Chapter 142
Gwaaaaaaa.
A wave of energy emerged from the towering castle in Rev.
“...!”
When it struck the group that had just arrived at the gates of Rev Castle, High Priest Herald and Holy Knight Modrian were the first ones to react. They wore looks of astonishment as they glanced at each other and reached a mutual agreement.
High Priest Herald recovered his wits first and nodded.
“There’s mana…”
“My God. This tremendous mana…” Holy Knight Modrian muttered incoherently, “Man, what is going on here? Surely a Demon King didn’t descend here, right?”
“That’s…” High Priest Herald sighed in response to Modrian’s words before muttering, “To expel this much mana into the human world. The demon would have to be one of the top 100 demons at least, perhaps even the Demon King himself…”
“Isn’t that too dangerous for mere humans like us to confront?” asked Modrian out loud. He seemed to have increased the volume of his voice in an attempt to overcome the sense of dread in his heart.
“I think we should… go back and ask for help,” said High Priest Herald.
“It’ll take time for people to get here! If the demon in there makes a move, the whole continent will be filled with rivers of blood!” Holy Knight Modrian responded, seemingly agitated.
At that, High Priest Herald replied, “You’re not the only one who’s afraid. The proud holy knights of our empire are also being affected.”
“I’m just saying…” Holy Knight Modrian started. However, he ended up closing his lips because he saw the anxious look on the thirty White Justice Holy Knights.
These thirty holy knights were stronger than any other knights, and they had more divine power than any other priests. As such, it was more concerning that even people like them were apprehensive about what was inside the castle.
“Damn it,” Holy Knight Modrian cursed.
At that, High Priest Herald pointed out. “I understand your concerns, but you must maintain your composure. If the Demon King has indeed descended here, we cannot deal with him with just the people here. An endeavor like that will simply waste the lives of the people here.”
Holy Knight Modrian gnashed his teeth. High Priest Herald dressed his words well, but Holy Knight Modrian knew that the former had basically said that entering the castle meant certain death.
However, Holy Knight Modrian knew that they couldn’t just retreat…
“It’s fine.”
“...!” High Priest Herald and Holy Knight Modrian turned to look in astonishment at the smiling lady behind them.
“Selene?”
“It’s not the Demon King.”
Lady Selene, whose face was still covered by a pristine white veil, shook her head politely at Modrian staring at her and said, “I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken.”
“If it’s not the Demon King, then what’s the source of this tremendous amount of mana—”
Lady Selen replied, “Believe me. It’s not the Demon King.”
“...” Modrian could only remain silent.
“We also can’t just leave knowing that Sir Christian is here. Am I right, High Priest?”
“That’s…” High Priest Herald awkwardly muttered.
“First of all, let’s go inside. Hermes’ guidance led us here, after all. In case of an emergency, we will leave the bare minimum of soldiers here.”
“Well…” High Priest Herald wanted to say something, but he could only groan and nod in the end. Still, he reminded. “I have nothing else to say, but please leave immediately once you feel anything strange. God would never want to see your blood spilled in vain in such a place.”
“Then, it’s decided.” Lady Selene’s eyes could be seen shining brightly behind the veil as she said, “Let’s go inside.”
“Haaa…” Holy Knight Modrian took a deep breath in an effort to shake off the mounting apprehension before shouting, “Let’s go!”
***
Joshua's eyes gently opened.
“Have I returned?” Joshua muttered before looking around.
Nothing seemed to have changed. The basement still had this distinct musty and earthy smell to it, and the holy knight was still unconscious.
However, Joshua had just used black magic, and the Death Knight could no longer be seen.
Was it an illusion?
Joshua started inspecting his own body as well as the surroundings. When he saw the traces of battle on the marred walls of the chamber, he immediately realized that he hadn’t been hallucinating. It was real.
‘What is this feeling?’
Joshua's brow twitched upon discovering an unknown force in his body.
- Congratulations, bud! You just got a really great subordinate!
Joshua’s blinked when he heard the familiar voice.
“Lugia?”
- Death knights are completely subservient to their caster. In addition, aside from completely destroying their armor, they cannot be killed in the truest sense until their summoner is dead and the mana sustaining their existence is cut off.
‘So…’ Joshua muttered.
However, the excited Lugia interrupted him.
- If the connection between the summoner and a death knight is severed, then the death knight in question will immediately be vanquished. However, the summoner of your death knight is still alive, so it is impossible for you to completely claim ownership over your death knight.
“...” Joshua remained silent.
Lugia noticed that and continued.
- So, how do you think we managed to seize a death knight with an owner? Well, it’s all thanks to none other than this great me!
Lugia sounded smug.
Joshua smiled at that and asked, “Does that mean that he’s completely obedient to me?”
- For now.
“...” Joshua was silenced by Lugia's vague response.
- The summoner of the death knight—who is definitely a dark mage—isn’t nearby. At the very least, I can’t sense a presence like that around here.
“The summoner is away?” Joshua seemed confused.
- If a top-tier undead monster like a death knight was injured to the brink of being vanquished, then the summoner will suffer a huge backlash unless the death knight was created through a contract with a demon. In that case, what do you think this means?
Lugia stopped talking and started making drum-roll noises.
“...” At that, Joshua scowled and said, “Keep prattling, and I’ll shove you into the subspace.”
Lugia seemed stupefied by Joshua’s sudden hostility, but she quickly recovered and snorted.
- Hmph! Do you really think that the great Lugia-nim will cover in the face of a cheap threat? You sure are a brutish and contemptuous human.
“...” Joshua lifted one hand without uttering a word in response.
- Nuh-uh. Put your hand away, or your fingernails will become floppy and fall out. Just do it, and I’ll stay silent.
“I don't have time to do this—” Joshua was annoyed.
He suspected Lich Heinz to be the dark mage behind the death knight, but if he wasn’t here, then Joshua had to change his plans.
His original goal was to save Ash’s family from Heinz, but since Heinz wasn’t here, then it should be fine for him to postpone things for a bit.
His goal of saving Ash’s family could wait until he got back to Arcadia. He would have to visit Reinhardt first as well to get updated information about things.
‘Besides the Moon Gate, I can’t postpone the trip to Reinhardt. There are too many influential people there. I have no other choice but to wrap the current situation up as fast as possible…'
While Joshua was deep in his thoughts, Lugia spoke up.
- It means that the summoner is a madman. I already said it, but regardless of what anyone else believes, the death knight is already under your command, and it is being driven by nothing but your own mana.
“...” Joshua remained silent. However, he was happy to hear from Lugia that he now had one less thing to worry about.
- Are you happy?
“I made a promise.”
- A promise?
“...”
Joshua wanted to talk with Duke Altsma at first, but he was suddenly reminded of one thing upon hearing Lugia’s confused question.
‘That pattern…’
The pattern on the basement entrance was probably made by the unconscious holy knight. Since he was from Hubalt rather than from Avalon, the pattern he had drawn was rather simple—two bulging horns on top of an inverted triangle—the universal depiction of a dragon’s head—and above it, a star inside a circle.
At first glance, Joshua thought that it was a magic circle. That was how everyone on the continent would think upon seeing a star inside a circle.
However, a magic circle over a dragon’s head?
Magic and dragons were intrinsically bound together, but it wasn’t relevant here.
Hubalt found magic even more distasteful than the Avalon Empire. Those from the Holy Empire regarded magic as blasphemy against the divine. The rarity of magical swordsmen and the difficulty of controlling divine power and magic at the same time reinforced their beliefs.
‘In that case, they aren’t really familiar with magic circles, so there’s only one possibility.'
There was a ubiquitous item in the Hubalt Empire with a design similar to the pattern. It was only famous in the Hubalt Empire because the design was depicted on the Hubalt Empire’s currency, more specifically—on their coins.
‘Money, or rather, gold. Since the triangular head with horns here symbolizes a dragon and the circle with a star inside means the gold coins of the Hubalt Empire, we can say that the pattern is depicting a golden dragon.’
It would be foolish to think that dragons were rarely seen in Igrant. Honestly, they were pretty common, especially golden dragons. And it was all because…
“The Avalon Empire’s national emblem, a golden dragon.”
Joshua's eyes brightened as he started deducing the meaning behind the other patterns.
The cone-looking triangle should mean a mage’s hat…
The number ‘1’ should be pretty self-explanatory…
Lastly, the lengthy cross on the crown…
It was a strange-looking cross, but it was still a cross. More specifically, it was an inverted cross.
After taking all these things into consideration, Joshua finally found the answer.
A golden dragon was the emblem of the Avalon Empire. However, only the Imperial Family was allowed to use such a unique symbol.
The mage’s hat marked with the number ‘1’ meant the strongest mage of Avalon.
The inverted cross meant heretics.
Joshua started putting everything together, and he reached the following answer.
‘The strongest mage of Avalon is a dark mage,’ Joshua muttered with bright eyes.
He suddenly recalled the middle-aged man in robes, whom he saw in Duke Altsma’s memories. The middle-aged man in robes was in the heart of the Swallow Empire, so he shouldn’t be Evergrant.
According to the pattern on the basement entrance, the summoner who turned Duke Altsma into a death knight was the strongest mage of Avalon rather than Lich Heinz, and Evergrant was a high-class mage as well as the Imperial Chief Mage of the Avalon Empire.
‘I got too focused on Lich Heinz and Dark Priest Berber because of the significant things they had done in my past life, but I forgot that I have been moving based on the historical documents I have read at the time. After all, I was too young to be involved with any of them back then.’
Joshua's eyes fell as he self-reflected. If the Imperial Family of Avalon altered those historical documents and said that Lich Heinz had vanished after the Massacre of the East…
Fortunately, not everything that Joshua knew was false.
The arrival of Lich Heinz was undeniably true because the high priest of the Hubalt Empire at the time announced it himself after apparently receiving divine revelation from God. What was more important here was why did Avalon conceal such a huge massacre of their citizens?
- You have to think about something that simple for so long?
“...?” Joshua was dumbfounded.
- Do you really think that someone can wield the power of a demon strong enough to be the next Demon King with no strings attached?
“...!” Joshua’s eyes widened.
Lugia’s following words made him finally arrive at the answer.
- If it were that simple, and if I were the Demon King, then I would have signed a contract with a dog or a cow. The power one can harness really depends on their own capability.
“No way…” Joshua muttered blankly.
Lugia continued.
- To fully harness a demon’s power, you need a sacrificial offering. In other words, a blood sacrifice. To harness the power of a powerful demon like Asmodeus, then you would need to sacrifice tens of thousands of people.
Joshua stiffened. Lugia was done speaking, but Lugia’s voice still echoed in his mind.
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