Karnak, Monarch of Death

After hearing Serati’s words, Karnak had reflected on himself in his own way. Hadn’t she said that showing the illusion of a dead daughter to a mother who had lost her child was something only the worst scum would do?

So, he decided to let her actually meet her dead daughter. He had used necromancy to summon the soul of Beltia’s daughter, Lapicel, from the afterlife to this world. Of course, there had been a few unavoidable theatrics involved in the process.

If he were the one that facilitated the reunion, Beltia would hardly be able to rejoice. So, he had no choice but to frame it as if the God of Death, Tesranach, was punishing the wicked and bestowing grace upon his faithful. Since the Angel of Radiant Wings within Milia was truly created through Tesranach’s power, it would have been nearly impossible for Beltia to tell the difference.

Of course, if she had been in her right mind, she would never have fallen for such a flimsy ruse. But the current Beltia was a fanatic of Tesranach, and humans saw what they wanted to see.

The result was satisfactory. She, who had yearned for a miracle of the divine more than anyone, had believed in the reality before her eyes.

”Lapicel...” Holding her daughter’s soul in her arms, Beltia was lost in happiness.

Since he had distorted her sense of time, she would remain there, unmoving, for hours. For an enemy he had met on the battlefield, this was the kindest form of malice he could offer.

”Have a good dream, Martial King of Cyphras,” he muttered.

***

As the light faded, the Angel of Radiant Wings returned to the form of a young girl.

Milia was bewildered as she looked around. ”What just happened?”

All she had done was hide in a corner of the fortress before quietly walking out. Then Karnak had done something, her seal had broken, and she had become the Angel of Radiant Wings.

But even after transforming into the angel, she hadn’t done much. She had simply stood there without uttering a single word. Then suddenly, the ghost of a young girl had popped out, and Beltia had hugged her and begun rejoicing.

What the heck is going on? No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t make any sense of it.

”Uh, well...” Karnak let out a wry smile.

It was only natural that Milia didn’t understand. She had simply been there to provide presence, and everything from the conversation between the angel and Beltia had been an illusion cast by Karnak.

”I’ll explain it to you later. We don’t have time right now,” said Karnak. Even now, the others were risking their lives against Elezar and Dreltein. ”We’ve finally managed to isolate Beltia, so we need to proceed according to plan.”

A shadow stretched long at Karnak’s feet. The pitch-black mana carried its quiet message and spread throughout the dungeon.

—Everyone, get ready! It’s starting!

***

A tremendous explosion shook every corner of the fortress, and through the thick smoke of the explosion, two streams of light emerged. It was Varos and Leven, their entire bodies wrapped in aura. The two of them, battered, rolled helplessly across the ground with a groan.

Gliding forward through the air, Elezar let out a note of admiration. ”You managed to block that as well? You really are impressive.”

Struggling to his feet, Leven clicked his tongue.

—I thought she said she was exhausted, so why is she still this strong?

In his tattered state, Varos let out a bitter smile.

—She’s exhausted, which is exactly why we’re still alive right now.

It was true that Elezar had used up a considerable amount of mana in her battle with Diogres. Even the spell she had just cast had only about half its usual power. Yet even that much was enough to leave the two of them on the brink of death.

Clenching his jaw, Leven once again raised his sword into a combat stance. ”What a monster...”

Suddenly, Elezar let out a small laugh. ”From where I’m standing, you two look quite like monsters yourselves, you know?”

She wasn’t calling them monsters as in being to be feared. After all, with a gap this large, what was there to fear? She meant it in the sense of being incomprehensible.

Well, Leven, in fact, still rested within her realm of understanding. No matter how talented he was, even if he was a future martial king in the making, he was still only a purple knight for now. He wasn’t someone an archmage like her needed to pay much attention to.

But what about Varos? It wasn’t just that he was strong for a silver knight or that the techniques he used were of particularly high caliber, although those things were also impressive.

What truly baffled her was something else entirely. Why is he so skilled?

It had been the same when he fought Dreltein, and now, fighting her, he moved with an uncanny familiarity in battle. He slipped out of deadly moments as if he had fought against her dozens, hundreds of times before.

It’s truly strange. It doesn’t feel like some kind of foresight, either, she thought.

Even so, it did not change the outcome. No matter how clearly Varos grasped her techniques, the difference in power between them was simply too great.

”Frozen flame, burning frost.” Fire and frost entwined, flying forth like the horns of a beast.

In front of the massive, piercing vortex, Varos let out a shout. ”Don’t confront it head-on! Let it pass along your power!”

He was right. And Leven was a genius who could execute a solution the moment he knew it, even without practice. Both of them hurled themselves along the edges of the vortex, and the maelstrom of destruction tore deeply into the plaza floor.

The two of them were flung away, groaning.

”Damn it, we dodged it, but still...”

It didn’t matter if they knew how to counter the spell. It was useless if they lacked the strength to act upon it.

Just a bit more pressure, and this will be over. Sending the two flying, Elezar glanced toward the opposite side of the fortress. Now, how is it going over there?

***

The martial king’s sword split the sky, and the archmage’s mana surged upward. Two absolute beings clashed with their full power. A fearsome force collided in the air, unleashing the power of absolute destruction and bursting forth like a damn breaking.

Three shockwaves rippled outward, and Dreltein and Diogres were both flung back at the same time. Yet what followed was different.

Dreltein recovered in the air and landed lightly. ”Hmph! Is that all?”

In contrast, Diogres was sent tumbling. The gap in power was clear. After being hurled back several meters with a thunderous crash, Diogres could barely manage to stand.

The air around him wavered like a mirage. It was proof that the mana barrier protecting his body was breaking down.

Dreltein gave a faint smile. ”Looks like you’re finally out of strength.”

Diogres’s face twisted. ”You’re ganging up on me two against one. Isn’t that only natural?”

Of course, Dreltein didn’t even blink. The Dreltein of this era might have cared about such trivial things. But for the followers of Tesranach from the future, cowardice and cunning were essential virtues.

”Just give it up. You know well enough it won’t change the outcome,” taunted Dreltein.

Before an overwhelming difference in strength, there would be no miracle. Approaching Diogres, Dreltein slipped his right hand into his robe. His fingertips brushed against a hexagonal object.

Now, I can finally summon him from the future.

It was then. Dreltein’s expression suddenly hardened. Hm?

Something felt off. Diogres was glaring at him with cold eyes. Ah, of course, there was no way his eyes would be warm and loving in a situation like this, but the problem was that this gaze was not the look of a man who had given up.

Suddenly, Diogres muttered something incomprehensible. ”I think I’ve held out quite a while, but what on earth is this guy doing?”

Dreltein paused, unsure what Diogres was referring to. Suddenly, a strange sensation swept over his entire body. What is this?

It was not only Dreltein. Elezar felt it at the same time. A massive darkness was surging from the other end of the dungeon. A faint, eerie wailing began to rise, growing louder and louder.

In the cavern where the fortress stood, through every connected tunnel and cave, the malice and demonic energy were growing denser.

It was a familiar sensation. It was the same dark tide that arose whenever the dungeon’s monsters began to move all at once in a great migration.

Diogres let out a breath of relief. ”So it’s finally starting? It took longer than I expected.”

Dreltein glared at him, taken aback. ”What trick did you pull?”

”What trick, you say.” On the lips of the exhausted archmage, a triumphant smile spread. ”Why do you think we bothered coming into the dungeon in the first place?”

In that moment, four shadows appeared in the skies above the fortress. It was a fearsome darkness, evoking the image of pitch-black suns. Soon, the darkness revealed its true form.

They were skeletal figures draped in tattered robes. But they were no ordinary skeletons. From their entire bodies emanated an immense magical power, and a dreadful malice surged around them like a tidal wave.

The priests who had been fighting in the chaos quickly realized what they were seeing and shouted out. ”L-Liches!”

”No, they’re archliches!”

None of them could help but be horrified. Archliches were monsters of legend, and four of them had appeared, no less! Each archlich raised its bony finger and pointed at the humans below.

”We are servants of the lord of darkness.”

”Those who have stepped into forbidden lands without permission.”

”The sin of daring to set foot here.”

”Shall never be forgiven by any means.”

A terrible metallic voice echoed throughout the cavern. ”The Great Death shall punish you all!”

***

From every direction, countless monsters and evil spirits, zombies and skeletons, began to swarm in. Individually, none of them were particularly threatening. Of course, many were quite powerful monsters, but those gathered here were among the empire’s finest elites. Yet the sheer number was overwhelming.

”H-hold them back!”

”Damn it!”

”Were those liches the masters of the dungeon?!”

The battlefield, already chaotic, became even more entangled. A great chaos filled the entire cavern. It was impossible to guess what was coming. Watching this unfold, Dreltein and Elezar were left speechless.

Dreltein muttered, ”What is this?”

The situation itself was nothing surprising. After all, gathering the power of darkness to raise an undead army and send it charging forward was the signature move of necromancers everywhere.

It was so typical that it was almost exemplary. What they didn’t understand was something else.

Dreltein frowned. ”The masters of the dungeon, they say?”

Elezar commented, ”Isn’t that Demphis?”

”That one’s Maloka, isn’t it?” Dreltein said.

They could even spot Kalaf and Tirafar. All of them were members of the Twilight Cult. Of course, they had already heard from Beltia that Diogres was working with the Twilight Cult, so it wasn’t particularly shocking...

”Has Diogres lost his mind?”

”Is he planning to announce to the entire world that he’s a cultist?”

They themselves had returned from the future. It wasn’t unusual for them to act unpredictably. But Diogres was a man of this era, was he not? Then why would he do something like this? The one to answer was not Diogres.

”And why would you say he’s a cultist?” From the opposite end of the fortress corridor, a young man with black hair came walking forward.

Dreltein’s expression hardened. ”Karnak...”

The man had appeared mostly unscathed, after disappearing together with Beltia. This was not something to be taken lightly.

Karnak shrugged. ”We merely happened to enter the dungeon by chance and both sides are now being attacked by its masters.”

Karnak gave a faint smile, and the four archliches landed behind him.

”Of course, it might feel like those dungeon masters are prioritizing attacking you, but that’s just a feeling, nothing more,” he continued.

Elezar clicked her tongue in disbelief. ”Do you think such a transparent lie will fool anyone?”

Karnak questioned, ”And why wouldn’t it?”

Currently, both sides were caught in a tangled melee within the chaos. It was a situation where it was impossible to tell what was truly happening. On top of that, the black mist spread by the archliches was hanging thick over the entire area.

Karnak’s eyes glinted coldly. ”With no one around to watch, who’s going to know what we really did here?”