Chapter 129: Desert (5)
The ground was shaking.
Unable to withstand the impact, cracks were forming on the walls of the stone chamber here and there, and fine sand and large stones were falling down.
I looked at the bubbling black pool.
The power that had been felt in that bottomlessly deep place was now showing its bottom. It was because the absorption of the desert wraiths gathered over the long years was almost complete.
Countless wraiths. The power that the desert Necromancer had gathered was being conveyed to me entirely through the Bloody Crown.
“……”
However, even with the tremendous power welling up, I maintained silence and looked forward.
It was because one of the biggest wraiths still remained.
The wraith of the Necromancer. The powerful wraith of the ancient sorcerer, whose name was not even known, was surging near his coffin.
Grooooowl.
But a wraith that had only a faint ego, lost and wandering, could not resist the force sucking it in for long.
Slurp.
The whitish figure, struggling until the very end, was eventually sucked into the crown and slowly extinguished, just like the other wraiths that it had been freely controlling.
Tzzzzt. Perhaps it was because I had never charged this much power before. A small spark flew from the Bloody Crown floating above my head.
It was a vast amount of power, but there was no big problem in absorbing it all.
‘Hmm.’
Only then did I raise my head and wave my hand to control the overflowing power. It was a very satisfactory result.
When I first headed to the tomb, I didn’t expect this much success.
Thud. Sand and small stones fell around my shoulders as I was thinking briefly.
The collapse of the pyramid, which began to accelerate with the Necromancer’s demise.
“……”
After briefly glancing around the mess, I picked up a blackened burial item of the Necromancer that could serve as evidence and left the stone chamber.
🔹🔹🔹
The subsequent events unfolded swiftly, primarily due to the other party’s will.
Marchena and Kazan, who had escaped earlier, along with the few surviving Special Task Force agents, were already surrounded by a multitude of desert warriors. However, it wasn’t a significant issue.
This was because I, who emerged afterward, showed them the blackened artifact, confirming the Necromancer’s demise.
In a way, it was an awkward situation for both sides.
The infiltrators who had initially intended to cause trouble had inadvertently eradicated a significant problem that had been buried for a long time and deliberately forgotten.
However, the situation quickly reversed.
This was thanks to the Sultan, the ruler of the desert, who valued my contribution more than our transgression.
He expressed his gratitude to me for saving tens of thousands of citizens who were on the verge of being buried alive along with the collapse of the pyramid, and even invited me to his makeshift tent.
“I am indebted to you.”
The Sultan, with a serious expression, spoke after hearing my explanation that I had come here not for the Empire, but for the will of the Church beyond the mountains.
Of course, this only applied to me, who had defeated the Necromancer.
The others were detained outside, or rather, waiting for a while. In fact, considering the circumstances, sparing their lives was already an act of immense mercy.
“It was unintentional.”
I replied briefly and lifted the silver spoon to scoop the dessert provided by the Sultan’s consideration.
A dish not befitting the desert.
Small ice shards of the refreshing and fragrant sherbet, made with fruit juice and sugar, crunched in my mouth.
It was an extremely valuable treat. The Sultan’s dessert, preserved through extreme evaporation, was a rarity in the desert where mages were virtually non-existent.
Perhaps he read the meaning behind it. He smiled faintly at my response.
“Tell me what you desire.”
“……”
I looked at the Sultan while savoring the coolness in my mouth. An ordinary person would have been deeply troubled about what to say.
I could have asked for the Sultan’s gold and silver treasures, rumored to be as plentiful as the sand in the dunes.
“Just one thing. I will grant you anything you desire.”
I could have asked for the Sultan’s daughter, renowned for her beauty, or the beauties of the desert.
However, none of these held much significance for me now. No, my answer was already decided from the beginning.
“Could you stop the war?”
Originally, they would have intended to use the chaos in the desert following the Necromancer’s resurrection to lead the war to victory.
But I had unintentionally disrupted the Empire’s intentions. Of course, without me, the Special Task Force agents might not have been able to pass through the gate, and the Necromancer’s resurrection might not have occurred.
With things having come to this, there was only one way to obtain what the Church wanted and what I wanted.
A proposal to gain a vast amount of power while defeating the Necromancer, and to receive everything the Empire had promised.
To stop the war.
This was also the most effective proposal for this side. In the first place, this war was started by the Sultan.
“That is a truly valuable and wise wish.”
The Sultan smiled after hearing my words. It might have been an impossible request for anyone else. However, the Sultan seemed to think it wasn’t an unreasonable request for someone who had saved tens of thousands of citizens and eliminated a long-standing problem in the desert.
No. He seemed to think it was a fitting request for someone like me.
“Something only the Sultan can grant.”
The satisfied ruler of the desert nodded while looking at me.
Of course, stopping a war that had already resulted in countless casualties would require meticulous adjustments through dialogue with the Empire. But what was important now was that the side that had initiated the conflict was now inclined towards peace.
The Empire, whose elaborate plan had failed, was also highly likely to accept the Sultan’s proposal positively.
With a satisfied expression, I lifted the cold spoon again.
Fortunately, I didn’t need to concern myself with the complex power struggles between the powerful figures moving on the board I had inadvertently created.
🔹🔹🔹
“I heard the Bone Fortress has collapsed.”
In a space where an ominous purple light flickered, the words of an unfamiliar old man echoed.
The owner of the voice was not present in this space. The woman, who heard the voice coming from the reddish crystal ball, responded by wriggling something around her body.
“Hmm, that’s unexpected. I thought Brohaken was a bit better than the rest of the rabble.”
“They’re still just kids who haven’t even lived for five hundred years.”
The old man’s voice continued, giggling. His voice carried the confidence befitting the High Priest of one of the oldest three Catacombs.
“What about Enmodlado?”
At the woman’s question, the old man clicked his tongue and replied.
“He’s been silent. It seems that even his big feet have frozen from being stuck in the north.”
“Hmm.”
A moment of silence.
Breaking the ominous stillness, the old man’s voice, as if reciting a poem, once again flowed through the crystal ball.
“Three Catacombs remain, and four Sanctuaries remain.”
“Hmmm. The last Sanctuary is practically non-existent, isn’t it?”
“Well, anyway.”
The old man chuckled softly, and his voice, like a blazing flame, echoed.
“We must maintain the balance, shouldn’t we?”
The woman was silent for a moment. The meaning contained in the old man’s words was clear.
An attack on the Sanctuary.
If anyone else had uttered the same words, the response would have been something along the lines of,”There would be another vacancy in the position of High Priest.”
However, she knew very well that the owner of this voice had enough recklessness to actually do such a thing, and that he was a figure with as much power as his recklessness.
And she knew all too well that those words, which seemed to be uttered casually, were actually the result of thorough verification over a long period of time.
“……”
A moment of silence. The woman, stroking the wriggling tentacles, opened her mouth in a low voice.
“Yes, it’s not unprecedented. But.”
Her gaze, filled with a hazy energy, turned towards the crystal ball.
“You’re not that monster, are you?”
Words that seemed to contain a slight mockery. However, the two High Priests, who knew the subject of the current conversation better than anyone else, were not joking.
“Don’t worry.”
The old man’s answer flowed smoothly.
“Unlike the rest of those brats who were constantly being replaced, I haven’t been playing around for five hundred years.”
A confident statement, followed by a gradually fading voice.
“Ah, and that.”
And the old man’s blazing eyes, looking this way from beyond the space, turned towards the woman.
“Isn’t that the same for you?”
Crack. With the old man’s words, the crystal ball, unable to withstand the powerful demonic energy emanating from the two High Priests, shattered.
🔹🔹🔹
“No, not at all. What do you mean it’s the same?”
Rushikella, frowning deeply, replied curtly to my words.
It was a somewhat dissatisfied face, completely different from the first and second time we met. I smiled faintly at her reaction and shrugged.
“Didn’t you say that the Empire also wants the war to end? There’s nothing more fortunate for them than the fact that the opponent who started the fight is reaching out with some disadvantages.”
Originally, the Special Task Force’s goal was to awaken the desert Necromancer and disrupt their rear, gaining the upper hand in the war.
Of course, that monster was destroyed by me, and their plan was properly ruined.
But in the end, they achieved something similar. The Sultan of the desert first admitted his mistake and reached out.
Although it was a somewhat inappropriate expression to use in a war that had already caused countless casualties, the Empire had nothing more to lose. After all, the war had progressed in a way that the Empire was defending against the Sultan’s attacks, who had aggressively picked a fight to seize fertile territory.
They wouldn’t have even considered a desert expedition, which was as inefficient and dangerous as jumping into the sea. Unless there was a monster like the Necromancer to reliably shake up the rear.
“Of course, I agree that it’s a similar result in some aspects.”
Rushikella flicked her finger and lit the end of the thick, slightly cut cigar, continuing her words.
“Anything beyond that is for His Majesty to decide.”
She was right. As a third party, it would be difficult to grasp the trivial matters that were being coordinated.
“……Anyway.”
She sighed and blew out a puff of smoke.
“Wait a moment. His Majesty the Emperor is discussing the truce agreement with the ministers.”
“I’m a busy person.”
At my words, she stopped walking and looked at me with a dumbfounded expression. Rushikella, looking at me calmly meeting her gaze, let out a sigh and said,
“Just wait a little, it will be over soon.”
After finishing her words, Rushikella started walking again.
The place we were currently walking in was the Imperial Palace. A certain secret corridor located in its basement.
Despite some twists and turns, it was a walk to show me something’special’for achieving a similar goal to the original one, which was to end the war.
“This is a tremendous favor, more than you think. Keep in mind that no one, except for the Empire’s leadership, has ever walked this corridor.”
Hmm.
I tilted my head slightly at those words. Now that she mentioned it, I was a little curious.
I followed Rushikella, who was emitting acrid and hazy smoke, and walked towards the dark and gloomy corridor.
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