Episode 44
Ghoul (Ghoul).
In Antarian, it meant black mouth. Even among the undead, ghouls were among the most difficult to deal with. They craved the flesh of living beings and ate them endlessly.
Its strong claws could even tear through iron plates. Furthermore, its claws contained a deadly poison that could be fatal to living beings, making even a brush with them dangerous.
A ghoul, similar in appearance to a human but with a rotten and twisted body, ran towards me.
“Inferno.”
Whoosh whoosh!
A mid-level fire spirit blocked the secret entrance. The ghouls struggled and tried to run towards me, but they could not overcome the wall of flame.
Occasionally, there would be one that popped out with its body half-melted.
Seo-eok!
I struck the necks of those who had come over like that. The flames of Inferno were more than enough to melt them, and my aura was enough to summon Inferno all day long.
Ghouls create ghouls. They devour the flesh of the living and grant them the power to avoid death.
That’s how a monster that has lost its reason is created.
“I thought it was a secret escape passage, but it was a dungeon inhabited by the undead?”
The undead continued to appear endlessly. Inferno slowly advanced while burning them, and the winding path continued on.
As the interior grew hot, the oxygen became thin.
I had no choice but to stay out for a while and sent Inferno alone to attack the undead in the dungeon.
‘It seems like I’ve killed quite a few, but will killing the undead also help with aura training?’
Every time I would train my aura after hunting a monster, I would see a great effect. A large amount of aura would pour in, and it was like drinking the dragon’s breath, diluted and drop by drop.
“Hoooooo.”
All the Aura training methods learned in theory were combined into one training method. The pillar was the Hebron Aura training method, but it was ambiguous to call it the Hebron Aura training method.
Louis Ora’s method of training.
It was a training method that would overturn the map of the Aura training method.
‘… … This is a magical power of a slightly different nature. It is an energy that has lost its freshness. This is probably a death energy close to the death mana that necromancers use.’
It was an energy I had only encountered in theory. It was similar to what was written in the book, but it wasn’t exactly the same. That was because it was not refined mana, but magic power spread throughout the air.
‘Magic power… … .’
I stopped thinking. I had to muster all my strength to accept the magical power that was rushing in like a wave.
Quagwaquagwaqua!
As if I had hunted a monster with the mark of a trickster, a thick concentration of magical power was absorbed. Unlike before, the magical power being absorbed now was full of the aura of death. It flowed through the veins of my body, killing the living cells. No, it made them quiet as if they were dead. It felt like my limbs were stiffening.
‘This is also my strength.’
I didn’t reject it, I accepted it. That was the Hebron way. It was okay to be wrong. I trusted my instincts and relied on my father who believed in me.
The magical power swept through my limbs and returned to my dantian. There, it met with a hot aura and the spirit of death burned away. All the energy became one and gathered tightly in my dantian. The bond was so strong that it could not even be compared to before.
‘What the heck is this?’
My aura had long since escaped my theory. As a result, I began to fine-tune my aura, which spread to every corner of the meridian, and my aura settled not only in my dantian but also in my meridian.
This time, the energy in the danjeon grew even stronger. The aura, thicker than before, settled firmly like a large bead.
The bead sucked in and accumulated magical power like an anorexic monster, and only after a long time did it give the veins a chance to take hold of its aura.
I opened my eyes and looked into the darkness. I raised my aura and increased my vision, and I could see clearly into the darkness.
“Inferno.”
I summoned Inferno by my side.
He raised his right arm, which contained a fireball, then looked at me and exhaled deeply. Flames poured out of his nose.
-… … I was in the middle of being very active.
Inferno was dead.
His chubby upper body shrank as if he had lost muscle mass.
“It seems like it’s a classic for something like that.”
I couldn’t see Inferno fighting directly.
I was able to read the situation based on the amount and flow of aura the guy was taking from me, but Inferno was barely holding on.
-That’s my full power in your body… …!
Inferno looked at me with discontented eyes, and I smiled back.
“Can’t you demonstrate it?”
-Yes, of course… … there is! What the heck is going on?
Inferno questioned my abilities, which had changed in a short period of time.
“The answer was to look at both life and death.”
-what?
Instead of giving a long and tedious explanation, I just smiled. The theory was the same, but the important thing was that Inferno was now able to use his full power.
No, Inferno’s abilities were upgraded due to my influence. Although he didn’t rise to the level of a high-level spirit, he was far above the level of a mid-level spirit.
-This time for sure… … .
Inferno entered the dungeon again.
‘As expected, it’s changed.’
It wasn’t Inferno, but me that had changed. To be exact, the aura in my danjeon and veins had changed.
I leisurely entered the dungeon. I walked while avoiding the ghoul corpses that had turned to black ash, as they struck my feet.
‘You really spend generously.’
A sweltering heat was felt from inside the dungeon. No, the entire dungeon was heated up by the flames of the Inferno.
There was a rumbling sound from deep inside, and as I got closer, the sound changed into roars and screams.
Kwakwakwakwang!
-Kuuuuuuu!
Inferno’s opponent was a ghoul.
It was a particularly strong one, so the mid-level fire spirit was having a hard time.
‘Undead, this is a field I don’t know much about.’
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The undead are mentioned only as unholy beings, and no specific information about them remains.
There were a few books about the undead left in the Haryan Church, and they were mostly about the old saints defeating the undead.
‘I’ve seen books on undead exorcisms, but they were just so absurd.’
The undead were beings that refused death.
In my previous life, I studied the undead to try to avoid death, but unfortunately the only book worth reading was
It was impossible to understand the undead with that.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
As Inferno continued to rage, the temperature in the dungeon rose rapidly. I raised my aura to protect myself, and entered the space where Inferno and the ghouls were fighting fiercely.
Kwaaaaang!
The ghoul’s head was hit by a fireball and exploded.
The bastard’s body fell down like a wooden stick with a “whoosh!” sound.
“… … I tried hard.”
-This is nothing!
“But I guess I should rest for a bit?”
Inferno disappeared without a response. He had exerted his utmost effort. If he had been even slightly off, he would have disappeared. Of course, even if the summoned spirit disappears after receiving a great shock, it can be returned to the spirit realm and recovered before being summoned again.
Inferno left a small spark by my side. It was a spirit flame, and it was a great help in searching the dungeon.
I examined the corpse of the ghoul that had caused Inferno such a hard time. It was a body that was no different from any other ghoul, with no particularly developed muscles.
I examined the shattered skull.
‘The brain remains. And it’s still quite fresh. Is that possible?’
Unfortunately, there were no ghouls left, so comparative analysis was impossible. The body had rotted away as far as common sense would allow, but it was incomprehensible that the brain was still vivid.
‘I need more ghouls. Are there any ghouls left?’
I searched the dungeon as if I was searching for a ghoul, but I couldn’t find any. Regrettably, I studied the remains of a ghoul with its head crushed.
“shit!”
The ghoul’s head was solid, and there were quite a few large pieces left. One of them was branded. It was the Trickster’s brand, as it always was.
It was ominous that the trickster’s hand had reached this place, and that it had caught my eye.
-I’ve been waiting for you, Louis.
The trickster’s voice sounded like a whine.
‘I don’t know what your intentions are, but I won’t be manipulated by you.’
I sat down in my seat.
I had searched the dungeon thoroughly before, but there was nothing that could pose a threat to me.
I exhaled quietly.
As I practiced Aura, a tremendous amount of magical power rushed into me.
‘Ugh!’
Before absorbing the energy of the branded ghoul, I absorbed the spirit of another ghoul. If I hadn’t gone through that process, I would have exploded because I couldn’t handle the enormous energy.
Fortunately, my dantian and my meridians had become accustomed to the energy of death. They accepted the magical power that surged forward like a tidal wave, filled my empty dantian, and sent it through my meridians.
And then he strengthened his danjeon with the remaining magical power.
The ghoul’s memories came flooding back along with the magic. It was like looking back at all his lives in a short period of time. Not only the ghoul’s life, but also the shocking events he experienced after becoming a ghoul came back to him in fragments.
‘Necromancer!’
Ghoul was a necromancer in his lifetime. He was the one who created this dungeon, and he was also a wizard whose theory was ahead of his practice. He was a wizard who could only create ghouls despite his lifelong efforts, but his theories led to the creation of high-level undead.
‘… … You still can’t understand it even after seeing that.’
I got a glimpse of the wizard’s knowledge.
The content was written in an ancient language, a language that has not been passed down to modern times.
‘It could be a language created by a wizard.’
Sometimes, wizards created their own language to prevent the leakage of magical knowledge. It was impossible to interpret them perfectly.
I finally absorbed all the magic power. My aura grew even higher, and I was now able to summon even high-level spirits for a short period of time.
I got up from my seat and looked inside. Long ago, this was a necromancer’s laboratory. The ghouls that were born there took over the dungeon, and the wizards were bitten by them and became ghouls as well.
‘It must be around here… … .’
The necromancer’s memory had a separate laboratory.
A hidden passageway leads from this hall to the inner research lab.
Click, click!
This time, as before, the entrance was hidden in the Ains style. I pressed the hidden button and gently pushed the top of the door with my palm, and the secret passage opened.
Nowadays, simply studying the undead can result in capital punishment, but in ancient times, necromancers were considered equal to ordinary wizards.
-Magic is just a tool, it’s how you use it that’s more important.
This was the thinking of the ancient Antarian people. They traded in corpses legally and trained necromancers in the state.
As we went down the long passage, a small iron gate appeared. The old and rusted iron gate was so hard that when I pulled on it, the connecting link broke off with a thud.
“This is… … the necromancer’s treasure vault!”
The desk and bookshelf were full of books.
Although I could hardly see any other items, my heart raced just from seeing the rare book.
But my anticipation soon turned to disappointment. Most of the books were worn away and fell apart as soon as I touched them.
The books that were still intact were so moth-eaten that it was difficult to read their contents.
Still, some books were in good condition. They were books read from Ghoul’s memories, and they were still untranslated.
There was a skeleton lying in the corner. It wasn’t something that someone had left behind when they died. It was obvious that a necromancer had placed it there on purpose.
