[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 23
“That’s sothing we’ll see.”
From the beginning, I never thought of sothing like Void Gluttony as an ordinary lifeform.
[However, from now on, unless you destroy the source of the erosion, the erosion will not stop.]
In other words, unless I identify and deal with the source that is pulling out these hostile beings, monsters will keep pouring out endlessly.
So, after defeating Void Gluttony, another one of those creatures shows up?
How is this different from fighting an endless army?
“Do I really have to do this?”
[It is your choice, but the Red Moon is fatal to the habitats of living beings.]
Right.
If left alone, everything except where I am will eventually disappear.
I sighed, but the small consolation was that even the Red Moon couldn’t recklessly continue its erosion indefinitely.
“What’s the estimated ti?”
[It’s impossible to confirm, but it is presud that without external interference, it will not manifest for the ti being.]
So, that Red Moon thing or whatever it is, can’t just do whatever it wants.
“Well, that’s a relief.”
I brushed off thoughts about the Red Moon.
The Red Moon was significant, but it wasn’t the only pressing matter right now.
There were the injured knight and lissa, who still hadn’t regained consciousness.
With even the Count’s proxy incapacitated, the only one left to manage everything was .
After listening to reports from the elderly butler, who had been assisting lissa with her duties, I realized she hadn’t been idling around all this ti.
She had been unbelievably busy, with hardly a mont to catch her breath.
If this were an ordinary noble household, it wouldn’t have been this hard.
Rebuilding the destroyed Count’s territory, checking the conditions of the casualties, and swiftly treating the injured.
On top of that, I had to annul the slave contracts of the demi-human slaves rescued from Tyvel Cascadia’s mansion, as well as deal with the items recovered from there.
Delaying this could spark another war.
And that wasn’t all.
There was also a box presud to be a living creature that needed investigation, though it wasn’t an urgent matter, so I just left it in a room for now.
Dealing with just the most imdiate fires consud a significant amount of ti.
After handling a mountain of complicated paperwork that made my eyes ache, I headed to lissa, who was still unconscious on her bed.
The promise with the Sword Saint, Osberg, had already been postponed for a few days, so there was no one to disturb now.
“Heh... Hehehe.”
I drew a mustache on her cheek with ink from a quill and even added a beard to her face.
I cackled like a madman before letting out a brief sigh.
According to the doctor, there wasn’t a single bone in her body that wasn’t broken.
Additionally, her aura had been severely depleted, so it would take considerable ti for her to regain consciousness.
The issue was that her recovery was inexplicably slow.
At the very least, Void Gluttony didn’t have such a curse-like power.
I wish one of the halls I recalled wielded holy magic.
[The third mory is ready to be received. Will you accept it?]
“Can’t I choose?”
[The answer is already predetermined. You just need to respond.]
“...”
[That was a lighthearted joke.]
“Don’t spout nonsense in front of others.”
Though, no one but could see this guy’s text anyway.
“It’s predetermined, huh?”
[Yes. Even though this is a space where ti does not flow, there are rules and sequences that exist.]
“So, I get them in the order they were completed?”
[Correct.]
“That ans complicated magic cos later, huh.”
Learning magic after mastering the sword?
I guarantee the difficulty will be entirely different.
Clearly, magic-related skills would only co much later.
Honestly, I had so anticipation for magic since I’d never actually used it before, but it was hard not to feel disappointed.
[Granting the mory. Please prepare for severe motion sickness.]
“Urk!!”
This warning cos after the nausea sets in?
“Phew... Ugh...”
[The mory of the third hall, the Hall of Necromancy, is fully transferred. The mana of the King of the Dead flows into your body.]
What?
Suddenly, black mana spread throughout my entire body.
At the sa ti, necromancy and all the elents of lifeforms poured into my mind.
The amount of information was distinctly greater than when I learned swordsmanship.
As I was reeling from the unbearable nausea—
Sothing writhing above lissa’s body caught my eye.
What the hell is that?
Even at night, it was clearly visible in the surrounding glow.
It had a humanoid shape.
But alive?
No, it wasn’t alive.
As the human-like figure reached for lissa’s neck to strangle her, I extended my hand and grabbed it.
So, this was it.
This was what had been hindering lissa’s recovery.
—Keu-agh?!
A scream like the wail of a tornted spirit echoed through the room.
I recognized what it was imdiately.
A specter born of intense resentnt—a wraith.
On rare occasions, humans beco wraiths after death.
And I realized the identity of the spirit.
“Hah...”
I instantly manipulated the necromantic mana within .
The first thing a necromancer learns is how to commune with and dominate souls.
“Tyvel Cascadia, bow your head.”
Boom!
The soul was forcibly controlled and slamd into the floor.
[With necromancy, your mastery level doesn’t affect your ability to dominate souls.]
“I know.”
Which is why even the soul of soone who had reached mid-level Sword Expert in life could be subdued like this.
Tyvel was far from likable, but as a deceased swordsman who had reached Interdiate Expert during his lifeti, he had the advantage of being fairly useful when turned into an undead.
—Leon!!
Tyvel Cascadia's soul let out a piercing wail at .
The mories I gained from the newly established Hall of Spirits rapidly expanded the scope of what I could do.
"Seems like you’ve got a decent amount of vitality left, probably because you were quite capable in life."
He had more life force left than I expected.
For a necromancer, life force is essentially a type of necromantic mana.
The aura of death, or "death energy," and life force.
While the technique I was about to use was nothing more than a petty trick, it would consu the soul of a swordsman who had reached Interdiate Expert in life to an extre degree.
But I didn’t care.
I grabbed him by the hair.
—Wha… what are you trying to do?!
"You’re awfully full of yourself for a dead man."
RIP!!
I yanked his hair out without hesitation.
—Gaaaahhh!!!
"Whoa. It cos off clean because he’s a wraith, huh?"
As I stared at his gleaming, ghostly bald head, I let out a wicked laugh.
"Honestly, I can’t tell you how regretful I was to take you out in one strike. Considering everything you did, though, I’d say this is deserved. Don’t you think?"
—G-grrrk?!
* * *
"Sending curses to lissa as nothing more than a re wraith, huh?"
I took the torn fragnt of his soul and reshaped it.
Then, converting it into massive amounts of life force, I infused it into lissa’s body.
—Aaaagh!!! Stop! Stop it!!!
Horrific screams echoed, but only I, who had opened my spiritual vision through mastering necromancy, could hear them.
"And what are you gonna do if you keep screaming like that?"
—Aaaarrgh!!!
"What could you even do?"
As I shattered Tyvel Cascadia’s wraith into countless pieces, I converted an appropriate amount of his life force into energy and used it to rejuvenate lissa’s body.
Slowly, her natural healing abilities began to recover.
Since Tyvel’s wraith’s curse had also been lifted, lissa’s body regained its original rate of recovery.
By dawn, the doctor who examined her let out a sigh of relief, saying she had entered a stable condition.
As for necromancy, the third set of mories I had acquired, though it had started very slowly, it seed to grow in power at a remarkably fast pace.
Necromancy also expanded the range of what I could do dramatically, but there was sothing more urgent to deal with first.
“You’ve arrived, I see.”
The eting with Sword Saint Osberg Mielephon, who appeared right after I defeated the Void Gluttony, could not be postponed any longer.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
“Apologies for visiting during such a busy ti.”
“Not at all. Actually, there’s sothing I’d like to confirm as well.”
To be honest, it was still just a suspicion.
A question that, if misjudged, could put not only myself but also my entire family in danger.
“While I don’t know exactly what you wish to ask, I believe it should fall within the range of what I’ve considered.”
“I’ve deliberated a lot, truthfully. If I’m wrong, it could lead to grave consequences for and my household. But it’s an issue that needs to be addressed, so let ask.”
“Hmm… go ahead.”
“Elder, it seems you already knew about the Void Gluttony.”
If he had been involved in the Void Gluttony’s ergence—
I closed my eyes, deep in thought.
If he had a hand in orchestrating the attack, and if he intended to silence for uncovering it—
In my mind, I envisioned a battle between myself and the Sword Saint, a clash where I would likely lose an arm and suffer severe soul damage at the very least.
“Haha. So you’re suspicious of .”
“...”
“Don’t worry. The appearance of that creature was not my intention. In fact, to be precise, I ca here to prevent it from erging.”
He pulled a small letter from his coat and showed it to .
“What is this?”
“It’s a letter from the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom. I have a personal connection with her.”
The content was simple.
It stated that she had received a revelation about the awakening of a seed of evil in the cursed land of the Cascadia Count’s territory.
She had requested the Sword Saint to investigate and deal with it.
“Since when were the Empire and the Holy Kingdom on such good terms?”
“To be clear, this has nothing to do with the Empire or the Holy Kingdom. It’s purely a personal matter between the Saintess and .”
A revelation, huh...
So is it possible to address the Red Moon just through revelations?
[That is impossible. A revelation alone cannot fully prepare for the Red Moon. Only you and I can detect its signs.]
The Librarian spoke in a strangely prideful tone.
‘Then what about this revelation?’
[It is re coincidence.]
The response was oddly firm.
No, despite being an emotionless string of text, it seed to carry a subtle undercurrent of anger.
‘Don’t get so worked up. What’s got you so heated?’
[Rember this: Only you can see the Red Moon. This recent attack involved just the Void Gluttony, but future Red Moons will co with cores.]
If I, who could see the cores, didn’t deal with them, enemies would continue to erge, and the Red Moon would persist.
‘When’s the next Red Moon?’
[It will take considerable ti. The Red Moon is not sothing re humans can control.]
While I conversed with the Librarian in thought, Osberg called out to .
“You seem deep in thought. Allow to give you my word. The recent attack….”
“I believe you, Elder. And now I understand why you ca to this land.”
There was no point in stirring things up if the only outco of fighting him would be more losses than gains.
“Then, may I ask you a question in return?”
At his words, I nodded.
“You’ve surpassed the wall of Expert, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have.”
“But the divine force you demonstrated when defeating that monster…”
“The sword energy? That wasn’t sword energy.”
I answered calmly, shrugging my shoulders.
“Just an imitation.”
“Haha… Can sword energy truly be imitated? How astonishing. A man who hasn’t yet reached the level of Swordmaster manages to wield such a thing…”
Sword energy, often regarded as the hallmark of a Swordmaster, is most notable for its striking, visible manifestation.
For soone who had not yet beco a Swordmaster to unleash sword energy was akin to a vehicle without an engine roaring down the road.
While it was true that I had utilized enlightennt to draw out sword energy, my body wasn’t yet ready to break through the wall of Swordmaster.
It was rely the result of imnse aura and the influence of my enlightennt.
“Would you be willing to share how you gained such enlightennt and how you managed to wield sword energy, which is nearly the essence of the sword, without breaking the wall of Swordmaster?”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
User Comments
0 comments from readers