Necromancer Of The Black Bible (64)

Vergas, the newly reborn subordinate of Illinas.

In his previous life, his name was Vladimir.

Defeated in a battle against Kaleon in the Deadlands and offered as a sacrifice to Illinas, he was reborn as a magical beast with a new body and name.

As the berserker Vergas.

Currently, he was infiltrating the Kallios Theocracy in disguise.

To find traces of Damian.

But finding those traces was not easy.

The divine power felt within the Theocracy was a hindrance, and he had no information about the Kallios Theocracy.

Above all, what frustrated him was the attitude of his superior, Shador.

Though Shador was powerful enough to be called the right hand of the Great Demon King Illinas, he had been largely inactive since arriving here.

That wasn’t all.

Whenever Vergas proposed a plausible plan, Shador would often scold him.

-If it were that easy to catch him, we would have done so already.

-You greenhorn. Do you think you’re the greatest in this world?

-Stay quiet and wait. You need to learn how to wait first.

For a berserker like Vergas, whose blood boiled even at rest, Shador’s demands were unreasonable.

In the end, Vergas began to act alone.

Dressed like a back-alley thug, he searched for the thread of souls connected to Illinas.

After wandering for a long time, he found a clue.

The soul mark he carried had become slightly clearer.

‘What’s this?’

Vergas looked at the soul mark drawn on the back of his hand.

The soul mark engraved by Illinas.

When a soul connected to Illinas draws near, the mark becomes clearer, and a heavy vibration can be felt.

Vergas’s mark was specifically designed to track Damian, so it wouldn’t react to other souls.

Thus, Vergas couldn’t ignore this faint vibration.

‘Has the mark finally come within a detectable range?’

It was a triumph after over a month.

He wanted to report to his superior, Shador, immediately but held himself back.

Because Shador’s reactions had been cold so far.

‘He’d probably just scold me for making a fuss. But if I pinpoint Damian’s location, he won’t be able to say that, will he?’

He was very curious about what Shador’s expression would be when he achieved this feat.

Grinning, Vergas pulled his hood down and began moving around.

However, there were no results.

Only a faint vibration was felt, and it didn’t grow stronger.

This meant the distance to Damian wasn’t closing.

‘Or perhaps I’m too far away for it to be detected.’

Either way, one thing was clear.

Damian was being detected from the area where the vibration started.

Based on this, Vergas formed a hypothesis.

‘Perhaps the structure of this place is preventing me from getting closer.’

The Kallios Theocracy is structured in concentric circles.

To enter a higher-grade Zone, one must pass through a gate, but Vergas had not yet crossed a gate into another Zone.

He was in Zone 8.

Having thoroughly searched this area without getting closer to Damian meant he was in a higher-grade Zone.

‘If so…’

Vergas smiled faintly and approached the city wall.

The sun was tilting westward, casting deep shadows.

Vergas slipped into the shadows and used a skill he had learned since becoming a demon.

‘Shadow Shift.’

A technique to move through shadows.

A demon-exclusive skill that allows movement through connected shadows, even to places never visited before.

Using it, Vergas could traverse the shadows. He circled the city wall, found a shadow cast over it, and moved there.

In doing so, he found a shadow stretching to the other side and moved to a dark corner of Zone 7.

‘This is a handy skill.’

Having recently become a demon, each of these skills felt novel.

If he had possessed such an ability in his previous life, he could have defeated Kaleon.

‘Still, thanks to that brat, I gained these abilities, so should I be grateful?’

Chuckling to himself, Vergas began moving again.

His hypothesis was correct. The closer he got to the center of the Zones, the clearer the mark became, and the vibration grew stronger.

‘Oh-ho.’

Vergas smiled and moved to the next Zone.

Thus, he passed through Zone 6, Zone 5, Zone 4, and Zone 3, eventually reaching the Special Zone where the First Monastery was located.

As he progressed, Vergas felt the divine power growing stronger with each Zone.

And now, it was intense enough to sting his skin.

Such divine power could be fatal to a newly turned demon like Vergas.

But he didn’t care.

Adventure, gambling, thrill.

He had always enjoyed these things since his previous life.

Moreover, he now had a powerful body and abilities he didn’t have in his previous life.

It made no sense for someone like him to turn back now.

Vergas checked the increasingly vivid mark on his hand and moved forward.

Wooong-

A heavy vibration was strongly felt.

The direction was now clearly discernible.

It was the First Monastery.

‘That guy Damian, he’s impressive. How did he think to hide there?’

If he offered a sacrifice to the Great Demon King, he’d likely be a dark sorcerer or similar, yet he hid in the heart of the Theocracy, brimming with divine power.

He didn’t seem like an ordinary guy.

He could understand why even his superior, Shador, was cautious.

‘But he’s no match for me.’

Vergas still retained memories of his previous life.

In the Deadlands’ Tosan region, he had survived for 15 years under the infamous title of ‘bandit.’

Though he ultimately knelt to Kaleon, ruling that area for 15 years was no easy feat.

He was able to do so not just because he was a strong warrior, but because he combined cunning and survival instincts.

Now, Vergas’s instincts were whispering to him to capture Damian himself.

They told him that the Great Demon King Illinas would value him more than Shador.

Vergas agreed with that whisper.

‘No matter how you look at it, the Great Demon King will favor the more capable one.’

This was a certainty born from his experience as a leader in his previous life.

Even if subordinates bicker, the one most useful to the boss rises to a higher position.

Moreover, Damian was someone who had already outwitted Shador once.

If he took down such a guy single-handedly, he might be promoted to one of the Four Heavenly Kings in an instant.

The thought of becoming one of the Four Heavenly Kings made his two hearts pound.

But Vergas knew well that getting excited here could ruin everything.

Like the seasoned bandit leader he was, he calmed his racing heart and cast Shadow Shift.

It was nearly night, so moving was not difficult.

Soon, he crossed the gate of the First Monastery and entered inside.

‘How on earth is he disguised to be in a place like this?’

It was unimaginable.

Was he disguised as a priest?

The monastery’s cook?

Or a servant?

Vergas formed various hypotheses as he entered the monastery courtyard.

And soon, he faced a door where Damian’s soul was intensely felt.

At that moment, he was shocked by the name on the doorplate.

<High Priest Mikel von Raiernov>

He was well aware of Raiernov’s fame.

Even while hiding in Zone 8 for the past month, it was impossible not to know that name.

Because he was the priest who healed thousands of critically ill patients—those even ordinary healing priests had given up on—in just two weeks.

‘Raiernov? Really?’

Vergas looked back and forth between the mark on his hand and the doorplate.

Only after checking the direction of Illinas’s thread connected to Damian’s heart did he fully understand the situation.

‘Damian is impersonating Raiernov.’

He realized why they hadn’t found him until now.

It was because he was posing as someone whose identity was unthinkable to disguise.

‘What an impressive guy.’

Whether a demon or a dark sorcerer, who in this world would dare impersonate a high priest of the Kallios Theocracy?

And not just any high priest, but one whose name was known to all.

‘Wait. Was that great healing incident also Damian’s doing?’

It was hard to believe, but the timing matched.

Because the great healing was completed just a week ago.

Vergas hesitated for a moment.

He had planned to barge in and take down Damian, but the situation felt off.

Above all, this was the Special Zone.

If a commotion broke out, Holy Knights would come rushing in droves.

Being close to the Grand Temple, their prowess would not be insignificant.

‘No choice, then?’

Vergas barely suppressed his fighting instincts.

And as he was about to slip back into the shadows.

It happened then.

“How dull.”

An unexpected voice.

Startled, Vergas looked toward the voice and saw a boy wearing a monk’s robe.

The boy looked directly into Vergas’s eyes and spoke.

“You look like a warrior. If you’ve come this far, shouldn’t you at least draw your sword instead of just leaving?”

Vergas carefully observed the boy.

At a glance, he seemed ordinary, but his tone was like that of a middle-aged man.

Above all, the aura he emitted was extraordinary.

A swordsman with a well-contained aura.

‘He’s a master.’

Such an opponent was rare even in the Deadlands.

“Kid, what are you talking about? I just took a wrong turn.”

Vergas replied with a forced smile, but the boy bared his teeth and grinned.

“Cut it out. That’s cliché. With you leaking demonic energy like that, I can’t just pass by even if I wanted to.”

Vergas couldn’t respond.

An extraordinary aura began to emanate from the boy in front of him.

That aura was clearly warning him.

Move rashly, and you’ll die.

The boy scanned Vergas with his glowing emerald eyes and continued.

“A berserker, huh. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of your kind. What business do you have here?”

Vergas instinctively took a step back and replied.

“I told you, I took a wrong turn.”

“No, that’s not what I want to hear.”

The boy picked up a short stick rolling on the ground and took a step forward, swinging it lightly.

Swish-

It was just the sound of a light breeze.

But it brought an irreversible result.

Thud-

Vergas’s left arm was severed cleanly.

“Th-this…”

Vergas swallowed a groan, but the boy continued with a knowing expression.

“Tell me why you’re here.”

“……”

“Why can’t you answer? Shall I cut off another?”

The boy laughed lightly and swung the stick again, and Vergas rolled on the ground to avoid it.

But the boy’s attack unerringly severed his left leg.

As the boy said, Vergas didn’t feel pain.

But he began to feel fear in this situation.

‘What is that guy?’

Now, all he could do was kneel on one knee and look up at the boy.