Ch.139139. Broken Faith

“Kuhahaha!”

The hearty laughter of the Great Warrior echoes through the Marias Great Forest, mingling with the sound of rain.

Despite the pouring raindrops, the massive Horua flame rising from the center of the village remained unwavering, allowing the Marias tribe to sit around it, enjoying the festival while grilling meat.

Though rainwater might mix with their food, for those living in the Great Forest, a little rainwater in their meals was no problem at all.

“Even Griffin is nothing!”

“Royal Knights? We have our ancestors with us!”

“Long live Lord Horua! Long live the Great Warrior!”

The Marias tribe raises their cups in celebration, savoring their victory. Watching them, the Great Warrior turns to the shaman Shong beside him with a satisfied smile.

“We have won.”

In response to his resolute smile, Shong’s expression darkens.

“Not victory, but preservation. Have you forgotten our original purpose?”

At these words, Balkzar’s expression hardens, having just been reveling in victory.

Shong presses him, as if to wake him from the sweet, momentary intoxication of triumph.

“There’s no turning back now. To survive, we must once again claim part of Griffin’s territory.”

“Yes, I know.”

A war that has just begun.

But Balkzar had his own confidence. Now he was no longer human, but a being half-close to godhood.

Though he knew the flame couldn’t last forever and would eventually extinguish, it would endure until he established a foundation for his tribe to survive.

That’s why Horua had abandoned the forest and joined the battle.

Just then, a woman rushed over urgently.

While everyone else was celebrating, she alone approached Balkzar and Shong with a tense expression.

“G-Great Warrior! A woman has been complaining of labor pains, and it seems she needs to give birth right away.”

“Hmm!”

He had heard that the pregnant hostage named Illuania was complaining of labor pains, but had it progressed so quickly?

After a moment’s consideration, the Great Warrior nodded slightly.

“Proceed. The hostage’s life is the top priority.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The woman turned and hurried away. Shong, who had overheard the conversation, curved his lips into a smile.

“That’s fortunate. We’ve gained another card to block the Spiritmaster on our side.”

“Hmm!”

“Besides, if it’s a child, it will be easier for us to handle as a hostage.”

“Indeed.”

Honestly, the Great Warrior knew this wasn’t right. Kidnapping a pregnant woman and treating her child as a hostage.

But he had dedicated himself to the Marias tribe and the Great Forest.

Yes, that made it acceptable.

Fighting for them was enough.

As he was thinking this…

[KYAAAAAAAAAH!]

It was a blood-curdling scream.

With a deep resonance, it penetrated the forest, lending an ominous quality to the heavy rainfall.

But it didn’t end there.

[WhyshouldIdie?Ididn’tdoanythingwrongsowhyshouldIdie?]

[WeshouldjustkillthisbastardwhyamIfirst?]

[Savemesavemesavemesavemesavemesavemesavemesaveme.]

[CanweburyherelikethisMissareyoureallysureaboutthisMissit’sachild.]

[Iheardthisforesthasmanymonsterssofirstofall.]

[Bel’sarmwascrushed,Delren’seyesweregoredout,andHala’slegwascut off.IthoughtIwastheonlysurvivorbutturnedoutmyheadwassmashed.]

[Itoldyoutobecarefulbutnottoabandonme.]

Ghosts gathered high in the sky, each pouring out their stories and resentments, lamenting their deaths.

The Marias tribe celebrating the festival fell into confusion, but the Great Warrior gritted his teeth and grabbed his spear.

“Bring the hostage! The Spiritmaster has come!”

Was it because it had absorbed the falling rain?

The spear he always carried now felt unusually heavy.

He wasn’t surprised by this situation, having provoked the Spiritmaster’s wrath.

But if they showed him the pregnant woman, especially during childbirth, he wouldn’t be able to move recklessly.

Thinking this, the Great Warrior gave his order, but…

“Ah, aah.”

For some reason, Shong the shaman wasn’t following his command, instead looking up at the sky with a grin.

As if the sight of countless souls before him was something he had been waiting for.

“Shong…?”

As Balkzar called his name with a sense of foreboding, Shong shook his head, trembling with anticipation.

“He is, despite being a Black Mage, not a Black Mage, they say.”

“What are you talking about! Hurry and bring the hostage!”

“Do you truly believe that will stop this calamity?”

“…”

He couldn’t understand what Shong meant.

His thoughts weren’t connecting clearly, but he could tell that Shong harbored different intentions and that he had been used.

Sring!

Balkzar immediately brought his spear to Shong’s throat, threatening him.

“You! What is your purpose?”

“I needed to see.”

Blood trickled from where the spear grazed his throat, yet Shong continued to stare at the sky, unbothered.

At the spectacle of countless souls who had perished in this land of many stories.

“He possessed a talent chosen by the continent! He obtained the Devil’s Stone, called both blessing and curse! He even found the most suitable master by himself!”

His voice grew louder.

By now, Balkzar saw Shong as a completely different person.

A sudden dizziness made Balkzar momentarily lose his balance, but Shong’s voice pierced clearly through his ears.

“But! But! BUUUT! Because of one belief! Because of that foolish belief of not manipulating the dead! Of respecting them! Because of that stupid self-imposed shackle!”

Distorted anger.

Shong clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he shouted.

“He never properly utilized his innate power! Can a knight be called a knight without using a sword? Can a necromancer! Be called a necromancer without manipulating souls?!”

That’s why he was called the Spiritmaster.

Unlike other necromancers, he didn’t use souls as tools.

Because he comforted them.

But now, it’s different.

Like touching a dragon’s reverse scale.

The Great Warrior had precisely struck the part of Deus Verdi that should never be touched.

“Now, he is coming.”

Shong’s fingertip points between the dense trees.

“He who has abandoned the name Spiritmaster and become a true necromancer is arriving!”

[Mybodyisburning!It’sburningItellyou!]

[Nooooo!Letmerestinpeace!Idon’twanttofightanymore!]

[Thisisn’tright,Iprayedsohardandgavesomuchofferingthisisn’tright.]

[Wepromisedtodiethogethersowhydareyoustillalive?]

“Show us your skills! Show us if you have the power to threaten them!”

Amidst the cold rain came the incomprehensible screams of the dead.

As everyone stood frozen in inexplicable terror, as if the rain had frozen their bodies, an emotionless male voice resonated in everyone’s ears.

“Silence.”

Whoosh!

The massive Horua flame that had been heating the festival at the village center extinguished.

Deep darkness settled over the forest.

A pitch-black village where the moon and stars were obscured by the thick souls spread across the sky.

The souls that had been noisily spewing their resentments simultaneously closed their mouths and began to struggle.

The souls turned into white flames, beginning to encircle the entire Marias village.

Like a prison.

“This is what it means to use souls as tools! This is Deus Verdi, using his power to its fullest! The King of the Dead! Another person heading toward the pinnacle of necromancy!”

A black robe suddenly draped over Shong’s body. Balkzar didn’t understand what it signified, but…

Shong’s robe bore the emblem of Dante.

“Now, Great Warrior! As you wished, I gave you power! I persuaded Horua and brought nobles from the kingdom to establish a foundation for the future! I presented a path of salvation for the Marias Great Forest, which is gradually turning into desert!”

“You… bastard.”

“Now go and fight! Stop the kingly path of that man who will become the King of the Dead! That is the price you must pay me for the power you received!”

The Sahar Desert adjoining the Marias Great Forest. People believe the Great Forest has been holding back the expanding Sahar Desert, but…

Those living in the Great Forest, including Horua, knew.

That eventually, the desert, known as the cursed land, would conquer the Great Forest.

If they remained idle, their home would disappear.

It was the shaman Shong who provided an answer then. The Great Warrior, who completely trusted Shong as a fellow Marias tribesman, gritted his teeth.

“You betrayed me!”

“Yes! That’s right! I found people who could awaken my talent better than this place! And they wanted to see the end of that man!”

The price of entering Dante.

That was this moment.

The members of Dante who wanted to confirm the Spiritmaster’s full power are now watching Deus Verdi with their own eyes.

The opponent is the flame guardian who abandoned his home and descended upon humans.

More than enough of a challenge.

“Now! If you stay like this, the entire Marias tribe will die! Don’t you need to protect them?”

Though Balkzar stabbed Shong’s neck with his spear, Shong disappeared as if sucked somewhere, then reappeared on the roof of a hut behind him.

“I will surely kill you!”

“You’re quite composed!”

As the Great Warrior gritted his teeth and tried to follow Shong…

[KYAAAAK!]

A scream filled with agony fell like a meteor. A soul enveloped in white flames struck Shong directly.

“Kuhuk!”

He couldn’t help but take the heavy blow, spitting blood, but…

[KUAAAAK!]

[STOOOP!]

[Ithurts!Ithurts!Ithurts!]

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Some of the souls floating in the sky continued to strike down at Shong.

The hut he had been standing on was already half-destroyed and collapsed, and amidst the debris, Shong rolled on the ground, spitting blood in a miserable state.

“KUAAAAAAAK!”

Moreover, the souls’ flames attached to his hands and feet, inflicting the pain of burning.

“…”

Even Balkzar couldn’t help but flinch and tremble at the cruelty, but…

Shong’s burning body floated up and flew somewhere.

To the entrance of the village.

Between the dense trees, the man finally revealed himself. But his appearance was quite different from what the Great Warrior remembered.

Hollow eyes.

Long hair, wet and drooping from the falling rain.

Evil spirits clinging to his entire body, spewing their resentments.

Deus caught Shong’s head as it flew toward him, threw him to the ground, and dragged him by his hair.

“KUAAAK!”

Looking down at Shong’s burning robe, Deus quietly murmured.

“Dante’s puppet.”

“Kuuk! Kuk!”

Shong’s limbs were burning, but he wasn’t dying. Was this also a form of necromancy?

The Great Warrior was momentarily seized by an indescribable fear. A kind of realization of truth.

‘Even death might not be death.’

Ignoring the Great Warrior’s reaction entirely, Deus looked down at Shong and said,

“Watch carefully, see whom you’ve turned into an enemy.”

Deus’s warning, knowing that all members of Dante were watching this scene through Shong’s eyes.

Balkzar, with Horua’s wings spread, blocks Deus’s path as he approaches, exuding ominousness.

He needed to let him know this whole situation was a trap.

“Deus Verdi! Listen to me! This is all a trap! It was set up by that man!”

“…”

“This entire war was a plan to make you and me fight! The hostage is safe! In fact, we’re helping her give birth right now…”

Even before he could finish speaking, Deus’s eyes were already directed toward the hut where the hostage was held.

Numerous souls were already surrounding the hut, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

[He’s a monster.]

Even the guardian spirit Horua acknowledged it.

Balkzar suddenly wondered why Horua, as a guardian spirit, hadn’t noticed Deus entering the forest, but…

‘Damn, he’s no longer a guardian spirit.’

Horua had already abandoned his role as the forest’s protector to save the forest.

Now, even Horua couldn’t perceive everything in the forest.

“We too, fought only to survive! In the face of the calamity that is the desert, we too were powerless…”

Meeting Deus’s eyes, Balkzar’s mouth froze.

It was useless.

The man before him wasn’t listening.

No matter what was said, mercy would not descend.

Balkzar gripped his spear, spewing Horua’s flames, and glared at Deus.

Yes, this is war.

It’s not right to kneel in fear and beg for mercy.

Thinking this, Balkzar glared at his enemy, but…

Conversely, Deus looked past Balkzar at the trembling villagers and said,

“All will die.”

So resolute, like a kind of oath.

“But that death will not be the end you imagine.”

Having abandoned the name Spiritmaster.

In the eyes of Deus, who had become a necromancer in the truest sense, only murky killing intent resided thickly.