Chapter 142
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
Chapter 142: Gathdal the Chosen (3)
***
After giving the order to kill a man named Victor, Freize headed to the annex.
Originally, it was the meditation room of the previous duke, her father, but now the entire annex was being used as Gathdal’s research lab.
Freize opened the door to the annex and stepped inside.
The place, which was once empty and desolate when it was used as a meditation room, was now filled with all sorts of potions and corpses.
“You’re back.”
Gathdal said, looking back at Freize.
Unfittingly for this gruesome place, Gathdal was wearing a neat suit.
“Can you wait a moment? I was just about to inject the refined memories.”
In front of Gathdal was a large glass tank.
The glass tank was filled with an unidentified fluorescent green liquid. And inside it floated the body of a middle-aged man.
The man’s body was not intact.
Half of his face was covered with a metal plate, and his arms and legs were attached from other people. His torso was covered with intricate dark magic circles.
It was a horribly mismatched figure, but Freize looked at the body with a face full of longing.
She couldn’t help it. That body was none other than her father.
Duke Adrian.
The first Sword Master to be born in the Almond Dukedom.
He was a knight known for his powerful swordsmanship that could split mountains in two.
It was all thanks to her father that the duchy was able to be promoted to a country.
However, a few years ago, Duke Adrian passed away from a sudden illness.
After her father’s death, a swarm of hyenas gathered to devour the country.
The authority of the country was greatly shaken, and they began to seize various rights one by one with all sorts of schemes.
If Dominico, who was her father’s disciple, had not risen to the High Class, the country would have completely collapsed.
“…As you said, I ordered Dominico to kill that man.”
“Thank you for doing me a favor.”
It was a tone that was not at all grateful. Freize stared at Gathdal and asked.
“Why don’t you do it yourself? With your skills, you can easily take care of him.”
“You know very well. If I step in, I can easily kill a man like that.”
“Then why…”
“It was ominous.”
Gathdal said, staring intently at Adrian in the glass tank.
“My instincts kept warning me not to fight that man. I have a good sense of this kind of thing.”
Freize couldn’t understand it at all. She knew all too well how formidable a dark mage Gathdal was.
“So… you’re asking me to take care of it?”
“I’d like you to take care of it, but I’m not really expecting anything.”
“Then why give such an order…”
“At least it will give me time to finish my research.”
Completion of the research.
Freize’s eyes widened at those words. She spoke with a half-smile.
“Is the dark magic you were researching finally complete?”
“It’s almost complete. Now all I need are the materials.”
“T, then you’re bringing Father back, right? You are, right?”
“Hmm?”
Gathdal made a face as if to say what are you talking about. At that act, a sense of unease sprouted in Freize’s chest.
“You told me. You said that once your research is complete, you’ll be able to bring the dead back to life! You said you could bring Father back with that…”
“Oh, that.”
Gathdal said, with a face as if he had just remembered something he had forgotten.
“I can’t bring him back.”
***
Freize couldn’t understand Gathdal’s words for a moment.
“What are you talking about right now?”
“Bringing people back to life is impossible. Even the Empress of the Church can’t do that.”
Gathdal said with a face as if it was obvious.
The reincarnation of the dead.
It was a research topic that many dark mages had been obsessed with.
It wasn’t that it was impossible. Dark mages were the most proficient in dealing with souls.
So wouldn’t it be enough to simply reconnect the original soul to the body?
However, there had never been a Dark mage who had succeeded in the experiment.
“T, then what did you tell me? You said you could save him! You even brought Father back to life for a short time as proof!”
“That was just a temporary playback of memories.”
“W, what are you saying?”
“The bodies of people who have lived contain their regrets and memories from when they were alive.”
Gathdal said, pointing to her father’s body.
“So I just extracted the memories from your father’s body and played them back. It was incomplete, so I could only show it for a short time.”
Freize’s mouth slowly opened. It was only now that she realized that Gathdal had deceived her.
“Why… why did you do such a thing…!”
“I needed a research lab. A safe place where I could also secure research materials on a regular basis. Thanks to you opening the ruins, all my problems were solved.”
Gathdal’s lips curled into a quiet smile, seemingly satisfied.
“T, then what… what did you research? If it’s not about bringing the dead back to life, then what… .”
“Oh, you were curious about that?”
Gathdal laughed softly as if he was pleased with Freize’s question.
“My real research was to create a Master Class-level Death Knight based on your father’s body.”
The goal of dark mages who create undead was one and only.
It was to create an undead that surpassed the Master Class.
Of course, it was not an easy task.
A Master Class was a superhuman being born when a genius among geniuses devoted himself to training throughout his life.
That’s why even for a Grand Dark Mage, creating an undead that surpassed the Master Class was a near-impossible task.
“Father… as a Death Knight…?”
“Yes! Isn’t it a great plan? A Death Knight that matches a Master Class!”
A bright smile spread across Gathdal’s face as if he was overwhelmed with emotion just thinking about it.
“A body that had already reached Master Class! And with the memories, it was definitely possible! Well… to be honest, it didn’t go as I wanted from the beginning. Do you know why?”
The smile that had appeared on Gathdal’s face disappeared in an instant.
“It’s because the memories were incomplete. Your father had been dead for too long, and he had lost too many memories.”
If the memories were not complete, they had to be filled with something else.
That’s why Gathdal approached Freize to get the memories of excellent warriors.
“The research… was a huge success. The imperfect vessel became quite presentable after I forcibly filled it.”
Gathdal looked back at Freize.
“It’s all thanks to you. I’m grateful for your help…”
“Gathdal!”
Freize, who couldn’t listen any longer, ran at Gathdal. He grabbed him by the collar and shouted.
“Stop… I won’t let you… Ugh!”
Gathdal pushed Freize’s arm away with a disgusted look on his face. He brushed his clothes as if he had been touched by something unclean and said.
“You won’t let me? That’s good. I was thinking the same thing.”
At those words, Freize stood up and shouted.
“What do you mean you won’t let me? You’ve ruined our family, and what do you mean you won’t let me? You filthy…”
Crack.
A sound he had never heard before rang out. It was the sound of skin and muscle tearing and bones breaking.
…
Freize slowly lowered his gaze. Gathdal’s hand was digging into his chest.
“Your memories are the last piece that will complete the Death Knight.”
Gathdal pulled his hand out of Freize’s chest. Freize collapsed to the floor.
Gathdal snapped his fingers. Freize’s soul was pulled out of his body.
Gathdal forcibly ripped Freize’s soul apart and extracted only his memories.
– Gaaaaaaaaaaak!
Freize’s soul screamed in excruciating pain. But Gathdal’s hand did not stop.
“That’s it.”
At Gathdal’s gesture, the memories extracted from Freize were poured into Adrian.
Then Adrian’s eyebrows twitched. Gathdal’s eyes widened at the change.
“Ooh, ooh! The flesh reacts immediately to the memories of blood! This is it! This is what I’ve been waiting for…”
Just then, the door to the annex opened. Dominico stepped inside and shouted.
“Princess Freize! You have to escape!”
Dominico’s body froze. He looked alternately at the dead Freize and Gathdal on the floor.
“Hmm? Are you coming now?”
Gathdal asked nonchalantly. At that moment, Dominico let out a roar and charged forward.
He concentrated all the mana he had into his broken Zweihander. A red aura soared high.
“Gathdal!”
Dominico swung his greatsword at Gathdal. At that moment, numerous spears sprang up from Gathdal’s shadow.
The Dark spears shattered Dominico’s greatsword and pierced his torso.
“Keuk!”
Dominico’s body came to a halt. Dominico coughed up blood, pierced by the spears.
“H, how… the aura…”
“Aurora? That’s not a big deal. My children can use it too.”
Skeletons emerged from Gathdal’s shadow. The skeletons were holding spears in their hands.
Surprisingly, the spears held by the skeletons were covered in a Dark aura.
“To disturb this joyous occasion. You’re a rude one.”
Gathdal looked at Dominico with displeasure.
“Well, I’ll forgive you. You’re the second research material.”
“Second… what nonsense…”
“You don’t know. Rather, it’s lonely for me to watch alone. Will you join me?”
Gathdal waved his hand in the air. Then, Dark mana gathered and created a mirror.
“This is…”
As Gathdal snapped his fingers, an image appeared on the mirror.
Dominico quickly realized where the mirror was pointing.
It was the Country.
“It’s just that I’m a little short on memories to activate the Death Knight.”
Saying that, Gathdal opened a subspace. He took out a staff from inside it.
“In such cases, you have to solve it with quantity rather than quality.”
Gathdal raised his dark mana. The dark mana soared up, blowing away the roof of the annex.
It wasn’t just the roof. The dark mana spread and blew away everything in the annex.
The only thing that was intact was the glass tank next to Gathdal.
Dominico trembled. The building had been blown away just by releasing mana. It was a sight he had never seen before in his life.
“Watch carefully. How I fill in the quantity for you.”
Gathdal slammed the staff into the ground.
Skeletal legions appeared all over the country.
***
Damien shook off the blood that had gotten on him at dawn.
The bodies of the knights and soldiers were strewn across the floor.
They had all fought to the death, but they were no match for Damien.
“It’s getting late.”
Just as Damien was about to chase Dominico.
Souls rose slowly from the corpses. The souls screamed at Damien.
-Stop! Don’t go! Leave him alone!
-This cruel bastard! You’re not going to stop after killing so many people!
The souls poured out their anger and hatred towards Damien.
They had not colluded with the dark mage out of personal desire.
They had only blocked Damien’s path out of loyalty to Freize.
That’s why they tried to stop Damien even after they died, for Freize’s sake.
“Shut up!”
Damien yelled at the souls.
“You knew about the existence of the Dark mage and you covered it up! That’s not all, is it? You also played a role in sending the explorers of the dungeon to Gathdal!”
The ruins were a place with a high mortality rate compared to its danger.
This was because many people were sacrificed as research material for Gathdal.
And the ones who kidnapped the explorers from the ruins and sent them to Gathdal were the knights and soldiers of the country.
– We only acted for the sake of Princess!
– Don’t insult our loyalty!
“That doesn’t absolve you of your crimes. Shut up before I destroy your souls!”
The souls fell silent at Damien’s killing intent.
It was then.
A huge dark mana burst out from the direction Dominico had run.
The dark mana spread throughout the Kingdom, forming dark magic.
Damien gnashed his teeth as he watched the sight.
“…It’s finally begun.”
***
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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