Necromancer Survival

hand fluctuated ominously.
The shadow soon rose up from the floor; a large canine head popped out.
If Koo Hui-seo hadn’t blocked it, the attack would have ripped off my head.

“”

[Woof–!]

     “No!”

     The [demonhounds] bit and ripped some tentacles off of Koo Hui-seo’s shoulders; the ex-chimera didn’t even groan in pain.
I wanted to say something, but my head was already ascending the chimney, so I couldn’t see what had happened afterwards.
However, the fact that the tentacles wrapped around my legs kept reeling felt ominous.

     It was then.

     “Nnnngh!” Suddenly, all the tentacles that were holding my leg released their tension simultaneously, and I crashed down.
It was clear that if I fell head first I would break my neck, and I had no time to cover my head.

     But, as soon as I tightly shut my eyes, I fell into someone’s arms and not the hard floor.
The fragrance of blood wafting from those arms was appalling.

[So, we finally meet.]

     I could tell who it was without opening my eyes.
[Seo Dawon] rubbed my cheek with a fingertip, slippery with some strange liquid.
I desperately hoped it wouldn’t be Koo Hui-seo’s blood, but, within a few seconds, I heard something bluntly fall to the ground.

     I opened my eyes at that sound.
Rather, I tried to open my eyes, but [Seo Dawon] was peppering brief kisses over my eyes.

[What’s with your expression?]

     He looked down onto my face frozen with fear and laughed.
As if this was all some amusing prank.
However, the laugh was cut short–a cold sneer grew on his face.

[Did I interrupt something nice?]

* * *

     First, [Seo Dawon] tied both my hands.
He attached a bracelet shaped like a snake biting its own tail onto each of my wrists; when he brought my wrists together, the snakes opened their mouths and bit the other’s tail.
The bracelets had transformed into handcuffs.

[How did you break that?]

     While disabling all movement in my arms, he moved to take something out of his inventory…however, he saw my limp leg.
He paused his efforts to retrieve whatever he wanted and asked me about my injury.

    I couldn’t answer the [Mage], nothing came to mind.
“……”

[Does it hurt a lot?]

     Though the tone of his voice was affectionate, when I didn’t answer, he didn’t hesitate to hold the broken leg in his hand.
Then, he applied strength, as if he were about to crush it.

     “Ah! Nngh…! Aaagh! It hurts! Hur–Aahh!” I couldn’t endure the pain and screamed, tilting my head backwards and shaking.
Only then did he release my ankle.
He even gently wiped the tears that formed at the corners of my eyes.
Afterwards, he gave me a light embrace.

[Are you hurt anywhere else?]

     “Th-There isn’t…” Unable to win against the threat of pain laden in [Seo Dawon]’s crooked eye smile, I answered quickly.
Then, he hugged me tightly within his arms and strode out of the room.
I closed my eyes, unable to look anymore at Koo Hui-seo’s collapsed body.

     This fake [Seo Dawon] seemed to be familiar with the mansion’s infrastructure.
After passing through a labyrinthian hallway and numerous rooms, he stood in front of a heavy gate engraved with thorny branches.

     As if the doors had been waiting for him, they opened.
The inside looked pitch black, so I couldn’t see what was there, but I could feel a bone-piercing chill from the threshold.

    Trembling, I couldn’t endure the cold and burrowed my face into [Seo Dawon]’s nape.
He stopped moving for a brief moment and took a deep breath.
However, we soon started moving again, and, finally, we entered through the door.

     After a long time, we entered a space filled with bright light.
A different corridor–similar yet different to the ones in the mansion earlier–had manifested.
We entered the nearest room which contained a gargantuan bed.

     [Seo Dawon] gently laid me down on that bed and reached for my broken leg.
When I shrank reflexively away–still frightened by the earlier events–he grasped my knee.
When I grit my teeth and stayed still from the strength the [Mage] silently exerted, he finally loosened his grip.

    I thought he would begin to torture me again.
However, contrary to my expectations, he stroked my broken ankle and soon removed his hands.

    [Seo Dawon] left me on the bed and began to slowly peruse the room.
It was as if he was browsing through the decorations here.

    Of course, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.
I felt like I was trapped in a cage with a lion.
I was sensitive to every one of his movements because I didn’t know when he would suddenly turn on me and kill me.

     On the other hand, [Seo Dawon] seemed relaxed as he leisurely looked at the ornaments that surrounded the bed.
His attention was drawn to the old frame on the bedside table.
After looking at it for a long while, he took the picture out of the frame and approached me.
Then, he showed me the picture and asked,

[How old were you?]

     Surprisingly, I was the subject depicted in the picture–me at 12 years old riding a bicycle.