Unlike the terrestrial humans, a race that has freely roamed the skies since the dawn of time.
A race that freely commands storms and rain, manipulating the weather to summon lightning and thunder.
A race that controls magic and bestowed the concept of magic upon the terrestrial races.
Dragons are the masters of magic. Every action they take can be considered magic.
Even breathing is magic, and spreading their wings is magic.
Of course, this is a privilege of dragons. To teach magic to the terrestrial races, they had to devise new methods. What was natural for dragons was not natural for them.
Thus, the method of the Magic Core was developed.
“Hmm…”
Now, in the castle of Citadel, which has become a nation of commoners, a woman named Parnell, with only her name remaining, checked the 16 Magic Cores within her body and tapped her staff. The more Magic Cores one has, the more diverse and faster the mage’s magic becomes.
The recovery speed of magical power also increases. While the performance of a single Magic Core is important, the number of cores is equally crucial. Whether to focus on single or multiple cores is the mage’s choice.
In that sense, Parnell is a mage who has caught both rabbits. She can compute complex magics in multiples and is highly skilled in high-power magic.
‘Little Core, functioning without issues.’
What makes Parnell an even more exceptional mage is the secret passed down in the Citadel Kingdom.
The Big-Little Core Architecture. While ordinary mages’ Magic Cores, even if numerous, lack special interactions and are essentially the same, Parnell’s 16 Magic Cores are divided into 8 Big Cores and 8 Little Cores, allowing flexible distribution and use of magical power depending on the situation. Its efficiency far surpasses that of other mages.
‘Big Core. Hibernating without issues.’
When low-computation, low-power magic is needed, boost the Little Core. When high-computation, high-power magic is required, awaken the dormant Big Core.
This allows for ghostly conservation of magical power. For a mage who turns into a lump of meat when out of magic, traveling with a hero party that constantly faces numerically superior enemies, such skill is necessary.
“Yurinel. We need to prepare for a breakthrough.”
The blue-haired mage called out to the hero. The Little Core consumes almost no magical power, allowing it to cover mid-power magic without much strain.
This is why Parnell can lay detection magic all around without tiring. No matter how much they try to hide, an army of tens of thousands is inherently incapable of stealth.
Just walking causes a commotion, and their movements cannot be hidden. For such an army to deceive a mage like Parnell, they would have to be a ghost army.
Expecting such subtlety from an undead army that treats broken limbs as trivial is foolish. Their movements were already detected by the hero party.
“About twenty to thirty thousand? Should we flee? Or… fight?”
Master-level warriors who can continuously recover their magical power are beyond the reach of numerical superiority. Yurinel is among the strongest, and Lucia has also reached the master level.
Parnell can sustain prolonged battles by focusing some of her 16 Magic Cores on magical recovery. This is a fact overlooked by the Underground Castle of Flesh and a testament to the strength of the living they ignored.
“The level of the corpse soldiers is pathetic. They’re worse than militia trained in supply spear techniques. Even if there are thirty thousand, it’s just a matter of time. But this is enemy territory. It’s better to avoid them.”
Unlike the undead, whose growth is limited, all living beings can grow infinitely stronger.
Moreover, Saint Araidel, the daughter of the Three Divine Gods worshipped across the continent, is with them. While the twenty-thousand-strong legion of the Underground Castle of Flesh may seem like a massive army, it is within the hero party’s capability to repel. The only problem is that it would slow them down.
Causing such a disturbance in the demon world, now under Harmail’s dominion, is not advisable. Just as on the continent, there are many strong beings in the demon world, each capable of dealing significant damage, even if not matching the hero party.
If they drag out the battle and the transcendent beings of the demon world, led by Harmail, arrive to join the fight, even the hero party would face a great threat. So, Yurinel pondered after hearing Lucia’s words.
Her goal has already been somewhat achieved. The journey could end here, and focusing solely on retreat would suffice. She has earned enough merit and built sufficient strength. Retreating to the Church Country would still grant her immense power.
But would that be enough?
‘The Sacred Sword.’
The undoubtedly strongest relic crafted by the Three Divine Gods.
Yurinel, who has grasped this legendary artifact passed down through countless heroes, pondered. This Sacred Sword is not hers but the hero’s. If she ceases to be a hero, she must pass it on to the next hero, regardless of her wishes.
The Sacred Sword has its own will and only follows the chosen hero.
If the owner is no longer recognized as a hero, it will not lend its power. Unlike Duke Shimira’s Blood-Sucking Spear, which grants ownership to anyone who feeds it blood without discrimination.
‘How strong would I be without you?’
With the Sacred Sword, no one on the continent is to be feared, but without it, she is no longer special.
Of course, Yurinel would still remain a master, and there are few master-level warriors on the continent.
Naturally, she would receive due respect. As a former hero, she would be welcomed everywhere, with fame and fortune following her. She has already achieved great merit, so the Church Country would accept her retirement and prepare other measures to deal with the Demon Emperor’s Empire.
Perhaps the Church Country would not immediately reclaim the Sacred Sword.
They would need her for the war against the Demon Emperor’s Empire. But that, too, is temporary.
Someday, she must let go of the Sacred Sword and return to being Yurinel, not the hero.
‘Without you, how far can I go?’
For Yurinel, who grew stronger by gradually absorbing the Sacred Sword’s power, parting with it is not pleasant. To do so, she needs achievements that prove she is still active.
The Underground Castle of Flesh. Uprooting one of the Church Country’s most hated enemies would be a significant achievement. Moreover, the presence of Saint Araidel of the Nemi Church also influenced her decision.
‘We haven’t shown much despite having the Saint with us.’
At best, disrupting the demon army’s rear, assassinating key figures, and destroying supply routes?
Archbishop Reinhaim was satisfied with their activities, but Yurinel wanted to show more to the Saint and the Archbishop. She wanted to prove that the hero could still be active.
“That’s what I think. Since the Saint has come, we haven’t had a proper battle.”
“If we can completely destroy the Underground Castle of Flesh, it wouldn’t be bad. But I think there’s no need to take such risks.”
Lucia, who had tamed a black hawk for aerial reconnaissance, muttered as she saw the approaching corpse legion. The undead were also targets for the Western Family.
If they have to fight, they will, but honestly, she doesn’t want to. After the battle with Grimudo, she lost interest in everything. Meanwhile, Parnell showed signs of agreement.
“If we keep running away, all sorts of riffraff will try to stab us. This is the time to strike hard. If we destroy the Underground Castle of Flesh and root out the necromancers, even if Harmail gives orders from above, who would dare follow and chase us?”
“So, we need to instill the fear that chasing us means death.”
Lucia reluctantly nodded. There was nothing wrong with that statement.
Indeed, it’s time to show something. The hero party didn’t run away out of fear but to avoid creating trouble. It’s time to prove to both the demon world and the Church Country that we are not to be trifled with.
“Twenty to thirty thousand… Can the five of us really handle that many troops?”
The three made up their minds and asked Araidel for her opinion. When Araidel sought the opinion of Archbishop Reinhaim, whom she trusted, the Archbishop agreed. The power of a single master cannot be measured by the number of soldiers, and here, there are four such powerful individuals.
“Saint. You are the youngest among the three Saints, but you have far greater potential than the other two. You saw how strong Saint Arseria, the Saint of Light serving Elysia, was, didn’t you?”
Araidel nodded. How could she forget?
The sight of her wielding a hammer of light, crafted from divine power, smashing the skulls of heretics.
Araidel also had the potential for such strength. The Goddess of Earth, Nemi, worshipped the most among the Three Gods, bestows her power directly upon Araidel.
“Someday, you too will wield such power. To do so, you must learn not to flee even when faced with overwhelming enemies.”
The Saint merely lacked large-scale实战 experience to bloom her power.
Facing the undead army of the Underground Castle of Flesh, the Saint can gain ample实战 experience without the guilt of killing.
Thus, Reinhaim had no reason to oppose the hero party’s plan. In fact, he was quite eager for it.
“Then I agree too. I trust the Archbishop and the hero.”
With Araidel’s agreement, the hero party’s decision was made.
They did not rush to break through the encirclement. Instead, they stopped, lit a campfire, and even set up camp, as if daring the enemy to come. There was no need to seek them out. By waiting, the enemy would come to them, and they could conserve their strength for the battle.
Huff… Huff.
Rather than an orderly march, it was more like a horde of walking corpses moving through the forest.
Some tripped over stones and crawled, writhing. The Underground Castle of Flesh did not deploy their main force for this battle, and in truth, they had no main force to deploy.
Despite this pitiful sight, Albatross remained confident.
“We swore allegiance to Harmail, but that doesn’t mean we have to uproot our foundations and offer them to her.”
Thus, they did not deploy the Death Knights, the pinnacle of undead combatants.
…Actually, after seeing the Beacon of the Sanctuary, all the Death Knights had been purified, so there were none to deploy.
They only prepared Liches to maintain appearances. The rest were corpse soldiers that could be replenished with time and effort, some of whom played crucial roles. Werewolf corpse soldiers, different from Roka’s wolf shapeshifters, carried Hydra’s Venom within them.
“We just need to support the troops and poison them. The rest is up to the Demon Emperor. How many troops she brings is unknown.”
But Harmail had no intention of bringing her elite troops.
She planned to summon a being greater than a thousand armies. The Demon Emperor had already arrived nearby, moving swiftly alone.
‘Will Grimudo act as I hope?’
She had prepared fifty thousand soldiers but had no intention of directly engaging the hero party with them.
This was a reserve force to encircle the hero party and engage in a battle of attrition if things went wrong. The demon elite troops had not yet arrived!
Given the unpredictable nature of the Primal Demon King, she had made preparations but hoped to avoid deploying them. The demon race is small in number.
Though Harmail commands the demons, the number of troops loyal to her is not vast. These troops are needed for the war against the Empire, not for hunting heroes.
Even if they somehow capture the hero, depleting these troops would cause significant problems. Harmail’s authority is not yet stable, and she cannot afford to lose large forces in such times.
The Empire, too, has its considerations. With the Emperor nearing death and nobles harboring their own ambitions, they are more focused on internal power struggles than preemptively attacking the demons.
Everyone is busy supporting various imperial family members in a fierce struggle for the throne, so the arrival of the Demon Emperor’s Empire is quietly postponed. This is also because they know that if the demons attack humanity, the Church Country and the Temple will not stand idly by.
‘Unifying the continent.’
Knowing that this belief is not unfounded,
Harmail had to be cautious. Though she appears to command the world from her position, her seat is inherently unstable. A single failure could ruin the entire plan.
Thus, she must succeed.
The hero party will not escape alive.
