I Became the Priest of Blasphemy of the Outer Gods

Chapter 34 Necromancer (1)

Approximately 200 years ago.

The underground of Wave Reach had originally been just a small cave.

The entrance itself was underwater, making it a place no one would ever visit.

A lone individual fled into it.

“Damn those bastards!”

The necromancer, Ferdinand Flugel.

He trembled with rage as he recalled Luminaries.

All mages inherently pursued knowledge. He, too, had merely attempted to grasp knowledge that was generally out of reach, aiming for a higher realm.

‘…’Necronomicon’…’

A record from the time when magic still belonged to the Demon Gods, dating back to the Holy War. It was a unique grimoire compiled by Astellia, an Outer God priest who had gathered miracles from various Outer Gods.

‘If it were just a collection of miracles, it would only be seen as such. But its true value lies beyond that.’

The origin of magic was in the miracles used by the priests of the Demon Gods. After being defeated in the Holy War, the Demon Gods no longer reigned as Gods. Humans became free to study and wield that power, transforming it into the discipline known as magic.

‘Astellia applied that to the miracles of the Outer Gods.’

Magic mimicking the miracles of Outer Gods. The Church of Hayat deemed this knowledge extremely dangerous.

‘I had to endure being pursued for six years after stealing it.’

In the end, Ferdinand was chased to the sea, where he relinquished his life, transformed into a living corpse, and fled beneath the waters. In a small cavity, he slowly regained his strength, delving into his studies and ruling over a wretched species that fed on corpses, expanding the underground. One day, as he abducted humans to serve as sacrifices as usual.

“The flow is strange.”

A mother and daughter to be sacrificed alive. The mother was beside herself with fear, clawing at the ground and wailing, but the child was different.

“What did you just say?”

“The flow… it’s stirring as if revolving, yet it’s not empty at the center; rather, it’s flowing outward.”

Ferdinand doubted his ears. The flow the child spoke of referred to his magic circle. Normally, common humans couldn’t even sense it. Only advanced mages could accurately describe the mana flowing within a magic circle.

“Then… how about this?”

Ferdinand was intrigued. For the first time in his long years of solitary pursuit of the realms beyond death and dominion over souls, this was new.

“It’s wriggling. After a full rotation, it tangles up… with each wriggle, the flow quickens and becomes rougher.”

“Accurate.”

“What is this? It feels like it’s related to fire, given the heat it seems to emit…”

Ferdinand looked at his own hands. The white skeletal hands had twisted grotesquely as payment for dabbling in countless taboos and the realm of Outer Gods. Occasionally, eyeball-like structures appeared and disappeared within the gaps of the bones. His body and face were no different.

‘What a laughable sight I am. I was once such a promising mage. Now, I’ve become a revolting, grotesque wraith, not even fit to be called a monster. Yet…’

Despite his appearance, the child showed no fear, only pure curiosity. Ferdinand wondered if this child would still express such pure inquiries even after learning her fate.

“Such meaningless curiosity.”

Ferdinand picked up a primitive bone knife dripping with blood.

“You’ll die anyway. You and your mother will be sacrificed alive. Your belly will be split open, intestines removed, and gems will be stuffed inside. Your eyes will be plucked out, and the sockets will be filled with blood.”

This was not a tasteless joke but his actual plan, already carried out on several offerings before their eyes.

“Are you frightened now?”

“If gems are placed in the intestines, I can understand that the flow might imbue the gems with something akin to this flow.”

“… What?”

“But why fill the eye sockets with blood? I can’t understand that.”

The child frowned, and Ferdinand was struck dumb.

A moment later, laughter burst forth.

“H… Hahaha! Yes, I don’t know that either. It’s because I don’t know that I’m curious and want to know. Is that what you want too? Without fear or aversion, do you just want to know?”

Faces from Ferdinand’s memories flashed past.

Colleagues who expressed disdain, dealing with and researching corpses.

Clergymen who scolded him, saying matters of the soul belonged to the domain of Gods.

“I want to know. Please teach me.”

But now, he saw the face of a child, yearning for knowledge with the same expression as his own.

“… You want to learn from a monster like me? Moreover, this is heretical knowledge. I couldn’t understand it my entire life.”

For 200 years, he had interpreted the passages written in the Necronomicon, but he could not comprehend them.

At some point, he had become neither a priest nor a mage, but rather a half-dead being merely following the rites written in that book.

“Then, I will find out.”

However, the child before him held the passion Ferdinand had been losing.

The mage’s eyes shone with pure and cool thirst for knowledge.

“My dear child. I will accept you as my disciple.”

“Thank you. But I have a request, master.”

“What is it?”

“Please return my mother. She is the one who gave birth to me.”

Ferdinand let out a hollow laugh.

Even though she possessed the qualities to discard personal emotions and focus solely on observation and research as a mage.

Could she still retain her humanity?

“Do you love your mother?”

“Yes.”

“What if I said I would kill your mother and use her as a living sacrifice?”

Would she refuse to become his disciple?

Or would she be willing to sacrifice her mother?

“I would just keep asking you not to.”

“… Very well.”

Ferdinand liked that answer more.

She chose to implore her master as his disciple.

Having never felt familial love, he felt affection for his excellent disciple.

To the extent that his wish had somehow become solely for his disciple’s sake.

* * *

‘Truly strong, disgustingly strong.’

Arian was continuing a massacre.

The ghouls were not weak.

They would rush in swiftly or lift boulders to hurl.

But Arian was like a storm sweeping everything away.

‘If I’m not careful, I might even lose with the 〈Forbidden Transformation〉…’

If I engaged in close combat, I would be defeated immediately.

Then, what about long-range combat?

I kept watching Arian, trying to devise a strategy.

‘… It’s impossible.’

I could easily reach a conclusion.

I would either take a flying boulder with my bare body or dodge it and close the distance in an instant.

She even killed from a distance using miracles without reciting any invocations.

‘Despite not being a religion specialized in attack, what Arian does is terrifying.’

On the other hand, I couldn’t do more than randomly throw a spear at any ghoul and feel amazed if I actually hit.

‘The ghouls’ combat power is no joke. What would we have done without Arian?’

Of course, I wasn’t just idly standing by; I continued my analysis while fighting just enough.

Some ghouls used miracles, but understanding was difficult amid the chaotic battlefield.

“Don’t listen to the language of heresy! There are records that it has a negative impact on the mind!”

The most astonishing thing was Arian’s voice, which could be heard clearly even in the noisy battlefield where countless ghouls were shouting.

With a voice like that, couldn’t she even use a lion’s roar?

“The enemy’s scheme is to wear us down through sheer force of numbers! So we have to fight while conserving our stamina!”

“Shouldn’t we have reinforcements?”

“In the necromancer’s domain, fewer allies are better! Because they can turn into enemies!”

But, fighting them all alone wasn’t exactly a good strategy either.

Nevertheless, Arian’s brute-force approach proved effective.

Even though the undead beasts kept emerging, they weren’t infinite.

So, she would just massacre them until their numbers ran out.

In fact, there was no real strategy involved, but surprisingly, Arian was genuinely carrying this out.

‘It would be great to have a powerful area attack that could sweep all enemies, not just the undead, at once…’

Standing on an unfavorable battlefield, the deficiencies became glaringly apparent.

Area attack skills, physical abilities, mana capacity, vulnerability while chanting prayer incantations, and so on.

I had been concerned about these before, but now was the time to seriously think about them.

“Sir Ahab!”

“What is it?”

“Could you hit the heart of that guy over there?”

Arian pointed to a lone ghoul positioned at the rear.

Unlike the others, it stood out because it was adorned with skeletal decorations…

‘I don’t think I can do it…’

While I had somewhat compensated for my Strength, my reflexes were still poor.

But not even attempting would make Arian suspicious of him…

“Haaah!”

With no other choice, I hurled the spear with all my might.

However, it was clear that it would fall short as it began to descend mid-flight.

‘Tch… Should I just blame it on old age?’

While my mind raced, watching the spear, something white suddenly leapt up.

Arian had leapt off the ground, caught the spear mid-air, and hurled it directly at the target.

*Boom!*

Despite it being just a spear throw, an explosion-like roar resonated, and the undead began to crumble en masse.

‘What the… is this some kind of fantasy? Oh right, it is a fantasy.’

I felt an urgent need to become much stronger.

Until now, the Outer God priest who had killed a noble had been drawing away most of the attention, so I was relatively overlooked.

Had they decided to deploy someone like Arian, I would’ve…

‘There wouldn’t even be a corpse left.’

“Thank you! I will compensate for the damaged spear!”

Even when Albeka used 〈Mountain Charge〉, it felt surreal, but Ahab felt like watching a film.

『You scum.』

A voice echoed in my mind as black mist started to rise.

“Ah! Stay behind me! This mist is extremely dangerous! Hold your breath, it’s harmful if inhaled!”

Arian grimaced as she muttered something.

It seemed that she had used a Miracle, as light emanated, but Arian began to bleed a little from her nose and mouth.

Of course, she quickly recovered using a healing Miracle.

『Blinding light and white armor. Aren’t you that tiresome Luminaries?』

“Ferdinand Flugel! The order to hunt you is still valid! As a member of Luminaries, I shall carry out your eradication!”

『It’s been 15 years since I last heard a human voice. Hearing it again after so long… it’s excessively loud.』

‘That’s not the real reason…’

Arian, surprisingly, was watching the enemy very cautiously.

Wondering why she wasn’t charging in immediately, I followed Arian’s gaze…

…there it was.

『My beloved disciple awaits my knowledge.』

It wasn’t human.

Its lower body consisted of corpses with only their upper torsos, resting on their hands on the ground.

Its upper body was decorated with white bones adorned with various jewels.

Where its head should have been were five skeletal arms.

One of those arms held a dark skull.

『My Sharl… I’ll bring you a fine gift. For your dreams!』