Chapter 177
I examined the dead.
Their bodies had dried up like mummies. The magic power instantly became demon's essence and turned into an orb.
This was someone who, though not dead, was no different from a corpse. The power of darkness had become this person's vitality, allowing him to live for a long time without eating or drinking.
Without hesitation, I slashed the strange one's solar plexus with my sword. Beneath his dried solar plexus, there was demon's essence. Did the essence always form in this spot?
I reached in and pulled it out right away.
Perhaps because it had just formed, it was soft, not hard to the touch. I could sense deep darkness within it.
It was for that reason that everyone who consumed this essence ended up going mad. There were many human skulls here in this underground chamber. All of them had died fighting.
The most recent visitors had come about three months ago, and the one who took the demon's essence had been here for quite a long time. This strange one must have killed everyone who entered.
Surely not the whole exploration party had come down here. Why hadn't they reported to the grand duke? Was it because he knew that taking demon's essence would drive them mad?
No. If he had known, he wouldn't have just left it here. He would have tried to use it as a secret weapon, no matter what. In that case, it means there were no survivors to report.
Is that even possible?
Not every member would have descended below the waterfall. If anyone had witnessed it, they would have reported to the grand duke.
"Young lord, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just wait a moment."
Demon's essence remained as pure strength, so why had the power of darkness permeated this essence? Would I go mad if I absorbed it?
I didn't think so. Along with the divinity of light, it would be absorbed and transformed into primordial strength. Yet, unlike any power of darkness I'd faced so far, this held a powerful majesty.
Was the original owner a devil higher-ranked than a legion commander? If the deceased had fully controlled his magic, he would have been far stronger than I. In that sense, he was above the legion commander.
Could he have been Demon King level?
Or—
I recalled my past life.
The individual who seemed to have taken the demon's essence in Tern's east was a mysterious figure.
He led strange monsters around, and even a massive guild could not defeat him alone. Then, why didn't he go mad like the others?
I considered taking the demon's essence right away, but stopped myself. Right now, there was a high chance I wouldn't even receive a quarter of the strength.
My body might accept it, but if I failed, I'd lose this precious crystal of power. Even without Eilin, I could take it in a place overflowing with the divinity of light.
I took out some clothes from my backpack and carefully wrapped the crystal. Then I pulled out an empty pouch, put the demon's essence inside, and placed it in a gold coin box so it wouldn't break if shaken.
Next, I put it in a magic bag.
Only I could take out what I put in there. Even if Elin entered this magic warehouse, she would not know.
"Bronze knight, come down!"
Thud—
I heard the sound of the bronze knight dropping down.
After a while, the bluish metallic knight came walking toward me, radiating a yellow and brilliant light.
"Where is the stone of the gods?"
The bronze knight headed to a corner of the treasure chamber. In a slightly twisted corner were nine corpses, one of which had died holding a spear.
Beneath the spear's blade was embedded a yellow stone. Judging by the corpses, it looked like they had all died fighting to take the spear.
Come to think of it, the dead strange one had also suddenly appeared from somewhere in this chamber. Had he been protecting the spear? The yellow stone embedded in the spear must be the stone of the gods.
I picked up the spear.
At that moment, Osu's tree within me shook violently. To be precise, the primordial divinity reacted.
The dead had no primordial strength, so they hadn't used it to draw on the stone's power. The stone of the gods itself seemed to possess some great power.
I examined the stone embedded in the spear. There was nothing particularly distinctive about it. Since I couldn't carry the whole spear around, I decided to just take the stone...
Just as I was touching the gem—
Papapang—
Suddenly, a burst of light erupted.
At the same time, the primordial power within me exploded outward. My cloak flapped fiercely from the force.
"Young lord? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine! It just left my body!"
"It left your body, young lord?"
I didn't know what it was either.
The gem on the spear I was holding gave off a brilliantly bright light. Waves of white light surged from my body as well.
At that moment—
Something seemed to be moving, so I looked back.
Corpses were suddenly moving.
Creak—creak—
It wasn't just one. The strange one, whose neck had been twisted in death, stood up with his head still bent, and even the long-dead skeletons rose with creaking joints.
"The corpses are coming back to life!"
"Is it happening in the passage too?"
"Yes!"
I even heard people shouting from above.
"Captain! The skulls are coming out!"
"It's happening outside, too?"
"Demon's skulls are rising from the sand! There's more than just a few!"
What was happening?
The reanimated corpses approached me.
They moved with jerky, zombie-like motions.
The corpses weren't fast. I dashed to the waterfall and climbed up with the rope ladder. The crew was fending off reanimated corpses.
And it wasn't just human corpses coming back to life. The demon's skulls in the passage also wiggled and crawled toward us. All those with their heads attached were reviving.
"They stand back up even after being knocked down!"
"Allen! Try smashing the head!"
Crunch—
When the head was shattered, only then did the corpse collapse. Everyone aimed for the gap through which we'd entered, fighting off the skulls.
Had I awakened something?
Our party gathered up all the wriggling demon's skulls around the sand hill.
"What's the situation up above?"
"They still shouldn't come out yet!"
"How many are coming?"
"At least several hundred! For now, let's deal with the ones nearby!"
Everyone waited.
Above, the sound of crew members bashing skulls echoed. To my ears, it even sounded like ghosts muttering.
I looked at the spear I was holding.
Was reviving the dead this stone's power?
If so, it made sense there were no survivors among those who'd come here before. Someone, like me, must have touched the stone, causing the corpses to come back to life.
The demon's skulls scattered beneath the sand had probably gotten in through a ceiling crack back then. If one didn't block them from above, escape would be difficult.
Because no one escaped, no information about this place reached the grand duke. The planks that blocked the top must have been put up by the last wounded survivors.
"You can come up now!"
Climbing up the rope ladder that was lowered above us, the crew went first. I asked Donnie, who had gone ahead.
"Still a lot?"
"They're swarming! The bones are so ancient that they're weak, but there are just too many. Huge skeletons are coming too! You need to get out now!"
Is this a power in every stone of the gods?
Or is it just this stone?
I climbed up to the surface too. The moment I rose, I was at a loss for words. The desert teemed with skeletons. The skulls the crew had beaten down were piled up in mounds.
Thud—Thud—Grrrr
Not just small demon's skulls, but huge and various demonic beast skeletons were swarming from all sides.
Some looked like horned dinosaurs, some like pterosaurs. They flapped their shattered wing bones, trying desperately to reach us.
"Move onto the hill!"
Staying in formation, we climbed up onto the sand hill. The skeletons all turned and crawled over the sand toward us. Most rolled back down as they climbed.
Atop the hill, I let out a dry laugh.
There were hundreds of skeletons nearby alone, and more were swarming from every direction. Their total number reached into the thousands.
Most of the bones were too old to remain in one piece. Many broke apart with clattering noises as they climbed. Some were just now starting to crawl out from under the sand.
Was there a range to this power?
It seemed only the skeletons within roughly 200 meters from us rose and crawled out. Farther than that, there were none.
Even so, there were far too many converging skeletons nearby. It seemed these had gathered here before, fallen, and now rose again.
"Where do we go?"
"Head south to the shore! Even if it means taking a detour, it's better to take a ship to the west!"
"Understood! Moving out!"
We fought our way down from the hill, fending off the swarming demon's skulls. Yet something seemed off. The skulls blocked the way but weren't actually attacking.
"Were the skulls always like this?"
"Yes! They don't seem to have the strength to attack!"
I took another look at the skulls.
"Are they even intending to assault us?"
"What?"
It was night and hard to see clearly, but they weren't charging—they were just approaching, drawn toward the stone in my hand.
The exploration party seemed to have been wiped out because the revived skulls assaulted them. But against us, their behavior was different. It was as if they were coming to pay homage.
Primordial power was said to be neutral.
Could it be that the combination of this stone and primordial power gave rise to another authority? Obedience or majesty, perhaps?
"All skeletons, halt!"
Shhh—
All the skeletons crawling toward us stopped. Only the sound of slipping sand could be heard.
Everyone looked around in bewilderment.
It was dumbfounding, shocking even. None of us could believe what we were seeing.
All the skulls bowed their heads toward me. Even the huge demonic beast skeletons flattened themselves face down.
As if they were welcoming a great lord.
"They're worshiping the young lord."
"The bones are worshiping Roger?"
"It seems they weren't converging to attack us, but to obey the young lord's command."
I gazed at the vast number of prostrate skeletons.
Does this mean, then...
Had I become a necromancer?
"We're moving south."
The group proceeded cautiously forward. The skeletons remained flat on the ground, not moving at all. As we traveled farther, new skeletons began to rise.
Hundreds of demon's skulls crawled out of the sand all at once and headed toward us. Again, when I ordered them to stop, they all froze in place.
"There must be a range."
"Seems that way."
The authority radiating from the stone of the gods reached about a 200-meter radius. Any skeletons within that range unfailingly crawled up from the sand.
Animal bones also rose, but when I told them to stop, they didn't listen. They just crawled around randomly. When I moved away, they collapsed to the ground.
At first, I thought all animal bones were like that, but some ancient ox bones actually obeyed my command. They must have died back when this was a plain and not a desert.
What was the difference?
All bones got up, but only some animal skeletons obeyed. They were those of more recently dead beasts.
I stopped for a moment and looked around.
All demon's skulls obeyed my word.
That meant one thing.
"Eilin. Is there still a trace of the power of darkness in the demon's skulls?"
"It's faint, but yes, there's still some."
Donnie asked,
"Is this the power of resurrection?"
"Yes. In my opinion, the stone of the gods bestows an authority to revive all the dead. But those tainted by darkness also seem to obey me."
"Because of the primordial divinity?"
"Maybe because of the ancient king's crown too."
I couldn't say for sure yet.
Was it the combined authority of the stone of the gods and primordial power? Did the ancient king's crown play a part?
It wouldn't work on living demons. Because of the crown, they might mistake me for a lord of darkness, but in any case, I could use dead demons as my army.
Drian the viscount told me his father had seen a vision and was left in wonder. He didn't know the truth, but told us to seek the king's tomb, as it would grant us great power.
I'd thought it meant the dark knight, but it included not just them but this very power to raise the dead. Through the stone of the gods and primordial divinity.
I didn't know what would happen going forward. If I used this power in the coming battle against the grand duke's forces, I'd be branded a devil. Already I had toppled the Order.
Even though my close allies knew better, the public wouldn't see it that way. It'd be trouble even if my own faction started to doubt me. But it wasn't a power I could just throw away.
I had to trust Father.
One day, there would be a need for it.
"All skeletons, return underground!"
The skeletons began burrowing into the sand. The ones outside the power's radius were already collapsed atop the sand. They had reverted to mere bones.
No one in the group said a word.
Everyone knew that Osu's sacred tree had permitted this power. They also understood that this was the power residing in primordial divinity and the stone of the gods. And still, everyone was shaken.
"Let's go."
We walked southward.
Any power, if used properly, can be righteous.
Even if it appears wicked.