The Traitor’s End (3)

Necromancer, or sorcerer.

 

Those who wield sorcery using the souls of the dead as materials instead of mana.

Currently, they are synonymous with ominousness and directly deny the ethics of life, making even their mention taboo, but in the past West Continent, necromancers could be seen quite frequently.

However, about a hundred and some decades ago, they completely disappeared from the West Continent.

The necromancer hunt led by the Solaion Holy Nation.

The incident that turned the Holy Nation upside down, the assassination of the 10th Saint.

When the necromancer group of the Holy Nation was identified as the culprit, and too obvious evidence was revealed one after another, the Holy Nation began to rampage like a hunting dog with its leash removed.

Although it’s described as rampaging, the Holy Nation’s approach was extremely rational and cold-blooded.

Unlike before, when they adhered to an extremely closed diplomatic line, the Holy Nation spared no diplomatic means such as negotiations and cooperation with the other three countries.

It was as if the entire Holy Nation was moving with the absolute goal of hunting necromancers.

Although necromancers existed in considerable numbers, they could not take any countermeasures against the Holy Nation, which symbolized the religion of the entire West Continent.

Necromancers had somehow transformed from undertakers who presided over death to despicable bastards who had abandoned life ethics, and the necromancers of the three countries concealed their identities and scattered.

But even that could only be described as fortunate.

The necromancers of the Holy Nation, not the other three countries, were all captured and beheaded.

Except for one.

“…A specter.”

Lord Scabbard murmured.

“A ghost-type undead without a physical form. They say that when a soul whose body has been burned away is revived by a necromancer, it takes such a form.”

The black knight narrowed his eyes instead of answering.

“But… I’ve never heard of or seen a specter that wears armor and moves like a human, exerting enough strength to surpass an active knight.”

Only then did Evangeline realize the identity of the inexplicable anxiety she had been feeling until now.

A specter is a ghost without form.

No matter how the black knight in front of her appeared human-like on the outside, his inside was clearly filled with nothing but black smoke.

In other words, he cannot use techniques like circulation breathing.

“…Nothing is impossible for the Demon King.”

The black knight said quietly.

“Resurrecting a single soul that surpasses the strength of a mere knight is nothing.”

Toward Aubil, who murmured as if it were natural, Evangeline bared her teeth.

“Nothing is impossible, you say?”

“…”

Instead of answering, Aubil turned his head. His deeply sunken eyes silently stared at Evangeline.

“Then why couldn’t you conquer the West Continent?”

Evangeline smirked. In truth, it was an act of smiling.

Aubil was right. Evangeline was pretending to smile to shake off her fear. She forcibly twisted the corners of her mouth, but her eyes could not smile.

But surprisingly, it seemed to have an effect this time.

“…”

Aubil still did not answer, but the tips of his eyebrows twitched minutely, and black smoke rose like thin threads.

“Are you angry?”

Evangeline raised her greatsword, pointing it at Aubil, and sneered.

“Seems like you’re angry because someone insulted your beloved master?”

“…I will not tolerate any further insult toward His Majesty.”

Aubil said in a commanding tone.

Evangeline grinned and bluntly said.

“Your Demon King is a motherless, fatherless orphan bastard.”

-Teong!!!

Aubil’s black sword clashed with Evangeline’s greatsword.

Compared to Evangeline’s broad and heavy greatsword, it was a thin bastard sword only about half the thickness, but it felt like blocking a massive shell.

“So you can get angry?”

“Shut up…!”

Aubil growled with his eyes turned bright red. From his half-open mouth, black smoke that formed the specter’s body leaked out instead of white breath.

It was an even more eerie sight when seen with his extremely pale skin color.

Evangeline exhaled a long breath and firmly planted her two legs.

-Kaang!!!

As the mana circulating throughout her body focused on her two legs in an instant, Aubil’s body was forcefully pushed back.

Simultaneously, Lord Scabbard rushed toward Aubil, whose stance had been disrupted.

With black smoke rising violently, Aubil’s neck twisted grotesquely. A bit more than the limit a human neck could turn.

Aubil’s black sword deflected Scabbard’s strike. Forcibly twisting his body in midair, Aubil immediately twisted his sword tip to aim for Lord Scabbard’s heart.

-Kwak.

At that moment, Aubil’s stance collapsed once more. Unable to hide his confusion, Aubil turned his head back.

Having completely abandoned her sword, Evangeline had extended both hands and firmly grasped Aubil’s ankle.

“Have you lost your…”

“HUAAAAAAK!!!”

Evangeline gritted her teeth and twisted her waist. Like throwing a discus, she threw Aubil behind her back.

However, Aubil was not an ordinary human but an undead, a specter. From between the gaps in his armor, black smoke gushed out like a propellant, and he twisted his body in midair to take a stance.

“This is ridiculous.”

Evangeline shook her head with a flushed face and picked up her greatsword.

Forcibly suppressing the fear that persistently raised its head within her chest, Evangeline stepped forward again.

Somehow it felt familiar. Perhaps it was because she had spent more time on the battlefield than in ordinary life.

She used to act this way on the battlefield too. She would deliberately swear excessively or shout loudly.

It was behavior that would have obviously led to lynching from those around her if an ordinary low-ranking knight had acted so indiscriminately, but fortunately, she was no ordinary low-ranking knight.

Perhaps due to her sudden change of gender, there might have been an underlying intention to deliberately project a macho image.

In the end, even that became completely useless.

War was a monster that gnawed at the human mind, and Evangeline gradually spoke less.

She stopped acting. Because she gave up, thinking it was useless anyway.

But now, Evangeline was acting again.

Because she had an intuition. She felt certain that if she killed the black knight here, she wouldn’t have to worry about war anymore.

And if she could do that, if she could shake off the bottomless fear weighing down her chest at this moment, she could do anything.

Evangeline threw away the greatsword in her hand and simultaneously channeled as much mana as possible into her left arm.

The mana, extending as long as a whip, firmly wrapped around the greatsword’s handle.

Aubil was still suspended in the air. Even for a specter, as long as he was wearing human armor and fighting in human form, there were inevitably certain constraints.

Although he was still falling, a few seconds were enough.

It was more than enough if he wasn’t given time to correct his posture.

Evangeline twisted her entire body and swung the whipsword. Like swinging a flail, the greatsword gained threatening acceleration each time it made a circular motion in the air.

The sound of the aura coating the greatsword cutting through the air crackled.

-Kwadeuk…!

Evangeline extended her foot and firmly stepped on the ground. Forcibly bending the orbit of the greatsword that was circling in the air, she struck downward diagonally.

The aura coated on the greatsword flying toward Aubil crackled as it rubbed against the air.

And, at the moment the greatsword collided with Aubil, who had raised his black sword.

-Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!

The high-density aura caused an explosion.

Evangeline didn’t know exactly why it happened that way. It was a technique she had coincidentally developed while squeezing out various odd skills during the war.

She had heard warnings about its potential danger to the point of exhaustion, but she thought she didn’t care about her own risk.

Black dust rose like a mountain. Evangeline pulled her left arm to retrieve the blackened greatsword from the center of the dust.

The original silver color was nowhere to be seen. Adding a bit of exaggeration, it was almost the same color as the black sword Aubil was holding.

“…Kaha…”

From within the smoke, a rough breathing sound leaked out.

Silently staring into the smoke, Evangeline suddenly floated a question mark in her mind.

Breathing?

Do undead breathe?

Along with that question, something writhed within the smoke.

It wasn’t sword energy. To begin with, undead cannot handle sword energy.

At that thought that momentarily flashed through her mind, Evangeline’s face contorted.

Undead cannot handle mana. More precisely, they cannot use techniques that refine mana within the body.

Even liches, undead who can use magic, have a fundamentally different way of using magic compared to ordinary mages.

Mages absorb mana into their bodies, refine it, and then take it out from within. This is because mana becomes stable and purer this way.

Liches don’t do that. They convert mana in the air directly into magic. Being undead to begin with, they cannot refine mana.

However, knights don’t convert mana into magic. Their method is to transform refined, pure mana directly into destructive power.

Conclusion. Undead cannot use circulation breathing or sword energy.

Then, how had Aubil been crossing swords with us until now?

Unfortunately, there was no time to find the answer to that question. An ominous energy, faintly glowing with a purple light, tore through the void in the form of a sword strike.

A scar was drawn along the path where the sword had passed through the torn void. Through it, glowing chaotically with purple light mixed with something else, black smoke was being sucked in.

Rather than a vacuum cleaner, it’s more like a black hole—Evangeline thought inwardly.

“…vangeline!!”

At the voice heard from behind, Evangeline finally came to her senses.

It was indeed a black hole. The gap created by that strike that had torn through the void was sucking in everything around it like a black hole.

The mounds of dirt covering the ground were rising into the sky with a rumbling sound, and the sparse, barren trees growing around were being uprooted and lifted into the air.

Even herself and Scabbard.

Evangeline quickly turned her head back. Lord Scabbard was barely holding on, with his sword thrust into the ground.

“Evangeline, this way!!”

Lord Scabbard shouted, extending his hand. Not with honorifics for a princess, but in the tone addressing a former disciple.

In that brief moment, Evangeline’s decision was to push Scabbard away. He was extending his hand to save her, but it was obvious that if she grabbed that hand, Lord Scabbard would be uprooted from the ground where his sword was thrust and sucked in.

Lord Scabbard is the Kingdom’s last bastion and the continent’s strongest knight. Whatever might be beyond this gap, if only one of the two could remain, he would be better than her.

If one of them, either her or him, had to remain to protect the Kingdom until the end?

She wouldn’t be able to hold out. At the moment this thought continued, Evangeline self-deprecated in her heart.

In the end, isn’t she running away because she’s scared?

Evangeline concentrated all her remaining mana in her left hand. Lord Scabbard, whose eyes met hers, shook his head, but Evangeline didn’t listen.

-Kwaaang!!!

Lord Scabbard’s breastplate was crushed and bounced outward.

“…Kulluk.”

Only after a long while did Lord Scabbard regain consciousness. The cough he spat on the ground was mixed with blood.

It seemed his ribs were gone. Lord Scabbard raised his head, leading his aching body.

“…”

In front of him, a huge cavity had formed.

Centered on a massive semi-circular crater, everything around had been erased without a trace. Not even the slightest debris remained.

Toward the desolate scene that looked as if dozens of huge shells had fallen in the same place, Scabbard opened his trembling lips.

“…Evangeline?”

Of course, there was no answer.