Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Wendigo 3
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“Did you see that?”
The orc wizard Walter boasted.
“What are you doing?”
“That woman summoned the Wendigo but failed to control it. We have to kill her to seal the Wendigo away, but she’s got half of the New King Scripture copy we used as the ritual’s magic source. I’ve got the other half.”
“You’re saying there’s a New King Scripture copy? How many pages?”
“I’ve got two, and she’s got two.”
So there were four pages of the New King Scripture copy right here in this spot.
‘This is perfect.’
Azadin currently had five pages of the New King Scripture. Adding these four would make nine. With that many, the curse of servitude killing him off was nothing but nonsense.
“What’s a Wendigo?”
“It’s the name of that massive Nether monster.”
At that moment, Lady Liz flew into a rage.
“That’s a blatant lie! Saying you have to kill me to seal that monster! What nonsense!”
Azadin stepped forward at her shout.
“Lady Liz?”
“And who are you?”
“The woman named Fran is dead. By Sir Brock’s hand.”
“Is that so? Tch. Poor girl. She brought it on herself doing something so stupid, but Sir Brock killed her himself? So what? You killed her with your own hands, so you want forgiveness now?”
“Before that, let me ask. Why did you turn her into an Atrah kin?”
“Why? She seemed so obsessed with beauty and love, so I dedicated her to the goddess of beauty and love!”
“If you hate her for the affair, surely her husband bears greater fault, doesn’t he?”
“Are you calling me a fool? You think I’d step aside for some dreamy wench? Don’t make me laugh! I have no desire to return to the jungles of Brtuma!”
Whereas Fran had been innocently empty-headed, this Lady Liz, the lord’s wife, was far more cunning and terrifying.
“Ugh…”
Sir Brock paled at her words.
“Got it? Try making another new woman, and I’ll kill her, stew her up, and feed her to you! But I won’t kill you! I’ll let you live trembling in fear forever! You’ll spend your life remembering the disaster your lust brought!”
‘To think he’d try cheating on a woman like this. Is he brave or just stupid… Probably both.’
Azadin marveled once more at Sir Brock’s foolishness and asked,
“Hmm. Putting your marital issues aside, what’s with that massive monster out there? You’re said to have summoned it, but did you really?”
“Summoned? Do I look that impressive to you? That mountain of a thing? The Wendigo was originally sealed here. Long ago, the Kurt divine race sealed it away at great cost, and the King’s Radiance severed its connection, leaving it to wander without manifesting in this world.”
Her story differed from the orc’s. The orc claimed she summoned it… But she insisted it was originally sealed here, and having seen the monster’s majestic bulk firsthand, her words rang truer.
Perhaps for that reason, Walter immediately revised his statement.
“To be precise, the Wendigo wasn’t sealed here—it was banished here. Calling back a banished being makes it a summoning. Just a terminology mix-up. I wasn’t trying to deceive you. If I were, I’d be a half-orc. Half-orc.”
This orc named Walter sought to prove his truthfulness by insulting humans in front of them.
‘What the hell do these orc bastards think humans are?’
Azadin felt repulsed by the orcs’ arrogance, but both the orc and Lady Liz were so agitated their words flew fast. Let them keep babbling as they wished, and this place would turn into a marketplace.
“Fine, shut up for a moment. So, whether it was summoning or unsealing, why did you do it?”
Azadin asked Lady Liz.
“I never meant to unseal the Wendigo. Who in their right mind would? I just thought to lightly contract it as a familiar and draw out a bit of its power.”
“Lightly?”
Draw power from a Nether being? That alone warranted execution as a horrific black mage. Yet the black mage in question, Lady Liz, treated it as no big deal.
“But these Kurt followers thought differently. They figured if this thing got loose, the Eight Kingdoms would exhaust their national strength. If the Yaegas divine race followers burned through their power, their own era would come. So they interfered while I was performing the ritual and forced the seal open! It’s not my fault!”
Those listening stood aghast at her words.
Of course, from Lady Liz’s perspective, she hadn’t meant to release it and only wanted a taste of the Nether monster’s power, so she could claim to be wronged by how things turned out.
‘Even if we take your word as truth, from the Royal Church’s view, it’s a crime deserving immediate burning at the stake, isn’t it?’
The holy knight Zivec truly felt how complicated his recent circumstances had become. First ending up in a gathering with Herald clans, an orc necromancer, and naga envoys, and now dealing with a noblewoman meddling in Nether matters.
Yet to resolve this situation, her knowledge and information were essential, so Azadin posed another question.
“So. How do you think we can resolve this?”
Azadin addressed Lady Liz, but the orc Walter answered.
“Kill the mediator, that woman, and return the New King Scripture copies to the King’s Radiance. Use the King’s Radiance to banish and reseal the Wendigo!”
“Don’t make me laugh! This is just a ploy to kill me!”
Lady Liz raged.
“But why are you two facing off like that?”
“My magic and the orc’s magic are clashing right now. If either of us lets go here, the one who does will burn to death.”
“I cast a binding spell on the lady to stop her from fleeing. She countered it, and now we’re locked together.”
In other words, the orc and the lord’s wife were like stags in rut whose antlers had tangled, dooming both to death.
“Kill that orc! Then I’ll handle the Wendigo.”
“What nonsense. Everyone, don’t trust that woman. She’s wicked! I can deal with the Wendigo.”
“You dare say that, you orc!?”
“You’re a witch too!”
Brand, watching them, suddenly apologized to Sir Brock.
“Uh, um. Sorry for what I said earlier. Of course, affairs aren’t defensible, but your wife is scary. Scary indeed.”
A woman terrifying enough to turn her husband’s affair partner into a monster. Though Sir Brock was at fault first, perhaps Brand felt he’d gone too far in condemning him harshly?
“What are you talking about? Oh, right—you’re Secretary Brand, and that over there is Young Lord Guillaume Balt?”
“That’s right. Long time no see. Lady Liz.”
“Haa.”
Lady Liz bowed her head.
“Now that my Nether magic is exposed, what now?”
Even if she survived here, word would spread in noble society that she was a dark sorceress. Moreover, she hadn’t just used Nether magic—she’d been intimately tied to the nagas here from the start.
Colluding with the Kurt divine race behind the scenes, and even if they were bitter enemies, forcibly turning Hubris’s people into Kurt god’s kin made her crimes immense.
“From your perspective, you can’t let a woman colluding with the Kurt divine race live as a lord’s wife anyway, right? Let’s make a deal.”
The orc named Walter gripped his axe-spear.
“I’ll clear the path, so execute that witch! Without her summoner, the Wendigo’s presence will fade, and returning the New King Scripture copies to the King’s Radiance will reseal it!”
“Wait. So what happens when we use the New King Scripture? Does it vanish?”
Azadin asked about that point.
“It vanishes. Well, not completely—the New King Scripture fuses with the King’s Radiance and will manifest again later when conditions are met.”
“…”
The New King Scripture copies would vanish. Losing four pages here was a shame.
But considering the Wendigo’s colossal form, if they could truly seal it, now wasn’t the time to weigh gains and losses. The problem was, what if they returned the New King Scripture to the King’s Radiance and the Wendigo still wasn’t sealed?
They might even need to add Azadin’s own New King Scripture pages, and doing so would leave him without leverage to negotiate with the Herald clans and Aragasans.
‘The reason I’m calm despite the curse of servitude is because I have the New King Scripture. Lose that, and… Even without that, is it right to return the New King Scripture to the King’s Radiance now? When nobles and kings are corrupt, and the King’s Radiance only weakens?’
As Azadin hesitated, Lady Liz caught his intent.
“I could clean this up without losing the New King Scripture. Kill that orc!”
“That woman’s a Nether mage, worse than a black mage. Even humans aren’t that stupid to trust a Nether mage, right?”
Everyone gaped at the orc insulting humans as idiots when he was the one begging to be spared.
In the meantime, a wolf-like howl echoed through the underground passage.
“Damn.”
“Wendigo spawn.”
The corpses in the underground passage transformed into small Wendigos and began swarming toward them.
“I told you not to use necromancy, but… in this situation, no choice!”
As things turned dire, Scott Macgreen formed hand seals and stomped the ground.
“Rise! From beyond death!”
His shadow flowed along the glowstone light’s shadows, racing across the ground to touch the corpses under the ice.
Sewer rats shattered the ice, rising as undead. Though called rats, they were dog-sized. Corpses fattened on sewage trash swelled with eerie glows in their eyes, bodies quivering with chills.
“Go!”
The rats, risen as undead by Scott’s magic, charged the Wendigos. The Wendigos ignored the rats to lunge at the humans, but the moment the rats latched on, Scott switched seals and crossed his hands.
“Corpse Burst!”
The rat corpses exploded, splattering fluids and flesh onto the Wendigos.
“Undying Manipulation!”
Scott fired black magic bullets at the Wendigos coated in rat fluids. Two of the hit Wendigos twisted, then lunged at their fellow Wendigos, starting to fight among themselves.
“Hmm. Just two controlled? For the magic power spent… The spells aren’t landing well?”
Scott bit his canteen, gulping water as he backpedaled, then formed seals again.
“I warned you not to use necromancy!”
Zivec snapped, and Scott cheekily retorted.
“Did I? Guess I desecrated those rat pups’ dignity in death? Is the Royal Church’s holy knight getting mad at me on behalf of the rat pups for using necromancy on them?”