[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 150
Zeke said to the girl standing next to him,
"It's gruesome, so it's better not to look."
Despite Zeke's words, the girl didn't take her eyes off the cardinal screaming in pain.
She asked Zeke,
"Did God punish that person?"
Zeke shook his head.
"It wasn't God, but his own greed and desires that made him that way. I'm the one who inflicted the pain."
Then, the girl looked up at Zeke again and asked,
"Then are you God, sir?"
Zeke shook his head again.
"No, I'm not God. I'm just a human like you."
The girl looked up at Zeke and said,
"They said a god with black eyes would save us."
The cardinal, afflicted by the power of Decay, had completely melted away and was nowhere to be seen.
Zeke dusted off his hands, knelt down to meet the girl's eye level, and said,
"Who told you that?"
The girl said with a calm expression,
"I don't know. But all the kids trapped in the monastery know. They always talk about the god with black eyes."
Zeke held the girl's shoulder and said,
"I'm not such a great being. Anyway... I'm glad I saved you. Princess Arina would have been very sad otherwise."
Zeke approached the Lubern children with the girl.
He said to Boris,
"First, we should feed the children something."
Zeke left the site of the brutal battle and set up a base camp.
Since there were no enemies chasing them at the moment, they comfortably built a fire and prepared food.
The children warmed themselves by the warm fire.
Zeke made a mild soup and handed it to the children.
The children curiously took a spoonful of the soup.
A moment later, their eyes sparkled, and they spoke excitedly.
"Wow! This is really delicious."
"Try this bread too! It's so soft and delicious!"
It was instant food he had specially ordered from a chef and stored in his inventory, so it would taste better than ordinary combat rations, but objectively, it wasn't something to be so amazed by.
Seeing the children constantly expressing their admiration while tasting the soup, Zeke could guess how they were treated in the Holy Kingdom.
The children ate their fill of the food Zeke gave them and fell asleep in the soft sleeping bags he laid out.
As she got into the sleeping bag, the girl looked at Zeke and said,
"Sir, you really won't take us back to the monastery, right?"
Zeke stroked the girl's hair and nodded.
"Yes. I'll take you to a place with even more delicious food and soft beds than what you ate today. There's also an adult from the Lubern bloodline there, so they'll take good care of you."
The girl tightly held Zeke's hand.
As if to confirm that this wasn't a dream, she wouldn't let go of his hand.
Zeke held her hand until she fell asleep.
After confirming that all the children were asleep, he said to Boris,
"Boris, you have to take those children safely to Mycenae."
"Understood, Boss. But..."
Boris looked at Zeke with a surprised expression.
"I didn't know you cared about children, Boss."
Zeke gave a wry smile at Boris's words.
"Don't talk nonsense."
In his previous life, when he worked as a hitman for the cartel, Zeke literally worked like a dog under Don Juan.
He killed anyone Don Juan ordered him to, without hesitation, whether they were old or young.
Although the atrocities Zeke committed had become undone by returning to the past, the terrible memories hadn't disappeared.
'This won't atone for those children back then.'
He felt like it was just hypocrisy for his own peace of mind.
***
The next day, Boris took the Lubern children and left the cave.
The girl looked back until the last moment, her eyes filled with Zeke.
After Boris left with the Lubern children, Zeke, watching them, went back inside the cave and stood in front of the door.
The statues were still firmly standing guard in front of the door.
Zeke approached the statues and said,
"Dismiss summons."
As soon as Zeke gave the order, magic circles appeared on the Guardians' bodies, then turned into light and disappeared.
Zeke had already opened the door and encountered the Guardians before the Holy Kingdom unit arrived.
He recognized the access codes hidden in the Guardians' cores, controlled them with the system, registered them as summons, and then had them open the door and fight the paladins.
[Unsummoning Idas and Lynceus.]
[Entering hibernation for self-recovery.]
Idas and Lynceus, newly registered along with the Guardian Horus found in the Zoin temple, had also been left in safe mode for a long time, so they needed time for self-recovery.
Zeke, after taking care of the Guardians, entered through the door.
As he completely entered, the giant door slowly closed.
***
After Zeke entered the door and some time passed, a figure in a black robe appeared.
He looked at the bodies of the dead paladins scattered in front of the door and opened his mouth.
"What a mess."
Other figures in ash-gray robes appeared behind him.
They spoke to the one in the middle with respect.
"Apostle, we will surely retrieve the relic. You don't have to worry..."
Then, the one called Apostle suddenly turned around and reached out his hand.
"Gasp!"
Four figures in ash-gray robes floated into the air and choked as if they couldn't breathe.
The Apostle looked at them and said,
"You lost a precious vessel even in the southern land. Moreover, you carelessly used the power of the subordinate that shouldn't have been revealed in the physical world."
"C-cough! A-Apostle... Please have m-mercy..."
As the Apostle withdrew his hand, the figures in robes fell to the ground.
The Apostle's eyes, revealed between the black robe, were like those of a reptile.
The Abyss mages, facing the Apostle's red eyes, trembled and cowered in fear.
He took something out from his pocket with an ominous glint in his red eyes.
The Apostle buried two black spheres in the ground.
Then, he began to chant a spell.
"????????????????????????????????"
As he chanted the spell in the demon world language, black haze rose from his body.
The rising haze seeped into the ground.
Crackle!
Then, something started to bubble and grow rapidly from the ground.
Two lumps of flesh, with black liquid and of unknown origin, grew in size, becoming larger than humans.
"Oooh!"
The black mages in ash-gray robes behind him exclaimed as they saw the two lumps of flesh growing from the ground.
The Apostle held out his hand towards the lumps of flesh and chanted another spell.
This time, two black specters crawled up from the ground.
The Apostle muttered in a low voice towards the approaching specters,
"Power of corrupted death."
Following the Apostle's guidance, the black specters entered each lump of flesh.
As the specters entered, the giant lumps of flesh suddenly began to pulsate like living hearts.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The Apostle approached the lumps of flesh and took out a black dagger from his pocket while chanting a spell.
An ominous power resided in the dagger with a grotesque demon engraved on it.
The Apostle pointed the dagger at the pulsating lumps of flesh.
"I bestow new power upon corrupted death."
At the same time, the Apostle cut one of the lumps of flesh.
Slash!
Black liquid poured out from the cut lump of flesh as if a water bag had burst.
The black mages in ash-gray robes, watching from behind, gulped.
Screech!
Just then, something started to walk out from the cut lump of flesh, making a grotesque sound.
A skeletal knight clad in black armor walked out, holding a sword and a shield.
"T-that's!"
The black mages in ash-gray robes were aghast, their faces pale.
'A-a Death Knight!'
A Death Knight, a knight of corrupted specters at the pinnacle of the undead, had appeared in the physical world.
But that wasn't the end.
The Apostle cut the other lump of flesh with the dagger.
Another being, making a grotesque sound, walked out from within.
An undead wearing a rusty crown and an old robe with jewels embedded in its two eye sockets.
"An-an Arch Lich!"
The Death Knight and the Arch Lich approached the Apostle and knelt.
A gloomy voice flowed from the Death Knight.
"My name is Lewis Marquiscio. I offer my sword of worship and praise to the Apostle of Death and Darkness."
Following that, the Arch Lich also gave his name.
"My name is Verdi Albizzi. I offer my blood-soaked glory to the Apostle of Death and Darkness."
The Apostle said to Lewis and Verdi, who had become a Death Knight and an Arch Lich,
"The great power of darkness has given you new life. Do you swear allegiance to the one who slumbers beyond the abyss?"
"I swear upon my corrupted sword and shield."
"I swear upon my tainted intellect and robe."
"Good. The enemy who cruelly killed you is inside. Go and take revenge for the blood that corrupted and killed your souls."
The Death Knight and the Arch Lich said with gleaming eyes,
"We will offer the enemy's blood and soul to the Apostle."
The Death Knight and the Arch Lich got up.
Then, the Arch Lich reached out his hand towards the corpses of the dead paladins.
Woooong!
An ominous energy emanated from his corrupted robe.
Crackle!
The ominous energy enveloped the corpses of the dead paladins.
Then, skeleton knights clad in black armor rose from the paladins' corpses.
Thud!
The skeleton knights, holding swords and shields, knelt before the Death Knight and the Arch Lich.
The Arch Lich cast magic again and summoned ghost horses.
Neigh!
They were closer to monsters than horses, with manes of blue flames.
The Death Knight skillfully mounted a ghost horse as if it were his own.
The black mages in ash-gray robes were awestruck by the undead army created in an instant, their mouths agape.
Then, the Apostle said to the mages,
"Kill Zeke Draker and bring the relic with the Death Legion. If you fail again, I will take your souls and offer them as sacrifices to the great constellations."
The mages trembled in fear and knelt before the Apostle.
"W-we will obey the Apostle's words!"
The Apostle glared at the black mages, then turned around and waved his hand.
A black portal appeared on the tightly closed giant door.
Woooong!
The Death Legion slowly entered the black portal.
It was then.
Crack!
The Apostle's body, which had opened the portal, suddenly began to twist grotesquely.
"Cough!"
The Apostle, who had been wearing a black robe, was gone, and in his place stood an Abyss black mage, his body twisted like a mummy, his life force drained.
"Kyaaaak!"
With a scream, the black mage's body crumbled and melted away.
Sizzle!
The remaining mages trembled in fear as they saw their fellow mage turn into a handful of blood and water.
'We must not fail this mission!'
They entered the ruins before the portal closed.
The Death Legion was approaching Zeke.
***
"Just how far does this ruin go? It's endless."
Zeke walked and walked through the ruins to find the relic.
After who knows how long, the narrow corridor with nothing in it ended, and a wall with a huge and intricate relief mural appeared.
"Wow, what's this?"
It was a mural carved on a hard wall, over ten meters high.
It was a different style of mural than the records he saw in the Zoin ruins.
The figures in the mural were facing forward with their bodies, but their faces were turned sideways.
'What's the story here?'
Zeke first took pictures of the relief mural, just like he did in the Zoin ruins, and saved them in the Secure Archive folder.
As he slowly examined the mural, something caught his eye.
"This shape...?"
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]