Karnak, Monarch of Death-Chapter 218: Pope of the Black Sun (2)

After coming into contact with the Cult of the Black God, Karnak had fused the strengths of necromancy and magic to create a new form of magic. The Searing Soulfire, which combined the mechanics of Fireball and Fox Orb, and large-scale Golem summons coupled with successive Elemental Giant summoning were all part of this endeavor.

Beyond that, he had continued to steadily research and develop various fusion spells. Recently, he had named this new chaos magic system necromantic magic.

However, there were only a handful of necromantic magic he could actually use in battle.

While he could theoretically design countless spells in his head, his reserves of chaos mana had always fallen short of executing them in reality. But now?

"Thanks to the fine subordinates I’ve collected, I’ve got mana to spare!"

With a bright grin, Karnak’s eyes gleamed as the transparent reflection of devastation danced across them. Blinding light poured down from the twelve magic circles, filling the plaza with a dazzling radiance. The blood knights turned their heads toward the incoming beams.

Countless lances of light smashed into both the seven knights and the earth beneath them. The grand barrage thundered down, kicking up clouds of dust that blanketed the sky. The blood knights raised their shields to cover themselves, but it was useless. The lights of destruction mercilessly swept away everything in their path.

Necromantic magic: Ashen Meteor. These terrifying, ashen flashes of annihilation obliterated the blood knights entirely, and still did not stop. The colossal force of the bombardment surged toward Jedex, who stood within his protective barrier.

Wh-what the hell is this?!

In horror, Jedex watched as the ashen meteor shower pummeled his shields of light and darkness alike. The relentless assault gouged craters deep into the earth beneath him. Like the echoes of death itself, the massive field of devastation announced its terrible presence.

From within, a pained groan escaped Jedex’s lips. Only after most of his protective barrier had been torn away did the brutal rain of destruction finally cease.

Tattered and trembling, Jedex managed a hoarse mutter. "H-how can a spell have such power...?"

The spell itself was unmistakably the Arcane Strike of the seventh circle. He would know. He was a former Pope of Latiel. It wasn’t like he lacked the discernment to recognize such a thing. What he couldn’t understand was the scale and intensity.

Individually, the attacks were weaker than a normal Arcane Strike, barely thirty percent of its full power, if that. But the sheer number of projectiles was overwhelming. Nearly a hundred beams of light had rained down upon him. The end result was equivalent to the combined might of twenty seventh-circle mages.

In raw power alone, it rivals a ninth circle spell...

Catching his breath, Jedex pushed himself upright once more. Seeing this, both Karnak and Varos wore expressions of admiration.

"Oh? He survived that?" Karnak commented.

"Truly, when it comes to self-preservation, nothing beats the clergy," Varos added.

The offensive power of priests often fell short, but their defensive and protective abilities were second to none. What would have been lethal for a mage or aura user, a priest could somehow endure. Of course, Karnak and Varos were not actually impressed. They were just mocking him.

Jedex’s expression darkened. "Hmph! You grow arrogant, even though you’re relying on nothing but cheap tricks!"

In truth, it was far from a cheap trick. Casting numerous seventh circle spells to achieve the force of a ninth circle spell was nothing short of astounding. But surely such a method couldn’t be without its flaws.

The foundation of magic was to maximize efficiency for the mana expended. To reproduce the destructive power of a ninth circle spell, the optimal path was, naturally, to cast an actual ninth circle spell.

So what did it mean to force such power from the seventh circle? It meant pouring in an absurd amount of mana to make up for the deficiency.

"There’s no way you can keep up this wasteful magic forever!" With cold contempt, Jedex spread his hands wide. "From this land, stained by cursed torment, I summon forth the one who thirsts for slaughter..."

Suddenly, the surrounding demons began to tremble. Their bodies, forged of fire, twisted and crumbled. The molten masses rose into the air before merging into a single, towering form of sludge and flame. A chorus of tortured screams resounded.

Heads, limbs, and torsos jutted from the swirling mass of fire and rock, coalescing into something vaguely human in shape. It was a giant, nearly three meters tall, its entire form glowing as if sculpted from molten lava.

Varos scowled. Barata’s Hellbent? Even the young master avoided that one because it’s so hard to control.

But it seemed Jedex had a way to control it.

He pressed his palms together once more and began to pray. "Latiel, grant me your holy sword!"

The heavens opened, and dozens of swords of light rained down. Two of them were caught in the magma giant’s hands, but the rest behaved in an unexpected way. Dozens of blades pierced through the giant’s arms and legs, embedding themselves deep within.

The blades of light ran through the giant’s muscles and joints, transforming into chains. The giant’s limbs were impaled by these holy swords, turning it into a puppet controlled by divine strings.

Karnak clicked his tongue. Well, well, that’s quite a familiar line of thinking to my own.

Jedex gave the order to the giant. "Go, Hellbent of Barata!"

The magma giant, its entire body perforated, opened the hollow of its mouth and let out a thunderous roar. The massive creature took its first steps with twin swords in hand.

Varos, pointing his longsword at it, asked, "What shall we do, young master?"

Yet again, Karnak, seemingly with more to confirm, did not give permission to attack first.

Thus, Varos had been waiting beside him the whole time.

Drawing mana once more from the cubes, Karnak barked a short command. "Hold it off for thirty seconds!"

"Got it!"

Varos shot forward like a bolt of lightning, as if he had been waiting for Karnak’s order. Serati, Lapicel, and Leven quickly followed close behind. As the four aura users encircled the magma giant, Karnak began preparing another spell.

Jedex had challenged him earlier, saying there was no way Karnak could sustain such wasteful magic for long.

"Well, I won’t deny it is a bit wasteful."

Karnak smiled faintly. Even after all he had expended, a considerable reservoir of chaos mana still remained, stored securely within the black cubes.

"But it’s also true that I can keep going."

***

Four streams of aura blades danced around the three-meter-tall giant. The holy swords wielded by the giant clashed against the red and blue auras in a continuous barrage of shockwaves.

While Varos, Serati, and the others held off the giant, Karnak continued to weave his spell. "O King of Flames, O Queen of Stone..."

There was one thing Jedex had misunderstood. Contrary to appearances, the mana efficiency of Karnak’s necromantic magic was not poor at all.

While it was true that clustering lower-tier spells to achieve high-level spell effects consumed significant mana, it was not several times more than casting the high-level spell itself. By applying necromantic principles to control the flow of chaos mana, Karnak had optimized its efficiency.

Thus, for a necromantic magic that produced the destructive power of a ninth circle spell, the mana consumption was equivalent to a true ninth circle spell. The true issue lay elsewhere. The spell formations grew larger and more complex, and consequently, the casting time lengthened.

"In accordance with the pact, I summon you forth. Descend upon this land and reveal your might..." While continuing his incantation, Karnak observed Jedex intently.

More specifically, he was observing the divine energy that surrounded Jedex’s body.

It had nagged at him from the beginning. Just how was Jedex wielding Latiel’s divine magic? This was not Karnak’s first time seeing someone wield both divine and necromantic powers. There was once the heretic from the Church of Hatoba, Bishop Straph of Trist City, who had also commanded both.

But in his case, he had mastered divine arts first and later turned to necromancy. Thus, it made sense that even after gaining necromantic power, he had retained his original divine abilities.

Jedex, however, was different. When he regressed to the past, he had already been corrupted by darkness. But in the current era, he was still a man in his twenties. At that age, he would have been, at best, a novice priest. Possibly, he might not have had any divine power at all.

Either way, there was no way he could have possessed such overwhelming divine energy in the current time. In other words, the divine authority he now displayed had been cultivated after he returned to the past.

Divine power grows from devout faith in the goddess. But can a soul already corrupted by darkness still nurture such power?

It also didn’t make sense that Jedex could recite Latiel’s prayers without issue. That was the reason Karnak had held back his companions and carefully observed Jedex’s methods. And all the effort paid off. After watching closely, Karnak finally caught on to Jedex’s secret.

No way... this bastard...

Even Karnak, of all people, was dumbfounded.

He’s done something even I wouldn’t dare attempt.

Jedex’s soul was one and yet many. Through dark magic, he had split off his own soul, brainwashed the fragment, and turned it into devout followers of Latiel. Then, by using this pious soul fragment, he communicated with the Sun Goddess and siphoned off her divine authority for himself.

It’s the kind of thing that’d drive anyone mad, but he really went and did it.

Even Karnak hadn’t suspected it. The idea that someone could go so far had been too absurd to consider. Even as he analyzed his opponent, he continued his preparations without pause. The thought process had been long, but in reality, only about ten seconds had passed.

At last, the spell was complete. Karnak brought both hands before his chest, a smile playing on his lips.

Truly, life feels easier when your mana reserves are full.

The effort of holding back and not using the cubes during the earlier fires had definitely paid off.

"This is why you have to save diligently. So you have a cushion when it counts." Crossing his hands, he spoke the final activation words. "Necromantic magic. Elemental Fusion! El Ragna Terrastia!"

***

A massive stone elemental giant emerged first, and a fire elemental giant overlapped over it. Chaotic mana pierced through fire and stone alike, wrapping around the two elementals like chains and binding them tight. As the two elementals merged forcibly, their size grew even greater.

Leven and Serati, who had been facing off against the magma giant, wore complicated expressions.

"Huh? That looks..."

"Like something we just saw..."

There was a sense of déjà vu. Wasn’t this exactly how Jedex had summoned his magma giant earlier?

—I told you. He thinks a lot like me.

Karnak chuckled. His elemental summons worked by charming the spirits into servitude. That, however, made them particularly vulnerable to liberation or dispel-type divine magic. Thus, he developed a method of maintaining control over them to counter that weakness.

By fusing two elementals into one and binding them with chaos mana, he could continue to control them directly, even if the charm spell was broken.

—Like a puppet on strings.

The fused elemental of fire and stone, El Ragna Terrastia, let out a deafening roar. However, it was a cry filled with palpable agony.

Serati frowned.

—Is this... really okay?

Karnak shrugged as he controlled the elemental giant.

—Of course not. That’s why we need to end this before it festers into a deep-seated grudge.