Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Those Who Worship Death (2)
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Peace.
It could certainly be called that. The territory's people were smiling happily for the first time in ages as they tended their farms or sold their wares.
The leadership, including the crown prince, were leisurely sipping tea and discussing plans.
But there was one fact they'd momentarily forgotten. Renheim's peace was nothing more than a precarious tug-of-war.
The brilliantly shining sun suddenly began to turn black, soon filling the world with utter darkness.
As everyone panicked at the abrupt ominous portent, the sound of bones clashing rang out from no great distance.
"Th-that's...?! "
"Undead! Undead!!"
"Necromancers have invaded!!"
An endless immortal army crashed against the fortress like waves. It was a calamity bordering on apocalypse.
No matter how many arrows they loosed or stones they hurled, the foes merely crumpled briefly before rising again. The bastards wouldn't stay dead.
A skeletal horde devoid of flesh or even armor. Only one existence was capable of such a feat.
Necromancer.
Master of graves and arbitrary manipulator of the dead. No sane record ever portrayed their dark sorcery in a positive light.
Yet they'd paid the necromancers little heed, having endured trial after trial.
They'd only just waged war against the wyverns led by the Plague King, followed by clashes against the Seven Sea Kings commanded by the Sea King.
The Lost Empire had ended on relatively amicable terms, but even that left lingering uncertainties.
Thus, the comparatively subdued necromancers had fallen lower on the priority list. That said, they hadn't ignored them outright.
"To fully dominate the Magic Realm, we'll have to deal with the necromancers eventually."
"No matter how well they're hiding, persistent searches will uncover their trail sooner or later."
"Precisely. That's why I believe we should deploy wyverns and beastmen for the hunt."
After triumphing over the Seven Sea Kings, Cain had immediately assembled search parties composed of wyverns and beastmen to scour the land.
This was foundational work to locate and exterminate the necromancers. They'd also erected barriers in advance just in case,
cremating every corpse and holding funerals besides. They'd done everything conceivably possible. No complacency whatsoever.
'But who would've thought they were gunning for something this utterly insane...'
At first, he'd assumed it was a ploy to pit them against one another, maximizing corpses to bolster their forces.
But Renheim lacked the strength to counter the necromancers then, shoving them down the priority queue.
Who knew it would culminate in this. Cain stared vacantly at the hell that had descended before him.
💥 AGONIZING SCREAM 💥 [Aaaah! Aaaaaah!!]
A human scream rent the air as if throats were tearing. Yet it emanated not from human vocal cords.
The monster voicing human screams was none other than a colossal dragon. A dragon stripped entirely of flesh.
Even with naught but bare bones remaining, the bone dragon exuded overwhelming pressure, dominating all present.
Even yielding a hundred concessions, they might've handled one. But the bone dragons numbered more than one.
Boom! Crash!
Two more bone dragons plummeted from the sky. Before them, the fortress was worthless, crumbling like a sandcastle.
"You've worked hard all this time, Lord Blackguard. Thanks to you, I managed to complete the ritual a touch faster in the end."
A courteous voice, laced with contempt and mockery utterly at odds with it. Cain quietly raised his head.
What first caught his eye was the jet-black robe shrouding the figure entirely. The hood concealed the face.
Yet Cain could confidently assert the foe was no 'human.' The black aura visible to him.
It wielded a power akin to death force; no living being could. And Cain's hunch struck true.
"Still, I'll sate your curiosity on the way out. My name is Melessto... a devotee of the Goddess of Death."
"A lich, as expected."
Even as it mocked to the last, pulling back the hood revealed a grotesque being reduced to bones, just like its undead legions.
Lich. A mighty mage who turned themselves undead. An immortal unless its phylactery was destroyed.
For all its sudden emergence, Cain feigned composure. Wearing an expression of maddening injustice...
"Where the hell were you hiding that we couldn't find you? We'd searched so damn much...!!"
"Puhaha! That curious, eh? Very well. Since fate decrees you'll become my subordinate, I'll indulge you."
Melessto laughed as it spilled every detail of its schemes thus far and its place of seclusion.
Cain committed it all to memory, eyes bloodshot as if he'd never forget.
Yet the lich nodded approvingly at Cain's venomous glare and remarked,
"Yes, that's the spirit you need. You'll make an excellent death knight."
"Fuck off."
Exploding with rage, Cain seized his jet-black greatsword and charged the bone-dragon-wielding lich with everything he had.
Regrettably, he couldn't hold out long against the bone dragons and was ultimately torn asunder.
The agony of limbs ripped apart, sharp fangs grinding him to bits. But then the pain vanished clean away.
"......"
Cain slowly rose and turned his head. Warm sunlight streamed through the window, green sprouts pushing through the soil.
The sight seemed to proclaim that nightmare-like ordeal a mere bad dream. But it wasn't.
No mere nightmare. It was the imminent future, the present, and a past already endured once.
"......Fine. Bring it on."
Cain had returned one month before that hellish invasion. Remembering every last detail of the inferno.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Territorial operations had improved markedly by now, and with the Lost Empire stalling the alliance...
Lord Cain's summons felt rather abrupt. Yet not a single soul was absent, for one simple reason.
The summoner was Cain. The man who'd lopped off a palace maid's head before the emperor himself for violating military law.
"No clue what issue prompted this summons."
"Badmouth him and get caught, you won't collect your bones. Watch it."
"Wh-who dares badmouth the lord?! Just venting! Venting!"
Not just the kingdom nobles who'd tagged along—even the stiff-necked aristocrats complied meekly.
This stemmed partly from Cain's demonstrated charisma, but more so because all acknowledged his prowess.
The undefeated general who snatched victory from any disadvantaged fray. Such was the Empire's Cain Blackguard.
"All present?"
"Yes, my lord."
"A summons from Lord Blackguard... I've heard tales, but this is my first time."
Morgana herself attended, as did even Crown Prince Siegfried. Their statuses outranked his,
but Cain was lord here, and the situation bordered on wartime. Thus, field authority rested with him.
Of course, merely nominal, so Cain still owed the royals due courtesy.
"No time to waste, so straight to the point. We've located the necromancers' lair."
"Located the necromancers' lair?!"
"That couldn't have been easy. How?"
The greatest hurdle of Defeat Regression was persuading others. He couldn't very well say he'd come from a future where necromancers wrecked the territory.
Thus, manufacturing a convincing rationale was essential. Fortunately, he had one this time.
"Truth be told, before negotiating with the Lost Empire, I'd secretly assembled a search team of wyverns and beastmen to hunt necromancers."
"When did you...?"
"Allow me to explain that part."
This wasn't Cain acting alone. It was a venture born of discussions with Princess Morgana, deemed sufficiently vital.
Her backing him was only natural—she'd been involved.
Indeed, her endorsement had most nobles nodding along. It wasn't distrust of Cain.
Trust in Cain compounded by trust that he'd handled it properly alongside Morgana.
Though she hadn't received a report yet, she played along regardless. Because she trusted him.
Cain gave her a slight nod of thanks before turning back to the nobles.
"The time has come. We'll slaughter the last necromancers to the very last one."
Cain's form, seething not just with fury but outright bloodlust, overwhelmed nobles and royals alike.