Necromancer Of The Black Bible (146)

After the clash with the Imperial forces.

Natasha assessed the situation.

‘The number of the dead is about fourteen thousand. Of those, I resurrected roughly three thousand. The remaining eleven thousand or so lie sprawled across the field.’

On Damian’s orders she left those corpses alone.

Instead, she issued new weapons to the some six thousand undead troops under her command.

The weapons sent from hell by Zahakar, the Hammer of the Abyss.

Including swords and axes, the shipment amounted to about forty thousand weapons.

Natasha selected the best-conditioned pieces and distributed them to her forces.

‘Even so, most of them are in good condition.’

Truly befitting the name ‘Hammer of the Abyss.’

In fact, Natasha had heard of the title Hammer of the Abyss before.

Its durability and sharpness were rather famous across the continent, and its rarity meant it commanded high prices.

Prominent royal houses and nobles kept at least one, so her father had a pair of sword and shield.

Those weapons were carefully stored in the royal treasury.

‘To think such precious arms are strewn about here.’

Natasha decided she could not leave the weapons lying here.

No matter how fine, weapons left on a field like this would deteriorate quickly.

In the end she ordered her undead soldiers to move the remaining weapons into the armory inside Brandstein Castle.

Afterward she gazed at the remaining corpses and fell into thought.

‘What does the master intend to do with them?’

She still found it hard to guess Damian’s plan.

During this battle I discovered a fundamental problem with my undead legion.

It was their sluggish movement.

A common trait of undead raised by Necroturgy.

They lack reason and only retain traces of bodily memory, so their movements and reactions are inevitably slow.

Instead, they possess relentless restorative power, which requires mana.

If there is no caster like Natasha or the mana is completely depleted, they cannot be revived.

The Ethereal Gate had accumulated a lot of mana over time, but after this battle it had noticeably decreased.

Of the three giant flasks used to store mana, Flask No. 1, which was tapped for Necroturgy, had only half its mana remaining.

If operating barely six thousand undead consumes that much mana, we need to reconsider whether this method is right.

At that moment Cirrhnua, who had been watching the situation behind me, spoke.

“Wouldn’t we just refill the mana with those spirits?”

Certainly, perhaps due to long pretending to be a Spirit Lord, her perspective differed.

To her, souls seemed to be only a means.

I wasn’t entirely opposed to that view either, but somehow I wasn’t inclined to it.

Before I could answer and while I was lost in thought, Ceres, who stood beside her, spoke.

“Spirits are too meaningful to be treated merely as consumables. Most of the spirits we have isolated here have gone through hundreds of cycles of reincarnation since ancient times. The experiences they have accumulated are too precious to be used simply as mana.”

“Well.”

Cirrhnua immediately countered.

“In a world where the god is dead, repeated reincarnation itself implies chaos. Those who lived in a world stained by Darkness are mostly tainted by it. It’s better to annihilate such ones and convert them into energy. Their Darkness is too tainted to be of use in the Ethereal Realm or on the surface.”

Indeed, Cirrhnua’s and Ceres’s opinions were diametrically opposed.

Perhaps it was because of differing experiences.

They were born around the same time, but Ceres had, after dying, long cared for her descendants.

She believed that Light and goodness were important values and taught her descendants to live that way.

Perhaps that was why her faction within the Ethereal Gate seemed special.

The spirits themselves were surrounded by a bright light.

This contrasted greatly with most spirits kept in the Oracle glass chambers, which gave off mostly dark and murky auras.

Ceres spoke again.

“Cirrhnua’s point has merit. Certainly, as you said, many spirits are steeped in murky Darkness. But not all spirits are like that. Most of my kin emit Light on their own. Even among those not of my kind, I have found a significant number who shine by themselves.”

“Really?”

An unexpected result.

I hadn’t given much thought to the operation of the Ethereal Gate until now, but Ceres seemed to have been fulfilling that role diligently.

When I turned back, Ceres continued.

“God created this world to purify souls. A life is a process of purification. Though many have fallen into corruption through wrong enlightenment, some have not. Souls beyond redemption should be annihilated and converted back into energy, but those with room for change should be selected and managed.”

I had no interest before in why the god created this world.

They had died irresponsibly, after all.

I also had no interest in tidying up the world that had become such a mess after his death.

Right now I had only one concern.

How to deal with the souls filling the Oracle.

At first I planned to annihilate them all and make mana out of them.

So I absorbed enough mana to nearly fill the three giant flasks in this room.

But there were so many spirits that I could not store any more mana.

‘So most of the spirits remained until now…’

Hearing Ceres’s words, one solution came to mind.

It was precisely this.

‘Select the reasonably intact souls among them and raise them via Necromancy.’

Compared to the slow, sluggish undead raised by Necroturgy, this could create a fairly decent legion.

Of course, several prerequisites were necessary.

‘For now…’

We would need Necromancy mana capable of casting Necromancy.

This mana must be of the same type as the core mana I hold in my heart.

I asked Ceres.

“Is it possible to make core mana from the mana inside these flasks?”

Ceres thought for a moment and then spoke.

“It’s possible.”

She led me to a mechanical device attached to the wall of the flask room.

There was a large palm-shaped iron plate there; she pointed to it and began to speak.

“Originally this device was made to inject divine sanctity. It purifies mana using divine power. I suspect the principle is the same as what the Master uses to purify core mana.”

A plausible hypothesis.

I examined the machine and asked again.

“Are there any side effects?”

“I’ve never seen this device in operation. However…”

She composed her thoughts for a moment and continued.

“Previously I studied the operations through the booklet Eliastra gave me. Everything happening here matched what was written in that book. It was the same when you ordered the souls trapped in the Oracle glass chambers to be annihilated. When they were destroyed, they became mana, moved here, and filled the flasks. The Wheel of Eternity, the palace’s crystal sphere—without the book’s explanations, we couldn’t have operated them.”

“So the booklet says that if my core mana is used, it can purify the mana inside those flasks?”

“That’s correct.”

Then there was nothing more to ponder.

I placed my hand on the palm-shaped iron plate.

Then I gave Ceres an order.

“Activate it.”

“Yes.”

As Ceres moved without delay, Cirrhnua, who had been silent until now, spoke.

“Aren’t you worried? If it malfunctions…”

“I’ll think about that if it happens.”

If you consider too many contingencies from the start, you won’t even begin.

If this goes wrong, that’s the end for me.

In my previous life I lived by the same mindset.

A life without possessions or anything I wanted to leave behind.

Since you only live once, I lived thinking I’d do everything I wanted.

It’s the same now.

If you can’t do what you want, you’re as good as dead.

Opening the Ethereal Gate made me realize something.

God never intended to let souls roam free even in death.

They keep only those they need close and either annihilate or reincarnate the rest back into the world.

If you can’t even do as you please after death, the best course is to live as you desire now.

Though I stand on the brink of eternal life, I won’t change that view.

“Master. You may now inject the mana.”

“How much should I inject?”

“The equivalent of one Mana Ring.”

Easy.

If that’s all it takes to convert the mana filling the three flasks into core mana, it’s nothing.

I focused my mind and concentrated mana into my palm.

But the rotation of the Mana Ring in my heart slowed, and a viscous core mana leaked out.

That mana was injected into the machine through the palm plate, and from then the mana inside the flasks began to churn.

Vroooom-

A loud vibration continued.

At the same time, all the flasks glowed bright green.

The light deepened and then faded.

And then.

“It’s complete.”

A mana of a different texture now gave off a faint green sheen inside the flasks.

However, its quantity had been reduced to one-tenth of before.

Sensing the mass, the flasks transferred the completed core mana into a single place.

‘This should be enough to raise about a thousand with Necromancy.’

There are roughly eleven thousand corpses lying in the field.

If we do this about ten more times, we’ll secure enough core mana to raise them all.

Having done the math, I issued orders in turn.

“Ceres.”

“Yes.”

“Select the spirits to be annihilated.”

“Understood.”

Ceres moved into the adjacent room and began the selection process.

Once the annihilation began, empty flasks started filling with mana.

Cirrhnua watched the scene with a stiff expression.

I asked her.

“What’s making you uneasy?”

“…I’m not sure. Just…”

“Just?”

“It feels like the power handled here threatens the power I possess.”

She could reasonably think that.

I use the power of death.

Any force can be threatened by another.

I smiled softly and spoke.

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t annihilate you with this power.”

Cirrhnua trembled slightly.

It was a contrast to how she had argued with Ceres moments before.

She looked at the filled flasks and asked.

“Is there anything for me to do here?”

“Of course. A great deal.”

I told her what I had learned from my earlier conversation with Ceres and the new hypothesis.

Cirrhnua, who commands the spirits of Water and Wind.

I planned to use her power to make my army even stronger.