Chapter 120: Cultists and Monsters (5)

After meeting Lapicel, a hypothesis began to take shape. It was possible that one of the future Archmages had followed Karnak and Varos back to this time. If that speculation were true, the question remained: how would such an Archmage regard the former Monarch of Death?

—You probably didn’t treat them all too kindly, right?

Serati asked.

Karnak chuckled bitterly.

—If they’ve regained their will, they’d probably be just as eager as Lapicel to tear me to shreds.

Dealing with one crazed Lapicel had been arduous enough. If a fully capable seeker of the tenth circle appeared, could Karnak even manage to escape? Yet, oddly enough, Karnak didn’t seem overly concerned about that possibility. While his earlier carelessness could be attributed to ignorance, he was fully aware of the dangers now.

—Are you really fine using your real name so openly? Shouldn’t you at least use an alias?

Serati pressed.

—Well, about that...

Karnak paused, choosing his words carefully before continuing.

—I don’t know if that hypothesis is true, but if it is, one thing is certain.

A time traveler wouldn’t know who the Monarch of Death and the Death Knight Lord had been in the past.

—The fact that the Zestrad Estate still exists is proof of that. Otherwise, they’d have come to kill us long ago.

—What about the sudden appearance of the copper mine?

—That part’s unsettling, but I think it’s still a coincidence. I haven’t found anything suspicious about it.

Varos, standing nearby, offered his own thoughts.

—Neither the young master or I ever told anyone about our past.

They were simply Karnak and Varos. They had never mentioned Zestrad by name. Having wiped out the estate’s lord and all its inhabitants using necromancy, they had been fugitives. Speaking of their origins would have been tantamount to signing their own death warrants.

—And by the time we gained enough power, there was no need to talk about it anymore.

—Neither of us had a habit of reminiscing about the past while drinking.

—We were forward-thinking, focused on the future!

Serati’s expression turned peculiar.

That’s not true. They reminisce constantly. They’re practically old men stuck in the past.

Then again, it made sense. Both of them were now over a hundred years old. Considering just their age, they were practically ancient by any standard.

—Besides, both of us look completely different now.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Back when the world had turned against them, Karnak and Varos had been middle-aged, far from the youthful, vibrant appearance they now had.

—And even that middle-aged appearance didn’t last long, did it?

One had become mere bones, the other a bluish corpse knight. Even if someone traveled back in time, the only lead they’d have to find Karnak and Varos would be their names.

And those names weren’t particularly rare. Karnak was derived from an ancient architectural term, often used by nobles as a name for their children. Varos, meanwhile, was a relatively common name among the common folk of the Seven Kingdoms.

They had no surname, their appearances had changed, and their names were not unique. For a time traveler to locate them, the only clue would be the fact that a Karnak and a Varos were traveling together.

—But even if they manage to find us, they wouldn’t dare approach me directly.

Unlike Lapicel, whose soul he had torn apart, the other Martial Kings and the three Archmages had retained their intelligence. Karnak had instead engraved loyalty directly into their souls, manipulating their personalities to make them his subordinates.

This was entirely different from how Varos and Serati had been bound as vassals. A vassal bond was akin to placing a metaphorical shackle on the soul. While it enslaved the person, their memories and personality remained intact. Their souls remained unchanged, which was why Serati could still use aura.

Moreover, when someone transcended time and space, only their soul would transfer, leaving the metaphorical shackles behind. This explained why the bond between Karnak and Varos had broken.

However, for the Martial Kings and Archmages, the loyalty engravings were etched directly into their souls. Such powerful adversaries required harsher methods than a mere vassal bond to control.

—Even if they transcend time and return to this era, the engravings on their souls wouldn’t disappear.

Perhaps the Monarch of Death’s disappearance had allowed them to regain their sense of self. Perhaps they had attempted to traverse time and space out of anger toward the Monarch of Death, and they might have even succeeded. But even if they had returned to the past, they would never dare to approach Karnak directly.

—Because if they did, they would fall under my control once again.

The current Karnak no longer exerted the same influence over the world as he had during the era of Astra Shunaph. However, at his current level, he could still reactivate the soul imprint as long as they were within a close enough distance. Once they reunited, he could easily turn them back into loyal subordinates.

—And they’re well aware of this fact.

Therefore, they would never act in person. Instead, they would use their underlings to find the two of them. That was why Karnak deliberately spread his and Varos’s names in various places.

—Hoping that in the process of searching for us, they would leave behind their own clues.

Serati tilted her head as she listened to his explanation.

—Is that really necessary?

The Three Archmages were not reclusive hermits hidden away in some mysterious place. Their whereabouts were somewhat known to the public.

—Couldn’t you just go to them directly?

If a simple meeting would suffice to bring them back as loyal subordinates, why all this hesitation?

—This is only assuming my hypothesis is correct.

Karnak’s expression hardened slightly.

—But what if it’s wrong?

Even before meeting Lapicel, he had harbored suspicions about the Three Archmages. He theorized that they were the very ones who had developed the cult’s ritual that fused necromancy and magic.

But what if they weren’t time regressors? What if they were simply archmages of this era who had, for some reason, become part of the Cult of the Black God? What if he faced them as pure enemies, without any soul imprint to rely on?

—It would be fortunate if we’re even left with corpses.

If he exposed everything prematurely and they turned out not to be regressors, he would have no countermeasures left. So he leaked only their names while concealing other information, keeping his distance and observing their reactions.

—Of course, neither hypothesis might be correct. It’s all unverified speculation.

As they were engrossed in their conversation, the sound of footsteps echoed from outside. They quickly composed their expressions and fell silent.

Moments later, the door opened, and Alius stepped in. "The interrogation is complete, Sir Karnak."

"Is it my turn now?"

As if he had been waiting, Karnak stood up.

Varos asked, "Why do they want to see you, my lord?"

"I’ll explain when I return."

***

Inside the underground prison, built with solid stone walls, four cultists captured during the day were imprisoned. All of them were in a state of exhaustion, likely due to the harsh interrogation they had undergone. Karnak carried his staff to a corner of the prison and began channeling chaos mana.

"Those who trespass here shall find their power turned against them..."

A faint magic circle formed and quickly seeped into the prison walls, disappearing from sight.

Turning back, he spoke. "It’s done."

Priest Belton expressed his gratitude. "Thank you for your efforts. With this, even if a cult spy attempts something, we’ll be prepared."

Karnak had been tasked with setting up magical traps around the underground prison. If there were indeed a spy within the temple of Saisha, they would be caught by the trap when attempting to approach the prison unnoticed.

Of course, both Alius and the priest Belton could also cast various divine wards for protection, and they had already set some up. However, the presence of a spy within the temple implied that they might be highly familiar with divine magic. In case they managed to bypass the divine wards, it was deemed safer to also rely on magical defenses.

"We do have cooperating mages, but they’re all currently away."

"And there’s no guarantee that those collaborators aren’t spies themselves."

As Karnak looked down at the cultists sprawled across the prison floor, he asked, "Did these men know anything of value? If know about Hudel, I’d think they might hold relatively high positions."

Alius clicked his tongue in frustration. "Unfortunately, they’re underlings in a different sense of the word."

The interrogation of the cultists had already concluded, but little of worth had been gleaned. The only cultist Rimaik knew was Hudel, the dark cardinal. He was utterly unaware of the existence of other cultists within the domain. He had only been acting under Hudel’s direct orders.

"Underlings, yes, but direct subordinates," Alius explained.

It seemed that when Hudel was absent from the domain, as he was now, they had no particular tasks to perform. No wonder Rimaik had been wandering aimlessly, foraging for wild roots.

"And how do they contact Hudel when necessary?" Karnak asked.

"They don’t. It’s a purely one-sided relationship where they only receive orders," Alius replied.

To make matters worse, the other three cultists didn’t even know Hudel was a follower of the Black God. They simply followed Rimaik’s orders to act as messengers between the cultists beyond the mountains and those in the Seven Kingdoms.

Karnak nodded, finding it reasonable. "Makes sense. None of them seemed particularly capable."

Still, the information they had was enough to present as evidence to the Brigade of Purification. By tomorrow morning, they planned to send a messenger to Kallat City to initiate contact.

"Which means, from now on..." Alius said, gesturing toward the cultists. "Our task is to keep them safe until the Brigade of Purification arrives.”

***

"So, that’s roughly the situation," Karnak explained after returning to the room.

Varos tilted his head in confusion. "Why wait until morning to send a messenger? Wouldn’t it be more prudent to send one now?"

Serati gave Varos a sharp look, as if scolding him for being an unreasonable employer. "Sir Varos, living people require something called sleep, you know."

Even if that weren’t the case, the nights of this era were far from safe, hardly a time to send someone riding into the darkness. Only someone like Varos, who constantly dealt with the undead, could be so oblivious.

"At this point, the cultists’ next move will be one of two things," Karnak continued.

The first option was to eliminate their captured comrades.

"They’ll try to kill them all before the Brigade of Purification arrives to silence them. Judging by the lack of importance these men seem to have, it doesn’t look like anyone will attempt a rescue."

The second option was to destroy any evidence connecting the cult to Count Grental.

"If Hudel were still here, they’d likely choose the latter," Karnak said.

After all, even with plenty of witnesses, they were still just cultists. The cultists’ claims could easily be dismissed as lies, and no one would dare challenge an imperial noble without irrefutable evidence. The difference between mere suspicion and being branded a cultist was enormous.

"But with Hudel gone, the remaining members can’t act so boldly."

This was the downside of a decentralized organization. Operating in such secrecy made it difficult for anyone but the key figures to know what truly mattered. When the leader was absent, the others were left with limited options. Thus, the cultists would be left with one option. They would try to eliminate captured, as quietly as possible.

"There’s no way they’d launch a full-scale assault on the temple, would they?” Karnak said.

That would be outright rebellion. Such an act would brand the entire Grental territory as enemies of the empire and irreversibly mark Count Hudel as a cultist. It would destroy everything the cult had built in the region.

"No one with any sense would do that," he added.

Instead, they would likely use hidden operatives to carry out the task in secret.

"They’re probably planning to use this opportunity to test their spies."

Thanks to that, the nights would undoubtedly grow noisy for a while. The cultists would wait until sunset and send assassins relentlessly.

"Our job, therefore, is simple," Karnak concluded.

Karnak shifted his gaze to the window. Far beyond the castle village, under the pale glow of the moonlight, the silhouette of Count Grental’s castle loomed faintly.

"Relax, eat temple food, rest, and wait for the alarm to sound. Then we’ll catch the spies and extract information..."

It was then Karnak stopped abruptly in the middle of his words.

"Huh?"

Beyond the scenery, a thick, ominous darkness began to spread slowly, creeping outward. It was a sight he knew all too well. After all, it was something he had often unleashed in his previous life.

When he summoned hordes of zombies, ghouls, and other evil spirits and monsters to form an army, the surrounding aura would become polluted, transforming the landscape into the very image unfolding before him now.

"Uh, young master?"

Varos, who had also glanced out the window, let out a dry laugh.

"They’re blatantly marching straight toward the temple."