232. Spring of Hilash (1)
232. Spring of Hilash (1)
- 1 -
The moonlight poured down cold and brilliant.
Cold blue eyes gleamed coolly beneath it.
Seolhwa, second of the five yokai who served the prince of the Han nation, fixed her gaze on a point deep in the mountains.
Before her lay a pool of dried blood that had seeped deep between moss and leaves.
- This is...
- No traces of mana were detected here.
Heukcheok, a yokai in the form of a black lizard, whispered cautiously beside her.
Seolhwa's lips twisted coldly.
- If you had a shred more sense, you would have found her traces sooner.
- That is...
- Then I wouldn't have had to touch this filthy blood clot, would I?
Heukcheok shrank back, crouching low. Cold sweat beaded on his black scales.
- Just a pool of blood? You sensed no mana?
Contempt dripped from Seolhwa's voice.
- A hopeless fool.
Her sharp gaze swept the surroundings.
Countless footprints were carved into the ground.
Traces that ordinary sight could never have found.
Someone had meticulously 'covered' them over.
- You missed things this plainly visible?
But for Seolhwa, such things posed no obstacle at all.
They were indeed evidence utterly unverifiable with normal sight.
That simply was not a factor she needed to consider.
- My apologies...
- It must have been hard for someone of your level to understand. I'll forgive it.
Seolhwa smiled coldly as she examined the area.
Footprints lay crushed under overwhelming force everywhere, but her eyes found the single remaining trace.
A soft and sleek, yet terribly powerful, trace of existence.
- One who inherited the blood of the Solar Bloodline could not have died so easily.
- Then, to His Highness the Prince...
- Handle the report yourself. I'm busy.
A faint smile rose on Seolhwa's lips. It held both murderous intent and jealousy.
Her blue eyes turned toward Hylash once more.
- Tell him that if he does not come quickly, I will kill her.
As she left the spot abruptly, moonlight caressed her shadow.
- Damn...
The black lizard was still trembling, his head bowed.
- 2 -
The hunting grounds of the nobility had always been a space that concealed secret misdeeds.
Especially the Royal Hunting Ground, which the royal family opened for the nobles of the capital, stood at the apex of such misdeeds.
Here, countless bodies of those sacrificed over many years to the nobles' pleasures lay buried.
Bodies that were rumored to have been 'purified' through deals between the Holy Kingdom and the kingdom.
"Look at this. How many deaths must slumber beneath here."
It would not have been strange to simply call this place the 'Royal Corpse Dumping Ground.'
"Ha..."
Therefore, Esther had never come to this place.
Because even nobles maddened by pleasure and power knew they must not bring the saintess to such a location.
"Humans always... grow more novel by the day."
"How coincidental. That we agree."
"That... is at least something I am glad for."
A smile tugged at the corner of Saintess Esther's lips.
An eerily dark and twisted smile.
Esther still could not escape the shock of having regained her memories.
Just like Saya, she too could only find stability when by my side.
Loyalty and a desire for revenge. Those two hearts were the driving forces that moved her.
"To not even do something this basic..."
In truth, there should have been no reason for me to come here at all.
From a properly purified corpse, only a single bone could be extracted. And even that, a bone free of any grudge, could only produce low-quality undead, making the mana spent on it a waste.
But the majority of the corpses buried here had not been properly purified.
"Half-done, or not done at all... foolish, isn't it."
"Indeed it is."
Ssss...
My mana stretched out, soaking into the ground.
The negligence of the divine was, in turn, the stirring of the demonic.
Before us, the ground all around began to bulge and burst upward.
- Ooooh...
A voice full of wonder came from behind us.
"Come forth, one by one."
""Yes!""
I spoke as I turned around.
Toward the hundred or so humans clad entirely in black robes.
They were pure humans, brimming with fanaticism, who had flocked from the capital and its outskirts.
"I shall bestow grace upon you."
Placing my hand on the head of the one who stepped forward, I began to carve an imprint within him.
- Kheuheok...!
Blackish-red blood poured from the mouth visible under the robe, but though his body trembled violently, he did not move.
What I was carving was an imprint to gain dominion over demon beasts.
Carving this would greatly shorten his lifespan, but...
Living like vermin under a bomb that could explode at any moment was less happy than dying drunk on immediate pleasure.
Of course, I could not make a declaration, but... it did not matter either way.
These people were by no means innocent either.
They had been selected precisely because they were not.
"Do not forget."
They could not see our forms.
For a dark, cloud-like mana veiled their eyes.
Only my whisper could be heard.
"That your grudges are justified, and that you must reclaim what was lost."
Within the darkness, dozens of murky lights began to gleam in their eyes.
With frenzy and faith.
- 3 -
Deng-deng-deng - !
The bell of Hylash rang out, tearing through the peaceful silence of dawn.
The startled monk in the bell tower struck the church bell twice more, and the tolling spread over the city like a black cloud.
The priests standing at the temple doors hurriedly ushered believers inside and barred the doors shut.
But on the streets, drunken revelers who had not yet made it home still wandered with unsteady steps.
"Find them! Right now!"
Mounted troops shot past the closed temple doors.
"James! Come inside, quickly!"
A child peeping through the crack in the door was soon pulled inside by an adult's hand.
Normally, this would have been the hour when the elegant bustle of a city of wealth and glory began.
When nobles returned home after enjoying evening parties all night, and the sleepless city's lights went out one by one, beginning the day.
But today was different.
"Enemies - !! Everyone get inside!!"
"What? An enemy raid?"
"Who's lying. This is Hylash..."
Even at the shouts of the heralds, the nobles at the outdoor taverns only sneered, still drunk.
For the complacency bred by thirty years of peace ruled their minds.
"Look at those knights running. Is it a play or something?"
"This should be fun!"
"Hahaha!"
The commoners evacuated, shaking their heads. They had no intention of risking danger to save them.
It was then.
"Eeek - !"
"Fanatics - !!"
A scream and a shout rang out together.
Soon followed by a dull sound.
Peok!
"L-Look over there..."
A noble pointed with a trembling hand into the darkness.
There, a figure dressed in a black robe stood.
Between strange symbols floating in the air, a red light flickered.
"At last... at last! The great ones descend...!"
"Grant us power - !!"
From all around, the frenzied laughter of fanatics who worshipped the demon tribe echoed.
Along with that sound, the sky of Hylash began to be dyed with deep darkness.
Cheolkeok, cheolkeok, cheolkeok - !
Throughout the city, sewer lids flew open all at once.
As if a gigantic monster was opening its eyes.
- Kreuaaak...
The scent of rotting, crumbling flesh revealed itself with a sound like scraping metal.
"Ee, eeek!! A demon beast!"
A servant who had been out running his master's errand since dawn happened to scream.
But soon, no sound came from his mouth.
It was thanks to a knight in steel armor who had pulled the servant toward him.
"To the palace! Quickly!"
Teop!
The fangs of a corpse struck the spot where the servant had been standing.
A grotesquely twisted snout, full of fangs.
Kwajik!
- Kreuk!
As the knight's sword pierced the demon beast's head, the zombie's movements halted.
But that was only the beginning.
Because behind the first demon beast, more undead began to pour out.
"What in the..."
The knight's face turned pale.
Before him, dozens of demon beasts already stood, and around them, others that did not look this way began sprinting off.
Their destinations were uniformly noble mansions or palaces.
"Where did so many...!"
Even as he voiced his doubt, the young knight focused his mana into his sword.
The trembling blade and the gathering gleam showed that the mastery he had achieved was by no means easy for his age.
However, his doubt would remain forever unresolved.
Puk!
"Keok!"
"G-Gyeong?!"
A black shadow pierced his throat, and the servant who had been in his arms was swallowed by the shadow.
He would reappear somewhere safe.
Kill the soldiers, spare the innocent as much as possible.
It was in accordance with someone's way.
"Sleep well."
Evangeline flicked the blade once, wiped it on her sleeve, and looked around.
The undead who recognized her either devoured the knight's corpse or scattered in all directions.
The mouth inside her helmet tightened into a straight line, and her form vanished again.
- Kreureureuk!
- Dalgeurak.
In the alleyways of the commoner districts, from the sewers, from the underbelly of the city.
Demon beasts poured out from all across the city.
"Kill them all!"
"Take everything from those who enjoyed false glory!"
Along with the shouts of the fanatics, the demon beasts spread in every direction.
When obstructed, they killed people regardless of status, plundered wealth, and destroyed buildings.
Their violence, filled with rage and hatred toward the world, had no direction of its own.
"If it weren't for a situation like this, I never would have thought of using those people."
There was merely a hand secretly controlling their movements.
"It was bound to burst someday anyway."
"Indeed. A boil should always be properly disinfected and then burst."
Libertas nodded at Saya's words.
Unless the plan was to completely topple this city, leaving it intact and using it meant that the existence of fanatics would be a problem whether she accepted them or not.
Fanaticism was generally an arbitrary faith, and the fanatics would never forgive a demon's existence that strayed from that faith.
It was better for her that they either disappeared here, or lost the momentum to act.
"So you should try not to feel too guilty either. Ash."
"But, Master..."
The dark guilt was vivid in Esther's eyes as she answered Libertas.
Watching the fanatics smash and plunder the commoners' homes.
'There are no unavoidable sacrifices in this world...'
Though she bore a grudge against the Holy Kingdom, she had not completely cast aside her sense of duty as a saintess.
Of course, Libertas intended to fulfill that sense of duty.
That time was not far off.
Kwang - !!
At the sudden explosion, the gazes of the three people looking down from the sky all converged on one spot.
An explosion that started at the main gate of the royal castle was spreading, tearing through the streets.
- Keuaaaak - !!
An explosion that swept away the zombies and skeletons on the street, along with a few fanatics, without harming any of the surrounding buildings at all.
The smoke cleared, and a man revealed himself.
As the hem of his splendid red robe fluttered in the wind, a cold light flashed in his eyes.
"To dare push their filthy bodies into the royal capital."
It was the Royal Court Mage.
Red mana blazed at his fingertips, freezing the surrounding air solid.
"Whatever they are. I will find them all and kill them."
At last, the castle gates they had been waiting for had opened.