Chapter 125

Chapter 125

A group of wraiths swirled around the chapel, wailing with ghostly cries.

“Arrggh!”

A horde of monster zombies growled as they surged forward.

“Grraaa....”

“Grraa....”

Baros began spinning his chain sword in a wide arc.

Chains of aura unraveled, and everything within a radius of several meters was engulfed in the destruction zone of the sword aura.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The chapel began to collapse in various places.

However, neither the wraiths nor the monster zombies were affected. They had already moved outside of the range.

Instead, the Black Servants charged in.

The pitch-black sword aura clashed with the red chain sword, creating waves of aura.

Amid the constant explosions of sound, a series of back-and-forth exchanges followed.

Suddenly, Baros glared at the necromancers and unleashed an intense wave of killing intent.

“Ugh!”

The necromancers were well aware of Baros’s sneaky tactics by now, where he would fight one enemy while targeting another.

Panicked, the necromancers moved their monster zombies to block the front.

At that moment, a blood-stained blade suddenly emerged from the chests of two necromancers.

Their eyes bulged with bloodshot veins as their dying breaths echoed faintly.

Sephedes’ eyes widened in shock.

“What, what’s happening?”

Behind the fallen necromancers, a beautiful woman with red hair appeared. It was Serati, who had been guarding the entrance to the basement moments ago.

‘When did she get there?’

She had silently circled around the chapel and snuck behind the necromancers without anyone noticing.

It had been Baros’s plan all along.

The order to guard the entrance was just a decoy, and his real intention was elsewhere.

[When the time is right, take care of the necromancers!]

When everyone’s attention was on Baros, she quietly slipped away from the entrance, climbed along the chapel walls, and reached the necromancers’ rear.

With two longswords in hand, she approached the necromancers, and in the moment when Baros’s killing intent distracted them—stab!

Thanks to this, she easily and efficiently dealt with two enemies.

Though it would have been even better if Sephedes had been taken down as well, this was still an excellent result.

Baros didn’t hold back his praise.

“Well done, Dame Serati!”

Serati quickly returned to her post by the entrance.

Alius asked in disbelief, “Wait, when did you go there?”

Even he, who was standing right next to her, hadn’t noticed. Serati realized now what Baros meant earlier.

‘So, just because you have eyes doesn’t mean you’re actually seeing everything.’

Even if something is within your field of vision, if you’re not consciously aware of it, it’s as if you never saw it.

She felt like she had come to some sort of understanding, though she wasn’t quite sure what it was yet.

Meanwhile, the monster zombies were dropping one by one.

With the necromancers who controlled them dead, their spells could no longer be maintained.

All that remained were five Black Servants and the wraiths summoned by Sephedes.

“Once we deal with these, it’s over,” Baros said, grinning confidently.

Sephedes scowled like a demon.

“No! It’s not over yet!”

The wraiths began pouring down on Baros like a waterfall.

Spinning his chain sword like a shield, Baros blocked the attack and stepped back.

“Mr. Alius!”

Summoning the wraiths had been a mistake. There were not one, but two high-ranking priests present.

“Let the light of Hatoba descend upon this land!”

“Saisha, banish the unholy with your radiance!”

As if they had been waiting for this, Alius and Belton cast a large-scale purification spell.

The wraiths, caught in the divine light, began to thrash in the air.

“Arrrggghh!”

In that moment, Serati silently slipped out from the entrance again and charged toward Sephedes.

Flames flared in Sephedes’ eyes.

“You bastards!”

Having been deceived once, he had been keeping a constant eye on Serati’s position.

“Do you think you can fool me again?!”

The Black Servants lunged to block her.

Behind them, Baros seized the opportunity.

He had used his enemies so far; now, he used his allies to break his opponent’s focus.

[Thanks for being good bait.]

Serati wasn’t fazed.

[Go ahead and use me all you want.]

She had already become familiar with how these people thought.

As the group returned to their quarters, Alius stayed behind with BVelton and other high-ranking priests to discuss what to do next.

“What will you do now?”

“We must gather the temple warriors and head to the Count’s castle as soon as possible.”

Currently, Count Hudel was not in the castle.

This was the perfect opportunity to raid the castle and confiscate any evidence related to the cultists.

“Isn’t everyone too exhausted?”

One of the other priests expressed concern.

Belton shook his head.

“It’s not just about confiscating evidence. We don’t know what might happen to the knights and soldiers in the castle due to the cultists’ influence. We must act first.”

It was a valid point.

“I’ll mobilize the soldiers immediately.”

***

Karnak had returned to his room obediently, but he had no intention of staying put.

“Laficel, guard the room.”

“Yes, Lord Karnak!”

After naturally separating Laficel, Karnak headed for the dungeon, accompanied by Baros and Serati.

When the guards at the entrance saw them, they saluted.

“Ah! Lord Karnak!”

“Sir Baros!”

Karnak pointed inside the prison.

“I’d like to interrogate the cultists for a moment. Could you leave us alone for a bit?”

“Yes, understood.”

The guards left their post immediately.

No one suspected a thing.

To them, Karnak and his group were the heroes who had saved the temple from the evil cultists.

Even if they weren’t considered heroes, there was no reason to doubt them.

Why would it be suspicious for those who captured cultists to want to interrogate them?

Once they were alone, Karnak quickly set up a soundproof barrier. Then, he looked at the unconscious Lehane and Sephedes and smirked.

“Now, let’s see if these guys have any useful information.”

Normally, he would have killed them and extracted their souls, but in this situation, that wasn’t possible.

If these prisoners, who had been prevented from committing suicide, suddenly dropped dead, it would raise suspicion.

“There’s no need to kill them right now.”

Luckily, Alius was away, and most of the other priests had also left.

Karnak raised his index finger.

“It’s a good day for needlework on their brains.”

Baros stood guard at the entrance.

“I’ll keep watch.”

Serati narrowed her eyes.

“Are you really going to do that again?”

Karnak shrugged.

“I’ve become more humane, haven’t I?”

He probably thought it was a compliment.

She didn’t know how to respond, so she just rubbed her temples.

‘Ugh, I guess it’s better than killing them and extracting their souls.’

A few moments later, agonizing screams echoed within the prison.

“Aaaaargh!”

Thanks to the soundproof barrier, the screams would never escape, leaving only silence outside.

***

An hour later, Karnak emerged from the dungeon with a satisfied grin.

He had thoroughly rummaged through the minds of Lehane, Sephedes, and the other cultists.

He had also gathered plenty of information about the cultists in the area.

“Aah, what a productive day.”

He returned to his room, finally ready to catch up on some sleep.

After a good rest, he woke up feeling hungry.

Just as he stepped out of his room, ready to eat, he noticed something unusual.

“Huh?”

The temple courtyard was filled with wounded soldiers, sitting on the ground, covered in blood.

They were the priests and soldiers of the Temple of Saisha.

‘Could the cultists have attacked while I was sleeping?’

That couldn’t be.

How could a massive battle have taken place without him noticing?

If he were that oblivious, he would have died long before becoming the Death King.

But then, what explained these signs of intense battle?

Alius appeared exhausted among the defeated soldiers.

As they hurriedly approached him, he saw him looking back at his group and sighing.

“Ah, Lord Karnak... ... .”

Baros asked, looking bewildered.

“What on earth happened?”