Chapter 118: Chapter 118

Chapter 118 - Death Without Cost, or Despair

After sensing the state of Car 5 with 『Space Perception』, all sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.

Not only the visceral threat to my life that I felt, but also a sense of wonder as to what on earth was happening in there.

As I, who rarely showed my emotions, displayed a blatantly flustered expression, Elwin naturally asked.

I explained everything I had felt to Elwin.

That I could feel the presence of countless hostile beings beyond, but they were not human.

After hearing my words, Elwin stroked his chin and fell into thought for a moment.

“Hmm…… it’s certainly a situation that warrants caution. But we can’t just recklessly open the door and look inside……”

Elwin didn't seem to have any idea either, but he added a word.

“Car 5 has an artifact storage. Could something have happened to the artifacts?”

I asked again, not hiding my surprised expression.

“Yes, in the restricted area of Car 5, there is a storage for artifacts. That’s why the lounge in Car 5 is particularly narrow compared to other cars.”

So he’s been here more than once or twice.

As Elwin said that, I got a clue.

No. I was able to be certain about the beings beyond, and their origin.

“……Death Without Cost.”

And that origin was the mythical artifact, 『Death Without Cost』.

『Death Without Cost』 was an artifact that also appeared in the original . And as an artifact of the enemy, 『Ad Astra』.

Do you remember? We decided on a policy to interfere with the Crown Prince's faction's purchase of artifacts on this Railroad Mysterium.

In my memory, the artifacts purchased here by the Crown Prince's faction—that is, the Duchy of Enlight—would be delivered entirely to Ad Astra, so the goal was to prevent the artifacts from being handed over to them.

Recalling this, it would be impossible not to remember this artifact as well.

『Death Without Cost』 was at the forefront of the artifacts that needed to be interfered with.

Now, let's remember again. The scene where Regina and Kirios competed over this artifact in the Round Robin.

The auction price went up to a staggering 23.5 billion Crescent. An artifact that went for up to 235 billion won in Korean currency.

To put it another way, it would be an artifact that had to be obtained even at the cost of such a hemorrhage.

‘In the first place, since they plan to overturn the world, they probably think that the wealth and materials of the current world are meaningless.’

So, what was the effect of 『Death Without Cost』 that warranted taking such a loss to obtain?

It was the summoning of the undead.

……I know, it might sound rather unimpressive when put like that.

But from a magical perspective of the necromancy school, it was close to a revolution.

Because necromancy fundamentally requires material components to create the undead.

But 『Death Without Cost』 was an object outside of common sense that transcended such a process.

To think that undead could be created just by infusing magic into the main book of 『Death Without Cost』 and using a special incantation, without any materials.

It was an authority that deviated from the course of normal magic, perhaps closer to Origin Magic…… and that was why this grimoire—the Necronomicon—was treated as a mythical artifact.

‘But that’s not the really dangerous part.’

Its basic function certainly had great academic value, but in truth, it wasn't that powerful an object. The speed at which it produced undead wasn't that fast.

However, 『Death Without Cost』 had another function. A function with great destructive power…… or should I say, an option.

If the grimoire was made to rampage through some method, 『Death Without Cost』 would produce undead indefinitely, regardless of the caster’s will.

At that point, the artifact’s name also changed from 『Death Without Cost』 to 『Despair Without Cost』.

The process didn't just end when the caster’s or the grimoire’s magic was depleted.

After consuming all of the caster’s and the grimoire’s magic, it would then consume the surrounding magic to continuously produce undead.

And that rampage ended when there was no more magic to absorb from the surroundings.

As you can hear, 『Despair Without Cost』 was an artifact that, once it went on a rampage, would literally lay waste to its surroundings.

It was partly because of the incessant pouring out of undead that were hostile to all living things, but also because of its characteristic of sucking up all the magic related to the life force of the land…… the land itself became a dead land.

‘And it was actually used that way in .’

Yes. The reason I knew its effects in such detail was because it was used in the same way in the original story.

The plot was that 『Ad Astra』 had caused 『Despair Without Cost』 to rampage in a prosperous city that was a regional base and a strategic point for the Empire.

As a result, that city became a city of death overflowing with undead…… and the strategic city instantly became a den of demons.

Countless materials and people were ground up to reclaim that city.

‘I thought I had stopped it for sure…….’

That horrible object was now rampaging.

I relayed all of this to Elwin.

I said it in a way that I had read it in a catalog, but of course, the catalog didn't mention anything about the rampage.

And after hearing my story, Elwin’s expression clearly darkened.

“……That’s, really not good.”

The way he expressed it…… should I say it's like a protagonist, or like a prince?

“If it consumes the surrounding magic…… the location is also very bad. Since it's located in the artifact storage, it could also consume the magic of other artifacts.”

Elwin was right. In the original story, a disaster of that scale occurred just by consuming the magic of the surrounding land, but this time, weren't there a plethora of magic tanks called artifacts in the vicinity?

For now, the door to Car 5 was sealed, but the inside of the train could overflow with undead, and they could advance to other cars.

No, that was practically a certainty.

Perhaps, a large-scale disaster incomparable to the original story could not be ruled out.

I really thought I had stopped it. The disaster like in the original story from happening due to 『Death Without Cost』.

I had made the artifacts purchased by the duchy attract a lot of attention, so that the owners of those artifacts would become known.

By making it seem like the imperial family and the duchy were competing over that artifact through Regina.

The Railroad Mysterium did not disclose the buyers of artifacts, but public rumors were a different story.

I thought that way, they wouldn't be able to evade responsibility for its management if those artifacts caused great harm to people.

I thought that way, they wouldn't be able to misuse those artifacts. That's what I thought.

But. This was the result. Google seaʀᴄh NoveI[F]ire.net

They had made the artifact rampage before 『Death Without Cost』 even fell into their hands.

And now. A tragedy even greater than the original might occur.

‘……Is it because of me?’

Such negative thoughts passed through my head.

If I hadn't done something unnecessary, wouldn't it have ended at the level of the disaster in the original story?

Wasn't it a mistake to persuade Regina to get involved in the artifact auction?

In any case, in the original story, the protagonists overcame that problem with their efforts, so didn't my actions make the situation more complicated?

Just because I had been hanging out with the main characters recently, was I mistaken in thinking I was one of them?

Was I being arrogant, overstepping my bounds?

As these thoughts were eating away at my mind…….

I stretched out my arm and punched the wall of the train.

And, naturally, the sound of a fist colliding with a wall rang out.

It was clearly an act to release my emotions, but it was not out of resentment or self-loathing.

Blaming my own shortcomings, or blaming my arrogance, will not improve the situation.

The most important thing now is how to solve this situation. That was all.

Elwin opened his mouth, sounding worried, from beside me, but I shook my head.

And I raised my head.

“We have to solve it. This situation we are facing right now.”

I will not despair. I will not be optimistic either. I will just overcome the adversity laid before me.

That was what I had been doing all this time. In this cruel world, ever since I fell into the Enlight family's mansion.

Nothing would be different this time.

I quickly shifted my thoughts. Thoughts about how to properly resolve this situation.

The objective was clear. The information was also there. Therefore, I quickly made a judgment.

“Elwin-ssi, we are changing our policy.”

“We must quickly find the enemy's leader and negotiate a way to stop the artifact's rampage.”

“But…… the path is blocked, what should we do.”

“No, there is a path. You probably know it too, Elwin-ssi.”

There was more than one path.

Though not a path in the conventional sense.

“We will move across the roof of the train.”