Konosuba Side Part 12.

In the castle above the cliff next to the forest, a gloomy aura was radiating slowly into the air. The old castle that was abandoned for years became more creepy, even the animals and insects didn't dare to get closer.

Inside of the castle, several corpses and skeletons can be seen walking around or just standing in their place. However, even if they were still, they would immediately move away, when a particular Undead in a mage robe arrived.

In the middle of the castle's hallways, Lich was walking slowly while thinking about his plans. After the first accident, he has to admit that these days are quite peaceful, almost like death.

Anyway, Lich found this peace to be weird and even stressful. He knew that these feelings are because of his usual habits as a player, after all, they basically don't have the luxury to relax a lot during missions, but this mission is weird.   

How it can be weird? Well, even if Lich rejected his humanity like he heard from a certain player, the species change in the Horror Space are somehow special. Unless you completely desire to change, you'll never truly become a part of the said species in the Horror Space's eyes.

This came from a rare message that appears to certain players. 'Do you really want to change? Yes? Or... No?' The message was short and for Lich, it's funny. Is the overbearing Horror Space actually asking for consent? Except for the first invitation, messages like this were rare, and even slightly unheard of.

However, even if the message still didn't appear in front of him, Lich can't see a real serious change in those who accepted, except they were slightly stronger obviously. Or maybe he doesn't know many details.

Regardless, Lich remembered this information by talking with Beldia, an Undead with a lot of feelings, he must say. For all the reasons, why does this mission sound all this friendly? It's so friendly, it gives the dead Lich chills, of course, not as much as the Axis Order.

{Now, I think about it. Didn't the idiots Zhang brothers chose to go to Axel?} Lich remembered a certain three players, who supposedly went to Axel, as his expression twisted a little.

Let's say, his relationship with those three players wasn't friendly. This was confirmed again when this mission started.

When he first arrived in this world, he bumped into Zhang's brothers. Three dumbasses wearing an ahegao hoodie didn't think twice before attacking him while declaring a robbery.

However, when Lich summoned his army and tried to catch them, they used some sort of a stun skill. All the Undead around them were paralyzed, letting the three brothers run away, but he wished it ended like this.

The three brothers gave him a middle finger while screaming from afar that he was a coward, cursing him multiple times, and saying he can't catch them. Lich obviously used his army again, but those players were too slippery, just running and jumping around.

This didn't end until Lich summoned the Bone Dragon, which made the three brothers curse one last time before stunning the dragon with a strong skill and running away without looking back.

Lich swears if he saw them again, he'll sacrifice their souls in the most painful way he knows.

"Hold on, if they went to Axel... Why the hell this mission is still incomplete?!" Suddenly, Lich finally realized the critical problem. How could three top players, even if they were annoying, not finish a simple mission in a newbie town?!

The Zhang brothers are kinda... Special. Their strength is only top-level when they fight together, but they also aren't weak individually and use the most disgusting, yet effective abilities in fights. They all have the 8th, 9th, 10th rank in the arena of the first floor in the Horror Space.

Lich himself is ranked 5th in the arena, so he got 'harassed' for some time by these three brothers because they couldn't defeat their next opponent, so they used the free chance to pick on him as a spell caster!!

Anyway, Zhang's brothers are masters of running and crowd control with their stunt, silence, bleeding, and other debuffs skills. Even if there was something in Axel, they could easily run around it. Unless... They couldn't run around it this time.

More and more thoughts filled Lich's head, making him look gloomy. But then, the whole castle trembled and a red gleam shone on everything. " What is goin- AHHHH!!"

However, without even giving him a chance to notice the violent mana reaction, Lich was blasted away by a wrathful crimson explosion!

Like taking a hit from a meteor, the whole castle started cracking as a flower of flames blasted towards the sky, bringing a cloud of smoke and dust. 

Luckily, the explosion hit the castle directly, so the Undead weren't affected much. Some of them were blown to pieces, but those were skeletons, who immediately started to look for their bones around.

At a corner in the broken hallway, a wrinkled hand appeared from under the rubble before Lich stood up and looked at the flames burning around him. The sun was clearly shining from the large hole, which brought him some discomfort, but he didn't care about that.

"What. The. Fuck" Staring at the cracked castle, those were the only words Lich could say to express his faint emotions.

Meanwhile, on the road where people can see the castle. Megumin fell on her face while Kazuma and Aqua were staring at the ball of flames as their clothes and hair were moving with the wind.

"That... Was... The best..." Megumin whispered softly while kissing the ground with her face. Her tone was like she did one of the biggest achievements in her life.

However, her two partners didn't share the same feelings as her.

{Blowing this castle... Won't cost me money, right?... It's an abandoned property, right?... There's no way its owner would pope up someday, right, right?!... Please, someone, tell me I'm right} Kazuma hung his head low while praying for a bright future.

{Why should a goddess like me waste her precious time here? Moreover, when is lunch?} Aqua didn't care that much while looking at Kazuma, picking Megumin up.

"Let's go" Kazuma said before walking forward with a grim look about his future.

"Sure" Aqua agreed before leaving with Kazuma while thinking about lunch.

When the three left the place, Lich rushed to Beldia's room to talk about this situation. However, when he arrived, he saw Beldia sitting on his throne with a dreadful aura.

"So, they finally came. Adventurers'' With a deep and grim voice, Beldia's red eyes shone with an ominous gleam before he said " Rookie, it's time to start!"

"What?" Lich would blink from confusion if he had eyes.

"Foolish humans! Always running to the danger like moths in flames. Now, with humans knowing our place, they'll gather their warriors, mages, and come to fight us! And when that happens, we'll get everything we want!!" Beldia stood up from his throne as his aura of death was blowing around.

"Uh... Um, Beldia-sama, why don't we chase after them now?" Lich didn't understand what was happening anymore. Someone came and nuked your house, but you are still hanging around?!

"No, need. During my life, I understood adventurers clearly. They'll always come and raid any place will a lot of monsters. They'll directly fall into my trap, where I, Beldia, will capture them easily" Beldia's eyes shone with a red light, but in Lich's eyes, he looked like one of those scammers that say 'Trust me, I got this' or ' There's nothing to worry about, I'm a professional'.

"Enough with that" Suddenly, Beldia walked forward and passed Lich before he said " Come with me"

"We're going to track them?!" The flames in Lich's eyes burned brightly.

"No, we're going to something more important" Beldia waved his hand as his cape was flaying before he said " We'll help the Undead to fix the castle"

"... Excuse me?" Lich tilted his head like he had trouble hearing.

"We'll go and fix the castle to show those adventurers what is waiting for them" Beldai said with a deep voice, but then his voice became mild and said " Also, our look is very important. We can't keep it like this"

"....." Lich had many questions as a lot of complicated thoughts flashed in his brain before he said " We're Undead, why do you care about looks?!"

Despite his internal conflicts, Lich sighed as he joined the construction team made from the dead. There's still time for the mission and he can take things slowly. 

However, he also needs to take it carefully after remembering Zhang's brother, even if he saw the castle bombing in the information he brought, which shows that the plot is at least still moving normally.