He knew.
The extent of the attention placed on Kim Jonghyun at the present, compared to when he carried out his ritual in the North.
Although the total number of people was a large and appropriate amount in regards to the amount of people sent out in the subjugation force, their biggest mistake was giving Kim Jonghyun enough time.
But this time it was different.
Kim Jonghyun clearly recognized his own abilities.
The massacre in the North, where even the Magical Corps and the Magic Tower Masters participated, had been a place where even they could not handle Kim Jonghyun’s Dark Magic properly.
The Church’s Holy Knights and Priests participated, but the numbers were not large. The Martial Artists from the Murim Alliance? Those were a joke to Kim Jonghyun as they were only people with physical ability and he did not have to face them.
Things had surely changed, and the people who would be assigned would be ready to face Kim Jonghyun’s black magic. Kim Jonghyun had no doubt they would be prepared in their own ways, but the Wizard Guild’s Tower Masters and Magic Corps would take quite a while to organize and transport themselves all the way down to the South.
The South was not a place where the Murim Alliance or the Wizard Guild held much influence. It was because the South was covered in vast forests and undeveloped areas.
Sure, there were many troublesome tribes and villages, and even a city that was known as the City of Endless Night, which housed many monsters and even Yana, the nine-tailed fox, Kim Jonghyun was not worried about them.
That’s not to say that they would not retaliate if struck, but it was still not something he was worried about.
The problem was from an entirely different force.
The Saint of the Holy Church and their Paladins. In fact, their powers did not differ much from Kim Jonghyun. This was in the sense that Kim Jonghyun had been contracted to a Devil for his black magic in the past, but the Devil he had signed with had died in the upper realms.
Just as Kim Jonghyun had gained independent power over his black magic due to this, so did the priests and paladins of the Holy Church, since most of their Gods or Goddesses did not have a direct connection to Eria.
In fact, the power they used was an unidentified power that could not quite be called divine power.
Nevertheless, their “holy power” was a natural antithesis to the black magic that Kim Jonghyun used.‘The Saint.’Kim Jonghyun agonized how to deal with this being as their presence would surely become an eyesore for him if he did not uplift it from the roots soon.
‘Would it be better for them to call troops as I advance further North? Or would it be better to settle down and come up with countermeasures for a while?’
It was a concern that Kim Jonghyun had created for them when he chose the starting location as the South.
He could have chosen several different places, but no other places held such a geographical advantage in his favor other than the South.
The only other thing was the holy power. Since he was not a complete Devil and only a halfling, Kim Jonghyun was still affected by it.
Holy power would still be unpleasant to him as long as he was not a complete Devil.
Rather than dealing with these annoying pests first, Kim Jonghyun let the situation unfold naturally.
He didn’t care what the Holy Church or the Wizard Guild thought of his actions.
The reason was simple in nature to him. It was because he didn’t care. He didn’t care about becoming a true or half Devil, he didn’t care about this world at all either.
Then why was he doing these things? Because he could.
‘I’d rather destroy the world than accumulate political power with my strength. It’s much more fun.’
Kim Jonghyun giggled and laughed as he also realized he would also probably do terrible with political maneuvers of power. Seeing if he could destroy the world was much more fun of a task than to see if he could use his powers for good.
Could he wipe out all of humanity and the rest of the world on his own? Only time would tell.
Of course it would not be easy, but where was the fun in trying to work through politics and all that? It would be more fun to see if he could destroy the world or not. It was also much easier to see with his own two eyes.
“Kim Jonghyun, there are no more survivors left here.”
There was no knock on his door. Volander, who opened the door, gave off a rich scent of blood. Kim Jonghyun tilted his chair back and smiled at Volander.
The city in which he was in right now, was Germane. The room he was in was inside the castle of the Lord of Germane. Just a day ago, this castle had been filled with other noble and influential families of Germane, but now there was nobody left here alive aside from Kim Jonghyun and Volander.
“How long has it been since the last one was killed… no, how many people were even killed?”
Kim Jonghyun smiled and asked. Volander reeked of blood, yet there was not a single drop of it or bloodstain on his black and eerie armor.
Volander did not answer Kim Jonghyun’s question. He suppressed the displeasure and hostility that rose from the depths of his heart at Kim Jonghyun’s actions and antics.
“Does the number even mean anything?”
“It’s meaningful. We need to figure out how many sacrifices there are in order to do the rituals we need.”
“…I don’t know. It’s probably in the tens of thousands.”
“It’s not enough.”
Kim Jonghyun replied as he gently caressed the black cover of the Grimoire on the desk of the room.
“It would be enough already if I was performing the ritual on one individual alone.But, for you and the many Death Knights that follow you, we would need many more souls than you could think of in order to reverse the curses on your bodies. Technically, what we need is a high amount of souls in order to destroy the connection to the Devil that is holding onto your souls, and to reconstruct the bodies that were taken away from you all as collateral.”
“…Then we will have to go to the next city as well to collect more.”
“No, you don’t have to. If we wait here, you’ll find many more sacrifices coming our way soon.”
“Are you saying you’re going to use this place as your territory?”
“If the corpses you have provided are used to raise the undead, we will have more than enough troops to create a territory.”
“But there are not enough sacrifices as it is right now, and we are in the South which is the area of the Holy Church’s Saint.”
“There is only one Saint in all of Eria. You think he can stop you and me on his own?”
“No, I don’t think so. I just think it’s more efficient to go and seek out the sacrifices by plundering nearby villages instead of waiting for stronger reinforcements to show up.”
“It’s me who decides that.”
As Kim Jonghyun replied with a wistful smile, Volander no longer tried to emphasize his point.
Since the positions in their relationship were clearly established, it had been Kim Jonghyun who made the decisions since he was the one who was able to provide Volander and the other Death Knights with their long-cherished desire.
Volander genuinely wanted to kill Kim Jonghyun. He had thought about it, but if he did, there would be nobody else in the entire world who could provide Volander and the other Death Knights with a method to become human again..
Volander was even pushed into committing an indiscriminate massacre of humans; something he had not done in hundreds of years and went against his beliefs. He had invested too much and gone too far to back out now.
“Okay.”
Volander turned away. He left the room with the thud of his dark and clanky boots hitting the floor. Kim Jonghyun laughed as he looked at the door that was not even shut as Volander walked out..
‘You must be very angry.’
The door closed with a flick of mana from Kim jonghyun’s fingertips. Kim Jonghyun got up from his chair and stood in front of the window.
The view of the horribly ruined city was visible to him. He could see the undead wandering around aimlessly through the streets of Germane. Compared to Death Knights, they were much weaker and lower in intelligence, but they would suffice as an army for now.
‘First of all, I’m going to need to bring in the level of fear and mana of the land.…there must be a lot of time to prepare for the stage.’
Ever since gaining the Grimoire, Kim Jonghyun had gained a lot of knowledge and power.
Especially knowledge.
“A breeding ground.”
Kim Jonghyun muttered as he looked out the window when he recalled his theory about Eria’s very existence.
If this world was nothing but a breeding ground, then was Kim Jonghyun nothing but one of these worthless insects that was being bred for the End?
Frankly, he wasn’t in a good mood as he thought of this.
* * *
The carriage stopped.
Lee Sungmin, who was meditating with his eyes closed, opened one of his eyes and peeked at Abel. Abel, who was reading over the Weiss’ content, trying to decipher a new spell, spoke up.
“Are you curious about something?”
“Aren’t we making a lot of sacrifices with the time we’ve spent?”
“I don’t think it’s ideal, but sacrificing bits of time is inevitable if we want to stop Kim Jonghyun.”
That’s how Lee Sungmin and Abel would be able to find a window of opportunity. Abel closed the cover of the Weiss as he replied.
At his words, Lee Sungmin smirked.
Abel and him had ridden the carriage together, alone for a long three days. They hadn’t talked much, but Lee Sungmin started to really get to know the kind of person Abel was.
He was a completely different person from his brother Envirus. Lee Sungmin didn’t know what Abel had meant when he had said he was different from Envirus at the time, but Abel was much more inclined to act instead of waiting for what-ifs. Especially when it came to important matters like stopping the End, Envirus chose to hide instead of acting like Abel, who proactively took steps in order to stop the End and come out with the best results possible.
In all, Lee Sungmin was happy that Abel was not foolishly idealistic. He respected Abel for knowing that for trying to stop the Apocalyptic End, sacrifices were going to have to be made.
The reason Lee Sungmin respected it, was because he also had the same understanding. Lee Sungmin had grown up quite a bit, and no longer wished to wallow in self-pity. He knew sacrifices had to be made, and he would have to harden his resolve.
“Are you coming with me?”
“Let’s make contact with the other party first.”
Abel said so, covering the Weiss up with a cloth so it was hidden. He opened the carriage door as he put on a gray and inconspicuous cloak over his clothes
Not far from their location, another carriage had stopped ahead of them with a large party around them escorting the carriage. It was a modest-looking carriage without any decoration on its fully white exterior..
Abel put his hands in his robe’s sleeves and stared at the carriage from afar. Lee Sungmin also decided to wear a mask as he didn’t want to attract any attention. It was a nasty looking mask that Oslo had given him, and if anything made Lee Sungmin think that he would stand out more, but it was necessary.
Even if Oslo had been able to temporarily seal the monstrous side of him with a sealed barrier inside the Forest of Fairies, he needed to wear these masks that suppressed his internal energy at all costs unless it was a combat situation.
When Abel and Lee Sungmin came out of the carriage, the stopped white carriage behind them began to move. Lee Sungmin stared at the numerous priests and paladins escorting the white carriage. Their numbers were clearly in the hundreds.
Dressed in white armor, they had a strong presence in their steps, as they were on a completely different level than the ones that were assigned to the subjugation in the North.
“Where are you going?”
The man’s physique was large enough to match his powerful voice. Four days had passed since the entire city of Germane was massacred in cold blood.
The residents of nearby towns and villages were all departing in the opposite direction and many refugees had passed Abel and Lee Sungmin’s carriage on their way there.
“Germane.”
Abel answered the large man without conceding his presence.
“I am Abel, the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild. How high and great is your position that you are able to look down on me?”
When Abel asked this question while rousing his large amounts of mana and pulling back the hood of his cloak ust enough to reveal his facial features, the large man’s eyes trembled from behind the helmet he was wearing. He was acting in a domineering tone to dissuade any foolish people from going towards the terrible massacre in Germane, but he had certainly not expected to be talking to Abel, the famous Guild Master of the Wizard guild, himself!
“I, no, we…. We’re going to Germane. Kim Jonghyun is making a fuss there, so my partner and I are traveling South to stop him.”
“Hmm…….”
Abel’s harsh tone spoke in utmost importance as he made it known that he and Lee Sungmin, who was disguised, were going to subjugate Kim Jonghyun and that he did not look favorably at the man for questioning them.
“What about the person in charge of you? Are they the ones who need to know where and who we are? If so, why don’t they come out themselves and ask us instead of sending a servant like yourself?”
“…Don’t speak poorly of the Saint.”The large man had been following Abel until Abel had indirectly spoken in a domineering tone towards the man’s boss who was sitting in the carriage, the Saint.
“I’m the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild. I am not some average wizard, nor am I someone that can even be compared to the likes of the Tower Masters. You may think I am being arrogant, but I know damn well that I have reached the pinnacle of all magic. The authority carried with my title and name is not something that the likes of you can tell me what to do or how to speak, don’t you think?”
“I-I understand that you are the W-Wizard G-Guild Master but…….”
“Stop.”
Abel raised his hand and interrupted the Holy Knight.
“You are clearly from the Holy Church, and the person in that carriage is clearly the Saint. I had heard the Saint and the Holy Church were magnanimous and quite kind people. But it seems I was foolish to think so. I thought we might have been able to cooperate together in stopping Kim Jonghyun, but I don’t think so. We’ll go our way, so you can take care of yourselves.”
Abel spat out quickly and turned around. He winked at Lee Sungmin, who was standing there awkwardly, not knowing what Abel’s intentions were.
Lee Sungmin let Abel lead the situation and decided that it was best to just feel following Abel’s lead. Surely Abel had a plan figured out, and Lee Sungmin decided he needed to just rust Abel calmly here.When Abel and Lee Sungmin tried to get back on their carriage, the Holy knight suddenly spoke up quickly.
“W-Wait!”
“Can I help you with something?”
“Cooperation…… What do you mean by that exactly?”
“What a stupid question. Aren’t you guys going to catch Kim Jonghyun? That’s what I came here to do obviously. Kim Jonghyun is the strongest Black Wizard in all of Eria and he now has an army of Death Knights by his side. Did you fools come all this way just to honor the souls of the dead with your holy powers and leave?”
“N-no that’s not…….”
“If that’s the case, then of course your goals are different from what we’re trying to accomplish. No, you’re not even in a position to talk to me, since you came here for a vacation whereas I came here to actually try and stop such cruelty and indiscriminate killing from spreading further. I can’t be bothered any longer with the likes of you. We’re leaving now.”
“Please stop.”
Abel’s constant barrage of rude and provocative remarks left the Holy Knight speechless. It was the other Paladin to the side of the large man who took his place. As he stepped forward, the Holy Knight hurriedly stepped back and bowed his head.
“I’m Theos, the leader of the Paladins from the Holy Church that are based here in the South. I’m sorry for our church’s rude behavior towards the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild.”
“It’s good to know that you have some conscience at least.”
“As you said your goals were, we also are traveling to stop Kim Jonhyun and the army of Death Knights by his side, from committing any further massacres.”
“Get to the point. What are you trying to say?”
“If the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild and his companion have the same purpose……why don’t you travel with us?”
“Are you the spokesperson for this large group?”
At Abel’s sudden question, Theos was speechless.
“I think you guys truly don;t understand what it means to be the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild. Don’t you know, that the older the Wizard is, the crazier and angrier he is. Would you like to see just how crazy and angry I can get?”
“Let’s please just calm down here.….”
“Calm down? Are you serious? I’ve beaten up several idiots who did not know where my patience ended, would you like to experience that for yourself?”
Abel grinned and asked Theos.
[This man is a genius in his own right.]
Heoju spoke in admiration as he acknowledged Abel’s incredible wit.