Great Wizard Transcending with Mythology

Episode 4

“What the fuck!

The sudden commotion sent Kelson scurrying away. It wasn’t anyone else, but a knight who had begun rampaging through the orphanage.

He advanced, slashing at nuns and orphans alike.

“What the hell is this madman?!

All Kelson could do was run, for if the truth about this orphanage was ever discovered, he would be executed on sight.

No, I’ll be lucky if I die.

It’s not going to be a pretty death, and the torture he’ll be subjected to in order to extract information is a foregone conclusion.

Kelson’s choice was a no-brainer.

It’s a sacrifice, after all, and we can always collect them again.

The passage leads to the incinerator.

We’ve got the key altar soulstone, so if you want to start the ritual again elsewhere, you can find it here: ……

“Where are you going?”

“……?!”

And just as I was about to run away, I heard a voice.

Shivering, I turned my head in the direction of the voice, and there was someone standing there.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

“Who are you.”

With those words, the voice’s owner slowly appeared, and in that moment, Kelson couldn’t help but panic.

“A kid?

Maybe fifteen.

Just a kid. A kid who looked like he could be anywhere, and he wasn’t wearing anything special.

“Ha.”

At that moment, Kelson laughed.

He’d been so nervous, and it was just a kid.

Something felt off, but nothing immediate.

He had been sent by the Order to take charge of this altar.

Favored by Kaedium, the sixth and greatest of the priests.

I sense nothing in that child.

That means he is either a transcendent, or a mere child.

And he had no doubt that the boy was the latter.

If so, that was good.

There weren’t enough sacrifices to bring the great priest to the surface.

And then, of course, the offerings walked in on their own.

“Ah, you’d think it would be nice if the sacrifice came on its own, wouldn’t you? You’ll need to recharge the soul stones in your bosom.”

“……?!”

Kelson shuddered at the words.

Because what the boy spat out was exactly what he had just thought.

“You’re a quick thinker, Kelson. Running away so fast as soon as you realized you were in trouble.”

The boy approached him with a lazy gait.

“Uh, how did you get my name……?!”

“Well, you don’t need to know that.”

With that, the boy reached out his hand toward Kelson.

At that moment, Kelson made the first move.

“I have power!

Great power, gained by giving his soul in return!

Chaotic power burst forth from deep within Kelson’s soul.

Kaedium’s grace.

It seemed to materialize in the form of a snake through Kelson’s hands.

suddnly

“Oh?”

The thing that flew, Kelson’s right arm.

It was cleanly severed from the elbow.

Kelson stared, dumbfounded, at my forearm in midair.

“Ow.”

Pain shot through my head. A stream of crimson blood cascaded from the cut.

“Aaaaahhhhhhhh!”

“Shut up.”

The boy, Kyle, said, and picked up Kelson’s forearm as it rolled to the ground.

“By the grace of Kaedium…….”

Kyle’s eyes widened as he stared at Kelson’s forearm.

Then he smirked.

“Hoho, this is getting interesting.”

* * *

Kelson.

I remember that name vividly.

Why do I remember that name?

Well, he had a pretty big hand in bringing the Caedium into existence.

Now he’s a sordid figure dressed up as a priest, but the Kelson before the Regression was different.

After rule of  the Kaedium, he was granted a great deal of grace, making him a fearsome being.

Kelson didn’t stop playing the priest until his last moments, taunting his victims.

“Ah, it’s a pain in the ass to think about.

My hand tightened on Kelson’s forearm at the memory.

And at the same time.

A squeeze.

The same uncomfortable sensation I’d felt earlier returned.

This time, it was a little more blatant.

“……I’m assuming you’re reacting to the power of the Church of chaos?

I was aware that something in my body had changed since my return.

That bothered me.

At the very least, I need to know if the changes are for the better or worse.

I guess I’ll find out when I do some more research…….

“Hey, you asshole!”

…… You’re an asshole.

That’s probably what Ji-won used to mutter whenever he had a chance.

Kelson’s right arm had sprouted anew.

Another one of Kaedium’s favors.

“I suppose you has been favored by Kaedium?”

“Yes, I have been favored in ways a fool like you would not dare predict!”

“And what have you sacrificed for it?”

I wiped the smile off my face and glared at him.

Kaedium strictly grants grace in proportion to the number of sacrifices.

He must have sacrificed a great deal to have his body restored so quickly.

“One hundred.”

He smirked.

“When the 100th offering was made in His name, He granted this favor.”

“I see.”

My blood boiled.

Didn’t that mean that a hundred children had been sacrificed to his desires, without ever seeing the future?

“Die!”

Kelson lunged at me, his newly sprouted nails on his right arm erect.

“Kaedium’s poisonous fangs.

Considering Kaedium himself was a pretty active user of poison, I’m guessing this nail is similar.

Of course.

“It’s useless if you can’t touch it.”

I pierce his forearm again with my improvised spear.

Kwajik!

And only in the most lethal spot, where he’d be forced to glow.

“Did I mention the bloodletting technique?

Swordsman said it would be useful to learn, so I did, and here it is.

“Kerr, huh?!”

The creature stiffened, eyes narrowed, still in the outstretched position. And when it tried to move further.

“.”

I let the mana in my spear run wild.

Kaaaaaah!

The mana that held his form was released, and it began to rampage through Kelson’s body.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

He cried out in agony.

“What, what did you…… ka-aaaak!…… do to me, the pain…… ka-aaaak!……!”

“Just your whole body? I don’t know how to say that in your language. I stabbed it somehow.”

“I don’t understand that bullshit……!”

“You don’t have to understand.”

I waved my forearm in front of his face, spewing blood and ranting.

“Just do your karma for sacrificing innocent children and accept it.”

“Hee, saint? K, hh…… was a lowlife anyway! Children who would have suffered in the underworld if they lived any longer!”

Kelson said, looking at me with bloodshot eyes.

“Just like me, if I hadn’t been taken in by the Order…….”

“Fuck you.”

I said, and slapped him across the cheek with my forearm.

“You’re trying to sell me sentimentality for a reason that doesn’t belong anywhere, asshole.”

Shit, really.

He turned bright red and had no choice but to take the slap.

“By the way, I’m sure you have it…….”

I furiously rummaged through his arms and found what I needed.

“Yeah, this.”

He pulled a gemstone about the size of two fingers out of his hand.

The transparent gemstone was filled with an ominous grayish energy.

“Soulstone.”

Kelson’s eyes rolled back in his head as I placed the soulstone in my hand.

“My, give it back! It’s not for the likes of you to handle…….”

“I know better than you.”

With those words, I examined the soulstone.

It looked a little different, but felt no different from the one I remembered.

“It’s half full.

This is not the only one.

There are already silos all over the estate, and the ‘fish farms’ are already in operation.

If five of these Soulstones had been gathered, and the ritual had been performed, Kaedium would have been summoned.

Set aside the Soulstones for another use.

“What are you going to do with me?”

Kelson asked me, his voice trembling.

He looks terrified, and his eyes are fluttering unsteadily.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”

“Oh, you’re not going to kill……?”

Hope flashed in Kelson’s eyes.

A look that says, I can live.

Of course, I didn’t say this to give him hope.

“Yeah, well, it’d be a shame to make it easy on you. There are a few innocent children you’ve sacrificed.”

“……!”

“I’ll make it so you’d rather kill me.”

You should have a conscience.

Isn’t it too much like a thief to sacrifice innocent children and expect to die in peace?

I patted his arms and legs and said.

“This, that, and the other……, you’re such a slasher, aren’t you?”

“……!”

“If you slice them up and then stand them up like an owl, that would be something to see.”

I wanted to try that with these guys.

His face turned blue at my words.

He must have instinctively sensed that I really meant it.

“Do you, do you know who I am, and behind my, behind my……!”

“Yes, I do, the great Grave’s Captain of the Magical Legion.”

“H-how do you know that…….”

I turned to face the astonished creature and resumed my disguise.

“I’m his boss, and I don’t see how you don’t know that.”

“……?!”

Seeing Kelson’s incredulous expression was quite a treat.

* * *

It was some time before r returned, covered in blood.

He came over to me, looking exhausted, and began to report.

“Just as you said…… all of them, slashed. Not a single ‘human’ was left, as you said.”

“Of course.”

Lepente surveyed the incinerator with grim eyes.

Most of the bodies had not been incinerated, but the blackened bits of bone that littered the ground were a reminder of what had happened here.

Lepente turned to me with a look of disgrace.

“I apologize, Your Highness, for being a knight of the Grave and not even realizing that such atrocities were taking place within the estate…….”

“Never mind. It was not easy to know.”

Even I didn’t know about it beforehand, so how could Lepentor, a mere knight, know about it?

Besides, if I’m to blame, I’m more to blame for trusting Silo.

“And what’s done is done. Better to move now than later.”

“I see.”

Lepenther started to move at my command, then paused.

“By the way, Your Highness.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sure Viscount Silo has realized by now that we’ve raided this place, but…….”

“Ah, that’s fine.”

“……?”

I said to Lepentor, who looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Have you forgotten that I told Lord Setarim to expect to hear from me?”

“Ah.”

Setarim is the head of the Blue Shield Knights, representing the Duke of Grave.

Naturally, his personal power is the strongest in the realm. I’m sure there’s some disagreement about the Knights, but…….

The important thing is that Setarim Weaver is the strongest of the knight Masters.

Even if he is only a lowly Master among Masters.

Militarily,  zylo is no match for him.

Regardless.

“Lord Setarim should have made his way to Gawl Silo’s manor by now.”

He said something about heresy being involved, if nothing else.

That’s enough.

Setarim would understand, and use his best judgment.

“Then I will return.”

Of course, as soon as I return, there is only one course of action.

“Inquisition.

Using the power of religion, I will bring down zylo once and for all.