The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 177

“Is this a fragment of Grimslough?”

Azadin was horrified by the texture of the warm, flesh-like piece of wood.

“Yes. Grimslough has chosen you. You are the new Heavenly Lord of the Cheonggeon Order.”

“No, I haven’t exactly received any such revelation.”

Azadin, avoiding the unnecessarily emotional Jiswa, tried to concentrate.

The piece of wood in Azadin’s hand, a part of Grimslough’s body, began to transform and wrap around Azadin’s Moon Horn Bow.

‘I had a feeling this might happen, but it actually did?’

Azadin was taken aback as Grimslough’s body swallowed the Moon Horn Bow.

When he drew the newly formed Moon Horn Bow, he felt a tension stronger than a heavy crossbow’s steel bow. It was an impossible power for a wooden bow of this size.

Moreover, its flexibility was excellent, allowing most of the drawing force to be transferred to the arrow.

“I don’t need this anymore.”

Azadin put down the heavy steel bow. He was confident that Grimslough’s Moon Horn Bow would not break.

Moreover, Grimslough’s power wasn’t limited to just that. Azadin’s Cheonggeon Order staff was glistening with Grimslough’s sap.

“It seems like it chose the leader. Or maybe, what should I say? We attacked with all our might, sending out minions, but we still got caught, so maybe it surrendered before the leader burned it to a crisp? Rather than being dominated by force after acting up, it’s more plausible that it chose to submit on its own terms, right?”

“It seems to be a Nether god, and even a fragment of it wouldn’t be so easily subdued. It seems like it took a liking to me?”

Azadin took the bow and staff blessed by Grimslough and looked around. The hostility that had filled the entire jungle was no longer present.

“Originally, I was going to forcibly take it, but wow. I never thought such a miracle would happen.”

Jiswa was still choked up with emotion.

“You seem to be attracting all sorts of miracles. Do the gods like you or something?”

Sharty was a little envious, but Azadin was indifferent.

“It’s not that the gods like me, but rather that the so-called believers don’t follow the basic good doctrines and just bully others with trivial things, isn’t it?”

“You also bully others, though.”

Sharty thought about what Azadin did to others.

“Anyway, now that I have this, shall we talk to the Heavenly Lord of the Cheonggeon Order? They said the Heavenly Lord is in Butuma, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go to Butuma.”

Azadin returned from the black jungle of Kimalhaji, the forest of the holy ground.

*********

Having safely obtained Grimslough’s fragment, Azadin and his group decided to return to the Count of Kimalhaji’s territory to head to Butuma.

Butuma could only be reached by following the roads or by using the rivers and sea. Otherwise, the areas were quickly overgrown with plants and trees, making them impassable.

Perhaps that was why Azadin’s group saw elephants and armed soldiers standing by the roadside.

“No matter how I look at it, their intentions aren’t good.”

Komosal and his subordinates were standing there. There were about 20 of them by the roadside, and the rest were ambushing in the jungle. Scott, an excellent necromancer, roughly counted their numbers.

“There are about 50 of them. What should we do, Captain?”

Currently, the one pulling the cart wasn’t a Corpse Abomination but a large leopard they found in the jungle.

Even if they charged the leopard, there were too many people.

Of course, Azadin wouldn’t be defeated by them, but Azadin came to Butuma to persuade them to fight the Nagas, not to stir them up and cause death and injury.

They were already short on manpower, and he didn’t want to cause internal strife and inflict damage.

“Should we try talking first? Hey, Komosal! It’s good to see you, brother!”

Azadin shouted, and Komosal frowned.

“Since when have I been your brother?!”

“Didn’t we say that all who follow the Way of Cheongcheon [a concept or path] and wear the Cheonggeon [a type of clothing or symbol] are brothers?”

“That’s….”

According to the doctrine, that was true, but even the Heavenly Lord, the head of the order, was discriminating against those from Butuma and those who weren’t.

However, it seemed too petty to say that the Heavenly Lord was doing it, so Komosal was at a loss for words. So, he made another unreasonable claim.

“Hey, heretic. You dare to trample on our sanctuary?”

“I got permission from the Count and Lady Gimella to go that way in the first place, so is there a problem? And a heretic? I’m a Cheonggeon Order Taoist.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You, a Taoist? You’re a Herald Clan member, aren’t you? Even if the Count acknowledges it, I can’t accept a Herald Clan member as a Taoist!”

“Is that what you think? It doesn’t seem like it to me?”

Azadin held up the staff imbued with Grimslough’s power.

“Wh-what is that? Are you trying to start something?”

“If your eyes aren’t like knot holes, you should be able to tell what this is?”

“That is?”

“It’s a fragment of Grimslough. It’s proof that the Old Tree of the Swamp chose him! He wasn’t subdued by force! He was struck by lightning like the Heavenly Lord, but he’s alive!”

Jiswa stepped forward and shouted, surprising everyone. Of course, Komosal was the most surprised.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Such a lie! This guy is a Herald Clan member, isn’t he?”

“To a Nether god, human races and tribes seem like very minor differences. Wouldn’t they prefer someone who speaks the Nether language well?”

“Y-you’re talking nonsense! You dare to falsely claim to be a prophet!”

“…Shouldn’t you say ‘claiming to be a prophet’ or ‘posing as a false prophet’? Saying it like that makes it sound like I’m claiming to be a false prophet myself?”

“Sh-shut up!”

Komosal, enraged, gestured to his subordinates.

“Yaaah!”

Komosal’s subordinates rushed out, but Azadin threw the staff he was holding.

The staff flew through the air and struck the head of the person running in the lead. Surprised, he raised his shield, but the staff cleverly rotated, went over the shield, and struck the head of the person behind him.

He wasn’t killed because he was wearing a helmet, but the shield bearer collapsed onto the dirt floor with a single blow.

“What?!”

Moreover, that wasn’t the end of it. The staff flew back to Azadin’s hand as if it were a living creature.

“Wow….”

Azadin, impressed, threw the staff again.

He clearly threw it with the intention of smashing their heads, but the staff rotated enough to reduce its power in the air, and then… it hit the person with just enough force to knock them out and returned to Azadin.

“That’s a unique ability. Normally, the upper body would be torn apart with that.”

“What, you bastard?!”

Someone who thought Azadin was joking charged at Azadin and thrust a spear.

“That was the truth.”

Sharty grabbed the spear that was thrust at Azadin. Just because a woman was blocking a man’s spear, they tried to ignore it and thrust, but Sharty was a Naga, a huge creature whose weight was more than twice that of a human man, even when disguised as a human. Naturally, her strength was also proportionally very powerful.

“Huh?”

Sharty swung her Naga curved sword, threatening the attacker and taking the spear.

“E-everyone! Don’t be afraid! The opponent is just….”

“A Herald Clan member. Do you guys not know what a Herald Clan member is?”

Azadin said that and threw the staff, and indeed, the staff didn’t kill people but only knocked them out. Moreover, once thrown, it always returned to Azadin’s hand, making it no ordinary magic weapon.

Even the staff and Azadin’s bow emanated an unusual aura. It was something that even the relatively high-ranking Cheonggeon Order members couldn’t ignore.

“Oh my god. That’s really… really the Old Tree of the Swamp?”

“He’s a real Taoist, no, a Heavenly Lord!”

The Cheonggeon Order members gave up resisting and knelt before Azadin, lowering their weapons.

“It’s a miracle!”

“We were wrong!”

“Huh?!”

Komosal was bewildered as he watched the Cheonggeon Order members he had brought with him surrender to Azadin.

Once a few Cheonggeon Order members knelt, the others also knelt in unison. There were about 50 people that Komosal had brought, but it was useless.

“Th-this guy has bewitched us.”

“What should we do?”

The Cheonggeon Order members holding spears turned their spear tips towards Komosal.

“Grab him and make him kneel here. Don’t kill him.”

As Azadin said that, they all rushed at Komosal, beat him with their spear shafts, and stomped on him before making him kneel before Azadin.

“Kuh….”

“Now, Komosal. You dared to give the Cheonggeon Order brothers strange drugs to make them go berserk?”

“Didn’t I say that it wasn’t my decision but the Heavenly Lord’s order?!”

“Didn’t you see the staff flying just now? Grimslough is merciful, so he’s letting you live instead of smashing your heads? Do you think such a merciful god would allow such atrocities?”

Of course, the existence of the Nether couldn’t be judged by just this one thing.

Grimslough’s staff might not kill people and only subdue them, but if you shot someone with Grimslough’s bow, they would probably die. The staff being a non-lethal weapon might just be because there was a need for a non-lethal weapon, right?

However, Azadin deliberately preached Grimslough’s mercy in an authoritative tone and then rebuked Komosal’s actions.

The Cheonggeon Order members, who had also exploited the weak to gain power, agreed with Azadin’s stern rebuke of Komosal, even shedding tears of emotion.

‘Many people have survived near-death experiences, so their loyalty to this religion is immense. If I establish myself well within this group, it will be good when fighting against the Nagas invading Butuma. But it would be dangerous to just ask them to follow me to Butuma, right?’

If they went to the royal palace with a large number of people, the king wouldn’t see it favorably.

So, Azadin wrote a letter.

“There will be a great calamity within the next two weeks. When the Naga army attacks Butuma, gather this much supplies and this many soldiers, write this phrase on the flag, beat the drums, and come through the east gate of Butuma Castle.”

Azadin wrote a letter to the Cheonggeon Order members as if it were a prophecy and then helped Komosal up.

“If you disobey, Komosal, you will surely be killed, and your soul will forever wander the snowy plains of the Wendigo [a mythical creature associated with cannibalism and winter].”

“…Uh.”

Komosal suddenly felt a chilling coldness and was terrified.

In fact, while talking about the snowy plains to Komosal, Azadin subtly flicked the Wendigo’s dagger with his finger, sending its magic power towards Komosal.

The icy coldness and the Wendigo’s presence threatened Komosal, combining with what Azadin had said to create an image of a true frozen hell.

“Well, then.”

Azadin left a letter for the Cheonggeon Order members of Kimalhaji in case of an emergency and set off on his journey to Butuma.

‘Seeing Komosal’s resistance, it won’t be easy to persuade the so-called Heavenly Lord either. But if the Heavenly Lord was also struck by lightning like me… there might be many techniques we have in common.’

Azadin resolved to persuade the Heavenly Lord of the Cheonggeon Order and, if necessary, to seize the position of Heavenly Lord himself.