Ch.578Tale of Ancient Times

A great era once existed.

A glorious age of humanity that discovered and controlled all the laws that formed the world, conquering and ruling to the very ends of the earth.

======[ Ghost Knight? ]======

“Hnnnggggh…”

Footsteps trudged through the dawn mist. The knight, fallen to a monster, exhaled a dark sigh while reflecting on the past.

A body twisted by dark mana, a mind rotted like a corpse in a swamp.

Memories damaged like distorted, mixed, and dripping oil paintings.

After thousands of years of dark mana erosion and the celestial pressure weighing down on his existence, he had long forgotten even his own name.

Yet, there were things he could not forget.

The glory of the dazzling golden age. The night view of cities where mana lamps twinkled like the Milky Way. The majesty of airships sailing between clouds… and the end when all of it turned black and perished.

‘Baltyr…!’

The Ghost Knight slowly recalled memories submerged in oblivion, finding and piecing together particularly vivid fragments from the rubble of his shattered consciousness.

======[ Thousands of Years Ago ]======

The armies of monsters that filled the world and their leader, the God of Slaughter, Baltyr. They were the legion of the evil god announcing the end of the Golden Age.

Cities that had enjoyed brilliant prosperity collapsed overnight, and countless lives were lost.

Knights’ swords were broken, mages were devoured, and priests died calling out their gods’ names.

Even the Empire’s strongest heroes who had conquered non-humans and subjugated dragons. Even the supreme warriors who had attained divinity and reached demigod status.

The fierce Pen■■ and the great sorcerer Lil■■ were captured and fell to monsters, while Jormungand died with his head shattered.

Blood Hogni was killed, cut to pieces by his own sword, and the berserker Heidrek was assassinated by a corrupted mage.

Besides them, numerous heroes like Caliburn, F■■llar, and Hrungnir met powerless deaths. It was the tragic downfall of the Golden Age.

However, no matter how overwhelmingly powerful the enemy was, they couldn’t just sit and wait for death.

The final Emperor Si■■rd drew the sword of Barnstock and headed to the battlefield.

While his forces desperately held back the monsters’ advance, the sages remaining in the capital desperately continued their research to find a way to destroy the true form of the god.

Four Rune Sorcerers who had reached the pinnacle of magical arts and the Imperial Princess bearing the Stigmata of Gemina.

The five of them used all their knowledge to research how to kill a god… and finally bore fruit.

『 The Twilight Plan 』

A plan born of madness: to destroy the god’s true form using four runes created by sacrificing four Rune Sorcerers and four hundred thousand souls.

In normal times, anyone proposing such a plan would have been immediately arrested, but with humanity’s extinction looming, no one voiced opposition by citing morality or ethics.

Thus, the four runes were completed. Soaked in the blood of four hundred thousand.

[ ᚨ ] [ ᚻ ] [ ᛏ ] [ ᚲ ]

The warrior’s flame that destroys gods.

The Imperial Princess, left alone, rejoiced. At last, a means to kill a god had been completed.

All that remained was to summon a hero of demigod status to use these runes… her father, Emperor Si■■rd.

And not long after, Emperor Si■■rd returned.

As a cold corpse clutching a broken sword.

—-

The Twilight Plan, just one step away from completion, foundered after losing its suitable candidate. Before those who had fallen into despair after losing the Emperor could find a new candidate, the monster army arrived in pursuit of the retreating soldiers.

It took less than a day for the capital to fall.

The Imperial Princess, deep in grief over her father’s death, disappeared, and the survivors retreated to humanity’s last line of defense where the four runes were stored: the Great Temple of Alfodhr.

They planned to make a desperate stand there while somehow finding a suitable candidate. Though isolated in the middle of the enemy forces, this was their best option.

The Great Temple was protected by the blessing of the chief deity Alfodhr, so it wouldn’t fall to mere monster armies unless Baltyr attacked directly.

However.

– WHOOOOSH!

The blessing of Alfodhr they had trusted betrayed them at the final moment. It was a fatal betrayal no one could have predicted.

“What, what is this?!”

“Alfodhr, what is the meaning of…!”

As soon as the monsters surrounded the Great Temple, the blessing that had permeated the temple immediately revealed its true nature, transforming into a massive tidal wave of dark mana as if welcoming the monsters.

The thick dark mana engulfed everyone gathered in the temple, and then the monster army poured into the temple interior without any resistance.

“Kugh, kheuk…! Rise! Rise and fight!”

“This is humanity’s last bastion! We must defend it at all costs!”

Those defending the Great Temple were shocked by the sudden turn of events but continued fighting against the monsters to the end. It was a valiant yet desperate struggle, enough to momentarily halt the endless flood of monsters.

However, courage alone cannot withstand the corruption of dark mana.

“Kh, kheuuugh! My body…! My body…!”

Those exposed to unbearably dense dark mana fell to their knees, letting out agonized groans.

Their bodies twisted grotesquely, and their consciousness blurred. It was the corruption of dark mana that had turned many powerful beings into monsters.

“Kruugh…! Damn it… grrrr… I can’t… hold on anymore…!”

They gritted their teeth and resisted the dark mana corrupting their minds, but it was like someone drowning underwater trying to hold their breath—a truly meaningless struggle.

Humans at their limit transformed into monsters one after another. Each form was hideous and terrifying.

“Graaaaargh!”

The knights turned monsters lost their reason and attacked those who had been their comrades just moments before. Blood drenched the temple.

—-

Those who fought to the very end, cutting down corrupted comrades, realized why Alfodhr’s blessing had been neutralized… no, completely transformed into dark mana.

Alfodhr who responded to no prayer. The priests of Alfodhr who had all turned into monsters, unlike the knights who were somehow holding out.

The answer was clear.

They all could understand. The God of Slaughter they had named Baltyr, the evil god who had suddenly appeared and was driving humanity to extinction… was none other than their chief deity.

A shocking truth that completely shattered their beliefs. This place was not the Great Temple protecting humanity but the lair of the true culprit. They had walked right into the enemy’s embrace.

Of course, realizing this now was far too late. Their deaths were imminent.

After feeling betrayal, rage, despair, and frustration, they chose to protect the Twilight Plan’s runes at all costs. Believing that someday, someone would find this place.

For eternity.

The knights carved curses against Alfodhr on the temple walls, then offered their lives and souls completely to Bellona, the Goddess of Death.

The Contract of the Dead. A forbidden technique that sacrifices one’s soul to Bellona to become her food in exchange for resurrecting the dead body as an undead.

It was a gamble with slim chances, but Bellona answered their prayers.

Eight hundred souls vanished as food for death…

And eight corpses rose.

“Grrrrrrrr…”

They growled in low, dark voices and raised their death-infused greatswords against the monsters pouring into the temple’s depths.

The knights who had fallen to undeath fought an endless battle, dying and reviving repeatedly. Following their mission to protect the temple’s depths until someone worthy of inheriting the Twilight runes arrived.

Thus, thousands of years passed.

‘And now… only I remain.’

It was such a long battle that monster corpses formed a vast lake, and even the undead who had contracted with Bellona and become nearly immortal eventually faded away. The Great Temple of Alfodhr sank and was buried underground, and the connection with Bellona had somehow been severed.

Over the long years, the seven undead besides him collapsed one by one, returning to mindless corpses. The lone remaining undead descended into the temple’s depths to protect it until the end, his body increasingly corrupted by dark mana. There, he took one of the four preserved runes and imbued it into his sword.

[ ᚻ ]

The Rune of Collapse.

Though it was a makeshift solution not intended by the sorcerers who created the Twilight runes, it was still an immensely powerful force. With the sword of collapse that could destroy everything, the undead continued the endless fight, slaying all monsters approaching the temple’s interior and repeating cycles of sleep.

Until finally, a human arrived and buried him by collapsing the entire temple.