Ch.1093Mysterious Invitation

I spent the night in a temporary barracks set up by the garrison.

Not just the severely wounded, but the entire garrison needed at least a day of proper rest.

Everyone was extremely exhausted, and there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t injured somewhere, even if not severely.

The natural barrier of the ravine helped, but if enemies attacked right after I left, they wouldn’t have the strength to fight back and would likely be annihilated.

So I stayed by their side to protect them until they recovered their strength.

About ten hours or so? By then, the less injured ones had recovered enough to fight again. As expected of priests. Their recovery is truly fast.

Anyway, after spending time like that, I left them behind the next morning and headed west.

Seeing that most of the monsters fled westward, there must be their base—or the source that summoned them—somewhere in that direction.

If something is there, it must be significant. Such a large number of Void-type monsters wouldn’t have appeared naturally without reason.

Their strangely coordinated movements also bothered me.

Ordinary monsters generally aren’t very intelligent, so they usually just rampage according to instinct… but these were different.

Both waiting in hiding until sufficient forces were gathered before launching a surprise attack, and retreating en masse when the situation clearly turned unfavorable—neither behavior is typical of ordinary monsters.

‘This means there must be… if not a commander, at least an individual that controls the other monsters? Like ant colonies or wolf packs.’

[Yes, that’s the feeling I got. Crude, but there was a system.]

A monster that commands other monsters. Rare, but not unprecedented.

Even when Isabella was still active, there was an individual commanding the undead monsters that attacked Ainfeld Castle.

Even Isabella herself had the ability to control and command monsters, though limited to insect-type monsters.

A mage, witch, cultist, or perhaps a stronger monster.

Whatever it was, it seemed certain that the controller of the Void-type monsters was right where they had fled back to.

So I needed to go there directly to confirm its identity, and if conditions allowed, kill it on the spot.

‘I just hope it’s not a demigod like Garmerlic…’

I’m confident I could kill most creatures—even dragon lords—in a single strike if I succeed with a surprise attack, but with demigods, that becomes difficult.

I don’t know what kind of magical world existed thousands of years ago, but the demigods who survived from that era all have means to counter time and space manipulation.

Since they don’t have perfect immunity, if I exceed them in total power, I could theoretically crush their countermeasures with sheer output…

But honestly, none of those demigods are weaker than me.

I’m not talking about physical strength, but the size of accumulated divinity, energy, and the amount of mana they can handle.

Even Garmerlic, who was busy just defending his fortress and didn’t fight with full power, had a total power level more than three times mine.

That’s comparing purely the power I’ve accumulated without Karma of Murder; if we include that, the gap narrows to about double.

Fighting an output battle against such beings?

It would be fortunate if they died instantly, but if they endured, it would inevitably become a war of attrition… and I couldn’t win that.

I seem to have grown stronger after dealing with many Void-type monsters this time, but still not comparable to a full demigod.

For that reason, I could only hope that the enemy I would meet this time wouldn’t be a demigod.

—-

I flew over the desert until sunset. Much lower than usual. So low that the aftershock tore up the ground, causing half-melted sandstorms behind me.

When flying at high altitude and high speed, I sometimes miss things on the ground, so I deliberately lowered my altitude to account for this.

For the same reason, I also reduced my flight speed to about half of normal.

In exchange, I sharpened my senses more than usual. Like when engaging in close combat with a formidable enemy—to the point where maintaining it for long would be mentally exhausting.

To vaguely grasp the situation underground, beneath the sand plains, invisible to the eye.

It was troublesome and headache-inducing, but worth enduring. Because one outcome was certain.

‘The sand below… is completely hollowed out. It’s like they’ve created canals.’

The desert of old Alvheim, spread wide. The underground of what was once just dry sand and rock had somehow transformed into a water source with overflowing groundwater.

It felt like waterways, as wide and deep as decent rivers, were intricately intertwined throughout the underground like a spider web.

It seemed as if the dark mana shed by the Void-type monsters as they dug through the earth had formed rivers, and they had been scurrying around so much that the entire area was in such a state.

Enough that oases would form wherever one dug into the ground, with plenty to spare.

Since it’s black water full of dark mana, it couldn’t be used as drinking water, let alone bathwater.

‘At this rate… I don’t know where to start.’

One thing was certain—this couldn’t be left unattended. A place filled with concentrated dark mana was itself already a gateway that attracted monsters.

The problem was that even I didn’t have a good solution.

This was a matter that required gathering many priests for a long period of purification work, not something I could resolve alone without issues.

Collapse the ground to fill it in? No, that would be meaningless. Filling in one waterway would just cause the black water to flow elsewhere.

Evaporate everything with the flame of runes… no, that’s also unreasonable.

I might be able to eliminate some of it, but evaporating such vast rivers of dark mana by myself would take an enormous amount of time.

It could also adversely affect the climate of the surrounding areas.

The Dragonic Kingdom of Jin, the Holy State, and the Republic of Himmel, which share borders with the great forest, could face long droughts, and in the worst case, rain of dark mana instead of drought.

Besides, even if I eliminated the rivers of dark mana that way, it would all be for nothing once the surviving monsters started roaming around again.

So for now, I had to ignore it and prioritize eliminating the monsters along with their source.

[Do you want to go down there?]

‘Well, there’s nothing but black water down there, so why bother? You can feel it too. There are no monsters below. At least, not right now.’

That’s why I declined Hersella’s suggestion to go underground.

If monsters were lurking there, that would be different, but with no monsters present, going down would only drain my power due to the thick dark mana.

Another half day passed after that.

After dedicating all that time to travel and exploration, I finally discovered something unusual that could be called a clue related to this matter.

‘What is that?’

It was a kind of signpost.

A metal sign made by scratching a short sentence onto a flat iron plate, then tying that plate to a long steel pillar.

The sight of such a signpost standing tall in the middle of a desert where nothing but sand and rocks could be seen was both bizarre and alien.

At first, I even doubted if I was seeing things correctly.

Of course, I wasn’t mistaken. After landing near the sign and approaching to check, it was clear. This was no illusion but a real object.

– Clang!

I cut through the steel pillar of the sign, caught the falling iron plate, and quickly read its contents.

“…What is this?”

And I muttered in bewilderment.

/ Star Demigod, there are matters to discuss. If you wish to converse, come to the rocky cave to the southwest. /

What was engraved there was a message calling for me.

I couldn’t tell who wrote it, but it was a request for a meeting from someone who was certain I would come to this desert.

—-

‘…Is it a trap?’

That was the first thought that came to mind after reading the engraved message.

It was already suspicious enough that a sign was standing in the middle of this desert, but what’s more, the message specifically called for me?

This was truly too suspicious.

How did they know I would come here… well, maybe someone who knows me well predicted my actions. But why call for me?

Coincidentally, that part was completely missing from this sign.

They didn’t reveal who they were, nor did they state their purpose. Just a single line asking me to come to the southwestern cave for a conversation.

The curiosity about who this person might be was rising so much that if this sign was bait to lure me into a trap, I would have to commend its effectiveness.

[It could be a trap, or it might not be. We won’t know until we go. What will you do?]

‘Well, I am curious about who it might be… should I go check it out?’

The deliberation was brief, and the decision was quick.

No matter how suspicious, rather than just ignoring it, at least going to check and then fleeing if it seemed dangerous would ultimately allow me to gain something.

I slightly changed direction and headed southwest.

Before long, I discovered a half-collapsed rocky mountain and a cave entrance at its base.

‘This must be it. It looks fine from the outside…’

From the outside, I couldn’t detect anything particularly dangerous.

There was no sense of a powerful monster horde, and the flow of mana was natural and even.

It didn’t seem like monsters were lying in ambush or magical traps were set. At least, that’s how it appeared.

‘…Well, there’s only one way to find out.’

I drew Durandal and rested it on my shoulder, pulled out a Mana Herb and put it in my mouth, then stepped into the cave.

And there…

“It’s been a while since we last met. Hasn’t it? Knight of Radiance, Median.”

I encountered an unexpected individual.