The Death Cult has taken root in China.
The Grand Headquarters, where the leader Kyowon resides, manages hundreds of branches.
In the deep underground lies a massive cavern, shrouded in darkness.
It was already dark, but now even the original light sources have vanished.
Kyowon’s face twisted in the obscurity.
Crack! A burst echoed from within his body. Something was twisting and breaking in the wrong direction.
His eyes widened.
Veins burst in his eyes. The dark field of vision was stained with blood.
Kyowon clenched his teeth.
“Urgh, ggrrrr…”
Blood-tinged foam leaked from his clenched jaws.
He was wielding necromancy beyond his capabilities, and it was still manifesting.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
In such a lacking situation, there was no thought of carrying out the plan.
He struggled to obtain the corpse of a two-headed dragon. It wasn’t whole, but he was gradually using the remnants to fill the gaps.
He lacked offerings. To raise such a transcendent being out of order, that required a considerable cost.
Branches were established in various areas of China. They dispatched believers to gather bugs as offerings. They almost got caught by the association but barely managed to escape.
After that, he acted cautiously. He lowered the quality and quantity of offerings, delaying the plan. He invested great effort into safety and security.
Even so, recently some crazy bastards began to show up and smash the branches that were sourcing offerings.
It was infuriating enough to make blood boil, but Kyowon gritted his teeth and endured.
That nuisance, Mumyeon.
The believers were quite skilled to kill him. There were also rumors about the association’s executive body. If Kyowon were to personally eliminate Mumyeon, he risked getting caught again.
The scoundrels of Taesan.
Even the successors had crawled in and were causing a ruckus. Kyowon could kill them directly. However, facing the aftermath would be tough.
If he did kill them? This time, the association, which would catch on again, and the full might of Taesan, who lost their successor, would come crashing down on this land.
Thus, he endured.
He prepared to retreat further into the depths. It was a shitty situation, but he had already endured for decades. A few more years were doable.
The deity delivered a revelation.
Do not hide deeply; carry out the plan immediately.
Kill the successor of Taesan, and that worthless scum Mumyeon.
Thus he acted, and Kyowon was receiving backlash for his actions beyond his capabilities.
“Ggrrrrr…!”
His vision grew faint. His mind felled into darkness.
In the pitch-black void, he saw death approaching.
That wasn’t frightening. For Kyowon, who worshiped the god of death, death was merely the entrance to paradise that would be welcomed someday.
It was something to welcome, but not now.
He had yet to fulfill the revelation.
It was a direct revelation from the god of death. Whatever the sacrifice, it must be accomplished.
Kyowon was always ready to devote his life for martyrdom, but even so, he lacked the ability to fulfill the revelation.
Originally, it would have been impossible.
He had the favor of the god. For a moment, he manifested necromancy beyond his abilities. A power vastly superior to his own clung to him.
He succeeded in a necromancy that should have been utterly impossible.
The level was lower, but he could imperfectly wield the two-headed dragon as his servant.
In return, a tremendous backlash came.
“Gggrrrr…!!”
His insides turned over. His circuits twisted painfully, and his core creaked.
He felt like his whole body was being ground into meat in a shredder.
One moment of letting go of consciousness seemed like his body would blow apart.
With mana and necromantic backlash clashing chaotically within him, his face involuntarily warped.
‘The backlash… is stronger than expected.’
It’s a complex technique that requires controlling the remains of a deceased body and managing the soul extracted from that body.
Moreover, the necromancer he was attempting to conjure was the two-headed dragon, classified as a tier three alpha.
Even with full preparations, it was an incredibly challenging task.
In such an unstable state, the act of summoning proceeded.
The corpse of the two-headed dragon was insufficient. There were many parts that were missing. Most importantly, he couldn’t even fill the head, where its unique abilities resided.
He was also lacking offerings. Although he filled a considerable number, the shortage of offerings led to significant qualitative degradation.
The burden transmitted to the caster doubled.
Kyowon turned his head.
Behind him lay the believers sprawled on the floor. All were worshipers of death, managing some level of necromancy themselves.
They were all dead. They couldn’t last a moment, perishing instantly. They were practically sacrificial pawns to lighten Kyowon’s burden. They joyously became martyrs, delighting in the offering of their lives to the god of death.
Yet, Kyowon was facing death. Without those martyrs who became offerings, he would also have died from the strain.
“What a pitiful sight. I can’t tell who the corpse is.”
A calm voice pierced Kyowon’s ears.
Alongside the ringing tinnitus, a blatant footstep sounded in the distance.
A man came walking toward him where the light was still faint.
The weak light illuminated the man. Bright red eyes and hair were revealed.
“Tsk, tsk…”
The man’s gaze landed on the dead believers.
Their skin revealed necrotic and exploded mana circuits. Blood oozed from every hole in their faces as they lay there.
The man’s face twisted in disgust.
They call that martyrdom? They must be a bunch of madmen.
“What brings you here…?”
Kyowon managed to speak. It was a struggle to say anything under the strain of backlash.
“Not much? I just came to see what all the fuss was about, hearing all the rumors.”
After the effort he took to speak, the response he received was that.
Kyowon’s face contorted.
“Oh, you could twist your face even more from there? Quite a remarkable noggin you’ve got.”
“Crazy bastard… can’t you tell the difference between a big deal and not…?”
“To you, it’s a big deal; to us, it’s nothing special. Don’t involve us in your drama.”
“Stop babbling… Even your god is seeking war… If so—”
“God?”
Suddenly, Kyowon’s words were interrupted.
The one who cut him off blinked in confusion as if he didn’t understand.
Soon enough, realizing the meaning, he opened his mouth to let out a small gasp.
“God? That? Ha ha!”
And then he burst into laughter. His large laughter echoed in the cavern. The resonance of his voice made Kyowon’s brow wrinkle.
“You crazy bastard. You’re worshiping something like that and calling it a god.”
With the ensuing words, Kyowon’s face twisted further in despair.
Crack! Kyowon’s teeth clenched. A chilling sound echoed from his already fractured teeth.
Kyowon glared at the man with wide, torn-away eyes.
“You…! Keep that pathetic mouth of yours shut…!”
“What the hell is with your orders? Why are you the one getting angry in the first place? Right now, I’m the one with the bad mood. Don’t treat me like your random cultist.”
The dying Kyowon exuded an aura of murderous intent. The aura of the necromancer at his peak enveloped the surroundings.
Any normal human would faint just from being exposed to that for a moment.
However, the man facing him remained unfazed. Instead, he smirked and released his own murderous intent, immediately suppressing Kyowon’s.
Bang! The cavern wall vibrated under the impact. Debris fell ominously from the ceiling.
“Ugh…”
“No matter how toothless a tiger I am, do you think I’d lose to a rear-room old man like you?”
The man chuckled with a smirk.
“If you want to finish that short life of yours, stay quiet. I might just end it for you before you naturally pass away. I’ll just be spectating, though.”
Kyowon was dying. And he wouldn’t last much longer. Of course, depending on his response, it could mean days, weeks… or maybe just a few more hours.
But to the man, there’s no way it would reach months.
A moment of silence followed.
“Ha.”
The silence was broken.
Kyowon chuckled through blood-tinged foam.
“Funny, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
Is he truly wanting to die? The man blinked.
“You’re merely a being submissive to the god… You cannot kill me by your own judgment.”
“……”
At Kyowon’s following words, the man’s expression turned cold and stern.
There was no aura. The emotionless expression on the man’s face showed that his hand stirred.
Just as he was about to grab the sword strapped to his waist, his hand froze. It was as if something was holding it in mid-air.
Pudud. Veins bulged on the back of his hand. His fingers trembled.
– Whoosh!
Flames burst forth. Thick, deep red flames churned in his grasp.
But his hand did not move.
“… Damn bastard.”
The man muttered a curse under his breath.
It was aimed at the audacious old man before him as well as the damned power that held him back.
He loosened his grip. The flames extinguished.
Then the power that held back his actions disappeared too.
“Ah, shit. Looking at this pathetic state, I should just leave.”
The man turned with an exasperated expression.
Kyowon then spoke to him.
“Don’t worry… I will fulfill the revelation and move toward paradise.”
The man’s steps abruptly halted.
“Fulfill and move… I don’t know. It doesn’t seem likely that you’ll achieve much.”
“… On what basis do you dare deny the god’s revelation?”
The man seemed to think for a moment and then glanced at Kyowon.
“Just a feeling.”
“… You crazy bastard.”
A response unworthy of an answer.
Kyowon’s face creased.
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