Chapter 277 - Cap 276: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 1

With the battle over, the time has come to see the state our troops are in, we need to know how many are still in combat condition and how many have died. 

In addition to these things we need to discuss what to do going forward, to be honest, I've been thinking about this for the last couple of days, but after what happened in today's battle, after everything we learned about Fraus' secret weapons which are these crystals magicians, looks like I'm going to have to rethink the initial plan. 

I'm in the meeting room waiting for the others to arrive, I think I'll check the notifications while I wait. 

Ding!  Ding!  Ding! 

<[ You gained 205677 EXP for killing enemies ]>

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<[ Your skill has leveled up [ Weak fire resistance: 8 > 10 ] ]>

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<[ Your skill has leveled up [ Breath of Fire: 1 > 2 ] ]>

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<[ Your skill has leveled up [ Magic Enhanced Line Production: 5 > 6 ] ]>

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<[ Your skill leveled up [ Control and Line Manipulation: 5 > 6 ] ]>

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<[ You leveled up ]>

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<[ Your work has leveled up ]>

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<[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]>

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<[ You acquired the bloodline [ Giant Wolf: 100% ] ]> 

Looks like I didn't gain much in this war, all I got was EXP, plus I leveled up some skills which are better than nothing. 

The EXP alone was good enough for me to be able to switch jobs again and I also got a new bloodline from the wolves I found inside the cave. 

It wasn't as good as I wanted, but I can understand since the fight lasted a little more than thirty or forty minutes, I should be happy with what I've achieved. 

While I was distracted I didn't notice that Ivan, Elsaris, Freya, Diana, Érica, and Kira are already inside the room in silence, some people from the village council had also arrived. 

"Master are you free now?"  (Layla) 

"Huh!?"  (I) 

Layla came flying through the door and landed in front of me with a big smile on her face. 

"I'm waiting for the village leader and the other village council members to arrive to start the meeting."  (I) 

"So you have time, I'm glad I have something to talk about."  (Layla) 

"I mean I found a bird-type Undead outside the fog dome while you were fighting the generals, master."  (Layla) 

When Layla says that, I can see Elsaris and Ivan looking at her seriously, but I already imagined that. 

"Could you tell me more about this little Fairy?"  (Sapphire) 

The village leader and the remaining village council members arrived, it seems the village leader heard Layla and walked in looking at her with concern in her eyes. 

"Wait for everyone to be seated before continuing, Layla."  (I) 

After everyone is seated Layla sits on my shoulder and starts talking. 

"No big deal, the bird was too weak, it died in the first Light-type attack I used."  (Layla) 

"I also found these two things with the bird-type Undead."  (Layla) 

Layla takes from her Spatial magic storage space two objects, a black metal skull and a white heart-shaped crystal with a black metal dagger stuck on top. 

The two items had the same symbol I saw on that Berserk Variant Zombie that was formed by the four generals of Farus, it was a symbol of a pentagram with three skulls inside. 

"(If I consider that the grotesque statue that held the Corpse Dungeon core belonged to the God the Goddesses warned me about, also knowing that Farus has a 99.9% chance of being Priest of that God, then I can confirm that this symbol must belong to this God since both that statue and this symbol have three skulls.)" (I) 

"(This also means that these items are linked to this Heretic God, so why were they being carried by such a weak Undead? Besides what do these items do?)" (I) 

"..." (I) 

I touch both items and try to use my ability to identify them, but all that appears are question marks (?), I can't even see their names. 

"You've been looking at these items for a while, do you know what they are?"  (Sapphire) 

"Unfortunately I don't know anything, I tried using a skill to find out but it didn't work."  (I) 

"I know why you can't find out anything about this."  (Elsaris) 

While I was trying to think of a solution I answer the question the village leader asked, then Elsaris speaks from the window where she is sitting and we all look at her. 

"I noticed that you focused a lot on the symbols that the two items have, from your expression it looked like you knew what they were, am I not sure?"  (Elsaris) 

"You're wrong, I admit I can guess the origin of this symbol, but I'm not absolutely sure yet, I don't know what these items are for either."  (I) 

"If you assumed that this symbol belongs to an Heretic God, then you're right, this is the symbol of "Kaharak", the Corpse God."  (Elsaris) 

"Do you recognize the symbol? Why didn't you say anything on the battlefield when you saw that monster the generals became?"  (I) 

"I felt like I'd seen this symbol before, but that was a long time ago, it must have been like three hundred years ago, so it took me a while to remember that."  (Elsaris) 

"You said that this symbol belongs to this Heretic God you spoke of, but do you know anything about this God?"  (Sapphire) 

"All I know is that this God is strongly linked to death, they say he consumes souls and that whenever his name appears he comes with an army of undead, but there is something peculiar about his stories."  (Elsaris) 

"What would that quirk be?"  (I) 

"I must say that this is just a rumor I heard over three hundred years ago, but they say that their believers are always Necromancers who can only create or control Undead that has a physical body, like Zombies and Skeletons."  (Elsaris) 

"But that coincides with our current situation, that's basically the description of Farus and his army."  (Helena) 

"All of Farus' troops are just that kind of undead with physical bodies."  (Nymph leader) 

"As Farus himself is a Necromancer who controls this army and considering this symbol that appeared so much in the monster that his generals became when these two items."  (Sapphire) 

"I think we can bear that Farus must be a believer of this Heretic God, perhaps even a Priest of his."  (Sapphire) 

"..." (I) 

"(I already knew that Hera who is the Fairy Queen of Wood had already told me about it.)" (I) 

I look at Elsaris and I can see her smiling at me because her gaze seems to see right through me, I was wondering if she read my expression or something. 

"You don't know anything else about this Heretic God, Miss Elsaris?"  (Sapphire) 

"I don't know anything else, I only know what I just talked about because I worked at a Black Market branch where a believer of this God was our customer."  (Elsaris) 

"I remember we sold a lot of Human bodies to that person, not long after I heard about a village that was devastated by a horde of Zombies."  (Elsaris) 

"What did you do about it?"  (I) 

"I didn't do anything, that wasn't my problem, I didn't sell anything, I didn't kill anyone either, you might also remember what kind of place the Black Market is."  (Elsaris) 

"On the black market any commodity, no matter how rare, dangerous, prohibited or legal, can and will be traded."  (Elsaris) 

"The Black Market also doesn't care about the age, gender, nationality, race, origin, intention or plans of customers."  (Elsaris) 

"All that matters to the Black Market is that the merchandise is genuine and that a fair price is paid for it whether you buy it or sell it."  (Elsaris) 

"This kind of place makes life easier for people like Farus, did you work for a place like this?"  (Sapphire) 

"I worked for centuries, I'm not proud of the things I've done during my work, but it's been a long time since I didn't care about that kind of thing anymore, after all, I've done I'll always be a criminal, so I don't care anymore."  (Elsaris) 

"How can you have someone like her by your side Zenos?"  (Sapphire) 

"She has her reasons for choosing this type of work, reasons that don't concern anyone else in this room, besides, she said, even if the Black Market didn't sell illegal goods, others would show up to do it, maybe even doing worse things than the Black market."  (I) 

"There will always be this kind of thing, remember that village leader."  (I) 

"But let's not change the subject, you are straying from the topic that really matters, we are not here to discuss the Black Market, we are here to discuss Farus and this Heretic God."  (I) 

I had to speak up to get the conversation back on track, normally I'm the one who strays off-topic without realizing it, but I had to continue this meeting somehow. 

It was also good for everyone to know about this Heretic God now, I was getting worried about it until now and I didn't know if it was worth telling everyone. 

"The most important thing is to find out what those two items are."  (I) 

"If you haven't been able to find out I don't know if she'll be of use, but you can try asking Nira to use her appraisal skill on these two items."  (Elsaris) 

"It's worth trying."  (I) 

"Freya could you call Nira to please?"  (I) 

"Yes, Master."  (Freya)