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The largest stream was occupied by an army of undead, made up of countless deaths.

Zombies, ghouls, and the moving corpses of monsters trudged forward, their rotting footsteps accompanied by faint groans.

Their number reached nearly hundreds.

Uoooh….

Uoooh….

Humans who had their minds controlled also moved with them.

Leading the front were the residents of the village and captured outsiders. They walked in a daze, holding spears and blades in their hands.

The followers of the Dark God followed behind them.

These were those who had been strengthened by the necromancy of the “Apostles of the Dark God.”

In their drug-induced stupor, they chanted the name of their god in their clouded minds.

“Tesranak…”

“Grant us a new world…”

All of them were being controlled by twelve necromancers.

Each one was cloaked in a thick aura of malevolence and malice, drawing power under the blessings of the night.

Feeling the dark energy swirling around their bodies, the necromancers were pleased.

“As expected, the power of the Cardinal is truly incredible.”

“I feel much stronger than usual.”

The knights of the count’s family also had a faint aura of darkness enveloping their bodies. They had obtained a dark battle aura through the dark knight’s sorcery.

This was all thanks to the massive necromantic power flowing from the altars of darkness installed throughout the castle.

The confidence that they could crush anyone, even the Evil Slaying Brigade or the Empire’s army, filled them.

Amidst their heightened morale, Hudel’s forces continued their march.

In the distance, the Saisha Temple came into view.

Torches were lit throughout the building, making it fairly bright despite the night.

Hudel muttered.

“They’re prepared, as expected.”

There was no way they wouldn’t be ready, having been attacked by a zombie army night after night. They surely expected another attack tonight as well.

Unfortunately for them, tonight would not end with just zombies.

He held the necromancers, cultists, and the knights of his family in reserve.

The plan was to pretend as usual by sending only the zombies at first and then suddenly launch an all-out assault, making it easier to completely subdue the temple.

“It wasn’t deliberate, but it seems I’ve laid a trap.”

With a cold smile, Hudel raised his right hand.

“In the name of the Dark God, I command you.”

The zombies and ghouls at the front began to emit a blue glow from their eyes.

“Bring death to this land.”

No sooner had the order been given than the horde of hundreds of corpses surged forward, attacking the temple as if to overwhelm it.

A barrier of light unfolded around the temple, holding off the zombies’ assault.

Sparks flew and waves of holy light spread out in all directions.

Zap! Zap!

But it didn’t last long.

Before long, the barrier of light collapsed, and the zombies breached the temple’s defenses.

Seeing this, Hudel frowned.

‘That was too weak.’

The barrier had fallen much faster than expected.

Moreover, there were no priests or soldiers in sight, only the holy barrier itself blocking the attack.

‘Are the priests exhausted? Or are they deliberately conserving their strength?’

In the end, the holy barrier couldn’t hold and was completely destroyed.

Though it was suspicious, Hudel couldn’t miss the opportunity. He gave the order for the full assault.

“Go forth, children of Tesranak!”

The cultists’ army surged towards the Saisha Temple like a tidal wave.

Roars erupted from all directions.

“Waaahhh!”

But the roars began to die down.

“Waaah…?”

The excited troops looked around, their expressions hardening.

“Huh?”

“Where are they?”

Panic set in as they searched the temple grounds, but no one was there.

No priests, no soldiers, not even the common servants or maids.

The place was truly empty. Even the dungeon was deserted.

They had taken even the captured prisoners with them.

“They abandoned the temple and fled?”

Upon receiving the report, Hudel’s face went blank with disbelief.

“…That can’t be true.”

It wasn’t that he thought the clergy were too rigid to come up with such a simple idea.

Abandoning the temple and fleeing would be tantamount to surrendering to the heretical cultists, a grave sin against the goddesses’ doctrine. No matter how much they valued their lives, it wasn’t a decision they could make lightly.

“A few might flee, but the entire temple doing so?”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, a faint explosion was heard behind them.

Kuuuung…

Everyone turned in surprise. And they were shocked once more.

‘What?’

‘The castle?’

Explosions were going off all over the count’s castle.

And not just ordinary explosions, but holy explosions, caused by the power of the goddess.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

That wasn’t all. In the fog-covered village, the light of holy spells was also rising from various places.

Hudel’s face twisted into a grotesque grimace.

“No way!”

***

As soon as Karnak noticed the enemy’s trick, he sought out the priests of Saisha.

“Count Hudel has returned. It seems he intends to launch a full-scale assault tonight.”

When the priests wondered how he knew, he once again invoked his great teacher. As always, Dallas served as a perfect excuse.

“The magic school I studied specializes in dealing with necromancy.”

Alius also chimed in from the side.

“Lord Karnak has always been skilled at reading the traces of darkness.”

There was precedent, after all.

During the witch hunt, hadn’t Karnak saved the people by detecting the traces of necromancy that no one else had noticed?

“You can trust Lord Karnak’s words. I vouch for him.”

He was a man of loyalty, once he decided to trust someone.

Serati, on the other hand, could only apologize inwardly.

‘I’m so sorry, Mr. Alius!’

Karnak then persuaded the priests to abandon the temple.

Naturally, they resisted at first, but Karnak’s eloquence won them over.

He had no talent for understanding people.

But he certainly had a talent for stirring them up.

“All the servants of the goddess must rise and deliver divine punishment upon that sinful count’s castle!”

It wasn’t about abandoning the temple. It was about launching a full-scale attack.

That was his argument.

Of course, the priests still had trouble accepting it.

“But… But…”

“How can we allow the holy temple to be trampled by those filthy cultists?”

“Which is why we must act quickly!”

Before the cultists could defile the temple, they needed to set the castle ablaze, forcing the cultists to return to defend it.

“…Is that so?”

It sounded reasonable. And yet… not quite.

“What about the cultists we’ve captured?”

“We can hide them in a barn for the time being.”

“But what if they’re found?”

“If their home is burning down, will they really have time to rescue their comrades?”

Of course, Karnak didn’t mention that fighting meant certain death. Saying that would only make them seem afraid of losing their lives, which would have the opposite effect.

In the end, the priests were completely swayed.

And so, they quietly left the temple at night, setting the castle ablaze and shattering the necromantic barrier.

“Oh Saisha, strike down my enemies!”

Even though holy power was weaker compared to magic or aura, there was nothing better than priests and holy spells when dealing with necromancy.

Holy light struck the necromantic barrier at every point.

Each time, the barrier shattered, and dark energy dispersed into the air.

Even the soldiers were busy at work.

“Set it on fire!”

“Destroy the cultists’ evil altars!”

There was no battle to be fought. Hudel had taken all his forces with him.

What was there to stop them in an empty village and an empty castle?

Serati alone found it a little strange.

“This is odd.”

She hadn’t expected it to be this empty.

“I thought they’d at least leave some minimal defense.”

Naturally, Karnak nodded in agreement.

“I would have done the same.”

Though he didn’t understand people’s minds, he knew the minds of necromancers all too well.

Especially those trying to flee after being caught using necromancy—he could read their intentions like the back of his hand.

“If they’re planning to run anyway, why would they care about the castle? They just use it one last time and discard it.”

But now, they wouldn’t even get to use it that “one last time.” So now, the cultists had only one option left.

Looking in the direction of the Saisha Temple, Karnak smiled brightly.

“They must be rushing back in a panic.”

***

A river must always flow steadily. If it flows backward, it just becomes a filthy stream.

Hudel’s forces were in utter disarray as they retreated.

On their way to the temple, they had surged forward with the momentum of a dark river, but now they were rushing back, their ranks in shambles and their pace chaotic.

Zombies, ghouls, cultists, and necromancers were all mixed together, creating a cacophony of footsteps.

At the front of the line, Hudel gritted his teeth.

“Damn those bastards!”

As time passed, the dark power that had imbued his followers was weakening.

This was proof that the necromantic barriers set up in village were being destroyed in real-time.

The dark power he had painstakingly gathered over the years was slipping away into the void.

And that wasn’t the only problem. Flames were rising from the castle, where the precious altars were located.

Those altars were essential for offering sacrifices and gaining greater power.

If the altars were lost, even if he captured the priests, he would be stuck in the territory for several more days. It would take that long to rebuild the altars.

This would inevitably lead to an encounter with the Evil Slaying Brigade and the Imperial army, and the outcome of that would not be pleasant.

Hudel kept urging his cultists forward.

“Run faster!”

Eventually, they reached the outskirts of the village.

Standing at the village entrance, the cultists scanned their surroundings.

No matter how urgent the situation was, they couldn’t afford to rush in recklessly. No doubt, the soldiers from Saisha Temple would be lying in ambush.

As they cautiously approached the castle, a thick fog suddenly began to roll in.

Ssshhh…

The entire area was quickly blanketed in a dense fog, obscuring their vision.

The mage Kamiros frowned.

“It seems the enemy is using magic fog.”

“It appears so. But why?”

Were they trying to make them lose their way?

If so, it was a foolish tactic.

Hudel and the cultists were all natives of this land.The village was their home.

They wouldn’t get lost just because the fog was thick.

The problem was that this was the same mistake Kamiros had made just a few days earlier.

No matter how foolish they were, it didn’t make sense for them to repeat the same mistake that their enemy had just made.

Ancent offered another guess.

“Could they be planning to ambush us by limiting our vision?”

“That’s also…”

Hudel’s expression was uncertain.

In large-scale open-field battles, using fog for ambush tactics was a known strategy.

But this was the village. If a battle broke out, it would be urban warfare.

If they couldn’t see, then their enemies wouldn’t be able to see either. How could limiting their vision with fog benefit the temple’s forces?

‘I don’t understand, but I can’t think of any other explanation.’

They strengthened their vigilance and continued toward the count’s castle.

“Prepare for an ambush! They may be lying in wait!”

They carefully scanned their surroundings.

The temple’s soldiers could be hiding in the alleyways.

The windows and rooftops of the buildings were also areas of concern.

They might launch arrows from above.

Just as they were about to enter the western plaza of the village…

Their enemies had indeed been lying in wait. But Hudel and the cultists had never imagined where.

They had been underground.

Aaaaaaah!

With eerie wails, countless wraiths burst forth from the ground.

The zombies, ghouls, and other undead were caught in the wraiths’ attack and began to crumble at a terrifying rate.

The panicked cultists fell into chaos.

“Was it a trap?”

“That can’t be!”

“This is necromancy!”

How could there be a necromancer among the goddesses’ allies? And even if there were, how could they use necromancy in a situation like this?

“That’s impossible! The priests would be watching with their eyes wide open…!”

At that moment, Hudel’s words were cut off.

Come to think of it, the thick fog was still all around them.

Whether their eyes were wide open or not, it didn’t matter if they couldn’t see anything.

“Damn it!”