131. Army Of The Dead (1)
“What?! What the hell is this······!”
The guards exclaimed in surprise at the sight before them revealed by the light magic.
The path leading to the rainwater tunnel, which had been closed off, was open.
It was supposed to be a tightly sealed barricade.
The cross-section was roughly cut, as if it had been broken by a sword.
I approached and touched the broken wood.
‘It was broken recently.’
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It wasn’t broken long ago.
It must have been broken by the warlock who had just entered here.
What’s in the rainwater tunnel······?
“What should we do, Saintess? Should we explore the inside ourselves?”
“Yes. Let’s go in.”
“Everyone. Switch to the elemental protection formation. Maknae. You go up and let the outside know that someone has infiltrated the rainwater tunnel.”
“Yes!”
In an instant, the guards surrounded me and prepared to enter.
I don’t know what the warlock is trying to do in the rainwater tunnel yet.
What if he’s trying to collapse the cathedral by detonating explosives underground······?
A terrible disaster will happen.
Every second counts.
There’s no time to hesitate, we have to go in and stop the warlock right now.
Knowing that, the guards were also preparing for battle with grim expressions.
“Let’s go in.”
We began to charge inside.
Cautiously, but without slowing down.
We proceeded through the dark sewer, relying on the light of the light magic.
I was afraid that an ambush, a trap, or a formation might be hidden and attack us, but nothing jumped out of the sewer.
And soon, the vast space of the rainwater tunnel, which had been built to accommodate the rainwater of Cologne, began to gradually appear.
But it’s too dark to see anything.
Is there something like a silhouette?
“Holy Light!”
Whoosh!
A flash of light burst from my fingertips, flew up, and stopped just below the ceiling, scattering bright light in all directions.
The dark rainwater tunnel was instantly illuminated.
And the identity of the silhouette we had seen was revealed.
“Gasp!”
“W, what is this?!”
People standing stiffly.
Their faces were pale, their eyes wide open, but they showed no reaction.
It’s the same as Cardinal Nicholas I saw today.
Those people are now all standing in a row.
There are easily over 500 of them!
We were shocked for a moment, but quickly regained our composure.
“That’s······ what was taken from Elvengard······.”
And the body of a huge spider surrounded by people.
At the end of it is a grotesque figure with the upper body of a woman.
This spider is also lying dead.
“They’re all dead······.”
I approached and checked the people’s pulses and put my hand on their hearts, and it was certain.
These people are all dead.
The dead bodies are stiff and standing like mannequins.
So I didn’t take Cardinal Nicholas’s pulse wrong.
The cardinal was also dead······.
“What the hell is this······.”
Over 500 corpses are lined up in a row.
What kind of hobby is this?
I suddenly feel a chill, as if a cold air is blowing in.
Even on the floor, there are unintelligible red lines drawn haphazardly.
It’s probably a huge formation, but I don’t know what it’s for.
Are they trying to do something by sacrificing these corpses?
I’m even more scared because I don’t know the opponent’s purpose.
A warlock using over 500 corpses as sacrifices.
What will the result be······.
“I know you’re hiding here! Come out now, warlock!”
To find out, we have to catch the warlock who just hid here.
What the hell are you doing?
Why are you sacrificing so many people······.
I grit my teeth in anger.
But I have to calm down.
Getting excited and narrowing my vision is exactly what the other person wants.”There’s no room to breathe! That means one of these people is the culprit!”
I inspect their faces as I pass by each of the stiff corpses.
The enemy is among them.
It’s clear that they’re pretending to be corpses and standing still.
So now I just have to examine them one by one and find the one that flinches.
“Come out! Quickly! Come out quickly······!”
“Saintess, calm down.”
“I am calm right now.”
“You’re not calm at all. You’re losing your mind. Let’s go outside and call for backup. It’s too dangerous to search on top of the magic circle. Anyway, there’s only one entrance here, so the sorcerer will be trapped here even if we leave.”
“Whew······.”
The guard blocks my way.
I grit my teeth and barely manage to calm down my excitement.
He’s right.
I can’t control my anger right now.
It’s a reckless plan to try to identify the sorcerer by checking them one by one right now.
If we end up in close combat with the sorcerer, we’ll all end up as corpses······.
It’s the right thing to do to back off.
I know that in my head, but it’s hard to do it.
“I understand. I think it’s right to go back in with the paladins and mages. But I can’t just leave it like this······.”
I put my hand on the floor and start to use my magic.
I’m casting the 4th-level holy magic, Holy Shield.
A yellow light gradually emanates and envelops the corpse of the spider monster.
It seems that the enemy is using that corpse to do something, so I’m making it impossible to touch the corpse.
This should buy us some time.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
I run back the way I came.
One of the guards went to call for backup, but that was when he didn’t know the situation inside.
He’ll realize the seriousness of the situation when he tells them that the crazy sorcerer has killed 500 people and turned them into mummies.
“Ugh······. It’s bright······.”
I hurry up the ladder and climb up to the ground where the bright sunlight is shining.
The guards who were following me all climb up and by the time their eyes adjust to the sunlight.
We notice that there are quite a few people gathered around us.
And the one in front of me is none other than Cardinal Nicholas.
The moment I met his cold gaze, I felt goosebumps all over my body.
This man.
He’s a corpse!
“Arrest Cardinal Nicholas! This man is not alive-“
“Oh dear.”
“Ugh?!”
At that moment, the Cardinal’s kick strikes my abdomen.
I fly backwards and fall down the sewer.
The guards rush over in surprise, but it’s too late to catch me.
“aaah! No······!”
At that moment, the entrance closes with a thud and the light disappears.
I fall down and lose consciousness with a dull thud.
At the last moment······.
I felt like someone caught me and held me in their arms······.
.
.
.
“What is the meaning of this, Your Eminence?!”
“What have you done to the Saintess!”
Thud.
The entrance to the sewer was closed by Cardinal Nicholas.
And the spears of the guards and knights were pointed at Cardinal Nicholas, who was standing on the entrance.
Something unbelievable had just happened before their eyes.
The Cardinal had kicked the Saintess and thrown her down into the basement.
It was at least two stories high, so if she fell headfirst, there was a high probability that she would die.
The Cardinal had intended to kill the Saintess.
There was no other way to interpret his actions.
That’s why the soldiers were even more confused.
The position of Cardinal is one that can only be held by those who have passed numerous tests and inspections and are known for their integrity and fairness.
If that’s what he did, they wondered if there was some kind of reasonable reason.
“Explain yourself!”
“I’m sure you’re all confused because I did this so suddenly without saying anything. But please listen to what I have to say. The Saintess I just pushed down is a fake.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying that the sorcerer has transformed himself into a fake Saintess. It would have been difficult for you to tell with your eyes, but it’s hard to escape my eyes.”
“Is, is that really true? That the Saintess was a fake?”
There was a commotion here and there.The tips of the spears began to shake.
That was how persuasive the Cardinal’s words were.
However, that alone was not enough.
The hastily made logic quickly revealed its flaws.
“Then step aside, Cardinal. We will go down and arrest the fake saintess. Then we can just dispel the transformation magic.”
“That is impossible. The opponent is extremely powerful. Even now, I am barely able to keep her locked up by blocking the entrance.”
“We have 10 paladins gathered here. It will be fine.”
“Oh my. You would need to bring 10 Swordmasters to even stand a chance against her. I suppose I should request cooperation from around the world.”
“Cardinal. Do you realize how suspicious you are acting right now? For now, please step aside from the sewer entrance.”
“······.”
One by one, they began to become convinced.
Convinced that the Cardinal was now spouting nonsense.
He was now doing everything he could to prevent anyone from going down there.
He was preventing them from revealing the truth about the saintess’s authenticity.
“In the absence of Vice-Captain Solara, I, Maximus! The 1st Division Captain, will take command! The Order of the Holy Knights arrests Cardinal Nicholas Dechtertraum for attempted murder of the saintess! From this moment forward, all of Cardinal Nicholas’s authority is revoked!”
“hehehehe······. You would be wise not to do this.”
The paladins closed in on Nicholas, narrowing the encirclement.
He laughed in a hollow manner, as if in defeat.
He lowered his head for a moment and chuckled, but a bitter smile quickly spread across his lips.
“Heh······. Zeno. Do not let anyone touch the entrance.”
“What? Zeno? Why is the Vice-Captain’s younger brother’s name-“
Kwaang!
At that moment, a loud noise rang out and smoke billowed out.
An explosion engulfed the paladins, and several of them collapsed, heavily injured.
A powerful magical force, strong enough to make their heads spin, was scattered in all directions.
It was magic cast by an immature mage who could not control the flow of magic.
Nevertheless, its power was more than enough to inflict damage on the paladins.
“Ze, Zeno? Why!”
[Everything······ for the sake of······ Lady Luna······.]
While the paladins were helping their injured comrades.
A boy figure walked out from the thick smoke.
On his left chest, a red light flickered and blinked.
He stretched out his hand.
The paladins were terrified by the enormous amount of magical power gathering at his fingertips.
“Damn it! What did you do to Zeno!!!”
Kwaang!
Another explosion magic spell detonated, and the screams of the paladins were drowned out by the deafening noise.
The back of the cathedral was transformed into a scene of carnage in an instant.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Nicholas, who had been hiding behind Zeno and standing at the entrance to the sewer.
His skin had turned pale and he had frozen stiff.
As if something was flowing out of his body, the surrounding air grew cold.
Soon, the cold air moved downward and seeped into the ground.
.
.
.
“Ugh······ Ahhh. It hurts so much······.”
I must have hit my head on the floor and lost consciousness for a while······.
As soon as I opened my eyes again, my body instinctively curled up from the excruciating pain in the back of my head.
However, when I touched the back of my head, there was no wound.
It wasn’t even swollen.
‘Is this······ a potion?’
A slippery, viscous liquid was smeared on my head.
I licked it with my tongue, and it was definitely a high-grade potion.
Who put this on me?
No, more importantly, how long have I been unconscious in this darkness?
‘Cardinal Nicholas, that son of a b*tch!’
I remembered!
I was kicked down here by Cardinal Nicholas!
Cardinal Nicholas is no longer the man we knew.
He is already dead, and his corpse is being controlled.
The people on the surface don’t know that yet, so I have to hurry and tell them.
With that thought in mind, I was fumbling around in the darkness, searching for the ladder, when I suddenly felt a presence nearby, and my body froze.
“If you have woken up, do not answer, do not move, and do not use magic. Just listen. If you make a sound, you will die.”
“······!”
It was a familiar voice.
No. It was a beloved voice.The voice I had been searching for so desperately.
For a moment, I thought I was dreaming.
I doubted whether I was hearing things.
However, when I noticed that he was speaking in plain language, not the honorifics he usually whispered to me, I knew that this was not my imagination but reality.
Eugene is now in front of me.
I can’t see him because of the darkness, but I’m sure of it.
It was a situation I had only dreamed of, but I couldn’t be happy.
Because his voice was trembling with tension.
I realized at once that it was a dangerous situation.
“I’m going to go up to the ground slowly from now on. You have to go up quietly without making a sound.”
“Wh, what’s going on?”
“Do you want to see it for yourself? I can turn on the light for a moment. Ignition.”
Click.
There was a small sound of fingers snapping.
A small light flashed, illuminating the surroundings for a very brief moment.
At that moment, I saw Eugene’s broad back as he stood with his back to me.
I could see that Eugene was holding a sword in his right hand.
I thought I saw a silhouette of something beyond him, but I couldn’t see it clearly.
“Do you understand the situation?”
“It was too short to see properly.”
“One more time.”
Click.
His fingers snapped again.
This time, I focused not on Eugene, but on what was beyond him.
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And then I had to hold back a scream of surprise.
“Ugh······!”
The bodies I had just seen.
The bodies were wandering around the sewer.
As if searching for something, they waved their hands in the air······.