Chapter 73. Necro Puppet Master
In the distant past, within the Ancient Labyrinth, a being awoke in the dark depths of a cave.
His name was Psycho Clown.
Clown, who had not long since been born, wandered aimlessly through the maze-like labyrinth, unaware of the reason for his existence.
One day, as he wandered alone, growing in awareness and adapting to the labyrinth:
［Kirik?］
［Kirik?］
［What are you?］
［What are you?］
［I am me.］
［I am me, too.］
［I see. Kirik.］
［Kirik.］
He accidentally encountered a being identical to himself.
That being’s name was also Psycho Clown.
It was the first time he’d met one of his own kind.
From that day on, the two stayed together.
They hunted together, ate together, and even shared their sleeping space.
After some time had passed, just as a friendship was beginning to blossom between the two, a sudden tragedy struck the Clowns without warning.
They encountered a monster, a creature so powerful that even when they joined forces, they couldn’t stand a chance.
They had come face-to-face with an overwhelming monster.
The Clowns barely managed to escape by unleashing all of their psychic powers, but in the process, one of the Clowns suffered a fatal injury.
The wounds were so severe that it wouldn’t have been strange if he died at any moment.
Clown looked at his dying friend, unable to stop the tears from flowing.
［Kirik… Don’t die…］
The death of someone precious.
It was a pain too immense for the young Clown to bear, a pain he had never experienced before.
［…］
Amidst the endlessly flowing transparent tears, the other Clown, standing at the doorstep of death, struggled to move his body.
［Take this…］
He tore off a part of his body and handed it over.
［Use our power, use it on this body…］
［Kirik…?］
He told Clown to use the power that prevents decay on his body.
［Even if I die, my body will always… stay by your side. Then you won’t be alone…］
They were too young to understand.
They didn’t know that the psychic power to prevent decay was linked to the life force of the body’s owner.
If the body’s owner died, the preserved body would decay as well.
［Even in death, I will always be by your si─］
Thud.
He couldn’t finish his sentence before closing his eyes.
［Kiriiiiiiik!!!］
The friend Clown had made for the first time had breathed his last.
At that moment, Clown wailed loudly.
Even though their bond had been short, the grief was deep and intense.
***
A while after the death of his friend,
［Kirik? Gone! It’s gone!!］
Clown began to frantically search through his makeshift hideout as if looking for a lost treasure.
There was only one reason for this.
His first taxidermy specimen, the last memento of his friend, was nowhere to be found.
Of course, the friend’s remains were still there.
They had just decayed along with their lifeless owner.
Clown picked up the decayed body and violently shook his head in denial.
［This isn’t it!!!］
He sobbed and cried out.
Saying that this wasn’t his friend.
［Huff, huff… This isn’t it…］
After crying for a long time, exhausted,
Clown panted as he muttered softly.
［I lost it… I can’t lose it… I must get it back…］
From that day onward, Clown developed the habit of collecting and preserving the bodies of other living beings.
***
The taxidermy held special meaning for Clown.
It reminded him of his lost friend.
It gave him comfort, reminding him that he wasn’t alone.
However, as countless years passed, those memories slowly began to fade.
The existence of his friend.
The bond they shared.
The joyful memories, though short-lived.
As he continued to explore the deeper, more dangerous parts of the labyrinth, experiencing many shocking and traumatic events, Clown began to forget many parts of his past.
Even the reason for his collecting habit was slowly forgotten.
Only the habit of collecting remained, now devoid of meaning.
And after even more time had passed,
Clown still hadn’t made any new friends.
No one wanted to befriend a madman who had a hobby of stealing and preserving others’ bodies.
But despite that, Clown didn’t stop his collecting.
Day after day, he continued to sever the bodies of other living creatures, stealing and preserving them.
It was the only way he knew to ease his loneliness, as he didn’t know any other methods.
But that was no longer the case now.
After meeting the Labyrinth Explorer Kang Geon, being tamed by him and becoming friends, and forming strong bonds with the other monsters, he learned a new way to ease his loneliness.
He was happy.
He never imagined it would feel so joyful to have so many friends.
He hoped this happiness would last forever.
But misfortune struck once again without warning.
While subduing and taming a monster, Clown was hit by a powerful curse as the monster lashed out in desperation.
And he instinctively knew.
There was no escaping this curse.
No running from death.
The fact that he couldn’t survive filled him with despair.
He was scared, terrified.
He didn’t want to die.
He didn’t want to part with his friends.
…
At the same time, he felt a sense of relief.
Relief that it was him, not anyone else, who had been cursed.
That Kang Geon and the others were safe gave him some comfort.
He even thought it was for the best—that if it hadn’t been him, one of his friends could have been cursed someday, and that his sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.
He told himself that he had blocked a potential danger lurking in the labyrinth with his own life.
And so, he slowly accepted his death.
But before he died, he wanted to hold Kang Geon’s hand one last time.
Clown, who was trapped inside Mushroom’s jelly, used the last of his strength to call out to Kang Geon and extend his hand.
Kang Geon immediately took hold of it.
It was warm.
Clown felt the fear of death slip away at Kang Geon’s touch.
Satisfied, Clown gently closed his eyes.
He thought that it was time to depart.
And just as Clown was sinking into the depths of death, black matter began to seep from his body, enveloping him entirely.
*
*
*
During the evolution process, deep within Clown’s hazy consciousness, long-forgotten memories started to resurface.
His first meeting with his friend.
Their adventures together.
All the way to his friend’s final moments, the memories flooded back.
As the origin of his strange habit and the memories of his lost companion became clear again, Clown realized that his actions were expressions of longing and a way to soothe his loneliness.
When he finally understood that he no longer needed this bizarre hobby, the curse began to dissolve during the evolution process.
Clown’s body slowly began to reconstruct itself.
「Astral Code (Fox-777) has intervened.」
「Evolution into Astral Code (Evil God-4444) has been canceled.」
「Evolution into Astral Code (Human-4404) has resumed.」
「Evolution into Astral Code (Evil God-4445) has begun.」
…
「Synthesis ability has been added.」
***
38th day in the labyrinth.
Psycho Clown woke up.
To be more precise, he had completed his evolution and emerged from the black egg.
【Pururu】─Holy sh*t, look at him. He looks terrifying.
【Yumi】─Scary…
【Rizenova】─He looks cool. What are you all talking about?
【Mysticism】─😨
【Mysticism】─If we’re judging by appearance alone, he’s the strongest…
【Bubble Bubble】─Wow. An SS-class just evolved so easily. This is amazing.
The curse of decay that even Clown’s psychic abilities couldn’t overcome had disappeared.
At first, when parts of his body still looked decayed after the evolution, I thought the curse hadn’t completely gone, but thankfully, it was just a physical feature.
On closer inspection, it wasn’t actual decay.
Clown’s evolved form was rated as A-class in terms of nerf risk.
In reality, his danger level was SS-class, and he retained all the psychic abilities he had used as Clown.
The newly added ability was the power to raise the dead.
For the record, it wasn’t resurrection.
It was more like controlling corpses, similar to a necromancer.
Of course, he wasn’t just any ordinary necromancer.
He controlled the corpses directly with strings.
Like puppets.
The strings he used were a medium that connected him to the corpses, and no matter what others did, they couldn’t interfere.
The strings could be made visible or invisible at his will.
Additionally, although the puppets had no souls, they possessed a sense of self.
They retained all the memories they had in life.
That guy who just got up now, like Curse Devil Gentleman.
［I am at your service, Master! Yohoho!］
【Pururu】─That bastard is back!
【Mysticism】─Is he our subordinate now?
【Rizenova】─Since he’s back, how about giving him a beating first?
As mentioned earlier, the puppets had no souls.
Even though they retained their memories, it didn’t mean they were the same as they were in life.
The puppets didn’t recognize their memories as their own but rather saw them as if they were looking into someone else’s life.
They had a sense of self but lacked a soul.
They were living bodies, yet not quite corpses.
From my perspective, they were an entirely new type of being.
［Gauntlet. Other things are possible, too.］
“Other things?”
The evolved Clown nodded and shifted his gaze to Curse Devil.
［You, die again.］
［Yohoho…］
The string connecting Clown to Curse Devil snapped.
Immediately, Curse Devil’s body crumbled.
The evolved Clown glanced around as if sensing something, then lightly waved his hand.
In an instant, bones buried deep underground shot out of the soil and floated into the air.
［I can combine several and raise them, too.］
The bones crumbled into small pieces.
They merged with what used to be Curse Devil, mixing together.
And after a short while,
［Yohoho!］
Curse Devil came back as a puppet again.
In a slightly different form than before.
It seemed like Clown now had the ability to combine various corpses.
After observing Clown’s abilities for a while, I returned to the hideout and started working on the codex, giving him a new name.
『Necro Puppet Master』
—
■ Necro Puppet Master
─ Actual Danger Level: SS-class.
─ Current (Nerfed) Danger Level: A-class.
─ Abilities: Psychic Powers / Puppet Corpse Control / Corpse Synthesis.