Chapter 140
“It’s useless… No matter how much you struggle…”
The voice trembled finely.
Most of the bones making up the body were already shattered, and the once brilliantly glowing red eyes flickered like a candle in the wind.
Having lost most of its demonic energy as the price for activating the magic circle, it was no match for Choi Hyun-seok.
“Despair… Witness death… That’s what suits you…”
“Shut up!”
Choi Hyun-seok threw his fist at its skull.
Crack-!
The white skull shatters into pieces.
At the same time, a system alert was heard.
[Goal 1. Main Demon Completion accomplished]
[Goal 2. Failed to prevent necromancy]
[Intermediate rewards are being tallied]
[Acquired 500 Hero Points]
[Acquired experience points]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Hero Quest is being updated]
Then a new hero quest appeared.
â ââ â Hero Quest! â ââ â
You did your best but failed to prevent the enemy’s necromancy.
If left alone, this land will be covered in death.
Defeat those who have returned from death and save this land!
- Objective: Regional purification
- Reward: Massive experience points and 1,000 Hero Points
After confirming the quest, Choi Hyun-seok immediately rushed forward.
By now, his surroundings were filled with white skeletons.
“Get out of my way!”
When he swung his fist, the sternum instantly shattered.
However, even with half its chest blown away, it continued to move.
“Hero! Aim for the head!”
At Rachel’s words, Choi Hyun-seok crushed the skull.
Then the skeleton lost its strength and collapsed to the ground.
‘I don’t have time for this…!’
Choi Hyun-seok’s movements gradually became rougher.
Bone fragments scattered everywhere each time his hands and feet swung.
But the enemy didn’t stop.
The undead returned from death know no fear.
Only hatred for the living dominates them.
“Hero! We must hurry!”
“I know!”
Abelson is waiting in the village.
Though he didn’t think she would fall to such skeletons, there were limits to stamina.
He didn’t know what would happen if this dragged on.
‘Ms. Abelson. You must hold on!’
Choi Hyun-seok gritted his teeth and increased his speed.
***
“Kyaaaa-!”
“P-please save me! Please!!!”
People gathered around Abelson to survive.
Though it was a momentary miracle, they saw hope in her holy power.
But there was nothing Abelson could do.
‘I can only release holy power once or twice at most.’
She had pushed herself to the point where the holy power might backflow.
As a result, Abelson’s body was trembling finely.
Even if she pushed herself to the limit, she might be able to use it only about three more times.
‘But that won’t change the situation.’
The wave of undead was endless.
Even if she eliminated hundreds with holy power, nothing would change.
Rather, releasing holy power was an extremely inefficient action.
It would be better to conserve energy and holy power to deal with them one by one.
Even then, she couldn’t stop them, but at least she could run away.
“Kuhek, kek…!”
“Oh God… Please, aaak!”
“Riol! No!”
“Kyaaaa! Save me!”
The problem was the villagers.
They were pushed to the edge of life and death.
It was impossible to protect them and leave the village when she could barely save herself.
No, it was impossible.
“Aaaak-!”
Death.
Death created by those already dead continued endlessly.
It’s often said that the undead harbor hatred for the living.
They killed people cruelly as if wanting to prove that rumor true.
In this horrific situation, all Abelson could do was swing her mace.
Crack-!
The skull of a skeleton reaching for a boy instantly shattered.
“Th-thank you!”
The boy’s face was covered in tears and snot.
Abelson bit her lip and said,
“Run away quickly… Anywhere…”
The boy nodded painfully and ran.
However, before he could take ten steps, he was caught by another group of skeletons.
“Kuaaaa!”
His limbs were torn off while still alive.
All Abelson could do was watch death unfold.
‘Why… Why…!’
She put more strength into the arm swinging the mace.
Crack! Crack!
Bone fragments were already piled high around her.
But there was no end to the enemies.
Not just the village, but the surrounding area was completely covered with undead.
“Save me! Please save me!”
“M-mommy…!”
At that moment, she saw a mother and daughter being chased by skeletons.
Finally, Abelson raised holy power once again.
Whaaaa-!
For an instant, a path of light opened, and hundreds of skeletons vanished.
Hope briefly appeared on people’s faces.
“Th-thank you!”
“Run! We need to run now!”
They ran hard but couldn’t get far.
The path Abelson created was already covered with other skeletons.
“Uwaang! Mommy! I’m scared!”
“Ku-kuhek…! It’s okay…! It’s okay…”
The mother desperately embraced her daughter.
Even as her body was being torn apart by dozens, and hundreds of skeletons, she smiled until the end to reassure her daughter.
And then, the mother and daughter died.
‘If only I had been stronger…’
Tears flowed from Abelson’s eyes.
The fact that she could only helplessly watch these deaths was driving her mad.
With trembling hands, she gripped the mace tightly.
‘If only I could have fought better…’
Regret washed over her.
Why had she neglected becoming stronger?
Originally, holy power wasn’t inferior in combat.
Just look at the knights, they showed tremendous prowess using holy power.
In fact, holy power is much stronger than magical power when facing enemies who use demonic energy.
However, Abelson had no such combat abilities.
During her time as the next Holy Maiden, she only learned healing magic.
Even the few auxiliary spells she learned were far from direct combat.
Crack! Smash!
She resented herself for being able to do nothing more than swing this mace.
If only she had taken an interest in combat from the beginning.
If only she had honed her combat abilities early on like Choi Hyun-seok, wouldn’t things have been different?
Couldn’t she have saved more people?
“Ms. Abelson!”
Just then, a familiar voice called out.
As she turned around, she saw Choi Hyun-seok running towards her, cutting through the undead.
“Are you alright?”
Choi Hyun-seok asked, seeing Abelson’s tears.
Abelson nodded.
“I’m fine. But the people…”
“It’s already too late to save the people.”
Choi Hyun-seok said in a resolute voice.
Abelson looked at Choi Hyun-seok in shock.
“No, no! If it’s you, Choi Hyun-seok! If it’s you and not useless me, you can do it! Please, save even just one person!”
“They’re all already dead!”
Abelson’s eyes widened.
She quickly looked around.
“Grrrr…!”
Clatter, clatter…!
Choi Hyun-seok was right.
There were no living people to be seen.
Even the few she thought were villagers had already lost their lives and turned into undead.
“Listen carefully.”
Choi Hyun-seok spoke in a clear voice.
“What we need to do now is prevent these things from spreading elsewhere. For that, we need to purify this area!”
“…”
“Ms. Abelson! Are you going to stand there in a daze!?”
Choi Hyun-seok shouted.
Only then did life return to Abelson’s eyes.
‘That’s right. I can’t just stand here pathetically…’
She couldn’t bring back those who were already dead.
As Choi Hyun-seok said, they needed to prevent more victims.
“Just a moment! I’ll find a way!”
“I’ll buy you time!”
Choi Hyun-seok stood in front to block the way.
Abelson quickly searched through her memories.
‘I need to remember. Necromancy… How to purify an area…’
She had read quite a few books about necromancy in the past.
More precisely, they were records of demons using necromancy, but they occasionally contained methods to counter it.
“The caster… Is the caster dead?”
“Yes! I’ve already dealt with the one who activated the magic circle!”
Choi Hyun-seok answered while crushing a skeleton’s skull.
‘Undead moving even though the caster is dead… That’s why the area needs purification.’
Normally, the undead move using the caster’s demonic energy.
Therefore, they are absolutely loyal to the caster, and when the caster dies, the undead also disappears.
But this time was different.
They had prepared magic over a long period to turn this area into a land of death.
In this case, while the level of the undead drops, they can maintain themselves to some extent even without a caster.
‘Usually, they naturally dissipate over time, but if not…’
When undead don’t naturally dissipate, the most terrifying thing happens.
‘They’ll keep getting stronger.’
Undead emit enormous amounts of demonic energy.
The demonic energy in the air becomes denser.
And that creates an even stronger undead.
Then the demonic energy becomes even denser again.
It’s a vicious cycle.
Moving only with hatred, they destroy everything.
Until only the undead remain in this world.
‘There are three ways to overcome the current situation.’
Abelson quickly thought of a solution.
‘One is to blow away the area with overwhelming holy power.’
Cover the area with holy power to eliminate all demonic energy.
Then naturally, the necromancy would have to end.
However, this wasn’t something an individual could do.
Even if Moriel, the current Holy Maiden of the Deusis faith, came, it would be difficult without preparation.
‘The other method is to weaken them until the undead naturally dissipates.’
Break the undead and reduce their numbers below a certain threshold.
Then they won’t be able to get stronger and will naturally dissipate.
But this method can’t be used.
‘This land has an unusually high concentration of demonic energy. As long as there’s enough demonic energy, they will never weaken.’
This area has an excessive concentration of demonic energy due to the demons’ manipulation.
No matter how many undead we destroy, they won’t weaken.
In fact, they might be getting stronger faster than Choi Hyun-seok and Abelson can handle them.
‘Then there’s only one method left…’
Abelson bit her lip tightly.
‘Wait until a dominant entity appears.’
As the undead horde continues to grow stronger, a dominant entity will emerge among them.
Wait until the dominant entity connects with all other undead, then eliminate it, and all undead will lose their power and fall at once.
Just like how undead become powerless when they lose their sorcerer.
However, this method also had a problem.
‘It’s too dangerous.’
We don’t know how strong the dominant entity will be.
Moreover, it too will get stronger as time passes.
We might end up making things worse while trying to solve the situation.
“Ms. Abelson! Are you still far away?”
Choi Hyun-seok asked urgently.
Abelson briefly explained the current situation.
After hearing the explanation, Choi Hyun-seok immediately nodded.
“Let’s do it!”
“But if we make a mistake, we might face an enemy we can’t handle…”
“We don’t have any other choice anyway, right!?”
According to Abelson, this was bound to happen eventually.
Right now, Choi Hyun-seok and Abelson have no way to prevent this phenomenon.
“We don’t have a choice. It’s better to know about it in advance and respond.”
“You’re right.”
Abelson nodded.
Choi Hyun-seok was correct.
There was no need to worry about it in the first place.
If we’re not going to run away, we must wait for the dominant entity and eliminate it.
“When do you think this dominant one will appear?”
At Choi Hyun-seok’s question, Abelson looked around.
‘The progress is faster than expected.’
Among the skeletons, ghouls, and specters were becoming visible.
Mid-level entities had appeared just an hour or two after the sorcery began.
At this rate, higher-level entities would appear in no time.
“At this speed, a dominant entity will probably appear within half a day at most.”
“Then we need to hold these ones off until then.”
“Yes…”
It won’t be easy.
The enemies keep coming endlessly, and they’re getting stronger.
Can they hold out against these beings that approach with nothing but killing intent, without even fear?
They might be defeated before the dominant entity appears.
“Don’t worry.”
Suddenly, Choi Hyun-seok placed his hand on Abelson’s shoulder.
“We can do this.”
His voice was firm.
His eyes were unwavering and clear.
As if he had finished arming himself with the will to succeed no matter what.
Choi Hyun-seok was certain.
Abelson started to feel calm as well.
“Yes. Let’s give it a try.”
