Ch.198Chapter 198. IF – If Mallack Had Not Responded (3)

Chapter 198. IF – If Malak Hadn’t Responded (3)

Paya captured Noah who was in the cave, and Charon took possession of her body.

“Animals are one thing… but possessing a rational being’s body feels repulsive. I’ll need to find another paladin’s body later.”

Charon muttered through Noah’s body while reading her memories.

Ishtania. Earth. Possession. Demons. Paladin. And finally, the Community. All sorts of memories flowed in, accumulating useful information.

“Amazing. So paladins are actually possessed beings!”

These were things he couldn’t discover from Rinojohnnson’s corpse, which couldn’t be revived as a zombie because its head had been severed.

“…We can use the Community to lure in possessed people.”

After hearing everything about the possessed, Paya offered a terrifying suggestion. This was only possible because she viewed all paladins—all possessed people—as enemies who killed her brother.

Necromancy is fundamentally a magic that takes over bodies whose souls have departed, controlling the residual thoughts that dwelled in those bodies to move them as desired.

Residual thoughts refer to various emotions, thoughts, and ideas that remain in the body, which was once a vessel for the soul. Though not souls themselves, they were close to something spiritual.

Such residual thoughts often consisted of grudges, obsessions, and unfulfilled wishes, which damaged the necromancer’s mind the more they were exposed to them.

Like Charon, who had gone completely insane from practicing necromancy for too long, Paya was also descending into madness.

“That’s a good idea. Let’s reveal ourselves to the Community and gather possessed people who want to win this war. When they learn about Ishtania, the entity that sent them to this world, they’ll be consumed by revenge. After revealing everything, we can ask them to entrust their souls to us and become part of our army…”

“No. If we do that, no one will come. It would only announce us as enemies. The paladins might even gather in groups to kill us.”

Paya carefully explained why Charon’s approach would amount to nothing more than a ‘villain declaration.’

“I see…! That makes sense.”

Charon, who had spent 500 years in a jar honing his blade of revenge, quickly acknowledged his lack of real-world perspective.

“Then what should we do?”

“We need to lure them one by one. I’ll post that I’m living in a place without demons and with abundant resources.”

“Oho.”

Paya, still human and able to think like them, was a more frightening enemy than Charon who had become an evil spirit—at least in psychological aspects.

Charon wrote a post following Paya’s instructions.

[CowBikiniDance: That nickname PetiteNoah is f***ing lol]

[ShotgunAttack: Symphonia? That’s too far]

[Brahmanda: I’m curious]

Naturally, the response was enthusiastic.

[MeleeSpy: Hmm… there’s no way such a place exists]

There were some suspicious possessed people, but they were few.

[MorningTentErectionKnight: Do they have erectile dysfunction medicine there?]

Some possessed people were desperate for survival or psychological reasons.

[FallenPowerKnight: Is it real?]

ㄴ [FallenPowerKnight: I sent you a private message. Please check]

Proactive possessed people came to Symphonia, and all became Charon’s puppets.

“This man is useful. He’ll make a fine new body.”

Among them, Charon took over the body of a user called ‘FallenPowerKnight.’ He was a powerful level 5 possessed person.

[MorningTentErectionKnight: Symphonia is heaven]

[PetiteNoah: You should come too]

[FallenPowerKnight: There’s plenty of water and food]

Paya and Charon continued their luring strategy through the puppetized possessed people.

[Brahmanda: But did MorningTent and FallenPower really say that? Isn’t it strange?]

[PrincessDina: I used my stealth skill to visit Symphonia. There were only zombies there]

[MeleeSpy: These f***ing bastards]

By the time everyone in the Community realized something was wrong, it was too late. Over ten possessed people had already become puppets.

Just as they were gradually building up forces to confront the demons…

[Abraham: I’m tired now]

A major problem erupted. A paladin living in Tibera summoned the cloud demon. Tibera was a land located next to Symphonia.

“That… is not an opponent we can defeat yet. We must avoid it. If it discovers that the demon occupying Symphonia is now gone, everything will be over.”

Seeing the approaching dark cloud from afar, Charon and Paya fled in haste. The Blue Moss tribe endured a sudden march.

The relationship between the Blue Moss tribe and Paya, which had been gradually deteriorating, completely broke down at that time.

“It’s fine. We’ve taken all the possessed people and useful zombies. It was about time to move our base anyway. Let’s start again in Defenden.”

They established a new base in the region called Defenden and continued to expand their army, but it wasn’t as abundant as Symphonia. They could maintain their zombie army, but there wasn’t enough food for the living.

“We can’t take this anymore.”

“Priestess Paya. Please stop now. This is all meaningless.”

“At least let us go. We want to return to our tribe.”

The tribe members came to protest, saying they wanted to return to their tribe, but Paya only told them it was dangerous outside and refused to let them go.

Eventually, the inevitable happened.

“Chief Una. What are you doing?”

Una, who was trying to assassinate Paya with her warriors, was caught.

“Priestess Paya… No, you blood-thirsty heretic. I only regret that I couldn’t kill you.”

It wasn’t just Una and her warriors’ intention. The people had turned their backs on Paya. Earthly salvation, driving out demons—no matter what beautiful words she added, the horrible things she had done couldn’t be erased from people’s minds.

If she had been continuously successful, it might have been different, but abandoning everything and leaving Symphonia played a part. A reign of terror ends the moment the object of fear crumbles even once.

“…Traitor.”

If she had been the intelligent Paya of the past, she would have regretted, blamed herself, and chosen the right path. But she had been exposed to too many residual thoughts, and her mind was broken.

“What will you do?”

“I’ll turn them into zombies.”

Roa who didn’t respond. The possessed people who killed her brother. The gods who called those possessed people and turned the world into ruins. Her mind was filled with thoughts of killing them.

Paya wasn’t even of age yet. Like attracts like. It’s an age when one is easily influenced and easily stained. Especially now, after experiencing so many shocking events. Unfortunately, the one who stained Paya was Charon.

“Urgh…!”

Una and her warriors rose as zombies, with terrifying appearances full of fear and anger. Paya turned her back.

Kanto was standing behind her.

“Uh.”

Paya was startled, but soon realized she had ordered Kanto to ‘protect her from behind.’

“Brother. Sister Una tried to kill me.”

Even knowing that Kanto’s soul had already departed, Paya spoke to him.

“I told them I would save the earth, that I would appease your spirit, but they wouldn’t listen. Why did they change?”

Of course, there was no answer.

“…Was it the tribe people who instigated this? Are they angry because I suggested going to Dubenheim, which led to your death?”

Half-crazed Paya could no longer understand people.

“This won’t do. I can’t trust them anymore. So everyone…”

Unable to understand, she became afraid, and being afraid, she wanted to eliminate them.

“Everyone…?”

As her thoughts reached that point, she suddenly felt chills all over her body.

“What am I saying.”

Paya looked up at Kanto. Her beloved brother had turned into a monster. Not just her brother, but the warriors who protected her were the same.

“S-Sister Una…!”

Paya lamented as she regained her senses. But it was too late—she had come too far to turn back.

“How, how could this happen.”

Paya fell into deep regret. Everything she had done after learning necromancy became sharp blades that gouged her heart.

‘P-please spare me! Please!’

She remembered when the young paladin, Noah, begged with tears. She too was not even of age, just like Paya.

“I should have listened when brother opposed going…”

Tears that should have been shed long ago now soaked Paya’s cheeks.

“Now, I must stop.”

Paya wiped away her tears and looked around.

Charon wasn’t here. With him away in another region expanding his army, this was her only chance.

***

“Priestess Paya. What are you doing?”

Charon, who returned leading possessed people whose souls he had stolen and demon zombies, glared at Paya. She had taken control of all the zombies in Defenden and was waiting for him.

“What I should have done long ago.”

“A foolish decision.”

As the two necromancers confronted each other in the square of Defenden Castle.

BOOM!

The castle wall collapsed.

“You bastards! Finally found you!”

Paladins appeared. It was a subjugation party organized to kill Charon and Paya. They had followed Charon’s zombie army.

Normally they wouldn’t have gathered like this, but necromancers who could interfere with the Community unlike demons were currently the greatest threat to paladins. Above all, there had been too many victims.

“I said I’d kill you!”

“It seems internal conflict has broken out!”

The attack began, led by a paladin in black armor and a female paladin with platinum blonde hair. They were MeleeSpy and PrincessDina.

Thus began a chaotic three-way battle.

And in Symphonia…

“…?”

At the altar of the abandoned Blue Moss tribe, blue light entered the eyes of the Malak totem.

“…Hello?”

A man who arrived too late looked around the ruined tribe.

“Is nobody… WHAT THE F***! I HAVE NO LIMBS!?”

The man screamed, but no one heard him. It was truly a tragic situation.