Chapter 182

Trace of the Monarch (5)

I left only one of my enemies alive as usual.

The last survivor shivered, having witnessed his colleagues dying instantaneously.

He looked at us with a face of despair and fear.

"Please, forgive me!"

Apparently, it wasn't for his life that he was begging.

"This is not a matter of our species' dimension, but a rogue act of each individual here. So, please, to the Union's headquarters...."

It was a ridiculous thing to hear.

He was pleading to prevent the issue from developing into an interracial problem because he knew what kind of aftermath it would create if such agendas were to be relayed to the Union headquarters.

He just wanted us to end everything by killing them and punishing them.

"That's funny."

If they were worried about that, they shouldn't have done that in the first place.

I glanced at Genograche, and he approached and held out the handle of his main body, the devil's sword.

[Whisper of the Sword]

"Ahhh!"

That time, the brainwashing skill worked after so long when it didn't, and thanks to it, we were able to get a confession quickly and efficiently.

When I heard the story, there was a reason why he, the sole survivor, was scared and blabbered.

It went without saying but behind the Roheem dispatched for the quest were the race's political leaders and the Awakened beings' Heads.

They sent the team to the dimension by buying expensive Leap Tickets because they were worried about their species' future.

The Roheem people, like humans, didn't have much Potential Mana Capacity.

They also showed keen interest in the traces left by the "Monarch of Evolution" for the same reason as me.

It could have been an opportunity to boost their power exponentially, after all.

"You didn't want to share that treasure with the Terrans, the Earthlings."

I thought they cheered when they saw that I wasn't on the list of explorers sent by Earth.

And saying that it was the only chance they had, they tried to monopolize the Monarch's traces.

"Okay, thank you for your confession."

I turned my head after sealing him in an item that looked like a coffin.

The devil tied to a tree was rescued, and Hibiki's healing magic and items had completely healed his wounds.

The Knight that represented the forest devils...

As I approached him, he wriggled with an uncomfortable expression.

"Ugh! What the hell!"

I belatedly understood why he was reacting like that.

"Oh, I see."

I lowered the output of the divine power emitted by the Holy Sword.

He resisted the power of a god, not different than any other devils.

Then, as if the rock that was pressing down on his chest had been removed, the devil gave a sigh of relief.

While he was catching his breath, I looked interestingly at his face and exposed bare arms.

'Tattoo?'

His skin was full of intricate shapes.

Nate explained as if he had noticed my gaze.

"They say it's a tattoo that you have to get when you become the Knight in charge of representing the devils here. But even they themselves don't know what it means. It seems like it's a type of script because of the repetitions in the pattern..."

Among the ones present, Genograche and I knew the identity of that script.

Genograche clicked his tongue.

- You even forgot the 'contract text' that belongs to the devils?

I carefully examined the Knight's body.

I observed that the text string wasn't perfect. Grammar was wrong in some places, and there were broken letters as well.

"There must be some distortion or omission while it was being passed on to so many generations. I can't read it like this."

- Is that so?

Genograche also approached the Knight.

The Knight, who repeatedly thanked Nate and Hibiki for saving his life, as he was at least a bit familiar with them, turned his head again to the two of us.

Since he had witnessed the massacre that just transpired, it seemed that he was still sacred even if we were the saviors of his life. His eyes were even trembling.

But the moment Genograche took a step ahead of me and extended his head to read the text...

Whoooong!

"What?"

- Hmm?

The tattoo on the Knight's skin began to glow.

And a strange change began that wasn't normal for a common tattoo.

As if an earthworm was crawling on his skin or the text was alive, it began to wriggle.

White-flashing text strings were disassembled, recombined, and formed sentences. What happened afterward was...

"Huh? Huh?"

Nate gave off a baffled voice.

The Knight's face was also dyed with shock, but his eyes were filled with awe beyond bafflement.

He seemed to know what the phenomenon was, but he didn't expect to see it at that moment.

Soon, we all saw a curtain of letters falling out of the Knight's body like light powder in the air.

I spoke.

"Now I can read it."

Genograche mumbled in reply.

- This is a headache.... It used the entire skin of the devil as a 'magic document?'

It was a kind of contract, based on the form of it.

In other words, the Knight's body was used as a living contract.

The first to engrave such was probably the Monarch of Evolution they served.

Since then, whenever the Knight's position was passed onto the next, they seemed to imitate the Monarch and inked the successor.

Each time, the contract's magical effect was automatically passed on to the successor without their knowledge.

"However, it doesn't seem like an approved contract, does it?"

The Knights only served as the paper for the original text of the contract. Nobody had placed their soul as collateral.

Genograsche read the first paragraph.

- You, a soul with comparable quality to the 'Monarch.' If you're reading this, it means that my servant or his descendants are finally standing in front of the magic species, which are well qualified.

The more we read the words that followed, the clearer it became.

That was laid down for posterity by the Monarch of the distant past.

I could see why it was activated at that moment, of all times.

'A soul that has the qualities of a Monarch...'

Genograche's soul was sealed inside the devil's sword at the moment, but he was also a Monarch, called the 'Monarch of Massacre.'

'It had reacted to Genograche.'

The sentences, which served as the preface of the contract, explained the Monarch of Evolution's situation in the past.

- As I'm leaving this message, the Awakened beings controlled by the System are chasing me, and a battle seems inevitable. Considering the opponent's combat force, running away no longer holds meaning. Many of my fellow kin have been sacrificed while we were fleeing across many dimensions. Now, there are only a few left.

The story about the ancestors of the devils living in the forest continued.

- Most of my Knight-level subordinates have mostly died, and many of those but ordinary citizens are injured and exhausted. Since it is futile even if we mobilize them to the battle, I instructed them to hide in this place for a while until the day that another Monarchial kin that would save them would appear.

But the savior didn't seem to have appeared as fast as the Monarch expected.

- Soon, I will head alone on the battlefield. But I plan to be captured as the Awakened are after. They say the System gives more experience points when captured than when the magic species are killed. The reason is obvious.

The System used the kidnapped devils for

- We are the first race to open our eyes to the grace of Mana. We were the ones who created Mana Hearts and enlightened ourselves of our own powers before the System could even exist.

The first life of the successor's soul after returning to the past was also of the devils.

- The System has been hunting us for some time past a certain point. If I were kidnapped like this, wouldn't I be sealed, enslaved, or my Mana Heart... the Mana source they call the 'Core,' be taken out? And the System would imbue my powers in the skill cards and distribute them to the Awakened.

Awakened beings traded their old Unique Skills to the System to be copied in exchange for their Unique Skills' evolution, but it was believed that the devils, who had no contract with the System, were robbed as if they were being gutted.

- My power being scattered to the Awakened must be prevented by any means. If the power to break through the limits of a species falls into their hands, those who follow the System will become stronger beyond control, and our kind will simply not be able to overcome it.

There was a heavy determination in the following sentence.

- But even if so, I can't let my power, a blessing, disappear like this. Unfortunately, all the Monarch-class devils except me have already passed on at the time of this writing. That leaves me with no successor to inherit this power.

But he didn't give up.

- But as time goes by, I believe that another qualified devil will appear, and I plan to leave an arrangement for that. Ask my servant that bears this 'letter' on his body. He will tell you where you must reach.

That's all I could read for the moment.

I reviewed the contents with a serious expression.

'It seems that he surely left something behind.'

It's certainly something related to the Unique Skill that the Monarch of Evolution had.

But how could a race that wasn't linked to the System pass on its Unique Skill to others?

"Ahh!"

While we were reading the letter, the Knight fell flat on his face as if he realized the situation.

The subject of his homage was Genograche.

He seemed to feel something with his senses unique to the devils.

"We have so far served him, the one who commands the corpses, thinking that he was the descendant of the late Monarch."

He was referring to Nate.

The gaze toward the human youth scratching his head flowed back toward Genograche.

"But it seems the true 'Monarch' existed elsewhere."

He trembled with emotions that overwhelmed him.

"It's finally time to carry out the mission that had been passed down from one Knight to the next. Allow me to lead you to the promised land, you, who qualifies as a Monarch."

He wanted to tell us the secret that he had kept shut despite having to bear the torture of the Roheems as a consequence.

Of course, there was no reason to refuse.

*

The place where the Monarch of Evolution's life came to an end was said to be far away, which took more than a month on foot.

Indeed, it should have been distanced at least that much to ensure the hidden subordinates' safety.

Of course, there was no reason to walk there since flying wasn't difficult if I knew the direction and distance.

And where we finally reached, we saw the third barrier.

'This can never be found without [The Successor's Eyes], can it?'

There was no such thing as a crack again that time.

When we reached the great dome, the inscription on the Knight's body shone once again.

And-

Shhh!

The barrier opened.

"This is the last place the Monarch hid in before his death."

The Knight's explanation followed.

Once upon a time, the quest to capture the Monarch of Evolution disappeared after he was considered deceased.

However, since the battle ended in a double defeat for both parties, the Awakened couldn't know the truth behind the aftermath.

In fact, the Monarch did not die immediately after the fight ended and slaying all the Awakened.

However, knowing that death could not be avoided due to serious damage that he couldn't recover from, he hid within the barrier that had been prepared in advance.

He was also said to have triggered a pre-implemented magic circle as well.

Whoooong!

Next, the sentences of light rising in the air continued the explanation.

An article with different content from what we just saw appeared.

- I could only think of one way to pass on my powers to future generations. Unlike those brought to Awaken by the System, our unique power, as we have been enlightened with our own strength, is engraved in our soul.

I thought it referred to a skill like [The Successor's Eyes] that was imprinted on my soul even before the System began.

- At the last moment, I forcibly removed my soul from my body and sealed it in this crystal.

A transparent crystal was emitting subtle radiance in the interior space of the crystal barrier.

Upon contact, [The Successor's Eyes] popped up a message.

[Crystal with Sealed Power (Rank: ???)]

- A crystal that has someone's soul and power sealed within. The effect is unknown at this time.

The text string of light continued its explanation.

- However, one thing must be agreed upon by the being that gains possession of this. As you may have already noticed, this document is in the form of a contract. The successor who will inherit my power must enter into a contract with their soul as collateral.

What did the Monarch of Evolution set that arrangement for?

Why did he want to pass on his powers to future generations?

The answer to such a question was soon revealed.

- I speak to the devils of the future. If you absorb this crystal, not only will you command my soul as a whole, but you will also be able to use my unique power at your disposal. In return, perform for me the contractually bound agreement.

His request was literally something a 'Monarch' would do.

- I want you to save all of my citizens, all of them left in this world. Take them in as your people and let them live in a safe place where the slaves of the System cannot harm them.