Chapter 312 The Culprits

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After I calmed myself down a little bit, we quickly began to talk about what we should do today. Julia was giving out ideas about the Soldiers and the Knights, and I also kind of wanted to bring them with me so they could leech out some EXP. Today we were not resting after all, we were moving immediately towards the Dungeon that has been infested with beasts lately.

If we bring a lot of soldiers with us, they’ll be able to easily get a lot of EXP from killing monsters we weaken for them, maximizing results greatly. However, it seemed that this wasn’t something that I had to talk with Julia yet, as I quickly remembered something after I realized a giant skeleton was inside of my shadow, Darkbound. Right, I had to tell her how he even came to be and everything going on in the Dungeon.

“Before anything else, we should quickly go to your office to talk about something important with you, Julia. Bring Emiliano and Hector if you want to, I know you trust those two guys a lot.” I said.

“A-Alright, immediately!” Said Julia rather obediently, as we all quickly moved upstairs. When we reached the room, we all sat down around a table. Emiliano was present, gasping for air. It seems he was busy doing something else but then was hurriedly called here.

“I was in the Noble’s Academy teaching something… I hurriedly ran here, is something important happening?” He wondered. “I hope it is worth me interrupting my classed midway through…”

“Yes it is better than what you think, sit down…” I said. Julia and Emilia sat down in front of me as I quickly decided to bring a certain someone. “Summon: Darkbound.” I pointed my left-hand index finger into the floor and a shadow emerged over the floor, spreading out as a giant made of bones and covered in black armor emerged, Darkbound.

“UWAAAAAH!” Emiliano quickly cried out like a little girl, pointing his staff at the giant Undead who was emanating a strong aura of death and darkness. I quickly contained his aura with my magic so he wouldn’t scare everyone.

“Calm down, Emiliano. Yesterday Marie defeated this Undead and then apparently remade him with her own Necromancy into her servant.” Said Julia.

“O-Oh…” Said Emiliano. “Right… She’s a necromancer… They’re so rare that it is simply not something you assume a person to be.”

“Anyways, as I said earlier… The origin of Darkbound is not just a random Undead that got stronger.” I said. “He was created by another Necromancer before me.”

“Another… so a Vampire or someone working with them?” Wondered Julia.

“Something like that… [Soul Projection].” I said, quickly conjuring a spell that allows one to project what’s inside the soul of a person. This also includes memories and even emotions. It is one of the many Death Attribute Magic Spells I can conjure, but I had yet to gain enough proficiency on it to become a Skill, or maybe it can’t, whatever’s the case, an projection made of phantasmal essence came out of Darkbound’s soul.

FLASH!

“A-A projection out of the soul of an Undead?!” Asked Emiliano. “T-That’s… advanced Death Magic, isn’t it? Incredible! Death Magic is so rare! H-How many spells do you know?”

“Too many, every time I think about a spell it just comes out. I mostly use spells to preserve food or make jerky though.” I said.

“Beef jerky out of… death magic? I had never thought it could be used in such simplistic ways… Is it possible for death magic to cause instant death as it is rumored?” Asked Emiliano.

“Ah, well, maybe. There is no spell that simply causes Instant Death, even Death Magic is ruled by the same concepts as the other Elements of magic, it requires Magic output to deal damage. But I could probably drag out your soul from your body pretty easily, if you consider that instant death, yeah.” I said.

“I-I-I-I see…” Said Emiliano, stuttering a lot as he got too scared to continue asking questions.

“Hahaha… D-Don’t scare my Court Magician, please…” Said Julia with a nervous smile.

“Sorry about that. Anyways, look.” I said, showing everybody several projections and images in the [Soul Projection] of Darkbound. It first showed several people being dragged by a group of pale human-like people wearing black clothes in the middle of the night, and how they were all forcefully gathered in front of the dungeon…

“T-This is… pale skin and white hair… Vampires?” Asked Julia. “Their eyes are red… Those are slaves?! W-When did this happen?!”

“Sssh, just look.” I said.

The Vampires quickly began to conjure Dark Magic of some sort, or Ritual Magic which requires specific materials and skills to use, and then the slaves, who were almost a hundred people were all suddenly killed inside the first floor of the dungeon. Their souls were dragged out of their bodies and the people were screaming in agony as this process is very painful. It only lasted a few seconds, but the screams of the slaves were ear-wrenching, especially because there were many… many children as well in there, some no older than 5 years of age.

“By the gods…” Julia covered her mouth as her eyes were filled with horror and sorrow.

“D-Damn Vampires!!!” Cried Emiliano, hitting the table strongly and furiously gritting his teeth. Even Hector changed his often-expressionless face, showing utter disbelief.

After that, the bodies of the people were risen as Undead, and a group of them were all merged grotesquely and gave birth to Darkbound. Meanwhile, there was a gigantic quantity of dark miasma that came out of this sacrifice through the Ritual Magic Circle, which was instantly absorbed by the Dungeon.

It wasn’t quick, but the dungeon slowly began to change after having absorbed all that Miasma and even several dozens of human souls, gaining enough energy, the Dungeon Core quickly began to produce new monsters in enormous quantities, and began to kill adventurers indiscriminately, even soldiers.

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