Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Traitor (2)
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Corpse Puppeteer.
The moment that name reached her ears, Agnes felt something explode deep within her body.
Before her mind could even register it, her body moved on its own. She charged straight toward the Corpse Puppeteer.
But in that instant, Margata grabbed Agnes's head and slammed it into the ground.
“Agnes, calm down.”
Margata said in a cold voice.
Unlike Agnes, whose face was twisted in rage, Margata stared at the Corpse Puppeteer with clear, icy eyes.
“This is the Corpse Puppeteer's dungeon. If you lose your reason, you'll just become prey.”
Thanks to Margata's warning, Agnes regained her senses.
“That young Holy Knight over there seems to hold a grudge against me. If you don't mind, could you tell me why? I have so many people who hate me that I can't even guess.”
The Corpse Puppeteer looked at Agnes and asked. His voice was so gentle it was hard to believe he was the infamous black mage.
“……Do you remember Palmer Village?”
In contrast, Agnes's voice was hoarse, strained from suppressing her fury.
“Palmer Village? Of course I do. It was the village I personally decorated, after all.”
Every word he spoke struck at Agnes's reverse scale. She barely held back, recalling Margata's advice.
“I'm a survivor of that village.”
“A survivor……? I ordered everyone killed, but one survived……?”
The Corpse Puppeteer's expression went blank for a moment.
The thought that she had finally shocked the damned bastard made Agnes feel a slight release of the lump in her chest.
“Now do you understand why I came looking for you? Today, I'm going to kill you and avenge my brother and the villagers…….”
“Amazing…… Truly amazing! Not only did you survive my puppets, but you became a Holy Knight and came to kill me!”
Suddenly, the Corpse Puppeteer let out a cheer. He trembled all over, as if he couldn't contain his joy.
“To receive such an unexpected gift! This is why life is fun! Ah…… Come to think of it, the people of Palmer Village were all gifts to me. They all made excellent materials.”
Materials.
At that word, Agnes felt her body stiffen.
“What…… did you just say…….”
“Ah, you didn't know. Makes sense you wouldn't. They were all turning into undead and rotting, so it probably wasn't obvious.”
The Corpse Puppeteer continued with a warm smile.
“I never kill people wastefully. I try to use them as materials whenever possible. Before killing the people of Palmer Village and resurrecting them as undead, I harvested their usable body parts.”
Agnes's entire body began to tremble bit by bit.
Oblivious to it, the Corpse Puppeteer chattered on excitedly.
“Even the flesh golems your subjugation team killed used them. I don't waste a single material, so I remember clearly. Want me to tell you more details?”
Blue flames erupted from Agnes's body. The dark cave lit up in an instant.
“Shut up now.”
Agnes's voice echoed throughout the cave.
“I'll burn every shred of flesh until you can never pull your shit again.”
* * *
They say that when human anger reaches its peak, it becomes calm instead.
The ignited fury cooled Agnes's reason to ice.
“Agnes, I'll charge first. Cover my back.”
Margata said, gripping her knuckles. Agnes nodded.
“The goal is to reach the Corpse Puppeteer as fast as possible. This is his dungeon, so who knows what he'll do. Dragging this out could put us at a disadvantage.”
Margata's destructive power was among the best even among Grade 2 Holy Knights.
If they could just get close, reducing the Corpse Puppeteer to ashes would only be a matter of time.
“Here I go.”
Margata exploded with blue flames and dashed across the ground.
Contrary to her massive muscular frame, Margata's run was light and swift like a leopard.
“Block her.”
Flesh golems rained down from the ceiling. Each had a different form.
Margata collided with the flesh golems. Explosions followed in rapid succession.
Her accelerated fists shattered the flesh golems to pieces amid the blasts. Every strike was a one-hit kill.
The Corpse Puppeteer marveled at Margata.
“Splendid! Such a sturdy body! You'll make fine material!”
At that moment, spider-like flesh golems crawled across the ceiling and reached above Margata's head.
The flesh golems fired spines at Margata.
Just before the purple-tipped spines pierced her back, Agnes knocked them all away.
“As expected of my junior sister!”
Margata shouted heartily.
With Agnes covering her back, she could focus solely on the front.
Margata's fists sped up even more. The flesh golems' bodies shattered without respite.
In the end, only the Corpse Puppeteer remained.
“Get close! I'll smash him with one big hit!”
Margata charged at the Corpse Puppeteer. At that instant, something blocked her path.
It looked completely human at a glance. Without the stitching covering its body, no one would have recognized it as a flesh golem.
“You think this scrawny thing can stop me?”
Margata switched targets and swung her fist at the flesh golem.
The moment her fist touched the flesh golem, something impossible happened.
The blue flames coating Margata's fist vanished.
“……Huh?”
Without divine power, the knuckles were just lumps of metal. They failed to burst the flesh golem's body and were blocked.
Margata tried to summon divine power again. But the flesh golem struck first, punching her in the abdomen.
“……Guh!”
The divine power protecting her body scattered helplessly.
The fist pierced her armor and slammed into her gut. Her organs ruptured completely. The impact reached her back.
“Senior sister!”
Margata's body flew back far. Agnes leaped into the air and caught her.
“Cough, cough…….”
Margata spat up black blood. Proof that her internal injuries had reached critical levels.
“Senior sister! Pull yourself together! Senior sister!”
Agnes desperately poured divine power into Margata's body. Even so, Margata's expression didn't ease.
“Ah…… As expected, magnificent…….”
Suddenly, the Corpse Puppeteer knelt on the ground. He clasped his hands as if in prayer.
“To think an object holds such tremendous power! How great must the one who created this be!”
Agnes desperately healed Margata.
She fed her potions and poured in divine power. Only then did Margata's expression soften slightly.
“Agnes…… Run…….”
Margata said in a feeble voice.
“Something's…… wrong…… The Corpse Puppeteer…… did something weird…… Run and…… report to the Order…….”
Divine power holds absolute superiority over black magic.
That was common sense, truth itself. And it had just been overturned.
“I'll…… hold that bastard off…… In the meantime…… Junior sister…… run…….”
Hesitation flickered in Agnes's eyes.
Flee with her enemy right in front of her? Abandoning her senior sister, no less?
“……No. I can't do that.”
Anger flashed across Margata's face at Agnes's words.
“Agnes!”
“We couldn't escape anyway.”
By now, flesh golems filled the space around them.
What Margata had killed was merely the tip of the iceberg. The Corpse Puppeteer had far more.
“Senior sister, I've told you about my brother before.”
What was she trying to say?
Margata wanted to evacuate Agnes as quickly as possible.
But Agnes's eyes were so resolute that she could only watch.
“My brother died protecting me and the village. Even though he might have survived by running away, he didn't.”
Agnes had chosen to become a Holy Knight for revenge.
And for her brother. Because her brother, who died as a Holy Knight for the people, had been so noble.
“If we can't run, then I'll fight and die. Like my brother, I'll carry out God's will.”
God had spoken.
The reason He grants you strength is to help the weak.
The reason He bestows power upon you is to drive out heretics.
The reason He permits you strength is to enact My will.
“Ah…… So cool…… To witness such splendid material……!”
The Corpse Puppeteer gazed at Agnes with an ecstatic face.
“Showing me something this cool makes me curious. Just how long can you maintain that courage?”
Something emerged from among the flesh golems. A flesh golem in completely human form.
“Release.”
The humanoid flesh golems began to transform. From human to monster.
An overwhelmingly chilling aura spread in all directions.
Agnes and Margata's faces hardened instantly.
“No way…….”
Margata was more shocked of the two.
“Those are all…… mid-class level…….”
The Order's greatest mistake.
It wasn't failing to anticipate the Corpse Puppeteer's trap, nor overlooking the existence of artifacts that nullify divine power.
Underestimating the Corpse Puppeteer's full strength was the Order's biggest oversight.
“These are my pride and joy, my 'masterpieces.' Took a lot of effort to make them.”
Pride filled the Corpse Puppeteer's voice. He looked just like an artisan boasting about his artwork.
“Think you can still face me after seeing these?”
The knuckles dropped from Margata's hand. Thick despair crushed her fighting spirit.
“Agnes…… This won't do…….”
Even Margata, called the fearless warrior, was just a fragile human in this situation.
“…….”
Agnes's face was frozen cold as ice.
She would enact God's will for the people, just like her deceased brother.
As if resolved, Agnes took several deep breaths and summoned divine power.
Amid the black magic emanating from the flesh golems, a small blue flame flickered to life.
“Agnes…….”
Margata called her junior sister's name in a heartbroken voice.
Then she realized. Unlike herself, trembling in fear, Agnes's eyes weren't shaking in the slightest.
In that moment, light burst from Agnes's body.
The flesh golems struck by the light screamed and retreated.
“My god…….”
Margata muttered in disbelief at the sight.
The way Holy Knights raised their realms was completely different from knights.
The source of divine power is God.
Thus, Holy Knights proved their faith to receive divine power and elevate their realms from God.
Ways to prove faith varied: prayer, asceticism, heretic hunts, and so on.
And there were cases where one gained great favor from God and received immense power.
That was called a stigmata.
Agnes lightly swung her hand. Explosions erupted in succession.
The flesh golems surrounding her vanished, swept away by the blasts.
“Agnes……!”
Margata looked at her with a face full of awe.
Just unleashing her authority had turned over ten flesh golems to ash.
Grade 2 Holy Knight.
No, she was no longer just a simple Grade 2.
Right now, Agnes stood at the pinnacle of Grade 2, just one step from Grade 1 Holy Knight.
Agnes approached the Corpse Puppeteer. Murderous intent rose in her resolute eyes.
“……Incredible. To witness another receiving stigmata!”
The Corpse Puppeteer clapped in delight.
Agnes ignored the Corpse Puppeteer's words. She had no intention of listening to him now.
“It was the same in Palmer Village. A mere Grade 3 Holy Knight like you suddenly gained stigmata and grew strong.”
But she had to stop at the words that followed.
“I was so shocked back then…… Nearly lost all the flesh golems I brought. Luckily, I took the villagers hostage and threatened him to subdue him.”
Margata stared at the Corpse Puppeteer with a dazed face. Her eyes began to shake little by little.
“You can't imagine how happy I was subduing that Holy Knight. Best material of my life! The flesh golem I made using him as base turned out perfect, just as I expected!”
The Corpse Puppeteer nodded emphatically.
“Now that I think about it, your face looks familiar…… Like I've seen it somewhere…… Kite, come here.”
The flesh golem that had inflicted critical damage on Margata approached the Corpse Puppeteer.
The Corpse Puppeteer began unwrapping the cloth covering the flesh golem's face.
The more it unwrapped, the more Agnes denied reality.
But when the flesh golem's face was fully revealed, Agnes could only despair.
“……Brother.”
It was exactly the face etched in her memory.
He hadn't aged a day. Vivid, as if he would come alive and move any second.
“Brother? So that's why you look familiar. Seeing this, it feels like fate is set in stone. Don't you think?”
Agnes clutched her head and let out a scream of anguish.
When the scream stopped, Agnes's face was streaked with rage and tears.
“You…… I will…… definitely…… kill you……!”
“Excellent.”
The Corpse Puppeteer grinned darkly.
“Good material, steeped in deep despair…… Using you, I could make a puppet even better than Kite.”
“Shut your fucking mouth!”
Agnes spat her fury and charged at the Corpse Puppeteer.
Kite blocked her path. Agnes's body froze.
“Oh…….”
Kite kicked Agnes in the side.
The moment his shin connected, the divine power protecting Agnes scattered.
Agnes bounced away like a ball and crashed into the wall.
“Cough, cough…….”
Agnes lay sprawled on the ground, vomiting blood.
Having taken a flesh golem's heavy blow with her bare body, her internal organs had burst completely.
Shadows formed around her. Kite was already right in front of her.
“Brother…….”
Kite grabbed Agnes's face and slammed it into the ground.
The impact shook her brain. Agnes couldn't even groan.
“Agnes!”
Margata rushed toward Agnes. But other flesh golems blocked her.
“Get out of my way!”
Margata summoned divine power. Her barely healed wounds tore open again.
Black blood poured from Margata's mouth. She collapsed weakly to the ground.
The Corpse Puppeteer approached Agnes. Agnes, held by Kite, was just catching her breath.
“You'll make a truly splendid material.”
The Corpse Puppeteer looked down at Agnes and smiled.
“How should I use you? Make a new flesh golem? No, there must be a better way…….”
After pondering, the Corpse Puppeteer clapped lightly in excitement.
“That's it! What if I mix you with Kite? You're blood-related, so no rejection issues. Brilliant idea, right?”
Agnes glared silently at the Corpse Puppeteer. Soon, transparent liquid began flowing from her eyes.
“Yes, cry. Cry your heart out. You won't be able to after today.”
The Corpse Puppeteer let out a bizarre laugh.
“Now, let's go. Hurry. To prepare you as material, I have so much to…….”
The Corpse Puppeteer's ear twitched.
An explosion had sounded from very far away.
“Looks like some living Holy Knights are still around?”
The Corpse Puppeteer dismissed it. Then another explosion came. Louder than before.
“More live ones than I thought?”
He dismissed it again. Soon, another explosion. Even louder.
“What the…….”
Explosions came in succession. Each one louder and closer.
Boom.
The entire cave where the Corpse Puppeteer was shook. Dust fell from the walls.
Boom.
The cave shook harder. The explosion sounded vivid, as if right next door.
And in the next moment, with a roar, the wall collapsed.
Debris poured down as the wall crumbled. A man landed atop it.
“Damn, this place is deep.”
The man dusted off his dirt-covered clothes.
The Corpse Puppeteer recognized him immediately. He was the first material he had marked from the subjugation team; impossible not to know.
“So here you were, you fucking bastard.”
Demian Haksen.
He looked down at the Corpse Puppeteer from atop the pile of rubble.