Chapter 2: The Necromancer(2)

After the incident, order in the world collapsed, and crime surged.

For soul-collecting necromancers, this was a good thing.

Once outside Yeouido, Comet took a soul orb from her pocket.

After using her sleeve to wipe the dust off the small orb, she summoned her mana to draw a soul into it.

One soul flew in, illuminated by the moonlight, and was sucked into the orb.

It seemed someone had just died nearby.

Getting a soul right from the start meant today was off to a good start.

Comet walked in the direction the soul had come from.

With light steps, she arrived at an officetel complex.

Not knowing the exact location of the crime, she looked around, but there were no particular traces or signs.

After waiting a while, neither the criminal nor the soul appeared.

It was unfortunate.

Comet wandered around the vicinity of the officetel before giving up and walking aimlessly.

Before long, she had a breakthrough.

In front of a shuttered convenience store, she saw a suspicious-looking man cutting a lock.

She felt strangely pleased.

“Wow. Hello there.”

The man stopped tightening his cutter and turned around.

“What the hell?”

Taken aback by his rough response, Comet scratched her cheek, wondering if greeting him was a mistake.

The man pulled a hammer out of his bag and approached her.

Comet blinked and pulled out her knife from her pocket.

The man’s steps halted, and a tense silence fell between them.

“Are you an awakened one?”

“It seems so.”

“Then get lost and don’t bother me!”

The man scowled and cursed before returning to the shutter to pick up his cutter.

Comet raised the soul orb high to check if there were any dead nearby, then sat on the steps near the convenience store.

Before long, the lock was cut, and the shutter rose.

The glass-fronted convenience store was revealed.

The man raised his hammer.

“You’ll be punished for doing bad things.”

The glass shattered as the man grabbed his bag and went inside.

The security company’s alarm blared.

Comet followed him in, stepping on the shards of glass.

Cigarettes were being stuffed into the bag.

“Looks like you have plenty to eat?”

“Mind your own business and get lost!”

The man had a foul mouth.

Comet wandered around the convenience store, checking out the products, before inspecting the security camera.

It was broken, likely because someone had thrown a rock at it.

That was a common sight.

“Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to go to jail for stealing cigarettes?”

“If those bastards had done their job well, I wouldn’t be doing this!”

Comet nodded silently and put on her gloves.

The knife was gripped tightly in her hand.

As she summoned her mana, a faint aura flowed from the magical knife.

“It seems the police are quite busy.

On a national level, they must have priorities, so minor crimes are likely pushed aside.

From my experience, simple murders seem to be fine, though.”

“What?”

As Comet approached with her knife raised, the startled man dodged.

She intentionally swung the knife a beat slower, adjusting her trajectory to match his evasive maneuver.

Skip the chant.

Soul cleave.

As the blade brushed against his upper body, a dark wound appeared.

Instead of blood, souls gushed out.

The man stumbled and grabbed his wound, but blocking it with his hands wouldn’t help.

Comet took a few steps back, observing the man’s reaction before retrieving the soul orb from her pocket.

It didn’t take long for his unharmed body to transform into a corpse.

Comet collected the soul and turned the man’s bag upside down to empty out the cigarettes, then kindly returned them to their original spot.

Although they were mixed up in types and order, she didn’t care about that.

While washing her face at the employee sink, the sound of a car echoed and then stopped in front of the convenience store.

She heard the sound of glass crunching and a man’s voice calling out a name.

It seemed she wasn’t dealing with a solo act after all.

Comet turned off the tap and crouched down as she heard footsteps stop.

The wall dividing the employee area from the customer area collapsed, and a metal pipe protruded.

That’s something.

The metal pipe brushed past Comet’s head.

Using both hands to push off the floor, Comet kicked the metal pipe away with her leg.

As she kicked, the twisting trajectory of the pipe was retrieved with sheer grip strength.

He didn’t seem like a ranker, more like an awakened one with a character build focused on physical strength.

Comet did a quick tumble and landed gracefully.

Holding her knife, she hesitated whether to attack first or counter, and the man, noticing her, frowned.

“Damn it, it’s you, Comet!”

“Yes. So you’re a necromancer.”

“Damn.”

The man splashed water on his face with one hand.

“I don’t understand why you have such a foul mouth.”

“Hoo. Comet, I don’t know what’s going on, but did my friend attack you?”

“Q…….”

Comet relaxed her posture and twisted a strand of hair.

After a moment, she opened her mouth.

“I was just passing by and happened to witness the scene. When I looked closer, that person lying there approached with a hammer.”

The man cursed his friend, who he couldn’t even recognize as a ranker.

While the man vented his frustration by punching the wall, Comet waited.

“You don’t need to blame your friend too much. Ultimately, I was the one who killed him.”

The man looked down at his friend’s corpse, sweating coldly.

It seemed he was torn between seeking revenge or running away.

To help him make a decision, Comet casually placed her hands behind her back and shifted her position, implying there was no reason to be hostile.

The second hand ticked, and the minute hand moved a few times.

The grip on the metal pipe tightened, and the man’s gaze sharpened around that time.

Comet smiled satisfactorily and adjusted her grip on the knife.

With a shout, the man charged in, swinging the metal pipe.

As he swung the pipe, it grazed the wall and sliced through the air.

Comet, who had closed the distance, plunged her knife into his heart.

The blade moved with precise finesse and penetrated the heart without resistance.

A sound like air escaping came from the man.

A drop of blood flowed down the knife.

The metal pipe fell uselessly, thudding against the floor.

That was it.

Comet supported the collapsing man and leaned him against the wall.

May he find glory in a death without shame.

—

Comet spent several nights engaged in nocturnal activities, feeling fulfilled.

Though the 10% assimilation rate was still too low, she was able to gather a sufficient amount of souls for modifying her magical knife.

Seeking help from an alchemist, Comet visited the office around dinner time.

“Are you busy?”

“Comet? Come in! I was just about to take a break.”

It seemed that the congressman and his aides were genuinely busy, pouring hot water into instant noodles.

They weren’t using the cafeteria and instead seemed to be trying to quickly have a meal in the office.

“I feel embarrassed being the only one free.”

“Well, you’re a citizen, so it’s fine for you to be free, while we’re public servants and busy.”

The congressman smiled, stirring the noodles and covering the bowl with a notebook.

“So, what brings you here?”

“I need liquid mana. The only alchemist I know in Yeouido is Malang, so I came here out of necessity.”

“Are you planning to draw a magic circle?”

“Yes, for the knife modification.”

“Faster than expected, huh?”

“Is that so?”

The congressman called over his aide with a gesture and whispered to him.

Suddenly feeling excluded, Comet patiently waited.

“I figured Comet wouldn’t prepare for a large-scale battle, so I expected you would come soon, but this is quick. Have you killed someone?”

Comet flinched and shivered at the comment, then realized it was a joke often directed at necromancers during her gaming days and laughed awkwardly.

“Things aren’t good these days, so being a necromancer is quite convenient.”

The congressman rummaged through his desk drawer.

He pulled out a tumbler filled with liquid mana.

“Well, you’ve been going out at night a lot, so I guess you’ve been working hard.”

“Oh. You check regularly?”

Comet twisted a strand of hair.

“Here.”

“Wow, thank you.”

“This much is nothing. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come here instead of going elsewhere.”

“Thank you.”

The congressman put away the notebook he had been pressing down on his cup noodles and picked up his chopsticks.

Comet bowed slightly and stood up.

“Oh, but…”

“Yes?”

The congressman spoke lightly while eating his noodles.

“If you have some free time, how about stopping by the committee later? I think there might be something you could advise as an authority on necromancy. It wouldn’t be a difficult task, just something light.”

“Uh… okay, I will.”

Leaving the sounds of slurping noodles behind, she exited the congressman’s office.

Comet twirled a strand of hair as she fell deep in thought and moved on.

It was good to have good relations.

Returning to the designated room, she moved furniture aside to create a central space.

Comet opened the tumbler and dipped her fingers into the liquid mana.

Drawing lines on the floor and dipping mana, she repeated the process until the magic circle was complete.

She placed the magical knife and soul orb in the center of the circle and raised her magical power.

The knife floated in the air, shifting shape before reverting to its original form as a soul.

Souls burst out from the soul orb, swirling around the knife’s soul as they became entangled.

Comet focused her mind, merging and separating the souls to shape them.

She adjusted the center of gravity and refined the edge of the blade while casually engraving simple patterns.

“Good. This should be usable for a while.”

Comet roughly wiped away the magic circle with her foot and restored the furniture to its original position.

She lay down on the bed but realized she needed to visit the committee and got up again.

Following directions, Comet arrived at the Disaster Response Committee, where many people were busy even though it was nearing night after dinner.

Still, some people seemed to be wrapping things up as if they weren’t planning to work until dawn.

Looking around, Comet spotted a familiar face and approached.

The healer was checking printed documents.

“Comet?”

“Yes?”

“Hello. Um…!”

Comet intended to mention that she came on the congressman’s recommendation, but when it came to remembering his name, she hesitated.

“Um, Malang said there would be something to do if you came here.”

Comet scratched her cheek.

“The chairman?”

The healer responded with a hint of surprise and glanced around the chairman’s office.

There was no one in the semi-transparent office, and it seemed the congressman was still in his office, as Comet had found earlier.

The healer blinked, then organized some documents and moved to a different spot.

“I see. You were a ranked necromancer, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then this must be the case.”

The file drawer opened, and a bundle of documents was pulled out.

“The committee has agreed to respond specially to cases involving awakened criminals at the sub-ranked level and above.”

“…… Special response?”

Comet leaned over to look at the bundle of documents being extracted.

A strange sense of unease washed over her.

The healer flipped through the papers and pulled out a few sheets.

“This is it.”

Comet took the documents and examined them.

It was a report summarizing several murders, indicating that they appeared to be the work of a necromancer.

It was a familiar position.

Comet felt a chill in the air.

“It seems there’s a shortage of police personnel. Isn’t it overwhelming to handle such cases?”

“Where did you hear that?”

The healer looked at her.

“Oh, well, just… you get a sense of it over time.”

The healer sighed, then drummed his fingers on the desk, lost in thought, before speaking.

“To put it simply, there have been many casualties due to monsters, resulting in a shortage of police personnel.”

“Then why this…?”

Comet asked, a bit impatiently.

“Originally, we planned to respond to such cases later.”

The healer pulled out additional documents.

A familiar convenience store appeared in the report.

“The method of destruction at the scene was concerning, and upon checking the victim’s identity, one turned out to be a sub-ranked individual. The murderer is a necromancer at the sub-ranked level or higher.”

“According to this agreement, we decided to respond specially.”

“Wow…”

Comet’s voice trembled.

“If you could assist with this case as an external civilian supporter, it would be greatly appreciated.”

The healer bowed slightly.

“I see! Of course, I will help.”