Necromancer Of The Black Bible (119)

Belphages bowed deeply to Qairas and answered.

“I came to protect the Demon King.”

“Me?”

Qairas tilted his head.

And rightly so—Lord of Frost Qairas’s power was among the strongest of the Demon Kings in the subterranean Demon Realm.

Belphages met his gaze and continued speaking.

“Their specialty is Fire magic. Specifically, they use the Crimson Dragon’s draconic words. As you know, that power is antithetical to the Demon King.”

“The power of the Crimson Dragon?”

Sure enough, Qairas reacted.

His complexion turned noticeably dark, and his gaze fell.

He stroked his chin and muttered.

“If it’s the Crimson Dragon’s magic…”

A smile formed at the corner of Belphages’s mouth.

For it was true that Qairas’s ancestor had been severely beaten by the Crimson Dragon Eckhart.

Twelve hundred years ago, when he was the left hand of the Great Demon King Belzemon, he boldly stepped forward to face Eckhart.

He did so because he believed Ice that excels against Fire could handle it.

But the result was horrific.

It was like throwing a small shard of ice at a wave of encroaching lava.

Qairas unleashed his full Ice-realm magic, but could not even briefly stop Eckhart’s breath.

As a result, Qairas’s ancestor was neutralized, reduced to crystals, and after countless hardships restored his body and fled to this place.

He poured all his strength into making this place habitable for Frost Demons, entrusted his descendants, and then vanished.

Qairas, who had been a young demon at the time, remembered his ancestor’s end.

Just before vanishing he told Qairas and everyone else this:

[Never leave this place. Do not ally with any Demon King, and do not meddle in matters of the surface. Do so and no one will touch us by the law of cause and effect. Our power comes from cold—hone it here.]

The successive Demon Kings followed the ancestor’s last words.

Qairas, the fifth to ascend to the Demon King throne since then, likewise lived by that will.

To him, Belphages’s warning that someone bearing the Crimson Dragon’s power would invade could not be dismissed lightly.

“Hmm…”

A sigh mixed with a groan escaped from the pensive Qairas.

But Belphages would not let Qairas think freely.

“Their power is overwhelming. The moment they arrive here, Harmonia will be occupied at once.”

Harmonia refers to the domain ruled by Qairas.

Qairas stared at Belphages with deepened eyes, and Belphages spoke in a calm tone.

“We cannot defeat them alone. We must seek aid from the other Demon Kings.”

“Wait.”

Qairas, after a moment’s thought, spoke.

“You propose asking others for help without even trying to fight?”

“Yes.”

Belphages immediately projected a visual.

The image he projected in the center of the ice palace began to play.

A scene where Shadow Demon King Perak, who had been seated on the throne conversing, vanished in an instant.

Astarene burning to death, her spirit dragged away somewhere.

Then a scene of draconic-word magic erupting toward his apparition.

When the footage ended, Belphages spoke.

“This one is not only adept at draconic-word magic but also manipulates spirits at will. As you saw in the footage, Shadow Demon King Perak and my sister were defeated so effortlessly. Do you think the Demon King could so easily triumph over Perak and my sister?”

Qairas could not answer.

For he too knew Perak well.

He, along with his twin brother Murak, was a top-ranked assassin.

Ordinary techniques could barely harm him, and his strikes were lethal.

To see such a Perak eliminated in an instant was a tremendous shock.

“You say the one who destroyed Perak is coming here? Why on earth would they come this far…?”

“They have no particular purpose. They simply intend to destroy the entire subterranean Demon Realm.”

Belphages mixed in a cunning lie.

Among the denizens of the Demon Realm, none were as proficient at lying.

Most relied on strength rather than falsehoods.

But Belphages believed lies were the fundamental power behind all of the world’s evils.

Thus he mastered all manners of magic related to falsehood.

And now he displayed his cultivated specialty without reserve.

Belphages activated an ocular technique.

A technique: to look into his eyes was to fall into hypnosis.

He met Qairas’s eyes and began to speak.

“You must not confront them. Move east the moment they arrive.”

“…East? That’s not part of our domain, is it?”

A resistance of consciousness.

A deeply rooted principle within Qairas’s consciousness refused Belphages’s hypnosis.

Belphages concentrated stronger mana into his eyes.

Then he slowly spoke.

“In the east resides the Stygian Empress Nefera. Their barriers have strong resistance to fire and all magic, so they can buy time.”

“Buy time…?”

Qairas blinked and asked again.

“You mean run away without fighting?”

Belphages bit his lip.

For his ocular technique was not working well on Qairas.

‘Damn. He’s too dumb to be hypnotized. The suggestion rooted in his heart is too strong.’

It was a miscalculation.

He thought this would be enough to lead him to Nefera, but it was not so easy.

‘Perhaps time is short…’

It was then that a loud voice rang out from inside the palace.

A loud voice echoed from the palace.

“Demon King! Someone has trespassed into the domain.”

“What?”

Qairas sprang to his feet.

It was a movement completely unlike his dealings with Belphages so far.

He shouted to his subordinates.

“How dare anyone trespass into our domain again!”

“It seems to be human, but we’re not sure!”

“Project the crystal orb!”

“Yes!”

As the reply came, a vision flowed out from within the ice palace.

A small dot against the blizzard-scattered backdrop.

A moment later, as it enlarged, its identity became clear.

A human woman with chains around her neck.

Her long red hair whipping, the woman walked through the fierce blizzard surrounded by a protective barrier.

Seeing her face, they confirmed she was the same as the one shown in Belphages’s footage earlier.

Startled, Qairas looked at Belphages and asked.

“Is that them? The intruder you spoke of?”

“Yes.”

When Belphages affirmed, Qairas scrutinized the woman closely.

After carefully examining her clothing and appearance, he tilted his head and said.

“She looks like an ordinary human.”

“No. She only appears human; her essence is entirely different.”

“Then what is she?”

Belphages answered with a cold expression.

“A spectral body.”

For an instant, Qairas’s eyebrows twitched.

He had seen countless spirits, but never one with such a distinct form.

Belphages grew anxious.

Even as they lingered here, the enemy drew closer, and there was no means here to handle them.

‘We may have to wait for an opening until the end…’

The Demon Kings of the subterranean realm were all stubborn.

Prideful as well, they rarely listened to others.

The way to move them was to offer benefit or force them into submission.

‘I approached this wrong from the start. I should have persuaded them with an offering…’

Belphages sighed deeply, resolved to do so next time, and moved to the next step.

Plan B for when persuasion failed.

He told Qairas in a somewhat firm tone.

“Now that the one has arrived here, there’s nothing to be done.”

“If there’s nothing to be done…”

“Then we must fight.”

At last, Qairas smiled.

Still under Belphages’s ocular technique, he reacted readily to those words.

‘Indeed, there’s no resistance in his heart.’

Belphages reflected deeply.

His plan to hypnotize the Demon King and rally him was not as simple as he’d thought.

Because of beliefs and pride held deep within, no matter how strong the hypnosis, he could not be compelled.

It seemed better to guide him along a path that matched his will.

‘But…’

Belphages looked at Erisia reflected in the crystal orb’s vision.

He had only faced her in her awakened state once, but he had experienced the full force.

Especially the technique that defeated Perak in a single blow—he had seen it and could scarcely believe it.

Was there such a thing among magic?

What property or school of magic could strike down the Shade tribe in a single blow?

As Belphages recalled, the Shade tribe could not be completely slain without weapons imbued with the power of light.

Precisely for that reason, Perak and Murak were revered as the subterranean realm’s highest-ranked assassins.

‘If Erisia uses that same technique again, Qairas won’t survive.’

But there was no choice.

He had tried every stratagem, but moving Qairas was impossible.

Now only the final measure remained.

‘First fight and then force a retreat.’

If overwhelmed by Erisia’s power, Qairas would likely break his stubbornness as well.

The only caution was to avoid being felled in a single blow.

Belphages followed behind the armed Qairas.

They passed long corridors and a great gate, arriving at a walkway atop the ramparts, where they awaited the approaching Erisia at its center.

The blizzard raged, yet Erisia’s stride did not falter.

If anything, she seemed to quicken.

When she appeared the size of a thumbnail, Belphages spoke.

“Demon King. Ready your shield.”

“As you say.”

Qairas nodded. Two soldiers standing at his sides approached and erected a large ice shield before him.

Erisia was now very close.

As she came into view, Qairas raised his hand and shouted.

“Shoot the arrows!”

At the same time, the heavy blast of horn trumpets reverberated through the castle, and countless arrows rained down on Erisia.

But Erisia did not falter.

On closer inspection, the arrows passed through her spirit body and embedded themselves in the ground.

‘As expected.’

Erisia’s body was not corporeal but a spectral body.

How she could use draconic-word magic while carrying a spirit body was unknown, but she was doing that unbelievable thing.

Perhaps it was because the ‘one’ Astarene had mentioned was behind her.

‘The one’ who had defeated Eckhart and the rest of the siblings.

He had never faced them and did not even know their name, but merely imagining them made his body tremble.

‘Please… focus.’

It was then.

Erisia stopped before the rampart, looked up toward them, and murmured.

Belphages enhanced his sight with mana and read her lip movements.

-Agnyssed.

Belphages’s eyes widened at the confirmation.

‘What madness!’

He dashed to Qairas, and at that moment immense flames engulfed the entire rampart.

The blaze wrapped around the ramparts, the castle structure, and the surrounding mountains, and began to roar.