Chapter 59 – Cultist Hunting
After dealing with House Brellant, Karnak’s group was formally inducted into the King’s Order.
Normally, they would have needed to go through two more missions as apprentices, but thanks to Thalmann’s glowing evaluation, Commander Erantel immediately acknowledged their abilities.
They were assigned to Unit 4 and began to handle various affairs, during which they achieved consistent results.
Three months passed by.
Karnak’s group had now built up enough trust to be allowed to go on independent missions to clear out cultists.
***
In the western part of the Yustil Kingdom existed the Relzbet Mountains, which divided the continent into north and south.
Deep within these rugged mountains that neared the Empire of Lacaenia, a large group of several hundred had gathered. Most of them were common peasants. Children, women, and the elderly made up more than half of the crowd. These infirm people had lit campfires and were offering prayers.
“Please watch over us…”
”Please guide your flock of little lambs…”
They had fled oppression and taken refuge in these desolate mountains, clinging to fragile hopes as they prayed. They seemed very devout.
…Too devout, in fact.
An elderly man, fervent with faith, raised both hands. “Please accept this offering!” he shouted.
While holding an infant, he approached the campfire.
“A blood sacrifice offered in your name!”
All of them were cultists, followers of the Dark God. Their voices rose in mad fervor.
“This is a trial that Tesranak has bestowed upon us…”
“Only those who pass the trial may knock on the gates of paradise!”
The infant’s cries grew louder, as did the fanatical prayers.
Finally, the old man stood before the fire.
Just as the old man was about to toss the infant into the flames…
“You lunatics!” came a sharp shout. It was followed by a red flash streaking in from outside the stronghold.
The flash destroyed the fire in a single blow and scattered the embers in every direction.
Boom!
As an explosion shook the earth, a woman leaped over the walls of the stronghold. Beneath her flowing red hair, a shimmering crimson aura blade appeared. The fanatics began to scatter in every direction.
“It’s the King’s Order!”
”The kingdom’s heretics are here!”
The sacrificial fire was gone. The old man, still holding the baby, fumbled in confusion. “Th-This can’t be… the ritual…”
Taking advantage of his distraction, the woman approached the old man, kicked him aside, and gracefully caught the baby midair.
She let out a sigh of relief. “There, there. You’re safe now,” she said, soothing the child.
Seeing the woman comforting the baby, the old man began to weep. “Cursed hounds of the evil goddess!”
The woman let out a bitter laugh. “Evil? From the person who just tried to toss a baby into a fire?”
The old man’s attitude didn’t change. He remained convinced that the woman who had interrupted their sacred ritual was the real sinner.
“You’re a heretic deceived by lies! Do you only believe what you can see?
”Deceived? Are you trying to say that tossing a baby into a fire isn’t evil? What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”
Behind the woman holding the baby, from beyond the stronghold wall, the sound of war horns echoed.
Bwooooong!
Moments later, sections of the wall began to collapse as soldiers stormed in. They were the kingdom’s arbitrators, the elite troops led by the King’s Order.
“Soldiers of the kingdom, punish those who have abandoned their humanity!”
***
Screams echoed from all sides as cultists fell, cut down by the soldiers.
“Aaaaaagh!”
”Mother…”
”Tesranak, save us…”
Most of them were just simple peasants. They had never even seen a battle before and had no hope of standing up to the kingdom’s elite troops. It was a brutal massacre.
Yet the soldier’s faces showed no signs of revulsion.
”These cultists…”
”They’re completely insane.”
They had already seen it with their own eyes, outside of the fortress: These supposedly simple peasants, and corpses laid on wooden posts, sacrificed to their Dark God.
Being simple did not make them good. In fact, it was because of their simplicity that they were all the more susceptible to evil.
“These villains cannot be allowed to live!”
The soldiers, filled with fury, cut down the cultists without hesitation.
Most of the cultists fell without putting up a fight. Even as they died, they cried out for their god and their priests.
“Tesranak!”
”Lord Palestil!”
“Where are you, Lord Darian?!”
Those they called upon, their Dark God, their priests, the necromancers of the dark, could not save them.
They were facing a different enemy.
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Bearguarde]
[Proofreader – Gorm]
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* * *
Deep inside the fortress, on the second floor of a wooden building, two necromancers faced off against three figures: a youthful black-haired mage, a burly blonde knight, and a young-looking priestess. The necromancers shuddered as they looked upon the youthful mage.
“Keeeu…”
“How did the King’s Order find us…
Even though they had clearly moved in secret, the King’s Order had still managed to track them so easily.
And now the King’s Order was here, inside the heart of their fortress. It didn’t make sense.
‘How did they do it?’
‘With what technique?’
It wasn’t just the necromancers that were puzzled. The second-rank inquisitor who had joined this mission, Milia—priestess of the Goddess of the Sun, Ratiel—was puzzled as well.
“How exactly did you manage to find them so easily, Lord Karnak?” asked Milia. She still didn’t understand Karnak’s movements at all.
As best she could tell, Karnak hadn’t gathered any information or used any proper tracking methods. As soon as they’d arrived at the mountain range, he’d just glanced in the general direction of the mountain and said, “It’s over there. Let’s go.”
She’d thought it ridiculous, but she’d gone along with it. Upon arrival, however, she’d realized that it was indeed the cultists’ hideout.
Turning to Milia, Karnak said, as if trying to soothe her, ”This isn’t really the time for casual chatter, is it? I’ll tell you about it later.”
He was right, of course, so Milia focused on the necromancers in front of her. “You are correct. Let’s focus on their punishment first.”
Of course, Baros knew the truth.
[What kind of excuse are you going to come up with this time, Young Master?]
[First, let’s focus on dealing with the necromancers; we can worry about that later. Honestly, making up excuses every time is starting to get tiring.]
At this moment, a red-haired woman entered the building. Having left the child she had saved to another soldier, Serati had come to join up with them.
Karnak asked, “How are things outside, Serati?”
“There’s some resistance, but nothing major. No significant casualties.” She turned to Milia to make a polite request: “However, there may be some wounded, so it would be very much appreciated if you could tend to the soldiers, Priestess Milia.”
Milia looked flustered. “Huh? But if we’re fighting necromancers, there should be a priestess…”
Karnak gently interjected, “The soldiers’ lives are just as precious as everyone else’s. We can handle the necromancers just fine ourselves. Shouldn’t saving valuable lives come first?”
Milia was moved. ‘He’s putting the soldiers’ lives above his own?’ This was a noble worth emulating, she felt.
If she kept refusing, it would be an insult to Karnak.
“I understand. May the blessing of Ratiel be with you.” Radiant light flowed from Milia’s body and surrounded Karnak, Baros, and Serati. It was a blessing from the Goddess of the Sun meant to protect against the Power of Darkness.
“Please take care of everything!” Milia said. She quickly ran out to tend to the soldiers.
The others’ attitudes quickly changed.
“She’s gone.”
“Please get rid of this already, Young Master,” Baros said, motioning to the blessing.
Karnak sighed. “All right.”
The necromancers looked on in astonishment. Dark power swirled around Karnak, and the radiant blessing Milia had cast vanished.
“What?!”
“The King’s Order is using the Power of Darkness?”
Karnak, having just cast off the blessing, gave a nonchalant grin. “Yeah, it’s a pain, but it’s not like I can tell her to stop.”
“She put her heart into casting that blessing. Isn’t it a bit disrespectful to just treat it like some annoying stain?” Serati asked, clearly uncomfortable.
The necromancers, still confused, started to call upon their own dark power. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but…”
“We are the chosen vessels of Tesranak!”
Around them, dark blue ghosts began to form, the souls of knights and soldiers bathed in blood, and they began to wail.
Kaaaaaaaaa!
Wraiths bound to the land by memories of ancient battlefields, summoned through necromancy. Unlike the clumsy necromancers the party had faced before, these clearly had some deeper experience with necromancy.
“Now taste the true Power of Darkness!”
Still, Serati wasn’t concerned; she already knew how this would end.
Karnak, on the other hand, smirked, his interest piqued. “Oh, looks like we have ourselves some proper necromancy? Not bad at all.”
This actually made things easier. “Compared to some amateurs without a clue what they’re doing…” He raised his finger and twirled it lazily in the air. “It’s much easier to exploit someone who knows just a thing or two.”
The dark currents began to reverse, and the wraiths, once under the necromancers’ control, turned to attack the necromancers instead.
“What?! What is this?
“No, why won’t they obey me…”
A chorus of terrified screams filled the building.
“Aaaaaagh!”
***
The necromancers’ corpses fell to the ground, and Karnak extended his right hand toward them. Dark energy flowed from their corpses into the palm of his hand.
“Now that I’ve gathered up their Darkness of the Apocalypse, let’s move on.”
He extended his left hand and dark energy seeped out, flowing into the bodies of the necromancers. “We should give them a substitute. Miss Milia will have to submit something to the Orders, after all.”
Karnak was pulling in death energy from every direction and condensing it. This form was the same as the Darkness of the Apocalypse.
“Though the quality is inferior,” he stated.
Karnak could now create Darkness of the Apocalypse. After all, he just had to collect death energy and corrupt energy and transform it using necrotic power. However, properly refining this energy took a significant amount of time.
On the other hand, the corrupt energy he was shoving into the corpses? It was just an amalgamation of dark energy, hastily crammed together. It was still corrupt energy, but it lacked the refinement needed to be useful for necrotic power.
“But to a priest, it all looks the same.”
It was like presenting fake food that looked indistinguishable from real food until someone took a bite.
“But no sane priest would try to taste this.”
No one would be able to tell the difference unless they were some kind of lunatic who would try anything. Of course, in this world, such people were called necromancers.
Satisfied, Karnak absorbed the essence of the darkness and spread his hands out as he began to manipulate his magic.
“Now, let’s separate the necrotic power…”
Darkness enveloped his left hand.
“And separate the chaos magic…”
A brilliant light engorged his right hand.
“Now let’s mix them together!”
The light and darkness vanished. As they vanished, faint magic swirled around Karnak. It didn’t feel like death or corrupt energy but instead a more pure magical energy.
Karnak smiled in satisfaction. “Perfect. I’ve reached the 6th circle.”
