Chapter 27 - Executioner (1)
Chapter 27 – Executioner (1)
Lincoln didn’t understand his situation.
He had moved to the lab via the warp. And he even looked at the expression of despair on Ricky’s face. A little further and he would be inside the lab.
What expression would Ricky make? How painful would it be? Maybe, like Shino, Ricky too would see him as hope.
But he didn’t see it.
His face distorted.
“Which bastar-!”
The Holy power inside him rose with anger.
Pure white light engulfed the bishop’s office.
However, the light didn’t last that long.
A single ray of darkness crossed in the white room.
“Pigs don’t talk to humans.”
The man grabbed the thick snout with his hand.
Lincoln, who saw the purple eyes through the light, realized that everything about the person was black.
This one. It was him who broke his bliss.
He squeezed the slender wrist which was holding his mouth tightly. Light started to spread again.
“Arrogant jerk!”
Huge holy power raged from his fat body.
Jamie frowned at the pushing holy power.
‘Even a pig could be a bishop.’
After all, Lincoln was a bishop.
The holy power of a high priest wasn’t something that could be simply ignored.
It was a disaster waiting to happen, especially for a dark magician.
The problem was that Jamie’s black magic was different from regular black magic.
“It is of no use.”
The light was engulfed by the darkness.
Lincoln couldn’t believe it.
The holy power that he had honed for years. It couldn’t be taken away that easily.
“Right! It is you! The one who defeated the Chimera Paladin!”
He never thought that it would be a dark magician.
How dare such a terrible thing interfere with his work.
He couldn’t let it go.
“A worthless bastard who is stuck in a gutter and hides is doing nothing but waste my time.”
Holy power erupted from Lincoln’s hand.
“You think trash like you can amount to anything!”
[Battle Sanctuary]
Zenith is the God of war and peace,
And all his servants had powers specialized in combat.
A sacred battlefield unfolded in the bishop’s office.
Here, the priest of Zenith would gain considerable power. Even an ordinary priest would turn several times more powerful in the sanctuary conducted by the bishop.
Even the strength to break down rocks.
“I will tear your limbs and hang them in the square!”
“haha.”
Jamie laughed at Lincoln’s threat.
Battle Sanctuary. Definitely a dangerous holy magic.
A power that symbolized Zenith.
If it was someone else, it would have been a difficult situation for them. However, unfortunately for the bishop, the opponent was Jamie.
“Everyone knows the power of Zenith.”
“What?”
Jamie raised his right hand.
Ten thousand years ago, The holy magic used by them was different from now. From the moment he started reading books, Jamie would search for the holy magic of the 12 churches every single day.
There could be some holy magic that he wasn’t aware of.
If one asked, did the magic change a lot, then no.
Tens of thousands of years have passed, but the skills hadn’t changed by a lot. Just a little.
“You people enjoyed too much peace,”
“What nonsense!”
“Thousands, ten thousands of years have passed, but you haven’t changed much.”
“What bullshit are…”
“You’ll eventually understand it, Zenith.”
“How dare a filthy dark magician utter out God’s name!”
Lincoln was raging in anger.
Despite the massive body, he was swift as a squirrel.
The corners of Jami’s lips rose.
“The start is with you.”
Snap!
Jamie snapped his finger.
Lincoln swung his fist as hard as he could.
It was then.
The strength in his body began to disappear.
‘What?!’
Within the Battle Sanctuary that he unfolded, he gained ten times more power. Even an Expert-level knight would be defenceless against Lincoln.
But all that power was disappearing.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
“My sanctuary!”
The body that jumped, fell down.
He tried to land as safely as possible, but he was old and fat with little combat experience.
Thud!
“Ack!”
He fell on his legs, but unable to balance the weight, he rolled on the floor.
How did that happen?
Lincoln’s body throbbed, but he didn’t have the time to sob in pain. He looked around.
Shocked.
“No way, no way!”
“Why not?”
The sanctuary was collapsing.
To be precise, darkness was consuming the light.
To a dark magician, the holy power of the 12 Gods was nothing less than a natural enemy. It had to be impossible to destroy the Battle Sanctuary.
An incomprehensible situation.
When Lincoln was confused, Jamie spoke up.
“You didn’t think that I came here without any preparation, right?”
“Kuak. I am Zenith Church’s bishop, Lincoln! Not someone a dark magician can talk to… kuak!”
Kwang!
Lincoln got slammed against the wall.
“You guys can’t do anything with that Battle Sanctuary. So, as long as the Battle Sanctuary is dealt with, you people are no big deal.”
“Ah, don’t try to be funny!”
“Let’s talk.”
As Jamie approached, Lincoln began to move away.
“A-any one out there! Help me!”
“If someone outside could hear, wouldn’t they have come in already?”
“You… Do you think I will talk? Even if you kill me, I will…”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”
“What?”
“I am not asking you.”
Black mana flowed from Jamie’s hand that gripped the man.
Lincoln instinctively knew what he was going to do.
“D-don’t!”
“Let’s open up the brain. There will be no pain.”
“STOP!!”
Jamie smiled.
Memories started flooding into him.
“It is ready.”
“What is ready!”
Push!
The priest who brought Ricky held him.
A man with hair like thorns.
The doctor grabbed the priest’s neck with an angry expression.
“Kuk!”
“Where is your head! Your head!”
“Th-that is.”
“Lincoln. That scumbag!”
The doctor threw the priest aside.
Something crashed with the sound of breaking. The priest fell down as if he lost consciousness.
It was strength that was hard to be in the body of a doctor.
The doctor began to roam the lab, frantically clicking his tongue.
“What happened? Why is the experiment being delayed? I’m annoyed, annoyed!”
He kicked a trash can with all his might.
With a loud sound, the can flew.
The doctor rubbed his hawk-like nose.
“Lincoln. That bastard! 10 minutes. If he doesn’t come in 10 minutes, I’ll kill him.”
The man was usually calm, but when his plans were disrupted, the madness inside him came out.
“Cough!”
The priest struggled as he tried to get up.
The doctor staggered, grabbed the priest’s hair and pulled him.
“Ouch!”
“Hey.”
“Fo-forgive me…”
“Why would I save you? You should ask that to your head. So when is that bastard coming? Or do you want to die?”
“I-I will bring him.”
“How can you say that? Do you think that your flimsy abilities can handle a warp?”
“I will. I will. Just save…”
“Ugh!”
The doctor raised his hand, thinking to cut off the priest’s head.
However, there was a glimmer of reason left, so he didn’t do it. Zenith was a good business partner for him. He didn’t want to mess up such an opportunity because of his madness.
The doctor let go of the priest’s hair. The priest bowed his head, thanking him for showing mercy.
He looked at him and thought.
‘Does killing him mean a break in contract?’
Come to think of it, was it a contract that can be broken just because he killed a lowly priest?
Anger swelled up in his chest. And it only kept escalating. In order to solve it, it seemed like he had to kill someone.
The subject is for the experiment. Without that, he couldn’t get what he wanted. So, he had to think of other ways to relieve himself.
Grab!
There was no need to hold back.
The priest’s body fell to the ground. There was nothing stiff in the neck.
Feeling relieved, the doctor laughed out loud.
“Huh. Well. I will use this as a material.”
The holy power would still be in the body, so it would be of help to the experiment.
“You will be a part of the cause you want, so find glory in it.”
The dead priest couldn’t hear it.
Nevertheless, the doctor kept throwing jokes at the corpse.
It was then.
“What?”
Several presences were felt.
All of them were strange ones.
The doctor’s eyes began to spin around horrifyingly.
He screamed as he felt his anger rise again.
“Lincoln! You worthless bastard! How do you plan on getting things done!”
An intruder appeared.
“It is over there.”
“I think so too.”
Lars answered the shadow knights.
An abandoned building in the middle of the forest. From there, deathly energy emanated.
“It is disgusting.”
The Shadow Knights only felt energy, but a paladin of Pyro, he could smell the death.
“Let’s enter.”
Lars and the Shadow Knights entered the abandoned building without slowing their pace.
They searched the building.
It was a place that had been neglected for a long time, yet there was no trace of anyone coming and going.
“Nothing here.”
“It looks like it has been uninhabited for a long time.”
At the Shadow Knights’ report, Lars frowned.
“They can’t be anywhere else.”
It was normal to leave behind footprints.
But such a trace wasn’t found?
‘Were we mistaken?’
They have been looking around for a few hours, but this didn’t make any sense.
It was then.
“This way!”
A Shadow Knight, who hadn’t come back, called them.
When everyone approached, the Shadow knight put his ear to the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“Wind is blowing.”
“Wind?!”
There was no door to the basement, so they thought it didn’t exist.
“Looks like a secret door is there.”
“Start the search.”
Lars and the Shadow Knights began to search for the hidden door.
How long did they search?
Lars stood in front of a bookshelf. Usually, secret doors were behind the bookshelf. And, there was a book that stood out.
“So clean.”
The entire bookshelf was dirty.
The books should be the same. However, one was clean compared to the others.
He pulled out the book with his fingers.
Rattle!
The sound of something turning.
The shelf started to slide to the left.
The shadow knights approached.
“Everyone, get ready.”
Lars drew his sword.
Pure white holy power formed on his sword.
The Shadow Knights drew their swords too.
When the door fully opened, a staircase leading downstairs appeared. The moment they took one step.
Shhh!
Srrr!
With the pounding sound, Lars’s sword spewed fire.
Kiik!
A giant mantis leg flew in front of the darkness, aiming for Lars and his party.
Lars clenched his teeth and used his leg.
The Shadow Knights attacked in succession. The sound of metal clashing resounded over and over.
A Shadow Knight threw a magic scroll into the air.
Light illuminated the dark stairs.
And what appeared was a monster in a form so ferocious and terrifying that it was difficult to put into words.
People called such monsters…
“Chimera”
A chimera, of mantis and lion, was guarding the basement.
“I… want to… become archbishop.”
Jamie looked down at the bishop.
Seated helplessly at the wall, he didn’t seem sane. His eyes lost focus and looked like he was dead, and there were occasional tremors like he was about to collapse.
“So.”
Jamie squatted and made eye contact with him.
Lincoln’s eyes couldn’t meet his.
“You mean, Zenith gave you an oracle to build a strong army? And didn’t care about any means or methods. Right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Then go to the Count right away and tell him everything you know.”
“Y-yes.”
“Well, one never knows.”
He placed his hand over Lincoln’s head.
His body trembled like he was hit by lightning.
“Go.”
“… yes.”
Brainwashing.
All that remained was for Lincoln to tell the Count all the facts.
“Now, slowly.”
Jamie put his hand on his face.
And it changed into someone familiar.
Jamie smiled as he put on the bishop’s robe.
“Should I go?”
Jamie turned into Lincoln and walked into the mirror.