Death King Karnak Novel - Chapter 18

Death King Karnak

5. Darkness of the End (2)

Fred was making his way through the dark bushes.

‘I have to avoid mountain roads.’

After taking it a few times, he discovered that no matter how stupid he was, if he followed the mountain road, he would eventually catch up with the pursuit party. But it couldn’t be considered a wise move.

Getting off the road in a dark forest was a dangerous act. Especially when the only thing he knew was to summon evil spirits, his physical abilities were no different from those of ordinary people.

He couldn’t even be stupid. If he followed the road, wouldn’t they get him anyway? Right now, he didn’t have a choice. Through the rough forest, he found a place where he could barely set foot and kept moving.

The good news was that by using evil spirits, he could at least deal with the bushes blocking his way.

“Destroy!”

An evil spirit rose and swept away all the obstacles before him. After making the way, Fred took a heavy step.

‘If I can get out of here…….’

His body was exhausted from continuously using his physical strength and command power that even his mind was blurred from all that cold and hunger.

Like a zombie, he muttered blankly, “It’s only this place…… I just need to get out of here…….”

Karnak and Baros were running through the forest.

“He went this way.”

After accurately finding the route of Fred’s escape, they immediately followed it without getting lost. And there was a reason for that.

“Tsk tsk, you shouldn’t use necromancy recklessly when running away.”

Even if he concentrated his mind a little, he could feel the traces left by the evil spirits. Ordinary people wouldn’t notice, but that impressive milestone was nothing for Karnak.

“That’s why Ratiel’s priests followed us all the way to our territory.”

With this level of command power, it’s not difficult to grasp, even from the clergy’s point of view. It couldn’t be considered impressive, but it’s a fairly obvious trace.

“Well, you may not even know that.”

It was a double-edged sword for him to criticize Fred for being stupid because he had also made the same mistake in the past. This area was the same place where Karnak and Barros fled in their previous lives. And now, another necromancer was running around that place.

“This doesn’t look like anyone else’s business.”

That man’s story reminded them of their past and made them feel nostalgic. If Karnak had been empathetic enough to feel that way, he wouldn’t have learned the evil techniques such as necromancy in the first place.

“It’s not much like other people’s business, but I guess I’ll roughly know where I’m going to run away.”

Karnak asked while examining the nearby geography.

“If we go a little further in this direction, won’t we reach there?”

Baros nodded as if he understood the meaning.

“Oh, was it there?”

There was a cliff with a crack on the side of the stream about 10 minutes away. The cracks were zig-zag, so even when a fire was lit, the light did not leak out, and it was a well-ventilated hideout.

Karnak smiled, “It’s a place you can’t miss if you’re a fugitive shivering in the cold.”

Like the two of them from that time, Fred was also exhausted from cold and hunger. The desire to light a fire and feel the warmth had reached desperation. But he couldn’t light a fire carelessly. The lights at midnight were visible from a really far distance. Even so, it wasn’t easy to warm up the body by burning black flames with necromancy.

It’s the same as the phrase meaning warming up by doing push-ups instead of lighting a fire. Your body would warm up for a while, but it would also increase the energy consumed.

How could such a great hideaway be ignored under these circumstances?

“He will be hiding here until sunrise. Just like us back then.”

“What if he misses it and walks past it?”

“At that time, we’ll just track him again. There’s nothing to lose by checking.”

“I guess so.”

The location of the cliff was already known. Both of them walked faster and faster.

“Let’s hurry. Before the unlucky man gets caught by the priests first.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

A bonfire was burning in a cramped crevice on the cliff.

Crick crick…….

Beyond the flickering light, Fred was lying there straight and sleeping, having a happy dream for the time being. In his dream, those who were arrogant as nobles were screaming and dying.

“Aaaargh!”

The beauties who normally wouldn’t even look at him were begging for their lives, saying they would do anything.

“H-help me!”

He was consumed. Should he enjoy and kill or just kill?

“Uhahaha…….”

Fred smiled in his sleep. It was a really happy moment for him. How nice would it be if those days came back? Then, he heard the voice that shattered his dream.

“Oh, he’s really here, young master.”

“Did he not put up a surveillance barrier around him? He got some guts.”

Fred opened his eyes and was startled.

“W-Who are you?”

The voice came out from the other side of the crevice in the cliff.

“Could it be that he just doesn’t know how to do it?”

“Sure. Aren’t you a properly educated person?”

He had fallen asleep.

‘Aren’t I being chased?’

Fred was so frightened and ran outside. The back of this cliff crevice is blocked. If you get stuck here, you won’t even be able to escape. As he hurriedly approached the stream, the two men glared at him with unconcerned expressions.

“He looks better than I thought, young master?”

“There’s no way that a necromancer has to look like a terrible monster.”

“Didn’t you look like some blue-eyed skull gourd?”

“Hey! That’s because you were a muscular man with a green body?”

“I mean, we were both terrible monsters.”

“So I mean, he’s no big deal. Just because a necromancer looks good doesn’t mean he’s weak, right?”

Fred was confused. He couldn’t understand their conversation at all.

“What are you guys doing like that?”

“What is it?”

Karnak laughed.

“We’re the ones who came to catch you.”

That was indeed the case. Couldn’t others have some other business with him in the current situation?

“How dare you guys!”

The ridiculed Fred summoned the darkness in anger.

“Come out, demon!”

The darkness condensed and transformed into two evil spirits. But he didn’t attack right away. It was because of a strange, ominous feeling.

“Shit! What are these guys, and why do you feel this way?”

Baros stepped forward as he drew his sword.

“Can you handle it?”

“Yes. Let’s also consider it practice for now.”

Karnak raised his right index finger and made a light circle.

“A sword that strikes the spiritual body, the spell blade.”

Barros’s blade began to glow a faint white light. It was magic that made it possible to cut a supernatural being like a ghost. Magicians could also do similar tricks as the priests, although it wasn’t as powerful as them.

Of course, Karnak’s was a little different,

“How does it feel? Isn’t it like magic?”

“It’s similar, but something is different.”

To be precise, it was chaos magic that had the same effect as the Spell Blade. It looked the same, but the technique and mana management were slightly different.

“It’s more like a priest’s blessing, right? But it doesn’t feel divine at all.”

“How do you know when you’ve never received a blessing?

“You’ve seen how boring it is for others to receive it. You can make a rough comparison.”

“I see. Does the reimbursement mechanism make it more like a divine spell than magic? This is kind of strange.”

Fred calmly examined the situation. He still couldn’t understand their conversation, but one thing was sure.

“Was it a wizard…….”

Just as priests instinctively recognize necromancy, necromancers can also instinctively recognize divine power. He didn’t feel any divine power from that cheeky young guy.

“If they aren’t the dogs of the goddess…….”

For a moment, a light of relief flashed across Fred’s face.

Unless he was a priest.

He had already killed several ordinary knights and wizards! Fred, whose confidence had returned, exclaimed triumphantly.

“Haha, that’s ridiculous! Do two guys dare to deal with this master?”

The two just laughed after that.

“Wow, so embarrassing. Where did you learn to talk like that?”

“Young Master, is that your old way of talking?”

“Have I been like that before?”

“It’s very similar to you. Does one become like that after learning necromancy?”

“……Shut up and catch him.”

Fred scolded as he glared at the two men who were vibrating with arrogance.

“Go, demons! Kill them all!”

Evil spirits roar and fly from side to side.

Aaaaaah!

While grasping the location, Barros raised his sword and took a stance.

He attacked the right side first.

“Haa!”

With a short breath, he stabbed and immediately cut it up diagonally, and he then split the body in half after striking!

Swish!

It couldn’t do anything with his rampaging, and one of the evil spirits disappeared as it was.

“It’s easy.”

Barros did not stop at that. With the momentum of defeating the evil spirits, he charged at the one on the left without further ado. It was when the evil spirit puffed up and tried to cover him with darkness.

“Hiya!”

With a snort, Barros quickly cast a two-tiered slash.

Two crescent moons lit up, and the evil spirit was instantly torn to pieces. It was Leven Strauss’ swordsmanship, Overkill. Barros looked down at his hands and licked his lips.

“Yeah, I got used to it from when I was teaching the young master during practice.”

Fred’s eyes opened wide with shock.

“My demons, so easily?”

He got nervous and summoned the darkness again.

“I only got too overconfident at that time and messed up! But my strength doesn’t amount to only this much!”

Huge darkness covered the entire stream, spreading an unusual aura.

“Come! My servants!”

Once again, countless evil spirits appeared here and there. There were about a few dozen in number.

“Is it them again? He’s a nobleman with a meager repertoire.”

This time, Karnak also joined the battle. Barros jumped into the group of evil spirits and stabbed and slashed continuously without hesitation.

“Haa! Kuaagh!”

In the gap, Karnak’s magic continues.

“Fire, condense, and explode.”

The fireball beat and burned the evil spirits continuously…….

“The roar of the sky flows to the earth.”

Thunderbolts dance and tear apart the darkness.

Bang! Bang! Kaboom!

As his rampaging continued, the number of evil spirits started to decrease slowly. Barros nodded in admiration after he stopped swinging his sword.

“Oh, it’s just like a real wizard. Young Master.”

Karnak also laughed with great satisfaction.

“Isn’t it? You can’t tell the difference, right?”

Fred’s expression hardened even more.

‘Ah, these guys are strong…….’

He realized only then that no matter how many evil spirits were summoned, there was no way they could oppose them. He had to summon a more powerful being.

‘Damn it, once you use it, the aftereffects are severe!’

If he didn’t do anything, he would get caught like that. Fred, who had made up his mind, put on a devil-like expression.

“Okay! I’ll show you guys the true power of death!”

He raised both hands above his head, and his eyes started glowing red.

“Kneel before the great darkness!”

“Wow, that way of talking is the same as that of the young master…….”

“Shut up, Barros.”

“Yes!”

A gray evil spirit appeared with a terrible howl. It was the strongest spirit that Fred could command, the Wraith.

Kyaaaaaa!

As expected, they seemed to be nervous as well. Barros stepped back and spoke seriously.

“That’s still beyond my capabilities.”

Karnak had a similar expression.

“It’s impossible, even with my magic. At our current level, we could do only that much.”

Seeing both of them step back, Fred shouted arrogantly.

“Even if you come and ask for forgiveness, it’s too late! Go, demon!”

According to the order, the race cut through the darkness and stretched out a gray shape.

Kaaaaaaa!

The deafening cry shook the heavens and the earth. Terrible negative energy and fraud were scattered everywhere. It was a terrible sight as if death itself had manifested. In an instant, the wraith flew right before Karnak’s eyes.

It was at that moment.

“Hey.”

Karnak frowned while staring at the evil spirit called wraith.

“Kneel down.”

The wraith crawled on the floor just as it flew.

Kaaaaa…….

As if prostrating before a king, it meekly knelt before Karnak. No, it had no knees, so it would be more accurate to say that its lower body seemed crushed and laid on the ground.

Fred’s mouth fell open.

“W-What the, how come?”

[To be continued.]