I'm the Only Totem in Another World - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Necromancer’s Tomb (2)

━ Priestess and Chieftain, I understand. I will call you Chieftain Nix.

It’s a bit awkward to call me Chieftain and Priestess Nix.

It’s not like I use both my parents’ surnames.

“It is an honor, great being-ssi.”

[Nix has become a follower.]

Another follower has joined us.

━ Wait a moment, I have something to take care of.

“Understood.”

Actually, there’s nothing to take care of, I just said that to catch my breath for a bit.

To be honest, I’m mentally exhausted. I’ve been working too much for five days straight.

But I can’t say let’s take a few days off and do it later, can I? I can’t slack off when there’s work to be done.

━ Alright, let’s begin.

I requested in the letter that the Sky Tree Tribe go to the Necromancer’s Tomb. If you called me, I assume you’ve finished your preparations.

“That’s…”

Nix, the Chieftain and Priestess of the Sky Tree Tribe, trailed off, as if in thought.

“…The letter said that Malak-nim was newly awakened. So, it said that you don’t know much about the surface. Is that true?”

━ Is that a problem?

Perhaps thinking that I was displeased, Nix immediately knelt and tried to apologize.

━ No. There’s no need for that. I’m genuinely curious, so I’m asking. Does that interfere with this matter?

“…Does Loa Malak-kke know what kind of place the Necromancer’s Tomb is?”

To be honest, I’ve only been there once in the game, I don’t know much about it.

━ What kind of place is it?

“It is where the all-time greatest Priest, the outcast Karon, is buried.”

All-time greatest means the best of all time.

So what? He’s dead anyway, isn’t he?

It’s a setting I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem that important.

“Karon betrayed the Loa-nims and the people. He learned forbidden sorcery and brought great disaster to the surface.”

Nix began to tell a story like the old hunchback.

To summarize, the Necromancer’s Tomb is where the guy who caused a zombie apocalypse in the distant past is buried. He almost destroyed the world.

After the goddess Ishtania, who protects the Empire, and the Paladins who received her blessings defeated Karon, they felt an ominous energy and sealed everything related to him in the tomb.

Ishtania… Yes, that was her name. She was a very important figure in the game’s story setting, but as far as I remember, she didn’t show up at all except in the prologue.

There were people in the community who claimed that the game company that possessed us could be the goddess Ishtania.

The hypothesis was that we weren’t possessed into the game, but were in another world that had been destroyed by a demon apocalypse.

I don’t think it matters whether it’s another world or a game. Either way, a transcendental son of a bitch summoned us here.

━ Do you mean we can’t go?

I’m not going to force you to come.

The priority of the skill that can be obtained from the Necromancer’s Tomb wasn’t that high anyway.

“The outcast Karon hates the Loa-nims. His tomb is a place where his hatred lingers. It might not be good for Malak-nim.”

Her face is filled with worry, so it doesn’t seem like she’s making excuses to avoid going.

━ I appreciate your concern, but you don’t have to worry. Can we go?

I’m not a real Loa in the first place. It’s a bit awkward to back out now because I’m afraid of a dead guy.

How can zombies be stronger than demons?

“If that’s your will… I’ve made preparations for departure. We can leave right now.”

━ Let’s do that.

I, the portable mini totem, became an ornament hanging from Nix’s waist.

She descended the mountain with five of the tribe’s strongest warriors.

Unlike the Blue Moss Tribe, this place was teeming with Demon’s Eye and infected creatures.

We had to check our surroundings almost every ten steps.

“There are too many mutated beasts. We need to take a detour.”

Nix, upon discovering a pack of over thirty infected wild dogs, tried to turn back.

No, at this rate, we won’t get there today.

We can’t help avoiding the Demon’s Eye, but can’t we at least deal with the infected creatures?

━ Chieftain Nix, can’t you handle the infected creatures?

If Nix and the warriors had even half of Kanto’s combat power, we could hunt them down quickly.

“…It’s possible, but the warriors might get hurt. It will hinder our journey to the tomb.”

━ I will bestow my blessing. Don’t worry and fight.

This is what the Healing Totem is for.

I activated the blessing, and soon a 10-meter radius was bathed in blue light.

“Ah…!”

Nix and the warriors are visibly delighted.

━ Can you win?

“Of course.”

Nix and the warriors, drawing their sickles, attacked the infected creatures. The result was, of course, a landslide victory.

I also completely healed the injured warriors.

The speed of our descent from the mountain increased exponentially, and soon we were able to step onto the plains.

“Malak-nim, we’re almost there.”

━ I see.

With some time to spare before arriving, I logged into the community.

The community is the only medium that reminds me that I’m still human, of my hometown Earth.

I need to access it periodically for psychological stability.

[Dairy Cow Bikini Dance: Raise your hand if your nickname sucks lol

Me first lol]

Oh.

[Very Black Female Prisoner: lol]

[Can’t Move If You Stick Your Dick In: lol lol]

[Ssangmun-dong Momma Dispenser Destroyer: lol lol lol]

[68-Year-Old Kim Jeom-sun Grandma’s Last Jet Kick: lol lol lol lol]

[Ultra Sanz Crazed for Nighttime Massacre Mode: lol lol lol lol lol]

I joined right away. Still, I’m the most normal one here.

It was while I was killing time looking at the community.

“We’ve arrived.”

I shifted my vision to confirm the tomb buried in the bushes. An old, small tomb that looked like it had been built hundreds of years ago.

It looks small, but if you open the coffin-camouflaged door and go down to the basement, it gets much wider. That’s how it was in the game.

The grass near the tomb is slightly trampled. There are traces of someone entering. It’s probably the work of that user, Reno Johnson.

“We’ll go in.”

Nix and the warriors moved forward, cutting the grass with their sickles. Their weapons were all sickles.

I’m suddenly curious. Why are they carrying sickles when they’re not farming?

━ Is there a reason why all the warriors use sickles as weapons?

When I asked carefully, Nix gave a wry smile.

“We are a tribe that has lived on the grasslands for generations. A place overgrown with weeds taller than humans. That was the case until we had to flee to the mountains because of the overwhelming number of demons.”

There was also a separate chieftain originally, but he died when they fled to the mountains. She became the chieftain because there was no warrior stronger than her.

━ …

I briefly glanced at the tribe earlier, and the Sky Tree Tribe had less than thirty members. So that’s what happened.

I’ll have to think about ways to help them. It would be nice if there were other tribes nearby that were still intact.

The warriors, entering the tomb after opening the coffin, moved relying on the blue light emanating from my body (the totem).

As expected, the inside of the tomb was very spacious. It’s practically an underground base.

━ Do you see hallucinations or hear anything?

“I’m fine. In fact, I feel like my body is in better condition than before.”

The Healing Totem was working well.

━ Don’t stray too far from me.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

As we went further in, we heard a strange sound.

“Groooan…”

“Woo woo woo…”

Nix and the warriors crept forward, hiding behind rocks.

The identity of the creature making the sound was a zombie. And it was a soldier armed with a sword and armor. There were twelve of them.

They seem to be the ones who were originally guarding this place. It seems something ominous happened here.

“Shall we eliminate them?”

Nix whispered.

━ If you cut off or destroy their heads, they won’t move again. Be careful not to get bitten.

“Ha!”

Nix and the warriors rushed out and beheaded the zombies with their sickles.

They fell back to the ground without much resistance. They’re weaker than I thought. That’s when it happened.

“The sound, the sound! Uwaaaah!”

One of the warriors, who had gotten separated from me while killing zombies, screamed while clutching his hair. It’s an emergency.

━ Bring him over here quickly!

Nix and the warriors approached him. He quickly regained his composure.

As expected, it was an area where the monsters that appeared were weak, like in the game, but the debuffs were strong.

━ Don’t leave my side. I’m blocking the curse of this tomb.

Right now, I’m an infinite debuff removal totem that constantly neutralizes status ailments. It’s safe as long as you stay close to me.

By the way, for a curse to still linger in the tomb of someone who died long ago… How deep must his resentment have been?

━ We just need to find the ‘Book of the Dead’ that Karon had.

In the game, you had to obtain that item to receive the skill. Let’s find it quickly and leave.

Nix and the warriors took one cautious step at a time, more carefully than before.

Eventually, we found a place where the entire space was covered in murals.

The bookshelf in front of the mural was filled with books, and the following words were engraved on the mural in the center:

[The worshipper cannot understand the idol, and the idol cannot understand the worshipper, so this is a tragic cycle.]

That’s really ominous.