Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 48: Tomb of Death ⑦: I Am the King of Death
Yes, this was the church that marked the entrance to the Tomb of Death.
But it hadn’t faded or weathered. It looked pristine, as if it had just been built moments ago.
A red light shone from the tip of the church’s bell tower.
We all understood immediately—
The King of Death was in that church.
No—
No, we were wrong.
There was a bridge leading up the hill to the church. A bridge over a dried-up river.
And at the center of that bridge stood a knight.
There was something familiar about the scene.
But the knight wasn’t clad in black armor—instead, he wore something grotesque and otherworldly.
His white-and-black armor twisted with swirling patterns and warped ornaments.
The horns on his helmet spiraled, and the face plate twisted into a bizarre, swirling design.
He was truly strange. A yellow cape fluttered behind him.
He stood with a massive sword thrust into the ground, both hands resting atop the hilt.
“What the hell is that guy?”
Agaro expressed clear disgust. Understandably so.
This was the strangest, most bizarre full-body armor I’d ever seen.
“U-um, um, this weird knight… he’s terrifying…”
Juicy spoke in fear. I’d never seen her like this.
Then the strange knight lifted his twisted helm and spoke.
“I am the King of Death.”
A low, calm voice. It came from the strange knight.
As he introduced himself, he raised his massive sword.
It was a warped, misshapen black blade—twisted from the hilt to the tip.
“Huh? Who the hell are you?”
Agaro readied his Flame tongue.
“The King of Death!?”
So this was the King of Death.
“Well, well, the King of Death. Kon is a witch, you know.”
“Fools. Arise, my subjugated army—Red Puppets.”
Dozens of small red whirlwinds spun lightly on the ground and then took human shape.
Each held a weapon forged from the red wind.
“Now, now, everyone. Can I count on you to buy me some time?”
“Fine by me.”
“U-um, understood.”
“Also, Agaro—take care of the King of Death, okay?”
“…How long?”
“Well, as long as you can manage.”
“That’s insane, but alright. I’ll give it a shot.”
Agaro raised his Flame tongue and charged toward the King of Death with swift movements.
The two swords clashed, and a fierce duel began.
Both fighters moved and struck with blinding speed.
Only the sound of steel echoed through the air.
“W-wan! Devastating cervical severing flying kick!”
Juicy called out a dangerous-sounding technique and sent a Red Puppet flying with a kick.
I fought with my [Vanish] spell and the knife Agaro gave me.
We weren’t just standing by—we were fighting too.
We’d taken down about ten together, but many more remained.
The Red Puppets weren’t that strong individually, but their red wind weapons were terrifying.
Agaro battled the King of Death while we handled the Red Puppets.
Meanwhile, the witch pulled a staff from her pouch.
It was a grotesque rod—rusted metal wrapped in pulsing black vines.
I’d never seen anything like it. Was it an OOPArt of the witch?
“Now, now, it’s been a while. <Rin>.”
She chanted and tapped the ground three times with the butt of her staff.
Then she twirled it sideways, stomped her feet, and drew a circle.
“―――<Shara. Jara. Sharala Sharala. Jarala Jarala. Sing. Chant. Recite. Sleep. Sleep. O source of the faraway great river. O depths of the abyss. O black, deep sea of darkness. Shara-shara. Sharala. Sharala. Shara-shara. Jara-jara. Jarala Jarala. Sharala. Sharala. Jara. Shara. Jara. Jara. Jarala Jarala.>”
The witch danced. She sang. She danced again and sang.
She stomped her feet, perked her fox ears, swayed her three tails, and drew letters with her staff.
It reminded me of Pakira-san’s dance I’d once seen.
Could it be a Constraint Relic!?
“<Sing. Recite. Sleep. Sleep. O depths of the abyss. O source of the faraway great river. O black, deep sea of darkness. Shara-Jara. Sharala Jarala. Sharala Jarala. Sharala Jarala. Shara-shara. Jara-jara. Shara. Jara. Shara-Jara. Sharala Jarala. O black, deep sea of darkness. Fill the abyss.>―――[Hidden Prince of Ginnungagap]!”
As the witch finished her chant and dance, a heavy splash sounded.
Suddenly, Juicy shouted.
“U-um, um, Wof-sama! Something’s coming!”
“Something? Wahh!”
Juicy yanked me back with incredible force. Her jumping power was insane.
Right—dogs are good at jumping. I remembered our family dog once scared a cat off a fence.
“Whoa, what the hell!?”
Agaro jumped back too, and then the ground turned pitch black.
“What is this…?”
A black, swamp-like substance spread across the ground.
The King of Death, caught off guard, began sinking into it—along with his Red Puppet army.
“Ugh, what is this!?”
From the ceiling, something heavy and black fell like rain, targeting only that dark circle.
It painted over the King of Death and his army, dragging them into the blackened ground.
“Hmm, hmm. Haven’t used that in a while—my aim’s off.”
The witch looked slightly dissatisfied.
I watched the King of Death and his army disappear into the darkness and asked the witch:
“Is that a Constraint Relic?”
“Yes, yes, that’s right. It’s called the Constraint Relic [Hidden Prince of Ginnungagap]. Hmm… did I mess up the sacred song or the dance? Was it two ‘sharas’ or a ‘jarala’?”
“Hey! At least warn us if you’re going to use that! I almost got caught in it too!”
Agaro grumbled. The witch gave a wry smile.
“Sorry, sorry. If I gave a signal, they’d notice, you know?”
“U-um, um, they’ve completely sunk.”
The King of Death and his Red Puppet army were gone. The blackness vanished.
Was it over? It ended too easily. Almost too anticlimactically.
“U-um, um, did we defeat them?”
“What now?”
We looked to the witch.
She smiled.
A bright, radiant smile. But I had a bad feeling.
“Hmm, hmm, well… sorry to say, looks like I failed.”
“What?”
Bzsssshhhhh—
A strange, cracking sound echoed—
“What… was that?”
The next moment, the wind blew. A strong wind. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and instinctively shut them.
Riding the wind, a voice echoed:
“I am the Wind of Death. The wind that summons death. The wind that carries death.”
“There you are!”
Agaro-san locked on and swung his Flame tongue. The flames of annihilation burned through the wind.
Suddenly, the wind stopped. With the wind gone, a figure appeared.
“I am the Death King, Hagan.”
There stood a skull clad in yellow robes.
That strange helmet was gone, and in its place, the skull wore a crown.
The faded gold crown had spiral tips.
The skull was cracked diagonally—split jaggedly as if struck by a sword.
From within the skull’s fracture and eye socket shone a murky red light.
Both arms were wrapped in a swirling red wind—like the color of blood.
“…Hagan…”
That name sounded familiar.
“Well, well, the Death King Hagan. Looks like you didn’t care for Ginnungagap’s Hidden Guest, hmm?”
“Hey, do you really have time to be provoking him?”
There was no time. In response to the witch’s provocation, Hagan spoke:
“How impudent. Foolish witch. You shall all become offerings to death.”
Hagan lightly swung his arm.
The red wind coiled around his arm turned into a blade that slashed forth.
Even without touching them, the white flowers withered just from its passage.
“Like hell we’ll let that happen!”
Agaro-san extended his Flame tongue and swept it in a wide arc.
The flame of annihilation clashed with the red wind, and they exploded.
“Gahh!”
“Kyahn!”
The shockwave blew Juicy-san and me away.
We hit the ground and rolled. The impact was fierce.
Through my hazy vision, I could just barely see the witch and Agaro-san still holding on.
“Alrighty then, time for something special!”
The witch threw something at Hagan.
Before it could hit him directly, the red wind blocked it—and it shattered. A bottle.
In that instant, the red wind dissipated, and the liquid splashed onto Hagan.
“NUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!”
The Death King Hagan writhed and howled in agony.
Could this be it? He’s clearly in pain—screaming.
“Hey! That’s working! What did you throw?”
“Heheh. An elixir, you know.”
“WHAT!? That’s way too precious to just throw!!”
Agaro-san was stunned.
It must’ve been the small vial I gave the witch before our investigation.
Actually, I’d also given the same vial to Agaro-san and Juicy-san.
Looks like Agaro-san hasn’t realized.
But still—we haven’t defeated him.
Hagan is suffering, but it doesn’t feel like a mortal wound.
Also, why can’t I stand?
I’m still face down, can’t even lift my head.
Juicy-san too. She’s lying on her stomach behind me.
“U-um, Wof-sama, are you alright?”
“I’m okay, but I can’t move my body.”
“U-um, same here. I can’t even move a finger…”
“But Agaro-san and the witch can move. Why can’t we?”
Why? It doesn’t feel like paralysis.
It’s more like… everything is numb. Like I’ve lost all strength. Completely powerless.
Why? I don’t get it.
Meanwhile, Agaro-san was deflecting the red wind with the Flame tongue’s flames.
But Hagan seemed composed, while Agaro-san was struggling.
He was clearly being pushed back. Every time the red wind blew, the ground withered.
The witch was watching carefully. At such close range, she couldn’t move recklessly.
But it looked like she was constantly waiting for an opening.
“Fuhuhuhuhuh… How foolish. So foolish. Humans never change. Irrational and immature.”
“Shut the hell up! You’re a damn skeleton, stop talking so much!”
“By the way, by the way… Hagan was the name of the heretical village chief, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed… I was once the head of a village.”
Ah, right. All we knew was the village chief’s name.
“Now that you mention it, I think I heard that before. If you got wiped out in a large-scale purge, then stay dead. Why the hell are you the Death King now?”
Agaro-san had a point. A heretic village chief becoming a king? What a ridiculous rise.
Hagan reacted to the phrase large-scale purge, muttering to himself.
“Large-scale purge… Alhazard = Abramelin… Arthur = Abramelin… Twelve = Tasan… Alexander = Hanzake…”
“Woof, woof. Um, Twelve?”
That’s Juicy-san’s ancestor. And Alexander… so he did have a last name.
Wait, Hanzake—that’s another name, right? For the giant salamander?
So Arthur had the surname Abramelin… must’ve been his deceased son’s name. I see.
The witch responded cheerfully.
“Yeah, yeah. That old man Abramelin is still stubbornly, disgustingly alive. Alexander too, still kicking.”
“I see. Then I’ll have the pleasure of killing them someday.”
Hagan sneered.
“That’s why you damn skeletons are so damn noisy!!”
Agaro-san charged, his Flame tongue glowing with bluish-white flame.
He swung his sword with pure rage, smashing it down with brute force.
Hagan blocked with the red wind and deflected the blow. Agaro-san was pushed back and clicked his tongue.
“Fools. Weak and inexperienced. And only four of you? You think such a small group could reach the depths of my Tomb of Death? Such foolishness. Come forth—my servants… Red Puppets.”
The red wind once again took on human form—not an army, just three figures.
But this time, they held spears made of red wind.
One pressed the spearhead to my back, another to Juicy-san’s neck.
The third threatened the witch with a blade of red wind.
“You bastard!! That’s cowardly as hell!!”
Agaro-san was furious. The witch had a troubled look on her face.
But that troubled look was directed at me. She’s telling me: do something.
“Cowardly? These are not hostages. This is an execution.”
This is bad. If this goes on, we’ll be killed.
If I could just create a distraction—even for a moment. Wait, maybe I can…
“Hagan. Are you aware that the Tomb of Death had been sealed away?”
“Disgusting, but yes. And I know I could do nothing about it. What of it?”
“I’m the one who unsealed it.”
“What!?”
“Woof!?”
“Oh my, you just blurted it out, huh.”
“Foolish. You think anyone would believe such a lie? To unseal it would mean defeating the undead son of that fool Alhazard. Even I, the Death King, could not kill him.”
“Then allow me to show you.”
“Oh? Foolish youth, show me what?”
I made up my mind. If I don’t use it now, then when?
“Ugh, damn it. Guess I’ve got no choice. If not now, then when, right?”
I tried to activate [Generous]… but I didn’t make it.
Before I could, Agaro-san muttered with resignation and pulled something from his pouch.
A small, ominous-looking horn. A charm? He suddenly swallowed it.
Wait—I remember now. That’s what Pies, the hired gun from Coon Hunt, swallowed.
Yes, Amaltheia. The legendary item that grants infinite power to Fauns. No way…
“GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
Agaro-san suddenly screamed, dropped to his knees, and looked up at the sky in agony.
His red hair grew longer, and black horns sprouted—growing huge and branching into four points.
“Um, um…”
“Oh my, oh my… what a terrible move you’ve made, Annihilation Blade Agaro.”
“Na?”
Agaro-san… that’s the one thing you mustn’t do. You can’t.
Hagan laughed. A clattering, cackling laugh—mocking.
“Fool. Such a fool. You actually drank Amaltheia, you imbecile. True, that cursed horn grants enormous power—infinite power. Yes, that much is true. With that, perhaps… yes, perhaps you could defeat me, the Death King. But that’s all. There is nothing easier to hunt than a beast that has lost its sense of self. Foolish. Too foolish. A human cannot withstand infinite power.”
That last line wasn’t ridicule—it was filled with sorrow.
He’s right. As much as it hurts to admit, Hagan is right. Pies couldn’t handle it either.
Not just Pies. No one can.
A human soul—unlike that of a god—isn’t a vessel that can contain infinite energy.
Agaro-san… how could you… Is there no way to fix this with an elixir?
No, before that—I have to move! Why can’t I move!?
“…That’s why I said you’re too damn noisy. Annihilation Blade.”
In an instant, the three Red Puppets were engulfed in black flames.