Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: My Army (3)
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“I must tell the Count... I must tell the Count... I must tell the Count...”
Lincoln Bishop staggered toward the lord's castle.
His face had aged decades in an instant, and his unfocused eyes stared off in different directions like a crosseyed gaze.
“I must tell the Count...”
He had only one goal.
To carry out Jamie's command.
All respect and faith for the god he served had vanished from him.
He was a puppet.
A puppet that could only repeat the same words.
Someone appeared before the puppet.
“Useless trash.”
It was a woman with silky silver hair cascading to her neck. She was the member of the Zenith Church's 'Seven Knights' who had appeared before Lincoln previously to issue a warning.
She looked at him with eyes as if he were an insect.
Lincoln repeated the same words even at her appearance and walked past her.
His reason has been completely lost.
That thing is no longer usable.
“I never intended to use it anyway.”
He was a traitor who had been defeated by the enemy and was about to reveal the church's secrets to the Count.
There was no reason to keep him alive, and if left alone, the church's secrets would leak to the Count's ears.
That would make things extremely troublesome.
“So die and pray to our god. Who knows? Our merciful god might forgive a worm like you.”
She drew her sword.
“Though I doubt it.”
Her smiling face was beautiful.
At the same time, her sword moved with blinding speed, slicing across Lincoln's neck.
Lincoln took a few more steps before his head fell, and he collapsed with a thud.
The woman looked at Lincoln's corpse and contacted someone.
“Discard Haiss. Pin everything on our church. Say they crossed the line out of greed. As quickly as possible.”
The Black Sorcerer stood alone on a high cliff, clad in a tattered black robe.
His appearance was disheveled, but his glowing purple eyes burned with fierce determination.
He gazed ahead.
There, an uncountable number of soldiers stood in formation.
All of them belonged to the Black Sorcerer.
An army created solely to shatter the heavens.
Composed entirely of the departed, beings farther from the heavens than anything in the world.
The army of Defying Heaven.
Jamie recalled an ancient memory.
A distant past so far back that even he couldn't pinpoint when it happened.
There, he stood alone before countless undead as an absolute sovereign.
The king of all the departed, a god reigning over death.
That was his first authority.
'Why had I forgotten it?'
No matter.
At this moment, he had remembered one of the 'five authorities' he had long forgotten.
“The first authority I ever created.”
Black magic to oppose the army of the 12 Gods.
Rumble...!!!
The forest trembled.
Jamie quickly glanced at Riki, who was on the verge of death.
As he reached out, black light emanated, and Riki's expression eased slightly.
“It's just a temporary measure. Hang in there a bit longer.”
He didn't know why he was telling him to endure.
He just didn't want Riki to die.
That was all.
He stepped forward. Four gazes turned toward him, all filled with bewilderment.
It was ridiculous.
'They were just rampaging to kill me moments ago.'
Now they were frozen in fear, unable to move.
“W-Who are you?”
Hanni's mind reeled from the shock.
It was definitely that kid. The novice Black Sorcerer who had been getting one-sidedly beaten by his treasures.
The appearance matched, yet the presence felt like an entirely different being.
Hanni's face twisted.
That thing is dangerous. If I don't eliminate it, I'll be the one eliminated.
“Kill that bastard!”
A shout born of forced courage.
The Chimeras knew it was the right call and lunged at Jamie the moment the order was given.
“This is my army.”
Splat!
Blood sprayed from all directions.
Jamie passed through unscathed.
The Chimeras writhed in agony.
Clinging to them were things without proper form, but their numbers were overwhelming.
Hanni shouted.
“You bastard! A Necromancer?!”
Skeletons. Or decayed corpses.
All dead things. Beings that should never move, now tearing into the Chimeras as if reborn.
“Just one aspect.”
Jamie replied.
In the darkness, only his glowing purple eyes flickered.
“And these are all the ones you killed.”
Hundreds of corpses were buried in this forest.
All humans slain by Hanni for Chimera experiments.
“Their rage is directed solely at you. It's called resentment, and souls with strong resentment are far stronger than you can imagine.”
Hanni backed away.
Something had gone terribly wrong. His meticulously crafted elite Chimeras were dying to these departed soldiers. How could this be?
'Why are the Chimeras I made losing to those low-grade undead...'
'Necromancer' referred to Black Sorcerers who commanded corpses. Their initial summons were usually Skeletons—skulls—and Zombie decayed bodies.
Those were exactly them.
Skeletons and Zombies. The lowest of the low-grade undead.
It made no sense that elite Chimeras couldn't overpower them.
'What trick is this?'
“You must be quite bewildered.”
Before he knew it, the distance between Hanni and Jamie was less than five meters.
To a mage, five meters was as good as nothing.
“You can't comprehend your Chimeras being slaughtered so mercilessly, can you?”
“How did you do it! Why are my, my Chimeras getting torn apart by that garbage?!”
“Wraiths.”
Hanni flinched at the word.
“Yin ground.”
Hanni quickly scanned the forest.
A damp, deep space where not even a speck of light entered during the day.
“And me.”
An unbelievable aura of black energy rose from his small frame.
“These three factors combined. Skeletons and Zombies are trash, as you said, but under these special conditions, they've gained power that overwhelms your Chimeras.”
The progenitor of Necromancy was here.
Hanni didn't know that, but he at least realized this was a death ground.
He swallowed dryly and looked behind him.
Beyond the undead fighting the Chimeras, countless gleaming eyes filled the entire forest.
No escape. This would be his grave.
'No. There is a way.'
He looked back at the boy before him.
He exuded a completely different aura now, but Hanni's magic was still stronger.
And he could still use some Chimera abilities.
“If I just kill you!”
No matter how strong the undead, they vanish once their master dies.
This close distance was the perfect opportunity.
Hanni deployed several spells simultaneously and extended his tentacles.
One instant would suffice.
Just one instant!
Thud-
“How can you only check your surroundings with your eyes?”
Hanni felt his body tilting.
He arduously turned his head to the left.
Three Skeletons had approached undetected and embedded their bones into his body.
'I didn't sense their presence...'
Fear blinds one to much.
Just like now.
“Tch. He's dead.”
Jamie looked at Hanni, whose breath had stopped.
His body had apparently reached its limit too.
Considering the extreme pain he'd endured repeatedly, it was impressive he'd stood this long.
“Hm?”
Then, something strange caught Jamie's eye.
A green object was embedded in Hanni's chest.
Just in case, he gathered mana in his hand and slowly extracted it.
As it touched his palm, Jamie's eyes widened.
“This is...”
The corner of his mouth lifted.
No matter how much he'd modified himself into a Chimera, that vitality was absurd.
Having this explained why he hadn't died easily.
“If anything, the source of vitality?”
A beautifully glowing green orb.
The 'vitality' within wasn't vast, but to Jamie's senses, it seemed rechargeable.
“This is it.”
Though Hanni was dead, he hadn't uncovered the body modification secrets.
“With this, I can surpass the limits.”
He had thought he'd only suffer losses here, but to gain such a profit.
Jamie pocketed the orb and turned.
The undead that had slain all the Chimeras awaited his next command.
Jamie ordered them.
“I'll call you back later. Return.”
All the undead bowed in unison and vanished into the darkness.
“Cough!”
Then the aftermath hit.
Jamie collapsed to the ground, vomiting a handful of blood.
The authority of Defying Heaven was too much for his current body to handle.
The orb could restore it, but regrettably, he had no way to use it yet.
“Damn...”
He couldn't lose consciousness yet.
He struggled to his feet and approached Riki.
He had forcibly eased the pain, but it was only buying time. The agony would return soon, and Riki would die.
Jamie knelt before him and gathered black mana in his hand.
“This is the only way.”
Like with Azad and Raiza, he had no choice but to turn him into an undead.
'Yes. Better to become my servant.'
Would it succeed?
His realm had risen since then, but he was exhausted. No aid from Black either.
He had to do it alone.
Failure meant Riki would become a mere mindless undead. Letting him die might be kinder.
'I don't know why I'm putting in this effort for him.'
His mind was still a mess.
But he wouldn't stop.
Once decided, there was no turning back.
His ancient death tongue began to flow.
Black mana swirled fiercely.
The black magic to convert the living into undead.
A trickle of blood ran from Jamie's lips.
Yet he did not stop.
{O sinner, come to me!}
⟨ Necromancy ⟩
Darkness burrowed into Riki's body.
Then, a dazzling radiance began emanating from Riki.
'This power again!'
Light and darkness intertwined.
Jamie's mind reeled.
'What's happening?!'
Light and darkness cannot coexist.
Especially Jamie's darkness, which was on a different plane from the black mana used by other Black Sorcerers.
It wasn't mere opposition.
It was darkness at the antipode of divinity!
-I wonder what's going on.
Then, a voice echoed in Jamie's mind.
A woman's voice with a beautiful timbre.
-Who are you to try taking what's mine?
Jamie's eyes turned ice-cold.
An unfamiliar voice.
But he had a feeling he knew who it was.
“Pyro.”
-You know me?
It was the voice of the goddess.
Ras lay sprawled on his back, gasping for breath.
The duration of his Divine Enforcer had fully ended.
The price for restoring the Shadow Knights to that extent had come due.
“Are you alright?”
The Shadow Knights, having felled a Chimera horn, looked at him with concern.
Ras replied with a faint smile.
It was pain that would have killed an ordinary person, but Ras was accustomed to it.
Such was the fate of those who bore the price.
Of course, he couldn't even twitch a finger. A light tap would send him into unconsciousness.
“I-it hurts, so briefly.”
“Your orders.”
“Find... Riki.”
With that, Ras closed his eyes.
He needed some sleep first.
...He had just made that decision when.
“This is... Ack!”
Ras bolted upright.
A horrific agony exploded. Pain so intense he could barely breathe.
But that wasn't important.
A powerful divine response had appeared some distance away. As a high priest of the Pyro Church, Ras knew exactly what kind of divine response this was.
“L-Lady Pyro?”
A fragment of the Pyro Goddess had descended here.