Monarch of Death

“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.

She immediately spun around, engaging the Black Servants in a pincer attack.

Despite being outnumbered five to two, the Black Servants were the ones being pushed back, thanks to the advantageous positioning and timing.

“Krrgh!”

“Argh!”

In the end, all the Black Servants fell.

The wraiths Sephedes had summoned couldn’t withstand the divine power of Alius and Belton and were also destroyed.

All that was left was Sephedes, who was pale from exhaustion and out of necromantic power.

“D-damn it….”

Pointing his sword, Baros spoke coldly.

“Surrender.”

“….Do you think I could?”

Sephedes slumped his shoulders and laughed.

“Heh, heh…”

He cried out helplessly with a face full of despair.

“You naive children of the goddess… You have no idea how cruel true darkness can be.”

Baros and Serati exchanged awkward glances.

“Uh… well…”

“I mean, that’s kind of….”

It was debatable whether these two could really be called children of a “naive goddess.”

In any case, it seemed Sephedes had given up on everything.

“At least I won’t have to worry about the aftermath….”

With a sigh, darkness stirred within his body.

It was the unique suicide method of the cultists, the Heart Explosion.

Sensing the shift in energy, Baros panicked for a moment.

‘Oh no!’

Come to think of it, Karnak wasn’t here right now.

Even if he were, with two priests present, soul harvesting wouldn’t work.

He had to stop this guy from committing suicide.

‘But how? How do I stop this?’

Baros had spent his life killing people who wanted to live. He had no experience saving someone who wanted to die.

‘Ah, what should I do?’

The thought process was long, but in reality, it took only a moment.

Before he realized it, Serati had dashed forward like lightning and delivered a fierce uppercut to Sephedes’s jaw.

Thwack!

His neck snapped back, and Sephedes collapsed on the spot.

Naturally, the heart explosion was halted.

“Gaaaah….”

Hitting the jaw to knock out consciousness is much simpler than striking the nape of the neck to make someone faint.

Of course, there’s the minor downside(?) of the jawbone shattering, but at least the person’s life was spared.

“Why did you hesitate?”

Baros scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“I’ve never done this before, so I reacted slowly. I guess I should practice it later.”

Serati shook her head with a wry smile.

“So there is something Sir Baros can’t do.”

***

The battle in the middle of the night ended in victory for the Temple of Saisha.

All the undead army had been dealt with, and most of the cultists were either dead or captured.

Those who survived were all imprisoned.

Among them were Bishop Lehane of the Grenthal territory and Vice-Bishop Sephedes.

To prevent suicide, they were gagged and their minds suppressed with divine power, lying unconscious on the prison floor.

Afterward, the bodies of the undead and monsters around the temple were all burned.

When facing necromancers, leaving bodies intact was the same as providing them with reinforcements.

Even if not for that reason, the bodies had to be dealt with before they rotted, but there were too many to bury one by one.

By the time they finished cleaning up, the morning sun was rising.

As the surroundings brightened, the head of the Temple of Saisha, Trak, gave his orders.

“Send a messenger to Kalat City. We need to contact the Evil Slaying Brigade.”

The elderly man, nearly 80 years old, had not participated in the battle but had been hiding, only now coming out to issue commands.

After giving out various instructions, Trak bowed respectfully to Karnak and his group.

“We owe a great debt to the collaborators of Hatoba. Leave the rest to us and please get some rest.”

Karnak shook his head.

“We’re fine. Let us help finish this.”

Although Karnak had no empathy, he was skilled at pretending.

Playing along with the situation, he continued.

“Everyone is working hard, so how can we rest?”

“We’re asking you to rest for our sake. What if the cultists attack again?”

Without Karnak and his group, the temple forces would not have been able to repel the cultists the previous night. It was better for them to rest and recover their strength for future battles.

Karnak had anticipated this response and had only made a show of offering help.

“Then we’ll excuse ourselves.”

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?”