Chapter 536
Chapter 536 Should I Go Save Them? (2)
In Ghislaine’s previous life, Helgenik acted independently.
He captured anyone he could—whether from the Salvation Society, the Human Alliance, the monsters of the Rift, or even commoners—and conducted experiments on them.
He was only focused on satisfying his own curiosity, completely indifferent to factions or affiliations.
The continent was thrown into chaos, making it easy for Helgenik to rampage. His own power was so overwhelming that no one could easily restrain him.
Ultimately, the saint, Parniel, had to step in and engage in a long, drawn-out battle with Helgenik. Despite that, a decisive victory remained elusive.
Helgenik was known as the sixth among the continent’s seven mighty, but rankings meant nothing among them anyway.
Those rankings were just arbitrary labels assigned by people based on their performances.
Ghislaine’s eyes turned cold.
“This is just perfect. I was planning to kill him anyway. I must eliminate him while I have the chance.”
After wiping out the Salvation Society, she planned to dispose of that garbage as well.
Now that he was allied with the Salvation Society, he could be included as a target in her plans.
It might get a bit tiring, but it would just mean one extra opponent to fight.
“I need to move immediately.”
Helgenik was the most dangerous entity on the battlefield. The immortal army he commanded could fight endlessly.
Since his energy never depleted, dealing with him was incredibly exhausting. Furthermore, the more battles fought, the more corpses continued to multiply.
In his previous life, there had been a limit to the number of corpses he could handle, but if the Parsali Kingdom was overwhelmed in no time, that limit had certainly been surpassed.
“The Crystal of Life.”
The secret treasure of the Salvation Society that could create superhumans. Just one contained the life force of thousands.
The Salvation Society must have provided that support. If utilized, Helgenik could truly control an unimaginably vast number of corpses.
The Allied Forces altered their immediate objectives. They could clearly see that the Salvation Society was acting to protect the Kingdom of Atrode, but they couldn’t overlook it.
If left unattended, the legion of corpses would continue to grow. The increasing enemy power was concerning, but there was an even more crucial issue.
“All priests will accompany us. Ensure we’ve gathered sufficient medicinal supplies.”
Corpses inevitably brought disease with them. So they needed to act quickly before a plague spread again.
Ghislaine let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“This is what it feels like to be put to the challenge.”
As the army grew, Ghislaine’s scope of activities was becoming increasingly restricted. The Salvation Society had used that fact to their advantage this time.
The staff had various opinions regarding this expedition.
“They’re clearly attempting to divert our attention.”
“They will likely attack another kingdom with the remaining troops.”
“The Kingdom of Atrode still has forces left.”
Ghislaine quickly sorted out that part.
“Bring in all the Allied Forces in other regions. Once they gather, instruct them to advance towards the Kingdom of Atrode. As soon as we handle Parsali, Yulien and I will lead the Mobile Army to flank them.”
Yulien nodded at Ghislaine’s words.
After all, both sides were operating on too large a scale. If they moved recklessly, they could easily be picked off one by one, so it was best for Ghislaine and Duke Penris to move separately.
One or two kingdoms might be retaken by the Salvation Society, but that level of loss was something they had to accept.
The opposing faction was no joke either, making it impossible to fight and protect everything.
As soon as they resolved the issue in the Parsali Kingdom, all forces would rush into the Kingdom of Atrode.
“Let’s go.”
As always, Ghislaine and the Penris Mobile Army were the first to move. The only difference this time was that Yulien was included in the vanguard.
<Trot trot trot trot!>
They charged forward without rest, reaching the Kingdom of Parsali at an incredible speed.
The Parsali forces welcomed Ghislaine eagerly. They had already lost the capital and were pushed back to the kingdom’s fringes.
“Oh, you’ve come! Thank you so much!”
The supreme commander of the Parsali forces, Marquis Supork, greeted Ghislaine with an expression that was almost tearful.
The kingdom was on the verge of collapse, with countless corpses marching onward.
They had retreated so often that they had lost all their strongholds, and food supplies were running low. Combined with the influx of refugees, despair filled the area.
Ghislaine immediately inquired about the situation.
“How much has it grown?”
“I-I don’t know. Even the last report said over 200,000.”
“Two hundred thousand?”
“They’re turning everything, friend or foe, into corpses. If there are people on the streets, they slaughter them indiscriminately, and the numbers keep increasing.”
The fact they produced such a scale in such a short span meant Helgenik’s abilities had grown exponentially compared to his previous life. The Salvation Society must have helped, but this was beyond imagination.
Realizing the situation was more serious than expected, Ghislaine nodded.
“I’ll deploy immediately. Still, they’ve held out well.”
Considering that they had managed to endure against such a massive army, this was indeed an impressive accomplishment.
However, Marquis Supork responded with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“Ah, we didn’t manage it on our own. A certain mage helped us…”
“A mage?”
“Yes. Thanks to him, the rate of our downfall has lessened. He’s likely fighting alone even now.”
Ghislaine was momentarily stunned. Fighting over 200,000 corpses by himself?
“What’s that mage’s name?”
“Jerome, he said his name was Jerome.”
The familiar name made Ghislaine smile without even realizing it.
— We have power, so we must save people. It’s only natural.
In spite of being lazy, he held firmly to that belief.
— Hey, can’t you just help a bit? Pleeease, help me, okay?
Even being the sixth strongest on the continent, he set aside his pride and begged for assistance to save others.
Jerome lacked a faction, thus he was always forced to fight alone.
— But you suck at fighting. I’m third, you’re seventh. If you’re scared, just stay back. If you’re not… let’s go together. Hmph.
If his requests didn’t work, he would provoke in such a manner.
With that strong belief, he hadn’t directly helped Ghislaine with her revenge. At that time, the Delphine Faction was also an ally fighting against the Rift.
However, he never discouraged her, understanding her feelings. They had promised to meet again once her revenge was completed.
But they never did meet again.
“Gahaha.”
Ghislaine laughed quietly. She knew she shouldn’t be laughing in such a dire environment, but it was hard to resist.
It felt just like him. Even during such hardships, he was fighting alone against so many corpses.
Thanks to that friend, they had managed to delay the advance of the corpses by this much.
Surely that friend’s conviction… had influenced her to some extent.
Having lived solely for vengeance, she had, for some time now, been hunting monsters and saving people alongside others.
That realization felt pretty good. Those experiences were undoubtedly having some influence on her present life.
Ghislaine grinned as she readied her spear.
“Shall we, the seventh rank, go help the third rank?”
Of course, the rankings would change a bit in this life.
*
Ka-boom!
The magic cast by Jerome erupted everywhere and the corpses exploded.
“Wow, this guy’s really crazy.”
Jerome knelt, panting heavily.
The enemies who had feared becoming undead came at him recklessly. Their frenzied assault inflicted significant damage on the Parsali forces.
It was only thanks to Jerome’s help that they had managed to hold on and retreat to some extent.
However, those who charged recklessly were all dead now. In any case, Helgenik had no intention of sparing allies either.
Thus, all the enemies transformed into undead.
“Ugh, there are just so many.”
No matter how many were eliminated, the corpses continued to rise again. Even the long-buried corpses of beasts and humans were rising up.
He had tried to annihilate them completely, but it wasn’t very effective. The battlefield was filled with an overwhelming number of corpses being added.
Furthermore, even the slightest fragments left behind would come together to form strange shapes and move.
“Even a necromancer couldn’t manage this. It seems he really used an outrageous number.”
He had briefly met Helgenik, who was strong, but not to the extent of producing this large an undead army so swiftly.
The Salvation Society claimed to use human life for their techniques—this must have been clearly utilized.
Boom!
Rumble!
“Damn it.”
Jerome swept aside all the corpses in front of him. The vacant space was filled by two corpses.
Those were the high priests from the Salvation Society he had killed not too long ago.
Fwoosh!
Jerome extended his hands sharply, and light flashed. The two corpses were sent flying with gaping holes in their abdomens.
However, the corpses sprang up as if they hadn’t taken any damage at all.
Graaah!
The two corpses dashed toward him at incredible speed, swinging their arms. Despite being undead, they exhibited strength comparable to superhumans.
“Ugh!”
Reluctantly, Jerome had no choice but to exhaust his remaining mana.
Swish!
The mana blades bursting from Jerome’s hands sliced through the corpses’ necks.
Although they wielded superhuman strength, the mindless corpses lost their heads on the spot.
Graaah! Graaah! Graaah!
The heads that tumbled to the ground made grotesque sounds as they snapped their teeth at him.
Disgusted, Jerome grimaced as he severed their bodies in half so they couldn’t move.
“How can they keep reviving?”
These two corpses seemed special in some way.
He had tried to reduce them to powder and even burned them to ashes.
Still, they returned in some grotesque form. While their appearance was slightly different, their strength remained intact.
Thus, Jerome decided not to expend any more energy and fell back.
Rumble…
The corpses were surging toward him again. Although it had delayed them for some time, this was clearly his limit.
“Haah… it can’t be helped.”
With all the enemy mages dead, he was able to exert his full magical power, but the sheer number of corpses had consumed too much mana.
After battling for days without rest, he was now fighting while constantly depleted of mana.
Additionally, the corpses of the priests wielded strength equal to superhumans. To quickly take them down, he had to spend considerable mana.
Rumble!
“Ugh.”
The undead swarmed to grab Jerome. Startled, he swiftly dodged.
Having exhausted his mana dealing with the priests’ corpses, he needed a moment to recover.
As he fled, Jerome looked around.
There were no living beings to be seen anywhere. Only the atmosphere of death filled the air.
The only sounds that echoed were the wails of the corpses.
In that chilling atmosphere, Jerome muttered,
“That’s a truly devilish guy.”
The dead couldn’t find peace. They were all revived, forced to fight with souls in bondage.
To use such exceptional talent and ability in this way—it was truly unforgivable.
Jerome, who had been constantly obstructed, felt the same about Helgenik.
“This guy… truly is incredible.”
The smile on Helgenik’s face had long since vanished. The advance of his undead army had slowed down far more than expected because of Jerome.
His formidable horde of undead, which didn’t die and felt no fear, continued to be halted.
Moreover, they had suffered enormous losses among the corpses. Helgenik alone had eliminated an uncountable number over the course of several days.
To say it was a one-man legion wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Crack.
The Crystal of Life hovering before him shattered, releasing a torrent of black energy.
That energy seeped into Helgenik’s nostrils and mouth.
“Hmm… interesting. Quite fascinating.”
The aura of the Salvation Society bore a striking resemblance to his. While not identical, it felt strongly like it originated from the same source.
He wanted to absorb that energy, but it was impossible. It was similar, but they could never merge.
However, he could use this energy to create corpses in bulk, as it was fundamentally derived from human life force and death.
Helgenik spread his arms wide and released the energy.
That ominous energy obscured the light of the sky as it spread out in all directions.
Rumble…
The damaged corpses rose again, their torn fragments weaving back together and staggering to their feet.
The immortal army does not die. They don’t need food, nor do they require rest.
Thus, they will never stop.
They will continue moving until everything is turned to death.
Then, Helgenik finally smiled.
“When we meet next, I will surely kill you.”
He still had four Crystals of Life remaining.
On the other hand, Jerome would have to be quite exhausted by now. The number of corpses he took down was diminishing with each passing moment.
It seemed it was time to eliminate that obstruction.
