Temple Of The Serpent (6)

“Wow, amazing. What did I just witness?!”

Mediam was astonished at what had just unfolded before her eyes. A monster the size of a house, and not just any monster, but a naga, one of the ancient rulers who once dominated humanity, had been defeated by Azadine. Despite being the Emperor’s Messenger, Azadine couldn’t even use magic and yet had managed to take it down.

“Perhaps he…”

Ismail, who was maintaining a clairvoyance spell, could see what Azadine had done from the bell tower. Azadine had tied the bell rope to a crossbeam inside the tower, the part supporting the structure’s weight, and yanked it free.

By collapsing the bell tower himself, Azadine had dashed through the falling structure and made it to the rooftop. There, he used the broken, sharp beam, tied it to the rope, and threw himself at the Count, striking his head and impaling him with the jagged beam.

The Count, with the beam piercing his head, had no time to react and was buried beneath the collapsing bell tower.

“….”

“This isn’t the time to just stand around! We need to help!”

Mediam rushed toward the collapsed bell tower, where Azadine and the Count were entangled in the rubble.

“Argh!”

The Count coughed up blood. The life force was rapidly draining from his body, along with the power granted by the Kurt gods.

“Ugh… what is this?!”

“Ha… ha….”

Azadine managed to rise to his feet. Having thrown himself from the bell tower to strike the Count, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“My victory, Count Casel.”

Count Casel was dying. His body gradually shrank, returning to its human form. However, the wounds he had sustained, even as a transformed being, persisted, ensuring his demise.

“You’ve won, Messenger. Impressive. To think you could defeat a servant of the Kurt gods…”

“…Why did you do it?”

Azadine asked the Count, his tone filled with curiosity. It was a strange question.

“Why? As I said, for ambition. But…”

“Most corrupt nobles succumb to debauchery and extravagance. They don’t seek power by reaching out to the Kurt gods. Why did you?”

Azadine found the Count’s actions unusual. No one blindly seeks power. Even a tyrant like Arael had reasons rooted in her background—she was a descendant of a traitor to the Messenger Clan and had to show strength to survive.

So why had the Count, a descendant of the Yaegas god tribe, allied with the nagas?

“…Because I despaired.”

“Despaired?”

“Yes. This world is hollow and doomed to destruction. Perhaps the doomsayers in the marketplace are right, and the Age of Jupiter is approaching. The blood of the Yaegas god tribe is thinning, and the Light of the Crown is fading.”

“….”

“But no matter what I say, it’s just an excuse. Heh heh.”

“The Heavenly King’s Book of Truth—where is it?”

“What I had… I gave it to my lovers. By now, their apostles must have taken it to the naga lairs.”

“….”

“Ugh…”

The Count’s breathing grew ragged. As his body continued to shrink, the arrow and the jagged beam that Azadine had driven into him left massive wounds.

The fatal injury to his head, which exposed his brain, silenced him for good. Count Casel drew his last breath.

Dragging his injured body, Azadine approached the Count’s corpse and removed the signet ring.

The signet ring, symbolizing the authority of the lord, was used to seal official documents and would serve as evidence that Azadine had killed the Count.

‘The assassination contract no longer matters… but this will be necessary.’

Azadine pocketed the signet ring and turned away.

At the entrance to the Count’s castle, soldiers and knights, who had fled in fear, were now fighting the rogue mummy soldiers that had broken loose. Ismail and Mediam approached Azadine.

“We should escape now.”

“You’re not going to suggest saving them, are you?”

“Of course not. Mediam, Ismail, thank you.”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Serving a Messenger is our duty.”

“No, you’ve gone beyond your duty. Thank you.”

Azadine sincerely thanked the two and headed with them toward the collapsed rear annex.

“Uh… are we escaping through here?”

“We’re heading underground to complete the investigation.”

“What if there are still mummy soldiers?”

“They were crushed during the collapse, so it’ll be fine. However… ugh.”

Azadine groaned. His body was battered and bruised.

“Let’s be careful as we descend.”

“Yes!”

Azadine and Mediam prepared ropes, securing them tightly, and descended underground.

When they returned to the underground passage, just as Azadine had said, fallen rocks from above had crushed many of the mummy soldiers.

“Ismail, take this wand…”

“Yes, sir!”

Ismail grabbed the bone wand and activated it. Sure enough, it indicated the presence of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth nearby. Azadine found the corpse of a naga woman crushed under the rubble.

“The Heavenly King’s Book of Truth, is it?”

When Azadine held out the bracelet given to him by Aldis, two pages of the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth flowed into him.

“And the remaining three pages?”

“It’s that way.”

Ismail raised the wand, still glowing with magic light, and pointed at a firmly closed iron door. As Mediam approached, she noticed the lock on the door had been undone, and blood stained the handle.

“One of them escaped alive. This could be trouble.”

Azadine walked over and opened the iron door, but shortly after, he began to limp.

“Ugh…”

The excitement of the battle faded, and as the adrenaline left his body, he began to feel the toll of his injuries.

“Ah, ugh…”

Unable to continue the pursuit, Azadine collapsed to his knees.

“Shall we chase after them?”

“P-please do. The two of you, go together.”

Azadine instructed Ismail and Mediam to pursue the naga that fled with the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth, and then he lay flat on the ground.

“Ugh…”

Azadine lost consciousness and fainted on the spot.

Mediam and Ismail moved through the underground passage, carefully observing their surroundings.

However, even after reaching the dried-up riverbanks and the refugee camp teeming with displaced people, they found no sign of the naga.

The naga spellcaster had already transformed into a human and escaped.

“We can’t use the wand in front of people,”

Ismail said as he hid the bone wand. An artifact like that would be considered ominous at best, and using it in public would surely draw the attention of the King’s Church clerics or holy knights.

“Is this it, then? Asking the locals would only invite trouble…”

Since Mediam and Ismail were still children, wandering around a refugee camp at night would only attract unnecessary danger. And above all, they were worried about Azadine.

“Let’s go back.”

“Can we really give up this easily? The Heavenly King’s Book of Truth was taken, and the enemy is injured. Shouldn’t we—”

Ismail couldn’t let go of his lingering attachment to the Heavenly King’s Book of Truth. After all, he was a member of the Messenger Clan. The book was the clan’s collective wish—a key that could free them from their cursed servitude.

The thought of letting such an opportunity slip away was unbearable.

“Protecting Azadine is more important right now. Let’s hurry back to him.”

Unlike a typical member of the Messenger Clan, Mediam let go of the book without hesitation and headed back to Azadine. Seeing this, Ismail had no choice but to follow her lead.

Meanwhile, the undead soldiers and mummy warriors created by the Count were running amok.

Having lost their master’s control, they attacked the soldiers and knights defending the Count’s castle.

Their cursed aura spread as they moved, and the losses among the ordinary soldiers and knights were significant. Adding to the chaos, with the Count gone, it was unclear who held command.

At that moment, a knight on horseback galloped in through the southern gate.

“I am Sir Zebec of the King’s Church, a holy knight!”

Sir Zebec declared, casting a spell while still on horseback. A radiant halo appeared above his head, spreading outward and dispelling the undead soldiers’ cursed aura.

“Ah!”

“Sir Zebec!”

“A holy knight!”

“Hurrah!”

The soldiers cheered as Sir Zebec joined the fray. Riding his horse, he cut through the mummy warriors, breaking the deadlock and rescuing the soldiers.

“Thank you.”

“Now, what’s going on? I heard rumors…”

“Yes! A giant serpent appeared suddenly in the rear annex…”

“The rear annex?”

“Yes, the place where the Count was staying.”

“These monsters also came from that direction!”

“And the giant serpent?”

“They say it was buried under the collapsed bell tower!”

“Hmm, I see.”

Clicking his tongue, Sir Zebec pondered. Monsters suddenly spilling out from the Count’s quarters, coupled with the rumors about mysterious witches entering the castle, made it clear to him: the Count was behind this.

‘In that case, I’ll need to take over command. But can I do it?’

The knights and officers appointed by the Count could be loyal to him. As Sir Zebec hesitated, the soldiers and knights approached him with a plea.

“Sir Zebec!”

“Please take command!”

“Understood! I will do my best to assist you!”

Sir Zebec led the soldiers and knights to eliminate the monsters that had headed to the servants’ quarters. He instructed the rescued servants to build barricades with furniture and belongings to block the streets and prevent the monsters from escaping.

When Sir Zebec reached the collapsed bell tower…

“Hmm.”

He discovered the Count’s corpse buried under the rubble.

“This… this is…”

“For now, refrain from any rash actions. We’ll deal with the body after confirming how many monsters remain!”

Sir Zebec calmed the panicking soldiers, assigned trustworthy knights to guard the Count’s corpse, and continued leading the effort to eliminate the remaining monsters.

As dawn broke, most of the monsters succumbed to the Light of the Crown and the sunlight, losing their strength and collapsing.