Chapter 60: A Clever Hunt for Heretics (1)

After resolving the matter of the Brellant family, Karnak’s group officially joined the King’s Order. Typically, they would have undergone two more probationary missions, but Tarman’s glowing evaluation led Commander Erantel to grant them immediate recognition.

From then on, they were assigned to the 4th Squad. They handled various cases and steadily achieved remarkable results. By the third month, Karnak’s team had earned enough trust to independently take on missions to eliminate heretics.

***

In the western region of the Kingdom of Eustil were the Relzebeth Mountains, which divided the northern continent from south to north. Deep within the reaches of the mountains, hundreds of people were gathered.

Most were ordinary farmers, over half of them women, children, and the elderly. These weak and vulnerable individuals huddled around campfires, their voices rising in fervent prayer.

“Watch over us...”

“Protect your lambs, o lord...”

They had fled tyranny, hiding in this desolate mountain wilderness, clinging to fragile hope as they prayed. Their devotion seemed pure and sincere. Too sincere, in fact.

A devout old man raised both hands high.

“Accept this offering!”

With that, he approached the fire, holding an infant in his arms.

“A blood sacrifice unto you!”

All of them were heretics devoted to the Cult of the Black God. Driven by madness, the crowd cried out in unison.

“This is the trial bestowed upon us by Tesranach...”

“Only those who pass the test may knock upon the gates of paradise!”

The baby’s cries grew louder, matched only by the crescendo of the zealots’ prayers. Finally, the old man stood before the fire. Just as the infant in his hands was about to be cast into the flames—

“You lunatics!”

A sharp voice rang out, and from beyond the fortress walls, a streak of crimson light shot forward. The bolt struck the fire pit, shattering it instantly and scattering embers in all directions.

Boom!

Amid the explosion, a figure soared over the fortress wall. It was a woman with fiery red hair streaming behind her. In her hands gleamed a radiant red aura blade, shining with a brilliant light. Panic erupted among the zealots, and they began to scatter.

“The King’s Order!”

“By the gods! The unbelievers from the kingdom are here!”

With the sacrificial fire destroyed, the old man holding the infant faltered, his movements frantic and disoriented.

“Th-This can’t be... without the fire, the ritual...”

The woman seized the opportunity. Swiftly, she closed the distance to the old man, kicked him aside, and plucked the infant from the air with ease. Her movements were so graceful that the baby suffered no shock, landing safely in her arms. She let out a sigh of relief.

“There, there. You’re safe now. It’s okay.”

The woman soothed the crying infant, but the old man burst into tears, his voice trembling with rage.

“Accursed hounds of the wicked goddess!”

The woman scoffed in disbelief.

“Wicked? Who’s the one trying to throw a baby into a fire, huh?”

The old man’s attitude didn’t waver. He remained utterly convinced that the woman, who had disrupted their sacred ritual, was a heinous sinner.

“Truly, you are a foolish unbeliever deceived by lies! Do you think what your eyes see is the only truth?”

“Deceived by lies? Are you seriously trying to say tossing a baby into the fire isn’t evil? What kind of nonsense is that?”

As she argued, a horn sounded from beyond the fortress walls.

Bwooooo!

Moments later, sections of the wall crumbled, and soldiers poured in. They were elite forces led by the King’s Order, the kingdom’s enforcers of justice.

“Soldiers of the kingdom, punish those who have forsaken humanity!”

***

Screams echoed from all directions. The agonized cries belonged to the heretics who fell under the soldiers’ blades.

“Aaaahhh!”

“Mother...”

“Tesranach...”

Most of them were simple farmers, people who had likely never experienced battle. They were no match for the elite soldiers. It was nothing short of a massacre. Yet, the soldiers’ expressions remained steady, showing little emotion.

“Heretics really are...”

“Utterly insane.”

These men had already seen what lay beyond the fortress walls. These so-called simple farmers had offered countless corpses, tied to wooden stakes, as sacrifices to their Black God. Simplicity did not equate to innocence. In fact, their simplicity had made them all the more susceptible to corruption.

“They’re an evil breed that must not be spared!”

Anger fueled the soldiers’ blades, leaving no hesitation in their strikes. Most of the heretics were slaughtered without resistance, calling out desperately to the god and priests they worshipped even as they died.

“Tesranach, hear us!”

“Palestil, save us!”

“Where are you, Darion?”

The priests of the Black God—the necromancers of darkness—whom the heretics called out to so desperately, could not protect them. They had already been intercepted by another foe.

***

Deep inside the fortress, on the second floor of a wooden structure, two necromancers stood facing off against three opponents: a young black-haired mage, a rough-looking blonde knight, and a youthful female priest. The necromancers’ gazes fixed on the mage, trembling with frustration.

“Damn it...”

“How did the King’s Order find us here...?”

They had moved in secret, carefully erasing their tracks, and yet their pursuers had found them far too easily. They had tracked them down and infiltrated this hidden stronghold as if it were nothing. It didn’t make sense.

How?

By what means?

The same question gnawed at the minds of the necromancers and the priest, Milia, a second-class inquisitor and servant of Latiel, the Goddess of the Sun.

“How exactly did you find this place so easily, Sir Karnak?”

She couldn’t fathom Karnak’s methods. He hadn’t gathered intelligence or deployed any tracking teams. All he had done was glance over the mountain terrain upon their arrival.

“There it is. Let’s go.”

It had seemed absurd, but she had followed his lead regardless. And when they arrived, there really was a heretic stronghold waiting for them. Karnak turned to Milia, his tone soothing.

“This isn’t the time for idle chatter, is it? I’ll explain later.”

He was completely right. Accepting his reasoning, Milia turned her attention on the necromancers before her.

“You’re right. Punishing them takes priority.”

Of course, Varos already knew the truth.

[So what excuse will you come up with this time, young master?]

[Let’s deal with them first, and I’ll think about it later. Coming up with excuses all the time is getting exhausting.]

At that moment, a red-haired woman entered the building. Having entrusted the rescued infant to another soldier, Serati had finally joined them.

“How are things outside, Serati?”

“The resistance is fairly intense, but there shouldn’t be any major casualties.”

She turned to Milia, her voice polite yet firm.

“Still, there could be injuries. Please, Priest Milia, please tend to the soldiers.”

“What? But as a priest, I’m needed to deal with the necromancers...”

Karnak interjected gently, his tone persuasive.

“The lives of our soldiers are just as precious as anyone else’s. We can handle the necromancers on our own. Shouldn’t protecting valuable lives come first?”

Milia was moved.

He values the lives of soldiers over his own safety!

It was the very image of a noble worth emulating. Refusing any further would only seem disrespectful to Karnak.

"Understood. May Latiel's blessings be with you."

Light radiated from Milia, enveloping Karnak, Varos, and Serati. It was a divine blessing of the goddess to counteract the powers of darkness.

"Then, I leave it to you!"

With that, Milia rushed out of the building to support the soldiers. The moment she was gone, the remaining group’s demeanor changed completely.

"Ah, she’s gone."

"Alright, take this off now, young master."

"Fine."

The necromancers were stunned. Dark energy surged from Karnak’s body, completely erasing the divine blessing Milia had placed upon him.

"What?!"

"The King’s Order... using dark power?"

Wiping away the blessing, Karnak sighed dramatically.

"Ah, what a bother. It’s not like I can tell her not to do it."

Serati frowned.

"She worked hard to give that blessing. Treating it like dirt under your nails doesn’t sit right with me."

Confused, the necromancers summoned their dark power.

"I don’t know what’s going on, but..."

"We are chosen by Tesranach!"

Around them, ghostly blue apparitions appeared—the spectral forms of bloodied knights and soldiers, shrieking in anguish.

Kyahhhhh!

It was Haunting Spirits of the Wasteland, a necromantic spell that summoned battlefield-bound spirits tethered to the land’s lingering grudges. Unlike the amateurs they had faced before, these necromancers had truly mastered the wisdom of the dark arts.

"We’ll show you the true power of darkness!"

Serati, however, remained unfazed. She already knew how this would end. Sure enough, a smile crept onto Karnak’s face.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Oh, they’re casting proper necromancy this time. Not bad at all."

This made things easier.

"Better than mindless brutes who only know how to wield raw power..."

He raised a single finger, tracing a light circle in the air.

"It’s always easier to exploit those who know what they’re doing."

The dark currents reversed, and the summoned spirits turned on the necromancers who had called them forth.

"What?! What’s happening?"

"Why aren’t they obeying me...?”

Screams filled the building.

“Aaaaahhh!”

***

Standing over the corpses of the necromancers, Karnak extended his right hand.

Whrrr...

Dark energy flowed out of the bodies and into his palm.

"Alright, I’ll take all this Shadow of Doom for myself."

With his right hand absorbing the darkness, he extended his left hand, releasing a different form of darkness into the corpses.

"But I should leave a substitute. Our dear Milia needs something to report to the church."

This substitute darkness was Karnak’s creation—a concentrated essence of malice and residual energy. It was fundamentally the same as the Shadow of Doom in terms of attributes.

"Of course, the quality’s a whole other story."

Karnak could create the Shadow of Doom too, even in his current state. After all, if he condensed malice and death energy into necromantic power, it would result in the same thing. But refining it into a useful power took significant time and effort.

On the other hand, the impurity he had just infused into the corpses? It was nothing more than raw, unprocessed filth compressed together. It was useless as necromantic power.

"But to a priest, it’ll look exactly the same."

It was like counterfeit food indistinguishable from the real thing until tasted. But no sane priest would dare to

taste

such darkness. Only an unhinged lunatic would attempt such a thing. And in the world, those lunatics were called necromancers.

Satisfied, Karnak absorbed the essence of true darkness. He spread his arms, beginning the flow of mana.

"Now, let’s separate the necromantic power from the rest..."

His left hand became shrouded in thick darkness.

"...and the chaos mana..."

His right hand glowed with radiant light.

"...and mix them just right to stabilize everything!"

The light and darkness vanished simultaneously. In their place, a subtle yet pure magical aura emanated from his body. There was no trace of malice or impurity—only untainted mana. Karnak took on a satisfied expression.

“Good, I’m finally at the sixth circle.”