Chapter 141: The Siege Begins

“I don’t wanna!”

“Now, Leila, don’t be stubborn, we can’t—”

“If you’re staying, then I’m staying too!”

Felicia held her hand on her forehead. Just as she feared, the girl was too stubborn to leave.

After ordering her knight to prepare for their “guests”, the necromancer went to the girl’s room to speak with her. Just like her laboratory, it was a modified room, designed to be as comfortable-looking as it could be, for an underground room anyway. If the dwarves could learn to like it, then humans should be able to. The little girl never complained about it anyway, especially since every day she could go outside and play with her father, using the hidden shortcut that would take them straight to the surface from the depths of the dungeon. That shortcut was, of course, something she made herself as well, using the Dungeon Core.

And, as she had feared, the little girl was less than receptive to the idea of leaving the place.

“If those Church bad guys are coming, then I wanna fight too!”

The little girl had no love for the church. They never really cared about her people. They charged exorbitant money for their healing services. She still remembered how a wandering priest refused to help her father’s back pains, while her dear Miss Felicia did it for free. That’s why she quickly agreed to Felicia’s teachings that the Church just comprised a bunch of power-hungry, money-grubbing, close-minded idiots. If Miss Felicia says that dark magic isn’t evil, then it isn’t! I don’t care what they say!

“No, no, you cannot.” Felicia sighed her head as she took a seat beside her on the bed. “I’m doing this for your own safety.” She put her arm around her with a smile. “The battle would be dangerous, so I can’t have you around.”

“So, you’re saying… I’m useless?” Her eyes watered.

Felicia responded with a gentle tap on her scalp.

“Naughty girl. That won’t work anymore, you know.” She smiled. The necromancer, having spent four months with her, knew that she liked to use her puppy-like face to get what she wanted. “If you’re going to fight with me, then you should get better at your magic first.” Truth be told, the young girl’s talent truly surprised her. In just the four months that she became her master, she could already cast Beginner-level Shadow spells, along with producing the most basic of alchemical compounds. She believed that she truly would be the companion she wished to have in her ambition to obliterate death from the world. The little girl wasn’t bothered in the slightest when she was told that her father was actually a zombie reanimated by her spell. For her, as long as he was there, acting like his usual self, it was already enough. It was exactly the pragmatic, open-minded attitude she desired.

“Come. I’ll send you and your father to hide somewhere. Give me a week at the very most and then I’ll be there to take you back, alright?” She put her hand on her two little shoulders.

“Fine…” She pouted. “But promise that you’ll come back, alright? Miss Felicia… you’re just… you’re just like Mother! So I don’t want to see you hurt!” She shouted. Now, the watery eyes were real.

“Good girl.” Felicia kissed her on her forehead. “Now, pack your things. I’ll send your father to help.”

The place she chose for their temporary hideout was a certain unmarked cavern near the dungeon. She believed it was far enough to be safe from all the fighting while still being close enough that she could fetch them right away in case anything went wrong. She had a good reason to believe that the Inquisition wouldn’t spare Leila if they caught her, even if she was just a little girl. Since when age would stop their zealotry?

When she finished hiding Leila and her father, it was just hours away until the army arrived right in front of her footsteps.

And when they did, she was more than ready.

----------

The soldiers soon arrived, and they immediately made their encampment in front of the dungeon. The general then took one hundred of his troops as a vanguard force, to see just how dangerous the dungeon was. Thankfully for him, the dungeon had a wide entrance, easily capable of supporting such an army.

“Welcome, good people of Fiania! Welcome to my humble abode!”

When the soldiers first entered the dungeon, they would hear her voice echoing from the walls. It was yet another ability the Dungeon Core granted her.

“Go further at your own peril! I wish no evil on any of you, but if you insist on trespassing my domain, then I shall not hesitate to end your lives!”

“Silence, witch!” The general yelled back, his voice far louder than hers. “To kill your own monarch, someone that had taken you in from the streets, you have done something unforgivable! As the general of this kingdom, I shall put you down like the snake you are!”

“Oh, I’m sure you would, General.” She chuckled. “But what about your Inquisitor friends? Do they have anything they wish to say to me?”

The Inquisitors were indeed there, standing with the general. They had kept their silence until now.

“We have nothing to say to a heretic,” the lady named Whitebloom said in a serene expression.

“Nothing? Are you certain?” Felicia replied in a mocking tone. “You don’t wish to tell me to repent or anything like that?”

“There is no redemption for you. You shall be burned at the stake and your soul shall be condemned to oblivion.”

In the Milicis faith, the ultimate punishment was the destruction of the soul, forbidding oneself from being reincarnated altogether. Some believed it to be a complete cessation of existence, while others believed that the soul would wander in nothingness for eternity.

“Ooo, scary. Then, come and get me. If you could, that is.”

No other words would come from her after that.

And, as she had expected, they weren’t backing down. They decided to march on, despite the warning she had graciously given them.

Fine. I can use more zombie soldiers after all.

-----------

The necromancer made true of her threats soon enough.

“Aarghh!”

“Ugyaahhh!”

Another explosion. Another trap being triggered.

And another squad of soldiers completely obliterated.

The wide opening of the entrance didn’t last long. The structure of the dungeon soon narrowed, splitting off into multiple small paths and branches. It wasn’t just a two-dimensional maze. It ran on three dimensions, as the passages and corridors went up and down as well.

And one by one, the necromancer thinned their numbers down.

Using her alchemy, she had outfitted many of the rooms with explosives and poisonous gases. The soldiers, having no experience in tackling a dungeon, fell from them over and over.

When the day ended, they barely made any progress, with most of that hundred soldiers becoming corpses. Thus the general, by the approval of the Inquisitors, opted for a retreat.

----------

“Damn that woman!” The general slammed his fist on the table.

He and the Inquisitors were now outside the dungeon, inside the command tent the soldiers had set up. They were having a meeting to decide what their next move should be, after their abject failure.

“There’s no use of being mad, General,” Lady Whitebloom spoke with a disinterested expression. “It is to be expected from a person abhorrent enough to use necromancy in the first place. If I were to suggest a course of action, you should recruit adventurers to scour this dungeon. They’re more well-suited for this kind of expedition than your army.”

“Adventurers?” He paused, looking towards her with a displeased frown. “Lady, I do not take kindly to that statement! I’ve raised my soldiers like they’re my own flesh and blood! I will not let a bunch of untrustworthy sellswords steal their glory—”

“Your glory is irrelevant. What matters is that we caught that woman, and to do so in a timely manner.” She stood up from the rickety chair she was sitting on. “I can feel it—dark magic gathering into one great singularity. She’s preparing a dark ritual of some sort. And I would rather not have her complete it, wouldn’t you agree, General?”

She was now staring right at the General’s eyes. Even though she was shorter and daintier than him, the general couldn’t help but feel intimidated by her. She reminded him of his overbearing wife, only ten times worse. He knew she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he ever stepped out of line—something she could do as an enforcer of the Church.

“Fine.” He sighed. “I’ll send a messenger to announce the recruitment.”

“Limit it to B-rank at the very least,” she ordered. “We don’t need inexperienced buffoons to make things more difficult.”

As the general summoned said messenger, she stepped outside, moving her gaze towards the dungeon entrance below the cliff they were currently on.

Ever since she was little, she already had great sensitivity towards dark magic. When she was five, she could already point out a heretic that secretly practiced dark magic, even though she could only cast Beginner-level Holy spells at the time. And when her accusation was proven to be true, and not just a silly rambling of a little girl, the Church acknowledged her talent as an inquisitor, so she was given the best inquisitorial training that they could afford to give her.

This, naturally, granted much prestige and honor to her family.

The Whitebloom family was never amongst one of the so-called “top dogs” of the Church, thus for her to be a Vice Head Inquisitor like this, it was a great boon to them. Not to mention that it led her marrying someone from the house of Norn, which was one of those so-called top dogs. He was the one who asked her to be his wife too, which was an even bigger honor. All thanks to her ability as an Inquisitor. The moment the news spread that she could cast her very first Grandmaster-level spell, he proposed to her.

Was she happy? Of course. She had always admired his dedication to the Saint and the Church. Just like her, he was a man of holiness who chooses to use his life to do good and vanquish all that is evil, no matter what form they took. She still remembered how he coolly brought to justice a benefactor of his who had made a pact with demons in secret. He didn’t care that he had trained him for years as an Inquisitor, or how he only summoned a demon to cure the illness of his wife. He knew that no matter the person or the reason, evil is evil and it must be rooted out of existence without mercy.

The fool believed that a life corrupted by dark magic is better than death in purity. Does he not believe that the righteous shall enter the paradise of Sher where illness took no hold? And so, both he and his wife had to be cleansed by the fires of judgment for it.

And now, it was her chance—to prove that she was worthy of being his wife. This necromancer was the perfect great evil for her to slay.

----------

Hugo

“So this is the dungeon, huh? I have no idea how they couldn’t find it earlier before now.”

In front of me was a towering gate-like structure made of white bricks. It was about as tall as a three-story building, but its wideness was far more than that. A hundred soldiers could indeed enter the place, as that soldier had told us. It led straight into the tall cliff behind it, though according to the soldier as well, the dungeon also went downwards, ever deeper into the valley we were currently standing on.

“Like I’ve said, this entire cliff side used to be buried by rocks. Not to mention that there weren’t that many people traveling here in the first place,” the soldier explained.

“Anton, have you ever been to a dungeon like this?” I turned around to face him.

“I’ve told you before, haven’t I? Every dungeon is unique. It’s unwise to assume that one dungeon is akin to another, even if they might look so,” he replied with a frown. “That’s why normally, it would take a long time to clear one. If we adventurers are to keep ourselves alive, we need to take it slow. We have to make a map, deduce the manner of traps the dungeon likes to use, notes the manner how the monsters operate, and so on, and so forth. It’s not a simple matter to clear a dungeon.”

“But if it’s Hu—I-I mean Charles, he can do it with his eyes closed, can’t you?” Amelie grinned at my direction. 

Nearly let my real name slip there. Can’t be helped, I suppose, since she’s been calling me that for quite some time now.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Anne countered. “He might be strong against monsters, but without us to keep an eye for him, he’ll just walk right into a trap and die from it.”

“H-hey, I’m not that clumsy, you know,” I protested. Though she got a point. I don’t have any experience dealing with dungeon traps. 

“So, you came.”

I looked behind me and saw a person walking down from the nearby hill.

Silver hair, long ears, and a dispassionate expression—there was no doubt about it.

It was Ilymhyrra.

“I expected to see you here. Didn’t think you’d drag your friends with you though.” She gave a momentary glance towards Anton and the others. “Come. I wish to speak to you in private.”

It took me a few seconds to process her more-than-sudden appearance.

“Hey, you’re the elf that saved us back then, weren’t you?” Anne approached her with a smile before offering her hand. “I didn’t get the chance to thank you back then.”

The elf gave her a confused look but shook her hand nonetheless.

“W-why are you here? I thought you’re going to the Magocracy!” I finally managed to speak. “You promised, you know!” I put on my angry look. “And where is she? The one you’re supposed to keep your eye on?”

“Don’t fret about her,” she replied, still keeping her neutral expression. “She won’t do any mischief. I made sure of that. And she’s with me if you want to confirm it in person.”

She turned towards the hill. Sure enough, at the distance, I could see a girl standing there with a tall witch’s hat.

“Come. I need to speak with you,” she asked again.

I had no choice but to obey. After what she did to me back then, I had gained a certain amount of fear towards her. I knew for sure that she completely outclassed me in every way. If I didn’t comply, she might just decide to knock me in the back of the head before taking me anyway.

I gave a nod towards Anne. “I’ll go. You guys stay here, alright?” I looked at Anton and Amelie as well. Anne gave me a questioning look but said nothing.

The elf then took me toward said hill. Once we left the encampment, she began speaking once more.

“Do you think of saving her?”

“Her? You mean, the necromancer?”

“Yes. She’s your friend, is she not?”

“I wouldn’t say that. She’s just… an acquaintance.”

“Truly? Then why are you here? To slay her?”

“Do I really have to answer? It’s none of your business, is it?”

I could hear my voice rising in tone. I wasn’t sure why myself, but I was getting angry towards her.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. She turned around and looked me right in the eyes.

“If you think of saving her, then I suggest not doing so.”

“Why not? Just because she’s a necromancer?”

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, her glare intensified, seemingly burning straight into my head.

I think I might have angered her.

“Necromancy is a vulgar and disgusting magic. It is only used by vulgar and disgusting people. Making puppets out of the dead—all living things should see it as abhorrent.”

“If it’s done on monsters, then I don’t care.”

“But she doesn’t only use it on monsters, does she?” Her eyes narrowed. “Other than the king ,how many other humans do you think she had turned?”

“He’s an evil bastard so I don’t particularly care.”

I answered her frankly, even though I knew my answer didn’t really make me look in the right. It was a childish answer, placing the king as this pure evil person with no redeeming qualities. There is no such thing as pure good and pure evil, no matter what world you’re in.

Still, that was what I felt. And so I spoke it to her. To my surprise, instead of lecturing me about how naïve I was, she instead opted to ask me another question.

“And you believe she is a better person?” 

“Hey, she’s not the one who executed his own wife just because she gave birth to a disabled daughter. And she’s not the one who forced girls to sleep with him. She’s the one who cured plagues. And she did it for free too. She might be a necromancer, but I don’t see that as an evil thing. Unlike you, I think it’s not inherently good or bad. It’s just another form of magic after all. It’s like saying if a sword is good or evil.”

Those words seemed to hit her even harder. As her glare intensified even more, her grip on her staff tightened. For a second, I readied my hand on the hilt of my sword, as I felt she was going to hit me with it.

“I remember.” She spoke. “There was a certain someone saying such things a long time ago. That person ended up causing great suffering for everyone around them. She didn’t become a savior for anyone, not for him, or the world, or even herself.”

I had no idea who she was referring to in that sentence. Great suffering? Might she be talking about the Necromancer King? But it’s a “king” so it should be a “he”, not a she. 

She then took a few steps towards me until she stood right in front of me. 

“If you believe that she is worth saving, then I won’t stop you. But know this. If she remains on the path she’s currently walking, she will only become another calamity upon this world.”

She turned around, walking away for a few steps before stopping, resuming her speech but without sparing a glance towards me.

“Necromancy is an accursed magic. It is a demonic art that humans should never learn or use. One of the Demon Lords of old used it extensively against humanity back in those days. They would use it to make us fight against our own dead comrades and families, for they enjoyed the pained looks we would have. If you truly care for your friend, you would tell her to stop. After all, she doesn’t really need it. She’s a perfectly serviceable alchemist already. Tell her that it’s a fool’s errand to believe that one can overcome death.”

With those words said, she resumed her walk. 

And she refused to say anything else until we reached the top of the hill.