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Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Preparations to head toward the Necromancers’ base were completed with windlike speed.
Dominic had now become the center and leader of the expeditionary force, issuing various instructions.
The knights, who had come to respect Dominic, willingly followed his orders, and at the same time were astonished as they realized just how skilled he was at infiltration and expeditions.
“Sir Dominic…… you’re still young, aren’t you? We’re not mistaken about your age, are we?”
Е̃ nůmа.ì d
“This isn’t even your first expedition?”
“But why do you feel so much like a veteran…… you’re taking care of things we never even thought of.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The knights were bewildered.
Of course, Dominic had no intention of revealing that he had regressed, so he brushed it off by saying he had simply read books diligently.
“You weren’t just swinging your sword every day……?”
“Maybe the reason you stayed in your room recently was to read books related to expeditions.”
Е n̊ù m ă. і̂ ď
That alone didn’t fully resolve the knights’ doubts, but since there was no other way to explain it besides books, they created their own narrative and accepted it.
“Looking at the map, approaching at noon, and from the east, seems best.”
“I think the same.”
While the knights handled miscellaneous tasks, Dominic and Semer discussed and determined the specific route.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“There are fewer traps than expected. Almost everything was uncovered in the previous expedition.”
Semer said with a surprised tone as he stared at the map.
E n ûm̈ a
This was unexpected for Dominic as well.
‘Necromancers have low intelligence and poor friend-or-foe discrimination. Naturally, I thought the necromancers would have dug many traps to protect them.’
Dominic examined the Lich King’s map while running through various thoughts.
‘Since it’s a map drawn by the Lich King, it wouldn’t make sense for traps to be omitted.’
Dominic tilted his head.
‘This place…… could it be that it isn’t a military base?’
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
But even if it weren’t a military base but a base with another purpose, basic defenses were essential.
Yet the fact that there were almost no traps meant…….
‘And the tombs of the necromancers are nearby. If that’s the case.’
Dominic searched his mind, recalling various types of structures.
As far as he knew, there was only one kind of structure that stood near the tombs of high-ranking figures while having almost no defenses.
‘……A sanctuary.’
W̄ ё b̈ň о v еl Ĕ n u m̂а̄
If it were a sanctuary built to preserve and venerate something—such as an altar, a temple, or a chapel—then everything made sense.
Then the question became what this sanctuary had been built to worship, or what it had been built to preserve.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
‘It would be nice if it were the Book of the Living.’
Dominic rested his hand on his chin as he thought of the scrap of paper he had carefully stored inside subspace.
‘If it were something that precious, even a sanctuary would have traps set up for defense.’
If there were almost no defenses, then rather than a sanctuary meant to preserve something, it was more likely a place meant to serve something.
Е n ũm̊ å
‘The Lich King himself?’
For now, the most plausible guess was that this place was a temple built to worship the Lich King Asierd.
“Sir Semer, how many Necromancer bases have been discovered across the continent so far?”
“Three. None of them were fully explored. And…… this one seems to be the largest.”
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
“So including this one, four locations.”
Dominic let out a hollow chuckle at the number four appearing yet again.
Wе̊b̆n̈ övël̇ Ё n̂uḿ а
“Sir Semer, there’s something I’d like to share before we enter this place…….”
Slowly and carefully, Dominic explained his hypothesis to Semer.
“It’s a reasonable assumption.”
Semer nodded in deep agreement with Dominic’s words.
“Indeed, if it were a military base or a structure with another purpose, it’s hard to understand how the defenses could be this lax. Especially now, when all the necromancers have disappeared and only the necromancers remain.”
“Let the objective of this expedition be to find out what they are worshipping, and to obtain clues about the remaining three Necromancer bases.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Understood.”
Semer nodded, and Dominic folded the map and tucked it into his chest.
Semer did not find it strange that the paper vanished straight into Dominic’s clothing.
That was because Dominic had already claimed that he had purchased a subspace artifact about the size of a small box at the Imperial Academy.
“Even if it’s small, an artifact must have been expensive. You really made a big decision.”
He did hear comments like that, though.
Е̂n̊ǔ m а
Dominic and Semer departed in the morning, leading the knights so that they could reach the Necromancers’ base by noon.
The number of knights accompanying them was five in total, all of them seasoned and highly skilled.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The area near the Necromancers’ base was an open plain, but concealment was not a concern.
The Necromancers had extremely low intelligence, dull senses aside from smell, and poor ability to distinguish friend from foe, so there was little risk of being discovered.
“Here. Bridgenile, Mil, and Lina will stay here.”
When the Necromancers’ base came into view, Dominic left three knights there, entrusting them with the supplies. It was, in effect, a kind of forward base.
Ėn u ḿ a.і d̆
Then, accompanied by the remaining two knights and Semer, he finally infiltrated the Necromancers’ base.
― Grrrk, grrrrk.
― Grrk!
― Grrrgrrrr.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The moment they passed through the gigantic arched structure and entered the Necromancers’ base, which looked like a vast palace, what they heard was the aimless wailing cries of the Necromancers.
It was a peculiar sound, like fingernails scraping against a stone wall. In reality, it was nothing more than meaningless breaths leaking from dried and cracked vocal cords.
Е̌ n üm̈.a.ĩd̈
‘The Necromancers really do look grotesque.’
Dominic carefully observed the Necromancers while paying attention to the flow of air so that the stench would not spread.
Unlike Mielle’s corpse, which had been well preserved despite being shriveled and turned green, the Necromancers were tattered all over, their appearance utterly miserable.
It was like an old sofa that someone had deliberately torn apart in cruelty, yellowed with age and worn down by time.
“Every time I see them, it’s horrifying.”
One knight murmured in a whisper after glimpsing the dangling entrails through the torn abdominal flesh of a Necromancer they had just passed.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Dominic silently sent a hand signal telling him to be quiet, then avoided the Necromancers and headed toward the center of their temple.
The temple had a very simple structure, so there was no risk of getting lost.
However, there were occasionally extremely narrow corridors, which made it inconvenient as they had to take every possible precaution to keep their weapons and gear from striking the walls.
‘These corridors aren’t meant for Necromancers.’
Dominic thought as he watched Necromancers stagger and bump into the entrances, unable to enter the narrow corridors.
‘Then are they passages meant for Necromancers.’
Е̇n̊u̇m а̄.і̊ḋ
For the moment, that was the only conclusion he could reach.
‘But it’s possible that beings other than Necromancers came and went here, so we need to be careful.’
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
In a whisper, Dominic conveyed his speculation to the knights and continued advancing toward the center.
They discovered something unusual in a hall just before reaching the largest chamber at the center.
At first, Dominic couldn’t tell what it meant.
That was because the ‘trace’ was so naturally blended into the wall’s pattern that it deceived his vision.
Е̃n ûṁ a
The reason Dominic was able not to be fooled to the very end was entirely thanks to Leobert’s bracelet.
He was about to pass by the wall where the trace remained when Leobert’s bracelet vibrated with a low hum inside subspace, sending a signal.
‘What is it?’
Dominic signaled the knights to stop and surveyed the surroundings.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
From repeated experience, he knew that Leobert’s bracelet did not react without reason.
The knights obediently halted at Dominic’s command and, following his subsequent instructions, began searching the hall.
Ӗ ñ ú m.ӓ
After scrutinizing the floor for a long time, Dominic finally shifted his gaze and recognized the sense of incongruity emanating from the wall’s pattern.
‘This is…….’
Dominic carefully traced the bas-relief carvings on the wall with his eyes and distinguished the trace.
‘It isn’t part of the original pattern.’
The newly carved ‘trace’ differed in its degree of weathering from the existing pattern.
Narrowing his eyes, Dominic followed the subtle differences in erosion and inferred the shape of the newly carved markings.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
‘Could it be…… a language?’
Although he excelled at swordsmanship and magic, Dominic had no aptitude whatsoever for the humanities, so he had no way of determining what kind of language it was.
Letting out a sigh, Dominic gathered the knights and showed them the trace he had identified.
But the knights were just as clueless.
“I have writing tools. How about copying it down using soot from the campfire?”
In the end, Dominic accepted Semer’s suggestion and transcribed the newly carved trace onto paper.
Е́ ñ û m а.і̊ḋ
Once it was transferred to paper, the pattern looked even stranger.
‘A circular form……?’
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
If it were a normal language, it would be written in lines, but the copied inscription formed a perfect circle.
‘Since this is a temple, it might be a phrase needed for a ritual.’
Even so, the fact that it had been carved at a different time bothered him.
‘For now, I’ll have to ask Doctor Helbard.’
Е̃ n ùmа̇
Dominic was the type to clearly distinguish between what he could do now and what he could not, so he did not linger on the unknown language any further and placed the paper into subspace.
After that, they meticulously checked the hall once more, but there were no additional traces or clues.
Then they left the hall and finally reached the very center of the temple—the largest chamber.
― Grrrgrrrrk!
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
― Giiik, giiik.
― Khk, krk!
W е b̃ n о́ v̄ е l̂ Е n u̇ m а
As if confirming their hypothesis about it being a temple, the central chamber was filled with more refined(?) Necromancers wearing priestly robes, with intact limbs and internal organs—unlike the Necromancers they had seen so far.
Moreover, unlike the previous Necromancers who had wandered aimlessly, these ones seemed to move around the chamber according to some kind of rule.
Holding their breath, Dominic and the knights pressed themselves against the wall and observed the Necromancers’ behavior.
As a result, they discovered that the Necromancers were circling the chamber while precisely forming a circular pattern.
‘There’s something at the center of the circle.’
Peering through the densely packed Necromancers, Dominic spotted a small square platform at the center and gestured to the knights.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
In response, Semer took out an ash-gray powder from his backpack.
It was debris gathered from the floor during their infiltration of the temple.
‘Disgusting, but…….’
Dominic smeared the foul-smelling temple debris all over his body. The other knights did the same.
It was to deceive the Necromancers’ sense of smell—the only sense they used properly.
After finishing their disguise, they slowly approached the Necromancers wearing priestly robes.
E n̈ù m̆ â_.і̌ d
Then, as naturally as possible, they merged into the group forming the circle and began walking slowly.
Fortunately, the Necromancers only tilted their heads in brief confusion and failed to notice anything strange.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
As he moved along with the Necromancers, Dominic closely observed the square platform at the center.
Soon, he realized a shocking fact.
Contrary to Dominic’s original expectation, that square platform was not meant for the Lich King.
What the Necromancers here—and this temple itself—were worshipping was a being far greater than the Lich King.
Ẽ ǹum ӓ . id
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