Ch.166Prologue

The Holy Empire, a superpower boasting the largest scale and influence among the various nations of the Western Continent.

This elective monarchy, which began when nine electorates united to form a single empire, was undoubtedly a superpower of this era, as each electorate was already quite substantial in its own right.

With a conscription system targeting all citizens and the administrative capability to implement such a system, they were sometimes mockingly called a “garrison state.” Their overwhelming military might was such that some even said the army owned the country rather than the other way around.

Similar to those fellows from Earth who loved war but weren’t necessarily good at it (Prussia), this country could be described as a nation that functioned entirely for the purpose of war.

Of course, there were reasons for this.

The vast steppes bordering the eastern territories of the Holy Empire faced major Orc invasions every few decades. In the south, various maritime powers conducted raids under all sorts of pretexts, and the barbarians from the north occasionally joined in.

With such vast territories, they naturally faced numerous enemies, and their central position in the Western Continent inevitably meant they were constantly dealing with multiple fronts…

Among the forces creating these multiple fronts were the cultist factions.

Taking advantage of the unstable public order caused by frequent wars and conflicts, the number of cultists infiltrating and operating in the Holy Continent was truly maddening.

While the neighboring Frankish Kingdom scattered mid-tier nobles throughout their lands, the Holy Empire concentrated them at key strategic points.

Honestly, for cultist forces looking to exploit areas lacking mid-tier supervision to build their power, the Holy Empire was far more attractive.

Necromancers who formed undead armies by attacking dozens of villages, or black mages who sacrificed entire villages in rituals to open gates connected to the demon realm, were commonplace.

There were cultists who recreated bizarre phenomena similar to Junji Ito’s Sp■ral in real villages, and others who occupied entire cities, pretending to be normal until they were caught.

In this unique environment that resembled a cultist exhibition, the cult organization led by Werner Untmeyer was particularly powerful in many ways.

Werner Untmeyer was a demon worshipper, a typical mid-tier black mage and mid-tier warrior who served the Demon Lord of “Gluttony,” one of the seven deadly sins, and obtained his powers.

Originally a wizard from a magic tower, he eventually dabbled in the forbidden art of black magic in his pursuit of knowledge and power. By sacrificing all his magical talent, he gained overwhelming black magic abilities and became a mid-tier black mage.

Using these abilities, he committed “body theft” on an unfortunate knight, becoming a powerful being with both soul-bound black magic abilities and the body of a mid-tier warrior.

Notably, he obtained a demon-possessed armor—Demon Armor—through an evil ritual sacrificing 99 humans. Furthermore, the demon worship organization led by Werner had grown considerably in size and strength as people gathered under his infamous name.

For a fundamentally unstable cultist organization, securing a base and establishing a systematic black mage training system to methodically increase their strength was a remarkable achievement.

Considering that most cultist organizations had worse teamwork than group project teams, internal structures resembling makjang dramas, and organizational cohesion looser than amateur hobby clubs…

Werner Untmeyer’s cult organization, “Bael’s Table,” was essentially the elite of the elite among cultist groups.

In any case, with their base hidden somewhere in a remote valley, concealed by evil knowledge and magic, they were steadily preparing for the tremendous feat of occupying an electorate.

Since there seemed to be some possibility of success, there was relatively little internal conflict or division for a cultist organization, and Werner Untmeyer’s overwhelming force also helped prevent disputes.

Power struggles and factional fighting within organizations are common even outside cultist groups, after all.

In this case, the organization gradually increased in size over time, eventually amassing a force of 3,000 troops—black mages—over a period of 43 years.

…Most were black mages in name only, merely warriors who could perform crude spells after paying some price, but that couldn’t be helped.

Objectively speaking, however, these 3,000 forces were quite elite due to their mature experience, having stopped aging after receiving the blessing of “Gluttony.”

They had even absorbed other demon worship organizations aligned with Gluttony, gathering more than 10 mid-tier cultists, and Werner himself was preparing a sacrificial ritual to reach beyond the mid-tier level—at this very moment.

Werner Untmeyer’s cult organization, Bael’s Table, encountered the worst natural disaster.

“…Look at these things?”

Namely, a druid who was “just passing by.”

Druids are a type of magic user who handle nature’s mysteries, and perhaps because the talent itself is rare, druid magic is famously powerful.

But of course, druids are still magic users. Though somewhat more versatile, they’re generally not much different from ordinary mages…

Unfortunately, the druid who attacked “Bael’s Table” was, surprisingly, a high-tier druid, considered a living strategic weapon.

Between high-tier and mid-tier, the gap is relatively smaller, but it’s still considered nearly equivalent to the gap between mid-tier and low-tier.

Therefore, this high-tier attack was truly a bolt from the blue for them, but the druid who happened to encounter this scene while passing by became irritated and went on a rampage.

[[[[[■■■■■■■■■■—!!!]]]]]

A hydra summoned from thin air by the druid’s hand—not an ordinary mid-tier hydra but a high-tier Hydra Lord—literally shattered their headquarters.

The terrible venom sprayed from the dozens of heads of the high-tier hydra dissolved the cultists entirely. No matter what magic they used or what barriers they erected, the venom dissolved everything.

Even the mid-tier corpse puppets, which these cultists had created by modifying human bodies with black magic—the mass-produced barely-mid-tier secret weapons of “Bael’s Table”—melted away from the venom.

While just one high-tier magical beast like the Hydra Lord was enough to bring the organization to the brink of annihilation, the problem was that it wasn’t the only high-tier entity present.

The high-tier druid who summoned the Hydra Lord into reality. When he swung his staff and blew off the head of a mid-tier physical cultist, the entire organization scattered in panic, each person trying to save themselves…

“Haha, hahahaha…!”

The man who witnessed the collapse of his decades-long efforts at the hands of just one person.

Werner Untmeyer could not bear the overwhelming sense of futility that invaded his mind.

43 years, a full 43 years.

During that time, Werner had suppressed his desire to display his power, mediated among his subordinates, and trained his forces—a level of asceticism almost impossible to endure for a cultist, whose prerequisite is typically a broken personality.

But to have those forces, built up through 43 years of such hardship, completely annihilated by a single passing magic user, and his organization destroyed?

Even the most mentally resilient person could not withstand such a trial, and finally unable to hold on, he collapsed half-insane onto the ground…

【…What do you desire?】

Into Werner’s ears came a strange yet familiar voice, resonating from beyond the realm of perception.

The normal Werner Untmeyer would never have paid attention to such suspicious talk.

After all, Werner was so proud that he considered himself the contractor of demons rather than a follower of a demon lord.

But he had already reached the point of mental collapse. Having fallen to a new horizon of resignation beyond despair, Werner no longer had any desire to continue anything…

‘No more, I don’t want to think anymore… I don’t want to judge… I’m tired…’

He succumbed to the warm temptation in the voice, and the “voice,” with kindness coated in goodwill, gladly granted his request.

That is, it blew away his mind so he could no longer judge or think, leaving him an empty shell with only body and soul remaining.

And into this emptied shell, the demonic residue embedded as material in the Demon Armor he wore crawled in, triggering its “activation.”

-Whoosh—!!

With a flash of light, the shell, consumed by some will, disappeared somewhere.

As if it had never existed in the first place.