Former General Is Undead Knight - Act 4-1 - Sorcerer of The Demonic Forest

Act 4: Prayer in The Holy City, Heinstia

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There was a savage place in the hinterland of Region Kingdom.

The extreme magical power spot that twisted the place had given birth to one powerful monster after another. It was by no means a place for humans.

That was why it was the perfect hiding spot for people who lived in seclusion.

Nevertheless, that only applied to the people who were powerful enough to defeat the strong monsters inhabiting the land, but…

The sea forest that occupied one-eighth of Regios Kingdom’s territory… 『Great Forest of Man-Eating Demons』had became the prime example.

Especially around the center of that forest where the concentration of mana was the thickest, it had become the most dangerous place in Regios Kingdom.

The adventurers only dared to go around the outer part of the forest to hunt. No one dared to venture deep into the forest to meet trolls, the namesake of the forest.

There was a sorcerer who set their base deep in the center of that 『Great Forest of Man-Eating Demons』.

His name was Real. He had been living for more than 150 years, and he already considered himself to have transcended humanity.

It was already in the past. Now he remodeled the tomb of the king of the forgotten kingdom from a thousand years ago as his hiding place.

Inside the grave, there was a tall and transparent crystal tube on top of the altar.

Inside the tube was the severed head of an old man, floating inside the blue liquid.

That head was Real.

Each room in this gloomy grave was guarded by the undead that he prepared.

Real’s madness came from the fear of true death.

An eternal slumber would eventually come to visit everyone in this world without exception. That was the principle of this world.

Thus, he who feared the coming of such eternal solitude decided to seal his ego and sleep forever in this place.

He wanted to live for eternity, undisturbed by anything.

A woman ascended the stairway of the altar on which Real was sleeping.

After she arrived in front of him, she fell to her knees like a broken doll and looked at Real with a vacant gaze.

「I’m bringing the usual report, Real-sama.」

His subordinate was the human whom he brainwashed. It was an undead.

He captured the humans who wandered into the forest and used the first captured human as bait to capture another human. That was how he increased the number of his subordinates.

There were two hundred humans who became his subordinates.

If it were another era, that number would easily surpass four digits.

Solving the brainwash spell itself wasn’t that difficult.

The effect would disappear if another spell were cast on them. It would also naturally disappear after they underwent medical treatment.

But Real didn’t wish any burden on the brains of the brainwashed people, so he engraved a magic circle of memory erasure to prevent the disclosure of his information—even if the brainwashing were to be canceled, the victim wouldn’t be able to adapt to normal life that easily.

「After the fall of the Ainsaz Underground Labyrinth, the events that were seemingly caused by the witch Domiliune have never happened again.」

『I thought that witch wouldn’t kick the bucket that easily, but I guess that’s the effect of delving deeper into the truth… She might be confident in her abilities, but in the end, the way she erected her nest so proudly right in the middle of a big city was her downfall.』

Real expressed his thoughts upon hearing the woman’s report.

「The Eight Wisemen of 『Devil’s Piper』 such as 『Laughing Clown』 and the 『Spinner of the Truth』 have also died following the commotion in Tetomburgh. We examined the location, but alas, we got nothing at all. The church should’ve already dealt with them.」

『…Following the death of 『Ugly Corpse Old Man』, that means that three of the Eight Wisemen have already died. Not to mention that amongst those four, the 『Spinner of the Truth』 was an old-timer.』

Real spoke with a dumbfounded voice.

「After that… There has been no new information about 『Queen and Knight』 who just joined the Eight Wisemen. They don’t seem to be acquaintances with the other Eight Wisemen, either. Their existence might be nothing more than a hoax. Considering that fact, it means that there are only four left. They became more active as of late, but… Maybe they will lay low for a while after losing four of their members.」

『Those people chose to back down, huh… I guess there’s no new information. That’s enough. You may leave.』

「No, actually, there’s another piece of information…」

Before the woman left, she went closer to the tube where Real was.

「What? Hey, I said that’s enough… If you get any closer, I’ll erect a magic circle to prevent you from approaching me next time. Stop… STOP, STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!」

The woman’s expressionless face changed.

She squinted her eyes, the tips of her lips rose up.

「UNDEAD, KILL THIS WOMAN!」

The warriors whose bodies were covered in rotten meat and waiting in separate places rushed at once toward the woman.

She was pinned down immediately and beheaded, ending her life in mere seconds—or so it was supposed to be.

The woman’s eyes were turbid, and red fluid flowed out from the blood vessels in her eyes. It kept flowing out instead of stopping.

With her body as the centre, a huge magic circle appeared on the altar.

The undead fell into that place, raising agonizing voices while dragging their bodies on the floor.

『W-what in the wo—kuh, goee…』

The liquid in the tube which kept Real’s head suddenly transformed from transparent blue to black sludge.

Real, who experienced an unspeakable pain, opened his eyes wide in shock.

『O-oorgh… W-why… Why… What’s happening?』

People clad in black robes appeared in front of the agonized Real.

All of them wore the same attire, but only the short girl who stood in front of the group showed her face.

Even then, there was a cloth covering the girl’s eyes, the symbol of Heins church stitched on the cloth.

The robe was obviously too big for the girl, and as a result, her limbs weren’t long enough for the oversized robe.

Her eccentric appearance was even more noticeable than her cute, blonde twintails.

「It’s a barrier that disturbs magical power. Though I hear from Yohane that the hyenas might come after confirming the situation in Tetomburg, who would expect that we would catch an even bigger fish instead? Oops, my apologies for the late introduction, My name is Philipo of the Four Great Sages, the bishop of Heins church entrusted with the inquisition squad.」

The technique used by Philipo was one that used a human sacrifice to disturb the magical power inside a barrier.

Though it was a spell that needed a lot of magical power, since the magical power of the sacrifice who was given the inscription of magic formation would be sucked up till they were nothing more than a dried-up corpse, it could display its utmost potential even if the sacrifice was someone who couldn’t use spells.

On top of placing a barrier that inhibited the activation of magical power, the addition of magical power disturbance by the human sacrifice made it even harder to manipulate magic.

Although the use of spells that siphoned the magical power of others was banned, in this chaotic situation, Philipo was the only one in the current Regios Kingdom who could use spells freely in this situation.

Since Real was only focused on the sorcery that was maintaining his life, disturbing the flow of magical power was enough to kill him.

Originally, he wasn’t the kind of person who would allow others to approach him so carelessly, but he made a fatal mistake—namely, overestimating his brainwashing spell.

Rewriting complex sorcery was Philipo’s forte.

『GUH… Ugh-Gah…! YOU CURSED FANATICS! YOU ACTUALLY USED A SACRIFICE TO KILL ME! DOING SO MEANS YOU’RE THE SAME KIND OF LUNATIC AS ME! NO, IN MY CASE, I WON’T GO AS FAR AS BEING COMPLETELY MERCILESS!』

「This is salvation for them. She fell as a martyr. She will enter paradise in the afterlife and become an angel.」

Philipo replied calmly without any semblance of hesitation.

Seeing Real was at a loss for words, Philipo continued on.

「And we have you, a cruel murderer who killed numerous people meaninglessly. But don’t worry, for I shall give you salvation too.」

After saying so, Philipo turned toward her subordinates who were waiting silently behind her.

「Let see… Let’s start with two. We’ll send him to the afterlife. Please take care of this old man till the end. Without treatment, he will survive for at least three days, albeit filled with suffering.」

『…Hah?』

Real had no idea what Philipo was talking about.

「That’s right. Let’s clean him up a bit of his crime before sending him to hell. He’s a big sinner, but it’s not a reason for us to hate him.」

Real was even more dumbfounded.

Even he who had lived for more than 150 years, had no idea that the church had actually raised this kind of monster.

Her train of thought was alien even for a sorcerer like him.

「The rest of you, follow me. Even if they’re just victims of his evil deeds, it’s our duty to give them salvation.」

Real became even more astonished upon hearing such an ominous remark. After all, removing his brainwashing spell wasn’t that difficult.

Although it would burden the brain and partially erase their memories, it wasn’t life-threatening.

And yet, contrary to her gentle tone, the “salvation” she spoke of was by no means releasing his victims from his brainwashing spell.

Starting from this day, after more than one hundred years, the missing case of adventurers or acquaintances who entered 『Great Forest of Man-Eating Demons』 mysteriously stopped.

Nevertheless, no one knew the truth behind the incident, nor did they get a proper explanation from the government. The mysterious grave in the centre of the forest collapsed for an unknown reason.

And no one knew the whereabouts of the hundreds of people who were missing in the forest prior to this day.

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