In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 11 Premium Page 16

  After being killed or purified, an undead creature’s soul would be released up to heaven... But those with damaged souls would simply cease to exist. They had nowhere to go but the void of death.

  It was sad to think about, but they’d be entirely removed from the reincarnation cycle.

  I entered the city and glanced around, and found that it wasn’t only people who had died. I saw horses, dogs, and even little birds with crystals jutting from their disheveled corpses. Their souls were devoured, too. ...No, this has to be the work of the Phrase.

  I took various factors into consideration before concluding that the entire place needed to be burned down.

  There would still be money and commodities inside the stores and houses, but I didn’t think it would be morally right to pilfer what was essentially a mass grave.

  If I left the city as it was, I was sure that bad people would end up coming by and looting the place, anyway. It was better to allow the stuff to burn to ash along with their former owners.

  I considered passing on the stuff left behind to the Sandora authorities, but it was still possible that there was a virus causing all of this. Plus I didn’t want them using any proceeds from the salvage to create more Submission Collars.

  I searched the map to confirm that there was no longer anything alive in the area, and then I prepared to purge the city in purifying flame.

  The buildings, the people, their souls, and the city itself. All would be gone.

  “Rage forth, Fire. Purgatorial Flame: [Prominence].” The magical flames I called forth wrapped the entire settlement in a blaze. Blazing hellfire screamed and danced, burning the very heavens above as it clashed against the dark night. The city fell to ruin in its all-encompassing scorch.

  Houses began to collapse, roofs began to cave in, everything melded into the savage lick of flame.

  I gazed at the city as it simply faded from existence, and felt nothing but utter helplessness.

  “...Do souls get eaten like this often?”

  “Sometimes, but not frequently. Wraiths, Phantoms, and Specters are all monsters that we’d classify as Soul Eaters. They’re attracted by negative thoughts. They like to feast on people who are mired in despair.”

  “They specifically target fearful people. Those with anxieties, concerns, or depression plaguing them... They corner their targets, intensifying the dread. It’s like seasoning their meal. In the end, fear of the unknown is one of the most unsettling things to experience.” I remembered hearing that the fear of the dark was inherent to all humans. It’s easy to imagine that something exists in the dark, and that serves to intensify the feelings of fear. The fear of the unknown, ultimately, is born from the power of the human imagination.

  I was aware of the evil spirit kinds of monsters that could eat souls, but I didn’t believe this was their work at all.

  Those crystals were far too suspicious and didn’t feel like the work of a natural creature from this world. It was possible that thousands of Wraiths came down to the city, but it’d be an unprecedented incident and wouldn’t account for the crystal formations.

  I looked out in the dark, certain that something horrible was making its move out there.

  “There is one thing, though...” Moroha muttered quietly as she watched the city burn.

  “Something that eats souls and grows from them... It could be that a wicked god is attempting to rise.”

  “Ah, I see... That could be it, then... There’s no sacred treasure in this world, aside from Touya’s smoffo... Uh... smarphone...? Smartphone. So this could be the work of that servile god.” I wondered if that was true. Traditionally such spirits were born from the divinity of sacred objects after they accumulated dark thoughts and grudges. Something like that would be weaker than a servile god, but it’d still be a major threat to humanity.

  Even if it was called a god, a wicked god or evil god wasn’t actually one. Gods typically didn’t interfere either since they were a product of the lower realms. Though it was certainly true that they were only able to be born because of divinity, so the gods would often give a hero or someone important something special to deal with it on his own time.

  I wondered if the servile god was trying to create a sacred treasure and a wicked god alongside it. “Well, even if there is one it’ll be fine. This world has Touya looking after it.”

  “It’s not a real god in the end, anyway. Plus, this’ll just be a creation of a lowly servile god. It won’t even be a fair fight if it faces off against you, Touya. You’re favored by God Almighty, after all.”

  “...Then I guess it’s fine...” I didn’t really like that they were already counting on me to take care of it. But if it was lower than that NEET god, then I was sure I’d be fine.

  I was more worried about the crystals, though. If the servile god had joined forces with the Phrase, that’d be a nightmare scenario. The idea sounded stupid, but I couldn’t shake the feeling...

  If the Phrase were experimenting with divinity, that could actually be a threat. I only had intuition to go off, however.”

  “...What? Something’s not right... There’s something moving in the fire.” I looked over to Moroha, who was muttering something at the blaze. I wondered what she meant. Then, I saw it. Shadowy figures swaying in the hellfire. It was impossible. Those flames were enough to melt steel. Before I could even think any further, a Crystal Skeleton burst out of the ravaged city and attempted to charge me.

  “Augh!” Karina shot a Phrasium arrow at its head.

  The head splintered to pieces and the Skeleton fell to the ground, but it immediately stood up and regenerated the lost material.

  What?! Th-That’s just like the Phrase! The Crystal Skeleton began shambling toward me once more. Inside its ribcage was a small, golf ball-sized sphere. It was glowing red.

  “That...!” I took out Brunhild and pulled the trigger, aiming for the sphere. It burst on impact, and the Skeleton shattered into pieces right away. It didn’t get back up.

  It was the same regeneration ability. The core was maintaining the function, just like the Phrase Constructs. That meant magic was ineffective as well, which explained how they managed to resist the flames.

  Is this because of those crystals growing out of their bodies?!

  “They’re coming... All the human bodies in the city have been turned into Phrase lifeforms.”

  “Fall back to the desert! They’ll follow!” The others retreated on my order. The Crystal Skeletons all began to shamble out through the gates of the ruined city. As they came toward us, Karina and I took shots at their cores, one after the other.

  There were Skeletons of all shapes and sizes, including little ones... and tiny ones crawling on all fours. Children and toddlers, reduced to soulless, mindless drones. It was a fate worse than death.

  I swallowed down the misery the sight inspired in me, and I kept on taking my shots. Their souls were done for. The best thing I could do for them was let them die and never come back to this hell.

  Moroha moved forward and cut out several cores with her blade. They weren’t unified, but there was a massive amount of them. If there were less I could’ve just used [Apport] to pluck out their cores.

  Still, Moroha’s swordplay showed me that they were fragile enough to take out with blades. Which meant I could call in backup...

  “Come forth, Dark! I Seek an Armored Warrior of Bone: [Skeleton Warrior]!” Ivory white Skeletons rose from the ground one after another. They each wielded a sword and shield.

  Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth... Skeleton for a Skeleton.

  “Kill the Crystal Skeletons that are coming out of the city! Aim for the cores in their chests!” The Skeletons were different from the other Phrase in that they had their cores fully exposed. You could easily hit them through the gaps in the ribs.

  I called out more Skeleton Warriors in quick succession. Thousands of them. I really owed this feat to my vast magical reservoir.

  A battle then erupted betwe
en the Crystal Skeletons and the regular Skeletons, amidst a sea of flames. It seemed like the Skeleton Phrase were drawn to humans out of instinct like the rest of them. There were other exits to the city, but they’d all converged on the one closest to us.

  My Skeleton army swiftly and efficiently blocked the blows from their crystalline foes, while biting back without mercy. They were truly good at following orders.

  One thing I found interesting was that only the human bodies had become Phrase Constructs. There was probably some method to it, but I had no idea.

  “Skeletons tearing apart Skeletons... It’s like a vision straight out of hell.” The burning city behind them just made the imagery worse. This was one of the most disturbing things I’d seen in recent memory.

  Two hours passed, and finally the last of the Crystal Skeletons fell to my army. The flames also began to die down, finally. I looked on my smartphone map to see if there were any stragglers, but found none.

  Thus, Astal, the second largest city in the Kingdom of Sandora... was wiped from the annals of history.

  ◇　◇　◇

  The next day, I called an emergency meeting with the representatives of the alliance. I informed them all about the situation in Astal. It was a little awkward to explain that I had to obliterate the entire city, but the more troubling aspect was the cause.

  Flora couldn’t detect any pathogens or unusual qualities within the three kunoichi, so it was hard to tell what had actually triggered the reaction that turned the townspeople into Skeleton Phrase.

  The other world leaders responded to the news with pale faces and fearful glances. That was only natural, of course. They were clearly afraid it could happen in their own territories.

  This world was familiar with humans becoming undead, so they didn’t particularly take that news badly, but... Well, the problem came with just how big of an incident this was, and the fact that we couldn’t be certain if this was some scheme by the Phrase or some coincidental attack from ghostly monsters.

  I was of the resolute opinion that the Phrase had to be behind this. After all, how else could the Skeletons be explained?

  The only good news out of all of this, if you could call anything that had happened good, was that the Skeletons were so weak they could be killed by even the most novice of adventurers.

  Still, I felt like the Skeletons themselves were a simple byproduct, and the actual goal of the attack was the consumption of human souls.

  I was fairly convinced that the servile god had a part to play in all of this, as well.

  I couldn’t exactly tell the other kings about that, though. Even if Her Holiness the Pope would understand, it’d be too complicated to explain to the others.

  There was nothing we could do but wait and see, but we had to keep a vigilant eye out for anything suspicious.

  That was why I compiled several key points of information and decided to pass them on to Relisha and the other guildmasters.

  Point One: There is a creature, or creatures, designated as a Soul Eater.

  Point Two: The humans that it consumes will transform into the Skeleton Phrase.

  Point Three: This is just unconfirmed speculation on my part, but they are likely to appear in places with a high density of negative emotions.

  Creatures like Wraiths and Specters often fell into the Soul Eater category, and they consumed souls just like the wicked god did. There was a common feature between the two, and couldn’t be overlooked.

  Astal was known as the Slaving City due to its high concentration of slave trade activity.

  If any city was going to be mired in negative emotion, it’d be that one. The wanton desires of the slave traders, the overwhelming despair of the slaves, the anguish of the oppressed workers, and the arrogance of the oppressors.

  It was ultimately just a theory, but I didn’t think I was far off from the truth.

  I wondered if the fragmented parts of Yulong would get affected like Astal did, but those places were way too spread out to create a concentrated source of misery. I still couldn’t be certain, however, so I decided to remain vigilant.

  As I said, it was just a hypothesis. I didn’t even know who had started this mess. It could’ve just been a single strike against the city for all I knew.

  I decided to put the Sandora recon mission on hold for a little bit while I got my bearings. It was possible that Sandora, as full of negativity as it was, would end up being a buffet for whoever was orchestrating this. I might have managed to save the three girls this time, but they just got incredibly lucky, so I didn’t want to run the risk again.

  That being said, I really didn’t want a wicked god to be born from all of this... It wasn’t a complete god, but my sisters wouldn’t be able to interfere at all with their full power. Which, basically, meant that in the end... I’d be the one who’d have to fight it.

  Man... This is a pain in the ass... Can’t a legendary hero pop outta nowhere and save me?

  ◇　◇　◇

  “...I never expected them to appear in Lestia of all places...” Ten days after the attack on Sandora, the Skeleton Phrase emerged in Lestia, out of a small town named ’Merica.

  The local lord in charge of the town had been imposing severe taxes on the citizens, relying on his distance from the capital to keep people from finding out. As a result, the elite of the town were getting fat from the spoils and suffering of the poor. The misery wasn’t as great as it was in Astal, but it was certainly enough to manifest negative emotions en masse.

  The souls of everyone in ’Merica were devoured, and its inhabitants became Skeleton Phrase. Or rather, they became crystal-boned Zombies. As it turned out, the fire I’d set had simply burned away the flesh in Astal.

  The Zombies were quickly dispatched by a team of adventurers who were in the area, along with a small unit of Lestian knights.

  The Skeleton Phrase weren’t threats individually, but it was important to remember that if an entire town became a Zombie horde, they could be a big danger. If they weren’t killed quickly, they surely would’ve filed into the wilderness and attacked innocent people.

  I managed to successfully conclude that the transformations weren’t caused by anything viral. The knights and adventurers were completely fine.

  That meant there was something directly consuming the souls of the living. It was probably the wicked god’s premature form, which I’d taken to calling the Seed of Evil.

  It probably came through the dimensional tear and then swiftly exited back through, just like the Phrase. It was possible that the recoil affected it like the Dominant Constructs, but frankly, I found this creature to be a lot more troublesome to deal with.

  To make matters worse, our technology could only detect Lesser, Intermediate, and Upper Phrase Constructs. It was likely traveling alone, as we had no readings in the regions that were attacked.

  Honestly, it was a real pain in the ass. I resolved to beat the crap out of that thing the moment I set eyes on it.

  “Touya... Your eye’s twitching, are you quite alright?”

  “Ah, sorry, Hilde. I was just a little bit annoyed.” Hilde was sitting with me in the castle drawing room, smiling across at me as she usually did.

  I was too annoyed by my thoughts, so I quickly downed the lukewarm tea in front of me.

  “Oh my, oh my... It seems like the king is getting pretty riled up. Perhaps you could... Relieve his tension by... mumblemumble... Ohoho.”

  “Wh-What? What are you talking about...?!”

  “Shut it, you dumb pervy maid. Don’t whisper nonsense into people’s ears.” Hilde’s face turned a shade of red as Cesca indiscriminately muttered in her direction. I pretty much understood the nature of what she said, so I chastised her immediately.

  Hilde was gullible and easy to get to listen to you, so she was pretty ignorant of the way the world worked. She was plain simple to deceive. Even if her swordplay was exemplary, she was the kind of person who would fall for lies that even a child wouldn
’t buy.

  She was a sheltered princess, trained in the way of the sword, and was completely unaware of the world around her. She was completely pure of heart, unlike her perverted grandfather...

  She was quite similar to Elze and Yae in that regard. The three of them, despite being rough and tumble fighters, were quite delicate in matters of the heart. Still, that was a boon to me, as they weren’t pushy and always trying to kiss me.

  I wondered if it had something to do with the fact that they excelled in physical disciplines. A healthy body led to a healthy mind, after all. Plus, Leen, Linze, and Yumina, our magic specialists, were often surprisingly bold in their approaches now and then.

  I turned my face toward Hilde and gave her a small smile.

  “Don’t worry, I was just thinking about the general situation in Lestia.”

  “Ah... My elder brother was disappointed as well. He thought that perhaps if he had noticed the corruption in ’Merica, this disaster could’ve been averted...”

  “He shouldn’t think like that. No matter how great a king he may be, he could never see everything that goes on in his land. It was simply inevitable.” Even though I said that to comfort her, I was kind of hoping larger nations like Lestia would take a leaf out of Brunhild’s book and keep a closer eye on the smaller areas they governed.

  A country exists to protect its citizens, not the other way around.

  That’s why in Brunhild, I had spies, knights on patrol, and even Mr. Mittens’ cat knights report any unusual activity directly to me.

  “So, what will happen to ’Merica?”

  “I called my elder brother and asked him about it, but... they’re going to focus on rebuilding for the time being. They’re inviting people to come and repopulate it... The only issue is that not many people are interested in living there, due to the Zombie outbreak that destroyed it and all...” That made sense enough to me. People would naturally be reluctant to live in a town that had been infested with Zombies. It would likely rouse superstition and fear about the land itself.