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The dead and the living, those who believed in the Goddess and those who followed the darkness, clashed with spears and swords, shouting and roaring.

“Saisha, bestow your grace and grant us your sword!”

The priests all offered a collective prayer of blessing. The weapons of the temple soldiers faintly glowed with divine light.

“Stay calm, everyone!”

“With the priest here, these zombies aren’t a tough enemy!”

The soldiers bravely swung their blessed blades toward the approaching horde of zombies.

With every swing, limbs of the zombies flew through the air.

“Uuuhhh…”

“Uuuhhh…”

Normally, they would have ignored losing limbs and continued attacking. However, due to the divine power imbued in the blades, the zombies, now wounded, hesitated for a few seconds, temporarily halting their movements.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, the soldiers launched a relentless offensive.

“Keep attacking!”

“Cut them down before they get back up!”

Though the blessings didn’t instantly kill the zombies, even with a mere touch, they made the fight significantly easier.

Elsewhere, soldiers wielding blunt weapons like battle hammers and maces were fighting against the skeletons.

“You skull-headed freaks!”

“I’ll smash every one of you!”

Cutting through bones with a sword is no easy feat, but smashing them with a hammer is something anyone can do.

Swinging hammers imbued with divine light, the soldiers relentlessly shattered the skulls of the skeletons.

Thud! Crash! Smash!

Loud noises echoed throughout the temple.

Amidst this noise, wraiths and banshees flew through the night sky, unleashing ghastly wails.

Aaaaaaah!

Such spirits are not easy for the soldiers to handle, even with blessed weapons.

Not because they do not have a physical body, but because they’re flying and out of reach.

That’s where the priests came in.

They cast protective spells into the air, sprinkle holy water all around, and activate a divine barrier.

“May the light of the Goddess shine upon my enemies!”

The divine power of the priests combined through the barrier, merging into a single, overwhelming force.

The sky brightened, and beams of the Goddess’s light repeatedly struck the evil spirits.

Boom!

Screams erupted from the wraiths and banshees within the pillar of light.

Kyyaaaah!

Despite the sudden onslaught, the Temple of Saisha held its ground well against the onslaught of the army of the dead.

After all, clerics were the nemesis of necromancers.

And the cult of the Dark God knew this all too well.

“Send in the beasts!”

Lehane gave the order for a second wave.

Four subordinate necromancers concentrated their powers and commanded the monsters under their control.

Beyond the army of the dead, new shadows with glowing red eyes surged forward.

“Graaaah!”

“Raaaaah!”

The new wave consisted of various bipedal monsters such as orcs and gnolls, along with an assortment of ferocious beast-type monsters, forming a massive attack force.

The soldiers cursed under their breath.

“Damn it!”

“It’s monsters!”

Though fewer in number compared to the undead, monsters had a significant advantage.

They weren’t particularly vulnerable to divine power.

With these monsters joining forces with the undead, the situation quickly turned against the temple defenders.

The zombies and skeletons were merely sacrificial pawns.

By using the undead as a vanguard to disrupt the defensive line, the monster army could follow up with a crushing blow.

It was a highly efficient tactic, making it challenging for the temple to handle.

And the second wave wasn’t just composed of monsters.

“Tesranak has opened the way…”

“We follow with joyful hearts…”

Dozens of cultists, in a half-dazed state, were attacking the temple from all directions.

They had once been ordinary people, but now they were different.

Through a unique form of necromancy used by the cult of the Dark God, they had been physically enhanced, their strength on par with that of the monsters.

“Soon, a new world will dawn…”

“We shall be its vanguard!”

The temple’s defensive line momentarily wavered.

It wasn’t just the cultists’ strength that caused trouble, but also their very presence, which threw the defenders into confusion.

“Isn’t that Michael from the house next door?”

“Is that Uncle Ryan?”

These cultists were all familiar faces from the local community.

Even the outsiders, Karnak and his party, recognized some of them.

“Isn’t that the owner of our inn?”

“Oh my, they were a cultist?”

“Looks like we’ll have to pack up and leave once the sun rises.”

The prayers of the cultists echoed from all directions.

“Come forth, new world!”

“The Dark God’s grace shall descend upon all!”

As she smashed an approaching skeleton, Serati furrowed her brow.

“Their eyes are glazed over like they’re on drugs or something.”

A young priest assisting Karnak’s group nodded.

“Using drugs to expand their influence is one of the cult’s signature tactics.”

He wasn’t an inquisitor, just an ordinary low-ranking priest.

He couldn’t cast high-level divine spells, but in the current situation, he was still quite useful.

Even if he could only make the approaching undead pause momentarily with divine light, it made the battle significantly more manageable.

After sending three zombies flying, now frozen by the holy light, Baros looked incredulous.

“What in the world makes people believe in a religion that uses drugs?”

Serati asked curiously.

[You talk as if you never did anything like that yourselves.]

Karnak and Baros replied confidently.

[We never touched drugs.]

[They were too expensive.]

[There was no need to use drugs to create slaves, anyway.]

[If we killed them and raised them as undead, they’d end up in a similar state without costing us anything.]

Serati nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

[….Well, it’s good to know you never used drugs.]

Baros, however, wasn’t shocked by the evil acts the cultists had committed.

He was baffled by how people fell for such an obvious scheme.

But as it turns out, the cultists had their own twisted logic.

The cult of the Dark God didn’t deny earthly pleasures. In fact, they taught that numbing pain with drugs was a way to embrace the arms of their god fully.

Of course, drugs are dangerous. While they might provide momentary pleasure, in the end, they only ruin your life.

But here’s the question.

—Is your life truly too valuable to ruin?

What’s so wrong about using drugs to forget your pain?

What’s so wrong about ending your life?

Why is clinging to a hopeless future considered the right path?

After all, your life won’t change. The pain you feel today will repeat tomorrow, the next day, and every day until you die.

If you embrace Tesranak’s embrace, you’ll gain a new life beyond death, free from your painful existence.

If a new life awaits you, why hold on to this one?

And if you no longer care about your current life, why not spend the remaining time in pleasure instead of suffering?

“…That seems to be their reasoning,” the young priest explained.

Karnak clicked his tongue in disgust.

“If that’s their logic, shouldn’t they just quickly commit suicide?”

“They claim Tesranak won’t grant them a new life if they commit suicide. That’s why they say they must accumulate good deeds in this world first.”

“Well, that doctrine is certainly convenient.”

Scoffing, Karnak continued to unleash scorching magic bullets.

With each hit, various monsters bled and collapsed.

The others weren’t idle either. Baros, Serati, and even Laficel all ravaged the surroundings with overwhelming force.

“Were such powerful individuals still left at the temple?” Lehane muttered in frustration as he sent even more undead towards Karnak’s group.

As a result, the density of undead around the temple significantly increased, especially in the area surrounding them.

Watching the battlefield, Karnak slowly raised his magic staff.

‘Looks like it’s time.’

The appropriate distance, the right range, and enough undead had gathered. It was the perfect moment to achieve maximum efficiency.

Tapping the ground with his wand, he began to chant his spell.

“With the power of righteous law, I shall govern and take judgment in my hands…”

A faint ripple of light spread out, seeping into the earth.

An intricate web of delicate mana silently expanded across the area.

Raising his wand to the sky, Karnak shouted the final invocation.

“I shall become the one who atones for the sins of darkness, Redeemer of Necromancy!”

***

The night sky opened. Through the parted heavens, brilliant light shone down.

Saaah!

Powerful magical light, in the form of a pulse, swept over the horde of zombies and skeletons.

At every point the vast concentric circles passed, radiant magic chains shot up from the ground.

Dozens of chains wrapped around the necks of dozens of zombies.

Dozens of shackles bound the necks of dozens of skeletons.

The bound undead began to emit a strange aura.

The clear, bright magic intertwined with the thick shapes of darkness.

The subdued undead all turned their bodies at once. And they began to attack other undead.

“Uoooh!”

“Graaaah!”

The undead tore into each other, striking, smashing, and clawing.

The temple soldiers, witnessing the sight, looked at one another in confusion.

“What… what’s going on?”

“What is this?”

The priests, however, had a clearer understanding of what was happening.

“Did you… did you just take control of the enemy’s undead with magic?”

“Unbelievable… how is that even possible?”

On the other side, the necromancers were just as shocked.

“What is that?”

“Is he a necromancer too?”

“No, that’s undoubtedly the power of magic…”

Amidst the astonished reactions, Karnak allowed himself an inward smile.

‘As expected, they figured it out quickly.’

He wasn’t particularly worried, though, as his abilities had already been proven during the witch hunt at the border.

It was chaos magic, a technique refined to dominate and reverse control over the opponent’s necromancy.

He had perfected this method, transforming it into a wholly separate magic formula.

The large-scale necromantic domination spell he had just cast was called the Redeemer of Necromancy.

“Go, my servants! By my command, strike down my enemies!”

At Karnak’s command, the shackled zombies and undead continued to push forward, relentlessly attacking the cultists.

Thanks to this, the tide of the battle began to shift little by little.

The temple soldiers’ defensive line, which had been on the verge of collapse, regained stability, while the cultists’ army began to scatter.

In a panic, Lehane started recklessly firing off necromantic spells.

“D-Don’t retreat! Tesranak will protect us!”

All manner of evil spirits were summoned, swirling in the air.

Karnak’s eyes gleamed as he watched.

‘That must be the leader.’

He licked his lips, already plotting to secretly capture the soul for interrogation if given the chance.

Boom!

Suddenly, an explosion erupted on the opposite side of the temple.

Karnak frowned and turned his head.

“What’s this? They had a separate force?”

The cult’s vice bishop, Sephedes, had taken part of their forces and launched a separate attack. After all, the cultists’ true goal was to rescue Remike and his group, who had been captured.

Though, to be precise, Sephedes wasn’t aiming to rescue them but to quietly dispose of them.

‘If the prisoners are taken, that’ll be a headache.’

However, Karnak was currently controlling the Redeemer of Necromancy spell, dominating this area, so he couldn’t leave.

“Baros, you go. Take Serati with you.”

“Will you be alright on your own, young master?”

Karnak motioned with his chin toward the ashen-haired girl nearby.

“Laficel is here, isn’t she?”

Nodding, the two turned to leave. Serati gave some parting advice.

“Laficel, please guard Lord Karnak.”

“Yes, unnie!”

Laficel quickly positioned herself beside Karnak, feeling secretly delighted.

‘Ah! Lord Karnak trusts me so much!’

Of course, Karnak’s thoughts were entirely different.

‘If she keeps fighting the undead, she might regain her past memories. I need to stay close to make sure I can restore her at the right moment.’

Laficel, resolutely gazing at the undead army, spoke with determination.

“Don’t worry, Lord Karnak! I’ll protect you with my life!”

“Uh, sure…”

Her eyes were so pure, filled with complete trust in him.

Once again, Karnak clutched his chest.

‘Did dinner not sit well with me? Why do I feel this sudden discomfort?’