Chapter 40
Before long, the expedition members who had fallen behind finally arrived.
They were horrified when they heard about the tragedy caused by the illusionist the previous night.
Still, they looked at my soldiers — the ones who prevented the worst — with friendly eyes.
Even the priests, who instinctively shunned dark magic, gave me small nods of acknowledgment.
After a short rest to reorganize, we moved to the front gates of Malpren Castle.
Under the piercing sunlight, the castle stood utterly still.
Strangely enough, despite all our preparations for a siege, the gate opened without any resistance. No monsters. No attacks from the dark mages. Nothing.
But that eerie silence that blanketed Malpren Castle… it was too ominous to simply march in.
No one could tell what kind of traps the dark mages might have set inside.
As I watched Castian select several Bernstein knights to form a scouting party, I raised my hand.
“You’re trying to find out if any dark mages are hiding inside the castle, right? I can do that.”
Well, technically not me — my soldiers would.
I did feel bad for them, considering how hard they’d worked all night, but I’d brought plenty of mana potions, and I wanted to be useful too.
Maybe he understood how I felt, because Castian nodded readily.
“Make sure to check if the summoning ritual is underway.”
“Understood.”
I nodded and turned to my soldiers.
“Search the castle thoroughly. If you find any hidden dark mages or any place where a ritual seems to be in progress, report it to me immediately. I’m counting on you.”
「As you command!」
Except for one — Ethan — every one of my death soldiers replied in powerful unison and scattered in all directions.
When I noticed Ethan standing still beside me, I raised a brow. He straightened his back proudly.
「I will stay by your side, my lord.」
I laughed softly and told him to suit himself. He smiled, clearly pleased.
It wasn’t long before the soldiers who had scattered across Malpren Castle returned.
「We have completed your command, my lord.」
Eighty-one death soldiers knelt on one knee before me, speaking in one unified voice. The sight stirred something strange in my chest — pride, but also embarrassment.
I cleared my throat and addressed the soldier at the front.
“Did you find where the ritual is being held?”
[We did not confirm a ritual, but there is a location enveloped in a barrier.]
“A barrier? Where?”
[Behind the main keep. There’s an old chapel building — the entire thing is wrapped in a magical barrier.]
He added that they’d checked from the basement to the spire and found no other suspicious spots.
A building with a barrier meant there was a high chance the demon lord summoning ritual was happening inside.
A demon lord’s descent in a chapel of all places. Whoever picked that spot had truly rotten taste.
“What about the dark mages?”
「Only one person is guarding the chapel entrance.」
“One? Just one?”
「We do not know what lies inside the barrier, but outside, there is only that one.」
That was unexpected.
I’d thought we’d be swarmed by dark mages, but apparently, there was only one.
After thanking my soldiers for their work, I turned to Castian.
“Do you think the rest of them are performing the summoning inside the barrier?”
“Probably. We’ll know once we go in.”
Even in such unpredictable circumstances, Castian stayed calm.
Well, it made sense — whether there was one or a hundred enemies, we still had to stop the demon lord’s descent.
With resolve firm in his eyes, Castian led the way toward the chapel.
The expedition and the knights followed him, while I trailed behind with my death soldiers at the rear.
Marcus slowed his pace, naturally falling into step beside me.
“Thanks to you, Lady Lydia, we were able to take the time to search the castle. Between last night and now, your contributions to this expedition are remarkable.”
“Everyone’s working hard. I heard you spent the night fighting beasts yourself, Sir Marcus.”
“Oh, I merely watched the Duke of Bernstein’s glorious performance.”
Marcus gave a hollow laugh, then glanced toward Castian’s back and muttered,
“A monster…”
“Huh? There were monsters?”
“There was one. A monster-like man. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt pity for the beasts.”
“Pity for the beasts?”
I blinked, wondering if he was about to turn into some kind of beast-rights activist. But Marcus quickly shook his head.
Then, glancing at the death soldiers following behind me, he spoke quietly.
“I’m honestly amazed that you can command so many at once.”
I followed his gaze — eighty-two death soldiers marched behind us in perfect order.
To be honest, even I was a little surprised.
That rumor about “a necromancer commanding a hundred death soldiers” — turns out, that was me.
I’d once struggled just to summon Castian’s spirit, so I’d assumed I wasn’t much of a necromancer.
But maybe because necromancy was my true specialization, it didn’t feel particularly difficult to maintain so many now — even easier than normal spirit summoning.
By my rough calculations, I could probably handle over a hundred.
While I was musing about that, Marcus spoke again, awkwardly smiling.
“Now I understand why you were hesitant about my offer.”
I blinked. “What offer?”
“The purification ritual. With power like this, of course you would hesitate.”
Ah. Now I understood.
Marcus had once told me that if I underwent the purification ritual, I could lose my magic and live as a normal person.
What I had agonized over wasn’t the loss of power — it was the becoming ordinary part.
Yes, I relied on the strength of my soldiers now, but I never intended to stay like this forever.
The demon lord’s descent wasn’t some yearly event, and I had no wish to face such danger ever again.
Once this expedition was over, I planned to let my soldiers rest — forever.
So I shook my head.
“My hesitation was for another reason. I’ve already made up my mind.”
“Don’t you think it’s a waste? Power like this is rare.”
“Not at all.”
Marcus’s eyes widened at my firm answer.
He looked at me as though I were some noble saint, then gave a faint, self-deprecating smile.
“If it were me, I couldn’t give it up. I’m ashamed of how selfishly I’ve lived, relying only on my healing powers.”
Why was he always ashamed of something? We weren’t even in the same situation.
“You mustn’t give up your healing. That’s a power that saves lives.”
“And you, Lady Lydia, are saving the world.”
“Well… that’s…”
That’s only because I got dragged around by Castian, honestly.
I’d never once made some grand vow to save the world.
How did I even end up doing all this?
I was in the middle of that pointless self-reflection when Marcus suddenly whispered in a tense voice,
“I think that’s her.”
I followed his gaze. Ahead stood a small brick building — the chapel, its exterior lined with red stone.
And at its entrance stood a middle-aged woman dressed in a black velvet gown.
Castian and the others were already in battle formation, but the woman just stood there blankly, staring into the void.
Her expression was so still and emotionless that it felt unnervingly wrong — almost frightening.
She looked frail and thin, but no one knew what kind of twisted dark magic she might unleash.
As everyone braced themselves, Castian stepped forward.
“Move aside, or I’ll attack.”
The dark mage slowly turned her vacant gaze toward him.
For a fleeting moment, I thought maybe we could communicate — but then her body began to twist grotesquely.
“Kh… krrrk… gghhh…”
It was like watching someone possessed by an evil spirit straight out of a horror film.
Whatever was happening, it felt like something truly terrible was about to unfold.
The dark mage’s body began to swell hideously as she groaned.
“What—what’s happening to her…?”
Her human form melted away, her body ballooning black and massive — soon towering even higher than the building behind her.
Her clothes had long since torn apart. What stood before us was no longer a person, but a monstrous, pulsating mass.
“Balrog…”
A high priest watching from behind whispered the name faintly, as if in shock.
Balrog? Zalrog? Whatever it was, it was bad.
Thick black smoke poured from the creature’s body, filling the area with choking darkness.
“Fall back!” Castian shouted, leaping backward.
Before I could even react, Ethan swept me into his arms and retreated a great distance away.
「Do not let that black smoke touch you, my lord. It’s dangerous.」
“What is that thing?”
「The Balrog, Gatekeeper of the Demon Lord’s Castle — a beast said to be of demon-lord rank.」
A demon-lord-class monster? Here?!
But that woman was a human just moments ago! Did she transform?
“A shapeshifter?”
“It seems so,” Marcus answered, having somehow escaped to my side.
Transforming into a beast… these dark mages really were doing anything and everything imaginable.
