Chapter 140: Savior

Though I wasn't sure what it was, I strongly felt something inside me break.

Was that why...?

The resistance I always felt when it came to controlling souls was now completely gone.

[Kyaaaaccckkk!]

[Stoppppppp!]

[Accccckkk!]

Was that why...?

Even amidst the pitiful screams of souls being swept away and suffering under my magic, I felt nothing.

Was that why...?

Even when facing the Great Warrior and Horua, whom even Gloria, the Knight Commander, and Findenai, the leader of the Scrapyard Nomads, couldn't defeat, I managed to gain the upper hand.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Each of the souls continuously pouring out was akin to an ultimate blow delivered by putting everything on the line.

The Marias Great Forest was a vast jungle with a rich past, steeped in history and tradition.

Consequently, it was inevitable that there would be many unfortunate casualties. As a result, it felt as though I had a nearly unlimited supply of bullets in my hands.

The Great Warrior staggered.

He desperately emitted flames from his body to protect himself.

Even if the souls were infused with my mana and the power of Lemegeton, they were unable to stick to the flames of Horua, who was known as the deity of the forest, easily.

Therefore...

Swish.

I changed the direction of my hand.

And beyond it, past the Great Warrior, were the trembling members of the Marias tribe.

Men and women, the elderly and the children.

I shot arrows of remorseful souls towards the fairly diverse group of tribal people gathered there.

"Kyaaccck!"

"Please, save us!"

"Great Warrior!"

The tribal people screamed in terror.

Startled, Valkzar hurriedly gathered his flames and threw himself towards his tribe.

"Keugh!"

After blocking the souls flying towards them with his body, he let out a faint breath, quickly regaining a steady stance, and glared at me.

His eyes held various emotions, but he didn't voice them out.

It seemed like he felt a type of aversion towards me.

Honestly speaking, if it were the me from before, I would never have taken such drastic actions.

However, even when I closed my eyes for a brief moment, the face of the kidnapped Illuania came to mind.

When I opened my eyes again, I could see Findenai, who had been injured, looking up at me.

And when I closed my eyes again, it felt as though I could hear the Dark Spiritualist's voice, filled with concern even though she herself was in a pitiful state.

And every time I recalled all of these women, the actions my hand took grew fiercer.

Necromancers were basically proficient in using offensive magic.

They manipulated souls and showcased a variety of irregularities through their mana that would generally be impossible for other mages to achieve.

If one were to point out the biggest weakness of such Necromancers, it would be souls.

To control souls, they first had to discover them. However, finding those souls wasn't an easy task.

While some individuals were gifted with spiritual eyes and could see souls to a certain extent, they were unable to see all souls.

Most could only see evil spirits with grudges deep enough to be able to materialize themselves to some extent.

That is right.

I am not like them.

What may have been a weakness or a limitation for ordinary Necromancers posed no problem for me.

With Lemegeton capable of awakening the dead, and eyes that could see them all, I could surpass the supposed limitations of a Necromancer.

I stretched my hand upward.

The scattered souls began to condense in my palm and soon, I forcibly contorted them into the shape of a greatsword.

The Soul Greatsword gradually enlarged, reaching a size capable of engulfing not only Valkzar but the countless tribal people behind him as well.

"...!"

Upon realizing the imminent danger if he couldn't stop this, Valkzar's eyes widened. Determined to meddle in the process, he gripped his spear, and rushed towards me.

Shrill!

He then whistled.

As if waiting for his call, numerous demonic monsters burst out of the bushes in response to the whistle.

They were loyal demonic monsters who had never forgotten who the Master of the Forest was, and they came to the aid of the Great Warrior, who had now merged with Horua. However...

Crack! Crack!

Transparent beings in the shape of demonic monsters emerged from the ground while simultaneously tearing the throats of the charging demonic monsters.

As I had demonstrated before, when facing Dina, souls weren't exclusive to humans.

The souls of demonic monsters were so plentiful here, that they seemed to overflow, and it wasn't difficult to control them by inflicting pain.

Ironically, the charging demonic monsters would end up dead in my hands, and their souls would then rush towards Valkzar instead.

"Keub!"

Despite trying to fend them off with his spear, Valkzar was unable to completely overcome their sheer numbers and ended up getting bitten on his shoulder and thigh.

However, the wings of flames hadn't ceased yet, bringing him in front of me.

And just as the long spear, aiming for my heart, was about to strike again.

Crack!

A massive mouth appeared and blocked the spear.

It was a woman with a huge mouth around the region of her chest with both her hands shaped like the mouths of demonic monsters emitting a chilling, gritting teeth sound.

The shaman affiliated with Dante, whose limbs were severed, revealed her identity as he observed the scene from behind.

"D-Dina!"

It was Dina, the Dante-affiliated Monstrumancer I had killed for the first time.

Since her soul was still in my possession, I could forcibly control her.

Of course, even she would not be able to block the spear of flames completely. She could only stall for a moment.

I lowered my hand holding the greatsword as I watched her soul gradually wither away indifferently.

At the same time, the Great Warrior Valkzar hurriedly spread his wings and soared upwards.

Clang!

"Keuuughh!"

With his thin spear, Valkzar blocked the Soul Greatsword that was about to sweep through the entire tribe.

He let out a strained groan as blood vessels popped up all over his body, his face turning red.

"Keeeeuaaack!"

His belief in protecting the tribesmen was truly tragic to witness.

However, it unfolded as expected.

As taught by the Dark Spiritualist, one of the fundamental principles of necromancy was that since necromancers controlled souls, one must not judge all aspects of the magic cast merely by appearance.

For example, this...

Even though it resembled a greatsword, it was actually a flock of souls gathered into one shape.

As the shape of the greatsword began to crumble, the souls forming it started pouring out, creeping through the spear, and rushed towards the Great Warrior.

It was like watching a swarm of bugs.

"Gah! AAAAARGH!"

The Great Warrior let out a grotesque scream and dropped his spear before crashing to the ground.

Despite the dull thud, , the souls continued pouring towards the Great Warrior following my forceful command.

The souls repeatedly entered and exited through all sorts of orifices in his body like his eyes, nose, and ears.

I moved at the same pace as when I arrived and stood before Valkzar, who was writhing in agony.

I coated my hand with mana, and then plunged it directly into the region near his heart.

Stab.

Valkzar was muscular, likely from rigorous training.

However, as I had never attempted it before, stabbing his strengthened body with my bare hand proved to be quite challenging.

To be precise, my goal was to tear apart whatever was radiating intense heat from the region near his heart.

Pwackk!

The pouring rain naturally washed away the blood he vomited.

The radiant object, resembling a sun, that was now in my grasp was none other than the guardian deity, Horua.

[Hu...man!]

Crush!

I slammed Horua, who was about to say something, straight to the ground. I then summoned the souls of the demonic monsters.

They began tearing apart the guardian deity, who was rolling on the ground while letting out cries reminiscent of beasts.

"Hahk! Hahk! Hahk!"

Similarly, Valkzar lay on the ground, gasping for air, his eyes filled solely with fear. Slowly, he opened his trembling lips.

"P-p-please let the tri...besmen... go... they are... innoc..."

Crush!

He could no longer continue speaking as I used my mana to shatter his head with precision, leaving only grotesque remnants behind.

And that was how he died.

Though it was quite mysterious as to how he could still speak even after being stabbed through the heart.

Grab.

I stretched out my hand into the air to grasp something.

It was Valkzar's soul.

[Ah.]

While his appearance remained intact, his eyes were now filled with unparalleled horror.

"Even in death you will not find eternal rest."

Realizing that even after death, he would not be able to escape, he began to tremble and pleaded with me.

However, since I didn't even want to hear his voice, I restrained his entire body with chains of mana extending from my palm.

The torment wasn't over yet.

"Look at them."

Valkzar's eyes widened as I pointed towards the Marias tribe, who were kneeling and begging before me with tears streaming down their faces.

"They too shall meet their ends here"

The Great Warrior pleaded and writhed desperately, hoping to change my mind regarding my declaration.

However, I no longer had any hesitation.

As he had risked it all under his name as the Great Warrior, slaughtering countless people of the kingdom, he had to pay the price.

Therefore...

I hope that you won't become a monster in the process of defeating those monsters.

And indeed, I, too....

Master Bastard, just stay still for now. I'll take care of this...!

Had become the same as those monsters.

Deus, uphold your principles. Don't become like Dante, the other Dark Mages... or me.

I would kill them all.

[It's dark tonight.]

"....!"

All of a sudden I heard a voice. And even though it had been a while since I last heard it, my eyes trembled at the familiar voice.

I glanced around unconsciously, but naturally, I found nothing.

[Is there a waning moon tonight?]

Because the voice came from within me.

I wanted to hear that voice again, but she didn't speak further.

Did I wake her up?

Accompanied by a chilling sensation down my spine, doubt began to creep in.

However, it wasn't enough to cause me to put a stop to my actions.

All it did was make me hesitate for a moment.

A brief moment that awakened my dulled senses.

However, because of it, I could finally hear the resounding cries I had missed.

I turned my gaze.

At the end of my gaze was a woman holding a tiny baby swaddled tightly in a blanket.

Hoping the cold rain wouldn't touch her, Illuania held the baby close to her and then, she looked at me with an exhausted face.

Sploosh.

I stepped on the puddled ground.

I unconsciously headed in the opposite direction of the trembling tribal people, towards the baby.

Resounding cries.

The birth of new life.

Illuania carefully handed her baby to me as I drew closer to her, smiling in spite of her exhaustion.

"It's a girl."

"...."

Warmth spread through my palm and spread throughout my body.

She wasn't my child, but I had chosen to take responsibility for her—the living being entrusted to me by Deus Verdi, at the cost of giving up his own body.

"Would you like to name the child?"

With trembling hands, I carefully held the child.

You may not be my own flesh and blood, but I will be your family.

I slowly averted my gaze.

I still felt the simmering anger within me as I stared at them, who were looking at me with fearful gazes.

However, I chose to gently stroke the child's forehead with my hand.

Strangely enough, the crying child suddenly fell silent and stared at me blankly.

"You have saved many lives."

I did not want to taint your birth with blood, screams, and slaughter and since I did not want to ruin your first meeting with the world....

"Savior."

(Savior)

You have already saved many lives just by being born. I am sure you will become a great person in the future.

"Sevia, that is your name."

As if understanding my words, the child giggled.

And just then the rain began to ease gradually.