and was forcibly using him, and then Lord Laven killed him.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

As they continued walking down the corridor, cautiously scanning their surroundings, they heard a faint flapping sound in the distance.

It was like the sound of dozens of birds flying towards them.

The noise grew louder, and soon, a group of shadows appeared from around the bend in the corridor, screeching as they came into view.

“Screeeeech!”

“Eeeeek!”

Baros blinked in surprise.

“Huh? Monkeys?”

Dozens of winged monkeys were flying through the corridor.

Serati drew her sword and asked, “Are there monsters like that in hell?”

Baros, who was also preparing for battle, responded, “They look a bit like gargoyles, but they are not like that.”

Except for the wings, they were just ordinary monkeys. They carried long spears in their hands, and their eyes glowed a fierce red, making them look vicious, but aside from that, they didn’t deviate much from the appearance of typical monkeys.

“Winged monkeys, huh…” Karnak asked, staring at the creatures.

“Is there a fairy tale like this, Serati?”

“Ah, yes, something similar exists.”

“Is it a common story?”

“Common? It’s a fairly well-known fairy tale.”

“Interesting…”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Karnak’s eyes.

“Very interesting.”

The winged monkeys were quickly closing the distance. Baros also drew his battle sword.

Whoooom!

“What should we do, young master?”

“Just cut them down.”

As if waiting for that command, Baros leaped into action.

“Yes, sir!”

***

The monkeys were fast. And loud.

“You idiots!”

“You should’ve come in through the door!”

“Why did you break the wall!”

“We were waiting for you this whole time!”

“Took you long enough to come back!”

For monkeys, they were surprisingly articulate.

From what they were saying, it seemed like Karnak’s group had caused them a lot of trouble by breaking through the wall.

“I see,” Serati said, nodding in understanding. “That’s why Lord Karnak insisted on breaking through the wall.”

Baros, wielding his sword, charged into the swarm of monkeys. Serati quickly followed suit.

Red auras flashed dozens of times, splattering blood everywhere.

The winged monkeys started to drop like pigeons caught in a typhoon.

“Argh!”

“Eeek!”

It didn’t take more than a few minutes to slaughter all the winged monkeys, which numbered in the dozens.

There was no need for Karnak to get involved. Baros and Serati had already handled everything.

It wasn’t just because the two were strong.

The real issue was that these winged creatures were wandering in a corridor, failing to take advantage of their ability to fly.

For ordinary soldiers, they might have been a challenge, but for aura users, they were no threat at all.

“These things are way too weak.”

“I can’t imagine that the Evil Slaying Brigade would have been defeated by something like this.”

Suddenly, the far end of the corridor became noisy again. Karnak gestured toward it.

“Here comes another group, Baros.”

This time, it was a swarm of toads, each the size of a small child.

Dozens of grotesque toads hopped toward them, croaking as they approached.

“Toad!”

“Toad, toad!”

Serati slumped her shoulders.

“Uh, that’s not how toads are supposed to sound, is it…?”

The approaching toads suddenly transformed into slimy monsters.

They were the same creatures they had encountered outside the candy house.

“Raaaawr!”

“Kaaargh!”

Once again, Karnak’s group dealt with the monsters without any difficulty.

After wiping them out and taking a moment to catch their breath, another commotion rose from down the corridor.

This time, there were dozens of black cats.

By now, Serati didn’t even bother to comment on how cute they were. She had already seen what those adorable cats could turn into.

The only thing that bothered them now was the sound they were making.

“Cat!”

“Cat cat!”

Serati, dumbfounded, glanced at Baros.

“…Is hell usually like this?”

“I don’t really know, but even in hell, things aren’t normally like this.”

After all, once they transformed, they turned into the same slimy monsters. Naturally, this swarm of cats followed the same pattern as the toads from earlier.

And they were dealt with in the exact same way—completely wiped out.

“Looks like more are coming, doesn’t it?”

Just as Baros predicted, this time, dozens of rabbits began hopping down the corridor.

Karnak muttered under his breath, “I think I’m starting to understand the pattern.”

Cats, toads, and now rabbits? These were the typical minions associated with witches in old legends.

“A very stereotypical, common image.”

However, there was one thing that puzzled him.

The rabbits coming toward them were holding colorful eggs in their front paws.

“What’s the connection between rabbits and eggs, Serati?”

“I have no idea, either.”

As the swarm of rabbits approached, they glared at Karnak’s group and started to cry out.

“Bunny!”

“Bunny bunny bunny bunny bunny!”

Feeling betrayed, Serati protested, “Hey! Where’s the ‘hop hop’? What happened to that?”

“What a weird thing to nitpick about,” Baros grumbled, his expression just as unimpressed.

The situation, though not serious, was irritating enough to drain their energy.

“Still, we can’t ignore them…”

“We’ll just have to fight them, yes.”

As the rabbits transformed into slimy monsters, Baros and Serati began cutting them down again.

Watching them, Karnak remained calm, deep in thought.

“It doesn’t quite feel like hell, but…”

In a certain sense, it was very much like hell—because reality itself was distorted.

“The important question is why and how it got distorted…”

Once again, the monsters were easily wiped out. However, Serati and Baros didn’t look as relaxed as before.

“They’re not much on their own, but…”

“If they keep coming like this, it’s going to get tiring, young master.”

“Then let’s take a break.”

“Where, though? There’s nowhere to rest,” Serati questioned, looking around.

Karnak raised both hands, and darkness began to flow between his fingers.

“I’ll make a place to rest now.”

***

Karnak had roughly figured out the structure of the place.

“It’s a variation of the Infinite Corridor.”

However, it wasn’t the result of highly advanced necromancy.

Instead of casting a necromantic barrier, someone had used overwhelming power to crudely tear a hole in the dimension, forcibly linking it to a part of hell.

That’s why it took some time to understand the structure.

While high-level spells are more difficult to break, for Karnak, who had once been the Death King, most spells weren’t that complicated. In fact, this brute-force method was harder to decipher.

Without a ritual or spell involved, he had to personally examine the flow of the space itself.

As Karnak worked his magic, his hands moved in intricate patterns.

“Erase the false distortion and return it to its true warped form…”

His ten fingers tapped the air as if playing an invisible instrument.

“Evil to evil, ash to ash, dust to dust.”

With each movement, waves of darkness rippled outward, layering and shaking the space. The ceiling, floor, and walls trembled.

“Even death follows order, so let this twisted hell return to its right path.”

The candy hallway began to fade.

Serati’s face stiffened in shock.

‘What…?!’

The chocolate patterns on the ceiling disappeared, revealing bones wrapped in pulsating veins.

The bread-like walls shifted and transformed into writhing chunks of flesh.

Instead of glittering candy chandeliers, strange, burning blue tentacles twisted eerily.

Even the floor was now a carpet of countless interwoven human bones.

“Ugh…”

Serati took a step back, looking around in horror.

The once whimsical candy house had turned into a gruesome, blood-red house of flesh.

Everything was grotesque, terrifying, and bizarre.

“What… what is this?”

Baros and Karnak answered casually, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

“What do you mean?”

“This is the real form of this place.”

Both of them acted like they knew all along.

Despite her shock, Serati understood in hindsight.

‘No wonder those two, who go crazy for sweets, didn’t even glance at the candy…’

Karnak and Baros settled down and took a seat.

“Alright, let’s rest for a bit.”

Frowning, Serati glanced down the hallway.

“Can we really relax here?”

Another group of winged monkeys was flying toward them, closing the distance rapidly. They would be here in a matter of seconds—at least, that’s how it appeared.

“It’s fine,” Karnak assured her, pointing at the monkeys.

They weren’t able to get any closer. No matter how much they flapped their wings and flew, they stayed in the same spot.

“It’ll take them at least a month to get from there to here.”