Ch.6868. Third-Rate

[“A dog that has never seen a real tiger will think of itself as a tiger.”]

A snickering black face.

As the demon named Griffin cackles, Orpheus’s body begins to move.

“Protect the king, you fools.”

The Griffin demon now speaking through Orpheus’s mouth. The moment his command falls, numerous servants around suddenly rise and begin charging forward.

“Huff.”

However, my mana surges and pushes them back. It was a type of black magic I learned from the Dark Spiritmaster that doesn’t manipulate souls.

A pattern made of mana ripples at my feet. It was one of the few defensive spells that necromancers possessed to prevent their bodies from being seized by powerful evil spirits.

Normally it wouldn’t work on ordinary servants, but those consumed by the demon’s power couldn’t approach me recklessly.

“G-get behind me, Deia!”

“Sorry, but I don’t go easy on people just because they’re being controlled!”

Bang! Bang!

Of course, servants were also rushing toward Darius and Deia who were near the entrance.

Darius drove them away by swinging his sheathed sword like a club, while Deia restricted their movements by shooting mana bullets into their thighs and soles.

“Go help them.”

[What? What about you?]

The startled Dark Spiritmaster looks at me with concern, but my gaze was fixed solely on the Griffin demon and King Orpheus.

“I can handle this alone.”

[…..]

“Trust me.”

[Really…!]

The Dark Spiritmaster embraces me once and whispers.

[You can’t die because you need to see the culmination of necromancy! That’s an order from your teacher.]

Despite feeling no touch, warmth, or weight, strangely enough, I felt something connecting us.

“Alright.”

I nodded slightly and let her go.

“How pathetic.”

The demon possessing the king’s body clicks his tongue as he watches us.

“You embrace each other and create such melodrama over this minor threat.”

He hadn’t even used a fraction of the immense power he possessed. It was merely entertainment and amusement for him.

I gripped the Lemegeton, infusing it with mana, and asked:

“There’s one thing I want to ask.”

“Ha! Are you begging?”

I nearly lost consciousness from the overwhelming pressure that poured out. If I hadn’t protected myself with magic, it wouldn’t have been strange if I had been defeated right there.

“If you wish to have a conversation, you must show an appropriate level.”

The pressure intensifies.

Nevertheless, I keep my back straight and grip the Lemegeton more firmly.

“Why did you persecute Black Mages?”

The current Griffin Kingdom hated Black Mages beyond mere aversion—they were treated as enemies of the kingdom.

And the one who made it so was the Griffin demon right in front of me.

He changed Luanes Luden Griffin’s name to Heralajad and carried out demonic massacres.

The creature laughs hysterically, clearly enjoying himself.

“How truly amusing! Isn’t it funny? Through that massacre, my position became even more secure.”

“…..”

“Because you were sitting on the most brilliant throne, you couldn’t see it! That the very Black Mage they pointed fingers at as the worst was actually their king!”

“…..”

“It was a masterpiece! It was truly delightful! Thanks to that, the kingdom began to severely regulate black magic, and even when all related books and information were completely blocked, the atmosphere was welcoming.”

And that is the Griffin Kingdom of today.

A current state of profound ignorance about evil spirits.

Just look at Robern, supposedly the finest academy. When the Angel of Setima caused an incident, they couldn’t even put up proper resistance.

Because no one could be permitted to be a Black Mage.

Rather, a kingdom that became ignorant about Black Mages.

Under the increasing pressure, I grit my teeth and take a deep breath.

The Lemegeton emits a soft light, helping me.

Taking so many lives just to hide his identity.

Making the entire kingdom into foolish ignoramuses just so no one could recognize him.

It was an absurd scale, but he succeeded.

But.

“That’s not all, is it?”

“…..”

Griffin’s eyebrow twitched slightly. It was a tiny opening, but it meant I had hit the mark.

“It was a throne maintained for ages. Why suddenly carry out a massacre 200 years ago?”

It would have been easier to do it from the beginning. Why suddenly strengthen a throne he had firmly held for hundreds of years, even at the cost of great bloodshed?

The answer I came up with was one:

Because it became necessary.

“You feared another Black Mage, didn’t you?”

“…..”

“200 years ago, there was an exceptional Black Mage who noticed your secret and could threaten you. That’s my theory.”

The fact that he wanted to strengthen his position further meant that, conversely, he had been threatened by someone.

“With the added reason that you were afraid.”

Even under pressure, the corners of my mouth rise slightly. It wasn’t intentional, but rather a half-instinctive action, and it seemed to have considerably upset him.

His expression changed quite noticeably.

“You’re just babbling because I’m listening. I admit you have a talent for making things truly unpleasant.”

An uncivilized mass of mana begins to gather above the king’s head. This truly enormous power could annihilate the entire audience chamber with just a slight movement.

“Because of you, the kingdom’s regulations against Black Mages will strengthen even further. Yes, I admit that you are quite similar to that slippery fellow who came looking for me 200 years ago.”

“…..”

“You threatened me, the king, and part of the palace was partially destroyed by you, but I miraculously survived and killed you.”

This king seemed to have adopted quite a heroic concept.

“Did you search for dead spirits with the Lemegeton?”

The creature laughs until he’s tearing up.

At his words, the light of the Lemegeton somehow felt more sorrowful.

“Do you know why I’ve been watching you? Because in the end, you’re no different from all those common necromancers.”

“…..”

“Using that stone to forcibly awaken spirits and exploit them for yourself! Waking them from their rest and forcing them to be used!”

“…..”

“What? Third-rate necromancy? Mediocre? How amusing! In the end, you too are just a necromancer who simply views the dead as tools, no different from me!”

“…..”

“I have no intention of wasting any more of the king’s time on a blabbering fool. Die now.”

The Griffin demon extends his hand.

The sphere of mana was about to move, but.

The sphere’s form breaks down.

It begins to ripple violently, and simultaneously, human screams can be heard from within.

“…?!”

I shook my head in disbelief at him as he became confused by the sudden change.

“Unfortunately.”

The crushing pressure gradually disappears.

My tense back relaxes. Pain remains like an imprint on my trembling lips and clenched teeth, but it was bearable.

“You’re third-rate precisely because you don’t even understand the basics.”

“What?!”

A concept I had explained to Findenai and Deia before. Though I had never properly lectured students at the academy.

I never expected to be giving a lecture to a demon-adjacent being in the royal palace.

“All souls contain mana.”

The size varies greatly, but for a soul to handle mana, it needs emotions intense enough to substitute for a physical body.

“Conversely speaking.”

My fingertip points to the massive sphere. Within the vast mana, people’s faces were struggling to emerge, flashing and straining.

“The vast mana you’re using contains that many souls.”

Because I’m a necromancer.

If a soul disappears, its mana naturally vanishes too. So the fact that this demon, a Black Mage, was using such enormous mana meant…

That souls were sleeping within that demon, absorbed by it.

The Lemegeton awakens sleeping souls.

It simply emitted light, awakening the souls sleeping within the demon.

The consciousness of people who had their souls stolen by the demon returns.

“It’s truly ironic.”

Two months ago.

When I met Emily, defeated the bone worms, and enabled her to take revenge on the director of Maalks Laboratory.

I had one question.

The rest of a soul and its disappearance were strictly different concepts.

When a person dies, their soul seeps into the earth and closes its eyes.

Disappearance meant the soul itself completely vanishes.

This was also an extremely difficult feat, impossible with my magic at the time.

Yet Emily, while alone underground, had made the director of Maalks Laboratory disappear.

My magic clearly couldn’t do it.

Since I was the one who converted Emily’s mana into magic, this was certain.

In the end, I reached one conclusion.

That Emily’s grudge had intensified my magic.

Her desire for revenge gave the girl power that was nearly impossible.

This was an emotion the girl developed after death.

“Even the dead ultimately have will. Emotions exist. The opposite of the causal relationship we normally know also holds true.”

It’s not that she died with a grudge.

Even after death, grudges can form.

[Aaaaargh!]

[Save meeeee!]

[Demon! Cursed demon!]

[Freedom! Give me rest!]

[Just make me disappear!]

Souls that had been trapped for hundreds of years, used for their mana while unconscious, now awaken.

With deep, thick, and sticky grudges against the demon.

“Urrrgh!”

The Griffin demon tries to recapture the souls attempting to escape.

He would have been skilled at it, since necromancers have traditionally captured souls, inflicted pain, and used them.

But the Lemegeton emits an even brighter light.

Even the demon seemed to struggle due to this stone’s characteristic of giving awakened souls more power than necessary.

“A necromancer merely borrows the power of the dead.”

This was what I had said when I first met King Orpheus in prison.

“Is it because you became a demon?”

I sneer at him as he suffers.

“Or because you forgot you were human?”

What good is it to handle colorful techniques and difficult magic?

“While borrowing their power…”

If the roots supporting everything from below are weak, then the branches will also be fragile.

“You’ve forgotten both respect for them and their greatness.”

Those without such fundamentals, we call third-rate.