Necromancer Of The Black Bible (176)

The Demon King smiled deeply.

A smile as if he could see through everything.

And he asked again.

“What can you give me?”

Eric’s eyes were fixed on the Demon King.

He wanted to avoid answering.

His reason also told him he should change the subject, but from the Demon King’s gaze, which faced him, there flowed an irresistible force.

The fear that he might die on the spot if he did not answer.

Mixed in with it was the sweet temptation that if he spoke well here, he might receive a reward.

Eric could not avoid the question because of that fear, and the sweet temptation began to gradually waver his heart.

“I, I…“

Before long, the resistance of reason had thinned.

Meanwhile, his desire swelled little by little.

And so he could only think of the most valuable offering he could imagine, and it naturally slipped out through Eric’s mouth.

“I will… give you the Empire.”

Illinas smiled in satisfaction.

However, he pointed out the flaw hidden in Eric’s proposal.

“You’re only the Crown Prince, so how can you say you’ll give me the Empire?”

Eric answered at once.

“I will open the northern gate and the castle’s north gate for you.”

“A good proposal.”

Illinas stroked Eric’s head and continued.

“Your intention is admirable. You want to eliminate your enemy even if you have to offer up the Empire. I can feel the spirit and greed within you. Greed is nothing to be ashamed of. Be proud.”

“Thank you.”

“If you accomplish what you mentioned, I will give you a special reward.”

Eric’s eyes widened.

Illinas stroked his head and added,

“Think carefully about what you will ask for. An opportunity like this doesn’t come easily even once in your whole life.”

“…I will remember that.”

The conversation ended there.

Eric stood up as if lifted by something and turned to leave.

He rode back the way he had come.

Dark shadows swirled in his eyes and then vanished.

The Emperor had a nightmare.

A dream of the Imperial Capital, Edelmund, burning.

That was not all.

He even saw the Ancient Crimson Dragon Eckhart lying dead, drenched in blood.

In the dream, the Dragon said this.

-The Demon King is coming.

Hearing this, the Emperor woke from his sleep.

His whole body was soaked in cold sweat.

‘What in the world is this…’

Even if a major event was ahead, the dream had been far too ominous.

The Emperor rose, pressing his throbbing forehead.

Then a voice came from outside.

“Your Majesty! The Crown Prince has returned.”

“Eric?”

The Emperor snapped to attention.

He had given Eric three days.

It had not been easy to expect him to return within that time.

Yet Eric had come back before even a day had passed since he left.

‘Is this good news?’

For now, Eric’s safe return was a good thing.

However, the dream bothered him.

The burning Imperial Capital and the sight of Eckhart, the Empire’s guardian, drenched in blood were ominous of tragedy.

But a dream was only a dream; he could not jump to conclusions.

“Where is Eric now?”

“He is waiting in the audience chamber.”

“Understood. I will go shortly.”

The Emperor hurriedly gathered his clothes.

Since it was late at night, he put on only something simple and left the bedroom.

As he walked, all sorts of thoughts came to him.

’Did Eric meet the Demon King? Or did he just come back?

’If he met him, what did he hear?

‘If the Demon King stole his soul…’

When his thoughts reached that point, the Emperor asked the knight walking ahead of him.

“How did Eric look?”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that…?”

“I mean, did he look normal?”

“…Yes. He seemed the same as usual.”

“Did his eyes lose focus, or did he mutter strange things?”

“No, he didn’t.”

Even after the knight’s answer, the Emperor’s curiosity did not fade.

However, he stopped asking more questions.

Because now he could simply meet him in person and check for himself.

At last.

The Emperor arrived at the audience chamber.

Eric was still wearing armor, and when he spotted him, he approached with an easy smile.

“Father.”

“Yes, how did it go?”

“It went well.”

At his answer, the Emperor relaxed.

Eric’s expression and eyes, and everything else about him, did not look strange.

The Emperor sat in the audience chamber chair and then asked Eric,

“Tell me in more detail.”

“The Demon King will strike the Necromancer.”

“Without any compensation?”

It was an important point.

Demons generally did not grant requests without conditions.

The Emperor looked worried, but Eric smiled as if it were no problem and answered,

“He didn’t ask for a price. It seems the deal with the Towermaster went well.”

“The Towermaster? Then did you meet Hyro too?”

Eric shook his head.

“No. I didn’t meet the Towermaster. I only had a private audience with the Demon King, so I wasn’t able to check who was around him.”

“I see.”

“Yes. Please don’t worry too much. The Demon King was certain he would take care of the Necromancer. All we have to do is open the gates and receive them.”

The Emperor felt an unnameable sense of incongruity, but Eric reassured him.

“Victory is now within reach. If the Demon King is to fight for us, we must unite with him. Opening the gates to welcome them is essential.”

Eric’s words were right.
To ally with the Demon King’s army meant, first of all, welcoming them.

It was not all that different from receiving allied forces.

Eric took the Emperor’s hand and continued,

“The Demon King has already come. And he will surely be able to eliminate the Necromancer. There is no turning back from this.”

The Emperor looked into Eric’s eyes.

His gaze was resolute, so he decided to trust him.

“Very well.”

His doubts were not completely gone.

However, Eric was right.

The Demon King had already arrived, and he would attack the Necromancer.

If cooperation was needed here, then it must be given.

If they refused, they would have no choice but to fight them.

The Emperor calmly sorted through his future concerns, then looked at the knight and spoke.

“Open the northern gate. When the Demon King’s army arrives, open the north gate as well and welcome them.”

It was the moment the fate of the Empire was decided.

Meanwhile.

Damian, having arrived at Graneum Castle through the dimensional gate, immediately looked for Natasha.

“How are the soldiers?”

A question about the roughly 30,000 soldiers newly obtained this time.

Natasha nodded readily and answered,

“They all regained their senses. As you instructed, we have assigned them under the senior soldiers and are training them.”

“No one is rebelling?”

“Not yet.”

“That’s a relief.”

Damian smiled faintly.

Since the soldiers raised by Necromancy had rebelled before, he had thought of various measures.

It was fine when Damian was always watching, but when he was far away like now, it couldn’t help but be a concern.

Hearing that the countermeasures for this had worked properly put his mind at ease.

‘So this is how I should do it each time.’

Assign the newly obtained soldiers under the soldiers raised earlier.

If the seniors took sole charge of training them one-on-one, then there would no longer be cases of them rebelling as a group like last time.

In addition, a kind of discipline could naturally take root: the soldiers who rose first were seniors and should be respected.

Damian sat on the throne with a satisfied expression.

Then Natasha handed over the documents she had compiled.

“These are the materials gathered so far. I have organized everything, including the number of living residents, weapons, facilities, and more.”

Natasha was certainly capable at this sort of work.

Was it because she was from a noble family?

Or was she simply smart by nature?

In any case, it had been the same in his former fief as well. Without being told much, she had established a system on her own and managed the territory, and thanks to that, they had been able to come this far without much effort.

All that remained now was the decisive battle.

Now that Illinas had led his legion and descended to the surface, there were only two possibilities.

Either Damian would die, or that bastard would die.

More was at stake in this battle than he could imagine.

‘Will I preserve the order established by God? Or will I become a new god and establish a new order?’

Securing hegemony over the continent was, in fact, secondary.

Neither Illinas nor Damian had any interest in that.

Because the continent was only a part of this world.

In the end, controlling the Ethereal Realm was the key.

The next most important thing was Damian’s own safety.

Only if Illinas disappeared could he be free from the forces threatening Damian.

Damian finished reviewing the ledger and handed it over to Natasha.

“You take charge of all of this.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“For the time being, I’ll be in the office at the top of the castle. It’s for an important matter, so don’t come looking for me unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

After finishing the conversation, Damian moved straight to the office.

The scenery outside the window was quite beautiful as he climbed the long spiral staircase.

Since much of the snow had melted after the last battle, and warm winds had begun to blow, fresh green sprouts had emerged.

Spring had arrived.

‘It’s a perfect time to start a war.’

Of course, that only applied to living humans.

Damian’s undead legion did not care about the climate.

Whether it was hot or cold, they would fight all the same.

Upon reaching the top of the castle, Damian sat cross-legged on the terrace rather than in the office.

Then he concentrated.

What Damian was attempting now was to see the future.

It was a technique he had learned from Silvarna in the Pristine Forest.

At the time, she had taught Damian how to see the near future.

It was to counter Illinas’s “Ten Thousand Eyes.”

-Damian. Your senses are already fully open. If you make use of them, you can see events that will happen in the near future.

-The method is similar to seeing the past. The difference is that you rely on your senses instead of memory.

-Everything in this world moves according to the flow it possesses. We call that flow “fate.”

-Feel the flow. Open all your senses and contemplate that flow.

It was not easy to put Silvarna’s words into practice.

But thanks to the knowledge he had accumulated while raising the undead, he could understand the essence of it.

‘Every body that houses life has its own inherent flow.’

There is a flow already determined simply by when, where, and as whose child one was born.

All living beings first live according to that flow.

Of course, that flow is not everything.

Because there are also things determined by one’s own consciousness, the flow can change accordingly.

This was why predicting the future was difficult.

Because it could change any number of times depending on the given flow and choices.

But Silvarna said this could be perceived through the senses.

It was something he had never tried before.

Damian loosened the concentration he had raised to its peak.

Then he tried to feel the flow of everything.

‘This is… ?’

Surprisingly, he could feel the flow.

That flow included all the life and objects he had imagined,

and each was flowing according to its own logic and its own fate.

Damian gradually began to expand the things he was perceiving.

He pictured not only himself and the undead legion he led, but also Graneum Castle and the surrounding environment where they stayed.

These were moving with their own flows.

‘How will the battle with the enemy turn out?’

The moment Damian thought this.

The soldiers and subordinates he pictured slowly began preparing for war.

They supplied all kinds of weapons, and after lining up densely inside the castle, they slowly advanced northward.

‘We have to fight the Demon King’s army.’

The Demon King’s army had taken control of the Empire.

At that thought, a world different from anything before began to unfold before his eyes.

The sight of countless monsters marching forward.

In the center of them stood the Demon King.

The Great Demon King, Illinas.

The bastard waved a hand toward this side, and his legion began advancing all at once.