episode_0248

comparison. Comparing two or more different things to determine superiority or inferiority, or to examine similarities and differences.

This series of actions played a part in making humans the rulers of this world. This is because, unlike other races, they compared each other directly.

The act of comparing and weighing oneself with others, removing what is excessive and adding to what is lacking, brought about their rapid development and encouraged their competitive spirit, speeding up that development.

But every light has a shadow. Excessive comparison has led to false envy, and humans have become beings who can never be completely happy.

This did not change even in the current situation where the number of starving people was drastically reduced due to Argen distributing food for free throughout the land.

All humans do not hesitate to harbor envy, envy, and jealousy toward those who are even slightly better than themselves, and conflicts arise because of this.

And the negative emotions that arose as a result were the main ingredients for the ‘counter-faith’ that Akasha is currently using.

It was this feeling that stood in opposition to faith, a strong belief, and Akasha had already learned how to apply this formless emotion as strength.

The ‘altar’, which Eugene and Wayne saw, celebrated, and did their best to erase, was also nothing more than a medium to evoke these emotions.

In conclusion, Akasha’s secret medicine is still active.

“Ugh… Holy shit, what happened?”

The necromancer of Basilian Village, Zain, was also one of the humans participating in Akasha’s plan.

Of course, he was not aware of that fact. He simply became a necromancer by acquiring the magic book of necromancy arranged by Akasha.

Due to the nature of necromancy, it brought out the personality of the practitioner in a negative way, and this was a sufficiently efficient means of spreading the aforementioned negative emotions to others.

Of course, Zain himself believed deep in his bones that he had acquired the magic book by luck, and that he was originally a special being.

“My, my army… Where have all my troops gone!!”

Zain, who was not a wizard who learned from a proper teacher to begin with, could not help but be embarrassed by what had happened to him.

The connection with the spirits that had never been lost since learning and actually using necromancy was completely cut off.

The disappearance of the army of the dead, who do not die even if killed and who rise again indefinitely to ravage the enemy as long as their magic power allows, means that something unusual has happened.

What came to Zain’s mind right now was holy magic. Even a self-taught master of necromantic magic could tell that the prayer containing Stella’s power was strong against necromantic magic.

Of course, that was because it was also a magic book written by Akasha, who was wary of the gods, including Stella, from the beginning, but Zain had no time to know that.

“Damn… Are they from the Stella Church? Damn it, I shouldn’t have been caught already…!”

The basic rule for necromancers was to stay hidden as much as possible until they led a sufficient army. This is because the basic strategy is to lead an army of immortals, drive opponents to death, and raise them again as troops.

Zain also faithfully followed him. They mainly targeted a small number of adventurers until they raised the corpses in the mountains behind the village and took control of the entire village.

After increasing the number until he thought it was sufficient, he only targeted a small village, but the fact that he immediately lost all his troops was an irrationality that was difficult to understand for Zain.

“This is not the time… If it’s holy magic, it might come after me looking for traces of necromancy…!”

Zain kept talking to himself and began to fear an imaginary enemy. The habit of voicing thoughts out loud and exaggerating interpretations of surrounding situations were all negative effects of learning necromancy through illegal procedures.

“Ugh.. damn, damn… I have to find a way somehow…!”

Necromancy, which usually felt like an almost invincible power to him, was now unable to exert its power.

The first step in necromancy is to awaken the dead with magic, but none of the corpses around here responded to Zain’s magic.

This was because the power of the dispel magic circle that Asha had spread was at work.

“How… Is there no way…!?”

As Zain was looking through various items in his hiding place to find a solution, a book of necromantic magic suddenly caught his eye.

And as if it were a set procedure, it turned the pages on its own in a place with no wind.

“…W-what… is this…!?”

A bolt of lightning struck Zain’s mind as he looked at the magic book with fascinated eyes, as if there were a hint.

“Hehe… Yes, yes… If no one answers my call, this is the only way to go…”

The magic that Zain admired that the magic book showed was the magic that turned oneself into a lich.

“I have no choice but to become immortal myself!”

Originally, the magic of becoming a lich required a very high level. However, the magic written in the magic book made it possible for even those who had only scratched the surface of necromancy to easily become a lich.

That was the intention of Akasha, the one who wrote the magic book.

“Ugh…ooo!”

Zain, who had not laid any foundation, became a lich as the magic book intended, as if he had decided on his own.

Although he had become emaciated after learning necromancy, what little vitality he had left was completely gone and he was literally a living corpse.

To others, it seemed like an incredibly foolish act, but he was actually thrilled by the enormous magical power he gained by becoming a lich.

“K…Hehehe, I think I can take this down even if Stella herself comes, not the Stella Church bitches…!”

He was the one who casually mentioned something that even Akasha, the author of the magic book, could not dare to do yet, and headed towards the village, the source of the problem.

“Whoever it is, I will personally tear it to death… and make it possible for them to stand at the forefront of my glorious army that will rise again.”

Meanwhile, in the village where Jain was heading, there were people waiting anxiously for his arrival. They were Asha and Adele.

“Hmm. The time has come. Did I guess wrong?”

“Haha! There are times when even the smart Asha is like this. This is completely stupid.”

“Noisy. They say I know the inside of ten streets, but I don’t know the inside of a person in one street. There are times like this, right?”

Asha, who was a little disappointed by the fact that the person behind the scenes did not come even when the expected time came, tried to get up and leave.

“I don’t think anything special will happen. Just in case, leave this magic circle I drew as is…”

“Huh?”

Adele interrupted Asha with a question. Asha didn’t necessarily blame it. Even if it weren’t for her, he would have naturally stopped talking too.

“What is coming? Are you behind this?”

The approach of great magical power that one would not normally encounter. Asha and Adele were able to guess that it was the one leading the corpse without even looking at it.

“Mmm. I think that’s right. There’s a corpse walking by. No, to call it a corpse, it looks like it has just died…”

When Adele craned her neck to look, Zain was walking around like the final boss.

“…It’s a comedy that I’ve only seen one person still alive, but I’ve already seen over a hundred walking corpses.”

“Hehe, what is it… Could it be that just three people took down my army?”

Zain, who came looking for any sign of the only living person left in the village, clicked his tongue when he saw a villager and two young men and women.

“I don’t know what they did, but I was scared for no reason. This way there would be no need to become a lich.”

Asha and Adele were surprised in a different way by Zain’s words.

“Rich? Did you really become undead yourself?”

“Wow… I can’t believe there’s such a huge bully in the world…”

“What’s with that big head, Adele? He only used kind words in front of his father.”

“What do you think? I don’t even have a father right now. Anyway, I made a big decision. To give up a normal life just to gain a little bit of magic power…”

Zain was indignant at Adele’s lamentable contempt.

“What? That’s just a lot of horsepower!? Perhaps because they are young, they don’t know anything about the world. Can’t you feel this amount of magical power?”

“No… I can feel it if you ask which one…”

“Hehe, don’t worry. I will personally take your lives and make you immortal spearheads. From the moment you touched my army, your fate was determined.”

“…I don’t know why you’re talking if you just want to say what you want to say.”

Asha was interested in the lich she had never seen before and was talking about it, but Zain was unable to communicate with her at all, let alone satisfying Asha’s curiosity.

“Hmm? This guy passed out.”

Asha, who was about to say that she might make a bit of a mess in the house to clean up Zain, looked shocked when she saw the owner, who was already unconscious.

Even if Asha and Adel were dragons, the lich’s magic power was definitely toxic to ordinary people.

“At this point, I ended up having to clean up one more invoice. Let’s get rid of that quickly before then.”

“Yes. Should I do it?”

“No. I started it, so I should finish it too.”

Zain’s fever rose to the top of his head as he saw Asha and Adele talking as if they were going to share the backlog of household chores.

“These guys…! How dare you…!?”

But eventually the heat had no choice but to subside. And instead of anger, fear filled my empty head.

Asha released her magic power and walked two steps forward. That was all, but it was enough to give the already dead person the fear of death again.

In the first place, Asha’s true identity was a dragon. No matter how much magic he gained by weighing his soul, it was nothing compared to Asha’s magic power.

Considering that Arzen, a powerful dragon, finished spawning from the moment Asha and Adele were pregnant, and that the two were nursed for over several decades even after they emerged from the egg, one can easily guess the amount of magic power of Asha and Adele.

Of course, there was no way Zain would know that.

Kwasik!

Ignorant exercise of pressure. Just by pressing down with a body strengthened by magical power, the soul escaped and the lich was destroyed, leaving only the white spirit.

“Huh? That’s strange.”

“What? Finish it well.”

“No. As far as I know, I heard that lich usually keeps his soul in a jar or something. But I don’t feel it at all.”

“Then what should I do? Isn’t it going to be resurrected again?”

“Uhm… I don’t know. Seeing as the body is not regenerating, it looks like the soul is not free either.”

Of course, Zain did not become a lich normally. It was a life that just suited Akasha’s tricks.

Compared to Zain, who did not even know the value of his own soul, Akasha was more aware of the value of the human soul.

His soul was passed on to Akasha, and Akasha has the ability to use the soul better than its owner.

Just like that, the cogs turned once more.