#59
Unexpected Fortune (3)
“This is, um…”
Lafori began in a trembling voice, then closed his mouth.
Everyone stared at the thing atop the altar with stiff expressions.
An ominous aura seeped out in wisps despite the layers upon layers of seals.
At that vile aura of death, the faces of those who looked upon it naturally twisted.
‘This is beyond what I expected.’
He had thought he had grown quite accustomed to that energy after absorbing two fragments so far, but this was more than he had imagined.
The first fragment had been the one possessed by the Oath of Reversal, so badly damaged that it sucked in information from its surroundings.
The second fragment had been the one possessed by the Brokoslak Clan, tightly condensed and hardened…
‘That one doesn’t seem to have any particular defects.’
On top of that, its size was as large as the previous two fragments combined.
Of course, he had never assumed they would be split into three equal parts, but he had not expected the difference to be this great.
“…Then, I will begin. Please wait a moment.”
Lafori let out a light sigh, closed his eyes on the spot, and focused. Natural power flowed from his body.
Then it slowly headed toward the altar, coming into contact with the aura of death protruding beyond the seal.
Crackle—
The energy began to be contaminated in an instant.
He hurriedly severed the connection and wiped away cold sweat.
“Ahem, it is certainly different from what I expected. If I had begun the search assuming it was merely a concentration of dark mana, I cannot say how long it would have taken.”
Then, as if trying to engrave it into his memory without forgetting a single detail, he stood there and stared intently at the energy flowing from the fragment.
While they waited for him to finish his work, the rest of the party merely watched in silence, until…
“Sir Heinrich.”
The Saintess approached and spoke to him.
“How do you feel, seeing that in person?”
Unlike usual, her expression was cold and rigid as she glared at the fragment. The look in her eyes was so sharp it made it hard to recall the clumsy side she had shown until now.
“What can I say… It’s simply incredible. It even makes me think it’s only natural that a being who came to hold something like that would become a calamity to the continent.”
“It isn’t holding it. It’s being devoured by it.”
The Saintess firmly corrected his words.
“A thousand years ago, that thing, which should have been at the very bottom of the dimension, suddenly appeared on the continent for some reason.”
It was a more secretive story about the “Heart of the Immortal King.”
A thing that should have existed in the abyss, the garbage dump of the Auterica dimension, where all kinds of negative dregs pooled together in one place.
“It was probably the doing of a dark mage who sought even greater power. If they were capable of opening the abyss and calling that forth, they must have been among the finest on the continent even back then…”
“Once one falls into the desire for power, there is no end.”
The Saintess sighed and nodded.
“Since it had already come to exist on the continent, sealing it like this was the best we could do. It wasn’t as though we could open the abyss again to send it back.”
No being could fully accept that power, nor could anyone properly wield it.
After all, that was a part of the very concept of “death,” accumulated and condensed over long ages at the bottom of the dimension.
‘Thinking of it that way, 「Mind Hub」 seems amazing all over again.’
Of course, it was not so much that the skill itself was powerful, but rather due to the structure by which it activated.
It was like how constructing a facility to properly contain radiation required a great deal of effort, while managing the entrance to that facility took far less work.
‘「Mind Hub」 is constantly active just from blocking the radiation leaking outside, but I can handle that much easily enough.’
Undead were immune to mental attacks, so unless he was attacked directly in his mental world like last time, there was no particular danger.
“To be honest, I’m not sure myself why I brought Sir Heinrich here and am saying such things, but this too must be the will of the Lord God. I’m sure it will be of help someday.”
After finishing her words, the Saintess turned her gaze back toward Lafori.
And Heinrich, feeling strangely unsettled, glanced up at the ceiling.
‘Lord God, I appreciate the help, but…’
He could not help but feel as though troublesome work was being pushed onto him.
It was nice since it was a win-win for both sides, but somehow, his mood was…
“…Phew. This should be enough.”
At that moment, Lafori took a deep breath and turned around.
It seemed the work of imprinting the energy had been completed safely.
“Then let us leave now.”
At the Saintess’s words, they followed the Chief Heresy Inquisitor as he took the lead again, retracing the procedure they had gone through to enter.
And just as everyone came outside without any major issues, aside from Lafori being somewhat exhausted…
“Then.”
A voice rang out the moment they left the sealed zone.
He turned his head toward the direction of the sound, but the Chief Heresy Inquisitor who had been there had already vanished without a trace.
‘As expected, he’s no ordinary person.’
He could not determine it for certain, but even at the lowest estimate, he was likely at the level of a paladin.
He would be the opponent to be most wary of when taking action later.
“It seems Sir Lafori has overexerted himself today, so it would be best to rest for now and resume our discussion tomorrow.”
At Archbishop Latius’s words, who had quietly observed from start to finish, the gathering immediately broke up.
And after Heinrich guided Lafori to the VIP lodgings, he headed straight to the training grounds.
‘It’s done.’
He recalled what had happened inside the sealed zone.
‘All the conditions have been met.’
An unexpected stroke of fortune.
Now all that remained was to choose the day of execution.
***
[Keuk-keuk-keuk… At last.]
The moment he had been waiting for had arrived.
On top of that, he had obtained information that would help with the research he had been putting effort into until now.
Namely, finding a means to avoid the Saintess’s tracking.
‘What the Saintess tracks in the end is the “Fragment of the Immortal King.” Then if I can hide only that, the problem is solved.’
The basic idea was to place the fragment in a subspace and receive power while maintaining only the connection of dark mana.
It was a fairly plausible plan, combining the research into a subordinate subspace that he had not been able to carry out due to lack of time and the 「Immortality」 skill he had not been able to properly use.
However, the experiment began to go awry from the initial stage.
For some reason, there was no way to place the fragment into a subspace.
At first, he thought it might be because it contained such an immense amount of energy, so he had been conducting related research…
But this time, through the Saintess, he learned the reason.
‘Its origin. No wonder it absolutely refused to enter a subspace until now.’
An object drawn up from the abyss of the dimension and manifested in the world.
It was only natural that it could not be moved to another dimension by ordinary means.
‘Unless I use a being free from the laws of the world.’
Yes.
Like an Awakened one who had come from another world.
‘Just as Hans has been freely crossing dimensions while carrying the fragments until now.’
Hans was an extremely peculiar existence.
Despite being undead, because of the nature of 「Avatar」, he was connected to the main body and recognized as an Awakened one.
[Kahahah! In the end, the problem can be solved by using this body!]
He had already achieved some degree of results in creating a subspace subordinate to an individual, rather than using the reverse side of the dimension.
Bzzzt—
Space tore open, and Hans’s empty hand vanished into the air before emerging again.
This time, it held a skull staff that had not been there moments ago.
‘The space still isn’t as large as I’d like, but that will improve little by little.’
Then, could the problem not be solved if he could make this subordinate subspace be regarded as identical to Hans himself?
[It will need some adjustment. Set the coordinates of the subordinate subspace to overlap with this body, and disturb the boundary…]
He had already grasped the general direction, so it would not take too much time.
After that, all that remained was to extract the source with 「Immortality」, place it in the subordinate subspace, and maintain the connection.
As long as a dark mana passage remained connected, he would not be able to hide it perfectly, but the insufficient parts could likely be blocked by constructing a concealment field around his body as he did now.
If he could manage that much, there should be no issue moving freely across the continent.
‘Yes, once this research is complete, I’ll be able to act freely even after obtaining the final fragment.’
Now that Heinrich had reached right before the place where the fragment was sealed, it was as good as being in Hans’s grasp.
‘But I can’t go right now. I’m not ready yet.’
From what he had confirmed in person, the final fragment was roughly the same size as the two Hans had absorbed until now combined.
That meant it contained an equally powerful energy.
There was no way he would be able to hide its energy immediately after absorbing something like that.
It would take a considerable amount of time to bring under control…
‘But there’s no way the Order would wait for that.’
It would take a fair amount of time to undo the formidable seal, and absorbing the fragment would also take quite a while.
He would probably have to flee by canceling the summoning the moment he obtained the fragment.
The problem was what came after that.
‘If I emit that much dark mana without having it under control, the Guardians will immediately discover my location and begin tracking me.’
He had hidden himself splendidly until now, but there was no way that would be possible immediately after absorbing a fragment the same size as what he already possessed.
‘I can’t just keep him unsummoned forever, either. Even if the main body moves far away from home and separates from him immediately after summoning, I don’t know what kind of tracking methods might follow.’
Besides, had conflict with the Beoncheonhoe not begun just recently?
Even if his connection with Hans was discovered, he would not be suspected immediately, but shouldering that kind of risk at this point felt unpleasant.
[Keuheuheut— It’s done! This will work! Kahahat!]
Moreover, there was no longer any need to take such a risk.
Once this experiment was over, he would be able to properly hide the fragment’s energy.
***
“Sir Lafori. Are you feeling better now?”
“Yes, it was not such a serious matter. I was merely tired for a moment.”
The day after they had seen the Fragment of the Immortal King and returned.
They gathered again and discussed what was to come.
Specifically, how they would track the Immortal King.
“To start with, my companions who came with me from the Elven Kingdom have found a forest nearby suitable for performing the ritual. They are making preliminary preparations there.”
“Yes, I heard about that. Our side has also provided the necessary materials. Then when will the search be able to begin?”
“Hmm…”
At Archbishop Latius’s question, Lafori seemed to calculate something for a moment, then looked at them and answered seriously.
“The preliminary preparations will be finished within two days, so the full-scale ritual should be able to begin within three.”
The members of the Order nodded in agreement.
They had also been continuously conducting search efforts, but since there had been no particular results, they were placing great hopes on this matter.
“Then we should decide the order of which regions to search in advance.”
It was said it would take up to a month to check all the forests on the continent, but if they were lucky, they could find him far sooner.
Rustle—
A large map of the continent was spread over the table.
It was a map prepared for this operation, with numbers marked separately on the heavily wooded regions.
“Then let us look at the places with the highest probability first. Are the areas with larger numbers judged to have higher chances?”
The Saintess posed the question to the man in a black priest’s robe who was seated with them.
He was a heresy inquisitor in charge of intelligence who had attended for this operation.
“That is correct. We calculated the probability based on the progress of the searches conducted until now and the trail he has left behind up to this point.”
A gloomy voice flowed out from between his low-drawn hood and black mask.
‘This is the first time I’ve heard a heresy inquisitor speak properly.’
Even the Chief Heresy Inquisitor who had guided them to the sealed area had only given brief replies.
Well, the Saintess had asked him directly, and it must also mean they regarded this matter as that important.
Heinrich, who stood behind the Saintess, glanced over the map.
He, too, was someone with great interest in this search operation.
‘Let’s see, the Forest of Monsters is… Hm?’
The highest probability marked was around fifty percent, but even taking that into account, its number was rather low compared to other regions.
Despite the fact that it was the area where the Immortal King’s successor had first been discovered.
‘It’s lower than I expected. As I thought, it must be because they searched it so extensively before.’
Since it was the place where Hans’s traces had first begun, Talia’s Immortal King subjugation force had once combed the area thoroughly.
That result was probably reflected in the number.
“Mm, then let us prioritize this region…”
“First, we should search here…”
Those attending the meeting were occupied with discussing based on those numbers and deciding the order.
‘Looks like the Forest of Monsters will be pushed back quite a bit. At this rate, I can finish the research before the search begins.’
He had intended to change his course of action depending on when the search began, but the result did not seem bad at all.
No, in fact, it was excellent.
If things went according to plan, it could not be better.