Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Wendigo 6
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Azadin, Sir Jibek, Brand, Ismail, and the orc necromancer Scott—who had all reinforced their winter gear with cloaks—finished preparing to descend into the deepest part.
'Leaving the knight behind and taking the clerk.'
Guillaume Balt, who was staying above, gave a wry smile at his absurd situation. Weren't they judging that Brand fought better than he did?
But to be honest, he felt relieved not to go down there.
Every time he fought, his life was in danger, and he had barely survived only thanks to the high-quality armor made by a master craftsman. Even if he talked about a knight's duty or honor, heading out to fight meant he could die at any moment.
"Well then, let's deal with the Wendigo as quickly as possible."
"We wish you good fortune, Herald Azadin."
Guillaume Balt fervently hoped Azadin would succeed and blessed their path.
*********
As the group descended the frozen path, they soon spotted piles of supplies. These weren't sewage-drift trash but clean provisions.
"Oh, a palanquin."
Scott spotted something like a wooden box and lit up.
"Palanquin?"
"It's a tool us orcs use to avoid close combat. Seeing this one, it must be Walter's."
"Hmm. No wheels, so it doesn't fly on its own. People carry it while someone rides inside?"
"Yeah. It can go through narrower paths or stairs than a cart."
"Sounds comfy for the rider, but harsh for the carriers."
"That's why I use undead."
"......"
"That's how it evolved into wheelchairs. But sigh. I want a magic carpet—made good money for one."
"Magic carpet? The flying ones from old tales?"
"In reality, it just hovers a bit off the ground."
"Those exist? Hmm, I'd like to see one if they do."
"Expensive. Ah, of course, give me a copy of the New King's Array, and I could trade it for a magic carpet."
Instead of getting angry at Scott's words, Azadin interpreted them.
"From that, it sounds like you know a trading partner who'd give a carpet for a copy of the New King's Array. Do the Kurt Pantheon alliances have some kind of black market?"
"Urk. I misspoke."
"Not keen on sharing?"
"You saw that snakehead woman, but lots of folks would call me a traitor if I spilled that info. I see the captain as my employer and give loyalty, but I can't do that forever, right?"
"Captain?"
"Let's call you that. No matter how much illusion hides my orcish beauty, when I use necromancy, you humans get wary. Calling you captain quickly shows our relationship and eases their guard, no?"
"Feels like you're dumping responsibility on me."
"You're the captain, so shoulder that much. The glory of having a genius of this era like me as your subordinate..."
"Ah. Quiet."
Azadin spotted enemies in the underground passage. A pack of Wendigos approached—clothed, with massive shoulder guards, fur-covered, and deer antlers sprouting from their heads. The hobgoblins who had once carried the palanquin had turned into Wendigos.
"Grrr."
The Wendigos exhaled frost from their mouths and picked up battle axes.
"Headshots!"
Azadin hurled an ice lump, smashing a Wendigo's skull. As its neck snapped and it staggered, Brand charged in and severed its legs with the axe-spear Walter had used.
"Well done!"
Sir Jibek swung his sword alongside Brand, slashing another Wendigo's jaw and shattering its collarbone with a thrust.
The Wendigo, its arms dangling uselessly and unable to walk properly, tried to spew frost from its mouth. But the cold leaked down through its broken jaw, freezing its own body instead.
Everyone shuddered at the sight of it turning into an ice pillar from its own chill. Still, they had taken out the Wendigos without a scratch this time too.
'If their numbers are low, no problem at all. The issue is...'
Azadin shivered at the ominous chill intensifying with every step closer.
Then Ismail spoke.
"I see the altar."
"You do?"
"Yes. There, in the ice..."
"Ah."
Among the ice hanging from the ceiling, a transparent icicle reflected the surroundings, showing the space below the waterway.
"We're almost there."
Azadin held his breath and crept to the edge of the ice waterways to peer below. There it was—the Wendigo altar, the altar of kin-slaying.
Around the altar, made from some beast's bones and steeped in horrific curses, prowled massive monsters far beyond ordinary Wendigos. These were former minions of Spider Queen Atra or Rat King Mezzeri, mutated after death into Wendigos.
Azadin couldn't help tensing at their enormous, overwhelmingly threatening forms, incomparable to those made from average corpses.
"Too big and numerous. Lure them out and pick them off?"
"Let's try."
Scott began necromantically controlling the Wendigo that Azadin's group had turned into an ice pillar.
"Using it openly now."
"Hey, holy knight. I'm saving the world here. Can't your low IQ imagine how many would die if those Wendigos got loose?"
"That's why I'm tolerating it. But without someone nagging you constantly, wouldn't you use that vile necromancy so recklessly?"
"So you'll hassle me every time I use necromancy. Then, every time I help with that vile magic, say 'Thank you' politely. Fair trade, right?"
"......"
"What? Too humiliating for a holy knight to thank an orc?"
"First off, thanks for the help against that Wendigo pack earlier. Without you, we'd have taken losses for sure."
"Ah... starting the thanks from there?"
Giggling at Sir Jibek's gratitude, Scott sent the controlled Wendigo toward the underground altar.
Instantly, a former Atra minion Wendigo shot silk from its tail, wrapping the undead under Scott's control. Then it yanked it like a fishing rod and smashed it midair with its forelimbs.
"Grroooaaar!"
"Whoops."
The ice shattered, and grotesque monsters emerged from below—spider-like, but with deer antlers and long body fur.
The former Atra minions, now Wendigos after death, climbed the ice walls from the underground passage, targeting Azadin's group.
-Judgment Mace!
Sir Jibek hurled his mace, unleashing white magic. With a roar, the ice wall crumbled, sweeping the climbing spider Wendigos down in the debris.
But the massive spider Wendigo shoved through the collapsing wall and kept climbing.
-Squeee!
Ismail's arrow lodged in the spider Wendigo's mouth.
Azadin threw an ice lump, striking true behind the arrow and driving it deep into the spider's maw. The arrow burst out the back, jerking the Wendigo's head rearward.
While the spider Wendigo was dazed, Brand charged with his axe-spear and battered the forelimbs it had embedded in the ice wall, severing them.
The now-limbless spider Wendigo plummeted but halted by jamming its antlers into the wall.
That only worsened things. With its head antlers stuck, unable to touch ground, it flailed its legs wildly in the air—impeding the other Wendigos instead.
"Good. We've isolated some. Bypass and approach the altar!"
Azadin skirted the spider Wendigos, leaping down the ice waterfall there. A considerable height, but he braked by stabbing his sword into the ice wall and landed lightly on the ground.
"Krurrrr."
Wendigos with long, rat-like snouts—former Mezzeri apostles—greeted him, gripping curved sickle-swords in both hands.
"Gonna fight me with swords?"
Azadin gripped his own blade and charged forward.
-Kazas Heron Sweep!
His body swept horizontally in a massive arc, sword lashing out. Like a storm's fury transmitted through the blade—in an instant, it calmed to refined sword ki.
A wild rush that suddenly refined its savagery into controlled speed at the point of contact: a horizontal slash.
-Spuuurt!
Azadin's sword cleaved through the former Mezzeri apostle Wendigos in one go. Moreover, as he slashed, his body slid across the ground like skating, instantly swapping positions.
"Amazing! No wonder your blades wear out every time used like that!"
Ismail clicked his tongue, realizing why Azadin went through weapons so fast.
"Cover me! I'll investigate the altar!"
Azadin asked his comrades for protection and leaped toward the altar.
*********
The Wendigos spewed frost, freezing the surroundings. The chill from these horrific monsters—undead remade through further mutation—was nightmare-cold.
'Getting hard to endure.'
Azadin took deep breaths, circulating blood through his body. It drained stamina but banished the cold. Thus, he broke through the Wendigo pack to reach the altar.
"If we hold a funeral for the sacrifice on the altar... that should do something!"
The one sacrificed in this vile ritual. Entrusting his death to the Three Great Archangels Azadin believed in—the merciful angels—for purification could weaken the Wendigo relic activated through him.
Azadin, once a disciple of Elder Kazas who researched Nether magic, wasn't ignorant of Nether spells and rites. In front of Mrs. Liz or others, he'd feigned ignorance, listening and asking questions.
Azadin spotted a human corpse beside the altar. The sacrifice used to unleash the Wendigo was a young man. Perhaps Sir Brock's servant—sturdy and handsome.
As Azadin approached the body, the Wendigos focused their assault on him. But his comrades unleashed fierce counterattacks, holding off the onslaught.
"Good!"
Azadin secured the sacrificed corpse and folded its hands over its chest. The belly was gutted, innards devoured, flesh torn from various spots—traces of the Wendigo ritual via human sacrifice, kin-eating, cannibalism.
'That woman!'
Azadin felt rage boiling toward Mrs. Liz.
She'd excused it as unavoidable, accidental, but the corpse proved it all lies. No way this was coincidence or mistake as she claimed.
'Completely deliberate, wasn't it?'
Azadin frowned and began sanctifying the corpse.
"Great Archangels of wisdom, courage, and mercy, have pity. Take compassion on this soul forced to meet death and guide its path."
It was right then.