Volume 8 - CH 16

Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

「Pope Thanatos Shirubiwes Hiruku」

The sanctuary of the Hiruku religion had been built halfway up Mt. Arthus.

At some point in history, a section of the mountain had been flattened into an open plateau.

In the center of said plateau plain sat a massive cathedral……

Arthus Central Cathedral.

It was the place Pope Thanatos had made his home as he ruled over Hiruku.

The white marble floors were polished to a mirror shine, the arched ceiling was covered entirely in religious murals, and a luxurious chandelier hung in the main room.

All of the furnishings were gorgeous works of art that reflected the prosperity and long history of the Hiruku Theocracy.

Somewhere in the back of the cathedral.

In a place where the average believer never set foot…… the shadow of a clergyman suddenly blinked into existence.

The figure was adorned in luxurious robes, the church’s holy seal hung from his neck, and he held an extravagant staff in his hand…… The lord of this place and Hiruku’s current leader, pope Thanatos let out a relieved sigh as he clung to his staff.

However, there was no haggard expression to accompany his panting.

There was no skin or flesh on his body, only a skeleton could be found underneath his clothing.

Under the veil…… two shining red lights eerily floated in the pope’s empty eye sockets.

“What the fuck was that!?”

Despite looking like one of the undead which roamed the world, a string of curses were vomited from his mouth.

The pope’s rough voice resonated throughout the empty cathedral.

Earlier that day, Pope Thanatos had been in a newly conquered city…… he’d been busy converting the residents of Delfuento’s capital city into undead soldiers.

The task of binding spirits to magic stones to create the undead nucleus had been monotonous as usual.

Even though it was troublesome to create the ordinary soldiers one by one, he still felt a sense of fulfillment at the end of the day when he looked upon his undead army.

Because of that, even though the work was simple, it was substantial enough to keep Thanantos going.

Moreover, the pope had begun to incorporate a quota into his routine as a means of further alleviating his boredom.

It was something he’d grow accustomed to doing after falling into this inescapable virtual world…… in the early days it’d been difficult to adjust, but after acquiring a certain level of status and realizing that there weren’t any enemies that could challenge him, the days began blurring together.

All of that changed when one of the seven cardinals, his direct subordinates, was slain in one of his territories.

A being strong enough to kill one of his cardinals…… Thanatos rejoiced at that revelation because it meant that he’d finally made contact with another player.

However, the player proceeded to crush another one of his subordinates and halted a strategic advance, so he decided to welcome the challenger that encroached on his territory.

Up till now, he’d attributed the fact that no enemy players had come in decades to being trapped within the game, so when a player presented themselves before him, he decided to play the game as intended.

Compared to the repetitive work of building up his forces, the pope felt genuine excitement after the long combat hiatus.

Everything began when that dragon suddenly appeared in Rione and interrupted his undead conversion efforts.

It’d been a long time since he last saw a dragon, but during the beta there had been players that made dragons their pets.

Dragons weren’t cheap monsters like the undead he created: their firepower wasn’t anything to scoff at, and they were quite popular within the community even though there was a considerable cost to maintain them.

Seeing the people holding onto the dragon’s legs made it clear that it wasn’t a wild monster.

The enemy dragon circled the Rione several times, perhaps scouting the area in the process, and eventually landed near on the western side of the city.

The enemy must have advanced on this place without realizing that this was Delfuento Kingdom.

Thanatos quietly smiled at the thought.

He quickly gathered the scattered forces within the city, only leaving the bare minimum line of defense in the area the enemy landed.

Even if the opponent brought out a powerful dragon unit, hundreds of thousand undead soldiers and spirit knights could deal with it without issue.

Moreover, he had one of the Cardinals, Tismo, with him.

Fighting the dragon would undoubtedly result in some losses, but with the options at his disposal, there shouldn’t have been any chance of them failing.

Even if he had to resort to a demon summoning to fend off the dragon, the knights should be able to finish it off after it exhausted itself.

The war would have some exciting developments if he stripped them of a valuable war asset.

Thanatos thought up plans even as he and Tismo walked on top of the rubble of Rione’s collapsed wall.

Since the opponent had gone out of their way to summon a dragon, it was common courtesy to meet them in kind.

A few undead soldiers and knights had been left outside to keep watch, but they’d already been wiped out.

That was to be expected, but Thanatos hadn’t expected to see the unit near the dragon.

There were three of them, the two females were a beastman and an elf, both races from outside Hiruku, respectively…… the gender of the one wearing luxurious armor was unknown.

His subordinates had reported that “a knight clad in shimmering silver” had defeated his cardinal, so perhaps the opponent had come to the frontlines.

With their exquisite armor covered in blue and white inlays, beautifully crafted mantle, and pristine sword and shield, they looked like a knight from legends.

Even without a face, Thanatos felt as if his expression had relaxed a little at the knowledge that it wasn’t a mere unit of subordinates who confronted with.

He hadn’t expected to encounter a player so early in the engagement.

Thanatos became slightly excited when the opponents looked towards him.

Since the other party didn’t start attacking immediately, he decided to start a conversation at a safe distance.

“……I never imagined you’d try to capture the city with such a small force.”

Thanatos beamed beneath his vail when he felt the surprised gaze of the unknown knight landing on him.

After one-sidedly carrying on the conversation for a few minutes, he set out to remove the most significant obstacle.

“Come forth denizen of the underworld, 【Skeletal Balaam】!”

The opponent was a warrior, and he was a mage…… there was no way to defeat him in direct combat, but his two subordinates were no match for his numbers.

It was fortunate that he had been near a base at the start of things.

The upper hand depended on one factor…… who would fall first, the dragon or the undead cardinal?

That was the reason he made the preemptive strike.

Things had gone well at first: the summoned demon and dragon engaged each other in combat, while his undead cardinal was ordered to eliminate the enemy’s subordinates.

Only the silver knight player remained, but the thousands of undead soldiers and knights assured his victory.

He even used 【Necro Resonance】to give the undead a good boost.

Instead of directly controlling your forces, the support magic drastically increased their attack power, and given their numbers, no matter what level the player was, he had no chance of winning.

Defeating the enemy player would’ve prevented him from continuing the conversation, but a skilled player would use a transference stone to retreat back to their stronghold.

The board had been tilted in the Pope’s favor, the opponent’s only hope was to turn things around with a home-field advantage.

A regular player would’ve checked the battle interface, accept their losses, and pull back after grasping the situation.

If Thanatos could access that screen, he would’ve been able to contact the game masters and inform them of his situation.

With that thought in mind, Thanatos had closed in to deliver the finishing blow. He’d been sure of his victory as he watched the knight futilely attempt to fight off thousands of undead.

However, a transfer magic formation suddenly appeared under the knight’s feet and the next thing Thanatos knew, the knight was suddenly bearing down on him.

Although he didn’t know what was happening, Thanatos’ body reflexively tried to block the attack, but there was no way a mage could block a warrior’s attack, and he was blown back for his efforts.

Before Thanatos had been trapped in this world, all the classes had been split into magical and physical archetypes, the magic warrior classes had been implemented yet.

The fact that a new class archetype had been implemented caused him to let out a surprised shout.

Afterward, he used the 【Evil Thorne】 curse to search out any weak point in the opponent’s defenses and resistances.

He planned to change his strategy depending on the reaction the 【Evil Thorne】 produced. The knight turned his massive light sword on the thorns and swept them away with a single slash.

It would’ve been miraculous to dodge the attack by a hair’s breadth.

After that single blow, the knight paused for a moment and gave Thanatos a chance to retreat with transfer magic.

He managed to avoid the knight’s gaze by hiding among his undead.

Realizing that he was dealing with a tricky opponent, Thanatos took advantage of the ensuing confusion and fled back to Rione.

The best way to defeat a large army with few numbers was to dismantle the enemy’s chain of command, and that was what the knight intended to do.

Thanatos was impressed by their boldness and outside the box thinking.

Using transfer magic to catch the commander off guard and unleash a flurry of physical attacks… the knight was also specced out as a magic warrior… it must’ve been an effective anti-mage build.

Unless he wanted to get caught in the knight’s pace, he needed to stay out of sight.

Short range transfer magic was limited by one’s field of vision, and a large number of the undead should’ve prevented the knight from grasping his location.

The enemy would either give up or be overwhelmed by the undead…… he just needed to wait it out.

……He’d been overly optimistic.

The battle hadn’t unfolded the way Thanatos had predicted it would.

The demon he’d expended a large amount of mana to summon struggled considerably against the dragon. The dragon gradually gained the upper hand before soundly defeating the demon with ease.

Of the seven cardinals Thanatos had created, Tismo Gala Temperantia was the strongest, but the two demi-humans warriors had him on his back foot with their combined skill and coordination.

He’d assumed that the two women would have comparable strength to a spirit knight, yet not even Thanatos’ direct subordinates could match them.

And the knight, the other player character was the most remarkable one of the bunch.

At first, it seemed as if he were fleeing from the hundreds of thousand undead pursuing him, but after he put enough distance between them and himself, he created a massive magic formation.

Magic-based builds were known for specializing in area of effect spells at the cost of physical power, there was no way that a half-baked magic swordsmen should’ve been able to summon the spectacularly flashy angel the knight brought out.

And that wasn’t all.

After it was summoned, the angel proceeded to unleash a meteor shower upon his undead army. Then it unleashed an terrain altering meteorite that wiped out the hundreds of thousands undead he’d painstakingly created in a single blow.

Thanatos had speechlessly watched the chaos unfold from the safety of Rione’s city walls.

“What the fuck…”

No one was there to answer his question.

There was no way such a powerful unit or player character could exist.

A unit that gave a player the power to destroy an army didn’t just break the game balance, it killed the foundation of strategy games.

Player…… if you could destroy an army on your own what was the point building one for yourself.

Furthermore, all of their subordinate units were highly capable, and it was strange that they could overcome his pieces with such ease.

If things were happening as intended, the administrators were incompetent.

However, assuming that things weren’t operating as they should… The heel of Thanatos’ staff struck the ground in anger at the thought of the knight player hacking the game.

Incorporating the magic swordsman into the game wasn’t something an illegal mod could do…… Most likely the other player had hacked into the code and raised the skill values beyond their proper limits.

As Thanatos watched his army crumble before his eyes, he took out a transfer stone from his breast pocket.

The beautiful stone looked like a palm-sized purple crystal which shined with a faint magical light.

Transfer stones…… they were magical tools that enabled instantaneous teleportation to the coordinate inscribed in them, they allowed for super long distance travel that was impossible for the visual-based transfer magic.

However, such a valuable consumable item required rare materials to create.

Thanatos tossed the item to his feet and was adsorbed by the swirl of magic that it released upon shattering.

The transfer stone allowed Thanatos to escape the chaotic wreckage of Rione and return to the silent Arthus Central Cathedral. Even as his skeletal face peeked out from behind his vale, Thanatos quickly ran towards his private chambers.

Once he reached a specific cabinet, he took out another transfer stone, only stopping to take note of how few of them remained.

“This invasion has cost me a lot of these, I’m gonna have to craft more of them soon.”

Thanatos flung the stone to the ground as he muttered to himself.

The extravagance and glamor of the cathedral were replaced with old and dim surroundings…… the workshop he was in carried some history within its walls.

Ceiling-high bookshelves were packed to the brim with books, towers of tomes lined the floor of the room.

In the middle of the room sat a sturdy-looking man in his twenties who had deep bags under eyes.

Despite his stubbly beard and unkempt hair, he wore robes belonging to a high ranking church member.

The man tossed aside the book he’d been reading when Thanatos suddenly appeared in the room.

“Is something wrong, your holiness!?”

The master of this office, cardinal Marcos Invidia Humanitas, was puzzled by the pope’s unusual visit.

They were currently within Ferbio Arthurs, the holy city and capital of the Hiruku Theocracy that had been built south of Mt. Arthurs…… specifically, they were in a back room of the city’s central church.

The pope never wasted a transfer stone to come here on his visits, a fact which led Marcos to ask Thanatos the previous question.

When he noticed that the pope’s veil had been sliced in half Marco graciously offered him one of the spare veils he had on hand.

While he was attaching the new veil, Thanatos gave the cardinal his instructions.

“We’ll unleash Aamon and Mammon. Prepare every undead soldier and spirit knight we have on hand.”

Marcos was left dumbstruck by Thanatos’ orders.

Aamon and Mammon were two undead Pope Thanatos created as their last line of defense, their power was said to dwarf even the seven cardinals.

Such powerful beings required special handling and were sealed beneath the city, a great deal of time and preparations were needed to unleash them.

Once they were released, there was no turning back.

If the pope was calling for the use of their final weapons, it meant that the Hiruku Theocracy faced an unprecedented crisis.

From what the other cardinals have been telling him, their invasion of the neighboring nations had been going well while Marcos, who’d been charged with protecting the holy city, was itching for a chance to show his power.

Before he could explain anything, Thanatos suddenly stopped in his tracks and unintentionally groaned.

After a moment, Thanatos raised his head and spoke forebodingly.

“August’s signal was lost…… did the invasion of Salma fail? No, Erin’s signal remains…… what does this mean?”

Although Thanatos was speaking to himself, Cardinal Marcus was utterly shocked at the news of his colleagues’ defeat.

Thanatos extended his spiritual connection throughout the world, but there was no response from Cardinal August. For some strange reason, Cardinal Erin was still alive despite being dispatched to Salma with him.

He couldn’t pinpoint Erin’s exact location, and the situation in the Salma Kingdom was unknown.

The knight was capable of overwhelming his cardinals, and Thanatos ground his molars at the thought of that guy killing his subordinates in Salma.

Since the enemy had altered the stat values there was little chance of him winning, but the years trapped in this game did give him an edge, and bringing the full brunt of his might against the knight would be rewarding in its own right.

“I’d like to gather the remaining cardinals ahead of time, but there’s no guarantee they won’t attack while I summon them…… With their dragon and small numbers, the enemy could show up tomorrow. Marcus, how confident are you in your strength?”

Marcus respectfully bowed his head when the pope shifted his veil enough to make the reds of his eyes visible.

Up till now, the cardinal had been chomping at the bit to demonstrate his combat prowess, but with the entirety of Hiruku at stake, the cardinal was conflicted as the pope glared at him.

After a few moments of contemplation Marcus offered a prayer of gratitude to god.

There’d be no escape once the two inhabitants were awakened.

He offered Thanatos another bow and set about completing the task he’d been given, summoning the undead to scattered throughout the city to this location.

After watching Marcus work for a while, Thanatos opened a window in the back of the room and took in the cityscape before his eyes.

The city was pristine and functional, with smiling faces as far as the eye could see.

A considerable amount of effort had gone into creating this precious atmosphere, and he felt an iota of regret for unleashing death gods designed to topple empires here.

However, it was an act bound to happen; eventually, the only thing that changed was the timing.

“Even if this is game over, there’s no way they can oppose the stronghold I’ve spent all these years building. Increasing the number of inhabitants of this city was worth the trouble. Allow me to give you a warm welcome my enemy…… Kahahaha.”

After saying that with a slight chuckle, Thanatos turned away from the window and began his trek towards Aamon and Mammon’s resting place.