The vibrations, the trembling of the earth, only grew stronger. An ominous creaking sound came from the ceiling of the cavern, and dust fell through the cracks. It was a clear sign of impending collapse.

“It’s collapsing! It’s going to bury us alive!”

“Climb the stairs! Hurry!”

“Wait, there’s something strange about the corpses around the altar…!!”

Creak. Crack.

Ratatatat!

The red energy remaining on the altar seemed to be sucked into the corpses, and they began to move as if coming to life, creaking and groaning. Seeing this, the brothers shouted in unison.

“Is that, necromancy?!”

“Are those, jiangshi…?!”

“Don’t resonate with each other!”

“…Stop being jealous in weird places and run, Kim Loo, Commander of the Paladin Order! We need to escape before it collapses!”

The assault team members began to sprint. Time was of the essence to get from the fourth underground floor to the surface before being buried. They had to run with all their might.

“I’ll take the rear! Don’t worry about the back and just go up!”

“I’ll help too!”

“I will also stay. I can be of assistance!”

“Didn’t I tell you not to resonate! And, I’m enough on my own…!”

Grrrrrr-!!

The corpses began to stir. The number of mummies scattered around was easily over a hundred. Facing such a wave-like mass, Kim Loo clenched his fist tightly.

These trifling things, I can obliterate them in an instant.

Keeeeeeng──!!

With just one breath, a brilliant radiance gathered in his grasp. Just scattering it would turn the corpses into dust, and incidentally, the underground facility would be shattered and collapse.

“…Oops!”

It can’t collapse.

Kim Loo hastily shook his hand to disperse his magical power. Just the fragments of magic that flew off were enough to entangle and obliterate a couple of revived corpses.

A slight misjudgment in strength could make him the main culprit of a live burial. Kim Loo himself could easily escape even if buried deep underground. He could just cause a massive explosion of magic, sweep away the dirt, and then rise leisurely.

But the others couldn’t. They wouldn’t be able to withstand it. So he had to limit his output and fight carefully…

“Ah, hey— don’t cling to me!”

Slow.

Enveloped in magical flames that melt any corpse upon touch, yet within the confines of a mere 3-meter stature, it was impossible to cover every direction in close combat.

Corpses aiming for the main force began to appear, bypassing the Paladin Commander.

Kim Lulu honestly admitted,

“…Not enough!”

“I knew it! ‘Ribbon Rope’!”

Pure Knight leaped into action. Dozens of magical bandages extended from her rapier, this time focusing on hindering movement rather than suppression.

From noble mtl dot come

Clang!

The corpses stumbled over each other, becoming obstacles in their own right. Even tangled and broken, they maliciously crawled on all fours, trying to approach.

Above them, a blade flashed.

“Ugh!”

The Nangong Clan’s Changgungmu Aegyeom sword technique flew towards the encroaching corpses. The rigid yet free sword dance soared through the sky, and soon heads were severed.

It was enough. The corpses’ specs weren’t that high. They were low-grade zombies resurrected by black magic, weak enough to be decapitated even without magical attacks.

They were already dead, so losing their heads didn’t stop them. But at least their movements slowed, proving the tactic effective.

Pure Knight scattered them, and Envers finished them off. Their collaboration spanned long years, yet there was no awkwardness, only seamless synergy.

Even in a crisis, Envers muttered with a hint of excitement,

“We sync better than I thought… Someday, I’d like to fight alongside you and your brother!”

“…That will be possible.”

Stable. The allies’ power was sufficient, and the enemies’ interference was quickly eliminated.

If they could just finish them all off and quickly ascend to the surface…

Drip-drop. Thud.

Amidst the falling dirt rain, a dull thud as something heavy dropped.

“Eek?!”

“…Bones? From the sky?”

Pure Knight looked up at the ceiling. Amidst the crumbling dirt and debris, a pile of bones buried in the ground began to fall one by one.

As the bones entered the altar’s sphere of influence, they too revived, joining the ranks of the dead as skeletons. Kim Lulu shouted in annoyance,

“…Were so many people buried here?! It’s like an entire cemetery!”

“Judging by the bones, they weren’t buried recently but quite some time ago!”

“Then, has this facility existed since ancient times?!”

“Perhaps!”

Did they use something discovered in an ancient ruin or a workshop of an ancient dark sorcerer? No matter how much we reduce their numbers, reinforcements keep dropping from the sky. If this drags on any longer, we’ll be buried alive.

“⋯⋯Have the others, escaped?!”

“It seems there’s still a long way to go! The power armors are too big⋯⋯!!”

The passage is narrower than expected. Moreover, obstacles are continuously added due to the collapse. The knights in power armor are wide, inevitably causing congestion.

Furthermore, the corpses of those we dealt with on the way down began to resurrect and attack us.

The knights of the holy order, with the power of their heavy magic engines, smashed through the undead using heavy weaponry. Each action was a time-consuming choke on our breath.

Luce, the illusionist mage of the Purple Tower, held back tears as she prepared to bid farewell to her lover.

“My darling⋯⋯ it seems this is the end.”

-My honey, don’t worry. I have a way. I will lure those dead souls⋯⋯ you must survive.

“But, I’m not ready to leave you⋯⋯!!”

“Please, stop whining and try to do something!!”

Tsk.

Luce clicked her tongue at the agent’s remark and chanted a spell.

How do the resurrected corpses sense the living? Certainly not by sight. Eyes decay easily, so necromancers use different sensory organs.

There are high-class undead that track magic residue or life force, but the low-cost undead mainly use smell. So, what I bestow upon my darling is a sweet scent of flesh.

Was there a reward for being obsessed with scent implementation?

“Goodbye, my darling. ‘Luce’s Scent Enchantment.'”

-Goodbye, my honey⋯⋯.

Wooo-!!

The undead blocking the escape route chased after the hologram with a suspiciously pleasant smell, like rats following the Pied Piper.

The way forward cleared. The escape from the facility began to accelerate.

—

Basement level 4, basement level 3, and then basement level 2.

The three people blocking the corpses swarming from the rear fought a defensive battle, slowly moving upward. It seemed everyone else had escaped.

Along the way, Kim Lulu hadn’t suffered even a scratch, but⋯⋯.

“⋯⋯It’s endless.”

“And damn, the collapse seems imminent!”

The brothers were exhausted. It wasn’t just the corpses that needed attention. As the collapse reached its peak, large clumps of dirt and rock fell from above.

Blocking them was another task. Pure Knight dodged swiftly, and Enbus let it slide. But one cannot stop a wave with a single hand.

They knew they were running out of time. Pure Knight understood this logically, and Kim Lulu intuitively. They had attempted several bold breakthroughs.

But was it coincidence, or fate?

“Blueming Umbrella”…ugh?!”

“Dae-su, are you okay?!”

Every time I gambled to break through, a strange misfortune came. When I prepared my finishing move, rocks and bones fell from the sky, aiming precisely at the top of my head.

Whenever Kim Lulu concentrated her firepower, Pure Knight inevitably faced a crisis. Hidden traps and magic circles activated, threatening her life, so I had no choice but to move to protect her.

An unseen lantern swayed.

Duke Redburn Maximus’s “Prescient Lantern” operates in two phases. The planning phase, where schemes are prepared based on information, and the execution phase, where fate is manipulated based on the plan.

The more flawless and variable-free the plan, the more ruthless the enforced fate becomes.

With a web-like intelligence network, I learned what kind of attack means “Blue Rose” had and also knew that the control ability of the Paladin Commander was terrible.

With most of the enemies’ abilities assessed, the plan was executed with traps like live burial and an undead army prepared. Fortune smiles upon those who are prepared.

Krrrrr…!!

The entire facility screamed loudly. Creaking. A dizzying sound of death approached. It was on the verge of collapse. Kim Lulu shouted loudly.

“You guys go ahead first!”

“…What about you?!”

“I’m strong! I can escape on my own, so hurry while I’m holding them off!”

It was rational. Rational, but…

The moment the facility began to collapse, the terrible misfortune that followed made Pure Knight hesitate. If, after hearing Kim Lulu’s words, I ran outside with all my might.

If an unavoidable collapse begins when enough distance is made from her. Pure Knight, unprotected by Kim Lulu, would surely be crushed to death.

But I couldn’t stay near her either. Bodies kept appearing like cockroaches, no matter how much they were erased.

In the end, it was my own weakness that was the problem. Pure Knight bit her lip hard. She had become a burden to Kim Lulu.

Was there no way out?

Pressed by the situation, Enbus came up with an idea and spoke out.

“…Paladin Commander! Maybe, I can tie up the corpses’ feet!”

“Tie them if you can, and don’t if you can’t, why maybe?!”

“I’m not sure if my fable will work on the corpses!”

Would the solemnity of the emperor work on the dead? I couldn’t know until I tried. That’s why I hadn’t used it until now… but if there’s no other way, I have to try.

If I can tie their feet, then I can buy some time…

Pure Knight, slashing away the bones with her rapier, clung close to Lulu’s side. And she said,

“Kim Lulu, pass me your magic power! I’ll control it!”

“…Won’t it be incompatible if you receive someone else’s magic power?! And you won’t be able to withstand it!”

“If it stays this way, we’re doomed anyway! And I’m confident I can handle your magic power!”

“…Uh, ugh. That sounds really weird…”

In this dire moment, Kim Lulu felt an ambiguous, shady feeling, but then the roar of Pure Knight burst forth.

“Hey!!”

“Ah, got it! Let’s do this…!”

“Then, I shall proceed! Metamorphosis, ‘Emperor Sword Form’──!!”

Seizing the sky.

Boom…!!

Grasping the sky, pressing it down. The invisible yet undeniable presence of the emperor spread throughout the space.

It even affected the corpses. Perceiving threatening attacks coming from all directions, their movements became noticeably sluggish. And then.

Crash-!

Overwhelmed by an information overload, the unseen lantern burst.

Pure Knight felt a sensation as if his airways had cleared. The light that led the path of fate to ruin had been extinguished, and now the flame of hope was ignited.

“Now’s the time!”

Kim Lulu extinguished the magical flames wrapping her armor and thrust forward the right arm of her power armor. With a clanking sound, the armor fell off in pieces.

Then she placed her tiny hand on Pure Knight’s back. Carefully, she infused magic into him. Just a little.

“────!!”

A sensation like magma flowing through his veins. As the immense magic power beyond human control flowed in, Pure Knight felt a burning pain and flinched.

Accepting another’s magic power is a dangerous act.

Had the “Prophetic Lantern” still been lit, this attempt would have led to a terrible ruin.

Pure Knight would have died unable to control the magic, and Kim Lulu would have ended up killing her beloved with her own hands. However, the lantern was blocked by the ‘Emperor Sword Form’. The magical girl had found her thread.

After the pain came a sense of omnipotence.

With such magic power, one doesn’t need skill to be brutally strong!

Pure Knight barely managed to channel the ocean-like magic power he had never handled before. His vision was a drill. If they couldn’t escape before the facility collapsed, they would just have to burst through the ground and soar.

“Great Umbrella!!”

A large umbrella enveloping the three of them appeared and began to spin rapidly. And then.

Rumble── Thunderous collapse!!

The facility completely crumbled.

—

“…Did the leader make it out?!”

“It’s not the time to worry about the director. The ‘Blue Rose’ we entered with, and the collaborator…”

“Wait, the ground is shaking… Spread out more! Run!”

“Why should we spread out? This distance is surely safe eno—”

Boom!

With a burst of blue light, the ground exploded.

Thud, thud, thud.

Dirt particles scattered into the sky like rain, pounding the ground, and three people crawled out from the large hole that had formed. They were covered in dirt from head to toe.

“…We survived.”

“We, we survived. It’s a relief we were swallowed.”

They had survived.

Pure Knight lay on the ground, gasping for breath, groaning and thinking. They had saved their lives, but a nagging unease was pricking at the corner of their heart.

What is Duke Redburn thinking?

Pretending not to see and actually not seeing are clearly different.

The fact that clear traps and traces of dark wizards were found where the magical potion from the Redburn family had reached. It’s an issue serious enough to criticize even the duke’s political power.

Moreover, the trap wasn’t deadly enough to annihilate everyone. No matter how bad things got, Kim Lulu, who had reached sublimation, was sure to survive.

Then, the information would certainly reach the Order of Knights.

It could be one of two things.

Either the duke didn’t have the luxury, or…

It didn’t matter to him either way.

—

The chessboard was split. The black pieces were broken in half and scattered in all directions, while the white queen stood tall and proud.

The duke clenched his fist and crushed the queen into dust.

“…Are you saying it failed?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“……”

Duke Maximus Redburn frowned for a moment, then forced his expression to relax. There must have been some significant variable.

It was extremely displeasing that things hadn’t gone according to his plan, but if a major variable was discovered, then there was meaning in the failure. And it wasn’t a fatal failure.

The preparations were already complete.

He turned his gaze to the statue made of black metal. It was ominous yet somehow sacred. This was indeed the idol of the dark wizards.

“The completion of the Despairing Evil God statue is not far off.”

Neither schemes nor politics matter.

In this world where humans can transcend the bounds of humanity, only power is clear.

The four dark wizards each have their own aesthetic, and from these aesthetics, they derive their nicknames.

“The Noose of Despair,” Maximus Redburn runs a farm. He yearns to brand the bodies and minds of humans with the mark of slavery, to have them scream in eternal despair under his unwavering control.

Unchanging. Tomorrow will neither improve nor worsen. One can only struggle in despair forever.

From noble mtl dot come

This is why he gathers hypnotic statues to amass people and create an environment. For him to wring out souls for magical power, the value of “domination” is crucial.

The Evil God Statue, the secret pursued by the four dark wizards in their own ways. The pinnacle of artifacts created by inflicting pain on countless souls.

Its power even reaches sublimation.

Once the Evil God Statue is complete, Duke Redburn’s abilities will evolve to the next stage. Even in the metamorphosis phase, he possesses the power to control the fates of others; what kind of divine powers might he wield beyond that?

The Duke smiled quietly. When the time comes, he will become omnipotent.

“…I heard there was a problem with the ‘Corpse Flower,’ and the ‘Lamb’ also needs more time to complete. Then, excluding myself, is the ‘Virgin’ the fastest?”

“Yes, Noose sir. That’s what I heard.”

“I wish those lazy creatures would finish soon. The wait is not easy.”

The Duke tapped the armrest with his fingers.

The other three dark wizards are also creating their own Evil God Statues. The moment all preparations are complete, the empire will face an unprecedented doom.

How could they possibly withstand it?

If there are no major variables… in the end, they will be the ones laughing.

—

“Pinvalles, are you busy?”

“No, Mad Wizard. What is it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing much… I’ve trapped a succubus inside my mental barrier. It doesn’t seem to be a big one, just a little creature. Want to come see?”

“Absolutely. I’ll quickly grab some popcorn.”