Chapter 42: The Curse of Dawn (2)

Serati cautiously surveyed her surroundings. The basement of the Ranpelt estate was enormous. Its ceiling soared nearly seven meters high, and the space stretched over twenty meters in width.

Is this really supposed to be a wine cellar? It’s way too big.

Upon closer inspection, she understood the reason it was so big. The structure had originally been divided into a first and second basement floor. The walls and floors between the levels had been demolished, merging the two into a single massive chamber.

Where are Alius and Riltaine?

While she searched for her comrades, Straph struggled to calm himself. He had been momentarily caught off guard, but upon reflection, the situation wasn’t incomprehensible. The strategy itself wasn’t particularly sophisticated. They had simply diverted his attention to the exterior of the estate and used the opportunity to sneak inside.

He had merely failed to anticipate that a cowardly necromancer would abandon the safety of his zombie horde and plunge into danger himself.

Fixing his glare on Karnak and his companions, Straph muttered, “You’ve deceived me.”

“And you fell for it splendidly,” Karnak replied with a mocking smirk, sizing him up and down. “You look exhausted. Spent a lot of power dealing with the zombies, didn’t you?”

“Hmm...” Straph groaned softly. Karnak wasn’t wrong.

He had expended a significant amount of energy maintaining his necromancy. While he still held a considerable advantage over Karnak, the gap was no longer overwhelming. The certainty of victory he once held due to his overwhelming pool of necrotic power had diminished.

Should I recall the forces I deployed outside to replenish my strength?

As he pondered, Karnak’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Thinking of pulling back your necromantic arts to recover energy? Sure, go ahead.”

Karnak’s tone was almost indifferent.

“In that case, we’ll just retreat. Then the zombie horde will have free rein to flood into this basement.”

“Wait. Can you take him down with just your zombies, young master?” Varos asked.

“Oh, definitely not. He’s way too strong for that,” Karnak admitted, gesturing to the chamber around them. “But they can certainly destroy this underground facility, don’t you think?”

Everywhere they looked, red magic circles and symbols were etched into the walls and floor. Crimson, pulsating chunks of flesh throbbed grotesquely, clinging to the pillars and ceiling.

To the untrained eye, it was a scene straight out of hell. But Karnak recognized it immediately. It was an altar. It was a sacrificial altar meant to steep captured offerings in malice and death energy before presenting them to a demon. Karnak himself had built countless altars like this in the past.

“There’s no way he could restore something of this scale in just a few days, right?”

Varos chimed in with mock cheerfulness. “So we can just take a nice break and come back tomorrow night, huh?”

“Exactly!”

Straph’s face twisted with irritation. If the zombie horde from outside reached the basement, it would spell disaster. This wasn’t just a question of victory or defeat—if the battle reached this location, he’d lose the altar. He had invested far too much time and effort into creating it to let it be destroyed so easily. Still, he hated the thought of being dragged along by Karnak’s game.

“So you’re going to flee? Abandon the comrades you came to rescue?” Straph sneered.

“Well, I’d be worried, of course...” Karnak shrugged casually. “But if the altar is destroyed, at least they won’t be sacrificed, right?”

Varos interjected again, his tone sharp. “What if he just kills them outright?”

“A necromancer, throwing away rare sacrifices like a high-ranking cleric and a mage? Just to annoy me? Yeah, not likely.”

Straph’s expression darkened further. They were blatantly manipulating him, and he knew it. The problem was that they weren’t wrong. High-value sacrifices like Karnak’s allies were far too precious to simply discard.

“Fine. I’ll play along.”

Straph stepped out from behind the protective barrier of his necromantic circle.

“But you’ve misunderstood one thing.”

The tentacles that had coiled around his arms slid back into the fleshy walls.

“I may be exhausted, but...”

Darkness surged at his feet, spiraling upward and spreading across the chamber.

“...I’m not so tired that I can’t deal with the likes of you.”

Uuuuuhhh...

Uuuhhh...

All around them, corpses began to rise. Each one was massive and heavily armored—a horde of powerful ghouls. They were the bodies of shadow hunters Straph had captured and preserved. Dark mana reverberated through the chamber, filling it with an oppressive, suffocating presence.

“Just because a lion is weary doesn’t mean it can’t catch a rat!” Straph bellowed.

***

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The ghouls, clad in armor and wielding swords and shields, let out savage roars as they charged.

“Graaaahhh!”

“Raaaaahhh!”

Varos and Serati immediately sprang forward, their blades weaving through the chaos as they sliced their way into the fray. Karnak raised his hands. Unlike before, he now had a reserve of necrotic power to draw from. This wasn’t like the times when he had to rely solely on chaotic mana.

“Come forth, slaves of the soul. I summon you from the depths of purgatory...!”

With his chant,

Echoes of the Netherworld,

a dark spell summoning cursed souls, activated. From various points across the basement floor, cursed spirits arose. They hurled themselves at the ghouls.

“Kyahaha!”

“Skreeee!”

Moans, shrieks, and strange, discordant sounds mingled into a chaotic symphony of battle. Victory did not come easily to either side.

Straph’s necromancy, while crude, was backed by immense power. In contrast, Karnak’s necromancy was precise and efficient, but he was significantly outmatched in terms of raw energy. This balance translated into an evenly matched battle between the ghouls and the spirits. As Karnak maintained his spells, he observed Straph closely.

Let’s see what you do next.

Straph made no attempt to employ additional necromantic wards or summon new enchantments. Instead, he focused all his dark power on amplifying the ghouls’ strength.

“Rise, my servants! Let death shield you!”

A torrent of corrupted dark energy poured over the fallen ghouls, strengthening them further and bringing them back to their feet. The tide of battle began to shift. Both the cursed spirits and the efforts of Varos and Serati faltered under the onslaught of the empowered ghouls.

“Damn it!”

“These things are even stronger now...!” Serati exclaimed.

Inwardly, Karnak gave Straph some credit.

He’s got decent adaptability.

Straph avoided deploying additional necromantic barriers, instead sticking to his pre-summoned ghouls. This suggested he was wary of Karnak’s countermeasures for nullifying barriers.

Though I doubt he understands the full reasoning behind it.

Karnak surmised that Straph knew barriers were ineffective but didn’t grasp why.

If he knew why, he would have just used a simpler necromantic barrier.

Regardless, the situation worked in Karnak’s favor. If things continued this way, Straph’s mana would steadily deplete. However, that would require Karnak’s group to hold their ground...

“Miss Serati! Left flank!” Varos shouted.

“Got it, Mister Varos!”

The experienced Varos coordinated seamlessly with the aura-wielding Serati. Together, their efforts exceeded expectations. Although they were initially overwhelmed, their teamwork quickly turned the tide. As they worked in tandem, the number of defeated ghouls steadily increased, further deepening the scowl on Straph’s face. Karnak’s lips curled into a cold smile as he watched.

Now it’s time for you to play your trump card, isn’t it?

***

Varos and Serati darted through the battlefield. The cursed spirits clashed with the advancing ghouls in endless waves. With each collision, dark mana swirled violently throughout the chamber.

Woooooong! Wooooooong!

Straph broke into a cold sweat.

Damn it...

The fiercer the vortex of energy grew, the faster his necromantic reserves drained.

I didn’t expect that bastard to push me this far...

At this rate, he’d be left completely spent and vulnerable. He needed to act now. Fortunately, Straph still had the strength for one final gambit. Gritting his teeth, he raised his voice and invoked his ultimate summoning. He poured every last shred of his remaining necromantic power into calling forth his strongest weapon.

“Come forth, demon of Gehenna!”

A portal of darkness opened in midair. Through the abyssal gate, the hellish landscape of Gehenna became visible. From its depths emerged a towering, three-meter-tall giant cloaked in blood-red flesh.

Serati gasped in horror.

“A demon!”

Varos, however, appeared unimpressed.

“Oh, it’s Maz-nun again. He’s using that again?”

Even Karnak couldn’t resist smirking.

“Knew he’d go there.”

If even Varos had expected it, how could Karnak not have? It was no surprise. If pushed into a corner, Straph would undoubtedly resort to summoning Maz-nun. A demon of the abyss, Maz-nun’s power was equivalent to that of a purple knight, making it Straph’s strongest card.

But Karnak had prepared for this. Behind him, the shadows began to stir ominously. Demon summoning was a complex art, akin to necromantic warding. And anything intricate could be broken.

“Let’s end this,” Karnak said with a confident gleam in his eye.

A simple necromantic barrier covered the demon summoning ritual. Confusion disrupted the spell, and the summoning process began to unravel.

Boom!

The portal of darkness began shrinking, its once-overwhelming infernal energy rapidly losing potency. The demon, who had been poised to answer the call, glanced around in bewilderment.

“H-huh?”

A startled demon, and an equally flustered Straph. Watching the two, Karnak grinned from ear to ear.

With this nullified, he won’t have any necrotic power left.

Everything was going according to plan. Until now, at least.

Boom!

A sudden, thunderous noise echoed as the portal abruptly stopped shrinking. Karnak’s eyes went wide.

“...Huh?”

***

The portal of darkness had initially been several meters tall—large enough for the three-meter-tall demon, Maz-nun, to step through comfortably. But now, it was barely a meter wide, more of a window than a door.

Varos stared blankly at the scene beyond the window, where the demon stood in the fiery landscape of Gehenna.

Maz-nun, equally confused, stared back at the humans through the portal.

A bizarre tableau unfolded: a demon and a human silently blinking at each other, separated by a shrunken portal. It was the kind of spectacle money couldn’t buy. Varos turned to Karnak, utterly baffled.

“Young master, the portal stopped closing halfway.”

Maz-nun was no less perplexed.

What is this?

The door of darkness was open—technically. But it was barely the size of a pet flap. If he really tried, Maz-nun could squeeze through, but it would require crawling on all fours. For a noble demon of the abyss, such indignity was unthinkable.

Should I abandon the contract?

It would be a shame, though. The summoner had promised a significant number of souls in exchange for his service.

Fine... no helping it.

Maz-nun reached out toward the portal with both his hands. His crimson fingers gripped its edges, infusing it with his power. Red sparks crackled and shot in all directions.

Zzzzt!

The portal began to expand again, widening under the demon’s sheer willpower.

“Lord Karnak! The portal!” Serati shouted.

Boom!

With an explosive sound, the portal shattered, and the room filled with black smoke. From the haze emerged a towering shadow.

A booming voice echoed through the chamber. “Summoner, speak your desire!”

Straph, who had been frozen in shock, scrambled to respond. “K-kill the men and bring the woman to me!”

“Same terms as before, then,” Maz-nun muttered with a wry grin, turning his gaze toward Karnak and his companions.

The terms hadn’t changed, but one thing was different from before.

“This time, I can see you clearly,” the demon sneered.

His piercing eyes swept over Varos and Serati, both visibly tense and sweating. The abyssal demon Maz-nun was a high-ranking entity, far beyond the current strength of either Varos or Serati. The gap in power was overwhelming.

Varos gripped his sword, his voice trembling as he asked, “Young master, this is part of the plan too, right?”

Karnak’s response was less than reassuring. “Uh... I didn’t see this coming....”