Chapter 154: Master of the Dungeon (5)

Hugot moved busily. The altar had already been set up in the central sanctuary, but adjusting it for the descent ritual required a significant number of necromancers. Because of Karnak's raid, many subordinates had been lost. Now, aside from Hugot himself, only four dark priests remained in the Wellad Branch.

"We're short on manpower."

So, he raised the dead necromancers as undead. With necromancy, the death of an ally didn't necessarily mean a loss of combat power.

"When Tesranach descends, he shall grant you a new life. Until then, serve the church faithfully!"

"Yes."

"Understood."

The resurrected subordinates, now elder ghouls, retained their intelligence. They were also put to work preparing the ritual. A total of eight necromancers controlled the vast flow of dark energy and formed a barrier over the entire altar to prepare for the ritual. Hugot let out a sigh of relief while watching the process.

"At least everything is proceeding as planned."

The sacrifice for the ritual was Leven Strauss of the Strauss family. This had been planned six months ago, ever since Demphis had arrived from the main branch. Fortunately, the target was Leven and not Emil, the firstborn son. As the heir to the Martial King, Emil was someone they wouldn't dare touch without overwhelming force.

Leven, on the other hand, wasn't even an aura user. He was just a regular knight. His skill was considerable, but not beyond Hugot's ability to subdue. However, things hadn't gone smoothly. Unfortunately, Leven had joined the King’s Order of the Ethriel Kingdom, an elite force specifically trained to hunt the Church of the Black God.

On top of that, members of the King's Order rarely operated alone. However, it wasn’t as if they could wait for a time when Leven wasn’t on an official mission for the King’s Order. After all, he was part of the Strauss family. If anything, targeting him while on a King's Order mission was easier.

So Hugot had waited patiently. Then, by chance, the Wellad branch’s location was discovered, and even the Eustil Kingdom began moving against them. At first, Hugot had simply thought: annoying, but manageable.

Then he received a crucial piece of information. The King's Order agent assigned to the operation was Sir Stahr. Sir Stahr belonged to the same squad as Leven Strauss. Not only that, he was also a former treasure hunter, just like Leven.

In other words, if something happened to Stahr, then Leven would inevitably be sent in his place. From there, everything had fallen into place. Sir Stahr was met with an untimely accident, and Leven Strauss was assigned to the King's Order squad cooperating with Eustil's forces.

Then, as expected, he followed them straight into the Wellad branch. The only miscalculation was that the Eustil Kingdom’s forces were far stronger than expected.

"If Lord Demphis hadn't arrived in time, we would've been in serious trouble.”

Muttering to himself, Hugot glanced toward the prison. Inside, lying unconscious under a magical trance, were Leven, Lapicel, Milia, and Edia.

Hugot clicked his tongue upon seeing Edia. "I'll have to start all over again. Damn it."

The mind control he had placed on her had completely misaligned. Instead of pledging loyalty to the cult, she had been enthralled by a third party. And judging from the situation, that person was almost certainly one of the Eustil Kingdom’s King's Order.

Still, this wasn't a huge problem. If the object of loyalty disappeared, it would be easier to reestablish control. And, of course, those who had escaped would come back for their allies.

"The moment they show themselves again...” Thinking of that infuriating black-haired youth, Hugot gritted his teeth. "I'll offer them all as sacrifices and turn them into my power!"

***

At the collapsed cavern on the outskirts of the Maleficus Dungeon, three figures huddled together amid the ruins of broken stone and sand-covered pillars. Karnak, Varos, and Serati had managed to escape Demphis’s final attack.

"Phew... We survived because we were against Demphis."

Karnak clicked his tongue as he examined his cracked wand. They had been insanely lucky. He had already been intimately familiar with Dallas's magic, even having reverse-engineered some of its formulas. That was the only reason he had been able to redirect the spell's force at the last second.

"If it had been a fire spell or a pure destruction spell, we'd all be dead right now."

Serati shuddered at the thought. "No kidding. That would have been the end.”

Varos shook his head. “Actually, I don’t think that would’ve been

the end

."

“Huh?" Serati turned to him in disbelief. "Didn't we just barely escape death?"

"We did."

"And weren't we about to turn into wandering souls?"

"That's also correct."

There was just a fundamental difference in interpretation. To a true necromancer,

death

and becoming

wandering spirits

were merely different forms of existence. They were not the end.

Karnak muttered to himself, resting his chin on his hand. "If I hadn't blocked that, my body would've been completely obliterated."

After becoming a wandering spirit—more precisely, an undead—he would have drifted through the death energy in the dungeon and accumulated power by gathering miasma. Eventually, he would have pulled in nearby monsters, assembled a body from their corpses, and taken residence within it.

"Of course, if that had happened, I wouldn't have been able to live as a human anymore, so it really would've been a disaster.” Karnak ran his hands over his limbs and let out a sigh of relief. "That was a close call.”

He had gone through so much to obtain his body. The mere thought of losing it made his stomach church.

"But we still lost our other companions," Varos said, referring to Leven, Lapicel, and the others. "How are we supposed to rescue them?"

They hadn't been taken to be killed, so they were safe for the time being. But leaving them there wasn't an option either.

Karnak scratched his cheek awkwardly. "For now, I can't think of any good ideas..."

Serati's expression hardened. "I told you before, didn't I? If we need to do something a little bad to rescue our companions, then so be it."

Of course, she had never phrased it quite like that. But since these guys had interpreted it that way anyway, it was easier to just roll with it.

"Isn't it about time you returned to being a necromancer for a little while?"

The problem was that doing so would expose Karnak's true identity to Leven, Lapicel, and Milia.

"But if we just erase a little bit of their memories afterward..."

Karnak and Varos both looked at Serati in amusement.

"Serati, did you really just say that?"

"Right? That's usually my line."

"Then what do you suggest? We still have to save Lapicel somehow!"

At Serati's irritated outburst, Karnak let out a small chuckle.

"Fine. Leven, Milia, and Edia won't be a problem. As long as we erase about an hour of their memories, there shouldn't be any side effects."

Lapicel, however, was another story.

"Messing with her mind is risky... Her balance is already on the verge of collapse."

In any case, that was a problem to worry about after they got them back. For now, the real issue was something else.

"I already told you, didn't I? I can't think of any good ideas at the moment.” Still propping up his chin, Karnak muttered in a grave tone. "That was under the assumption that I'd use necromancy."

***

Back in Trist City, he had faced Bishop Straph. At the time, Karnak had had no hesitation about returning to being a necromancer. As a mage, he might have been powerless. But as a necromancer, he had been absolutely confident in his ability to crush his opponent. But now...

"Even if I use necromancy, I can't think of any way to defeat Demphis."

An archlich was a monster capable of destroying an entire city single-handedly. On top of that, Demphis was a ninth circle master. He was practically a one-man army.

"No matter how I run the calculations, if we face him head-on, we lose."

"Then what are we supposed to do? Just abandon them and run?"

Serati's question had been meant as sarcasm, but Karnak nodded seriously. "The old me would've."

And in fact, he had. He had never thrown himself into a losing battle. The entire continent had been his enemy, so it wasn't that he had never fought against the odds. But if there had ever been a chance to escape, he had never charged in recklessly.

Hostages? Companions? Subordinates? He had abandoned them without hesitation. No, he hadn't even thought of it as abandonment. The moment the situation turned against him, he had simply written them off as lost assets.

Varos murmured solemnly. "Yeah... We've never risked ourselves to save anyone before."

Serati frowned. "But you’ve risked yourselves to save each other, right?"

That was true. Even Karnak had risked himself to save those who were inside his inner circle. It was just that, until now, there had only ever been one person inside that circle. The same was true for Varos.

"So this is what it comes down to, huh?” Karnak's expression suddenly turned chilling. "If it were you who'd been captured, Serati, I might've given it more thought. You're just barely within the boundary of my circle now."

But in the end, he would have given up. Against an opponent of that caliber, with the odds stacked this badly, even Serati would have been written off as a

lost asset,

l

et alone the others.

Leven? Milia? Edia? They were just acquaintances. Among humans, they were the ones he was relatively close to. But were they worth risking the precious living body he had fought so hard to regain? No, they weren’t.

"Lapicel, though... Yeah, I can't say she doesn't bother me."

She was in a position similar to Serati’s. She was certainly teetering on the edge of Karnak's line. It was enough to make him hesitate, but not enough for him to be certain. To be honest, the old Karnak wouldn't have even bothered contemplating this. By now, he would have already abandoned them and been solely focused on figuring out how to escape this place safely.

"But that would mean living like I used to.” His real concern wasn't the safety of his companions. "Should I really stake my life just to avoid living the way I did before?"

Serati answered firmly. "Yes."

She said it so matter-of-factly that Karnak was momentarily caught off guard.

"Wait, are you saying it's obvious that I should risk my life?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

“I thought you turned back time because the old life you led wasn’t worth that much in the first place.”

For a moment, Karnak was at a loss for words.

Serati continued in a calm voice, her gaze unwavering. "Of course, not everyone lives their life constantly taking such risks. In fact, when people's own lives are truly on the line, more of them choose to abandon their comrades rather than save them."

And yet, even those people... were still more human than Karnak was now. Why?

"Because I don't think you'd feel even a shred of guilt for abandoning them."

"Well, probably not."

It was practically an insult to his face, but he didn't seem particularly offended.

Serati let out a bitter smile as she looked at him. "I didn't understand it before either. I used to think... is it really such a big deal? Sometimes, things just happen."

But now, she was certain. Because she had seen Karnak. She had learned what happened to a person when they lived without being human.

"There's something you always say, isn't there?"

Whenever tempted by overeating or drinking too much, Karnak would remind himself of one thing: That it always started with something small. And before you even realized it, your body was ruined.

"That doesn't apply to just the body."

Skip it just this once and do better next time? Could he really do that? He had already lived for more than a hundred years without managing to stop himself.

"The moment you abandon them...” Serati spoke slowly, her voice sinking deep. "You'll be abandoning your soul as well."

A heavy silence followed. She didn't say anything more. Instead, she quietly waited.

After a long while, a wry smirk formed on Karnak's lips. "

Tch.

Guess I'll have to go save them."