Necromancer Of The Black Bible (167)

Silvarna, the World Tree that upholds the world, and the mother of all Elves.

As I looked up at her, a strange feeling rose in my heart.

‘Comfort? Or is it warmth?’

I also felt a majesty that could not easily be approached.

I waited calmly until her voice came.

I had come all this way to bring her to my side.

If the Empire were to join hands with Illinas too, it would become a very troublesome situation.

As I sorted out my thoughts, the silver powder scattering from Silvarna’s leaves settled down like mist.

When the silver mist enveloped me, a warm voice came to me.

-Sanchez and William told me that you were coming. But… that’s unexpected. From you… I can feel the primordial energy. And yet, I can’t recall you from my memory. Might I ask you to introduce yourself?

A polite question.

It was so courteous a tone that it was hard to believe she was the mother of the Elves and the master of this forest.

‘It’s as if it’s tearing down all the wariness I had.’

It was a strange feeling.

Strong people don’t usually bother with politeness.

They simply command and press others down.

From such people, I usually sensed a sharp, heavy killing intent, and in my past life I would detect that intent and lower my head on my own.

In order to survive.

But the aura Silvarna gave off was completely different.

It was gentle and soft, and felt as if it fully accepted me.

‘This is dangerous in a different sense.’

It was like it was breaking down the wariness in my heart.

It felt like seeing a close friend I’d known for a long time, even though we’d just met.

I looked down at the small silver vortex swirling above my palm and answered her.

-I am Damian. I’ve come to make an offer.

Silvarna seemed to hesitate for a moment.

The silver mist moved this way and that, wrapping around me and circling me.

It seemed she was using the mist to gauge me.

After observing me for a long while, Silvarna spoke again.

-Damian. I apologize, but your name is not in my memory. Even so, I can feel a familiar aura from you. Could you tell me why?

An unanswerable question.

I didn’t like talking about myself to others, but this time I decided to comply obediently.

I had come here because I had something to ask of her.

-I’m a necromancer. I can defy death. Maybe that’s why you feel that way.

-I see.

Silvarna gave off a gentle light, as if she had realized an important fact.

-So that power is why you feel like primordial energy. But how mysterious. A power that defies death. By rights, all life in this world was determined by God. To defy that means to be on par with it. If you possess such power, there should already be no equal to you in this world, so I am curious what it is you’re proposing to me.

-An alliance.

-An… alliance?

The light flowing from all of Silvarna’s trunk dimmed.

She moved the silver mist and asked again.

-Could you tell me what this alliance is for?

I organized my thoughts for a moment.

If I spoke too bluntly, Silvarna might feel something was off.

‘Where should I start?’

It wasn’t that hard to find the right place to start the story.

I pointed right to that point and told her.

-Humans will soon join hands with the Demon King.

-If you mean the Demon King… then you must mean Illinas.

-That’s right. Illinas will soon take over the Upper Demonic Realm and extend her hands to the continent. We have to prepare for that.

The Demon King is a threatening being.

Especially to the Elves, he is deadly.

A thousand years ago.

The Great Demon King Belzemon, who had unified the entire Demonic Realm, once tried to seize the Pristine Forest, and the Elves joined forces with humans and dragons to stop him.

Because of that, news that the Demon King would join hands with humans would surely be a sensitive matter to Silvarna.

Silvarna spoke, spilling a deep silver light.

-Just a moment. I will see whether such a future is truly approaching.

The moment she finished speaking, a heavy tremor shook the entire earth.

Startled, birds flew up into the sky, and even the insects in the grass fell silent for a moment.

A little later.

The tremor stopped, and Silvarna’s voice came again.

-It is as you said. To think I hadn’t sensed this until now.

Her voice was tinged with admiration.

-I overlooked the fact that much time has passed since Belzemon was sealed. This is my mistake.

As those words ended, a woman appeared before me.

The woman wearing a tiara set with silver jewels was gazing at me with a mysterious look.

I could tell that she was Silvarna’s manifestation.

She came closer and lightly tugged at my sleeve, saying,

“Let’s walk.”

I didn’t refuse and walked with her.

A path appeared through the dense silver mist.

We followed that path deep into the forest.

Before long, the sun had fully set and darkness had fallen, and the forest glowed with silver mist, insects that gave off their own light, and all kinds of luminescent grass.

‘This is how the Elf forest was described in the book I read.’

A smile came to my face without my realizing it.

Then Silvarna spoke.

“When William came here, he was very surprised. He is a proud warrior. And humans stronger than him are rare in this world. The same is true even now, a thousand years later. Even so, he said he had a master he served. No matter who I am, I couldn’t easily understand his words. That was….”

Silvarna paused for a moment, then looked at me and continued,

“The same was true after seeing you. Why on earth would William serve you? Why would he say that he had devoted his loyalty to someone so young? But now that mystery has been solved. The power to defy death, the return of the Demon King, and a soul that has come against the currents of time.”

“…!”

We stopped walking.

There was a huge pond ahead of us, and the moon hung in the sky.

Under the moonlight, Silvarna continued,

“You are one chosen by God.”

As I thought.

I couldn’t deceive her eyes.

She was superior to every ancient being I had ever met.

With just a few words and a brief moment of insight, she had uncovered my identity.

I didn’t bother asking how she knew.

What was needed now was patience.

I had already made my offer, and now it was time to hear her answer.

Silvarna looked at the full moon in the night sky and continued,

“I am Lord Kallios’s first creation, and his most beloved daughter. So I remember it. That this day would come.”

The moon reflected in her pupils swayed gently.

I didn’t know what had happened in the past.

But what was held in her eyes was a brilliant light.

In all my life, I had never met someone who held such a light.

What on earth did Silvarna have in her heart?

What could it be that made her eyes shine so brightly?

Silvarna slowly looked at me and opened her mouth.

“The time of the Apocalypse has come. Very soon, a world of Darkness will begin. And Damian, you are Darkness.”

“That’s right. I am Darkness. So what’s your answer?”

Silvarna hesitated.

She had reason to.

There were only two choices.

‘Darkness. Or the Demon King.’

In the end, she answered.

“Silvarna will stand by your side.”

When she finished speaking, Silvarna turned into silver dust and disappeared.

With that, I had obtained everything I wanted.

It was a strange feeling.

I didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment, and instead I felt as if all of this had been predetermined.

‘It feels like I’m walking a path someone else laid out.’

When I looked up at the sky, the moon from before was still there.

A pure white full moon that illuminated the world.

As I stared at it, I realized it wasn’t the moon.

‘The Ethereal Gate.’

I could only see the Ethereal Gate after I awakened to necromancy.

The fact that I was looking at such an Ethereal Gate together with someone made me shiver for a moment.

The Ethereal Realm.

In other words, the war in the upper Demonic Realm that began in the west was fierce.

The souls that had been gathered up until then were reborn as demons and immediately thrown into the war.

It was a full-scale war.

The upper Demonic Realm was devastated by powerful magic and weapons.

Most of the ancient structures that had remained intact were toppled, and the tens of thousands of demons also died as the fighting continued, but Illinas did not stop.

“Our goal is Dikrea’s submission. Advance to the end and take the Citadel of Void.”

Illinas’s orders were absolute.

And the numbers were overwhelming.

There were many powerful ones among Dikrea’s underlings, so they held out for quite a while, but not for long.

Now that the first wave had collapsed, and even the second and third waves had crumbled.

Defeat was becoming increasingly likely.

Dikrea, watching this from the Citadel of Void, opened her mouth.

“Is there a way to turn the tide?”

Alseira, the branch steward, lowered her head and replied.

“There is none.”

Dikrea let out a scoff and asked back,

“Aren’t you answering too easily?”

“……”

Alseira did not answer.

That was because they had already used every means available to them.

Dikrea, already aware of this, bit her lip.

“Damn it…!”

“At this rate, we’ll be annihilated.”

“Then what? You’re telling me to surrender?”

Dikrea asked irritably, and Alseira answered with a serious expression.

“If the Demon King surrenders, we may be able to preserve our lives.”

“Tch!”

Dikrea let out a sigh.

She had secured an enormous amount of resources to defeat Illinas.

She had also steadily increased her demon forces and developed new magical weapons.

If war broke out, she thought she would surely win.

There were even days when she happily dreamed of taking the entire upper Demonic Realm into her own hands.

‘And yet…’

But once the war actually began, reality was different.

Illinas was larger and stronger than expected.

‘Is there really no other way?’

Dikrea racked her brains desperately, and soon recalled one thing.

“What happened to Damian?”

Alseira answered with a slight shake of her head.

“It failed.”

“Failed? Did that kid die?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“…The Riena that we dispatched was defeated. And Damian took care of Murak on his own.”

Dikrea’s expression twisted fiercely.

Her original plan was to make Damian indebted to her.

And then bring him to her side with that.

If the plan had succeeded, she might have been able to escape this place through a contract with Damian.

But the plan had gone completely awry.

“It really seems like it’s over.”

Dikrea murmured in resignation, and at that moment Alseira’s Cadenza gave off light.

After reading the light of Cadenza for a while, Alseira soon spoke.

“Damian is near Riena’s trace. If we use this trace, we can connect with him for a short time.”

If the connection succeeds, they could offer Damian a contract.

‘If I choose the conditions well, I might even be able to make the contract happen.’

Deceiving humans is easy.

It’s even easier to deal with humans who have already made deals with demons before.

Dikrea’s gaze deepened.

She smiled and opened her mouth.

“Connect it.”