Chapter 54
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Necro King Akrosis (1)
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The incident where an external force attacked the cult had occurred during my absence.
I had furiously tapped the screen for a while, but the bitter feeling lingered.
If there had been a force protecting the cult, the damage might have been lessened.
After all, the Apostles were characters who could wield powerful abilities using Divine Artifacts.
However, with both Evan and Yutenia busy with their own affairs, it was difficult to summon them back to the cult for no reason.
It was time for a new power to defend the cult's headquarters.
"But I can't just summon the Apostles. And appointing Loan as one is also problematic."
I had already decided to use the Apostle Selection skill on the vampire Yutenia was meant to find.
This was because I judged it inappropriate for Loan, who was serving as the Archbishop, to also be an Apostle.
I couldn't move the existing Apostles.
Nor could I appoint Loan as an Apostle.
In the end, after much deliberation, I came to a single conclusion.
"I guess that's the only way."
To use Creature Maker and create a new creature to protect the cult.
I shifted my gaze to the bottom of the screen, looking at the Creature Maker skill icon.
Quite some time had passed since I created Shadowfiend: Alpha.
The mana I had paid as a penalty had long since been fully restored.
If I used Creature Maker now, I could create a new creature.
If I couldn't use an Apostle to protect the cult, I would simply use a creature.
Having decided to create a creature, I began to think about what kind of creature to make with the skill.
"Since it's a guardian for the cult, it would be better if it had a scary face, right?"
A guardian of the cult should have a certain degree of dignity.
If it looked too gentle, enemies wouldn't be frightened.
For that reason, I planned to set the appearance stat to a low value.
Of course, setting it to an extreme could result in another creature like Kueberberg popping out, so I planned to adjust the value to a moderate 2 or 3.
After settling on its appearance, the next item was aggression.
"Aggression a moderate 5 should do."
As for the side effects of low aggression, there was Estacia, the Cherubim.
Ever since I created her with Creature Maker, she hadn't moved from her spot even once.
She continued to reside in the cave where she first appeared.
Meanwhile, a large, ornate building was being constructed in front of her.
The more I watched, the more of a mystery it was how Estacia's faction was flourishing.
In any case, the cult's guardian couldn't just laze around like Estacia.
A moderate level of aggression was necessary, so I decided on an aggression level of 5 for the new creature.
"Size hmm."
The last item was size.
I mentally pictured the creatures I had made so far.
Kueberberg. Estacia. And Alpha.
Excluding Alpha as an exception, a creature that was too large would present certain difficulties.
It was, after all, a guardian that would reside within the cult.
It seemed better for its size not to differ too much from a typical character.
A 1 or 2 seemed appropriate, so I decided on a size of 2 for the new creature.
"Appearance 3. Size 2. Aggression 5. Let's go with that."
Having decided on all the parameters, I activated the Creature Maker skill.
Mana consumed: 85 of total.
Creature's appearance: 3.
Aggression: 5.
Size: 2.
After setting each parameter and pressing the create button, a reticle appeared in the center of the screen.
I was about to set the reticle on the cult's building, but just in case, I moved it to the mountain behind the cult.
"Please be something normal."
After setting the reticle on the mountain, I tapped it once more to activate the skill.
Press.
The moment I pressed the screen, a brilliant light filled the view.
When the light that had momentarily blinded me subsided, a human-sized creature stood in its place.
It was a creature wearing a shabby hood.
- Necro King: Akrosis has been created.
- Due to the Creature Maker penalty, you cannot recover spent mana for 24 hours.
- Necro King: Akrosis reveres you.
- The Scales of Karma converts the activities of Necro King: Akrosis into your causality.
The name of the new creature born from the light was Necro King: Akrosis.
As the summoned creature lifted its head, I saw that the sockets where its eyes should have been were pitch-black voids.
It was a skeletal mage, not a shred of flesh visible.
There was only one name for such beings.
A lich. An immortal creature created when a mage sacrifices their own body.
Whether it was because of the appearance or size stat, it seemed the creature that appeared this time was a lich.
I stared blankly at Necro King: Akrosis on my smartphone screen.
Befitting its title of Necro King, it had a sinister appearance.
Just from its looks, it seemed to be a creature of immense power.
Despite that, I couldn't help but look at Akrosis with an ambiguous expression.
What I had intended to create was a guardian for the cult.
A guardian of the cult with a face like that it was difficult to imagine.
"This makes me feel like I'm some kind of threat to the world."
A malevolent lich protecting the cult.
Somehow, I felt like I had become an agent of evil, covetously eyeing the world.
The cult was already a place where other characters were sacrificed as offerings, but I couldn't help feeling strange about it.
Considering my actions so far, wasn't I a benevolent being who bestowed miracles upon my followers?
Like Kueberberg, whom I made last time, a lich didn't seem to fit my image very well.
I looked at Akrosis and reviewed my actions up to this point one by one.
"Hmm."
Rummaging through my memories, all I could recall was traveling through villages and using magic.
As the brief memories flashed through my mind, I gave up thinking.
I looked at Akrosis and nodded my head meekly.
On second thought, it was a creature that suited our cult well.
I could think of it as a gatekeeper of hell.
It probably couldn't be a guardian beast, but it seemed perfectly fine for other tasks.
To have earned the moniker of Necro King, it must be incredibly powerful, right?
I could just make a guardian to protect the cult a day or two later.
"Yeah, this is the vibe of our cult."
Having made my decision, I tossed Necro King: Akrosis into a place far away from the cult.
It was more likable than Kueberberg, but this one also wasn't the type I wanted to see often.
After abandoning Akrosis in a remote place, I turned off my smartphone screen.
Then I picked up a cup of ramen that had been rolling on the floor and stood up.
I had gotten hungry while playing the game, so I figured I'd eat some ramen to fill my stomach.
"I'm hungry. I should make this and eat."
Picking up the cup ramen, I headed to the kitchen to prepare it.
It was a mild-flavored cup ramen I had bought on a whim after a long time.
It was something I didn't eat often, but I had bought it from a convenience store on my way home from work.
I was curious to see what a mild-flavored cup ramen would taste like after so long.
In the magic training room, located in the basement of the Temple of Knowledge.
Hurs Alemier, the Hero of Knowledge, was there with a pure white book open, practicing a newly acquired spell.
The name of the book in Hurs's hands was 'Hieroglyph'.
It was the one and only Divine Artifact granted to the Hero of Knowledge.
The Hieroglyph Hurs possessed was a Divine Artifact that allowed him to store any magic he identified with his own eyes.
Thanks to this ability, Hurs was able to break the limits of his talent and reach a higher realm.
The reason high-level mages visited the Temple of Knowledge every day was to teach Hurs various spells through the Hieroglyph.
"Chain Lightning."
Crackle!
The moment Hurs called out the spell's name, a bolt of lightning shot out from his fingertip.
The blue lightning that extended from Hurs's hand struck the targets in its path sequentially.
It was a mid-tier lightning spell that could efficiently strike multiple enemies with a single cast.
After hitting all the targets with Chain Lightning, Hurs caught his breath and surveyed the scene before him.
The wooden blocks struck by his magic were scorched black and emitting smoke.
"Hah Is this all it was?"
The Chain Lightning Hurs used was a spell a mage who visited last night had cast before him.
Having stored the spell in the Hieroglyph, Hurs was able to replicate it without any difficulty.
However, he was displeased with the power of the Chain Lightning he witnessed in the training room.
He had learned it because it could hit many opponents for its mana cost, but both its range and power were mediocre.
If he were to use it in actual combat, it would probably be better to prepare a different spell.
As Hurs expressed his dissatisfaction with the Hieroglyph open, the sound of a door opening echoed from behind him.
"Sir Hurs, so this is where you were."
Creeak.
The one who opened the door to the magic training room and entered was Aurora, the Saintess of Knowledge.
Spotting the Saintess, Hurs completely closed the Hieroglyph he had open.
He then offered a simple greeting to Aurora.
Aurora, too, met his gaze and returned the greeting with a gentle smile.
"Seeing as you've come all this way yourself, it seems you have something to tell me."
"Of course. Today was the day of the council of elders' meeting."
"The council of elders"
"And during the meeting, many things came up that I needed to relay to you urgently."
"What are they?"
Ever since his brother, Evan Alemier, went missing, Hurs had spent most of his days in the magic training room.
Was it because he had lost the idol he had chased his entire life?
Or was it to fill the void his brother left behind?
Hurs himself didn't know the reason, but he found himself absorbed in magic training all day long.
Naturally, his conversations with Aurora had become increasingly infrequent.
Aurora only came here when she had urgent news to deliver to Hurs.
"It has been decided that the Holy Land will form a Kueberberg Subjugation Force."
"Kueberberg Subjugation Force? I've never heard that name before. What exactly is a Kueberberg?"
For Hurs, who had been cooped up in the magic training room, the name Kueberberg was quite unfamiliar.
Perhaps she had fully anticipated Hurs's question.
Aurora looked down at the paper in her hand and gave him her answer.
"Kueberberg is the self-proclaimed name of a minion of the Evil God that appeared in the Empire. It is a monster that has so far made one castle and more than twenty villages disappear."
"A minion of the Evil God"
Hearing the words 'minion of the Evil God,' Hurs's face darkened.
A wicked god targeting the continent.
Currently, its followers were presumed to be the culprits behind his brother's disappearance.
Evan Alemier had gone missing while returning from his investigation of the cult.
Considering Evan's skills, having been selected as an Inquisitor within the Holy Land, the idea that he was caught by bandits was impossible.
Thus, it was only natural for Hurs to point to the cult as the ones behind Evan's disappearance.
"The Empire ordered Cloud to form a subjugation force to defeat this Kueberberg."
"Cloud is leading the subjugation, then."
"And in the process, half of the subjugation force, including its leader Gedur, were defeated by Kueberberg."
"Chief Gedur"
Few among Cloud's investigators did not know of Gedur.
First-Class Investigator Gedur was just that renowned.
For a subjugation mission led by such a man to have failed
It gave a small glimpse into Kueberberg's strength.
As Hurs continued to listen to Aurora, he began to understand why she had brought up the subjugation force.
It was likely to have the Heroes in the Holy Land participate in a new force.
"So this time, the Heroes will step in?"
"You catch on quickly. A fitting attitude for the Hero of Knowledge."
"If it's a minion of the Evil God, it's an opponent the Heroes must deal with. I understand. What preparations should I make?"
"A message will come to the temple sometime tomorrow. The detailed schedule will be delivered then."
Nodding at Aurora's words, Hurs looked down at his Hieroglyph.
The Hero of Knowledge was known to grow faster than the other Heroes.
It wouldn't be strange for him to be deployed into actual combat immediately.
As Hurs fell silent, staring at the Hieroglyph, Aurora cleared her throat, waiting for him.
It seemed she still had something more to say to him, as she waited for Hurs to look at her.
"Is there something else?"
"...Of course."
"What is it?"
"The other matter is news from Cloud who went out to search for Inquisitor Evan Alemier"
News from Cloud, who had gone searching for Evan.
The moment he heard those words, Hurs rushed towards Aurora.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and asked about Evan.
His voice came out in a higher pitch than usual, likely due to his agitation.
"Did they find my brother?"
"...That is not it."
"Then what what else is there?"
"It seems that most of the branch members who went on the search, including Agent Period, the chief of the Senterius branch, have gone missing."
Most of the investigators from the Senterius branch were missing.
Though they said missing, it was practically a wipeout.
Furthermore, his former superior, First-Class Investigator Agent, was also out of contact.
Hearing about his former colleagues, Hurs's expression completely crumpled.
"The Senterius branch was wiped out?"
His brother, who had found a trace of the Evil God, had vanished, and his former colleagues who pursued him had also disappeared.
People kept vanishing just for trying to get close to the cult.
What kind of being was he fighting against?
And what was he fighting for?
An ominous feeling gripped his heart, and Hurs clutched at his chest.
He had already lost too much before the fight had even begun.
It was a war with no end in sight, and he couldn't even begin to fathom how much more he would have to lose.