Chapter 136
Evan, who was sitting beside him, twitched his eyebrows.
He had sensed that the other party was hiding something.
“By the way, who is this person?”
“She’s my assistant.”
“Ah, I see. Well, you should come along too. You must have gone through a lot together.”
Rodney led the two outside and helped them into the carriage.
“Isn’t this nearby?”
“You’re a hero who saved countless patients from the plague. We can’t just treat you lightly. I’ll take you somewhere better.”
The carriage sped off.
The streets were completely deserted due to the Black Death, allowing them to travel at an unrestrained pace. Soon, they left the outskirts where the clinic was and entered the heart of the city.
Chris smiled innocently and asked, “We’re going far. I need to get back to the patients quickly. Will this take long?”
“No need to worry about the patients.”
Rodney’s tone suddenly shifted.
His true colors were finally showing.
“You’ll soon meet a gruesome death.”
“!!”
Sensing the murderous intent, Evan reflexively tried to stand up in the carriage.
Crack!
Chris discreetly stepped on Evan’s foot, signaling him to stay silent.
‘This guy’s about to ruin everything.’
Through the crow mask, Chris deliberately wore a frightened expression.
“W-what do you mean? Are you behind this plague?!”
“Heh heh, not me. But I’ve made a pact to share in the sacred fruits once the great one achieves his grand plan. Those senior doctors from the Uiseon family who looked down on me won’t dare belittle me again.”
It seemed Rodney had been pushed out of the Uiseon family’s internal competition and forced to join this scheme.
Rodney spoke triumphantly.
“You all will be sacrifices for the grand plan. Having saved so many patients, your souls are the most precious offerings.”
“P-please, spare us…”
“You’d better stay quiet. If you want to enjoy the little time you have left, that is.”
“Th-that’s…”
Chris put on his most terrified look and gave Evan a subtle nudge.
‘Come on, you idiot. Act scared! This is frustrating.’
Evan frowned deeply but reluctantly forced a fearful expression.
Of course, his acting was terrible and just looked awkward.
Fortunately, Rodney didn’t suspect much, and soon they arrived at their destination.
It was a small building in the city center.
Nothing particularly unusual about it.
“Go inside.”
There was nothing suspicious upon entering either.
Only a faint trace of dark magic lingered.
If it weren’t for Chris, whose mastery of magical energy was at its peak, he would never have sensed such a subtle presence.
‘A trace of cursed magic. Impressive. To hide it so discreetly.’
Even standing inside, the aura was barely perceptible. If the victim had died naturally, it would have been impossible to find.
“W-what do you intend to do with us?”
Chris’s voice trembled.
Rodney chuckled cruelly.
“You will be taken down to the altar connected to this place and become sacrifices.”
“Do you mean the secret passage under this carpet?”
“Yes, that’s right. Come inside… huh? How do you know about that?”
Rodney’s face twisted in confusion.
Chris said flatly, “Evan, kill him.”
“…What?”
That was Rodney’s last word.
A flash of light, and Rodney’s head was cleanly severed.
He died without even realizing what had happened.
A swift, warrior-like execution.
“Is it okay to kill him like that? Wouldn’t it be better to keep him alive and torture him?”
“It’s fine. He was bound by a death curse that would have killed him the moment he spoke the truth.”
A common tactic of cursed magic.
“Now that we know the secret passage connected to the altar where the ritual is happening, we just need to go in and gather evidence.”
With a whoosh!
Chris burned the carpet with black magic fire, revealing the floor beneath.
Though it looked ordinary, an intricate black magic circle was etched into the ground.
‘An impressive security spell. No ordinary dark mage could break this.’
Of course, that didn’t apply to Chris.
He activated his magical energy a few times to analyze the pattern and soon completely dismantled the security.
The floor cracked with a low rumble.
A dark passage, like the maw of an abyss, appeared.
“So, we just go down now?”
“No, the two of us alone can’t stop the ritual.”
Evan was a pure knight, and even with Chris’s abilities, dismantling the ritual below was impossible.
They needed help.
“Wait here. Someone will come soon.”
Evan looked puzzled, and soon the person Chris had called appeared.
“Who on earth…?”
A pale-faced girl, Olivia, the awakened heir of the Sacred Bloodline.
As soon as Rodney put Chris in the carriage, Chris secretly sent Mari to summon Olivia to their location.
Thanks to Alos and the young Count Roy drawing attention, Olivia was able to slip away unnoticed.
“I’m here too.”
Jupien appeared with a sly grin.
“You weren’t needed.”
“…Wanna fight?”
Chris chuckled.
“Just kidding. Glad you’re here.”
With what awaited them below, every hand counted.
“So, the ritual is happening inside, right? Shall we go in first?”
Jupien leapt down the passage without a hint of fear.
Evan glanced at Christian and followed inside.
That left only Chris and Olivia.
But Olivia’s mood was strange.
She was staring at Rodney’s severed body.
‘Is she shocked by the corpse? She doesn’t seem that fragile.’
Despite her appearance, she had traveled through countless harsh places as the kingdom’s representative saint since childhood.
“…Wasn’t the author of this atrocity Rodney from the Uiseon family? Why was he the head of treatment and here?”
Chris noticed what had unsettled Olivia.
What did it mean that a high-ranking noble was involved?
She was shocked because she sensed the terrible truth lurking behind this.
But Chris deliberately spoke coldly.
“You had some idea, didn’t you?”
“!!”
“Don’t lose heart. The truth hidden below is far more horrific and vile than you imagined.”
He wasn’t just saying that.
After learning the full truth, Olivia might very well break down.
“If you’re not confident, it’s better to turn back now and pretend you never saw this.”
Olivia’s eyes flickered.
But Chris was sincere.
Perhaps, as her protective older brother, he secretly hoped she would be strong enough to face it.
Because she would be deeply wounded by the end of this.
‘But Olivia wouldn’t back down.’
Sure enough, she bit her lip hard.
“I’m going down. I have a responsibility as the kingdom’s heir.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. So don’t worry unnecessarily.”
Olivia took a deep breath.
She clenched a wooden charm hidden in her sleeve.
A gift from her beloved older brother.
Suddenly!
White wings of light spread out from Olivia’s back.
The radiant wings, a symbol of the awakened Sacred Bloodline.
Olivia and Chris leapt down together.
And soon faced a horrifying hell.
A vast underground chamber.
It looked like several large mist fields combined.
No one would have imagined such a space existed beneath the castle.
But the truly shocking thing wasn’t the size.
At the center stood an altar.
Countless blood-red magic circles twisted into grotesque shapes, and above it floated a transparent sphere.
A sphere containing souls.
[Ahhh!]
[It hurts. It hurts…]
[Please… please save me.]
[Mom, Dad… aaaaah!]
Hundreds of souls trapped inside screamed in agony.
Everyone’s face turned pale, but only Chris remained unmoved.
He had seen such scenes countless times before and was immune.
“These are the souls of those who died from the Black Death. According to the pre-inscribed spell, they were drawn here to this altar and made sacrifices.”
“W-who could do such a terrible thing?”
Olivia’s voice trembled.
Though she had steeled herself, she was still shaken.
“Well, who do you think? Someone inside the castle, someone with enough power to create such a place in the heart of the city?”
“!!”
Olivia’s eyes hardened.
There was only one person.
“Could it be… Duke Vintz?”
No one but the lord of this castle could have done this.
“N-no way. Why would he do such a thing? He was known for caring for his subjects like family.”
Olivia stammered, struggling to accept it.
Chris sighed quietly to himself.
‘Actually, Duke Vintz isn’t the end of it.’
He was just a pawn; the true mastermind was elsewhere.
“Stopping this ritual is our priority. Princess, please use your authority to free these souls.”
That was why Chris had brought Olivia.
She was the era’s greatest spirit summoner.
Her summoning was on a whole different level from others.
She wielded the power of the celestial constellation to soothe souls.
But then Olivia said something unexpected.
“It’s… impossible.”
“What? Princess, don’t you have the ‘Soul Soothing’ ability?”
“My ‘Soul Soothing’ power hasn’t fully blossomed yet. It’s not strong enough to pacify this many spirits.”
Chris was taken aback.
‘That can’t be. By now, her Soul Soothing should be fully developed.’
Then he realized the problem.
‘She’s spent the past year drowning in despair, unable to complete her power!’
Olivia had been blaming herself for Chris’s death, slowly eating away at her own soul. As her soul decayed, the awakening of her ability was delayed just as much.
‘Damn. Without Olivia’s power, there’s no way to stop this ritual.’
No matter how skilled Chris was, dismantling this level of dark magic was beyond him.
‘I have to come up with a plan—fast. Otherwise, we’re all in danger…’
But it was too late.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the passage connected to the hall.
“Well, well. I don’t know how this happened. Rats sneaking into a sacred sanctuary without an invitation.”
Olivia’s voice trembled with shock.
“Duke Vintz!!”
A middle-aged man with a sharp, intelligent gaze.
A grimoire clutched in one hand.
He was the lord of this fortress, a five-star manipulator mage—Duke Vintz.
‘This is the first time I’m seeing him in person.’
Chris had a deep history with Duke Vintz in his previous life.
A bitter one.
Vintz had fabricated evidence to frame Chris’s mother.
More precisely, under the Pope’s orders, Duke Vintz had forged the incriminating documents.
He was one of Chris’s greatest enemies from his past life.
But Duke Vintz wasn’t alone.
An even more terrifying presence accompanied him.