Karnak, Monarch of Death

Pointing to the corpses of the orcs tainted with dark energy, Alius began a prayer. ”Hatoba, with your light, reveal the hidden truth.”

A holy radiance enveloped the corpses, transmitting images to Alius. They were fragments of information left behind by the traces of necromancy.

”It’s confirmed. These orcs were being controlled by a necromancer. And their identity is...”

His expression turned strange.

”The Terrifying One?”

It was clear that this was what the stone orcs had been calling them.

”Whether it’s because the necromancer has terrible naming sense or the orcs have a terrible vocabulary, I can’t say,” Alius added.

Varos nodded, clearly understanding. ”It’s usually the latter, but necromancers aren’t exactly known for their creative naming skills either.”

Karnak shot Varos a sharp look. Varos feigned innocence, as if to say, What? Did I say something wrong? In any case, their opponent’s title wasn’t important right now. What mattered was their location.

Alius continued channeling the divine light, focusing the darkness into a single point. The concentrated shadow began writhing, squirming like a caterpillar as it emerged from the orcs’ corpses. Quickly, Alius trapped the shadow in a small glass vial, sealing it tightly before beginning another prayer.

”Under the guidance of the earth, let the darkness be led toward the light...”

The darkness inside the vial thrashed violently, as if trying to break free. It repeatedly flung itself against one side of the vial, as though attempting to point somewhere.

”The tracking spell was a success,” Alius said, nodding in satisfaction.

The direction indicated by the shadow would lead them to the necromancer who had been controlling the stone orcs.

With their next course of action clear, Karnak spoke. ”Let’s eat first.”

No one laughed or took it as a joke. They all agreed with him in complete seriousness. Serati and Varos surveyed their surroundings.

”Where should we have lunch?”

”With all these corpses around, let’s move to another spot,” Varos suggested.

This wasn’t a trivial matter or anything to joke about. Properly timing meals was critical in the field. What if someone needed to relieve themselves right before a battle? They moved a short distance away, spread out a mat, and sat down to eat. Their lunch consisted of vegetable bread and grilled sausages they had ordered from the innkeeper earlier.

Chew, chew.

Nom, nom.

”Oh, this place really knows how to grill sausages,” Karnak commented.

”Sir Karnak, could you pass me the sauce?” Lapicel asked.

”Here you go, Lapicel.”

”Thank you!”

Serati watched the scene with a peculiar expression. Here was the hero of humanity, who had sacrificed everything to save the world, casually sharing a warm conversation with the former Monarch of Death, who had once tortured her by tearing her soul into three pieces.

Come to think of it, they really shouldn’t be on such friendly terms...

Regardless, everyone ate heartily. Their meal would ensure that they had proper digestion during their pursuit and would be in peak condition when they encountered their target.

After finishing their food and rising to their feet, Alius pulled out the glass vial. ”Well then, let’s begin the chase.”

***

The darkness inside the vial writhed and repeatedly stretched in a single direction. Each time it did, Karnak’s group sprinted toward the direction it indicated. Realistically, running blindly in one direction through a dense mountain range like Gallant Mountain was an incredibly risky endeavor.

In treacherous terrain, you could never predict what lay ahead. Steep valleys, impassable ridges, or tangled undergrowth often appeared unexpectedly. That is, if you were an ordinary human with average physical abilities.

”It’s a valley.”

”Just jump down.”

”It’s a ridge.”

”Just jump up.”

”Thick undergrowth ahead.”

”Slash through it.”

Even the lowest-level aura users, like red knights, could perform vertical leaps of nearly three meters. For those who had transcended the limits of human physicality, terrain was barely an obstacle.

Varos, Serati, and even Lapicel navigated the rugged mountain terrain as effortlessly as if they were walking on flat ground. While Karnak and Alius didn’t possess such physical prowess, they had magic to compensate.

If the height difference seemed too great, a levitation spell allowed them to float gracefully over obstacles. Alius could even hitch a ride on Karnak’s magic, provided the situation didn’t demand more than that.

Unless they faced an impossibly tall cliff, the rough terrain posed little challenge to their progress. The group pressed forward without hesitation, pursuing the traces of darkness. But then they encountered a significant obstacle.

”Well, this is a problem...”

A massive cliff loomed before them, not tall enough to be called a sheer precipice but certainly too high to leap over.

Varos turned to Karnak with a look of concern. ”What now, young master?”

”Should we just levitate across?” Karnak suggested.

”Can you carry all of us?”

”It’s possible, but it’s tricky.”

Magic relied on focusing mana to create changes in the world. Using the same spell repeatedly in one spot caused the world to adapt to the change, reducing the spell’s effectiveness over time. This was why most mages alternated between different spells in combat.

Moreover, mana that wasn’t fully concentrated dispersed wastefully, creating wide-ranging magical ripples.

”If we’re unlucky, the necromancers might notice,” Karnak pointed out.

They had come too far to let their quarry slip away now.

Alius proposed an alternative. ”Let’s climb around and ascend from another side.”

Leading with the vial of darkness, the group began circling the cliff and climbing the mountain. They pressed on diligently, but as they moved, Alius’s expression hardened.

”What’s going on?”

The movement of the darkness inside the vial had grown erratic, shifting up and down despite their steady progress.

“The necromancer’s moving,” Alius observed grimly.

And worse, they were close—very close. Everyone tensed as they prepared for battle. The warriors drew their swords, while the mage and priest gripped their staffs tightly, ready for whatever was to come. After pushing through the forest for another ten minutes, a man came into view.

He was dressed in a black robe and wore a necklace made of skulls. It as the unmistakable garb of a necromancer. Everyone’s expressions turned blank for a moment. Finding their target was good news, but the scene before them was entirely unexpected. The necromancer was crouched on the ground, a small hand hoe in one hand, diligently digging up wild yam roots.

The group stared at the necromancer. A prolonged silence washed over them. The necromancer, in turn, stared silently back at them.

Karnak clicked his tongue. ”Well, I suppose even necromancers need to eat.”

After all, unless they were undead themselves, necromancers had to maintain their physical bodies. And just because they dealt with death didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy fresh vegetables. However, relying on monsters to gather edible plants would likely turn them into pulp.

Given that the first snow had already fallen, making it harder to forage, it wasn’t surprising that the necromancer couldn’t resist the urge to dig up fresh yam roots before the ground froze completely.

The necromancer belatedly sprang to his feet, flustered. ”W-Who are you people?!”

Identifying them wasn’t hard. Karnak’s group was fully equipped for their respective roles. Alius’s priestly robes, in particular, made his identity unmistakable.

”A priest of Hatoba!” the necromancer exclaimed in shock.

Panicked, he threw his hands up, summoning his power. Dozens of spirits began to rise from the ground, their eerie, bloodcurdling shrieks echoing through the forest.

Screeeeeeeech!

But instead of being alarmed, Karnak’s group looked almost relieved. A necromancer summoning spirits felt far more natural than one digging up yam roots.

Pointing his staff forward, Alius proclaimed solemnly, ”Kneel before the name of the goddess!”

”Hah! You dare!” the necromancer retorted, refusing to back down.

Radiating a sinister aura, he let out a demonic howl that seemed to shake the forest itself. ”None who see me shall leave here alive!”

The dramatic declaration was undeniably befitting of a necromancer.

Karnak, however, barely acknowledged it, lazily sending a message through their mental link.

—Just to clarify, Serati.

—Yes?

—I’ve never said anything that cheesy before.

—Who said you did?

More than ten wraiths floated through the snow-laden branches, gliding like eerie shadows in the wind. The ability to summon such a number of wraiths was a testament to the necromancer’s skill. This wasn’t some amateur who had stumbled upon the remnants of Shadow of Doom and recklessly absorbed its power. This necromancer had clearly mastered proper necromancy.

If Karnak had to estimate, their abilities were roughly on par with Cleo, the necromancer they had encountered in Gelpha Village when he first met Alius.

Boom! Boom! Boom-boom!

The summoned wraiths didn’t last long. Varos’s aura-imbued sword smashed into them like a flyswatter, causing them to burst one after another. His strikes weren’t particularly refined. He simply swatted them away as if they were pesky insects.

”If you can wield aura, this much is nothing...” Varos muttered.

A necromancer on Cleo’s level posed no threat to him in his current state. Serati, too, remained calm. Though often teased as the group’s junior member, she had once been the most formidable shadow hunter in the northern regions of the Kingdom of Eustil. And now, with even more experience and improved skills, she was even stronger.

”This one’s not very powerful,” she remarked casually.

Neither Karnak nor Alius saw any need to intervene.

Between Varos and Serati, the wraiths were being dispatched like fresh fish being sliced into sashimi.

Screeeeeeech!

In a matter of moments, the summoned wraiths had all vanished.

“Yo-you pests!” the necromancer cried, trembling in disbelief. He clenched his fists, summoning his power once more.

”I’ll show you the true might of the darkness!”

Another dozen wraiths emerged, their chilling shrieks echoing once again through the forest. It seemed this was the necromancer’s strongest spell—the very same wraiths that had just been swatted away like flies.

Alius glanced at the scene, a sheepish expression on his face.

This is the first time I’ve felt pity for a necromancer.

As he scratched his cheek, he noticed Lapicel standing beside him, her gray eyes sparkling with excitement.

”Miss Lapicel,” he said.

”Yes?”

”Would you like to practice a little?”

”Yes!”

Alius lightly touched her longsword with his finger, imbuing it with a faint holy light that would allow her to strike the wraiths.

Sir Varos and Sir Serati are here, so there’s little risk, even for a child, he thought.

Lapicel was exceptionally talented. Surely, she could handle one or two wraiths. That was the assumption, at least. Just as he was thinking this, Lapicel launched herself forward, pushing off the ground.

”Hiyah!”

Suddenly, her figure split into five identical forms. Each one targeted a different wraith, cutting them down effortlessly. The movements left trails of swordlight in the air, blooming like flowers.

Flash!

Before the wraiths could even scream, they disintegrated into nothingness. Lapicel sheathed her sword with a bright smile. ”All done!”

The necromancer’s eyes widened to an almost comical degree. He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. Alius was equally baffled.

What just happened?

There was a flash, and then all the wraiths had been obliterated.

”What exactly did Lapicel just do?” he asked aloud.

Serati hesitated, unsure how to explain. What could she say when she didn’t know herself?

”Um... it’s a family secret technique,” she finally blurted out.

Regardless, the necromancer was now utterly neutralized. Summoning over twenty wraiths was an extraordinary feat of necromancy, one that would have drained his remaining energy.

But thanks to how effortlessly the wraiths had been destroyed, it hardly looked impressive at all. The necromancer staggered backward, his face pale with fear, until his movement was abruptly stopped by something behind him. Varos was already standing at his back.