Chapter 343
Chapter 343: There Will Always Be Creatures of This Earth, Brave Enough to Stare Down the Radiance of the Gods!
Grand Duke Balo led Auréliane onward through the Dead Zone.
Through door after door. Through space after space.
And Auréliane finally understood.
The wooden doors here were simply a means of partitioning the surrounding Dead Zone.
Each door you passed through brought you to a different territory.
Grand Duke Balo had led her through so many of them she had lost count.
Every place they passed—all of it was her grandfather's domain.
Terrifying.
When the next wooden door swung open, she stepped into yet another entirely new territory.
It seemed to hold no wandering souls at all. The sky above appeared tranquil and still, even the piercing shrieks had gone into hiding.
Across the entire territory, the only sound was footsteps on rock—monotonous and hushed.
As Auréliane was taking in her surroundings, Grand Duke Balo's voice suddenly spoke.
"We're here."
"This place may suit you better."
He stood where he was, looking out at the desolate soil all around him, and said lightly:
"If you cannot accept the souls of the human dead, then an undead army holds no meaning for you."
"So I'm going to teach you other methods."
He gave his walking staff a gentle tap against the ground. A wisp of green-flame Magic Power bored into the rock beneath his feet and wound its way forward in twisting curves.
Then, following the path of that green-tinged curve, the earth cracked open along a hairline fissure that slowly spread out to either side.
From somewhere far below, green ghostly flames came surging upward and burst free of the crack, swaying their luminous bodies in midair.
The flames seemed to carry a consciousness of their own, drifting gradually toward Grand Duke Balo and wreathing themselves around him.
The next instant, his body was enveloped in that green-flamed light, flickering constantly from somewhere beneath the depths of his robes.
His limbs, too, erupted in green ghostly fire—as though the flesh had been burned away entirely.
The Grand Duke's lead-gray robes remained as heavy and intact as ever, but wherever the fabric did not cover, there was only pale bone, blazing with green ghostly fire.
Even his pupils had burned away, leaving behind only hollow, sunken sockets—still emitting green flame from within.
Seeing so vast a transformation in the Grand Duke, Auréliane's eyes went wide. Her lips parted slightly. The shock on her face was plain to see.
"This—is the true form of a Necromancer."
Grand Duke Balo's voice resonated slowly, like a deep, melodious echo rising from the abyss.
Somewhat ethereal, yet carrying a few notes of solemn mystery.
"Only by embracing death can one truly understand it."
At that moment, from within the ever-widening crack of flame-spitting earth, a horse emerged.
It looked entirely out of place here—a deep brown mane, a vivid red body, and sturdy hooves wrapped in white leg coverings. Its frame was powerful and muscular, the veins visible beneath the surface of its coat. Clearly, it was brimming with vitality.
But where was this?
This was the Dead Zone. Why would a living creature appear in the Dead Zone?
Oh, right. She was alive herself, wasn't she.
When she thought about it that way, a horse appearing here wasn't really so strange.
The Grand Duke raised his walking staff and pointed it lightly at the horse.
"Like this."
The next instant, the green-flamed fire burning across his body rose high into the air, twisting into coiling serpents.
They slipped free of his body—still hidden beneath his robes—and latched onto the horse.
The flames raged with intensity. The horse shrieked in what seemed like agony from the burning, but its body remained locked within the fire's grip, unable to move.
Only anguished screams and the desperate thrashing of its limbs bore witness within the flames to the searing, penetrating pain.
After a while, the horse fell silent and stilled.
Its flesh, like Grand Duke Balo's own, had been burned entirely away by the green fire.
Its entire body blazing with green ghostly flame, white bone lay bare before Auréliane's eyes.
Green ghostly flame served as its mane; all 4 hooves also burned.
At its chest, a cluster of green flame pulsed and flickered in a constant heartbeat, the faint fire spreading outward through what had once been its meridians and threading through its entire body.
Its eyes gleamed with dancing fire—formidable and striking.
Auréliane couldn't help but stare at it, her gaze carrying both curiosity and awe.
And yet she found herself thinking the skeletal horse had a kind of terrible beauty.
What she feared were the wandering lost souls.
Something like the skeletal horse—which looked more like a Magical Creature—didn't inspire quite so much dread.
At that moment, the skeletal horse lowered its head toward the Grand Duke, bent its forelegs, and knelt before him in submission.
Auréliane watched it in a daze and then turned to Grand Duke Balo and asked:
"Is it—is it dead?"
"It is still a living creature. It has simply had its underworld state revealed by the soul-fire."
The Grand Duke extended a hand, looking at the skeletal horse, and explained without ceremony:
"A Necromancer's strength lies not in themselves, but in their mastery of the undead."
"Either, like right now, by commanding an undead army of your own."
Then he waved his hand lightly. The soul-flame on his body rapidly split apart into orbs of fire and shot skyward.
Like fireworks bursting in the height of summer, they scattered and rained down across the surrounding rocks.
The instant the flames met the ground, a rolling wave of heat surged upward several zhang into the air.
The green ghostly fire began to detonate outward, and from the soil of the ground, all manner of undead creatures came clawing free.
Fierce tigers and hunting leopards leapt atop the rock, their bodies wreathed in green ghostly fire, their fur sharp as blades, their bones laid bare and bleached white.
Their pupils were deep and hollow, but the green flames flickering within were deeply unsettling.
The bone-frames of great eagles circled in the air, the fire across their wings blazing like burning silk, their razor talons scattering sparks.
These beasts of land and sky moved like waves of flame rolling in the wind, gathering behind the Grand Duke to form an undead army—magnificent and terrifying in equal measure.
The sight before Auréliane's eyes left her stunned.
Then Grand Duke Balo's voice sounded once more.
"But you may not be able to adapt to this."
At the Grand Duke's words, the great host of undead beasts slowly broke apart into scattered wisps of ghostly fire, flickering on and off—
And then, like shattered glass, they dissolved and dispersed into countless green-flame specks that drifted slowly down, settling back into the silent ravine.
Even the skeletal horse's mane-like flame began to draw inward.
The fire across its hooves subsided. Everything returned to silence.
Flesh and hide flowed back like water, growing over the bones once more; the flame gradually went out.
The entire Dead Zone returned to its stillness. The crack in the earth slowly sealed itself.
All that remained was the ravine below, steadily releasing thick drifting smoke, and a howling wind-like wail.
The restored horse nuzzled its head affectionately against the Grand Duke—clearly very fond of him.
The Grand Duke stroked it gently and said with weight in his words:
"So then, you can use this flame—to turn your own forces into undead like this skeletal horse."
"Only those who have once embraced death will no longer fear it."
Auréliane gave a slightly uncertain nod, her gaze full of reverence for her grandfather.
Then, from somewhere far off in the Dead Zone came a deep boom.
A surge of powerful wind element tore through the space like an arrow, carrying an extremely sharp and piercing aura as it swept toward the 2 of them.
The withered grass on the rocks swayed wildly, their roots barely able to hold their thrashing forms in place.
Auréliane instinctively raised one arm in front of her face. The raging wind grabbed at her clothes, setting them snapping loudly in the air.
"Wind?"
In the Dead Zone, could such dense wind element actually appear?
Even Grand Duke Balo's lead-gray robes began to billow, and the soul-flame on his body was yanked at helplessly—as if the next moment it might be snuffed out entirely.
He felt the intensity of the wind's elemental fluctuation and slowly turned to face it.
The flame on his body gradually faded, and his appearance returned to normal—the weathered lines and traces of age reappearing on his face.
Then, his deep eyes looked toward the direction from which the wind had come, and he said lightly:
"Auréliane, you should go rest."
"Next time, let your grandfather teach you these things."
Before Auréliane could say anything, Grand Duke Balo quietly tapped the rock beneath his feet with his walking staff.
The green smoke all around began to gather, and the entire space grew hazy in an instant.
It was as though the Dead Zone had been enclosed by a curtain of magic and had begun rapidly contracting.
Green ghostly fire burned along the edges of the space, as though gradually incinerating everything around it.
Until it had burned everything away—and the surrounding scene slowly shifted from dark black to pale white.
Auréliane blinked.
When she opened her eyes again, everything around her had changed.
This was a room.
A modest-sized room, kept very tidy, exuding a warmth that felt overwhelming in the most comfortable way.
In one corner of the room sat a large bed.
The bed was made up with a pink mattress and a thick pink duvet, and at the headboard sat an array of soft, fluffy cat and dog plush toys—quite adorable.
For some reason, it all felt strangely at odds with the style of the Manor.
Auréliane couldn't help but look around. The mid-sized room somehow made her feel deeply at ease and warm.
As though someone had arranged it all with great care.
She had just begun to wonder when she caught a flicker of green light out of the corner of her eye.
Whoosh—!
Auréliane turned her head. A sliver of green ghostly flame had ignited in one corner of the room—only to vanish quickly.
With it, Grand Duke Balo was gone as well.
She understood. Her grandfather had already left.
So Auréliane stopped wondering and instead sat down on the bed.
Looking at the plush toys arranged at the headboard, she leaned in closer, picked one up at random, and turned it over in her hands.
Auréliane drew in a slow breath. She could faintly smell something old and faded.
As though this toy had been waiting in this room for many, many years.
Still turning it over in her thoughts, Auréliane lay back on the bed, plush toy still in hand.
She felt how incredibly soft it was, and her consciousness slowly grew hazy.
Today she had truly been through far too much. She really was a little drowsy.
"Hm……Teacher."
"Did I……do……not too badly……"
As she spoke, her voice grew smaller and smaller.
Evidently, she was unable to hold out against the drowsiness in the end.
The next moment, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep:
***
A wisp of green ghostly flame descended slowly from high in the air, settling onto a stretch of freshly disturbed earth.
When the flame had faded and dispersed, Grand Duke Balo was standing in the soil—his silhouette revealed.
Walking along, he looked in each direction around him, but could not feel any souls of the dead.
"So they've all scattered."
The Grand Duke murmured to himself. His tone seemed to carry a trace of regret.
He walked on.
Then he saw a glint of gold.
And so the Grand Duke stopped.
A stalk of wheat—rooted in the loose soil.
The golden wheat stalk looked entirely out of place in the otherwise clear and empty expanse. It was drawing nourishment from the earth and growing with vigor.
The Grand Duke leaned on his walking staff and looked down at it.
A gentle breeze began to stir, brushing over the golden wheat stalk—like a stroke of silk gliding softly across its delicate little body, swaying it gently in the soil.
Grand Duke Balo bent down, bowing his head to examine this growing stalk of wheat closely, and was silent for a long while.
Then he straightened up and looked out at the boundless sky. Something clear and bright stirred in his otherwise murky eyes:
"After all this time, another Mage has come who would dare to profane the gods?"
He let out a quiet remark—and within that remark, something that felt like nostalgia.
"Quite mad, aren't they."