episode_0054

Death Heaven.

An organization created by 10 Necromancers.

Although only 10 Necromancers belonged to the organization, these 10 brought countless subordinates with them.

Long ago, the Necromancers, nearly annihilated by the combined forces of the Empire and the Holy Nation, felt a sense of crisis and formed an organization. Within this organization, they established a hierarchy and exchanged information, all to avoid destruction again.

‘If the Necromancers hadn’t been divided, we would have been the ones to lose.’ This was what the Archbishop of the Holy Nation said after the war with the Necromancers.

Hearing those words, people understood how dangerous the Necromancers were, and at the same time, they felt relieved. They believed no Necromancers remained.

Certainly, dozens of Necromancers died in that war. However, 10 Necromancers survived. No one knew this fact.

Mordor’s rank was 8th.

Like most games, Croaka is designed to be cleared from 10th place upwards.

Naturally, the higher the rank, the stronger they are. Among them, the strength of the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st ranked Necromancers was on a different level from the others.

That doesn’t mean the other Necromancers were weak, not at all.

‘Mordor, who is 8th, is currently stronger than me.’

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be killed. From that day on, he kept thinking about how to kill him.

“Could it be because I hesitated earlier? Back then, I was flustered… but I won’t be like that anymore…”

Loki stopped thinking at Johanna’s words and looked at her. Johanna was rambling incoherently. It seemed she had misunderstood after hearing him say he’d go in alone.

“It’s not specifically because of that.”

He just didn’t want to show her. In truth, he had already shown her things he didn’t want to. The sight of dead children being manipulated. Moreover, Johanna herself had directly killed those children. Although they were merely corpses, they appeared exactly like ordinary people.

He had already shown Johanna sights he didn’t want her to see and made her experience things he wished she hadn’t. Yet, there was still something he didn’t want to show her.

“It’s just that this is something I have to do alone.”

“But……..”

Even with Loki’s resolute words, Johanna wanted to stop him. Though she didn’t know Necromancers still existed, Johanna had some knowledge of them.

Those who control the dead and make them fight. The terrifying thing about Necromancers was that they made you fight your own dead comrades. In fact, many soldiers committed suicide during the war with the Necromancers. Their wills stated that they had killed their comrades with their own hands.

Therefore, the worst-case scenarios kept surfacing in her mind. A situation where Loki died, and a Necromancer controlled him. And a situation where such a Loki tried to kill her.

Her body trembled just imagining it. She was scared.

“Let me come too…”

Thump.

Her vision was suddenly obscured. She fumbled at her face with her hand and felt something covering it. She grabbed hold of it and pulled it from her face to identify it.

“This is…”

A white, smiling mask. It was the mask Loki always wore.

She stared at Loki with blank eyes. His face wasn’t visible, likely because he had his robe pulled deep over his head.

Creak.

The door opened.

“I’ll be back. Hold onto the mask for me while I’m gone. I’ll definitely come back for it.”

Creak.

The door closed.

Johanna held the mask tightly in her hand, staring blankly at the door.

. . . .

After entering, the first thing he checked was the child’s location. The child was not among the corpses that had been manipulated earlier.

“So you’ve come this far. Perhaps I shouldn’t have trusted those pieces of trash?”

He looked toward where the voice came from. There stood an old man.

“Mordor.”

That man was the one who did that to the boy and girl.

“So you know my name. Who sent you? Did Betzdo send you?”

Betzdo was the 10th-ranked Necromancer in Death Heaven.

All the Necromancers didn’t get along well. They had merely joined Death Heaven because the 1st ranked was overwhelmingly strong. There was no real sense of camaraderie among them.

Though he wanted to ignore Mordor’s words and kill him immediately, he opened his mouth to avoid getting agitated.

“No, it’s just that I don’t listen to corpse-fucking bastards like you.”

Mordor clicked his tongue at his words and said,

“Tsk, ordinary humans are pathetic. The end of all humans is death. And we Necromancers grant a new beginning at that end. Therefore, we Necromancers are truly the masters of humanity.”

Mordor held immense pride in being a Necromancer, even among those in Death Heaven.

To make it easier for Croaka users to remember the names of the 10 Necromancers, they created keywords to symbolize each Necromancer.

The keyword symbolizing Mordor was [Spirit].

“Mordor, Death Heaven’s 8th rank, are you really that afraid of Betzdo, the 10th rank?”

“You, just now and before, how much do you know?”

When he accurately stated the rank, name, and organization’s name, Mordor’s expression crumpled. Only Necromancers knew the exact ranks and names within Death Heaven at this point.

“Don’t change the subject and just answer what I asked. Are you that scared of Betzdo?”

He grated on Mordor’s nerves. He needed to buy some time for ‘that’.

“Ha! As you said, he’s 10th rank and I’m 8th, so why should I be afraid of him?”

He knew he’d say that. He formed a sneer. And then he opened his mouth.

“Because… you’re weaker than Betzdo, aren’t you?”

As he said, Mordor was weaker than Betzdo. However, the reason Mordor was ranked higher was because he possessed a unique skill.

“You! How dare a mere human like you!!!”

Mordor slammed his staff onto the ground.

When Mordor slammed his staff, faceless corpses rose from the ground.

Mordor opened his mouth with a vile smile.

“Then, let’s see who you’ve lost.”

Faces appeared on the faceless corpses. The corpses had the faces of the children he had met and killed in the alleyway.

“These children are the very people you cherished who died, aren’t they?”

This was the reason Mordor was ranked higher than Betzdo, and why Mordor’s keyword was [Spirit]. If one’s mental fortitude was below a certain level, it was impossible to even fight Mordor.

“Will you really kill these children you cherish, you…”

Swoosh.

He swung his sword, and the corpse’s head flew off.

“Hm? What did you say?”

He cut down the corpses resembling children without hesitation.

“Knowing they’re fakes, there’s no reason not to cut them down.”

Someone fighting Mordor for the first time would be surprised and unable to move, but he already knew. Moreover, he had already killed the children countless times in his nightmares. There was no reason he couldn’t cut down such flimsy fakes.

“By the way. You’re not telling me this is all, are you? You’re much weaker than I thought.”

“You!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Mordor slammed his staff onto the ground once more, and again, corpses rose from the earth.

The corpses that appeared this time had faces. Moreover, each and every one of them exuded an eerie aura.

“Nothing special……..”

He was about to say ‘nothing special’ but then closed his mouth.

“Now do you understand the terror of Necromancers?” Mordor seemed to think he had been intimidated.

“Haaah…”

He sighed. He had held it in while fighting Mordor.

“Just shut up. I have nothing more to say to you.”

He had already bought enough time. There was no longer any reason to talk to that bastard. He felt nauseous while talking to Mordor.

“Boy, don’t bluff. You’ll never be able to get through these corpses and reach me.”

He didn’t bother to answer.

The reason he didn’t come with Johanna was largely because he had to kill Mordor with his own hands, but an even bigger reason was his reluctance to show her this skill.

A skill that turned a bug into a wreck in just one minute. However, he didn’t intend to use it for only one minute against Mordor. He had consumed an elixir, so his mana wasn’t lacking.

Before using it on the bug, he had once asked Duke Adelian for permission and tried it out.

‘Huh! Can you make something like this with your unique magic? Should I say your unique magic is amazing, or your imagination is amazing? For now, this skill is forbidden. If others see it, they will undoubtedly fear you or become troublesome.’ It was a skill Duke Adelian had forbidden him from using.

‘Is this a threatening skill? Are you really asking out of curiosity? I guarantee it. With just this one skill, you can kill all the knights of our family at once. It doesn’t matter if they’re stronger than you or not. This skill touches upon human instinct. To be honest, even I was momentarily scared.’ It was a skill Duke Adelian had acknowledged.

It was a skill that used illusions, but it didn’t suit the name ‘illusion’.

Mordor, you granted me nightmares for five months. So this is what I’m showing you.

“Nightmare.”

A fog enveloped him and Mordor.

Now, I’ll kill you very slowly.