Monarch of Death

Chapter 62 – The Hunt of the Wise Cultist (3)

Even after taking over the 7th Battalion, Karnak’s reputation continued to rise. It was because of his superior performance compared to other King’s Orders. Taking on a single case took a long time for other battalions.

Of course, there were cases where they ended quickly, as in the case of Count Vreeland, but due to their duties, that was close to bad luck, so it was not something to be liked. It was because the opponent attacked first and luckily succeeded in counterattacking. However, Karnak caught the cultists very quickly.

Besides, the information was also well extracted. And based on that information, it was easy to clean up. So, in the beginning, some people suspected he was a cultist spy. However, after reading the report, such doubts were also dismissed.

According to the report, this was also done through diligent speculation and interrogation. It was just that he was better at reasoning than others and was good at extracting information through torture and then determining the truth. Naturally, Barros snorted.

“Yeah, it’s just that you know the answer first and adjust the situation, so you must be seen as having excellent reasoning skills.”

Serati’s reaction was equally as surprised.

“You’ve never been interrogated before.”

All he did was kill him, call his soul with necromancy, and force him to blow information. Karnak was proud.

“Even if you go to Moro, it’s the destination, but it’s enough if you arrive safely, what?”

In any case, the apostle hunt was progressing steadily. Even after Karnak became captain, he took on five more cultist charges and dealt with them admirably. It was no exaggeration to say that everything was going smoothly. However, Karnak was feeling dissatisfied.

“This, spiritual achievements are not there?”

»»————-　★　————-««
Asura is a border fortress located in the southeastern part of the Yutseel Kingdom. A scream echoed from the basement of the tower located in the center of the fortress.

“Aaaaaagh!”

Ratiel’s priest, Milia, who was hanging around at the entrance to the basement, shuddered.

“Aaaaaaaaa……”

She knew it in her head. To protect the kingdom’s subjects, they had to interrogate the cultists to obtain information. And that torture was inevitably necessary in the process.

Considering the crimes they committed, it was no different from a reasonable punishment. Still, she couldn’t help but shudder whenever she heard a scream.

“Aaaagh!”

Fortunately, Captain Karnak did not allow Milia to participate in the interrogation process. He was considerate of her, who was still young and even a woman.

‘As expected, the captain is a good person.’

Deeply grateful to Karnak, Milia walked away from the basement. Like a dutiful priest, she muttered a final prayer for the cultists.

‘Ratiel, grant the rest of the atonement to that sinful soul.’

»»————-　★　————-««
In a dark cellar, where swaying candles gave off a faint glow, Karnak sat at a table in one corner of the basement, busy filling out paperwork. This cultist hunt was a report to submit to the King’s Order. A groan was heard from the other side.

“Hah,haaa…….”

The man, covered in blood all over, was tied up and hung. He was a captured necromancer. In front of him, Barros sat down on a chair and made a bored expression, then stabbed him with a knife from time to time.

“Huh huh, haaaaa…….”

He was tortured so severely that even though he had been stabbed with a knife, only faint screams came out. Barros clicked his tongue.

“This scream is too small. Is your energy exhausted?”

As if it was nothing, Karnak muttered.

“Poke and turn.”

Indeed, after stabbing it with a knife and even digging it out, loud screams erupted.

“Aaaagh!”

Serati trembled as she saw the sight of people being tortured as if it were no big deal.

‘It’s a sight I can’t adapt to no matter how I look at it.’

It was true that Karnak had never interrogated a cultist. The interrogation was an act to pressure the opponent into spitting out information. But that was not to say that there was no torture. The necromancer, who had been bleeding, grieved.

“Cha, I’d rather kill……”

Barros replied calmly.

“I just want to kill quickly. Do you know if you like it?”

They were successful in gently coaxing Milia out of the basement, but it was not until they gave her the opportunity to do the interrogation. However, even after declining, she should have heard screams outside the basement for a while.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

Serati looked away. She understood that this person was once human, too. This was only a light punishment considering the evil this person had done to others.

‘No, is this a causal retribution? Are you crushing bad deeds with even greater evil?’

However, it was a bit ambiguous to stop Karnak. Thanks to this, the cultists of the Dark Church were quickly wiped out, and many kingdom citizens who were about to be sacrificed unjustly were saved. It seemed clear that the means were wrong, but the results were outstanding.

‘Yes, it’s just their own business.’

Trying to understand, she approached Karnak. He was writing down plausible excuses for how he had found the cultists. Serati, feeling curious, asked.

“What excuse are you going to make this time?”

Infamous Scans

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Instead of answering, Karnak pointed to some of the documents. When he read it, the contents were like this.

[“One of the cultists used a forbidden technique to gain more powerful dark power. It’s called ‘The Cursed Hand’, and it’s an evil necromancy art that cuts off human hands, dries them, and uses them as a medium to cast curses in darkness. After luckily obtaining this, I was able to follow the trail with magic and find out their base…”]

Serati, who was reading the documents, was puzzled.

“Cursed hands? Was there such a thing?”

Then, Barros immediately cut off the right hand of the necromancer who was tied up.

“Aaaaaagh!”

Blood gushed out with screams. Shaking off his severed right hand, he held it out without hesitation.

“Done, young master. A cursed hand.”

“Drain some more blood. That way it dries out well.”

“Yes.”

Serati, who had been watching, nodded in agreement.

“Ah, I guess you can do that.”

And was immediately frustrated.

“Wait, why am I still accepting such a sight?”

Her personality seemed to have worn off quite a bit as she hung out with these non-human beings. This was why it was said that she should make friends well. That was while Serati was drowning in self-loathing. Eventually, the necromancer’s breath stopped. It was blood loss due to excessive bleeding.

She heard Barros’ voice.

“Oh, he’s dead.”

“Did he scream a lot and die?”

“Yes, young master.”

“Okay, then.”

It was a really dull voice. Anyway, now that the ‘pretending to interrogate’ was over, it’s time to get to the main point. Standing in front of the corpse, Karnak raised his command power. It was a dark energy that could be detected by a competent cleric, but he didn’t care.

The necromancer who was tied up died anyway, spreading the energy of darkness everywhere. Since it was energy sourced from the darkness of the end, it had the same commanding power and attributes as Karnak. No priest would be able to tell the difference between the two unless they saw this scene in person.

“Now then, let’s extract the information.”

»»————-　★　————-««
Performed necromancy and summoned the spirit of a bored necromancer who had just died. And it oppressed the soul, making everything blow. It was not an easy task even for a powerful necromancer, but it was a very simple task for Karnak, who was a necromancer.

“Tell me everything you know about the Church of the Black God and Tesnarak, the god of death.”

“I will do as you command, Lord of the Dead. Please do what you want……”

When he was alive, he was a necromancer who even rebelled, but now that he became a soul, he was just a faithful slave. He just blew all the information into pieces. But there was nothing really useful about it.

Clearly, the spirit of the necromancer was sincere and completely uttered what he knew. It was a problem because the content was like this.

“What is Tesnarak’s true identity?”

“He is a god of destruction and darkness and a creator god who changes the world and ushers in a new order.”

“Tell us the truth that the Church of the Black God knows, not the external propagation.”

“He is a god of destruction and darkness and a creator god who changes the world and ushers in a new order.”

“Damn it, this guy really believes this too.”

Since the captive wasn’t very high-ranking in the Church of the Black God, he didn’t know anything about them. Besides, when he thought about it, it wasn’t particularly strange.

If he held on to the priest of the 7 Goddess Church and asked the same question, do you think the answer will be significantly different? Human cognition of divine existence was limited initially to that extent. But that’s only when Tesnarak was an ordinary god.

“A god that didn’t even exist suddenly appeared. Didn’t you ever think it was strange?”

“Since both death and darkness have existed since the beginning, how could a god suddenly appear? It’s just that the one who existed from the beginning and the foolish human didn’t know.”

“Oh, do you teach like that?”

It only took too little. No one knew the truth about Tesnarak.

“As expected, you need to have a higher status in the cult to know the truth.”

Thanks to catching several cultists, he was able to understand the Church of the Black God to some extent. Three chiefs governed the Dark Church. There were 6 cardinals under him, 13 archbishops, and dozens of branch heads in each region to manage the branch office.

The priests of Tesnarak that he had caught so far were secretly under the branch manager. At the level of the branch manager, they hid themselves so well that even the priests of Tesnarak couldn’t tell who his superiors were or where they lived. There was no case to know.

Barros, watching from the side, said, “At least we need to capture the branch manager so we can get useful information.”

“I know. That way, we can track it down a little higher.”

With a disgruntled face, Karnak reaped his power.

“That’s it. This guy has no nutritional value either.”

The spirit of the necromancer became the dark contraption and changed into his power.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

The soul that could not find rest even after death let out a final cry, but Karnak, Barros, and even Serati did not pay attention. It was not something they had seen once or twice before. With a sigh, Karnak complained.

“I deliberately entered the King’s Order, but things still aren’t going well.”

Barros also had an expression of sympathy.

“It would be nice if a big guy like an archbishop or a cardinal would bet on it.”

Serati shook her head.

“That’s the sound of a serious incident happening, but you can’t hope that will happen, right? Innocent people will be sacrificed that much.”

Then Karnak and Barros looked back at her curiously.

“Ah, there is such a point of view.”

“As expected, it seems like a human being to speak like that here, right?”

“I learned something good.”

It was Serati who watched the absolutes of yesteryear as if she were pathetic.

“……Is this something that I have to learn to know?”

In any case, it was true that something big must happen. Only then would there be room to dig into the center of the cult. Karnak touched his chin.

“Are you sure you don’t want a really big incident to happen?”

»»————-　★　————-««
The wish came true.

The King’s Order Headquarters, the office of Captain Erantel. From there, a new order was issued to Karnak and the 7th Battalion.

“I heard a rumor that there is a collision with the Dark Church in the capital city of Drunta.”

Why was the leader’s voice awkward? It wasn’t his usual confident, dignified voice.

So Karnak dared to ask.

“Who is the suspect?”

“So that’s……”

Captain Erantel replied in a voice with a hint of hesitation.

“……The second prince of the Yusteel Kingdom, His Highness Alford Rudan Yusteel.”

[To be continued.]

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