Death King Karnak Novel - Chapter 16
Death King Karnak
4. The Harbinger of Destruction (3)
The person who actually managed the copper mine in the Zestrad Territory was Tekkas Sanghe. They are responsible for most of the mining, refining, and distribution. However, the Zestrad family did not sit back and live on unearned income.
Because it was located deep in the northern part of the Jaden Mountains, all kinds of monsters and ferocious beasts used to appear around the mine. Protecting the safety of the miners from this danger and securing the way was the main task of the Zestrad family.
It was in a forest west of the Copper Mine, and about ten soldiers were currently fighting.
“They’re coming!”
“Stay in line!”
The magic beasts attacked the soldiers. At first glance, it looked like a large gray wolf, but it was a snarl, a beast with unusually long teeth and claws. A group of snarls roared as they surrounded the soldiers.
Raargh!
The soldiers shouted as they maintained their defense with their shields.
“Hold on!”
“Stick out the spears!”
Sharp claws scratch the shield. The blade of the spear flashed and cut through the air. Blood spattered, and the monster’s scream shook the forest.
Kuaaaa!
The soldiers burst into cheers.
“Killed one!”
“Wake up! There’s still a lot left!”
Barros was filled with admiration as he watched the battle.
“Hey. Everyone fighting well?”
A snarl’s physical ability wasn’t much different from ordinary wolves. They were classified as demonic beasts because of the deadly poison in their teeth and claws. It was challenging to deal with as the whole body was paralyzed just by coming in contact with it.
‘In the past, a group of snarls could kill many of us.’
But now, most of the soldiers were dealing with the snarls quite well. It wasn’t that the average skill of the soldiers had increased a lot.
‘It’s nice to have more money.’
It was thanks to the income from the mine that the level of armor in the territory had improved significantly. During the days before the copper mine, even knights had to wear armor that was a mix of chain mail and plate mail.
The soldiers wore cheap leather armor, and in addition to that, some of them only carried spears and shields. On the other hand, all soldiers were now wearing a combination of chain mail, steel arms, and leg guards.
The knights were wearing full plate mail and even steel gauntlets, which were said to be very expensive. The risk of getting poisoned was greatly reduced even when scratched by teeth and claws, and it enabled them to fight bravely!
“Die, you demons!”
“Come on, you motherfuckers! Now we don’t even have to worry about being bitten. That’s what I mean!”
“No, it’s not that you can’t get bitten! If they properly bite with their teeth, your armor will be pierced.”
It was a fight where Barros laughed at the sight of the soldiers engaging in melee.
One soldier hurriedly burst out a shout.
“Sir Barros!”
One of the Snarls attacked him as if it was aiming for him.
The magic beast, who had narrowed the distance in an instant, aimed at Barros’s head and swung his forepaw.
It was then.
A sword light flashed, and the Snarl that was going to attack him had his head fly in the air.
The soldiers’ eyes widened with excitement.
‘What?’
‘What the hell just happened?’
It wasn’t even that he performed some fancy swordsmanship.
He just took a step and moved his shoulder, but before everyone knew it, the blade was on the other side. They couldn’t even see the cutting action.
Shaking off the blood on his sword, Barros bowed his head respectfully.
“It almost got dangerous. Thank you, Mr. Guillemin.”
“Ah, yes…”
A soldier called Guillemin made a dazed expression and shook his head hurriedly.
“Mister, no. Aren’t you a knight now? Please speak with ease. Sir Barros.”
Barros laughed as he scratched the back of his head with a naive face.
“It hasn’t been long since you became appointed as a knight, and how come you squeak like an Oldman? That’s even weirder.”
Barros was recently formally appointed as a knight. Karnak directly appointed him by using his authority as the Lord. There was absolutely no opposition. He was very talented, made a lot of contributions while protecting the territory, and showed exemplary behavior.
Looking at it right now, why was there no sign of boasting despite such an amazing move? The other soldiers who vividly remembered Barros’s childhood were full of admiration.
‘To have such strength at such a young age and yet be so humble.’
‘Is he really that Crazy Barros?”
‘People can really change that much.’
In fact, it was such an insignificant opponent that there was no perception of it as something to brag about, but there was no difference on the surface. Meanwhile, Barros took care of the remaining snarls.
Kwak!
Eventually, the last one died shouting in agony while spraying blood all over the ground.
“I’ve got it all covered.”
The soldiers started to follow suit.
The skin of the monster and its teeth and claws are sold at a fairly high price as a catalyst for magic. Collecting teeth is also a good side income for soldiers. Meanwhile, Barros’s assistant and a veteran soldier, Toluyl, approached and greeted him.
“Thank you for your hard work. Sir Barros.”
“You guys have been through a lot.”
“Though I was really worried, it seems a snarl isn’t much of a powerful beast.”
“Is that so?”
“You’ve become at least twice as strong as before. Didn’t Sir Barros feel it?”
Barros made a sullen expression, “How do I know if they are weak or I’m strong?”
The first time he encountered a Snarl in his previous life was when he was running away with Karnak, who had learned necromancy. Since he was just a kid who didn’t know anything, it was pretty natural for him to think that Snarl was some kind of beast from hell.
Afterward, when he faced a Snarl again, he had already become a Death Knight. They exploded to death just by pointing the finger at them.
‘Since the gap was so big at that time, I couldn’t tell whether these guys were strong or weak.’
Of course, he couldn’t talk like that openly, so he quietly turned his words around.
“Aren’t I the one who didn’t even dare to fight like this until recently? I don’t know because I don’t have much experience like you.”
“That’s right,” Toluyl was convinced and continued, “It’s certain that the appearances of the demons have changed. But Lord Barros is also so strong, and with the increase in our armor level, we just dealt with them without much difficulty.”
This was not limited to the northern part of the Yu Steel Kingdom. The appearance of monsters and demons was becoming more and more frequent across the continent, and the danger was growing day by day.
“The rumors seem to be true.”
Barros’ expression became serious. He had also heard of the rumors Toluyl mentioned just now.
“That… didn’t the oracle of the goddess prophesize the world would be destroyed?”
A few years ago, an incident turned all religious groups on the continent upside down. The great goddesses who protected the world and humankind gave the same prophecy to the seven churches.
That is the darkness that erases the light and death that takes away life.
The tribulation will come.
The wrong beast will get the wrong strength, and the dead will rise again and walk on the unclean earth.
Let the Death King descend and wash the world in blood and tears.
This will soon be the end that will bring total destruction.
Upon hearing the prophecy of ruin, all the priests were horrified. And after secretly notifying this fact to each country on the continent, they worked hard to prepare for the tribulation.
Indeed, abnormalities began to occur across the continent after that.
The outbreak of monsters became more frequent, the appearance of necromancers using the forbidden powers became more frequent, and ordinary people were stained with darkness, committed evil deeds, and disturbed the world’s peace.
At first, they tried to hide the existence of the prophecy and deal with it in secret. It was to prevent people from getting panicked and confused. But it was a secret that could not be hidden for long.
As the confusion grew, all sorts of rumors began to circulate. In the end, the seven churches had to announce the prophecy of the goddess.
『At this rate, the world will be destroyed! Fight against the end in the name of the goddess! 』
The Prophecy of Ruin struck the entire continent rapidly, so rumors eventually reached the rural side estate of Zestrad Manor.
The Office in Zestrad Mansion
Barros and Karnak put their heads together, frowning.
“What is this, Young Master? There was no such thing as a prophecy in the past.”
“None.”
“Since the copper mine was the same, why does the past keep changing?”
Karnak shook his head with a serious expression, “I don’t know. There is too little information to draw conclusions.”
“…Doesn’t it have something to do with you, Young Master?” Barros asked doubtfully.
Was the tribulation coming? Would the dead be resurrected? The Death King would wash the world in blood and tears? Was the world on the road to ruin?
“Isn’t this totally what we did?”
“Doesn’t it look a little like that to you?”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t had similar thoughts.
“But the timing is not right. We came back only a year ago.”
The goddess’ oracle was given a few years ago. They didn’t know the exact time, but it was much earlier than when the two returned.
“I think it was 4-5 years ago.”
It was roughly similar to the time when the copper mine, which didn’t even exist before, suddenly surfaced. Maybe this had something to do with it too.
“Thanks to you, I now know why Sir Randolph’s matter was so easily overlooked.”
A few years ago, people who encountered necromancy often came out from all over the continent. And they weren’t just included the wronged poor people or back-alley criminals.
It was getting more and more frequent that normal knights, wizards, and sometimes even high-ranking nobles were found corrupted and used the power of darkness.
“That’s why they seemed to conclude that the incident related to Sir Randolph was also a common occurrence.”
“That’s fortunate for us, but…”
Barros asked with a worried expression, “Isn’t it necessary to find out the cause of this situation? The world is about to end!”
Even if it was a situation that had nothing to do with them, the fact that the situation itself was grandiose remained unchanged.
“What’s the point if the world itself is ruined and when I finally managed to return to being a living human and save my life?”
“I’m worried too, but is there no other way right now?”
Karnak snapped and asked again, “What to do in the current situation? Let’s go to the 7 Goddess Church, which is said to have been given the prophecy?”
“Are you confident that you won’t be discovered thanks to chaos magic?”
“And what’ll I say to them? We’re space-time regressors, so we know a little about the future, but history has changed now. Please tell us why. Should I ask them like this?”
Barros’ shoulders dropped.
“Well, that doesn’t sound like much.”
Silence passed for a moment.
The first thing to break the silence was Karnak’s timid voice.
“Is it really a big problem? The goddesses even warned us to prepare for destruction.”
“Isn’t it? Can the world be destroyed so easily? Young Master, you only succeeded because you secretly developed your strength and pushed hard.”
“Even then, how hard did we work to conquer the world? Conquering the world was not easy.”
“It was really formidable. The 3 Archmages, the 4th King Mu, and the Dragon Emperor Grateria.”
The Ex-Death King and the Ex-Death Knight looked at each other and smiled.
“Will they be able to take care of it?”
“Not a chance. Could the death king be as vicious as the young master?”
It had been decided.
Let’s believe in the power of the world! The great mankind will surely do well and overcome the tribulation well! The great dragons, the great fairies, and, well, the great, etc., will surely join forces! So, let’s not care and take care of ourselves and live a fulfilling life!
……Yes, even though it’s embarrassing.
“Ah, young master, I’m getting worried…….”
‘This, I think I’ll get fucked if I ignore this.”
No matter how much they lived in the manor, it wasn’t so easy to avoid the storms of the world. The prophecy of ruin also had an effect on Baron Zestrad in the northern countryside.
One day, about a month after the rumor spread, priests from the Church of Ratiel, the goddess of the sun, came to the territory and asked for their cooperation.
“A serious situation has been discovered in which a necromancer secretly working with the Earl of Chad fled here to your territory. He appears to be hiding near the Jaden Mountains, so we seek your cooperation, Baron Karnak.”
Karnak readily agreed, “How could I refuse the goddess’s request?”
The Church of Ratiel’s only request was to borrow a few local guides who were familiar with the nearby geography. That job required little effort but could make a considerable contribution. There was no reason to refuse, and it was an excellent opportunity for Karnak as an individual.
‘Good. If we catch him, we can get a clue.’
[To be continued.]
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