Karnak, Monarch of Death-Chapter 114: The Grental County (2)

The Candy Witch was peculiar in many ways. She was significantly different from typical necromancers. How could her traces be so faint? And how could she leave behind almost no malice or death energy?

Karnak lifted the black cube in his hand. "This is the answer."

Serati speculated that the witch might be similar to Lapicel. Perhaps she was a future powerhouse whose soul had returned and taken over an old woman's body.

"But the way she fought doesn't match up."

In Lapicel's case, she was extremely efficient in the way she wielded her power. She had maximized minimal force with expert precision. But the Candy Witch wasn’t like her at all.

"Her necromancy was basic. She was just amplifying physical abilities with necrotic energy. Nothing more.”

However, the amount of necrotic power she possessed had been vast, to say the least.

"If I had to compare... about a thousand times my current level."

Varos and Serati gasped in unison.

"A thousand times?”

"Then how did we win?"

Karnak answered matter-of-factly, "Because she was about ten thousand times worse at using it than I am.”

She was the complete opposite of Lapicel. The witch possessed an enormous reservoir of concentrated darkness but wielded it clumsily, swinging it around recklessly like a blunt instrument.

"And that's why there was hardly any malice or death energy left behind."

The extreme compression of her power meant almost no energy leaked outward. But it also left her incapable of casting complex necromancy, forcing her to rely solely on bizarre melee combat.

"Yet the sheer density of her compressed darkness was enough to overwhelm others."

"Wait," Varos interjected, raising his hand. “I’m pretty sure you said that was impossible, young master.”

"It is. For necromancers, at least. Even if it were possible, it would be useless.”

Necromancy, by its nature, was difficult to focus.

"Think about those old tales where a demon king unleashes their power, causing earthquakes, storms, and lightning everywhere. How unfocused does your energy have to be for it to spill out like that?"

While magic thrived on precision and focus, necromancy emphasized dispersion and saturation. Magic required intense concentration of massive energy into a single point to invoke powerful transformation, while necromancy worked by spreading its influence wide, silently seeping into and dominating everything.

"But somehow, this witch managed to hyper-compress her necrotic energy. I have no idea how she pulled it off."

"Not even you could do it, young master?” Varos asked him.

"Nope."

"Then it must be some cult's doing. Maybe they used aura, magic, or divine power."

"That’s likely, but there’s nothing detectable here.”

There was no trace of aura, magic, or divine power. In fact, not even necrotic energy could be felt from the cube. If Karnak hadn't known it was left behind by the witch, it could easily be mistaken for an ordinary die.

Watching Karnak and Varos debate, Serati carefully posed a question. "So... you're saying this cube was inside the witch?"

"Huh? No." Karnak shook his head. "This is the witch."

"Excuse me?"

"I told you. She wasn’t human to begin with."

Most assumed that a normal old woman had absorbed the Shadow of Doom and become the Candy Witch. After all, such transformations were common in these times. But no human body could house such concentrated darkness without succumbing, no matter how high the necrotic energy. A human physique simply could not endure such strain.

"The Candy Witch's true nature is the Shadow of Doom itself, compressed to an extreme degree," Karnak explained.

In other words, the witch was not a necromancer, but a product of necromancy. She was a collective embodiment of darkness, much like the spirits Karnak commanded, designed to follow a predetermined command. This much Karnak was certain of.

"I could tell from the candy house."

The witch's necrotic energy was so densely compressed that no power seeped outward. So how, then, did the house—a grotesque manifestation of a fairy tale—come to exist? The answer was rather simple. The witch wasn’t responsible for creating it.

The witch was part of the fairy tale, another fragment of the distorted narrative. This explained her grotesquely exaggerated appearance and peculiar, nonsensical lines of dialogue.

"It’s likely the collective subconscious of children was projected onto the Shadow of Doom," Karnak mused. "There’s necromancy that works this way, though I’ve never been a fan of it."

The witch hadn’t conjured the fairy tale’s image. Rather, someone had constructed it around her as the centerpiece. And this pointed to one critical implication.

"This cube contains the identity of whoever orchestrated this."

***

Serati gave a quiet nod, piecing together the scenario. "But why call us for this?"

Karnak sighed before holding up the black cube. "I need to extract the information inside."

More than just information, the cube contained a staggering amount of necrotic energy. Absorbing it would provide an enormous boost in his power.

"To do that, I’ll need to break it down slowly before I can absorb it."

The cube was an almost incomprehensibly dense bundle of energy. It was so compact that not even the faintest trace of malice or death energy leaked out.

Karnak grumbled. "It’s too solid. No matter how much I try to melt it down, it doesn’t budge."

It was like trying to scratch a diamond with bare fingernails. In other words, utterly futile.

“I made some progress with chaos mana, but not enough to extract anything useful."

It seemed that energy different in nature from necrotic power worked better, which is why Karnak had called for Varos to try using his aura.

"Got it."

Varos took the cube and encased his right hand in red aura. He carefully channeled his energy into the cube in various ways, and Serati watched curiously.

"But you have Sir Varos, so why did you call for me?" she asked.

"Varos isn’t my vassal anymore," Karnak replied. "I thought maybe I could manipulate it indirectly through your soul, since you’re my vassal.”

Using Serati’s connection as a conduit, Karnak attempted to channel necrotic energy into the cube again. The results were disappointing.

"Still no luck," Karnak muttered.

"Same here, young master,” Varos added.

"Do we need a different approach?" Serati asked.

Varos frowned.

"How did the person who created the witch use this? Even you can’t do it."

"That’s exactly why we’re doing this, because I would like to find out,” Karnak said, clicking his tongue in frustration. He tucked the cube away into his robes. ”Better keep it safe for now."

Though it appeared he had simply slipped it into his clothes, Karnak actually stored the cube in a small dimensional rift hidden within the folds of his garments.

Serati’s eyes widened. “Huh? What was that?"

"Hmm? Oh, it’s a void space," Karnak replied.

"Like a mage’s extradimensional pocket?"

"Something like that. Except it’s a necromancer’s version."

Serati gasped. "That’s a ninth circle spell! How are you even doing this?”

Her astonishment was written all over her face.

The extradimensional pocket was an enchanted space capable of storing items roughly the size of an entire cow. Once placed inside, items in the subspace were unaffected by time, and their weight vanished, making it an incredibly versatile and convenient magical spell.

With a bitter smile, Karnak responded, “Void space is far less complicated. Its capacity is also vastly superior."

Unlike the extradimensional pocket, which was an ultimate ninth circle spell, void space didn’t demand such an advanced level of necromancy. In magical terms, it was equivalent to about a sixth circle spell. And yet, it could store dozens of times more items than the extradimensional pocket.

Feeling wronged, Serati raised her voice. "If there was such a convenient magic, why did you make me carry all the luggage?"

But the more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.

Wait, but these guys also carry their own stuff, just like me.

What’s more, Karnak, unlike his usual self, wasn’t even boasting.

"Well, void space did come with a serious drawback," he admitted.

Both of them sighed in unison.

"If you put food in there, it’ll spoil.”

"And not just food either. Things like clothes got contaminated with malice or death energy.”

"If you put a living being in there, it comes out as a corpse.”

"So we mostly used it to store necromantic catalysts or reagents.”

"And back in the day, you mainly stored corpses, right? Plus a pile of skeletons.”

"I don’t keep those anymore, deliberately, to avoid living the way I used to."

In other words, it was nearly useless for general items.

Disappointed, Serati muttered, "Turns out, it it’s not very practical.”

"Exactly. It was pretty handy back when I was a necromancer, though."

After closing the void space, Karnak picked up his wine glass again.

"Well then, let’s finish our drinks while we wait for Alius to return."

This too couldn’t be stored in void space.

"If we had to carry it, we might as well drink it now."

***

Late at night, Alius finally returned to the inn.

"I’ve heard a general overview of the situation here from Priest Belton," he began.

For now, the target, Count Hudel, was currently away from his territory. Karnak and Varos frowned.

“Away from his territory?”

"Wasn’t this supposed to be the time he’d be staying here?"

Like most nobles, Hudel divided his time between the imperial capital of Thea Krahan and his territory. However, he differed from others in one significant way. He traveled far more frequently. Most nobles spent spring and summer in the capital, returned to their territories for the autumn harvest and the new year, and returned to Thea Krahan in spring. Hudel, on the other hand, traveled between his territory and the capital almost every two months.

The intervals were so short that Karnak’s group had deliberately planned their journey to coincide with one of his returns.

"But if he’s absent, that complicated the schedule, didn’t it?”

"Not by much. It seemed he’s only delayed by about half a month," Alius replied.

"Well, that’s a relief.”

Officially, Count Hudel Grental had no charges of heresy against him.

"But it seemed Priest Belton had harbored suspicions about him for quite some time."

The Grental territory itself was spotless. That much was true. Having lost his parents and family to necromancers, Hudel had governed his lands meticulously, ensuring no evildoer could take root in his domain.

"Well, that much isn’t surprising. It’s just proof that Count Hudel is competent."

However, the surrounding regions—the Ralcade Barony, Kallat City, and Aolin territory—had seen an unusual surge in heretical activity compared to other parts of the empire. The problem was that the cultists were impossibly elusive.

Even when they were occasionally tracked down, they always managed to sever their trail and vanish, leaving their main body hidden somewhere unknown. No one had any idea where they might be hiding.

"Priest Belton believes there’s a strong possibility that the hiding place is within the Grental territory."

The Ralcade Barony lay to the east of Grental, Aolin Territory to the south, and Kallat City was situated in the center of the three regions. The Grental territory’s geographical position made it an ideal escape route for cultists who were exposed. Moreover, the surrounding regions were drenched in blood, while Grental alone remained peaceful.

“It means he’s the culprit.”

However, no matter how hard they searched for evidence, it always seemed to disappear, leaving the church unable to act for the time being.

"Not just Priest Belton, but other priests as well seem to suspect that Count Hudel’s agents might be hiding within the Saisha Order."

Now that they had gathered this information, the next step was to cross-verify it.

Alius spoke up. "Starting tomorrow, we’ll conduct an investigation around the villages. If cultists are hiding here, they must have left some traces behind. That’s where we’ll begin."