I'm the Only Totem in Another World - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Fleeing South (3)

The owner of the voice was a paladin emitting red light from his eyes.

An ominous aura scattered all around him, his presence overwhelming.

It must be Karon, who possessed Reno Johnson’s body.

The flustered Bull-headed Demon tried to knock Karon away with its tail, but could only attempt it due to the fierce attacks of the Zombie Demons surrounding him.

Karon approaches the demon. With calm and leisurely steps.

Then he raised his right hand.

Ugh!

A red aura gathered in Karon’s hand and shot towards the Bull-headed Demon, sealing its mouth, which was still persistently trying to transmit coordinates.

Karon had a way to prevent coordinate transmission.

“Transmitting coordinates with your dying breath. An interesting method.”

Simultaneously with Karon’s muttering, the Zombie Demons subdue the Bull-headed Demon.

“If they deem you a significant threat to their forces, they notify a higher entity…”

Krrrk…!

The Bull-headed Demon, pinned to the ground with its head forced down by the zombies, looks at Karon approaching with fear in its eyes.

With pupils dilated like a frightened animal.

Karon reached out his hand to the Bull-headed Demon again.

The red aura emanating from his hand rummages through the demon’s head.

Kyaaaak! Kyaaaak!

“You know more than the others.”

The Bull-headed Demon screams in agony, while Karon manipulates the red aura with his arms spread wide.

But why is this guy talking to himself?

Is he a psychopath?

He learned forbidden magic, so he’s gone mad… Is that it?

…Judging by the Bull-headed Demon twitching its eyebrows, it doesn’t seem like he’s just talking to himself.

Can this guy communicate with demons?

It was a bit surprising because I hadn’t thought that demons were capable of communication until now.

He dominated the demon’s soul and learned their language… That makes sense.

“…You are not ordinary creatures. A race artificially created solely for war. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call you magical creatures, spirits.”

Still, it just looks like he’s talking to himself.

I diligently eavesdropped on the mad Karon’s monologue.

Kaaaak!

“Who is it? The entity above you. The beings who created you? No, there’s an entity even higher than that. What are they?”

The Bull-headed Demon screams, shedding green tears of blood.

“Resistance is futile. Your soul is already mine.”

The Bull-headed Demon’s pupils dilate and become filled with red light.

Crazy, this guy, barely awake, is already controlling even a mid-ranking demon as a zombie.

Is this bastard a hidden boss like me?

When will I become a late bloomer? After Karon and the demons finish their negotiations?

It’s frustrating as hell to actually be a growth-type character.

What’s the point of starting with the mindset of ‘just endure the early game’? I’m about to get crushed between whales from the beginning.

…Still, since I started weak, I’ll become incredibly strong in the late game, right?

It’s a growth-type, but not a late bloomer? That’s nonsense.

If that’s really the case, I might as well just continue writing Goja Buro Season 2 on the community forum.

“There’s a restriction on your memory. It’s a matter of slowly lifting it… What are you?”

Karon, who was diligently spitting out his monologue, turns his gaze towards me.

━ …

Damn, I’ve been caught.

It happened so quickly that I couldn’t even respond.

“You.”

Karon approaches me.

My body won’t move. He’s trying to take away my control.

“What kind of creature are you to brazenly perform necromancy in front of me? You are…”

Karon’s voice trembles as he stares at me, as if seeing through me.

“A Loa…!”

To figure that out just by looking closely. He’s definitely not ordinary.

This is dangerous.

“These vile bastards. You must have watched silently as the surface became like this. Just like when my children died…”

Karon, unable to contain his rage as if a switch had been flipped, spits out his words harshly.

“You could accept the destruction of the surface, but couldn’t stand my return?”

Should I try saying something?

━ Necromancer Karon, I am…

“Shut your mouth. You must have manipulated many people with that forked tongue. It won’t work on me.”

Hey, why are you cutting me off?

“I know you’re all in cahoots. You’re all hiding like rats, watching. I don’t care where you are. I will find you…”

I’m getting annoyed listening to this. Let me speak, you bastard.

Cooperation seems impossible anyway, and even if it were, I don’t want to do it with this psychopath.

Even if we defeat the demons with this guy, it’ll be a zombie apocalypse ending.

“I will find you and kill you…”

━ You look pathetic, consumed by rage. You poor thing. Go ahead and try.

Who said I don’t argue because I can’t?

I immediately released Zombie Control and moved to Totem No. 2.

“Loaaaaaaa━!”

My vision changes along with Karon’s scream.

Whew. That bastard is scary.

You couldn’t do anything in the end, could you?

Anyway, it’s my victory for dominating Karon’s emotions.

As a bonus, I found out that there’s a magical way to stop the Buster Call, so it’s a win-win.

* * * * * *

The Sky Tree Tribe walked through the ruined Latria.

This place is worse than Dubenheim in terms of destruction.

It looks like a city that’s been hit by a nuclear bomb.

Although some time has passed and weeds have grown, seeing the withered plants and uprooted trees rolling on the ground makes it hard to hold onto the hope that it will one day return to its original form.

It’s all the work of the Dark Cloud Demon who came to eliminate George’s raiding party.

Is this the price of resistance?

Destroying a region to the point of being irrecoverable just to take the lives of over 50 paladins?

Vicious bastards. Uncompromising monsters.

After walking a little further, I checked the community forum, thinking it was safe now.

Karon hasn’t posted anything new.

Let’s give a simple warning for now.

[Ultra Sanz Crazed for Nighttime Massacre Mode: (Information) Don’t go to Dubenheim

Living corpses are scattered everywhere

Zombies? Things like that, but there are also Zombie Demons, so avoid this place

It’s really dangerous here]

I intentionally left out the story about Necromancer Karon.

If I blabber about how Karon woke up in the Necromancer’s Tomb and took over Reno Johnson’s body… I’ll only get suspicious questions like ‘How do you know that?’ or ‘Did you wake him up?’.

The ‘Barbarian Series’ I wrote is still on the community forum. Posts on the community forum couldn’t be deleted.

Let’s say I reveal Karon’s identity. What if Karon, who considers me a threat, reads what I wrote and deduces my identity or uses some strange magic to track me down?

I’d be really screwed.

I can’t let anyone know my identity, not just Karon.

I’m the god of the barbarians, who are hostile to the paladins.

Everyone’s a paladin, but only one is a Loa? If I were them, I’d definitely be suspicious. I’d look like a potential threat.

There’s a reason for the saying that a two-eyed person in a one-eyed village is treated like a monster.

This isn’t a fairytale world. Even if a suspicious guy says, ‘I’m on your side! Let’s fight the demons together and save the world!’, no one will welcome him with open arms.

Furthermore, the possessed are likely to have at least one or two mental illnesses, like Rising Phoenix. What’s the possibility that they’ll be consumed by paranoia and go around killing barbarians to find me?

I think it’s high.

Even Hanna attacked the Brown Rock Tribe just because she found them annoying.

Until I build a force that no one can underestimate, I have to keep it a secret.

[Shotgun Attack: Suddenly?]

[Ppooppooppeung: That’s almost the edge of the map, isn’t it?]

The comments came quickly.

[Fallen Power Knight: Isn’t that where the Necromancer’s Tomb is? I haven’t been there, though.]

ㄴ [Samurai Jackson: It was in the game. It was a place that gave you crappy skills, if I remember correctly.]

ㄴ [Fallen Power Knight: Did the zombies there come out? Anyway, thanks for the info.]

[I Trusted the Monkey Man but: I looked up where Dubenheim is, and it’s damn far. I don’t think I’ll ever go there.]

They’re figuring it out on their own. That’s good.

[Not a Netkama: Hey, are you okay?]

I briefly replied to Hanna’s message and checked the progress again.

What is this?

━ …!

On a rock that I naturally passed by, there was a pile of helmets. Paladins’ helmets.

━ Wait. Just a moment.

It was a really urgent situation, but I wanted to check this one thing.

Who gathered all the helmets here?

For what reason?

As I get closer, I see letters carved into the rock where the helmets are placed, as if with a knife.

The crooked letters were written in Korean.

[My community friends and the bravest warriors of Earth, sleep here in this foreign land.

━ Close-Range Spy]

…It’s the grave of George’s raiding party.

My heart aches.

Did they gather the helmets and decorate them like this because there were no bodies left?

Keuncheop… Why are you writing bait posts like Goja Buro when you can do such a wonderful thing?

They say you never know what’s inside a person’s heart.

Afterward, we arrived safely at the Golden Sun Tribe in Bolvano without any further incidents.