The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 304

The orc mage was skilled.

Hayne, who had initially been dissatisfied, had to admit that much.

Scott cast an aura sight spell while having the undead pull the boat. It was a magic that made it easy to find living creatures and those moving by necromancy, even in the dark.

“Ah, there’s an ooze, um, what kind is it?” Scott, who discovered an enemy that was impossible to distinguish with the naked eye of a normal person because it was like a muddy sludge at the bottom of the sewage, sent an undead. The ooze popped out of the water, grabbed the undead, emitted electricity from its entire body, electrocuted the undead, and swallowed it.

‘What if it was a normal living creature?’ Hayne thought. No matter how well-trained a knight or warrior was, if they were paralyzed by an electric shock and sucked into the mud, they would die in agony as their flesh burned until they were digested by the ooze.

Even if Hayne was confident in her skills, the surprise attack of the electric ooze just now was enough to make her shudder.

However….

“Boneslugs!” Scott cast a spell as if it was nothing. Bone blades popped out from the entire body of the undead that had been caught by the ooze, tearing the ooze to shreds.

“Ghoul’s Devour!” At Scott’s command, a red aura surrounded the undead, and they rushed forward, picking up the pieces of the electric ooze and eating them. The electric ooze also released digestive fluids, trying to melt and eat the undead, and emitted electricity to attack them, but the undead still managed to swallow the electric ooze.

“Still excellent, Scott.”

“Oh, well, this is nothing for a genius of the era,” Scott said nonchalantly and continued to look ahead.

Between the sewage and piles of garbage, there was a cultist altar, and this time, young boys suddenly appeared. The boys, still young, were wearing animal skins and were in distress. And behind them, a bizarre bone altar stained with blood was created. ‘Were they cultists worshiping an unknown evil god?’

Then the boys approached.

“Ugh… We just came here because we didn’t want to pay the pickpocket tribute…”

“Please help us. This won’t come off!” The boys cried and asked Azadin’s group for help. It was a bizarre yet pitiful sight.

“How can we help?” Azadin asked, placing his hands on Aurelia Dawn and the Azure Executioner [his weapons].

“If you soak this leather with your blood, I think we can take it off!” The children instantly turned into beasts and attacked Azadin’s group.

“Tsk.” Of course, Azadin didn’t trust them from the beginning, so as soon as they attacked, he swung his sword and axe, cutting off their heads.

Hayne also smashed the attacking monstrous boys with her knuckles, Duskbite [her gauntlets]. She accurately struck their vital points and burned the wounds with ceramite [a heat-resistant material], preventing them from regenerating.

Normally, if the spinal cord was pierced, they would die instantly, but the beastly boys writhed and let out grotesque groans without dying.

‘As expected of the famous herald clan, I thought he would be strong, but the others are also extraordinary?’ Hayne was surprised anew. It was understandable that Azadin was cutting down enemies like falling leaves.

However, the abilities of the orc necromancer Scott, as well as Jibek’s, were unexpected.

Jibek swung his sword, slashing the necks and backs of the knees of the attacking beasts, and slipped away as if dancing. Scott chuckled and used necromancy to subdue and secure the corpses of the cultists that Azadin and Jibek had defeated. They had used up a lot of corpses on the way here, and he considered this a good opportunity to replenish them.

‘I need to be careful,’ Hayne thought so and carefully conveyed the situation in her mind.

[We are currently passing through blocks 2-7. This herald clan guy, as well as those he brought, are quite skilled.] Just as the King’s Church had explored the underground from their parish and drawn a map of the underground, the Mercy Order also had their own underground map. As Hayne passed through the landmarks on the map, she contacted the situation room in her mind.

[Hayne, your progress is fast. Don’t overexert yourself and let them wear themselves out.] The situation room asked Hayne not to participate directly in the battle and to let Azadin’s group wear themselves out more. It seemed they thought Hayne was actively participating in the battle because their progress was too fast.

[I’m just going through the motions. They are skilled. There seem to be more monsters, anomalies, and cultists than usual…]

[Understood. Be careful, Hayne. A magical surge has been detected underground. It seems the Angel of Corruption is active.] At that moment, her telepathic connection with the command center was cut off.

Indeed, a storm of magic was raging in the sewer, and insects and rats were seen scurrying around in a panic.

“This is…”

“It seems to be the Angel of Corruption,” Jibek offered his opinion.

“Scott! Can you tell the direction?”

“Of course, boss.” Scott cast a spell on one of the undead he was controlling. Then, the cultist undead turned its arms forward and spun around, pointing in a specific direction.

“It’s pointing the shortest distance, so the direction is a bit distorted underground, but I can feel it from this way.”

“Then we should avoid that way.” Azadin moved west, avoiding the direction indicated by Scott’s necromancy. However, the underground passage was complex and twisted, so they couldn’t just avoid it. In particular, the fact that the Angel of Corruption was moving was a problem.

From beyond the underground passage, the screams of people and the sounds of weapons clashing were heard.

“Hmm. Huh?” At that moment, Scott was surprised.

“Why?”

“It’s gone!”

“Gone?”

“It seems someone has eliminated the Angel of Corruption.”

“What? There’s no way that’s possible.” Hayne, who was listening, was horrified. The reason why the Rescue Knights could not help but leave this underground infested with monsters, despite being the headquarters of the Rescue Knights, was because of the Angel of Corruption. Because such a powerful monster appeared and the Rescue Knights suffered too much damage, they had only blocked the entrance to prevent the Angel of Corruption from coming out of the underground.

The Angel of Corruption did not know how to find its way and was trapped in this labyrinth, so blocking the entrance was enough to prevent sacrifices. In other words, the Angel of Corruption was a monster that the Rescue Knights had simply sealed and left alone because it would do more harm than good to touch it, even with their capabilities.

But was that Angel of Corruption defeated?

*********

Inquisitor Zekt smiled bitterly as he adjusted his armor. The armor, which had been adorned with gold, was stained with blood, and some parts were corroded by acidic liquid, emitting a pungent toxic gas.

“Ugh…” Around Zekt, his subordinates were sprawled out.

“Heal those who can be saved, and give rest to those who cannot. If you die here, you will become a monster,” Zekt said, frowning. Even those who could be saved had lost their combat abilities. Half of the squad was dead, and a quarter was injured, so it was a situation that should be called annihilation in military terms.

They hadn’t even gone deep yet, and they had only just reached the entrance, but they had to encounter the Angel of Corruption.

“By the way, what is this? It seems to be the corpse of an angel…” Zekt examined the Angel of Corruption he had defeated. The corpse of a creature with angel wings, about nine feet tall and much larger than a normal human, was lying among the sewage. The body was covered with rotten flesh, slime molds, and insects, and although it had been neutralized by Zekt’s sword and magic, it looked as if it had just lost its power source and was asleep.

‘Wouldn’t it rise again and become active if the magic in this underground passage became sufficient?’ Thinking about it, it was a waste that so many subordinates had died just to subdue this monster for a short time.

“Isn’t this itself a symbol of the Rescue Knights’ corruption? From what I see, it seems they did strange research with the corpse of an angel… If we take this corpse to the surface, we can prove their corruption.” Zekt examined the corpse of the Angel of Corruption and carefully spoke a magical language to analyze it.

“Ah.” At that moment, a group appeared from the side of the underground passage. Azadin, Hayne, Jibek, and Scott happened to appear here and encountered Zekt.

“……” It was a difficult situation for Zekt. He had exhausted his energy and magic fighting the Angel of Corruption, and now he had to meet Azadin?

“Sir Zekt, what brings you here?” Jibek asked.

“That’s what I should be asking, Sir Jibek. Aren’t you a wanted man? Of course, you didn’t really kill Darhan Zadek, but if that’s the case, shouldn’t you voluntarily appear before the Order and prove your innocence? To disregard that mission and act with the heretics.”

“Because I cannot trust the Order, Sir Zekt.”

“Haha. Are you saying that you distrust the Order now? The doctrines and laws of the King’s Church?”

“Do not equate the doctrines and laws with the Order’s organization, Sir Zekt. You know how many innocent people have been sacrificed by such wordplay, and how their voices have been ignored? Distrusting the Order’s organization does not mean betraying the Order’s laws or justice! Isn’t it the greedy high priests who have betrayed the true doctrines, laws, and justice!?”

“Hmm. Even if you say that to me.” Zekt was surprised to see Jibek protesting as if he was confronting him. The Jibek he knew was not the type to speak his mind like this. ‘Was it because he had accumulated so much over time? Or was it because he had made bad friends(?)’

“I saw on the way that Sir Meya had become a wereboar. Are you aware of that?”

“Ah, it was an unfortunate accident.”

“From what I saw, you were in charge of Sir Meya’s troops. But you are fine, neither dead nor injured, yet such an unfortunate accident happened to the young knight who followed you? That’s very strange. From what I know, the young knights who followed you often, very often, get caught up in such accidents!?” Jibek was accusing Zekt of deliberately leaving Meya to become a wereboar.

However, Zekt feigned ignorance.

“The mission of a holy knight is arduous and dangerous, as you know. Isn’t encountering many accidents proof of diligent mission performance?”

“Yes. I suppose so. However, I do not agree with that, so I intend to prove my innocence and regain my honor in my own way. If you truly believe I am innocent, please do not interfere.”

But at that moment, Zekt shook his head and drew his sword. The sound of the blade crying out echoed in the underground passage.

“Hmm. That’s difficult. If we cannot bring someone suspected of assassinating the king to trial, how can we spread the king’s laws throughout the world? So, Sir Jibek, please believe in the Order’s justice and entrust your custody to us…” He was saying to entrust his custody, but it was clearly a threat.

“Sir Zekt, even if you are Sir Zekt, you must have been greatly exhausted from defeating that monster just now.” Jibek did not back down here either.

Once teacher and student, the two drew their swords and faced each other, and Zekt’s subordinates, with their battered bodies, picked up their weapons.

‘Fighting the Inquisitor of the King’s Church…?’ For Hayne, it was a suffocating situation.