Chapter 184: The Undead Legion
The photos Umaru had posted to the group were perfectly clear. Ryū could see the enormous magic formation covering nearly half the visible sky — strange, twisting runes spinning within it, the pale green light washing everything below into an eerie verdant tint. Even people's hair looked green under it.
Quite the colour choice.
A formation that size was going to be a problem.
That was almost certainly where the Undead Legion was going to emerge from. Probability: one hundred percent.
So this was what a "forbidden technique" looked like. The necromancer who'd cast it was no lightweight — even stacked against the Chat Group's current roster, they'd probably rank in the top nine. Which, given the group only had thirteen members, was saying something.
The technique had dumped an enormous problem on a world completely unequipped to handle it. Without a Chat Group member present, the Himouto! world would have had to face this on its own. They might have won eventually, but the cost would have been severe. A magic-world forbidden technique, an undead army of unknown scale — given enough time, not just one city, but several could be reduced to nothing. Umaru would have had no chance.
Joining the Chat Group had saved her life without her even knowing it at the time.
Eternally Seventeen: That is definitely a magic formation. Even from photographs I can smell the rot and decay coming off it — this is a deeply malevolent working.
Eternally Seventeen: Undead-type forbidden techniques of this scale typically require mass sacrifices to cast. A formation this large would have consumed somewhere in the range of a hundred to two hundred thousand souls.
Eternally Seventeen: Beyond the rank-and-file undead soldiers, expect difficult individuals to emerge. This formation is a forced gateway to the undead realm — what they call "Undead Calamity" is simply ripping open a corridor to that realm by brute force. The undead that come through answer to no one, not even the caster. Necromancers who've died to their own technique trying to control what comes through are too numerous to count.
Edward Newgate: Not entirely sure I follow the magic specifics, but this is clearly a gamble-your-life move!
Edward Newgate: Poor Umaru's world really drew the short straw — dimensional barrier glitch, someone else's forbidden technique drops right on top of you.
My True Form Is Cola: …cries
RawrSoFierce: Can't afford to delay — looks like this escalated fast.
RawrSoFierce: Starting dice rolls now. Same rules as before — the four highest numbers participate in the quest. Keep in mind: difficulty is high, enemy numbers are potentially massive. Come prepared for a sustained engagement.
Admiral Kizaru: My Glint-Glint Fruit should be fairly effective against undead, shouldn't it~?
Admiral Kizaru: In that case, I'll throw a die~
Terrible Tornado: Not necessarily, Kizaru-uncle. Normal game logic says undead need specific magic or weapons to kill — but we're not from that world. Why would their rules apply to us? I'm signing up either way.
"…"
The dice rolls began. Given the quest difficulty, only five members put their names in: Ryū, Kizaru, Tatsumaki, Whitebeard, and Yukari. Wolffy would have been a strong candidate with his tech, but he was currently in the Arena. As for Tony Stark — he'd only been Iron Man for a few months since joining the group. Early-stage Iron Man. His armour was not ready for this. He and Wolffy had apparently started collaborating on "something big," details unknown.
Five members. Four slots.
Kizaru: 4. Whitebeard: 3. Tatsumaki: 5. Yukari: 4. Ryū: 6.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara — worst luck in the group this time, apparently! Only 3? No matter — last time in the Qin's Moon world I collected more than enough Points.
RawrSoFierce: Yukari rolling higher than Whitebeard — genuinely did not see that coming.
RawrSoFierce: I'm starting to think Stark absorbed all your bad luck, old woman.
I'm Rolling In It: …Uncle Tony, who has been quietly lurking at the bottom of the chat, is forced to surface.
Eternally Seventeen: Ahaha, my luck has always been excellent!
Eternally Seventeen: Everything before was just a temporary anomaly.
Terrible Tornado: Another joint mission with Yukari-senpai!
Eternally Seventeen: Little Tornado, give me a shoulder massage later~
Terrible Tornado: No! Absolutely not! Hard pass!
RawrSoFierce: You absolute menace.
RawrSoFierce: Roster confirmed. Cross-world access is open. Things are moving fast on Umaru's end — no time to waste.
Admiral Kizaru: LGTM!
Terrible Tornado: LGTM!
Eternally Seventeen: LGTM!
RawrSoFierce: @My True Form Is Cola — Umaru, find somewhere with a lot of open space around you. Otherwise we might accidentally knock your apartment down.
"…"
The formation was already visible. No more delays.
Ryū pulled his attention out of the Chat Group, closed his windows, shut his door, hung a small sign on it — Out — and with a single thought, vanished.
Since the Chat Group's major update, this was his first cross-world transit. The old hundred-metre dimensional corridor was gone. The new version was immediate: close your eyes, open them, and you were somewhere else entirely.
Close your eyes and don't open them — spit spit spit, why was he cursing himself?
In the Himouto! world, the phenomenon in the sky was visible to everyone. The formation wasn't hidden. It wasn't subtle. Anyone who looked up could see it.
Countless people had their heads tilted back, staring, cold sweat creeping down their necks, something that felt very much like fear taking root in their chests.
"Is that — is that an alien spaceship?!" A frizzy-haired office worker who'd been rushing to work stared upward, taking an involuntary step backward. "Are aliens invading? Are we going to be okay against aliens?!"
A bespectacled young man next to him glanced over and shook his head. "Bonba, when did you get so dramatic? It's probably some kind of optical projection equipment. Maybe someone's doing an event installation nearby. There are no aliens. Also, we're already half an hour late — if we don't run right now, there goes this month's bonus."
"An optical projection? Technology's gotten that advanced?"
"…I don't know. Just stop saying things that give me chills."
"Hey — hey, Daihei. Look inside that green ring. Isn't something falling out of it? I can see little black dots — a lot of them—"
"That joke isn't funny. You keep making this worse."
"I'm serious, something is falling—"
"…"
Doma Daihei pushed his glasses up and looked.
He'd watched enough anime with his sister to recognise a magic formation when he saw one. He knew that's what it was. He just couldn't explain to himself why a magic formation would be appearing in reality, which was why he'd told himself it was a projection.
But something was definitely falling out of it.
More and more of them.
Dense. Countless.
Filling the sky.
"This is bad. I need to call Umaru right now."
Daihei reached for his trouser pocket.
His hand found nothing.
He'd forgotten his phone.
"Bonba — do you have your phone? I left mine at home."
"Daihei — do you have your phone? I left mine at home."
Doma Daihei: "…"
Bonba — full name Honba Takeshi, the frizzy-haired one — stared at him. Then: "…So, Daihei. Are we still going to work?"
"Are you kidding me?! Run home and get your family somewhere safe! My sister might not even know what's happening — if this is as bad as it looks and she hasn't evacuated, she's in trouble."
He was already running before he finished the sentence.
Bonba stood there for a few seconds, visibly processing.
"Right — I need to get Kirie out of there, find somewhere safe — hey! Daihei, not so fast, wait up!!"
He spun around and sprinted in the direction of home.
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