The clouds in the sky were gray and gloomy, covering the sun slightly, and casting a shade of the ground. Weather like this will make people wonder when it’ll rain, but not a single drop of water fell. Strangely, this weather was only in this small area.

In the empty and silent forest, the wind was blowing quite strongly, making the tree rustles, which brought a touch of creepiness to the area. Despite that, the most obvious thing about this place is the huge gloomy castle looming above the cliff.

The whole building looked worn out, the walls filled with cracks, and the windows were broken, but it had a weird feeling lingering in the air. Like a dark shadow being cast on it, the whole castle was radiating with a creepy and dark aura.

This type of aura usually shouldn’t be felt by humans, but when moving close to the castle, they will instantly feel the different atmosphere carried by the building. Moreover, the red spots that were moving the shadows of the castle were more than enough to say, this is a bad place to be in.

Those red lights were moving slowly around the castle as the shadows made it hard to see their true shape, but like eyes, they were all focusing on the area outside the building.

Glancing at the castle with his skill, Kazuma cloud easily identifies the real identity of those red spots. 

They were Undead, a lot of undead, moving around the castle. Some were holding basic weapons like swords and spears while some were raiding dead horses, which Kazuma guessed were death knights.

“Isn’t this too much?” Kazuma couldn’t help but swallow his saliva when he tried to count the number of undead within the castle.

They were filling all the corners of the castle, leaving almost no gap. He didn’t know if this should be all of them because his danger skill is reacting to the underground, which means either there are traps or some undead still didn’t leave their coffins.

This made Kazuma think about those zombies’ waves that he saw in movies. Although the number here was less than billions of zombies in the movie based on Earth, not everyone could keep a straight face while looking at hundreds of corpses rushing forward.

“… Tch, if I know about this, I’d have used my explosion closer” A low tongue click was heard as Megumin showed a sad look on her face.

Just imagining the scene of bones flying under her explosion, made Megumin regretful about this opportunity. Despite that, her expression would be wonderful if she knew this is the base of the Demon’s king general.

“*Pant* *pant*, this is, this is…” Darkness had a fleshed look on her face while looking at the huge number of undead. Her mind was already wandering into some dangerous territories.

“…..” Kazuma’s eyes had a look of giving up on everything. Why, why can’t he find some normal teammates?

{Is this a curse from you?} Glancing at Diosword, which was clearly crafted by the Devil, Kazuma couldn’t help but produce some ideas.

“Eh? Why do I feel they are staring at me?” Compared to the others, Aqua was feeling a huge sense of crisis because all the eyes of the undead, without an exception, were aiming at her.

Aqua felt goosebumps all over her skin before she looked at the side and said ” I’m just imagining things, right? Right?”

However, she didn’t know that Kazuma already classified her as bait number 1.

“Ugh…” Misaka couldn’t help but feel disgust when looking at the corps moving. Things might be not respectable for the dead, but the dead are kinda alive and kicking right now.

{Calm down, Mikoto! Just, don’t look at them and use iron sand. Yes, I can do this} Misaka was trying to prepare mentally while cheering herself up.

When she was doing that, Whitebeard squinted his eyes because… the gate of the castle was smaller than him. 

Whitebeard never felt a problem about his height in his world. Maybe because there are even 50 meters giants there, but in other worlds, he feels like someone is targeting his height.

“Yo, Kaguya, did you find something?” Leone came walking next to Kaguya, who was floating and seemed to think about something.

“Hm? No, nothing important… Just a weird hunch” Kaguya curled her lips upward in the form of her usual elegant princess smile and answered Leone’s question.

“Oh, I see” Leone nodded, but deep down, she wasn’t completely convinced while sighing a bit.

In all her years as an assassin who collected information, Leone had to admit that Kaguya is the hardest person she ever met. No, rather to say, her type is the hardest one.

In this Chat Room, Misaka is a pure open book, Whitebeard is a straightforward Oldman, Kazuma is a pervert, she still didn’t meet Saitama, except when he knocked her with one hit, and Ritsuka is still new. However, there are two difficult characters, and Kaguya is one of them.

Kaguya might be smiling and joking around most of the time, but Leone can feel those things aren’t all that simple, especially during something like a mission.

Like every move, even if it’s stupid messing around, has a reason and hidden meanings. Of course, Kaguya is genuine about her actions, which is exactly what makes her hidden moves hard to detect and understand.

Leone always felt if Kaguya wasn’t casual about this, then she’ll never even spot a difference. However, do you know what makes this worse? It’s the fact that Kaguya would never explain those things, even if they happened.

This is also the case with the admin, who is called Leo. What is more scary about him is the fact he can see through everything. If someone thinks that a person like that has a simple mind and thoughts, then that someone must be dumb or something.

It feels like these kinds of people hate explaining stuff, even if it puts them in an unfavorable situation. Or maybe they like to watch people guessing on their own.

If that was the case, then Leone is declaring it now, she’ll not join this game. Never! She’ll never waste her energy on such things.

*BOOOM!!!*

Suddenly, when Leone was thinking, a loud sound rang before a storm hit the place. The earth was shaking and cracks like cobwebs filled the ground. Leaves and dust were flying, and trees were swaying from the strong winds, even some stones were flying in the air. The scene was like a typhoon hit the place.

Leone moved quickly and covered her face with her hand, but the winds didn’t last long before they calmed down. Opening her eyes, Leone saw a dark ‘cloud’ flashing with electric sparks in front of her before it collapsed like sand.

Misaka was shining with electric arcs like snakes around her forehead while iron sand was gushing from the ground, which stopped the winds.

Feeling Leone’s eyes, Misaka blinked before she raised her chest proudly, which made Leone blink before she also raised her plump chest. Misaka’s face darkened instantly and Leone grinned at this scene.

However, they quickly glanced at the front to see Whitebeard lowering his Naginata as the whole castle wall turned into rubles. With just one wave of his weapon, the vacuum wave of the slash tore the air in half before it destroyed the castle wall completely.

Some undead was already torn apart with broken bones and skulls, but this was like a signal as the undead started moving.

“Hmph” exhaling from his nose, Whitebeard looked forward and said ” I made a proper door”

If the world won’t make a door in his size, then Whitebeard will make one, even if it meant to break every wall he comes across.

“…..” The group couldn’t help but be speechless by this action, but their attention was quickly attracted by the army of the dead, which is heading their way, or rather.

“Eh, eh, ehhhhhhhh??!! Why me!!??” Aqua screamed as the whole army of undead did a sharp turn and avoided Whitebeard before they headed straight towards Aqua.

“……” Everyone was speechless by this development; even Whitebeard had a scary look on his face when all Undead moved around him while Kazuma nodded calmly.

Kazuma figured out that bait number 1(Aqua) is working well, even before the battle started. However, that didn’t last long because he saw Darkness running towards Aqua to block the undead… no, she threw herself at them.

“….” Another moment of speechlessness fell on the group, especially when Darkness dived into the group of undead to ‘save’ Aqua, but the undead just ignored her.

The same scene with Whitebeard surfaced again, but Darkness stood there shaking all over. She probably thought that even lowly undead don’t care about her at all.

“…” Kazuma dropped in his hands with a blank face. Looking at the side, he saw Misaka, who had seemed to shiver when she saw the undead while Kaguya and Leone were watching the show.

{Ah, Suddenly, I don’t want to do this anymore. Maybe I should go back home and sleep. Yeah, I should do that} Kazuma was already ready to bail because his sanity won’t support this, but before he took another step, an earthquake hit the place.

*BAAAAM!!*

On the right side of the castle, the ground was shattered as some hidden skeletons and zombies flew towards the sky while the wind carried them like leaves.

“Oh? You’re really courageous, isn’t it?” Whitebeard waved with his naginata again, dispelling all the raging airflow with his power. However, his expression was quite scary now.

Every step was spreading cracks on the ground while a huge oppression was lingering around Whitebeard. This is just subconscious use for Conqueror Haki, but even so, the air became heavy. If Whitebeard didn’t stop it, this aura would affect the people around him.

However, compared with the heavy air and dangerous atmosphere, Kazuma’s attention was on the huge number of Undead that Whitebeard cleared. They were falling like dominos with each step of Whitebeard, which made Kazuma’s smile twitch.

“Oi!! Don’t take all the exp!” A man has to have his priorities, and Kazuma is seeing these undead as exp packs more than danger at this point. So, he raised his gun and sword and began to clear the undead rushing behind Aqua.

Although Kazuma still didn’t understand why the strongest figure against undead is running away, he doesn’t mind a good bait.

Looking at this scene, Kaguya and Leone were watching and showing while Misaka sighed and joined the battle.

Meanwhile, inside the main hall, Lich looked at Beldia recovering his head and red cape before he sat on the large chair.

Despite that, his cape still has burn traces and his head had small mud stains, which rendered Lich speechless. 

“So, they have arrived, huh?” Holding the large sword in a hand and his head in another, Beldia did a pose while speaking. However, in Lich’s eyes, he seemed to be perfecting his image.

{So, adventurers from this world, huh? I didn’t deal with those a lot. I only met those lunatics, but unlike the holy magic they have, I don’t think adventurers are all priests with holy magic… and loose screws} Unlike Beldia, who was looking forward to this after all the bombardment, Lich is calculating the benefits and consequence of this fight.

However, Lich didn’t blame Beldia. He has to admit that Dullahan has some durable nerves to keep his calms during all those explosions and waiting patiently. 

Only a few have that kind of tolerance. If Lich would ask himself, he’d be already in Axel trying to curse this explosion madman to death.

“So, how long do you think they’ll take, or will they even be able to arrive here” Although he asked, Lich, know that adventurers shouldn’t all be that stupid to throw themselves to death, especially if they had a magician capable of using explosion magic.

“…..” Lich didn’t answer because he was checking the undead to figure the battle power of the so-called adventurers. If they weren’t that strong, he’ll let the undead finish them; else wise he’ll lurk from behind and command the battle or throw some curses.

“Hm?” Suddenly, Beldia felt some vibrations under his feet. He even saw some dust falling from the hall ceiling and cracks slowly spreading.

{100… 200…300… What is happening?! How did I lose all these soldiers?! I didn’t even sense a single holy magic being used!} Lich tried to command his army as he felt his connections with the troops were being broken at an imaginable speed.

*BOOM!!*

“Is this an earthquake?” Although he asked, Beldia isn’t feeling good about this, but before he did anything, the hall door flew away… with the wall.

From the falling rubble and dust, a giant shadow was walking step by step before the picture became clear. A small giant with a height of more than 6 meters was walking inside the hall slowly.

Looking at the sharp eyes of the man and the scary aura around him, Beldia blinked his eyes and the flames in Lich’s empty sockets flickered. Especially when they glanced at the empty hole behind Whitebeard, and even saw the forest from it.

‘What happened to the whole army?’ Glancing at Lich, Beldia started a sight communication before Lich somehow responded ‘ They… I lost most of my connection with the front army’

“So, is this the goal of today…?” Whitebeard said with a low voice, but Lich and Beldia heard him clearly. However, they didn’t know why, but they sensed some disappointment in his tone.

They didn’t know that Whitebeard was currently comparing the Demon’s king general and the Horror Space’s player with frogs in Axel’s fields. If they knew, their expressions would probably become very interesting to watch.

“*Cough*” Shaking his head and clearing his throat, Beldia organized his thoughts and said in a deep voice ” Oh? Did you arrive this quickly? Wonderful!”

Just as he was about to stand up and complete his speech, a black wave of sand arrived carrying a small girl with brown hair. Her whole body was flashing with electricity before she said “Second! I won!”

Like achieving something, Misaka raised her fist, but then she saw Beldia and Lich, which made her freeze. 

First of all, Lich, who looked like a mummy of an old man with very wrinkled skin and flames in his empty eyes sockets, made Misaka have goosebumps all over her body, but then she saw Beldia.

He looked like a knight wearing armor at first, even if his cape was slightly burned and his helmet had dirt on it, but the red gleam in his eyes and the fact he was holding his head, which had a worm moving in the dirt, made Misaka completely uncomfortable!

“*Cough*” Ignoring Misaka’s eyes, Beldia coughed again before he said ” Congratulations, you made it this far. That’s impressive, but now, you…”

“EXP!!!!” Suddenly, a scream was heard from the hallway as a young man came running with a weird weapon and a screaming sword.

The young man was running like crazy while waving both weapons in the air randomly, but strangely, each wave and random swing was hitting undead in their weaknesses. However, Beldia was focusing more on the sword in Kazuma’s hand.

{What?! Is that a demonic sword?! What a hideous sound!} Beldia’s eyes became serious as Kazuma entered the room.

“*Cough*” Coughing for the third time, Beldia looked at the people here and said ” Now, your luck has come to an…”

“EXP!!!” However, Beldia didn’t finish his words again because Kazuma, in his mad rush, shot him directly without warning.

Beldia’s instinct kicked in and blocked the bullet with his large sword, which left some flames burning strangely on his sword. 

However, looking at the flames and the familiar way of attack, Beldia solidified for a moment before he said ” It was you!!!”

“What me?” Kazuma asked in confusion, but Beldia pointed at him and said ” you’re quite courageous to actually attempt to sneak attack me, yet…”

“Oh, everyone’s in here, we were lookin-…” Leone and the rest came slowly, but this time, Beldia interrupted them.

“Again, and again…GODDAMMIT, WHAT WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!” Screaming to the top of his lungs, Beldia’s eyes shone with ominous light before he said” Let me finish my words in peace!!!”

“….” Although the method was unusual, Beldia’s actions made everyone speechless as they looked at him.

“*pant* *pant*. Well, now. Without further due, I’m one of the Demon’s king general, the dullahan, Beldia! You foolish humans, who dares to bomb my castle and attack me, be ready for your end!” A dark aura began to surface of Beldia as he prepared himself for the battle.

However, Kazuma, Misaka, and Aqua had a long look on their faces before they turned to look at Megumin, who was trying to lower her sense of presence.

The great Arch Wizard from the Crimson Demons is reconsidering her choices of bombing. But for now, she can only hope that Beldia didn’t notice her.

“You evil monster! Don’t you dare to raise your weapon on my allies? As a knight, I’ll be your opponent!” Ignoring everyone, Darkness was the first to jump forward and raise her sword.

“Oh? A knight you say? Very well, prepare yourself!” Beldia said with interest.

“Um, Darkness… just let the old man punch this guy and get over with” Kazuma advised from the side, but Darkness shook her head and said “No, this is the duty of a knight, also… can’t you see how this dullahan is eyeing my body like a beast with his filthy eyes?”

” What?”

“Excuse me?”

Kazuma and Beldia said at the same time as the former became expressionless and the latter blinked in confusion.

“Can’t you see how his evil and filthy eyes are measuring every part of my body like an animal. He’s probably thinking of which cell he’s going to throw me in after catching me and… ” Darkness’ blushed like a tomato before she said ” Kazuma!”

“Yes, I’m Kazuma” Kazuma said monotony.

“What should I do Kazuma!” Darkness said as Kazuma replied again ” Yes, this is Kazuma”

“This evil being is probably thinking of catching me and subjecting all kinds of harsh treatments and torture on my body! Just to break me and make me surrender, but never! A knight will never surrender! Even if you… “Darkness started to speak about some dangerous things as a weird atmosphere appeared.

Misaka and Megumin were blushing, Whitebeard and Leone didn’t expect they’ll actually see something like this in their lives, Kazuma seemed like he’s giving up, and Kaguya and Aqua were watching.

“Uh, I think there’s a misunderstanding…” Beldia tried to speak for himself, but Darkness screamed ” Never! I’ll never surrender!”

” Darkness, calm down! Can’t you see that you’re bothering dullahan?” Kazuma pointed at Beldia, who has a look of confusion and absolute terror on his face.

When everyone was focusing on this exchange, a dark weird fog, like miasma, quickly attracted attention, but the undead standing next to Beldia already made his move.

“Weakness, frail, sleepiness, slowness, dizziness, strength, call of death, whisper of night…” Lich started to throw curses without stopping before using buffs as undead crawled from the ground.

Using these spells, most of the group quickly felt strength leaving their bodies.

Kazuma, Megumin, and Misaka were having a hard time standing up, even Leone was struggling as a few drops of sweat appeared on her forehead.

Honestly, this was so unexpected. The so-called magic is very weird and hard to guard against as Leone clicked her tongue. 

It seems she need to be more careful in the future against magic, but for now, she glanced around her to see Whitebeard, Aqua, and Kaguya completely normal.

“Howl of banshee… hm?” Before continuing to use the curses, Lich saw the anomaly as he frowned.

There’s a thing when using skills and abilities on something or someone called attributes judgment. Basically, it’s a measurement according to the four attributes of strength, agility, vitality, and intelligence, which determine the effectiveness of abilities on the said targets.

However, Lich blinked when he saw two complete immunity and a very weak effect one… the difference in attributes is very huge at a glance.

“Did you just try to curse this Goddess?” Aqua titled her head like looking at a retard.

“Hmph” feeling the slight weakness on his body, Whitebeard frowned before he stepped fiercely on the ground.

*Boom!*

A shock wave hit the place before the undead underground were crushed as the cobwebs of cracks kept spreading and the castle was shaking.

Aqua also raised her hand purified all the undead around and dispelled the curses easily. She didn’t forget to act smugly as all the thanks in Kazuma’s heart vanished.

“Tch” Lich frowned as he started to prepare the escape plan before he screamed ” Corpses’ explosion!”

The ceiling was broken before several zombies jumped and their bodies started to swell, like they’re going to explode.

*BAAAAM*

This time, a faint white light appeared on Whitebeard’s fist before he punched upwards. Then the zombies and the whole upper part of the castle… vanished.

Lich and Beldia stood in a daze while looking at the sky and the clouds from the new ‘window’ that Whitebeard made.

{Dammit!! What the hell?! How could this be an easy world for the love of god!!??

 The situation entered the worst possible scenario.} Lich’s thoughts moved quickly before he was going to detonate the rest of the zombies to create an opportunity to escape by an underground tunnel he prepared.

However, Whitebeard waved his naginata, which was vibrating,  again. 

On the right side of the castle, there was a cliff, but now, the cliff vanished as half of the castle fell like a piece of domino.

“…..” Both the group, Lich and Beldia stood there in silence as Whitebeard lowered his weapon.

{Oi, oi, OI!!! Isn’t Axel a city of newbies?! What the hell is this monster?!} Beldia almost dropped his head from the shock.

“Hmph, not bad” Beldia would never show his thoughts on his face, but Lich next to him threw his staff and said ” Okay, I’m done”

“What?” Beldia turned his head to see Lich lying on the ground.

“Honestly, I should have died long ago, if I knew something like this would happen, I wouldn’t have raised from the dead at all” With a self-mocking laugh, Lich looked at the sky and continued ” It’s an easy world they said, it’s easy money they said, think of it like a vacation they said… but what did I get?”

“A bunch of madman chasing after me at the start, and look” Pointing at Aqua, Lich said” Their cult leader is here”

After that, Lich continued to speak about his experience as everyone’s expression became strange. Gradually, it turned into a sigh and pity.

“Ah, you broke him” Kazuma said as he shook his head, but he clearly heard the word world, and easy money, so if he isn’t completely wrong, then this is a player.

“Never say that rookie!” Suddenly, Lich heard a voice before he looked at Beldia staring at him seriously.

“Even if it looked impossible and we’ll get purified now, we’ll never go down like this! As long as our last obsession and regret are here, we’ll never go down! So, get up, Lich!” Hearing those words, Lich’s eyes flickered before he said ” Beldia”

Some light went back to Lich’s eyes fire as he gritted his teeth and looked at the surrender option.

Looking at this scene from a shonen show, Misaka looked around before she said ” Guys, I think we are the bad guys here”

Strangely, and for some reason, everyone nodded slowly, but they stopped like that.

Out of the blue, a strange wave of energy spread to the surrounding as the world’s colors inverted before everything stood still.

“Well, this was a scene to behold” Kaguya shook her head when she remembered what she just witnessed. Honestly, she regrets not taking the camera out.

“Anyway…” floating in the air, Kaguya got closer to Lich before she was lost in thoughts. After a while, she said ” Do I do it or not?”

Without knowing when, there was a small milky white crystal in her hand, shining with mysterious gleam.

Closing her eyes, Kaguya’s thoughts circled quickly about this subject.

Before the team entered the castle, Kaguya jumped into the time stop because she wanted to check somethings. Like if there’s a player or an anomaly in the castle, or maybe with them leaving, something will happen in Axel. Although it’s tiring to check, Kaguya just sighed and went with it.

However, before when she got the first glance on Lich, the Chat Room reacted.

Opening the Chat Room, Kaguya was surprised by a new optional objective that appeared in the mission.

[Optional objective: Grab the jamming crystal and attach it to the player in the castle.

The attachment must be made in the irregular time zone, and no other member, except NEET Princess, has to be present.

Press here to receive the objective item

Ps: If you want some answers, perform this task]

Kaguya stood in her place as a lot of questions appeared on her mind. What is the jamming crystal? What the reason for this mission? If the Chat Room can find players, then it didn’t provide any assistance until now? And why it has to be only her?

A lot of questions, but no answers. Kaguya couldn’t help but sigh at this situation.

The time passed quickly and Kaguya is in front of the choice again. Will she do this mysterious mission and attach the crystal, or she’ll just ignore it.

‘Minutes’ are passing quickly in the type stop as Kaguya didn’t make up her mind yet. Honestly, in normal times, she’ll never do or even consider such a hidden and ambiguous thing like this mission, but the current situation isn’t all that optimistic.

Also, the last note must be from the world’s will, there’s no doubt about it. So, what exactly are these answers?

“*sigh*” sighing, Kaguya took a deep breath before her expression became serious.

“There’s no helping it, huh? I just hope this wouldn’t go completely bad” Kaguya raised her hand before dropping the crystal above Lich.

In Kaguya’s eyes, the crystal actually fell normal in the time stop, like the gravity is operating normally before it ‘sank’ into Lich’s bones.

Kaguya stood there in shock as Lich began to vanish a bit by bit before the crystal appeared again, but its color changed from white to green. It rose slowly in the air before it began to rotate quickly.

With each rotation, some weird words and runes kept moving and flying around it. Kaguya tried to read them, but she couldn’t understand anything, and their speed is very fast.

However, the situation didn’t last long as it didn’t give Kaguya time to think before all the runes and words gathered back to the crystal. A few faint readable words quickly surfaced the crystal as Kaguya glanced at them.

[Log___ Successful ###…___ Authority ###%%…Resonance__complete.

 Welcome to Chaos Particles Resonance Ship ## Horror 4.

…]

Then the words quickly shattered into those weird runes again as a splitting headache hit Kaguya, which made her hold her head in pain.

“What was that?” Holding her head in pain, Kaguya frowned before she saw several rays of light shine from the crystal and fall on the ground.

Those rays quickly solidified into crystals and began to turn into a shape that made Kaguya open her mouth from shock.

Meanwhile, inside the Horror space, a green light flashed before Lich’s appeared inside a small space.

This space had a dest filled with weird bones and items, and there was a crystal-like heart in a special container.

But the most remarkable thing is the pale green pillar in the middle of space.

“I’m back?” Looking around, Lich stood up slightly and sighed. He’s back into the horror space, which means he died in the last world.

His features as a Lich allow him to keep his vassal in his room, so he can revive here by paying a small price to fix it afterward. A nice tactic for lichs he must say.

Frowning and thinking about his experience, Lich shook his head before looking at the dest, however, he quickly stopped because he saw his vassal… completely fine.

“How is this possible?… Horror space, are you there?” Frowning, Lich knew that there was no way he could survive that accident, so he hurried and called the green pillar, which is a small command window to interact with the Horror Space.

However, he didn’t get a response, and to his complete shock, he saw few small words on the pillar.

[The player is currently in the Mission World]

“…. What is going on?” the situation surpassed Lich’s understanding as he stood there in a daze.

Meanwhile, in Konosuba, Kaguya was looking at the crystals quickly forming a shape of a skeleton.

Faster and faster, the crystals turned into a completely identical copy of Lich as Kaguya didn’t know what to say.