The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 118

“Die, you lackeys of Yaeghas!”

Walter gripped his staff, attempting to combine hand seals to cast a spell, but before he could complete the motion, Azadin’s blade pierced his neck.

“Krrk. Heh heh heh.”

Walter died with a look of satisfaction. He hadn’t expected to counterattack or harm Azadin at that moment. His smile stemmed from the belief that Azadin, along with all the other followers of Yaeghas—the humans—would suffer immensely from the Wendigos.

“…Unlike some, that orc possessed pride.”

Shati commented, observing the fallen orc.

“He was a fool. The Kurt Pantheon isn’t worth that kind of loyalty.”

Scott, despite being an orc himself, harshly criticized the Kurt deities. This further provoked Shati.

“What? How dare you!”

Standing beside the furious Shati, Scott added,

“To be of the great orc lineage and yet stoop to the level of a snake-head. Religion and customs are indeed terrifying. Even those with great intellect will succumb to them. Otherwise, an orc wouldn’t degrade himself to the level of a Naga [a serpentine humanoid].”

Meanwhile, the Wendigos continued to pour cold air into the tunnel. They no longer engaged in physical attacks, but seemed intent on freezing the entire underground passage, continuously spewing cold breath and allowing the cold to accumulate inside.

“A-are you alright, Madam?”

Brock approached the fallen Madam Liz.

“Hmm. Not at all.”

Madam Liz frowned, holding up her arm. She had landed awkwardly on the ice when she was thrown back by the impact, and her wrist was broken and dangling.

‘Oh, this man, really….’

Azadin watched Brock, who had recklessly provoked the orc to save his wife, forcing a showdown, and then searched the orc’s corpse.

There was a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture that had lost its light and another that still had light remaining. Even the copy that had lost its light had a faint afterglow along its edges, indicating that it was no ordinary object.

“Now, Madam. You have the Divine King’s Scripture, right? Hand it over.”

“What? I don’t want to.”

“……”

At that moment, ice shattered around Azadin.

“This is no time for jokes. You have a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture, don’t you?”

“You people, you’re after the Divine King’s Scripture. Your archery skills, are you from the Messenger Clan?”

Madam Liz took out a copy of the Divine King’s Scripture from her bosom. These, too, had only a residual glow, indicating that they had already used their power.

“It would be a big problem to play around with the Divine King’s Scripture against the Messenger Clan. Here.”

“Thanks.”

Azadin received the Divine King’s Scripture from Madam Liz as well.

“Tch, our Naga Empire worked so hard to collect these.”

“Technically, you’re part of the Kurt Pantheon alliance. Don’t act like only the Nagas put in the effort.”

“Shut up, traitor.”

“Anyway, what do we do about that thing now?”

“We’re not safe yet either. It keeps getting colder!”

Sir Brock said, taking off his cloak and covering Madam Liz with it. The way he acted, he was a devoted husband.

‘Why is a guy like this in such a state?’

Azadin looked at him with disdain.

“I’m trying to reduce it a bit.”

If they stayed still at the junction, the cold would continue to accumulate, and they would eventually freeze to death. To prevent that, Sir Zibeck and Sir Brand went to the passages leading to the junction, dealing with the Wendigos that were only spewing cold air without approaching, reducing the amount of cold air flowing in.

“But the temperature is dropping outside as well. Every time the Wendigo’s main body briefly appears in the mortal realm, an enormous amount of cold air is released into the mortal realm.”

Sir Zibeck trembled at the approaching sense of doom.

“If we don’t banish that thing quickly, a terrible disaster will befall this area. Or maybe…”

Zibeck trailed off. But everyone knew what he wanted to say. With the King’s Church and the nobles, and the Yaeghas deities all corrupted, could they stop such a huge monster? What if they couldn’t?

“……”

Madam Liz, shivering from the cold and the pain of her dislocated wrist, clung to her husband, Sir Brock, and kept her mouth shut.

‘She seems to know something. If I ask her directly, she’ll try to avoid answering.’

Azadin asked Scott instead.

“Is there no way?”

“The reason the Wendigo from the Nether [a realm of spirits and demons] is appearing here is because something connected to the Wendigo exists somewhere in this mortal realm. The Kurt Pantheon, the gods of Kurt, are said to have sealed the monsters of the Nether, but in reality, they sealed their divine objects.”

“Then the Naga Empire must have brought that divine object here to release the Wendigo.”

“That’s right. We need to find out how they awakened that divine object and its current location.”

Scott pointed at Madam Liz.

“This woman, who participated in the ritual and summoned the Wendigo, probably knows where it is.”

“Tch.”

Madam Liz took something out of her bosom. It was a dagger made of bone. It was unclear what kind of bone it was made from, but it was overflowing with a black and evil aura.

“The divine objects of the Nether have such a strong allure for mages that those who possess them become bewitched.”

“This is the Dagger of Cannibalism. It’s a divine object of the Nether that cannot be destroyed by any power or magic in the mortal realm. As that orc said, it has a strong allure. Just holding it makes you feel powerful, and I keep hearing pleasant whispers inside me.”

So, Madam Liz had been keeping her mouth shut because she didn’t want to give up this divine object.

“Even when she’s about to freeze to death?”

“This level of cold is just right. It reduces the pain.”

She held out her dislocated wrist.

“Midiam.”

“Yes.”

Midiam stepped forward, grabbed her wrist, and reattached it.

“Aaaah!”

A scream echoed along with the gruesome sound of her wrist being reset. And at the same time, Midiam naturally snatched the Dagger of Cannibalism from her hand and brought it to Azadin.

Azadin took it and asked Madam Liz,

“How did you awaken the Wendigo?”

“There’s a cannibalistic altar at the deepest part of this underground passage. If you place a member of the same race as the caster there, stab them to death, and eat them, the Wendigo will bestow a blessing.”

“Did you eat?”

“I didn’t kill them, I just drew some blood and drank it. To provoke the Wendigo. That’s what I was trying to do, but the Kurt Pantheon guys…”

Madam Liz frowned.

“Oh, my god.”

Sir Brock, Guillaume Valt, and Zibeck, who were listening, groaned.

A cannibalistic ritual. Wasn’t that the sound of a terrible and evil ritual being performed?

“It wasn’t my intention! I was just trying to get a little power from the sleeping Wendigo. But the Kurt Pantheon alliance guys…”

“So, where is the altar?”

Azadin prioritized the Wendigo over Madam Liz’s treatment for now.

“If you go down following the water flow, you’ll find it at the deepest part. But you won’t be able to go there easily. There will be a hellish scene there that can’t even be compared to what we’re facing now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Many of the Kurt Pantheon alliance and Naga Empire guys died there and became Wendigos. Rather than fighting those guys, it would be better to turn all the copies of the Divine King’s Scripture into the light of the King… Ah, but that’s impossible now. That orc used up all the charged energy.”

The reason why the orc mage Walter had smiled even as he was dying was because of that. He believed that since he had exhausted the white magic charged in the Divine King’s Scripture, the humans who had harmed him would die at the hands of the Wendigos.

‘Well, I still have many copies of the Divine King’s Scripture that are charged….’

For Azadin, the loss of the Divine King’s Scripture copies was unacceptable.

‘I need to deal with this while preserving the Divine King’s Scripture.’

In the end, to resolve this incident without losing the copies of the Divine King’s Scripture, they would have to go into the underground passage where the strong members of the Kurt Pantheon alliance were swarming as Wendigos.

*********

Meanwhile, Sir Brock began to defend his wife to Guillaume Valt, who was acting as the Count of Lantark.

“Sir Guillaume Valt, my wife was merely manipulated by that evil divine object of the Nether. It was absolutely not her intention.”

“……”

Guillaume Valt was speechless at Sir Brock’s attitude of defending his wife.

No matter how much one tried to look at Madam Liz’s actions favorably, the only truth was that she ‘didn’t intend to release the Wendigo,’ and the rest was a lie.

No, it wasn’t a lie, but even so, they were grave sins that deserved being burned at the stake ten times over. And yet, her husband was stepping forward to defend her? This was a pure love story, if anything….

‘But didn’t this guy cheat on her?’

It was common for nobles to have multiple wives and concubines, but Sir Brock’s case was a bit different.

“Let’s find that altar first. But…”

Azadin frowned. The temperature dropped further as the cold accumulated the deeper they went.

“If we just go down recklessly, we’ll die. Let’s reorganize.”

“Reorganize?”

Midiam was puzzled.

“Yes.”

Azadin took the axe he had brought from Sir Guillaume Valt and smashed the ice, pulling up pieces of wood that were stuck in the water. He began to gather things that could be used as kindling from the trash that had flowed into the sewer.

“Scott! Start a fire.”

“I used a lot of magic today.”

Scott grumbled, casting a spell on the wood to start a fire.

“Ugh. It’s too hard to light because it’s wet.”

“……”

Even so, they could feel the chill easing a bit once the fire started.

“Excellent.”

Zibeck muttered absentmindedly.

Scott had proven his usefulness today. If he hadn’t used necromancy, they wouldn’t have been able to repel the Wendigo’s attacks without anyone getting hurt.

Moreover, he had shown his versatility by creating magic stones and starting a fire with wet wood. Even if he provoked anger with his words, it was tolerable. However, Zibeck’s position as a paladin became difficult.

‘I can’t acknowledge necromancy….’

However, he couldn’t deny Scott’s competence and contribution.

“Okay. It’s a little better.”

Azadin had the fire lit and gathered Guillaume Valt, Brock, and the injured Madam Liz around the fire.

“Give me your cloaks and blankets.”

“Ah.”

They couldn’t expect any combat ability from them. Azadin was planning to take off the cold-weather gear of those with low combat ability and give it to those with high combat ability.

For knights like Guillaume Valt and Sir Brock, being told to take off their cloaks and blankets was like being told that they were too weak to go down there. Normally, proud knights would have protested, but….

“We will do so!”

Having already experienced the overwhelming difference in skill, they immediately took off their cloaks and the blankets they had been wearing underneath and handed them over to Azadin’s group.

“Midiam, you stay by the fire too.”

“Yes?”

Midiam’s eyes widened at Azadin’s words to stay behind. Azadin whispered in her ear.

“…Keep an eye on Madam Liz.”

“Ah.”

Someone trustworthy had to stay behind and watch the female mage.

“I’ll stay here too. I hate the cold.”

Shati also chose to stay by the fire.

Midiam swallowed hard. Madam Liz was injured and didn’t know much about Midiam’s abilities, but Shati knew Midiam well.

The responsibility of watching both Shati and Madam Liz fell on her shoulders.