chapter_0033

33 – Black Magic

33 – Black Magic

After deciding to follow Jeton’s plan, the forsaken began to gather the materials needed for the ritual.

The materials required for the ritual were expensive magical ingredients, such as the horn of a pterosaur, and they had to use all their remaining wealth just to prepare them.

With this, they truly became beggars, but it was alright.

If this ritual could indeed kill that Lord Calix and grant them the power to dominate Dreyhart once again, they could recover their wealth as much as they wanted.

Once all the materials were prepared, they gathered in their hidden chamber on the night of the full moon.

“Then, let us begin the ritual.”

The twelve fallen nobles gathered in the hidden chamber nodded at Jeton’s words.

On the floor, a magic circle drawn with basilisk blood was inscribed.

The twelve fallen nobles took their positions at each corner, and Jeton walked to the center.

“Now, I shall commence the ritual of ‘Summoning Evil Spirits’ from the ‘Black Magic.'”

‘Black Magic’

A forbidden magic said to have originated from the Blood Clans.

This magic is strictly prohibited even in the Empire, and if any traces of its use are discovered, an emergency summons is issued from all Magic Towers, as it is treated as extremely dangerous.

Naturally, the caster who uses it faces execution for any reason.

Among the black magics, one of the most representative spells is this ‘Summoning Evil Spirits.’

Jeton obtained a scroll for the black magic summoning of evil spirits through his connections.

No matter how skilled one might be to handle assassins, he thought that they could not defeat an evil spirit, and he resolved to kill Calix Crone with this summoning.

“Everyone, the blood for the ritual…”

At Jeton’s signal, the twelve fallen nobles pricked their fingers with daggers, letting drops of blood fall into the magic circle.

The magic circle began to glow red, and Jeton started the incantation.

“Umbrae, exaudi me.”

[ “Umbrae, exaudi me.” ]

As Jeton chanted, the twelve fallen nobles echoed his words.

With each incantation they recited, the magic circle pulsed as if it had a heartbeat.

“Vocatus daemonium.”

[ “Ex tenebris venite.” ]

As the incantation continued, the pulsing quickened.

They did not know much about magic, but they could certainly feel one thing.

Something was trying to be born here.

At that moment, a sound came from outside.

Bang-! Bang-!!

“What is that noise?”

They began to hear the sound of something hard striking the wall.

They quickly realized what it was.

“The fallen nobles are here!”

“If you behave quietly, I might spare your lives!!”

They were the Dreyhart guards pursuing them.

Could it be that they had already been discovered?

“There they are!”

“Those dogs of Cron!!”

As everyone began to panic, Jeton shouted at them without losing his composure.

“Everyone, hurry! We must complete this ritual!”

At Jeton’s words, the fallen nobles were momentarily startled but nodded and hurriedly focused on the ritual.

If they were caught like this, they would meet a dog’s death at their hands, but if they completed the ritual, they could at least kill their heads.

Jeton recited the incantation.

“Animae, surgite nunc.”

[ “Animae, surgite nunc.” ]

Blood began to boil in the magic circle.

The ritual was nearing its end, and the noise outside grew more chaotic.

Before the door was broken down, Jeton spoke the final incantation.

“Atra vis, revela te.”

[ “Atra vis, revela te.” ]

As Jeton uttered the final incantation, black smoke began to rise from the magic circle and gather above his head.

“Oh…”

“Is this… the evil spirit of black magic?”

The fallen nobles thought they had won as they beheld the sight.

Look at the wicked energy taking shape.

They believed that the evil spirit would take their revenge for them.

However, they never sought to understand until the very end.

Why is black magic called black magic?

Was it merely because it was created by the Blood Clans and contained wicked energy that the Magic Towers and the royal family prohibited its use?

Of course not.

The main reason black magic became forbidden was that, unlike other magic that required one’s magical power as a price, it was possible to use not only magical power but also human lives as sacrifices.

“Uh… what is this?”

“Hey Jeton… something seems wrong…”

As the ritual was completed, the fallen nobles felt something was off.

Their blood was draining from their bodies, being drawn into that evil spirit.

No matter how hard they tried to resist, as blood flowed from their eyes, noses, mouths, ears, and every pore, the fallen nobles finally realized that something was wrong.

“Jeton!!! You!! You bastard!!!”

“You deceived us!!!”

Only Jeton, who was in the center, remained unharmed, and as the fallen nobles felt their strength draining away, they shouted at him.

Then Jeton smiled like a mouse and said.

“I have not deceived you.”

“What!?”

The fallen nobles were dumbfounded by Jeton’s brazen words.

He raised the corners of his mouth and said.

“I said I would reclaim what is mine; I never said I would return what is yours.”

“You! You bastard!!”

Yes, Jeton had said he would reclaim what was his, but he never promised to return the fallen nobles’ possessions.

Only then did they realize they had been used, but it was already too late.

“Farewell, friends. If we meet in a dream, I shall accept your wrath then.”

“You!! Trash!!! Cough…”

With those words, the breaths of the fallen nobles ceased.

Twelve corpses were sacrificed, and thus the evil spirit created by black magic descended.

Like a reaper from a nightmare, the evil spirit awaited the command of its summoner.

Jeton said.

“Go, and no matter what happens, kill Calix Crone!”

At Jeton’s words, the evil spirit nodded and vanished through the wall.

Just then, the door was broken down, and the Dreyhart guards burst into the secret chamber.

Among the guards were Jarha and Noah as well.

Bang-!

“Cough!!”

The door to the secret chamber was so sturdy and magically reinforced that it took Jarha several minutes to break it down.

Those who prepared such a door had done something bad, creating twelve corpses.

Instinctively annoyed, Jarha struck at the only living Jeton and asked.

“You rat! What have you done here!!?”

“Khuhuhuh, it’s already too late. Slaves, they have gone to kill your liberator! They have gone! Hahaha!!!”

Jeton believed he had achieved his purpose with the completion of the ritual.

He thought he could kill Calix and reclaim what was his with the power of the evil spirit in Dreyhart, now without a master, and could not hide his laughter when Noah looked at him intently and said, as if finding it absurd.

“Hmm… you are an interesting person.”

“Me… interesting?”

“Indeed. Even the one above your head is an existence whose end cannot be known, that is Lord Calix.”

Noah said with a genuine smile, finding it truly amusing.

That smile held no emotion, which made Jeton feel even more miserable.

“But to think you believe you can kill the lord just because you used a bit of black magic, how amusing you are.”

At Noah’s gesture, the guards began to bind him.

Jeton’s face hardened as she acted as if he were not even worth killing.

“Look forward to it; you will soon learn what kind of person the lord is.”

Noah said to Jeton with genuine pity.

At that moment, the evil spirit was flying toward Cron.

* * *

At that time, it was the hour when everyone in Cron’s castle was asleep.

Lana and Azel, unable to fall asleep for some reason, were standing guard in front of Calix’s bedroom together.

As she looked at the poised green-haired knight Azel standing steadfastly, Lana pondered something and suddenly spoke.

“Azel, do you like the lord?”

“Wha! What are you suddenly saying!?”

“Shh, your voice is too loud.”

At Lana’s words, Azel’s composure vanished like the wind.

Seeing the flustered Azel, Lana spoke nonchalantly.

“By the way, I do like him.”

“Lana, aren’t you the maid of the princess?”

Azel had heard a rough story about Lana.

Just as she was from the prince’s knight order, Lana was also from the princess’s lineage, to which Lana replied.

“I have not forgotten the princess’s grace. But that is that, and this is this.”

Lana’s response surprised even herself.

The old Lana would not have been able to answer like this.

She thought that her life here had changed her a lot.

And Lana looked closely at Azel and said.

“You seemed like me, but I guess I was mistaken.”

“I! I do! Like him.”

Caught in Lana’s leading question, Azel finally spilled her true feelings, and Lana smiled gently.

“I knew it. May I ask why?”

“At first, I admired the lord’s righteous actions.”

“And then?”

The first time Azel heard about Calix was the news that he had freed slaves.

Curious about who this lord was that performed such righteous deeds, she admired his past actions.

And upon coming here, the Calix she met was the first person in the world to seriously consider her sense of justice.

“The first person to tell me such things was… the lord.”

Azel recalled the previous farming incident.

At the same time, she remembered her bitter past.

“I know too. That I am an oddity… The first person to seriously consider me, neither punishing nor teaching me, was the lord.”

Even in the Golden Knights, Azel’s obsession with justice was considered odd.

Some said it was wrong, while others forced their sense of justice upon Azel.

Yet, Calix was the first to take her sense of justice seriously in her life.

“I like such a lord.”

“I see… I feel the same way.”

Lana empathized with Azel, who had a similar experience.

Thinking that they could have many conversations tonight, should they sneak some late-night snacks from the dining hall?

As that thought crossed their minds, they felt a chilling energy.

Swoosh-!

“That energy just now…”

“Yes, something is… coming this way.”

Something…

Something that sends shivers down their spines was approaching them.