Necromancer Of The Black Bible (181)

At first the raindrops fell one or two at a time, but they quickly grew fierce.

It soon turned into a downpour.

Swaaah-

The rain from the sky didn’t affect the morale of the monsters, but it did affect the cavalry at the front.

“Rain all of a sudden?”

“It’s coming down so hard.”

“Can’t we stop and rest?”

Worried voices rose among the soldiers.

Rain is bad news for cavalry—especially heavy cavalry clad in thick armor.

The newly crowned emperor Eric, leading the cavalry, looked up at the sky with a worried expression.

‘What’s going on?’

He had long since felt the connection with Illinas severed.

The torrential rain that followed felt ominous.

‘This will disrupt the operation…’

He already knew this operation well—Illinas had explained it.

A tactic of fitting bombs to the cavalry and charging.

The cavalry had already been fitted with bombs wrapped on the outside of their heavy armor.

Of course, they did not know those were bombs.

They perceived them merely as protective plates that strengthened their armor.

But with the rain now falling, those bombs would not function.

In this state, a charge would be meaningless.

‘What should I do?’

As he pondered, a voice came from over there.

“Your Majesty! Over there…!!!”

When Eric turned his head, an enormous surge of water was rushing in from the high ground on the left.

A torrent of muddy water as if pushed down from the mountain peak.

That massive current swept away everything in its path and barreled toward them.

Eric, witnessing it, shouted,

“Everyone, retreat!!!”

A great voice charged with mana.

Normally it would have echoed thunderously, but the heavy rain muffled its reach.

Eric signaled the trumpeters to sound the retreat and began to fall back.

But his response was already too late.

The torrent had already reached the left wing, sweeping away hundreds of cavalry.

“Gah!!”

“S-save me!!!”

Eric and his surrounding guards retreated at full speed.

They shoved aside allied troops blocking their path, but the current was too swift.

In the end, the torrent swept them all away.

Broken trees and stones were mixed into it, preventing anyone from resisting.

Even the hulking monsters flailed and were carried off, then vanished beneath the water.

The water swallowed the hundred-thousand-strong army whole and swept downstream.

Commander Barkan, having lost eighty percent of his forces in an instant, stood on a high hill watching the scene.

“What do we do now?”

His adjutant asked, but Barkan could not make a decision either.

The human cavalry had been annihilated, and only about half of the remaining monster legions remained.

Although the goblins’ explosives remained, with the rain they would not function properly.

‘The operation has failed.’

Barkan sensed it.

Perhaps the war had been over since the connection with Illinas was cut.

‘Maybe it’s better to disband the army as is.’

But he did not know.

That a massive magic circle had already been laid out across the area where they had taken cover.

As Barkan was about to order the dispersal, the magic circle activated.

The magic circle glowed a bright green and turned every monster within it to ash.

A single downpour and the torrent that followed in time.

And the magic circle that vaporized the last of the routed soldiers.

With that, the war was over.

Balthazar watched this scene from the mid-slope of an eastern mountain and smiled with satisfaction.

‘That did it.’

The torrent and the magic circle were Balthazar’s work.

Damian had instructed him to do nothing, but he couldn’t refrain.

‘I can’t leave everything to Damian alone.’

Balthazar felt grateful.

First and foremost for seeing his living wife Elin again.

He was simply thankful for every moment from meeting Damian to arriving at this point.

‘My wish was just to see my wife one more time…’

He had gained far more than that wish.

So he was prepared to pay any price for it.

Equinox had said this long ago.

[You will know how Damian can overcome the wall before him. Your role is precisely that. Remember it.]

Balthazar steeled himself.

To go beyond the fourth Mana Ring to the fifth in the realm of Necromancy, a sacrifice is required.

Sacrificing what one holds most dear.

To that end, Balthazar sacrificed his daughter.

The eyes of his daughter, who had looked up at him from the dais, were still vivid in his mind.

‘That shouldn’t have happened.’

The power he gained by sacrificing his daughter proved meaningless.

Only after his daughter vanished did he realize why he was still trapped in this wretched existence.

Balthazar squeezed his eyes shut.

His past life had been a tragedy in itself.

It twisted once with his wife’s death, and by sacrificing his daughter with his own hands, he had embarked on an irretrievable path.

Then he met Damian, regained hope, and eventually made it this far.

Balthazar opened his eyes again and muttered as he watched the battlefield winding down.

“Only one thing remains.”

He had obtained everything he had hoped for.

He had seen his living wife and repelled his enemy Illinas.

He wanted to see his daughter’s face too, but that would have been greed.

Having been the one to end the child’s life himself, he had no face to see her again.

Balthazar sat on a rock behind him.

He then watched the rays of light seeping through the clouds.

The beams brightly illuminated the battlefield scarred by the muddy flood.

The flow had greatly diminished in scale, but those swept up could not easily escape.

At that moment, a voice came from behind.

“Could it be… Master?”

It was Damian’s voice.

When he turned, Damian indeed looked back at him with a gaze different from before.

“No. It’s just…”

Balthazar tried to cover it up, but he couldn’t.

Seeing Damian’s eyes, it seemed he knew everything.

In the end, he could only nod.

Then Damian smiled brightly.

“In the end, Master, it turned out as you said. We succeeded in coming back through time, defeated Illinas, and… obtained the power of eternity.”

An unnamed emotion welled up inside Balthazar.

After losing his daughter, he took Damian in, taught him, and set a plan in motion.

Through countless traps and temptations, using forbidden knowledge barely attained, he drew a magic circle the Demon King could not refuse, and used it to come this far.

“So it really came to pass.”

At Balthazar’s words, Damian stepped closer and embraced him.

“I wanted to see you again.”

“…So did I.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“No. I couldn’t.”

Balthazar looked at Damian with tender eyes.

Damian faced him with a look of bewilderment.

“What do you mean? Isn’t everything over now? Why haven’t you told me until now…”

“It’s not over yet.”

Balthazar gently stroked Damian’s face and continued.

“Your power is incomplete. If you don’t attain the fifth Mana Ring, everything we’ve achieved will crumble.”

“We don’t need that now. Master is here—what does some eternal power matter?”

Balthazar’s gaze wavered at Damian’s reply.

‘So my perception wasn’t wrong.’

Damian is wise.

He would not make the foolish choices Balthazar had.

Balthazar nodded slowly and spoke.

“You’re right. Having met, what importance does eternal power hold? But… there is a reason I could come here. If it weren’t for that reason, I would already be gone. So…”

“Wait a moment.”

A strange aura briefly rippled in Damian’s pupils.

The energy seemed to pierce through Balthazar’s very being.

After looking at him for a brief moment, Damian spoke again.

“Ah. So that’s what it was. Equinox. He engineered it.”

Balthazar fell silent.

If Damian had discovered that fact, he would agree.

That only one task remained.

But Damian said something unexpected.

“I too have come to vaguely understand what this trial asks of me. The one most precious to me—it was you. The master who gave me this chance by sacrificing everything.”

Balthazar pressed his lips tightly, and Damian continued.

“Master taught magic to me when I knew nothing, awakened my wisdom, and gave me a new chance. You did it without any conditions. I now know what that was.”

“…What is that?”

Damian pulled out a single word that had long circled in his heart.

“Love.”

Damian did not hesitate and continued.

“I received love only from you. And I realized it is the only Light in this world.”

Damian was sincere.

After meeting Equinox, he had lived continuously in darkness—no, he had become Darkness itself, roaming the world.

As he looked at the world that way, he met Kallios and began to reflect on himself,

Only then did he realize.

That there was Light within him.

The Light he possessed was bright—far brighter than that of anyone he had met in the world.

Though he had pretended to be a God of Darkness, he moved toward the Light, and thus was able to accomplish all this.

He liberated the Theocracy and helped his subordinates achieve what they had wanted in life.

At first he kept telling himself all of it was part of his plan,

But the more he reflected, the more he realized it wasn’t.

There was only one reason Damian could be that way.

He too had received that chance without conditions—from Master Balthazar.

Tears streamed from Damian’s eyes.

He looked at Balthazar and spoke again.

“This world needs Light. Darkness cannot be darkness by itself. There must be Light for Darkness to exist. Darkness is merely a byproduct of being. No matter how fallen or steeped in Darkness this world is, the morning sun still rises. That is why the world can exist. The God of Light Kallios. His trace, Equinox. The question they posed to me was whether I could become the world’s Light. I have already answered that.”

Damian smiled faintly.

As the meaning of that smile vaguely reached Balthazar, Damian whispered.

“Please take this world, Master. With the Light you hold, you can illuminate everyone.”

“Ah, no… that’s…!!!”

Before Balthazar could react, Damian completed the spell.

Ten Sand Dragon scales, having slipped from his grasp without his noticing, spun violently and pierced Damian’s entire body.

His body vanished without a trace in an instant.

Balthazar’s mouth fell open in utter shock.