Chapter 13: The Broken Ritual and the Death Knight’s Betrayal

An emergency was declared for the apostles who were conducting the ritual, because of the loud noise that had just occurred, which meant that someone had intruded into the place.

They first stopped the ritual and exchanged information with each other, and among them, the face of the man leading the meeting was filled with anger.

There had been interference right before the event, and since the ritual had been ruined right before it was completed, he couldn’t help but feel angry.

He ground his teeth and slammed his hand on the table with all his might.

The apostles, who were well aware of his usual violent nature, were busy watching without even opening their mouths.

“Why is it that we’re right in front of the goal… Okeris!

Didn’t you make a mistake!?”

The man then reprimanded his subordinate.

The target was a man named Okeris who had kidnapped children with the sound of a whistle a little while ago.

When the arrowhead was pointed at him, Okeris waved his hand with a pale face.

He was desperate because the opponent was a priest with the power of summary execution.

“No way..! I left no traces, really..!”

“Then who else would leak information besides you!”

As the meaningless shifting of responsibility continued, the old apostle stopped the priest’s reprimand.

“Sandros, I understand your anger, but right now, we need to figure out the situation first.”

Although the old apostle was lower in rank than the priest, he was more aware of the severity of the current situation than anyone else due to his long experience.

A top-secret ritual ordered by the sect was being performed here, and there was even a top-secret document handed down from above.

Therefore, the ritual was being carried out in strict secrecy, but even so, someone had allowed intrusion.

If the information contained here had been leaked out, not only would it be dangerous for them, but also the organization that had given the order.

Of course, the purpose of the ritual performed here was none other than the murder of the imperial family.

Therefore, rather than reprimanding them, the old apostle strongly demanded that the situation be resolved immediately.

The priest Sandros reluctantly agreed to the fact.

“Yes, it would be okay to hold someone accountable after the situation is resolved.”

“…”

“Then what should we do?”

Sandros thought about something for a moment.

He soon clicked his tongue and began giving instructions to his subordinates.

“The ritual is stopped.

Our current priorities are to eliminate the intruder and conceal information in case of an emergency.”

“In that case, we will each have to move.”

“Yes, so you take the Command Stone and the scroll and go out to the secret passage to deliver them to Douglas, and until then, we will destroy the information and eliminate the intruder.”

Sandros entrusted the ritual tools to the old apostle whom he trusted, and moved to handle the situation.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten and stopped walking.

It was the children he had captured to be used as sacrifices.

The seven boys and girls trapped inside the bars, the original souls of which he had tried to extract and absorb into the Command Stone, but the situation was not favorable.

Sandros fiddled with the axe on his waist while looking at the sleeping children.

Since he planned to destroy the evidence, he couldn’t leave any survivors.

Just as he was about to pull out the axe, a better idea came to him and he began to smile wickedly.

“Hey, Okeris, come over here.”

2.

Hwaruk-!

A crimson flame rose above her hand.

As soon as she swung her hand, a fierce flame burst out and covered the ghouls blocking the tunnel.

In an instant, the tunnel became a pit of fire, and the groans of the dead began to pour down.

Soon, the flames subsided and the ghouls were reduced to a handful of ash.

Lucy, who usually hated horror movies, used incineration magic to annihilate the ghouls without leaving a single speck of dust.

Thanks to this, the path was cleaned up cleanly, but because of that, a stench that stung her nose vibrated.

She frowned inside her mask, then shook off the dust on her cloak and continued forward.

What was before her eyes was a fork in the road.

If the opponent was a ‘necromancer’ who controlled ghouls, he would definitely make them protect where he was, so she chose the right path where the ghouls were blocking the path.

Now that the enemy’s identity was confirmed to be a necromancer, the child’s chances of survival were extremely low.

If a necromancer is a being that uses ideology.

If he had kidnapped a child for a ritual, there was no reason to keep him alive until now.

That was not a very pleasant fact.

Of course, since their relationship was short, he had no affection for the old man and his granddaughter, but he was still his first client.

If such a client were to die in a miserable state like a ghoul, even if it wasn’t his fault, he wouldn’t be able to sleep well.

Lucy hurried her steps with such a disturbing feeling.

However, the tunnel was longer and more complicated than she had thought, and even after a long time had passed, there was no sign of its end.

She felt frustrated and wanted to use high-speed movement, but that was not possible in order to prepare for a trap.

Illusionists were a class that was vulnerable to surprise attacks, and of course, this only applied to enemies of the same level, but there were still cases where it was necessary.

Even if she had decided to save him, her top priority was her own safety.

‘It would be nice if there was someone who could guide me.’

As they silently moved forward, as if they had heard the wind, they began to hear a noise from ahead.

Chuck.

Chuck.

Chuck.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the pitch black.

It wasn’t just one person, but many, and judging by the even footsteps, they weren’t ghouls.

Soon, five apostles with their robes pulled back appeared from beyond the darkness.

Their faces were covered by their robes, but judging by their body frames and beards, they were all men.

They all began to glare at Lucy.

Then, some sighed in relief, and some laughed incomprehensibly.

It was a somewhat bewildering gesture for an unknown reason.

The reason was soon revealed by the words, “You were just an apprentice adventurer?”

They were dumbfounded by the fact that the intruder who had boldly invaded their territory was just an apprentice adventurer.

They looked down at Lucy with cold eyes, as if they were looking at an insect.

“Tell me, who on earth ordered you to invade here?”

“Where are the kids who were taken away?”

“You cheeky bastard! Just answer the questions I ask you, because depending on what you say, you’ll either die a peaceful death or suffer soul-to-soul.”

“Is killing them the basic premise?”

Any further conversation seemed unnecessary, since they could just get the information they wanted through illusions.

On the other hand, the other side prepared for battle while whispering, “We can just get the information through necromancy.”

In the midst of the standoff, the other side struck first.

When the man in the middle ordered, “Kill them,” the ghouls hiding behind them dashed forward.

A total of ten ghouls.

All of them had magic stones attached to their chests, and they were not the normal ghouls we’d seen before, but enhanced ghouls.

They bared their vicious gums and rushed toward Lucy all at once, their movements being incomparably agile compared to normal ghouls.

However, they were still at the level of lower-level monsters.

From the perspective of a level 100, normal and enhanced ghouls were the same.

Magic Skill.

Cause and effect.

As soon as the skill was activated, the ghouls that had been attacking stopped moving, and then they all started to harm themselves by ripping out the magic stones attached to their chests.

The enhanced ghouls fell one by one as their magic stones were ripped out.

The apostles who witnessed that scene were in an uproar, and their bewilderment was evident even though their faces were covered by their robes.

“All the enhanced ghouls were attacked by a mere apprentice adventurer..?”

“What on earth was that magic just now..?”

“I don’t know, it’s a magic I’ve never seen before.”

“No way..”

The fighting power of a single reinforced ghoul was comparable to that of an adventurer of the same level, so this situation was completely unacceptable.

Then, one of the apostles stepped forward with doubts and chanted a spell.

“Wait, something feels off!”

Despite his companions’ dissuasion, he did not stop chanting.

Soon, a fireball appeared above his hand and aimed at Lucy.

“Die!”

However, since Karmament and Retribution was still activated, the man’s attack could not be directed at Lucy.

“What… What is this… Why is this…”

Before he knew it, he was aiming the fireball at himself.

Boom-!

A pitiful explosion of flames erupted, and the corpse of the man, turned into charcoal, knelt there.

The priests who stepped back were shocked by the aftermath.

The reinforced ghouls they had painstakingly created were completely destroyed, and their companions were also instantly killed by an unknown attack.

Feeling some sense of discomfort, they began to back away.

Lucy walked leisurely towards them.

“Hey… Retreat first..”

“Shut up! If we run away from here, we’ll all be killed by Lord Sandros anyways!”

Judging that there was nowhere else to retreat, one of the apostles urgently placed his hand on the ground and cast magic.

Soon, a summoning circle formed on the ground and a ‘Death Knight’ wearing pitch-black armor was summoned from there.

The man who successfully completed the summoning let out a shallow breath, as if he had used up all of his magic power, and the comrades behind him looked at each other and all began to cast buff magic on the Death Knight.

[Magic Buff. Increased magic resistance]

[Magic Buff. Increased physical defense]

[Magic Buff. Increased physical attack power]

[Magic Buff. Increased gravity resistance]

[Magic Buff. Increased command execution ability]

[Magic Buff. Self-healing power increase]

In order to seize a certain victory, the remaining members also used up almost all of their magic power and concentrated buffs on the Death Knight.

The pitch-black knight, armed with various buffs, roared with his red eyes glowing.

At the same time, the priests let out a sigh of relief at the evil yet strong aura that resonated.

“Haha.. This is definitely an easy victory.”

“Go, Death Knight!”

The Death Knight advanced forward while hearing all kinds of cheers.

Lucy, who was blankly watching them, had an amusing thought.

Magic Skill.

Hypnosis.

Magic Skill.

Brainwashing.

He used two hypnosis skills.

Due to the effects, the Death Knight’s movements suddenly stopped.

“What are you doing, Death Knight!

It is the master’s order, quickly kill that brat..”

Choaaaah-

At that moment, the Death Knight cut down the man who had given the order with his sword.

Blood gushed out like a fountain from the man’s body, which was split in half, and the other apostles, covered in that blood, fell to their seats in despair.

Lucy succeeded in making the Death Knight, whom they had strengthened with all their efforts, into her own hands and feet with just two hypnotisms.