Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Remember Death.
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*
Dozens of men poured mana into their respective intricate magic circles, and Angella watched with a satisfied smile. The long labors of the mages from the Empire's Destruction School, Philaineil University, were finally nearing completion.
Angella chuckled as she stuffed tobacco into her pipe. It would soon be finished. So that those damn Kirjat bastards couldn't even prepare their grand magic forces. Cleanly and thoroughly.
"Our great knight, sir?"
"The last report was that he made contact with a Shaksisi informant."
"Don't take your eyes off Mosat. Start immediately when the signal fire goes up."
"Preparations are perfect, Boss. No need to worry."
"Ah, ahh. Brandon, Brandon. Don't say that. 'Perfect' is the word I hate most."
Angella tamped down the tobacco firmly and rubbed her fingertips together. With a crackle, a flame sparked to life. She drew carefully on the pipe. Thick tobacco smoke flowed with her breath.
"Hoo, there's no such thing as perfect. There's always a variable."
"Who else could prepare magic on this scale without warning, Boss? From outside the Kirjat grand magic's range, no less."
"That's true."
A massive spell prepared by forty skilled mages. If the target wasn't prepared in advance, and if it struck from a completely unexpected direction.
There was no mage in this material world capable of blocking a spell already activating. Angella slowly crossed her legs and exhaled smoke.
The thick smoke dispersed in the air, tracing out bizarre patterns. Like the afterglow of destruction, shrouded in billowing fumes.
"By the way, will the Church just sit idly by?"
"What can they do? They're the ones who lent him out, and we publicly announced to the Church in advance where that saint was headed. And Beitasser—how honorable would it be for them if their War Saint fell on the battlefield?"
Angella grinned darkly.
*
Sadia opened the door to the underground sewer with an expression that screamed utter reluctance. Weren't the Sultan's Shaksisi human weapons forged through all sorts of training? Fernandez thought Sadia was more human than he'd expected.
'Is it an act?'
-It could be she's just clueless.
At Feizashi's words, Fernandez smirked. Sadia navigated the dark sewer, somehow avoiding the filth as she spoke.
"When did you say your comrades would arrive?"
"They're not far. With Kirhas gone to fetch them, they'll be here soon."
"I hope they're useful firepower. The Conclave... I never imagined the day would come when I'd break that seal with my own hands."
Thinking of Abel waiting at the rendezvous point... Fernandez suppressed the flood of sentiments rising within him. Her soft eyes, warm voice, white smile.
Sentimental memories that weren't truly his. Displaying such emotions would be disrespectful to Abel. Fernandez felt a twinge of guilt for overlaying someone else's feelings onto her.
"She's strong enough."
"I hope raw power is what matters. Anyway, be careful from here on.
Sadia shrugged and placed her hand on a crevice in the deep underground sewer wall.
-Rumble...
The bricks shifted, sending up a puff of white dust. Soon, a long staircase appeared between them, leading into lightless depths.
Sadia swallowed once and raised her oil lamp.
"Welcome to the underworld, young Imperial. I hope we both make it out alive."
*
The tunnel leading underground seemed endless. The deeper they went, the wider it became. Now it was spacious enough for ten people abreast on a single step.
At some point, a gloomy green light began flickering from the walls. Traces of mana stones embedded in the earth. Fernandez's head reeled from the dense scent of mana.
"Just in case, don't cast any attack spells recklessly, mage."
"Explosion risk?"
"Yes. It's a common accident near unrefined mana stone veins. I don't fancy dying like that."
It wasn't particularly useful advice for him. Fernandez smirked. He glanced at Sadia's tense profile. She wasn't what he'd imagined a Shaksisi to be.
"You're more human than I expected."
"The Inquisition might be one thing, but the Ironsides are excessively inhuman. It's all just places where people live."
"And the Immortal Battalion?"
"Haha, already probing our forces? That's the mark of a fine spy. Well, the Immortal Battalion guys feel more like combat golems than humans."
Sadia smiled, as if trying to ease the tension. The oil lamp's flame mingled with the flashing dark green glow on the walls, creating an eerie atmosphere. She stopped at a landing marked with red.
"Alright, everything below here is definitely Necropolis territory. See that over there?"
"Hmm. That's not a seal, is it?"
"It's not a seal—it's a trial. A qualification test. Three of our agents tried to pass that door and died."
About five meters ahead, a door blocked the stairs. The firmly shut stone door bore reliefs of a skeleton in ornate armor and another in ancient priestly robes.
The robed skeleton appeared to bless the kneeling ones. Ancient Upper Asit hieroglyphs were inscribed around it.
"Remember your death, you who will be forgotten."
"...You can read Asit hieroglyphs?"
"Basic education."
"The Inquisition does train its agents well."
Sadia looked at Fernandez with quiet admiration. She had seemed like a seasoned operative when they first met, but here in the ruins, she felt like a child.
-Compared to us, she is a child. Probably around thirty at most?
'Yeah, true.'
It had been about a year since he turned the world back, so his soul was that of an eighty-eight-year-old archmage this year. Fernandez smirked.
"So, what's the qualification to enter?"
"Experience standing at death's doorstep. Facing mortal peril."
"Straightforward."
A magic device analyzing soul memories and experiences... Complex, but the type that could be preserved for ages. Unlike mechanisms that worked in every case, spells with finicky activation conditions didn't fade easily.
Moreover, natural mana circuits supplying power to the spell were buried nearby. Fernandez eyed the mana stone vein traces leading to the door.
'This is different from what I expected.'
-Yeah. Doesn't seem sealed.
According to legend, the Necropolis fell due to the desperate last stand of that era's heroes. The greatest heroes united against Mumto's army.
Historians called it humanity's first world war. Records across the world made it highly plausible.
The first necromancer. History's mightiest. The founder of necromancy itself. Nightmare Mumto. The Black Pharaoh Mumto.
But this ruin felt like a long-prepared tomb. Not built to seal something inside, but like an altar testing intruders from outside.
A chill ran through him. What if Pertus hadn't broken the Necropolis seal back then—what if he'd merely awakened it?
'I need to scout before Abel and Kirhas arrive. Could be dangerous.'
Fernandez passed the hesitating Sadia and placed his hand on the stone door's seam.
-Hummm...
Rough mana surged through the door's ancient circuits. A stinging static prickled his fingertips. Soon, the door blazed with dark green mana.
"What the...?"
Sadia let out a choked gasp. She'd seen doors open many times, but never like this.
The engraved skeleton reliefs moved like living flames. Sobbing skulls, sneering skulls. All seeming to stare at Fernandez.
Experience treading death's threshold. How many lifetimes offered that? Even veteran soldiers crossing countless battlefields retired after a few brushes with death, haunted by severe PTSD.
Even those veterans saw only a brief spark when opening this door. Now it burned gloriously.
"What kind of life has he lived...?"
Once? Twice? Ten times? How many 'deaths' had this young knight crossed?
'Round Table Knight, Inquisitor, seasoned mage.'
Lives stacking those three careers simultaneously—what would that be like? Sadia stared at him, entranced. Fernandez merely gazed at the door with calm blue eyes.
-Rumble...
The stone door ground open. Slowly.
-Whoosh.
The musty scent of rusted iron and ancient dust wafted past, tousling the hair by his ears. Fernandez stepped into the darkness and glanced back.
"Does the guide's duty end here?"
"No way. Le-let's go."
With an expression of inscrutable awe, Sadia followed.
*
This was Sadia's third time reaching this place, but each visit filled her with awe at the ruins' grandeur. Like typical Upper Asit era relics, it overwhelmed visitors with sheer scale.
At the center of a vast underground cavern stood a black pyramid the size of a fortress. Massive stone pillars, obelisks reaching the cavern ceiling, guarded the path to it.
"An oasis."
Fernandez marveled at the ceiling. Bright moonlight poured down. Not stone or earth—the high ceiling above was rippling water.
The massive oasis at Mosat city's heart floated over their heads.
Clear water reflecting the shining moon and drifting clouds. From the surface above, it'd look like a black abyss.
"Mosat's oasis allows drawing water and entering shallow edges, but venturing deep is strictly forbidden. Everyone who does vanishes."
"A terrifying oasis."
"What can you do? It's the only water source near the city."
"No one got curious? Why those who entered never returned."
"The state already knows the answer, and on the civilian side, every attempt ends in death without fail."
Moonlight from the distant sky and mana stone veins along the cavern's pillars provided ample illumination.
Fernandez eyed the black pyramid with its dark green flames. The nearest obelisk bore a kneeling skeleton.
"We are your future."
Fernandez read the hieroglyphs beneath and admired. They nailed the atmosphere—utterly chilling. In truth, Sadia looked somewhat frightened.