Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Unexpected Luck (3)
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"This is, that..."
Rapori opened his mouth in a trembling voice, only to close it again.
Everyone stared at the thing atop the altar with hardened expressions.
Even with layer upon layer of seals piled on top of it, a sinister aura still crept out bit by bit.
The foul stench of death energy naturally furrowed the brows of all who beheld it.
'This is more than I expected.'
He had thought himself quite accustomed to such energy after absorbing two fragments already, but this one exceeded his expectations.
The first fragment had been the one held by the Oath of Reverse Heaven, so damaged that it greedily sucked in the surrounding information.
The second, from the Brocoslak Clan, had been densely condensed and solidified.
'But that one looks flawless.'
On top of that, its size was as large as the previous two combined.
Of course, he hadn't assumed it would be perfectly trisected, but he hadn't expected such a disparity either.
"...Then, let us begin. Please wait just a moment."
Rapori let out a light sigh, closed his eyes in concentration right there on the spot, and natural energy began to flow from his body.
It slowly drifted toward the altar, making contact with the death energy seeping out from beyond the seal.
Pzzt—
The energy began to corrupt in an instant.
He hurriedly severed the connection and wiped away his cold sweat.
"Ahem, it's certainly different from what I imagined. If I'd started probing assuming it was just densely packed black magic power, who knows how long it would have taken."
As if committing it to memory, he stood there, staring intently at the energy emanating from the fragment.
While they waited for him to finish, the rest of the group simply watched in silence...
"Sir Heinz."
The Saintess approached and spoke to him.
"What are your thoughts upon seeing it with your own eyes?"
Her gaze, coldly fixed on the fragment with an icy expression unlike her usual self, bore no trace of the clumsiness she had shown before.
"Well... it's just impressive. Seeing something like that contained within a single being, it's no wonder it becomes a calamity for the continent."
"It's not contained. It's devouring them."
The Saintess firmly corrected his words.
"A thousand years ago, that thing—which should have remained at the very bottom of the dimension—suddenly appeared on the continent for some reason."
It was a more intimate tale about the 'Fragment of the Immortal King.'
A trash bin of the Outerica dimension, where all sorts of negative residues pooled together in the abyss—it was something that belonged there.
"Probably the work of some black mage seeking even greater power. To open the abyss and summon something like that, they must have been among the continent's top powerhouses even back then..."
"Once you fall into the desire for power, there's no end to it."
The Saintess nodded with a sigh.
"Since the object had already manifested on the continent, sealing it away like this was the best option. It wasn't as if they could just reopen the abyss and send it back."
No being could fully accept or properly wield that power.
After all, it was a portion of the concept of 'death' that had pooled and condensed over eons at the bottom of the dimension.
'Thinking about it that way, "Mind Hub" seems all the more impressive.'
Of course, it wasn't so much the skill's power itself, but rather its activation structure.
It was like how building a facility to properly contain radiation required immense effort, but managing its entrance was far simpler.
'"Mind Hub" constantly activates just to block the radiation leaking outward, but that's more than manageable.'
Undead were immune to mental attacks anyway, so as long as he didn't get directly assaulted in the mental world like last time, there was no real danger.
"Honestly, I don't quite know why I'm bringing Sir Heinz here and telling you all this, but it must be the will of the Main God. I'm sure it will prove helpful someday."
The Saintess finished speaking and turned her gaze back to Rapori.
Heinz glanced subtly at the ceiling, a strange feeling settling over him.
'Main God, I appreciate the help, but...'
He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being treated like an errand boy.
It was a win-win, sure, but something about it still felt off...
"...Whew, that should do it."
At that moment, Rapori turned around with a deep breath.
It seemed the imprinting of the energy had gone smoothly.
"Then let us head out."
At the Saintess's words, they followed behind the Chief Inquisitor—who had taken the lead once more—reversing the procedure they had used to enter.
The moment they all emerged outside without major incident, aside from Rapori looking a bit fatigued...
"Well then."
A voice rang out the instant they exited the sealed area's perimeter.
He turned his head toward the sound, but the Chief Inquisitor who had been there had already vanished without a trace.
'As expected, no ordinary person.'
He couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but at minimum, it was Paladin-class.
The most dangerous opponent to watch out for when things went down later.
"Rapori seems to have pushed himself today, so it might be best to rest now and continue our discussion tomorrow."
At Archbishop Latius's words—who had quietly observed throughout—the gathering promptly dispersed.
Heinz escorted Rapori to the guest quarters before heading straight to the training grounds.
'Perfect.'
Recalling everything that had transpired inside the sealed vault.
'All conditions are met.'
Unexpected luck.
Now, all that remained was choosing the day of execution.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Keh heh heh... Finally.]
The moment he had been waiting for had arrived.
On top of that, he had obtained information that would aid his long-in-progress research.
Namely, a way to evade the Saintess's tracking.
'What the Saintess tracks is ultimately the 'Fragment of the Immortal King.' So if I can just conceal that, the problem is solved.'
The basic framework was to store the fragment in a subspace while maintaining a black magic power connection to draw out its strength.
A fairly plausible plan combining his research into subordinate subspaces—which he hadn't had time for until now—and the "Immortality" skill he hadn't been able to utilize properly.
But the experiments had hit snags from the initial stages.
For some reason, he simply couldn't place the fragment into the subspace no matter what he tried.
At first, he suspected it was due to the immense energy contained within and had been researching accordingly, but...
This time, through the Saintess, he learned the true reason.
'About the fragment's origin. No wonder it never fit into a subspace before.'
An object dragged up from the dimension's abyss and manifested into the world.
It was only natural that normal methods couldn't shift it to another dimension.
'Unless I use a being free from the world's laws.'
Yes.
Like the awakeners who came from another world.
'Just like how Hans has been freely crossing dimensions with the fragment until now.'
Hans was an extraordinarily unique existence.
An undead who, thanks to the "Avatar" trait linking him to his main body, was recognized as an awakener.
[Krahahat! In the end, using this body of mine solves it all!]
Rather than manipulating the dimensional underside, he had already achieved some success in creating subspaces subordinate to an individual.
Crrackle—
Space tore open as Hans's empty hand vanished into the void and reemerged.
Now gripping a skull staff that hadn't been there before.
'The space isn't quite large enough to be satisfactory yet, but that'll improve in time.'
So, if he could make the subordinate subspace synonymous with Hans himself, wouldn't that solve it?
[Some fine-tuning is needed. Set the subordinate subspace's coordinates to overlap with my own and blur the boundaries...]
With the direction already set, it shouldn't take much time.
After that, all that remained was extracting the origin with "Immortality," storing it in the subordinate subspace, and maintaining the connection.
He couldn't hide it perfectly with the black magic conduit linked, but he could block any deficiencies by erecting a concealment field around his body, just as before.
That alone should allow free movement across the continent.
'Yes, once this research is complete, I can act freely even after acquiring the final fragment.'
With Heinrich having approached right up to the fragment's sealed location, it was as good as in Hans's grasp already.
'That said, I can't go right now. Not ready yet.'
Having confirmed it directly, the final fragment's size was comparable to the two Hans had absorbed so far combined.
Meaning it held proportionally powerful energy.
There was no way he could conceal such power immediately after absorption.
Subduing it would take considerable time, and...
'The Church won't wait around for that.'
Breaking the formidable seal would take time, and absorbing the fragment would be quite prolonged as well.
He would probably have to dispel the summon and flee the moment he obtained it.
The real problem came after.
'If I emit that much black magic power without properly containing it, the Guardians will pinpoint my location immediately and begin pursuit.'
He had hidden it excellently so far, but right after absorbing a fragment of that magnitude? Impossible.
'I can't avoid summoning him either. Even if the main body relocates far from home and we separate right after summoning, who knows what tracking methods they'll use.'
Tensions with the Heavenreach Society had only just begun.
Even if they discovered the connection to Hans, he might not be suspected immediately, but taking on that risk now felt deeply unsettling.
[Kruh huh—done! This will work! Kahahat!]
And now, there was no need to take such risks anyway.
Once this experiment succeeded, he could properly conceal the fragment's energy.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Rapori, are you feeling better now?"
"Yes, it wasn't a big issue. Just a momentary fatigue."
The day after inspecting the Fragment of the Immortal King.
They gathered once more to discuss future plans.
About tracking the Immortal King.
"For now, my companions from the Elven Kingdom have found a suitable forest nearby for the ritual. They're preparing there as we speak."
"Yes, we've heard. We've provided the necessary materials from our side as well. So, when can the search begin?"
"Hm..."
Rapori paused as if calculating something at Archbishop Latius's question, then looked at them with a serious expression.
"The preparations will wrap up within two days, so the main ritual can start within three."
The Church members nodded in agreement.
They had been conducting ongoing searches themselves but with no notable results, so they had high hopes for this.
"Then we should decide the search order in advance."
Checking every forest on the continent would take up to a month at most, but with luck, they could find it much sooner.
Shhh—
A massive continent map unfurled across the large table.
A map prepared for this operation, with numbers marked specifically on forested areas.
"Then let's start with the highest probability areas. The higher numbers indicate higher likelihood, I assume?"
The Saintess directed her question at the man in black priestly robes seated there.
An Inquisitor handling intelligence for this operation.
"Yes. We've calculated probabilities based on the progress of prior searches and the fiend's past movements."
A gloomy voice emanated from beneath the deep hood and black mask.
'First time hearing a proper Inquisitor speak.'
Even the Chief Inquisitor who had guided them to the vault had only given curt replies.
Then again, the Saintess had asked directly, showing how seriously they viewed this matter.
Heinrich, standing behind the Saintess, gave the map a quick scan.
He too had keen interest in this search operation.
'Let's see, the Forest of Beasts... Huh?'
<28%>
The highest probabilities hovered around 50%, but even accounting for that, this was lower than other regions.
Despite being where the Immortal King's progeny had first appeared.
'Lower than expected. Probably because of the thorough search conducted back then.'
As the starting point of Hans's trail, Talia's Immortal King subjugation force had scoured the area meticulously.
That was likely reflected in the numbers.
"Hmm, then prioritize this region..."
"We should check here first..."
Those gathered debated based on the numbers, busily setting the order.
'The Forest of Beasts looks like it'll fall pretty far back in the queue. At this rate, I can finish the research before the search even starts.'
He had planned to adjust his actions based on the search timeline, but the outcome seemed quite favorable.
No—extremely so.
If things went according to plan, it couldn't get any better.