Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: The King of Griffin
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“Gaaahhh!”
[I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!]
[Why won’t you let us go!]
[We want it to stop! We just want to close our eyes nowww!]
The souls poured out.
With egos intact, filled with rage, seeking to vent their grudges.
Each soul bursting from the evil ghost became a powerful projectile.
The mana contained within the souls had been transformed into magic through the evil ghost, so the spiraling souls, unable to contain their fury, began lashing out everywhere.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Uncontrollable power.
Not just attacking the evil ghost, but crashing into the audience chamber’s pillars, ceiling, walls, and lights—it almost looked like self-harm.
Even my protective magic couldn’t fully block this rampage of vengeful spirits.
Stopping Remegaton, which activated and amplified them, would just let the evil ghost devour the souls again.
I lowered my body.
It would affect me too, but the evil ghost was taking far worse damage, making it a necessary step.
A quick glance back showed Deia and Darius swept up in the souls’ rampage, on the defensive and looking like they could fall any moment.
The black necromancer was guarding them, but as a ghost herself, she had limits.
The servants who had charged were already collapsed and unconscious, and some were caught in the souls’ frenzy.
I couldn’t save everyone.
First, I distanced myself from the evil ghost and returned to the two.
“I-Is it resolved?”
Deia asked first. I shook my head, pulling them into my protective magic’s range.
“Not yet. I’ve just freed the souls condensed inside it. They’re not truly annihilated.”
Annihilation wasn’t that easy, and the souls leaving didn’t suddenly turn it into an ordinary ghost.
It had only lost its cheat-like power; its inherent strength remained.
It would be several times easier to handle, of course.
“When the hell will these things end?”
I couldn’t answer Darius’s question. The souls the evil ghost had devoured over centuries were beyond imagination.
Their grudges were deeply rooted.
“No choice.”
The souls, empowered by the faintly glowing Remegaton, needed to be stopped soon.
One wrong move, and it could demolish the entire palace.
[What will you do?]
To the black necromancer’s question, I turned back to the evil ghost and replied.
“No time to wait. We smash in first.”
If this were an empty field or barren plain, I’d wait.
Waiting would drain the evil ghost’s power enough for even my current level.
But the souls’ rampage was too intense—servants could die, and the palace would be wrecked.
Fortunately, it was much weaker now, and distracted by escaping souls.
“Black necromancer, protect Deia here. Darius, you’re with me.”
“I-I’m coming too!”
Deia protested indignantly, but I shook my head and stopped her.
“Guard that box. Use it when I signal.”
Deia’s mouth twitched like she wanted to ask what was inside, but she didn’t.
She gripped her pistol tightly, dissatisfied but accepting.
“Stay behind me.”
Darius and I crouched and advanced. I planned to shield him with magic, but he surged ahead instead.
“No, you stay behind me.”
“…….”
“You’re the only one who can face the evil ghost possessing His Majesty, Deius. Don’t hold back.”
It was spot on.
I hadn’t expected Darius to step up as a shield.
“Deius.”
As we cautiously advanced, Darius suddenly spoke.
I didn’t reply, but he continued.
“I never imagined a future like this for us.”
“…….”
“I just thought to follow Father and protect the family. I didn’t know what that family really was.”
Our eyes met as he glanced back.
It was the first time.
I thought he was reliable.
“I don’t know about Father, but to me, you’re the Verdis—my family. So if I die here…….”
[Hand over that stoneee!]
Ruuuumble!
The evil ghost, sensing our approach, counterattacked.
Not blocking the leak like a bottomless jar, but trying to kill me and seize Remegaton before it all poured out.
Black hands erupted from the ground, lunging from all sides.
Darius drew his sword, elegantly slicing them as he finished.
“The next head of the family… will be you.”
Crunch!
He was an excellent warrior. He’d seemed lacking only because the foes were absurdly strong.
Unfortunately, this time was the same. Against a necromancer centuries old, his sword barely swung before he dropped to one knee.
“Stay put.”
I pressed his shoulder firmly and stepped forward.
“Don’t spout useless last words. You think you can die satisfied just escaping Father’s shadow?”
“…….”
My magic bolstered Darius. With some breathing room, he glanced at me, flashed a hearty grin, and sprang up.
“Right, you’re too slender to be the north’s bulwark!”
He gripped his sword tightly again.
Stepping ahead once more, he asked.
“I’ll protect you no matter what. You just focus on dealing with that irreverent bastard!”
“Got it.”
I drew Remegaton again.
Magic alone couldn’t win. The body was King Orpheus’s—I couldn’t strike recklessly.
So what I needed to do now.
Ridiculously, awaken the souls even stronger.
Because the most important person was still asleep.
The Orpheus I’d seen in the game had only two outcomes after learning the truth.
Break… or prevail.
But now I knew.
It wasn’t Orpheus who prevailed.
‘The evil ghost just took over.’
That’s why it ended so simply.
Conversely, the broken one.
Orpheus’s beliefs were too rigid and upright, so they snapped.
Not this time.
I’d make sure of it.
With Remegaton glowing brighter, I spoke.
“Your Majesty, can you hear me?”
* * *
It felt like being in a mud pit. Germs and bugs crawling over his entire body in a writhing mass.
Disgust beyond revulsion, yet he couldn’t escape.
Eyes shut, no smells, mouth sealed.
He’d heard death brought sleep-like repose.
Was this repose?
In torment close to torture.
King Orpheus sensed a faint voice tickling his ear.
A firm voice, calm and self-assured.
But even hearing it, his thoughts couldn’t grasp it. Familiar, yet unnamed.
On the verge of sleep, Orpheus began closing his eyes.
Tap.
Someone gripped his shoulder.
Not just one.
Hands clung to his body in an instant, urgently yet gently rousing him.
‘Hm?’
He slowly opened his heavy eyes.
Unable to move much, he didn’t know who, but the voice grew clearer.
- Your Majesty, it’s time.
“D-Deius?”
Unmistakably Deius Verdi’s voice. Unsure of the source, but it filled him with strength.
- Your Majesty, steel yourself and rise. Then we can annihilate this great evil nesting in Griffin’s royal line.
“Me…?”
Steel myself?
What resolve?
- You’ve seen the countless atrocities the Griffin dynasty committed.
“Ah….”
Yes.
In the underground records.
He’d seen all the vile deeds of the Griffin dynasty, damnable to the core.
Even if done while possessed by the evil ghost, that ghost was an ancestor of Griffin.
- You must have thought yourself unworthy. Tormented that you didn’t deserve the throne.
“…….”
Yes.
He’d suppressed the urge to hurl the crown and flee far away.
- But Your Majesty, lacking qualification and shirking responsibility are different.
“…….”
- Saying you’re just another victim won’t do—you bear too much. A king leads and takes responsibility, not excuses or flees.
“Ah.”
- Indeed. The Griffin dynasty has lost the right to stand as this kingdom’s sun. Incompetence on the throne is a sin.
He knew the sharp truth in those words. Orpheus thought he might be crying.
- Yet you must bear responsibility. You must restore this warped kingdom to its original state.
“Y-Yes….”
- Commit wrong, then step down? That’s just indulging and running away.
Deius was probably smirking self-mockingly now.
His point boiled down to one thing.
- So take it all on your shoulders… and sit the throne again.
“…….”
- Time to awaken, Your Majesty.
His mind surged upward, like being pulled from water.
As his waist arched and consciousness pulled, he turned to see the hands shaking him awake.
Some faces known, some not.
But he felt he knew them.
“Father, Mother.”
The late king Opert Luden Griffin, long devoured by the evil ghost.
And his mother, Hiran Luden Griffin.
Along with countless Griffin royals whose bodies the evil ghost had seized and devoured.
“Ahh, so you wanted me to stay foolish.”
Now King Orpheus understood his father’s dying words’ true meaning.
Just… always stay foolish.
“You wished I never learned the truth.”
Grip.
Fists clenched with power. Burning aspiration spread through his body.
“You wished I never knew Griffin’s ugly reality.”
A wrinkled palm on his back.
Recognizing it as his father’s, Orpheus shed hot tears.
“I thought you so distant. You were always so admirable to me.”
Tap.
“Now I see Father’s back, even from afar.”
He felt his back gently pushed.
Now.
Right now.
From the evil ghost’s grasp, which no Griffin royal had escaped.
The long chain of oppression on the royal line broke.
“Your son will surpass you.”
Soon.
Before him lay the half-destroyed audience chamber and Deius Verdi, smiling with faith.
* * *
“Huff! Huff!”
Gasping, clutching his chest, King Orpheus descended the throne and knelt in agony.
I immediately dimmed Remegaton, and the frenzied spirits began to quiet.
“D-Done?!”
Darius, barely enduring the evil ghost’s attacks, was covered in wounds, blood pooling under his feet.
He needed healing, but the battle wasn’t over.
[Gaaaahhhh!]
The evil ghost, detached from King Orpheus, thrashed, scattering its remaining mana.
Now just instinctual flailing.
Like thorns flying at me, I extended my hand.
A soul manifestation enveloped in mana rose.
The spell to absorb evil spirits I’d used at the family estate.
The method necromancers use to fully subjugate them, wrapping the evil spirit around the necromancer’s soul.
[You’re insaneee!]
Thinking I’d subjugate it, the evil ghost gaped and charged.
Its black head swallowed me, and control over my body began slipping.
“Guh, urk!”
[In the end, you’re just another necromancer! Dare make me yours? Insane! How dare you…!]
Like the original Deius possessing me.
The evil ghost seized my body. I staggered to one knee, but my eyes locked on the woman far off.
My quick-witted sister opened the box on her back.
“Huh?”
With Deia’s incredulous gasp, light flooded the darkened audience chamber.
Evil spirits fled from its mere presence; vengeful spirits closed their eyes.
Remegaton was a cheat item for necromancy.
But games don’t hand cheats one-sidedly.
Not just Remegaton’s counter—it was God’s gift to purify all evil.
The continent’s most perfect substance.
The silver chalice holding all the world.
Deia pulled out the Holy Grail, confused, but I shouted amid the struggle for control.
“Now!”
[Insaneee!]
The tables turned.
I clung to the evil ghost trying to flee my body.
I’d known it would bolt seeing the Holy Grail, so I needed a chain to hold it—and volunteered.
Deia, Holy Grail in one hand, mana rifle in the other, aimed at me without hesitation.
Her eyes held not resentment for her second brother.
But trust.
Holy power from the Holy Grail mixed with Deia’s mana, flowing to the barrel.
[Borrowing God’s power?! Aren’t you ashamed?! Necromancerrr!]
At its ridiculous outburst, I smirked.
“Unlike you—an evil ghost denied God’s blessing—we’re different.”
Bang!
The barrel flashed; a bullet brimming with holy power flew straight at me.
“The dead should stay dead.”
Thud!
It struck my left shoulder precisely. Holy power flooded me; I dropped Remegaton in panic.
[Gaaaahhhh!]
Touched by holy power, the evil ghost screamed, burning under divine judgment.
Amid the searing shoulder pain, my smile didn’t fade.
“Thinking you could possess me was your mistake.”
Despite my warning, it was a student who learned nothing.
“I said I prepared only annihilation.”
Clutching my throbbing shoulder, I looked up.
Sunlight poured through the hole-riddled ceiling.
Late dawn faded.
Gentle sunlight descended.
And Griffin’s vengeful spirit achieved complete annihilation.