Episode 1216
by Cristae‘Have my spells improved lately?’
A mage’s skills could grow even without their conscious awareness.
And professors at Einrogard were powerful mages—apart from reaching the realm of arch-magi, there wasn’t much room for traditional growth.
Progress became extremely slow.
So it was more typical for some experience or realization to help break through a block…
‘I have been through a lot lately.’
In Professor Kirmin’s head, his friend, his junior, and his student flashed by.
This term really had been a cruel one, full of every possible trouble. Not a single one of those three above ever followed instructions.
If unconscious stress had broken through his magical limitations, he could accept that.
That would mean there is still some order left in the world.
I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all! My domain! My palace! My slaves!
You’re howling just because your domain is burning? It only means you never deserved a domain to begin with.
“!”
The Yaksha King’s provocations weren’t surprising anymore, but something else was.
‘The domain is burning?’
“There was a separate detachment!”
The Einrogard professors belatedly realized the Yaksha King’s scheme.
No wonder he seemed overly relaxed—there was another team moving elsewhere.
‘Wait, then who’s leading the detachment?’
A question popped into Professor Kirmin’s mind.
Which mage could lead a detachment in place of the Yaksha King?
Hierdan gripped the reins of the yaksha horde tightly with carrot and stick.
-Lord Hierdan. We destroyed the Blood Mist Grave Basin.
“Excellent. As expected, the yakshas of Great Iron Mount are the best.”
-Thank you! It’s our honor to be commanded by a great arch-mage such as yourself!
For simple yakshas, a carrot.
-We… suffered some casualties, but took the Tower of Thirsting Heart…
“Yakshas of the Seventh Gold Mountain, return to your original locations. You don’t deserve to receive orders.”
-P-please, give us one more chance! We swear on our true names, we will avenge this!
For arrogant yakshas, a stick.
Not much time had passed, but all the yakshas, one after another, came to deeply obey Hierdan.
-It looks like all the regions where the evil god’s power was strong have been destroyed. Do you think he’s noticed?
“He will soon. But it doesn’t matter.”
Hierdan traced a short symbol in the air. A spatial gate opened, spilling goods from a subspace warehouse.
They were evil god worshippers of the Sanguiros sect, captured alive by the Empire.
“Feed these evil god worshippers a potion.”
-???
-Understood!
The yakshas, baffled by the inexplicable command, did as they were told.
‘Is he just making them into fodder for the coming battles? But they’re too weak to be of much use.’
‘Maybe he’s planning to offer them up as sacrifices…’
Even after the worshippers were forced to drink the potion, nothing happened.
Everyone was baffled—not just the yakshas, but the evil god worshippers too.
What is this about?
Without paying their confusion any mind, Hierdan stood before the captured cultists and spoke.
“Pray for Sanguiros to save you.”
“How dare you…! Our lord will inflict a punishment you lesser mages can’t even imagine!”
“Good. Keep going.”
“You will bear a curse of blood!”
“Keep going. Why stop?”
Hierdan called for the yakshas.
The bewildered yakshas asked again in confusion.
-Y-yes?
“Stimulate them to keep praying.”
Having demonstrated enough, Hierdan then took several steps back.
As if to say, “Now, do as you’ve learned from watching.”
The yakshas were puzzled but went ahead and acted.
-You, your Sanguiros, is nothing but a bug before the wisdom of our king!
“You wretched bug monsters! The regent will never forgive filth like you!”
Thankfully, the evil god worshippers, provoked even by cheap taunts, flared up and ardently expressed their piety.
At first, the yakshas were at a loss, but they began to get into it as the momentum built.
-Raaaah! We’ll eat Sanguiros alive and feast on his flesh!
“???”
“Wait.”
Hierdan, listening from the rear, called that yaksha forward.
For some reason, the yaksha quelled himself and approached Hierdan.
“Taunt them so the other side can actually understand. Gods aren’t sheep for shepherds—talk of eating them raw doesn’t fit.”
-S-sorry.
“Fine. Go again, then.”
The yakshas resumed their efforts.
Of course, Hierdan didn’t let anything slip. Any limp provoking was immediately met with a reprimand.
If he’d scolded them at first, even with their loyalty to their king, there would’ve been pushback. But the yakshas, already bowing to Hierdan, could not protest.
-We understand. Please forgive us.
-We’ll taunt even harder!
The yakshas, as if facing a blood enemy, began taunting with fervor and intensity.
The fervor grew so hot the mad cultists began to get overwhelmed.
‘What’s the purpose of this?’
The chief of the Great Iron Mount yakshas could hardly contain his curiosity any longer.
He didn’t know the meaning, but he was following orders for now.
-Um, Lord Hierdan. Why are we tormenting these weaklings?
Unable to resist, the yaksha finally asked.
He kept an anxious eye on Hierdan just in case he should be punished for impertinence.
But Hierdan answered kindly.
“The faith they send is directly connected to the evil god. That means, if we pollute that faith, we can also hurt the evil god.”
Sanguiros, after gaining self-awareness, boasted he needed no more faith. But the power of his followers’ belief was still connected to him.
If he truly needed nothing, he’d never have built such a domain with all its structures.
Hierdan had already collaborated with the headmaster to create alchemical potions to administer to cultists before coming here.
-You mean it’s possible to pollute faith!?
“You’re taking ‘pollution’ too literally. If it’s hard to grasp, think of it as ‘confusion.’”
The power of the believers’ souls is temporarily amplified and their doctrine is confused.
For example, the core doctrine of the Sanguiros sect is sacrifice.
“The tenet is ‘offer sacrifices and gain strength.’”
If you swap ‘sacrifice’ for ‘prayer’—send prayer instead of offering—confusion is easy.
“Most divine beings wouldn’t care if the doctrine changed. They don’t pay attention to how their power works. But Sanguiros is different. Every time his power is altered from within, he’ll feel confusion.”
-Amazing!
“I wouldn’t have told you otherwise, but as you yakshas from Great Iron Mount are the best, I just had to.”
The yaksha chief looked at Hierdan with deep admiration.
This magician had a keen eye!
-You nailed it, sir!
“So then, can you stimulate all the other cultists within our time left?”
-…Of course!
The yaksha chief felt a little worried, but couldn’t admit it now—so he shouted loudly.
Let’s do it!
‘We’ll manage. Surely we can’t fail!’
“Then get to it. I’ll bring out new cultists—make sure they pray hard.”
Watching the chief rush off full of spirit, Hierdan thought to himself.
If things slowed again, he’d need another way to motivate them.
‘I’d better plan something in advance.’
What would work?
The evil god wailed in pain he’d never known before. He flailed power in all directions, but the agony wouldn’t subside.
From every angle, enemies chained and pierced him with alien sensations, and in the distance, unknown forces destroyed his domain and corrupted his faith.
It was an agonizing fight. Never had he imagined fighting mages would go this way.
He had expected only a bloody, direct battle for the heart…
Get out of my way!
But the Yaksha King didn’t move. Blood dripped from his wounds, but they closed up swiftly, and he countered by throwing a vajra at the evil god.
He wanted to break out and kill all the magicians, but here he was!
With a wail, the evil god focused his power. He tried to break out of the encirclement first.
But suddenly, time slowed down. The evil god realized someone was pulling his flow of time, making it sluggish.
Wha…!
The furious evil god tried to hunt for magic and return time to normal around him, but others wouldn’t allow it.
The Yaksha King and the death knights swiftly closed in and stabbed his body.
Some knights were reverse-summoned by the evil god’s burst, but it made no meaningful difference overall. Sanguiros only grew more enraged.
UAAAAAH!
Suddenly, the evil god’s massive form split into multiple bodies. By all logic, this was an act of self-harm.
When you should be gathering and condensing your power, to forcibly divide yourself like this—?
Such forced division even damaged his own powers. No wonder it was reckless self-injury.
-What is he thinking?
-Is he trying to break through by dividing? Stop him! Either way, he’s just weaker now.
The death knights were puzzled, but acted on instinct.
It wasn’t difficult to counter. They had already withstood the main body’s assault by striking and pulling back. The weakened split bodies were even less of a threat.
-He’s headed for the professors too!
-It doesn’t matter. Anyway…
A knight prepared to say, ‘Professor Voladi’s there—they’ll be fine,’ but stopped mid-sentence.
Something felt different.
‘Is the professor losing ground?’
In the split-bodied evil god versus Professor Voladi, the professor was clearly on the defensive.
Instead of his usual sharp movements, he was being pushed, barely defending. The knights were shocked.
Was he luring the foe into a trap? It didn’t seem so.
What on earth—
-He must be up to something. Support them! If Professor Baegrek falters, Professor Kim is in danger too. Alert the king!
The death knights signaled the Yaksha King while restraining one of the split bodies, pummeling it with golden fists.
-Your Highness! Please help the professors!
But the Yaksha King didn’t answer. Instead, he grabbed the split body he was pounding and squeezed it for all it was worth.
The knights were livid at the sight.
‘That damn yaksha!’
He’d always seemed suspicious—was he finally showing his true colors?
-Your Highness! Don’t ignore us!
It’s all ready—don’t interrupt. I have to kill this split body right now.
-Ready for what…?!
CRACKLE!
With a thunderclap, one of the professor-facing split bodies shuddered violently, and the knights belatedly remembered there was a student here among them.