Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 8: Bait (2)
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“...Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
Irina asked worriedly.
Using them as bait to catch a ghost.
It was only natural to worry that something terrible might happen if things went wrong.
Especially if something happened to her young children, she might lose her mind.
Jamie was mindful of that as well.
“Don’t worry. Nothing like that will happen.”
“We can’t keep living like this forever. As a mother who knows what her children, especially Hanni, are going through, it’s always pained my heart. We just... want to live peacefully like we used to.”
Irina pleaded, her voice choking with tears.
“Please, priest. Help us.”
A mother of two children begging through her tears.
Jamie took the hand she offered and nodded.
“No harm will come to any of you.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Jamie finally left the house after receiving her thanks several times.
Outside, Phibion was crouched on the ground with his younger sister, scribbling something in the dirt with a stick.
They jumped up hurriedly at the sound of footsteps from behind.
“Did you finish talking?”
“Yeah. It went well.”
“Then... you’ll exorcise the ghost for us?”
“Yes.”
Phibion beamed and clasped his hands together politely, bowing his head repeatedly at Jamie’s smiling response.
“Thank you so much! Thank you! You healed my wound, and now you’ll catch the ghost... Thank you!”
“Thank you!”
Fiona, who had been watching from the side, started thanking Jamie just like her brother.
Jamie shouted in embarrassment for them to stop, but it was as if the children couldn’t hear him—the words of thanks echoed across the barren field with only one house standing alone.
Jamie finally managed to calm the children down and let out a deep sigh as he pointed to the house.
“Go eat with your mother.”
“Come eat with us, big brother.”
“Eat with us, oppa!”
Fiona, who had been full of wariness just moments ago, was now clinging tightly to Jamie’s thigh and talking to him.
Jamie gently stroked her small head and shook his head.
“I already ate. And I have other things to do, so don’t worry about me and just eat.”
“But still...”
“But still!”
She was only mimicking her real brother’s words, not quite his tone.
“We need to prepare, so it’ll be busy. Stick close to your mom today and protect your sibling. That’s what the eldest son should do. Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Yees!”
Phibion and Fiona answered energetically.
Jamie chuckled and patted their heads, then spoke in a serious tone.
“No matter what happens today, don’t come outside.”
“Got it.”
“Got it!”
Fiona answered energetically again this time.
Jamie searched the surroundings.
Rosario’s protective radius extended about 300 meters from the house.
Beyond that boundary, traces of numerous undead could be felt.
Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be active during the day.
If they were, Phibion would have been attacked the moment he crossed the boundary.
“Lucky, I suppose.”
Phibion tended to come home before sunset.
With no friends, a sickly mother, and a young sibling, he had no choice.
So naturally, he didn’t go out at night, which was why the thing couldn’t do anything to him.
But human affairs are unpredictable—if Jamie hadn’t shown up, it was obvious an accident would have happened eventually.
It was fortunate that he had arrived first.
“I can’t let humans get hurt.”
The seeds he had sown were still spreading throughout the world.
Could he root them all out? It seemed doubtful, but if he handled them steadily like this, he could eventually reap them all.
This was as important a mission for Jamie as toppling the 12 Gods.
“Shall I strike first while it can’t use its power?”
Jamie closed his eyes and opened them again, his pupils turning purple.
The ground trembled slightly, and the Gate of Defying Heaven rose from the earth.
The door, wrapped in thick chains, was slightly different from before.
Strange engravings had been added to the once plain iron surface.
Jamie had personally inscribed the incantations of Defying Heaven into its form to strengthen its power.
“Come forth. Azad, Raiza. And...”
Jamie quietly called his servants.
“Ashtar.”
Clank—!
The chains unraveled, and the massive door opened silently.
Three men emerged from within, their eyes gleaming with ferocious light.
Weapons in hand that made one’s legs weak just looking at them, they stood before Jamie without a flicker of expression.
The strongest three in Jamie’s undead legion, excluding Lich Nevro.
Azad, Raiza, and Ashtar.
Jamie looked at them and said,
“...Why are these bastards drawing their swords in broad daylight? Put them away! Or I’ll beat you flat!”
“Why hit us the moment you call?!”
Azad blocked his face with his arm and retorted in panic.
Raiza quietly sheathed his sword, and Ashtar scratched his cheek before following suit.
Only Azad talked back and got smacked a few times for being cheeky.
“Always picking on me...”
“You just look like you need picking on. With that ugly mug.”
“That’s harsh.”
“Harsh my ass. What were you all doing?”
“Sparring.”
Raiza answered.
Unlike Azad, he always stayed calm and showed no reaction to Jamie’s antics(?).
Jamie nodded and turned to Ashtar, who was looking away behind him.
“And you—where are you looking when your master called you?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s been a while since I came out, so I got excited. Haha.”
“Don’t play pretend.”
Ashtar had been a killer from the organization secretly supplying Apophis X to the magic world five years ago.
Jamie had thrown him alive into the Gate of Defying Heaven back then, and he died there, becoming one of Jamie’s undead.
His skills were decent, so Jamie hadn’t destroyed him.
But he’d been a weirdo in life, and that hadn’t changed in undeath.
“You have work to do.”
“Command us.”
“As expected of Raiza. My best subordinate.”
“What about me?!”
When Azad burst out, Jamie replied nonchalantly.
“You’re third.”
“You’re saying I rank below that Ashtar bastard too?”
“Kekeke, isn’t that obvious, senior~?”
“What nonsense? He’s not even in the top ranks.”
“Master!”
“Second is Nevro. He’s been working hard lately.”
He wasn’t sure if “working hard” fit a lich, but Nevro truly spared no effort in improving his skills.
Even the third-stage power ‘Cursing’ had awakened during an exchange of ideas with Nevro.
That had rocketed him to second place.
“Damn... Even behind that crazy old lich.”
Jamie inwardly laughed at Azad, who was genuinely disappointed, and Ashtar, who grumbled with a baffled look beside him.
These guys were simpletons who got motivated even by childish rankings like this.
“Anyway, enough chatter. Patrol the area and watch for any undead appearing nearby.”
“Undead? Now that you mention it, I think I smell something faint.”
As Azad sniffed dramatically, Ashtar said with a pitiful look,
“What, are you a dog now, senior?”
“What’d you say, punk?”
“Fight and I’ll separate your limbs and lock you up for a month.”
“We get along great!”
“We’re like blood brothers! Even without blood!”
Jamie clicked his tongue and said,
“Cut the bullshit. Signal me immediately if you sense any undead presence.”
“Where will you be, Master?”
“If I’m here, it might not show. I’ll stay away so it feels completely safe.”
“Understood. We’ll signal right away if we spot anything.”
“Raiza, I’m counting on you. Keep these idiots in line.”
“We’re not objects to be kept!”
“Senior’s intelligence isn’t much different from an object.”
“What, you little shit? Wanna go right here?”
“Save the fighting for home. Cause a scene and mess things up, and you two really will...”
Jamie didn’t finish the sentence.
It was warning enough.
Sure enough, Azad and Ashtar clamped their mouths shut and nodded.
Their names both started with ‘A,’ and they really were similar types.
“Contact me.”
Jamie left the scene.
With only the three left, Raiza spoke first.
“Find comfortable positions and start watching.”
“Got it. Don’t slack off.”
“Am I crazy? I’m not dying by Master’s hand. Worry about yourself. Damn, how’d a guy like me end up like this?”
“What’re you yapping about, you murderer?”
“Enough, both of you.”
Raiza mediated like the eldest.
“Undead means a black sorcerer’s involved. You know how sensitive Master is about that—no need to explain. Do it right, no mistakes. Dismissed.”
Raiza vanished first, followed by Azad and Ashtar simultaneously.
Someone sat in the darkness where almost no light reached.
The being, emanating wisps of black smoke, muttered ceaselessly while sitting still.
“...Do it. Must... only do that.”
阴气 filled the air around him.
Myriad wraiths drifted about, emitting noises inaudible to humans.
Their number was impossible to count.
The black-smoke-emitting being slowly raised its head to the sky.
The sky was barely visible here, but it could sense the sun setting.
Night was coming.
The time for activity was approaching.
“Ful... fill... orders... do it.”
Its voice was soft and broken, words coming in fragments.
The sun vanished from the sky.
The faint light that had lingered was swallowed by darkness in an instant.
The moon, symbol of night, rose high.
Time to move.
It rose from its seat.
Black smoke billowed thickly across the ground and spread outward.
“I...”
A faint gray glow flickered in the darkness.
Wraiths began rising around it one by one.
All were undead under its powerful control.
Vast阴气 filled the space.
It slowly walked outward.
A necklace swayed with its steps.
It grasped the black skull pendant with its hand.
A purple energy flared briefly.
It stood still, absorbing the energy into its body.
A profound sense of fullness welled from within.
The surrounding wraiths began to sob in response.
All living things nearby trembled in terror at the eerie阴声.
“Must... ghost... fulfill... orders... only.”
Darkness enveloped them.
Then, as if by magic, they vanished.