Chapter 13 - 『City of the Dead』

After having the short discussion of the whole pulling the items out of thin air earlier, Brita was the one to tell the boy and his grandmother that it was his talent. So once they had the herbs, Jack gave them a few gold coins and made his way out of the Pharmacy with Brita and his sister at his sides.

They were making their way back to the house. Taking an alternate path.

Jack's eyes trailed over towards the graveyard, the gates were closed and there was someone on the wall which surrounded it. He was curious, why was there so much security around the graveyard?

Even in the world he came from, there wasn't that many people guarding such a place.

Could it be that the undead naturally spawned there? His eyes stared at the gates as they were walking by before looking to Brita. She was hardly paying attention to it. Not even curious. He even noticed there were some adventurers going into the graveyard with their weapons.

Raising a brow at this he came to a stop and Brita turned her head to look at him and his sister.

The two siblings stared at the scene. In the distance he could hear the moans and groans of the undead. How they would be shambling about unsteadily. Yet he couldn't see them through the stone walls.

"Hey Brita… How often do the dead rise in that cemetery?"

"Oh?" Walking up beside him, she folded her hands behind her back casually. "Those who have regrets rise often. The Adventurer Guild uses this as one of their promotional tests, by taking out the undead."

"I see..." Pursing his lips slightly, there were plenty of things that could go wrong with this. Especially if a necromancer bent on spreading death were to use it as a cover to conscript an army of the undead. It would be what he would do if he were in this world and at the level of everyone else. Could that already be happening? "Hm..."

"Is something wrong Jack?"

"Couldn't a necromancer or higher powered undead also be raising the dead? Under the pretense that all this is happening naturally?" His eyes rested on Brita who blinked a few times, only to nod, concurring with him.

"That… Would be a brilliant idea for an intelligent undead like a Lich," Brita frowned at this. It was hard for her to understand why everyone was overlooking that probability.

Jack would walk towards the Gates, each step casual as can be.

"You're going in, with Eve?" Brita raised a brow and followed slowly behind.

Eve smiled smugly hearing the question that Brita asked her brother and turned to look at her. "They're no match for my firepower." Her tongue moistened her lips with a gentle shine.

Brita blinked slightly, she could see the excitement in the little girl's eyes. Excitement for the idea of slaughtering the undead and whomever might be behind it...

"No dead will rise again from this cemetery." Jack said with a quiet tone before pressing a hand against the bars of the cemetery gate.

The Guard on the wall looked down at him and raised a brow. "You can't go in..." He paused when the man looked up at him and lowered his hood.

"Open the gate," Jack uttered under his breath and without further argument, the Guard complied.

Brita sped on over beside them, she wasn't going to let a child go in there alone. Even if she was confident with her ability to destroy the undead. Or at least confident that her older brother could do so.

So as they walked onto the rotten soil, surrounded by dead trees and cracked tombstones, their eyes watched their surroundings. The air in this place smelled of death and miasma.

It was a horrible place to be. This place reminded Jack of how the exterior of the Great Tomb of Nazarick used to be prior to its transportation to the New World.

"If I were a Necromancer… Where would I set up my base of operations..." Jack asked rehtorically as they walked along the path. Necromancers and Liches typically had their own liars or citadels when it came to Dungeons and Dragons. Usually underground, or if in a cemetery, a mausoleum.

As he thought, the closer they got to the grand mausoleum in the cemetery, the more undead were apparent. The source likely being the building itself.

Brita looked around. She could see the hateful undead roaming about. Just then she could hear the shambling of an undead behind her. So as she reached for her sword, she spun on her heel.

Yet the moment she turned around, there was a loud bang and the head of the zombie that was in front of her exploded into brain cheese. Chunks flying in all directions.

Brita stood there in complete shock before glancing over her shoulder towards the small girl who was still holding her brother's hand. Yet in the little female's hand was a magic item that looked like a gun. As firearms weren't recognized in this world, she could only stare at the smoking end of the barrel. "What is that…?"

"Magic Pistol," Eve grinned with an even smugger look on her face before blowing the smoke from the end of the barrel as she brought the weapon close to her lips.

Of course, after she had fired such a thing, they had grabbed the attention of the zombies and other undead present in the area.

"Now you've done it," Jack chuckled as he took in the scene of a horde forming around them. Zombies which had weren't presently preoccupied with adventurers were now turning and coming in their direction due to the loud sound.

Brita moved close to Jack, but before she made contact with his back… She felt something soft and glanced to the side to see nothing. "What did I just brush against?"

Jack chuckled quietly, not saying anything. She had just brushed against his wings which were currently invisible to the naked eye and most of those who used magic to see.

As they were beginning to be surrounded, he could hear the adventurers in the area shouting. Apparently he and the two with him were helpless? This only made Jack let out a suppressed fit of laughter. Pulling the sentient staff known as Seraph out of his item box, he planted its butt into the ground. This item would allow the natural expansion of his magic range which could encompass the entire cemetery.

Falling to one knee for dramatic effect, he raised his head with a twisted smile on his face. "Maximize Magic『Mass Destruct Undead』!" In the moment that Jack recited this spell, divine energy was expelled in all directions like a wave of holy destruction, shaking the ground. The monstrous undead who were all shambling about, gathering around them in an effort to taste their flesh. The wave would wash over them effortless, glassing and pulverizing them into dust.

Brita stood there, her jaw almost falling off if there was no skin holding there. The epic scene was like something from the Book that described the power of Gods alone.

Divine energy could be seen seeping from the piles of dust and ash that now sewn the ground of the cemetery. It was as if light was now shining upon the land, where it had never shone before.

Jack would bring himself back to his feet, twirling the staff between his fingers before resting its shaft against his forearm. Licking his lips, he narrowed his eyes on the door of the Mausoleum.

"What did you just do…?" Brita turned her head to look at the man in awe. The strength of this magic was far beyond anything she had ever seen.

"Eighth Tier Magic Spell, Mass Destruct Undead. It destroys all lower tier Undead within a massive area of effect." His eyes narrowed on her for a few moments before he began to walk towards the building with his little sister in tow.

"E-eighth tier!?" Brita could hardly remain skeptical after witnessing it. He was speaking of a mythological level of magic here!

"You coming or not?" Jack asked as he glanced over towards the woman as he stood in front of the door, pressing the bottom of his boot against it.

Dazed slightly by this event, Brita nodded and almost mindless followed him up to the door, right before he kicked it open.

As the light illuminated the interior and the path that lead further underground, Jack would lead the small party of his into the depths. As they continued their steps, they could hear someone raising the dead with a small spell of Raise Undead.

"Hm..." As Jack and the two reached the bottom of the stairs, they rested their eyes on a man wearing a red robe with skulls on a golden chain around his neck.

Standing from the corpse as it rose from the ground, the sickly evil looking man turned and locked his gaze on the man standing there with the powerful staff with the moving golden inlay. There was an intelligent globe in his hand, the Orb of Death.

『Discern Enemy』

Jack chuckled as this spell showed him the approximate level of the Necromancer which was standing before them. It was so pathetic, it made him lick his lips. However he was quite interested in the Orb of Death as the sentient magic item alone was level forty.

"Hm? An Angel you say?" Whispering, the Necromancer's eyes moved to the globe as if it was talking to him. And it was, telepathically. "What…?" Fear immediately was visible on his face as his eyes darted to the Angel known as Jack.

"Oh…?" Jack tilted his head to the side slightly.

"Who are you!?" Dale shouted and pointed towards Jack, ignoring his companions. "You are no match to stop me!" Holding the item above his head, "For five years I have been preparing for the moment to turn this city into a City of the Dead! I shall call upon the--!"

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Blood hardly visible, the Necromancer stood there, blinking. Pain everywhere, pain was everything. His lower jaw moved slightly in confusion by the sudden sensation. His eyes resting on the child at the angel's side. The man's brows would droop down, furrowing. "Wh...what?" His eyes then moved on to the smoking barrel which was pointed at him.

His fingers would peel back as the orb fell from fingers, plopping onto the ground and rolling aside, unable to move on its own.

"My name is Jack Graham, and you have failed…" Pointing the staff at him, the shaft would lengthen at an extreme rate, moving about like a snake through the air before impaling the Necromancer with its teeth causing him to scream out in pain.

『Devour』

Unlike when he used himself as a medium for this spell, the man's body didn't contort. Instead, as if drawn through a straw, Khajiit Dale Badantel was sucked into oblivion… Instantly to be devoured by Jack himself. His knowledge of this world's necromancy, the Death Cult in which he follows, and its members. His tongue cleansed his teeth as he beamed from the dopamine high.

His eyes then traced the ground to the Orb, which itself was fearful of him.

『Aport』

Suddenly the item found itself in his hand, clutched by the Angel's grasp, as the staff was now floating beside him as if laughing at the Orb of Death. "Hm… Aren't you cute."

'Release this one, you Holy Heathen! Death! Death this one shall be spread across the World! Hahaaha!' It attempted to send a telepathic message, which Jack received without fear.

Jack just rolled his eyes at it, shaking his head, before dropping it through a miniature portal gate and then reclaiming the staff with his hand shortly after.

…

Suddenly in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, an item appeared falling from far above the King's Throne.

Yuri Alpha who was standing before a seated Momonga giving a report, looked up as she pushed her glasses to her nose. She blinked a few times seeing a light reflective object flash before becoming visible. It was falling right for her. "Ainz-sama, there's something here."

"Hm? What's this?" Momonga glanced up to see what the Head Maid had taken an interest in. "A gift from Jack?" A disembodied chuckle left his person, watching as Yuri caught the object in her hands with great care as it had come from a Supreme Being. That and the last thing she needed was it to shatter all over the floor and dirty the place up again.

For a moment, she just stood there before looking up at the Master of the Great Tomb.

"Ainz-sama… This thing, Orb. It's alive." Her eyes traveled down to it as she held the item out for him to take. "I believe Cipher-sama has wished to give it to you?"

Momonga looked over the black pearl which reflected light around it. In a way, it was an appealing piece of jewelry. Reaching a hand forward, Yuri rested the item in his hand and instantly he could hear its voice through its natural ability to use telepathy through physical contact. "Oh…?"

'This one had always once believed that it had come into this world with the purpose to coat it in death, but after meeting this mighty King of Death like yourself, this one has come to fathom that it had been truly born to serve you… You who has a Great Angel in his service...'

Momonga's eyes drifted to his head maid, then back to the orb for a moment or two before leaning back into the throne and holding the 'shiny stone' up to the light.

"I thought Jack-san was in the City of E-Rantel… Restoring a broken house. Where did he get this?"

'This one was part of a large scale plan involving the turning of the City, you yourself identified, into a City of the Undead.' The Orb informed him as it had nothing to hide from this King it now wanted to serve. 'A ritual which would turn the now Deceased Khajiit into a Lich.'

Momonga just stared at the item again, resting his cheek bone against his skeletal fist. "I can see why Jack didn't want you," The laughing skeleton would lightly toss and catch the item with one hand.