Karnak, Monarch of Death

The expedition force had set up camp on a large clearing on the western side of the Pellantia Mountains. Today, as always, the expedition force met its daily routine. The routine ambushes of Diogres’s forces arrived punctually each day.

Shouts echoed from beyond the forest.

”Fireball!”

”Lightning Bolt!”

”All units, open fire!”

Shouts erupted in the expedition’s camp as well.

”Another raid!”

”Damn it, can’t we just eat in peace?!”

”Counterattack! Counterattack!”

As always, arrows and spells rained down on the camp. The expedition’s mages blocked them with ease, while the Kretas knights charged into the forest after the attackers. Clashes of aura exploded throughout the dense coniferous forest.

”I knew you’d show up eventually!”

”Oh? Happy to see me again?”

”Hell yeah, so happy I want to cut off your damn head and keep it as a trophy!”

The leaders of Search Black and the Kretas Order hurled insults as they aimed for each other’s throats. Elsewhere, soldiers and mages clashed.

Watching the situation, Desteran clicked his tongue. Once again, neither Elezar nor Dreltein is showing themselves.

If they would just show up, he could lure them step by step to the designated place and force a meeting with Diogres. But things in this world never went as planned.

Well, they’re not fools who wouldn’t see through that, thought Desteran.

And so, the day ended much like the day before. Search Black tried to lure them deeper into the forest, while the Kretas knights was content to drive them away from the camp and no further. Naturally, neither side inflicted any serious damage, and the skirmish ended again.

As he watched Search Black and the Tower of Dawn’s mages retreat, Sir Martun muttered coldly, ”Yeah, keep running. But once we find your base, we’ll finish you off.”

***

Under the cover of night, a force climbed the mountain. It was Desteran’s troops, who had attacked the expedition camp a few hours earlier.

Watching the faint lights of the expedition camp beyond the ridges, Frederick, an executive of Search Black, turned to Desteran. ”Looks like they’re still focused on trying to find our hideout.”

”Of course. We’d do the same in their position,” responded Desteran.

”But do you think they can find it? It’s in a place they’d never even imagine.” Frederick clicked his tongue, remembering the first time Karnak had shown them the hideout. ”Even we were left speechless. And I thought we’d been through everything in the alleys of the capital.”

”It’ll get discovered eventually. We’ve been careful, but if your tail is too long, it’s bound to get stepped on.” Pushing aside branches, Desteran clicked his tongue. ”The impressive part is that even if it does, it doesn’t matter.”

How long had they been moving? The marching force slipped into the forested slopes of the mountain, disappearing precisely into the spaces between large boulders scattered along the ridges. The hidden gap between the rocks was surprisingly spacious. Hidden in shadow, it was wide enough for two grown men to pass shoulder to shoulder.

Led by Desteran, they entered one by one. As they walked further, the ordinary cave gradually turned into a clearly artificial space. Moss-covered stone walls extended into the darkness. It was a place where heavy humidity, an unpleasant death energy, and malice mixed. The corridors twisted like a labyrinth.

Suddenly, a strange whisper echoed softly in everyone’s ears.

Living ones...

Fear death...

Submit before death...

Executives of Search Black clicked their tongues.

”Ah, the wraiths.”

”Still can’t get used to them.”

”This is the third time I’ve seen them, and I still get the urge to draw my sword.”

But no one actually drew their blades. They simply passed by the stone chambers where the wraiths appeared. The wraiths surged toward them.

Living ones...

Fear death...

And then simply passed them by.

Submit... submit... submit...

Victor, Desteran’s trusted lieutenant, clicked his tongue. ”Lord Karnak really is a strange man. I pride myself on being pretty far removed from common sense, but even I never thought of living in a dungeon.”

***

Three days before they abandoned the Tower of Dawn, Karnak was discussing the future plan with Diogres. The fatal flaw of Guerrilla warfare was that it became useless once one’s base was discovered.

Diogres Kolon was well aware of this flaw. Naturally, he had rejected Karnak’s proposal at first. ”I can’t abandon the Tower of Dawn.”

Mages were the type to use their heads. They were people unaccustomed to physical hardship. And now he was supposed to drive scholars, who had spent their lives shut away in their studies, into rugged mountains?

Even if they set up large campfires and sturdy tents, the mages would soon collapse from exhaustion. Moreover, they couldn’t even set up proper camps if they were to employ guerrilla warfare. They would have to sleep on cold ground with nothing but a thin blanket for concealment.

Diogres frowned. ”After three days, they’ll be so mentally exhausted they won’t even be able to cast spells. What exactly do you expect from mages?”

Karnak countered Diogres’s argument with calm precision. ”That’s why all they need is a comfortable place to stay, isn’t it?”

And the place he introduced was this one. It was an ancient dungeon, Hustas, located on the mid-slopes of the Pellantia Mountains. It was so far removed from human territories that people didn’t even know it existed. It was a ruin of a long-forgotten ancient civilization.

Naturally, Diogres was dumbfounded. ”Are you out of your mind? Did you just suggest using a dungeon as a fortress?”

”Yes,” Karnak answered calmly.

”You do know why dungeons are called dungeons, don’t you?” questioned Diogres.

A dungeon was a hell on earth, overrun by monsters and wraiths, a place where even setting foot meant risking one’s life.

Diogres couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ”And you want to put soldiers in there? You’re telling them to commit suicide before even fighting?”

Karnak remained unfazed. ”But there are those who do make dungeons their strongholds, aren’t there?”

The necromancers of the Cult of the Black God would often manipulate the malice and death energy of dungeons to turn them into hidden bases.

”That’s because they use necromancy, which is why they can do it, but we...” Diogres paused mid-sentence and looked at Karnak’s expression.

Karnak was smiling, so brightly that he seemed almost naive.

”Wait, don’t tell me... you’re serious?”

***

Just as Desteran had said, no matter how well one covered their tracks, if the tail was too long, it would eventually get stepped on. They had diligently erased footprints and other traces, but some evidence inevitably remained.

In the end, the expedition tracked those traces and found the hideout where Diogres’s forces were concealed. Yes, they had found it, but...

”This is it.”

”Really?”

”Yes. Their trail leads further inside.”

At the scout’s report, Dreltein raised an eyebrow. ”Has Diogres lost his mind?”

It was the entrance to an unnamed dungeon. There was faint malice and death energy seeping out of the dungeon. The remnants of an ancient ruin were visible, making it clear this was no ordinary cave.

Elezar also reacted in disbelief. ”You’re telling me he put his men inside a dungeon?”

In truth, the idea of living in a dungeon was not at all unfamiliar to Elezar and Dreltein. The Cult of the Black God did exactly that. The only reason they hadn’t anticipated it was that they hadn’t known such a dungeon existed here. But it wasn’t truly something to be surprised about.

They could even guess how it was done. To inhabit a dungeon, necromancy was essential, and they had confirmed through Beltia that Desteran had aligned himself with the Twilight Cult.

”The Twilight Cult uses necromancy as well...”

”So using a dungeon as a hideout isn’t exactly impossible, but...”

The reason they were taken aback lay elsewhere.

Dreltein peered around the dungeon entrance. ”What is this? Don’t tell me he actually went through with that nonsense people joke about.”

There was a saying among the people: ”If you’re unfairly blamed, give them a reason to blame you.” It might feel satisfying in the moment, but it was the kind of attitude that could ruin one’s life later.

And what was the false accusation Diogres was currently under? It was that he was a cultist, and that he had allied with the Cult of the Black God and fallen into corruption. And now he had seized a dungeon using the power of necromancy? And settled inside it like the cultists did?

”His men will abandon him, that much is certain,” said Dreltein.

At the very least, the mages of the Tower of Dawn would never simply go along with it.

One of the adjutants raised a different point. ”Could it be that they cleared out the monsters in the dungeon and took it over?”

It was a suggestion that they had cleaned out the dungeon and turned it into an underground fortress. This initially seemed plausible.

Yet Elezar still couldn’t accept it. ”They barely have enough strength to fight us as it is. I doubt they would waste it on clearing out a dungeon...”

Still, it was something they could confirm.

Dreltein spoke to his adjutant. ”Send scouts into the dungeon. We’ll know once we see the situation for ourselves.”

If they had truly cleared out the dungeon, there would be at least one route where wraiths and monsters no longer appeared. Thus, a unit of elite scouts was assembled and sent in as ordered.

Half a day later, the scouts returned to the main camp, battered and torn.

”We’ve returned to report on the reconnaissance.”

”We encountered attacks from wraiths three times and ran into underground monsters twice. We didn’t go any further and withdrew.”

”So...” Dreltein pressed a hand to his forehead. ”The wraiths and monsters are still alive and well in there?”

”Yes, sir.”

He continued, ”And yet they just let the enemy pass through?”

”Yes, sir.”

”Then that means they really are controlling the dungeon,” he concluded.

Otherwise, the wraiths and monsters wouldn’t attack only them while leaving the others alone.

Staring at the dungeon entrance, Dreltein scowled. ”What are you scheming, Diogres...?”

***

In an ancient stone corridor, dimly lit by flickering magical lights, three robed men moved quickly down the passage. They were mages of the Tower of Dawn, who had just used wraiths and monsters to repel the intruders.

Despite having commanded wraiths and monsters, there was no sign of guilt on their faces. And rightly so. They hadn’t used necromancy.

”Lord Karnak’s magic is truly incredible.”

”I never imagined he had other spells like Redeemer of Necromancy.”

When they first heard they were going into a dungeon, the mages of the Tower of Dawn had naturally been alarmed. Some had even cast suspicious looks, wondering if Diogres had truly allied with cultists.

But after hearing Karnak’s explanation, they had accepted it, albeit with some effort. Everyone in the world knew of Karnak’s grand anti-necromancy spell, Redeemer of Necromancy. But as it turned out, he possessed even more powerful methods to counter necromancy, Circumventer of Necromancy and Mediator of Necromancy.

—Of course, we can’t directly control wraiths and monsters like necromancers do. But what is control, really? If we can move them according to our will, isn’t that control all the same?

First, they would deliberately reveal themselves to the wraiths. Upon discovering the living, the wraiths would inevitably screech and pursue them with all their strength.

They would lure the wraiths close to the intruders, and then, by activating Circumventer of Necromancy, the Tower of Dawn mages would vanish from the wraiths’ perception, leaving only the intruders behind. The same applied to monsters.

While they couldn’t hide entirely from monsters, by tangling monsters and wraiths together, they could slip away while the chaos forced the creatures’ movements where they wanted them. In this way, without using necromancy, they could effectively control the wraiths and monsters within the dungeon.

Karnak’s strategy was truly brilliant. With just three mages, they had splendidly driven off over thirty intruders, including aura users. And they hadn’t shed a single drop of blood! Two of the mages clicked their tongues in naive admiration.

”Lord Karnak is truly incredible.”

”I can’t understand how someone so young has reached such heights.”

Meanwhile, the third mage following behind wore a troubled expression. I’m not sure this is right.

They certainly hadn’t used necromancy. But in the end, they had done the same as controlling wraiths and monsters.

Just because it’s not necromancy, does that really make it acceptable to do the same things as a necromancer?