In darkness filled with an eerie atmosphere, the light of an old candlestick flickered.
Following the light, stairs leading down to the basement of a shabby building revealed themselves.
After descending the stairs and passing through a narrow, long corridor, a gloomy room covered in cobwebs came into view.
A room filled with air mixed with the smell of mold and dampness.
In the center of the room, an old wooden table, eaten away and cracked in places, was placed, rattling.
Around it sat two figures.
These figures were none other than ‘Eclipse,’ a gathering of warlocks who yearned for the revival of an Evil God.
The one seated at the head of the table was Sharia, the young leader of Eclipse.
Her red eyes flashed beneath her black clothes; despite her young age, her talent as a warlock was exceptional, leading this dark collective.
She gazed at the table with a serious and cautious expression.
“The path we have walked has never been smooth. But the trials we face now are more important than ever. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Sharia’s gaze fixed on a piece of bread on the table.
A musty smell emanated from its hardened crust, covered in mold.
While ordinary people would have recoiled, to Sharia, it appeared as sweet hope.
She swallowed and looked at the red-haired man beside her.
“Hey, Lucas… can we eat just a little of that bread?”
The man Sharia addressed was Lucas.
He was a man with red hair, the vice-captain of Eclipse.
With his cool-headed nature, he shook his head resolutely even at Sharia’s earnest gaze.
“No, Captain. We must endure hardships like this to revive our Evil God. Besides, even at this moment, our members are desperately begging for food outside. It is not right for us to feast like this.”
“Ugh… I understand.”
Sharia sadly nodded at Lucas’s stern demeanor.
Indeed.
Eclipse, once renowned as a threat to the continent, had now fallen to the point where they had to be grateful for moldy bread.
Though they had dreamed of the Evil God’s revival more than anyone, the reality was a pathetic state of not having food for the day.
Perhaps the White Church had forgotten about Eclipse’s existence?
Sharia, as if to soothe her gloomy heart, brought up a new topic.
In truth, there was a specific reason why Eclipse, who had been staying quiet and out of sight, had called a meeting after a long time.
It was because of a rumor.
“By the way, Lucas, have you heard the rumors going around lately? They say there’s a dungeon brimming with treasure… is it true?”
Desire flared in her eyes.
Currently, a rumor about treasure was spreading among the adventurers of the Sail Kingdom.
The rumor was that a dungeon in the Silent Mountain Range held a vast amount of treasure.
As the leader of Eclipse, struggling with financial difficulties, it was natural for her to be interested in this rumor.
If the rumored treasure was real, and if they could obtain it, wouldn’t Eclipse, on the verge of collapse, be able to recover?
Then, wouldn’t their long-held wish of reviving the great Evil God be hastened!
However, Lucas’s answer was cold.
“Captain. That is likely just a baseless rumor. And even if it were true, the Sail Kingdom is currently under observation by the Church. They are probably interested in this rumor as well. The risk is far too great.”
“R-right…?”
Sharia’s face darkened for a moment.
As Lucas said, the White Church was indeed watching the Sail Kingdom.
‘Queen Irena….’
Queen Irena, who was called the birth of a new Saintess.
As the ruler of the Sail Kingdom, it was only natural for the White Church to be interested.
Therefore, there was a high possibility that they would dispatch priests and inquisitors into the kingdom.
‘In the end, they will become the Church’s puppets.’
With the situation like this, entering the Sail Kingdom was akin to walking to one’s own death.
Inquisitors were practically the natural enemies of warlocks, possessing the worst compatibility.
Furthermore, the Church was not foolish.
They would undoubtedly be listening to this rumor and controlling the mountain range adjacent to the Sail Kingdom.
“…However,” Lucas continued, as Sharia was about to give up with a disappointed expression, “it would still be worth trying at least once. It is the reason for Eclipse’s existence to nurture the seeds of possibility.”
If they did nothing, the possibility would converge to zero.
But the moment they acted, even a sliver of possibility would emerge.
In the first place, wasn’t Eclipse formed by the possibility of the Evil God’s revival?
“And if we fear the Church and avoid them, it would be an insult to our Evil God’s reputation.”
Sharia’s face lit up again at Lucas’s words.
Her mind was already brimming with thoughts of finding the treasure.
‘If we can find the treasure… yes!’
If they could find the treasure, then prosperity and hope would await them, not the moldy hunger they experienced now.
Most importantly, on that path, they could approach the dream of reviving the great Evil God!
‘Someday, I will make our Evil God descend here!’
Sharia dreamed of a hopeful future.
Though their current circumstances meant even moldy bread was precious, her heart was always filled with faith and passion.
A faint smile appeared on Sharia and Lucas’s faces.
The reality of starvation, the wobbling table, and the dim underground space were no problem.
For they had a firm and great dream.
Thus, the two warlocks harbored the brightest and hottest hope in their damp and gloomy underground lair.
Smelling the mold, looking at the rotten bread, they already envisioned in their minds the glorious moment of their Evil God awakening.
For that day, they had to head to the Silent Mountain Range as soon as possible.
The flame of the old candlestick flickered in their eyes.
A small, but never-to-be-extinguished flame of hope.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Silent Mountain Range, an endless procession of skeletons and ghouls continued.
The sight of bare skeletons and eerie-formed ghouls walking in line resembled a march of death.
However, upon closer inspection, they held small pouches in their hands instead of weapons.
If anyone witnessed this scene, they would think they were transporting important items, given the overwhelming atmosphere.
As the wind blew, a pouch slightly parted, and the contents within glittered.
The pouches were filled with a massive amount of gold coins and jewels.
They continued walking with pouches full of gold coins, then eventually stopped.
“Clack.”
Necros, the being leading the march of death, stopped walking.
Necros immediately pointed to something with his hand.
There lay the corpse of an adventurer. Necros, without hesitation, rummaged through the corpse’s pocket.
“Clink!”
As gold coins came out, Necros’s expression brightened.
He quickly put the gold coins into the pouch held by a skeleton.
Of course, Necros didn’t hoard them for himself.
He also handed some gold coins to the Death Knight beside him, strengthening their undead camaraderie.
The Death Knight, who received the gold coins, also called his ghoul subordinates.
Ghouls exhibited overwhelming performance when it came to moving gold coins.
Although their skin was rotten, they had flesh, allowing them to hide gold coins within their bodies, thus boasting superior efficiency compared to skeletons who could only hold pouches.
“…….”
However, after a while, the Death Knight’s expression subtly changed.
His gaze, fixed on the ghouls, sharpened.
“…….”
Necros, sensing something was amiss, approached.
“Clack? clack?”
(What’s wrong?)
“…….”
To Necros’s question, the Death Knight nodded, pointing at the ghouls.
Necros, realizing something, became serious.
“Clack? clack?”
(One is gone?)
One of the ghouls following behind was missing.
And it was the ghoul carrying the Death Knight’s personal funds.
Necros and the Death Knight began to ponder with serious expressions.
Where could it have disappeared?
They did not consider the possibility of betrayal.
The ghouls deployed here were all subordinates directly created by the Death Knight, making betrayal impossible.
After a moment of thought, Necros moved his chin.
“Clack. Clack clack-da.”
(Go. We can keep gathering gold coins.)
“…….”
The Death Knight agreed with his words.
They could keep earning gold coins.
And they had been gathering gold for several days, so they were not particularly regretful.
It was the same for the ghouls.
With adventurers flooding into the mountains now, what was the big deal about losing one ghoul?
If they were short of ghouls, they could always kill passing adventurers and create new ones.
However, they needed to establish countermeasures as a lesson from this incident, so they wouldn’t repeat the same mistake.
“Clack clack. Clack!”
Under Necros’s command, the skeletons and ghouls began moving in pairs.
It was the moment the first undead battle pairs were born.
* * *
“Gua…?”
A single ghoul was crying, left all alone.
Where was this place?
The ghoul was confused by the current situation.
It thought it was following the procession well, but when it came to its senses, it found itself alone.
“Gua… gua.”
From afar, it could faintly feel the presence of its master, the Death Knight who exuded death.
If the ghoul kept walking, perhaps it could rejoin the procession someday.
“Gua?”
While walking, the ghoul spotted a human collapsed on the ground.
Seeing that it was still alive, it seemed to have just fainted.
The ghoul immediately took action.
It reached out and rummaged through the unconscious human’s pockets.
This was a habit ingrained from following the Death Knight and Necros for several days.
“Ugh, where is this…?”
As it was rummaging through the pockets, the adventurer regained consciousness.
But the moment consciousness returned, the first thing it saw was the ghoul’s terrifying appearance.
“Aaaahh!!”
So startled, the adventurer fainted again.
“Gua….”
The ghoul continued to rummage through the adventurer’s pockets.
The money taken from the human’s pockets glittered in the ghoul’s palm.
Although there were no gold coins, only silver and copper coins, the ghoul clutched them tightly.
Then, it looked around and began to pour them all into its mouth.
Even now, the ghoul’s body was storing a large amount of money.
The ghoul began to move again with light steps.
The forest was vast.
As it walked through the forest, it saw a creature crawling on the ground.
The ghoul calmly observed the creature and then a thought struck it.
“Gua…”
It had seen the vampire Aren in Sector 3 holding a similar creature and bringing it to her mouth, saying, “My long friend!”
“Gua… gua….”
(Long friend….)
Of course, there was a significant difference from the long creature Aren had held.
First, the long friend the ghoul was holding had a very flamboyant body color. Above all, the multiple fangs in its mouth were terrifying.
It looked dangerous at first glance, but it didn’t matter to the ghoul.
The ghoul immediately grabbed the long creature and shoved it into its mouth.
Thus, the ghoul began to move, carrying the ferocious snake monster within its body.
A little later, it spotted another creature, which was also a being in the ghoul’s memory.
Aren had surely said, “Squirrel friend is a delicious friend!” while looking at a creature like that.
“Gua… gua….”
(Squirrel friend….)
However, it was very different from the squirrel Aren held in her memory.
The squirrel the ghoul had caught was entirely green and had blood-red eyes.
“Kyaaak-!”
And it dared to bite the ghoul’s hand as it resisted.
The ghoul’s hand was covered in a strange green liquid, but it felt no pain.
Being an already dead undead, the ghoul could feel nothing.
“Gua…”
Immediately after, it shoved the squirrel(?) that was biting it into its mouth as well.
The ghoul continued to move, swallowing gold coins and creatures indiscriminately.
However, the ghoul did not know.
That the creatures it swallowed had started fighting and devouring each other within its body.
