Chapter 138
Ch.138 The Death Knight Has Appeared
“Hmm… Just a moment.”
Edward spoke, then rummaged through his spatial bag, pulling out an assortment of items.
A wide metal shelf-like apparatus, various unidentifiable glass lab instruments,
and finally a can of red paint.
Seeing this, I asked,
“What are you doing right now?”
“I’m setting up a magical artifact to enter the inner mindscape.”
As he kept pulling out wooden crates one after another, my confusion only grew—
even after his explanation.
“How can a magical artifact this massive possibly bring the King of the Dead here?”
Five enormous wooden crates now filled my office.
Once assembled, it’d clearly be monumentally huge.
Edward scratched his cheekbone, seemingly agreeing with my unspoken thought.
“Yeah… Right?”
“Can’t you make it smaller?”
“Well… It’d take a lot of time and money, but theoretically, yes.”
“Then make it smaller! Wait—how long would that take?”
“Oh… Maybe within 200 years?”
A lich—immortal unless its phylactery was destroyed—casually throwing out ‘200 years’ made me snap.
“Hey! Everything’ll be over by then!”
“I know, but… this isn’t exactly simple.”
True—it’s not easy to build a device that accesses the intricate human mindscape.
Yet we had to make it work.
We needed to turn this glimmer of hope into a viable solution.
‘Who’s extremely intelligent and masterful in magic…?’
Then it hit me.
I flung open my office door and shouted to the guards on duty,
“Find Icira outside and tell her to come to my room!”
“Yes, sir!”
One soldier vanished like the wind. I sank back onto the sofa.
“But… we’re going into Selena’s inner world to convince her, right? So the possession would break?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. Possession usually depends on the victim’s will—if they resist strongly enough, it shouldn’t take hold in the first place.”
Edward’s words triggered a memory.
In the game, three people had become the King of the Dead.
Two of them—excluding Davinus—had been ‘persuaded’ by Roy into possession.
But after the possession took effect…
Did they just get swept up in his cruelty?
Imperial Prince Ascal and adventurer Colt.
Ascal was problematic, but Colt wasn’t the type to enthusiastically endorse Roy’s atrocities.
“Maybe willpower alone isn’t enough. Even if Selena was brainwashed by the Church of Death, she’s not the kind to slaughter people indiscriminately.”
She did betray me—but I didn’t believe she was truly evil.
“Hmm… This isn’t ordinary possession—it’s crafted by the God of Death, so it might differ. But I doubt it’s a perfect fusion between Roy’s soul and Selena’s body.”
“Perfect possession?”
Edward nodded his bony neck.
“Yes. The bond between soul and body must be weakened. If the God of Death used some technique, we just need to unravel it.”
That made me think.
If it’s power granted by a god…
Could it resemble the power used by angels in the heavenly realm?
In the game’s lore, defeating the King of the Dead unlocked two new zones: Hell and Heaven.
Hell was just a recycled version of existing monsters, buffed up for post-game content.
Heaven, however, was different—it introduced angelic mobs.
These angels healed infinitely with holy power, drained HP, and layered divine spells relentlessly.
Of course, ‘Equality’ could one-shot them—but without it, they were a nightmare to fight.
To counter beings with overwhelming holy power, you’d need something equally potent…
Screech.
The door opened. Icira stepped in.
“You called for me?”
“Oh! You’re here?”
She sat beside me.
“What’s going on?”
“I was discussing with Edward how to break the possession.”
“I see. But why call me?”
I elaborated further.
“The King of the Dead’s regression gift is our biggest problem, right?”
She nodded.
“I know that well. But what about it?”
“So we’re trying to find a way to prevent Selena from using that regression—by breaking the possession.”
She blinked, then gave me a puzzled look.
“But isn’t that dark magic? I’m not well-versed in such arts—I wouldn’t be much help.”
“But Edward says possession only works if the victim doesn’t resist. If they truly reject it, it shouldn’t take hold.”
Icira’s expression turned thoughtful, then sour.
“Is that so? Then Selena is truly foolish—to willingly give her body to that monster.”
I gave a bitter smile at her sharp words.
“She was probably brainwashed. Anyway, our only hope is making Selena reject Roy’s soul. There’s no other way.”
She stared at me intently.
“Do you really think that’s possible?”
“We have to try. Edward apparently built a magical artifact that can enter a human’s mindscape.”
Icira turned to Edward with newfound interest.
“Oh? That’s incredibly complex magic. Impressive.”
“Heh, it’s nothing. I just kept trying to help those suffering mentally… and somehow it came together.”
She nodded, then looked back at me.
“So you plan to use it to speak with Selena?”
“Yes. But there’s a problem.”
She tilted her head.
“What is it?”
“See those things?” I gestured to the crates and instruments cluttering my office.
“We can’t possibly use that setup on the King of the Dead. We need it miniaturized—compact enough to deploy during combat.”
Just imagining using Edward’s contraption mid-battle made my head spin.
When would we have time to assemble all those parts?
What if Roy destroyed it mid-fight?
It had to be streamlined into something portable.
“I see. But why call me?” she asked again.
“Because you’re a dragon—a being of magic! Edward said it’d take him 200 years alone, but with your help, it’d be fast.”
She pressed her palm to her forehead as if dizzy.
“That’s not as simple as it sounds. I’ve never even heard of magic that enters minds—how can you expect me to miniaturize something whose principles I don’t understand?”
Her objection was valid—but we had no choice.
“We have to do it. Unless you want to watch the world end.”
Zzit.
She glared at me.
“I’m not here to play around, you know.”
“I know. You’re the link between the capital and us. But this is crucial. And if we wait 200 years, we’ll all be dead by then!”
Time was on Roy’s side.
Two Seal Stones were already shattered.
At this rate, the remaining six would be destroyed within six months.
“Sigh… Fine. Let me at least understand the principle first.”
“Good. But don’t do it here—this is my office. Go somewhere else to tinker.”
“Haa…”
Zzit.
She shot me another glare, then stood up.
“Lich, grab that stuff and follow me.”
And so, the two non-humans left my office.
***
Giovanni’s special detachment had already evacuated one village’s residents to the capital.
As they arrived at the second village—
“Save us!”
“Gyaaah!”
—they were met with a burning village.
“Eliminate all enemies!”
Giovanni drew his sword and charged, leading his troops to rescue the villagers.
Facing the army of the dead—wearing ancient armor and utterly expressionless—Giovanni felt an eerie dissonance.
Their brutality was horrifying… yet their faces were blank, like dolls.
War erodes humanity.
Some become numb to violence—but this level of blankness was unnatural.
Giovanni and his soldiers clashed with the undead.
An enemy soldier tried to block Giovanni’s advance with a spear.
Giovanni channeled an aura into his blade, sliced through the spear, and closed in.
Swish!
He beheaded one foe in an instant—but more rushed him.
‘These guys… they have no emotions at all.’
As Giovanni was overwhelmed, his soldiers drove spears into the undead—
but…
Grab.
The enemies seized the spears, unfazed by the blood gushing from their wounds, and swung them back.
“Argh!”
“Don’t they die?!”
“But… we’ve seen them die before!”
They’d witnessed countless undead fall during the capital’s siege—this was baffling.
Then, a veteran soldier drew his sword and decapitated a bleeding foe, shouting,
“Idiots! You have to cut off their heads! Their vitality is too stubborn!”
“But… they died when turned into pincushions before!”
“Only fatal wounds kill them!”
Most of the undead had tried scaling the capital’s walls—only to be met with arrows and boiling oil from above.
It was no wonder the soldiers were confused.
“Hey! Over there!”
As enemy troops charged Giovanni’s group, he darted through their ranks, sword flashing.
“Aim for vital points to ensure death! The rest of you, follow me—we’ll rescue survivors!”
He led a squad toward the village center.
Seeing the villagers’ bodies strewn about, Giovanni bit his lip hard.
‘To kill innocent civilians… It’s unforgivable.’
He’d once been a dream-filled boy from a village like this.
He despised those who created such horrors.
Screams filled the air—
“Aaaah!”
“My child! Please… spare just this one!”
“Kuhh!”
Giovanni shouted at the top of his lungs,
“All survivors, come this way!”
“Hiiing!”
Then—
A horse’s whinny echoed.
A knight in black armor appeared.
“D… Death Knight?!”
“How can we fight that?! Shouldn’t we run?!”
The Death Knight had arrived.
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