Death King Karnak

Chapter 41: 11. The Curse of Dawn

The corpses began to move.

With their split heads lolling, dragging their long, trailing intestines, they staggered along, shambling clumsily forward.

Leaving behind pools of blood filled with severed arms and legs, they tainted the silence of the night with ghastly wails.

“Ugh…”

“Ugh… ugh…”

“Ugh…”

Every alley was filled with zombies. Every street was overflowing with corpses.

Serati, who was hiding on a rooftop, observing the scene, let out a sigh of despair.

“Oh, Goddess…”

There were far too many corpses.

Dozens? Hundreds?

Such small numbers were far too hopeful.

At the very least, there were around 3,000.

If not, then everything in sight wouldn’t have been corpses.

‘What have I done?’

She turned to look at the black-haired youth, who had now become her master, the one who had brought hell into reality.

Karnak was gazing at the city of corpses with a satisfied smile.

“This should be enough to be effective, right?”

“Now, we can save Mr. Alius and Mr. Riltein.”

“Come to think of it, this is the first time we’re going to save someone other than you, Varos.”

“It’s the first time for me, too, taking care of someone other than you, young master.”

Regret flooded in.

Perhaps she could have prevented this…

If she hadn’t uttered those unnecessary words, so much blood might not have been spilled…

Serati repeated to herself once more,

“…What have I done?”

* * *

The horde of advancing corpses surged forward, revealing the shadowy Ranpelt Estate under the faint light of the moon.

Countless corpses reached out, beginning to climb the walls.

“Ugh…”

“Ugh…”

Stepping on each other, the corpses began to scale the walls, transforming into a massive wave that began to erode the estate from all sides.

Like ants swarming over sugar, zombies started to cover every corner of the estate in pitch-black.

Bishop Shutraff watched the scene unfold from the estate’s underground.

“What in the world…”

Judging by the circumstances, it was clear that this was the work of that Karnak fellow. But he couldn’t understand it.

‘Was that guy really such a powerful necromancer? But his necromantic power didn’t seem that strong…’

The dark magic he possessed seemed barely enough to handle even a dozen zombies effectively. At least, that was how Shutraff had assessed it.

‘Was he hiding his strength?’

That didn’t seem likely. If he had this much power, there would have been no need to flee earlier.

‘Or maybe there’s an even more powerful necromancer?’

This made sense. It would explain everything if he had fled to bring back a comrade.

Confident in his deduction, Shutraff let out a wicked laugh.

“In that case, this is actually a good thing.”

If this necromancer was truly that powerful, then he must possess extraordinary powers.

‘If I absorb that darkness, my power will grow even greater!’

Shutraff spread his arms wide.

From the grotesque wall of flesh that covered the basement walls, dozens of tendrils shot forth.

“Come, hell. Descend upon this land under the darkness of all evil…”

The dark magic surged, flowing along the tendrils.

The magic coursed through the tendrils, enveloping the entire estate, transforming into a tremendous power.

“The true army of darkness shall rise and strike down my enemies…”

The eyes of the fallen priest turned pitch black.

“This is the command of the King Who Rules Over Death…”

A bizarre sound began to echo above the Ranpelt Estate.

Aaaaah—!

* * *

The first trumpet of darkness resounded through the sky.

Uuuuuuuung!

Holes opened up across the night sky. Darkness spewed out, unleashing all manner of monsters.

These were abominations, their limbs, heads, and wings attached haphazardly, resembling broken clay figures.

They were the lowest-tier amorphous monsters of hell. The creatures emitted discordant noises as they rushed toward the horde of zombies.

Kekekeke!

Kyaaaah!

The second trumpet of darkness followed.

The earth trembled as countless tendrils erupted from the ground.

These tendrils coiled around the corpses, crushing, flinging, and shattering them. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

The trumpet sounds continued without end.

Uuuuuuuung!

The third, the fourth, the fifth…

The trumpets kept sounding. Each time, the scenery melted away, and hell unfolded.

It was a nightmare, no longer a landscape of the mortal world.

Moving corpses and distorted monsters roamed amidst trees of flesh and petals of bone, spewing blood and screams again and again.

Uuugh…

Aaaaah…

It was a horrifying cauldron of chaos.

Groans, explosions, and the clashing of metal blended together, filling the night sky with deafening noise.

Watching the situation unfold, Karnak’s expression showed slight surprise.

“Isn’t that the Seven Trumpeters of the Corpse Dragon? How does he know that spell? Where did he learn it?”

In his past life, Karnak had been the only one who knew that spell.

He had secretly recreated that ancient necromancy, which had been rotting away in the secret vault of the Hatoba Church for hundreds of years.

“Right, that guy used to be a priest of the Hatoba Church, didn’t he? Then I guess it’s not so surprising.”

This means that the other knowledge and wisdom that Karnak monopolized in his previous life might have been taken by other people now.

Unlike before, in this era, all sorts of necromancers are rampant.

‘This might mean that I could fall victim to my own methods. I need to prepare in advance.’

Anyway, this was something to worry about later.

“Let’s start moving.”

Karnak gestured with his hand.

Until now, they had been hiding under the cover of darkness to avoid detection, concealed on the rooftop of a nearby building. But now that the battle had started, they could use the chaos to sneak over to the Ranpelt Estate.

“We need to rescue our comrades during this distraction.”

Serati, who had been standing in a daze, snapped back to her senses.

That’s right.

Now was not the time for regrets. They needed to rescue Alius and Riltein.

Calming down, she assessed the situation and asked.

“Isn’t it too early to move?”

The battle had just begun. Strategically, it would be better to act once the fight had progressed enough for the confusion to intensify.

Karnak shook his head.

“If we delay too long, we’ll be exposed.”

“What?”

Exposed? To what?

“They’ll realize it’s an illusion.”

With wide eyes, Serati stared at the horde of thousands of zombies covering the Ranpelt Estate.

“…All of that was an illusion?”

Karnak shrugged.

“Not all of them. About 200 of them are real.”

And then he looked embarrassed again.

“Hey! How could I possibly kill thousands of people with just necromancy in my current state?”

Serati still didn’t understand why he was embarrassed, but it seemed that Karnak was self-conscious about it.

He continued as if making an excuse.

“To be honest, if I had enough time, I could kill them all…”

To increase the zombie horde to the thousands, the Ranpelt members alone wouldn’t be enough.

No matter how much the Ranpelt family controlled the entire city, they didn’t have thousands of people in their search parties.

In other words, they would have to involve the ordinary citizens of Trist City.

“No matter how ruthless I am, I know that’s truly evil! Or is this situation an exception where that would be acceptable?”

Serati, taken aback, nodded frantically.

“Y-You did well! Of course, you shouldn’t go that far!”

She felt a sense of relief in her heart.

‘He’s not that much of a villain!’

Of course, killing 200 people in a single night was still a massive slaughter.

But the weight of the sin is different when killing those who deserve it versus those who don’t.

“You really should only kill the villains. From experience, if you kill good people too, the consequences are severe.”

As if he had expected it, Karnak nodded.

“Villains don’t seek revenge.”

Serati, unable to understand, asked again.

“Villains don’t seek revenge?”

Wasn’t it common for villains to say things like, ‘Just you wait!’, ‘I’ll definitely get my revenge!’, and so on?

“They say that, but most of them give up cleanly if they’re properly crushed. I’ve never seen one actually risk their life for revenge.”

On the other hand, the death of a good person is different.

When a good person dies, other good people rise up like a wildfire.

And when that becomes the embodiment of ‘justice,’ it transforms into a terrifying power that knows no fear, not even death.

Karnak, who had once been the Necromancer King, had experienced that power firsthand.

Of course, he had managed to suppress even that power and conquer the world, but the cost of doing so had been too great.

‘I definitely shouldn’t live like I did before.’

Renewing his resolve, Karnak called out to Varos and Serati.

“Let’s hurry and rescue our comrades.”

* * *

The battle continued on all sides.

No matter where one looked, corpses and monsters stretched endlessly. It was truly a scene from the deepest hell brought to life on earth.

Three figures walked through that hellish landscape.

It was Karnak, Varos, and Serati, cloaked in a veil of darkness.

As they passed through the hordes of zombies and monsters, Serati clicked her tongue.

‘Is this really an illusion?’

A zombie was knocked down right beside her. With a shriek, it rose again and lunged at a grotesque monster.

The torn intestines, the dismembered arm, even the bluish skin—all of it looked too vivid.

‘No matter how I look at it, it seems real.’

Illusions rely heavily on the imagination of the caster.

This made it even harder for her to comprehend.

‘Could someone really create such a detailed illusion with just human imagination? To the point where it replicates even the blood, intestines, and texture of the skin?’

Watching Serati’s reaction, Karnak was secretly satisfied.

‘It seems she hasn’t grasped the reality yet.’

This was the illusion technique he prided himself on, ‘Copy and Paste.’

Creating illusions purely from imagination requires immense concentration and memory.

But the difficulty decreases significantly if one simply copies something that already exists.

In reality, there were only about 200 zombies actually fighting; Karnak had used illusions to multiply them by more than twenty times, copying and mixing them together on the battlefield.

Even though there were countless identical zombies, Serati hadn’t noticed because Karnak had intentionally added variations, such as flipping them horizontally, adjusting their size, or varying their speed of movement.

It wouldn’t be noticeable unless someone paid close attention.

Moreover, since all the corpses were in tatters, the fact that their clothes were nothing but rags was also an advantage.

‘See? I do have a knack for directing, don’t I?’

Of course, even with this setup, if the monsters passed through the illusion, it would be immediately exposed.

But Karnak’s illusions had one more strength.

His illusions even replicated reactions to being struck.

‘The most important thing when casting an illusion is the reaction.’

When a sword was swung, the target would be cut, and if kicked, it would be sent flying. Then, it would rise again to attack.

However, if it were an ordinary human illusion, awkwardness would inevitably become apparent.

What if you cut it with a sword, and it charged again without a scratch? That’s when the illusion would be detected.

But if it were a zombie, this problem would disappear.

Wasn’t it already in tatters? Didn’t it already get back up after being struck?

There’s a reason why necromancers often use horrific zombies or skeletons as the main subject when casting illusions.

While the purpose is to instill fear in the enemy, more importantly, using tattered corpses as the main actors prevents excessive mental strain from recreating intricate details.

In any case, even Serati, an Aura user, couldn’t discern the true nature of this illusion. Even after being told it was an illusion.

What did this mean?

‘That means that guy, Shutraff, hasn’t figured it out yet either. This should buy enough time.’

* * *

Karnak’s guess was correct.

“Hmph, you seem to have some skill, but…”

Shutraff never even dreamed that the countless zombie horde might be an illusion.

“No matter how many of these pitiful zombies there are, they’re no match for me!”

Pouring out his dark magic to its fullest, he continued to perform necromancy. This led to extreme consumption of his necromantic power, but he didn’t care.

Because he was winning.

The number of zombies surrounding the mansion visibly decreased.

Meanwhile, the demons he summoned from hell and the necromantic barrier suffered almost no damage.

Since victory was certain, why would he be concerned?

In truth, the real zombies were being taken down, and with them, the illusions were also disappearing, but Shutraff was unaware of this.

The fact that the demons and the barrier sustained little damage was also because most of the zombies were illusions, but he couldn’t know that either.

He was simply excited at the thought of devouring a powerful necromancer and growing even stronger.

‘Where are you?’

He cast the sight of his familiar across the battlefield, searching for his target.

Karnak and his crew were definitely hiding somewhere in that place.

‘Where are you?’

Just as Shutraff was narrowing his eyes, determined to gather the monsters and capture them as soon as he discovered their location—

“Oh, so there was a space like this beneath the mansion?”

Suddenly, a voice echoed.

“Wow, it’s really spacious. Why did they make the basement so large?”

“It was probably originally a wine cellar. Our house has something like this too.”

“No way, ours isn’t nearly this big.”

The voices weren’t heard through necromancy. They were heard with his own two ears.

‘What!’

Shutraff spun around in shock.

At the entrance of a blood-soaked, gruesome underground chamber, three individuals stood.

A young man with black hair, dressed like a mage, smiled brightly as he spoke.

“Are you Shutraff? So this is what you look like.”

The middle-aged man’s face twisted in anger.

‘How did those bastards get in here?’