Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Aftermath (2)
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After obtaining Miya, the first thing Demian did was cover his tracks.
Using black magic to subdue the corpse knight had gone well, but it had left too many traces behind. If the Church saw them, it would undoubtedly lead to a lot of hassle.
Demian first gathered all the flesh golems in one place.
The flesh golems, pierced by spears made with black magic, were rotting away due to the curse.
He incinerated all the flesh golems completely, then used black magic to trigger explosions throughout the cave.
If the Church asked why there were fewer flesh golems, he planned to say the corpse knight had self-destructed some.
Next, Demian scattered his Aura in a needle-like form, drilling holes all over the cave.
The corpse knight and flesh golems all bore marks of being pierced by dark energy. This was to conceal them.
If the Church asked about the wounds, he planned to say they were from this technique.
After adding a few more touches, he stepped outside.
* * *
Inside the cave.
Having fled to a safe spot, Agnes first healed Margata.
Her abdominal wound had already been severe, and the strain of escaping had made it even worse.
Not only was the skin and muscle on her abdomen completely crushed, but her internal organs were all destroyed.
Agnes sprinkled a healing potion on Margata's wound, then used her holy power to treat it.
Thanks to the stigmata, Agnes's holy power had greatly increased in both quantity and quality. It was now possible for her to heal wounds as severe as Margata's.
"Agnes, thank you."
Margata said with a much more relaxed expression. Agnes let out a sigh of relief.
"Margata! Are you okay?"
Gamal asked urgently. Margata chuckled and replied.
"Gamal, your face looks hilarious right now."
"You're worrying about someone, and here you are cracking jokes... Guess you're fine after all."
Gamal's expression softened. Seeing Margata safe put him at ease.
"Sis, have some of this."
Dionysio handed Agnes water and rations. She thanked him and took a bite.
As she ate, she kept glancing somewhere. Toward the cavern where the corpse knight was.
"Sis, are you worried about the corpse knight?"
At Dionysio's question, Agnes shook her head.
"Not the corpse knight. I'm worried about Sir Demian."
The moment Demian's name came up, Dionysio's face darkened.
"Sis, don't worry too much. Sir Demian will be fine. Even a corpse knight would struggle against a mid-class knight."
Dionysio said firmly.
"Margata's recovered, so let's go help Sir Demian!"
Dionysio clenched his fist and shouted. But not a single person backed him up.
"Uh... Did I say something wrong?"
Dionysio asked, puzzled. Gamal let out a deep sigh and said.
"Dionysio, Sir Demian... he might be dead by now."
"What? But..."
"We all know even without you saying it. Sir Demian is mid-class. He might even be on the verge of high-class."
Gamal had seen Demian Haksen fight firsthand.
His skill was far from ordinary for a mid-class.
The pinnacle of mid-class.
He was clearly right on the edge of high-class.
"But the corpse knight... The forces it prepared weren't something one Sir Demian could handle."
Dionysio had only faced the corpse knight briefly, so he didn't grasp how terrifying it was.
But Gamal, a Grade 2 holy knight, was different.
The moment he encountered the corpse knight, he realized it. The immense black magic power it and the flesh golems possessed.
"The corpse knight... Even if we all joined in, we couldn't guarantee victory."
"No way... Senior Brother Gamal and Sir Margata are both Grade 2 holy knights. And you got the stigmata, Sis..."
"All four of us are badly injured and our holy power is severely depleted. Especially Margata—it's a miracle she's alive."
There were limits to wounds that could be healed with holy power.
The more severe the injury, the less perfectly it could be healed. They might look fine on the outside, but any intense movement would reopen them.
That was the case for Margata and Gamal. Neither could fight properly now.
"Demian Haksen knew that too. That's why he stayed behind and made us evacuate."
Gamal clenched his fist tightly. Frustration was evident on his face.
"Damn it. He saved our lives, and here we are, unable to do anything."
Margata gripped Gamal's hand firmly. But his expression didn't soften.
"I agree with Gamal. We need to get out of this dungeon quickly and report the corpse knight to the Church. Leaving it be will cause big problems later."
Margata said, looking around at the group.
"We can't waste the time Demian Haksen bought us."
A heavy silence fell over the group.
Then, they sensed movement from the darkness. They jumped to their feet, glaring into the shadows.
Someone emerged from the darkness. The moment they saw who it was, Agnes cried out in shock.
"...Sir Demian?"
The appearance of the man they thought dead left Agnes—and the other three—in stunned astonishment.
"Oh, found you. Good thing you didn't go far."
As Demian approached with a pleased expression, the four backed away.
"...Are you really Sir Demian?"
They wondered if the corpse knight had killed Demian and was now using his body to toy with them.
Instead of answering, Demian drew his holy sword. Holy power from the sword flowed into his body.
No undead in this world could absorb holy power and remain fine. This proved it wasn't the corpse knight's trick—it was Demian Haksen himself.
"Sir Demian...!"
Agnes rushed forward in one stride and hugged his neck.
Demian looked at her in surprise. Oblivious, Agnes hugged him tightly.
"How the hell are you alive?"
"No way! Did you escape from the corpse knight?"
"Sir Demian! I believed in you!"
The other three also approached in shock.
Only then did Agnes pull away and ask.
"What happened to the corpse knight?"
Demian pointed behind him.
"Go see for yourself."
* * *
"..."
Arriving at the cavern where the corpse knight had been, the group was speechless.
The corpse knight lay dead, riddled with holes all over its body.
"W-whoa! The c-corpse knight is dead! Sir Demian killed the corpse knight!"
Dionysio cheered, looking at Margata and Gamal.
"No way..."
"This can't be..."
Margata and Gamal were visibly shocked.
They had felt endless despair from the corpse knight. They thought there was no way they could win, no matter what.
Yet that same corpse knight was now a pathetic corpse sprawled on the ground.
"Demian? How did you kill the corpse knight? Even the flesh golems alone must have been tough."
"So I handled the flesh golems just enough and targeted the corpse knight itself right away."
Margata could only let out a hollow laugh.
The weakness of a black mage controlling undead was the mage themselves. Margata knew that well.
But knowing and executing were worlds apart.
The corpse knight was thoroughly protected by the flesh golems, making it hard to get close.
"Impressive... Truly impressive..."
But she had to believe it. The proof was right there before their eyes.
"..."
From the moment they entered, Agnes had been staring only at the corpse knight's body.
Its face bore extreme terror from whatever it had seen before dying.
Her hated enemy was dead. Relief washed over her, mingled with regret for not killing it herself, and a swirl of other emotions.
"How did the corpse knight die?"
"It thrashed about, screaming it didn't want to die, then stopped breathing. A pathetic end."
"Even a madman like this fears death the same as anyone."
Agnes let out a deep sigh.
"Brother... No, where are the flesh golems the corpse knight controlled?"
Demian pointed somewhere. The remaining flesh golems were neatly gathered in one spot.
Agnes walked over. Among the flesh golems, she saw her brother's face.
She stood frozen, staring at the flesh golem as if nailed in place.
"Agnes..."
Margata looked at her with concern.
"I'm fine."
Agnes said calmly.
"That's not my brother. He died long ago. That's just an undead made using his body."
Despite her words, Agnes couldn't tear her eyes away from her brother's face.
"...Demian, what do you plan to do with these flesh golems?"
Margata turned to Demian and asked.
Demian had won alone against the corpse knight. He had the right to dispose of everything here.
"I'm leaving them all to the Church."
Demian had no great use for the remaining flesh golems. They'd just be baggage, and since it involved the Church, handing them over was better.
He figured he could extract something better from a grateful Church.
"Agnes, the Church headquarters will analyze these flesh golems down to the last detail. They'll probably dissect every single muscle."
Black mages with talent like the corpse knight were rare.
Analyzing these would greatly help against future flesh golems.
"After that, the flesh golems will be preserved forever inside the Church."
Agnes turned to Margata. Her eyes trembled slightly.
"But right now, it's just us. If one flesh golem disappears, no one will know. Don't you all think so?"
Margata looked around at the group. They all nodded.
"Agnes, do as you wish."
At Margata's words, Agnes slowly embraced the flesh golem with both arms.
Blue flames erupted from Agnes's body. The blue fire began burning the flesh golem.
Agnes didn't let go until it was reduced completely to ash.
* * *
After that, the group roamed the dungeon, rescuing survivors.
Over half the soldiers had died, and even the vaunted holy knights had suffered heavy losses.
'Still, compared to my previous life, it's much better.'
In his previous life, the subjugation force had been wiped out. The corpse knight had survived unscathed and risen to prominence.
But this time was different. Over half the force survived, and the corpse knight was dead.
'The biggest gain is saving Agnes.'
Agnes had obtained the stigmata.
The stigmata meant one was favored by the gods. Every holy knight who received it reached master class.
'I gained quite a bit too.'
First, he got the flesh golem Miya, and even a magic tool to store undead.
After tending to the subjugation force, they sent a messenger to the Church to report the situation.
The Church had been eagerly awaiting the results.
Soon after the messenger was sent, they dispatched an investigation team.
"...What in the world is this?"
"...They hollowed out the entire mountain interior for a trap to drop the subjugation force?"
The investigation team was horrified the moment they entered the dungeon.
Hollowing out the mountain and dropping the force in—a trap no sane person would conceive, let alone execute.
"Are these the flesh golems? Astonishingly sophisticated."
"We knew the corpse knight was a high-rank black mage... But can a high-rank even make flesh golems this refined?"
They were equally stunned by the flesh golems.
"You're Sir Demian, I presume?"
A middle-aged man in church robes turned to Demian.
"I'm Borromeo, put in charge of this matter."
"Pleased to meet you. Demian Haksen."
Demian shook Borromeo's outstretched hand.
"I have a few questions. The report estimated far more flesh golems, but there seem to be fewer here."
"A few self-destructed under the corpse knight's command. Those pits over there are the remnants."
Demian pointed to the deep craters.
The investigators peered in and marveled again.
"My god... That's no ordinary scale."
"Surviving an explosion that size amid the chaos..."
Borromeo cleared his throat. The investigators fell silent.
"The report says you hid your true strength... Why is that?"
"No grand reason. I just figured if people knew I was mid-class, they'd bother me endlessly."
Demian shrugged.
Borromeo recalled what he knew about Demian Haksen.
He'd reached low-class after barely training with the sword, earning him praise as a genius.
If it turned out he was actually mid-class? The whole world would erupt.
"Last question. The report says you killed the corpse knight alone. How was that possible?"
"I handled the flesh golems just enough, then struck at an opening to kill the corpse knight itself."
"Kill it itself?"
Demian drew his holy sword and swung. Aura scattered like needles, drilling dozens of holes in the wall.
"Like this."
Borromeo and the entire team were speechless, staring at the wall.
Demian had used it casually, but the speed, range, and power were extraordinary.
"The wounds on the corpse knight match exactly. That clears it up."
Borromeo took a deep breath, then exhaled.
"Sir Demian, for aiding the subjugation force in slaying the corpse knight and saving our Church's precious talents, we are deeply grateful."
Especially since Grade 3 holy knight Agnes, who joined this force, had received the stigmata.
Every stigmatic holy knight without exception reached master realm. The Church had nearly lost a future master class.
"The Church now owes you an incalculable debt. We promise fitting recompense."
This was the moment Demian had anticipated.
But Borromeo went beyond mere promises, offering greater favor.
"If you have any specific wishes, speak them. I'll do my utmost to grant them."
Demian pondered briefly at Borromeo's words.
He did have a reward in mind. But he wondered if the Church would agree.
"Allow me to enter the Church's secret vault and choose an item myself."
Borromeo's eyes widened at the request.
The secret vault.
Where treasures gathered from across the continent since the Church's founding were stored.
Due to its importance and symbolism, even Grade 1 holy knights couldn't access it freely.
"The secret vault... Quite the request."
Borromeo closed his eyes, deep in thought.
"The Holy Emperor entrusted all rewards for this matter to me. So I can answer here."
Borromeo spoke firmly.
"I'll grant your request. Visit headquarters soon."