Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Ch. 131 .｡.:✧ Army of the Dead (1) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“What in the world…!”
The guards gasped as the illumination magic revealed the scene before them. The barricade blocking the path to the rainwater tunnel had been destroyed. It had been a solid barrier, but now it was broken, the edges roughly cut as if by a sword.
I touched the broken wood.
‘This was recent.’
It hadn’t been long. The curse user who had just entered must have done this.
What was in the rainwater tunnel…?
“What are your orders, Saintess? Shall we proceed?”
“Yes. Let’s go in.”
“Formation: Protect the VIP. Youngest, go back up and report that someone has infiltrated the rainwater tunnel.”
“Yes!”
The guards quickly surrounded me, ready to advance. We didn’t know what the curse user was planning.
What if they were trying to collapse the cathedral by detonating explosives underground…? It would be a catastrophe.
We had to act fast. There was no time to hesitate, we had to stop the curse user immediately.
The guards, sensing the urgency, prepared for battle, their expressions grim.
“Advance.”
We entered the tunnel, cautiously but swiftly, navigating the darkness with the light of illumination magic.
We were wary of ambushes, traps, and formations, but surprisingly, nothing attacked us.
Soon, the vast space of the rainwater tunnel, built to collect Cologne’s rainwater, began to appear. But it was too dark to see clearly.
I thought I saw some silhouettes…
“Holy Light!”
Whoosh!
A flash of light erupted from my fingertips, illuminating the tunnel. The silhouettes came into focus.
“Gasp!”
“W-What is this?!”
People stood frozen, their faces pale, eyes wide open but unseeing.
They looked like Cardinal Nicholas earlier. And there were so many of them, standing in neat rows… at least five hundred!
We were momentarily stunned, but quickly regained our composure.
“Those are… the remains stolen from Elvenguard…”
And in the center, surrounded by the people, was the giant spider’s corpse, with a woman’s torso. It, too, lay motionless.
“They’re all dead…”
I checked their pulses, placed my hand on their chests. There was no doubt. They were dead.
Dead bodies, stiff and frozen, standing like mannequins. So, I hadn’t been mistaken about Cardinal Nicholas. He had been dead…
“What is the meaning of this…?”
Over five hundred corpses, arranged in neat rows? What kind of morbid hobby was this?
A chill ran down my spine. And on the floor, strange red lines were drawn in a chaotic pattern.
A giant formation? What was its purpose? Were they using these corpses as sacrifices?
The unknown purpose terrified me. A curse that required five hundred sacrifices… What would be the result…?
“I know you’re hiding! Come out, curse user!”
I had to capture the curse user who had just entered to find out.
Who were they? Why had they sacrificed so many people…? Rage boiled within me, but I had to stay calm.
Losing control and succumbing to anger was exactly what they wanted.
“There’s nowhere to hide! That means one of you is the curse user!”
I walked past the stiff corpses, examining their faces. The enemy was among them, pretending to be a corpse.
All I had to do was find the one who flinched.
“Come out! Now! Come out…!”
“Saintess, please calm down.”
“I am calm.”
“You’re not. You’re losing control. Let’s retreat and call for backup. It’s too dangerous to search within the formation. There’s only one entrance, so the curse user is trapped here anyway.”
A guard stepped in front of me.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. He was right. I was losing control. Searching for the curse user among these corpses was reckless.
If I got too close, we would all die…
Retreating was the right choice. I knew that, but it was difficult to accept.
“Okay. We should come back with Holy Knights and mages. But we can’t just leave it like this…”
I placed my hand on the ground and channeled my magical power.
I cast Holy Shield, a 4th circle no-attribute magic spell. A yellow light enveloped the spider monster’s corpse. The enemy seemed to be using the corpse for their ritual, so I had to protect it.
This would buy us some time.
“Alright, let’s go.”
We retreated.
One of the guards had gone to call for backup, but that was before we knew the situation. I had to inform them that a mad curse user had killed five hundred people and turned them into mummies.
“Ugh… bright…”
We climbed the ladder and emerged into the sunlight.
As the guards’ eyes adjusted to the brightness, we noticed a crowd had gathered. And standing before us was Cardinal Nicholas.
The moment I met his cold gaze, a chill ran down my spine.
He was dead!
“Arrest Cardinal Nicholas! He’s not alive-!”
“Oops.”
“Ugh?!”
The cardinal kicked me in the stomach, and I went flying, falling back into the sewer. The guards rushed forward, but they were too late.
“No! Noooo…!”
The entrance slammed shut, plunging me back into darkness.
I landed with a thud and lost consciousness.
In that final moment… I felt like someone caught me, embraced me…
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“What is the meaning of this, Your Eminence?!”
“What have you done to the Saintess?!”
Thud.
Cardinal Nicholas slammed the sewer entrance shut.
The guards and knights pointed their weapons at him. They had just witnessed an unbelievable act. The cardinal had kicked the Saintess into the sewer.
It was a drop of at least two stories. If she landed headfirst, she would likely die. The cardinal had intentionally tried to kill her.
There was no other explanation.
The soldiers were confused.
The position of cardinal was reserved for those who had proven themselves to be virtuous and just, through countless trials and inspections. If he was capable of such an act, there had to be a reason…
“Explain yourself!”
“You must be confused by my sudden actions. But listen carefully. The Saintess I just pushed was an imposter.”
“What?!”
“A curse user disguised as the Saintess. You might not have been able to tell, but I could see through the disguise.”
“I-Is that true? The Saintess was an imposter?”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
The spears wavered. The cardinal’s words carried weight. But it wasn’t enough.
His hastily constructed explanation quickly fell apart.
“Then step aside, Your Eminence. We’ll go down and arrest the imposter. We’ll dispel the disguise.”
“I can’t allow that. The enemy is extremely powerful. I’m barely containing them by blocking the entrance.”
“There are ten Holy Knights here. We’ll be fine.”
“It would take ten Sword Masters to stand a chance. I’ll have to request assistance from other nations.”
“Your Eminence, are you aware of how suspicious you’re acting? Step away from the entrance.”
They were starting to realize it.
That the cardinal was lying.
He was preventing them from going down, from confirming whether the Saintess was an imposter.
“Vice-Captain Solra is absent, so I, Maximus, First Captain of the Combat Division, will take command! The Holy Knights will arrest Cardinal Nicholas Dichtertraum for attempted murder of the Saintess! From this moment forward, all of Cardinal Nicholas’s authority is revoked!”
“Hee hee hee… You wouldn’t want to do that.”
The Holy Knights closed in on Nicholas.
He chuckled, a look of defeat on his face.
Then, a sinister smile appeared on his lips.
“Xenon, don’t let anyone touch the entrance.”
“What? Xenon? Why are you mentioning Vice-Captain Solra’s brother-?!”
Kaboom!
A deafening explosion rocked the area, followed by a cloud of smoke.
The Holy Knights were caught in the blast, and several collapsed, injured. An intense wave of magical power, uncontrolled and leaking, washed over the area.
It was clearly the work of an inexperienced mage, yet its power was more than enough to injure the Holy Knights.
“X-Xenon? Why?!”
|[Everything… is… for… Luna…]|
As the Holy Knights helped their injured comrades, a young man emerged from the smoke.
A red light pulsed from his left chest.
He raised his hand, and the sheer amount of magical power gathering at his fingertips made the Holy Knights gasp.
“Damn it! What have you done to Xenon?!”
Kaboom!
Another explosion, followed by screams. Chaos erupted behind the cathedral.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Nicholas, who had been guarding the sewer entrance behind Xenon, turned pale and stiff. The air around him grew cold, and the chill seeped into the ground.
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“Ugh… so painful…”
I must have lost consciousness after hitting my head on the ground… The moment I opened my eyes, a sharp pain shot through my skull, making me curl up. But there were no injuries, no swelling.
‘Is this… a potion?’
A slippery, whitish liquid covered my head.
I licked it.
It was definitely a high-grade potion.
Who applied it? And how long had I been unconscious in this darkness?
‘Cardinal Nicholas, that bastard!’
I remembered! He had kicked me down here!
He wasn’t the same man anymore. He was dead, his body controlled by someone else.
The people on the surface didn’t know yet. I had to warn them.
I fumbled in the darkness, searching for the ladder, when I sensed a presence nearby.
I froze.
“If you’re awake, don’t answer, don’t move, don’t use magic, just listen. Make a sound, and you die.”
It was a familiar voice.
No, a longed-for voice.
The voice I had been desperately searching for.
For a moment, I thought I was dreaming, hearing things. But then I realized he wasn’t using honorifics, and I knew it was real.
Yoo-jin was here.
I couldn’t see him in the darkness, but I was certain. It was a dream come true, but I couldn’t rejoice.
His voice was tense, laced with urgency. I knew instantly that we were in danger.
“We’re going up. Quietly. No sound.”
“W-What’s going on?”
“Want to see for yourself? It’s safe to use light for a brief moment. Ignition.”
Snap.
He snapped his fingers, and a small flame flickered, illuminating the surroundings for a split second.
I saw his broad back, his right hand gripping a sword. I thought I saw a silhouette beyond him, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Did you see?”
“It was too quick.”
“Again.”
Snap.
Another flicker.
This time, I focused on what was behind him. And I almost screamed.
“Gasp…!”
The corpses.
They were moving, shuffling through the sewers, their hands reaching out blindly, as if searching for something.
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