Though the night had deepened, the temple remained busy. The Lady and the young master were staying there for the surgery scheduled for the following day.
The young master had to fast before the operation, but he was making a terrible fuss because he could not endure his hunger.
The Lady’s worry deepened, as it seemed that if he exhausted himself from fussing, it might interfere with the surgery the next day.
“How about putting him to sleep until that boy captures the material?”
“Will that be all right?”
“We will ensure that no harm whatsoever comes to the young master’s precious body. Please leave it to us.”
At the priest’s words, the Lady stepped aside, saying that she had no choice.
When the priest approached and extended a mana-filled hand toward the cradle, the child, who had been screaming and thrashing in a frenzy, became quiet.
Five years earlier, the Lord had been grievously injured while fighting the Barbarians and could no longer father children. Thus, the child who could not leave his cradle even after turning seven was the Lord’s only heir.
The child’s body had been incomplete from birth.
His head grew larger by the day, but his limbs and torso did not grow.
The only reason the child, who was not expected to live long, had survived this far was the devoted care of the Blue Vine Temple.
BOOOOM—!
The moment the child fell asleep, a thunderous noise rang out from outside. Startled, the Lady summoned a guard and asked what had happened.
“I hear that the serfs have escaped, causing a great disturbance.”
“The serfs escaped? Does His Excellency know about this?”
The sound of horse hooves passing through the square could be heard.
The Lady opened the window and looked outside.
Her husband had arrived in front of the temple. He briefly halted his horse and left some of the guards behind to protect the temple.
The Lady and her husband exchanged looks through the window.
The Lord signaled his wife to remain in the temple, then turned his horse toward the farm.
In the direction of the rye field, flames had painted the sky red as though the sun were setting.
“We will take the young master underground.”
“That would be best. Move him quickly.”
So that no one would see, the Lady covered the large cradle in which the child slept with two layers of white cloth.
Two devotees carried the cradle and led the way.
The priest followed behind them.
***
Ernolf had already left the farm and arrived at the temple.
On the roof, he avoided the watchtower’s gaze, hiding in the chimney’s shadow as he observed the movements inside and restored his mana.
‘They have added more guards to the temple.’
After the Lord’s party had come and gone, guards had been stationed at the temple entrance and in the garden.
As Ernolf checked the guards’ positions and numbers, a large group left the Lady’s room and headed underground.
Seeing that a priest was with them, Ernolf used Wind-Attribute Magic to descend to the ground as silently as a butterfly.
He quickly hid behind a garden tree and waited. Before long, people came down from the second floor and headed toward the stairs leading underground.
‘They are carrying a cradle. The Lord’s son will be in there.’
The Lord and Lady had asked them to capture a Goblin cub because they wished to treat their son.
‘If the surgery succeeds, this place will soon become a den of chimeras. And......’
Recalling the horrific scene he had witnessed at the farm, Ernolf steeled himself.
After the priests passed through the door to the underground passage, they fastened the bolt from inside.
Ernolf moved immediately.
CLICK.
When Ernolf placed a hand on the door, the bolt slid aside.
For a wizard whose specialty was releasing the locks of artifacts and ruins sealed by every conceivable method, a door bolt could not even be called an obstacle.
Because he had followed from a distance to avoid being discovered, the passage was empty by the time Ernolf entered.
Ernolf held his breath and walked along the corridor.
The aboveground portion was a wooden structure, but the underground portion was built of stone.
‘They built a new temple atop an old one.’
Small oil lamps mounted sparsely along the walls dimly lit the corridor.
After feeling the seams between the bricks, Ernolf identified the style as the middle period of the fallen Sarapi Empire.
It had been built around three or four hundred years before the present era, but for Ernolf, it was a structure around two thousand years old.
Walking through it gave him a strange feeling.
The corridor was so narrow that two people could barely pass through with their shoulders pressed together, and it twisted chaotically or branched into several paths.
When Ernolf found a place to hide, he slipped into it and spread thinly diluted mana through the underground structure.
It was magic that used a principle similar to a bat exploring terrain with sound waves to search for hidden spaces and mechanisms in a building, as well as monsters concealed within it.
‘It would be nice to have a Familiar, but this will have to do for now......’
Not far away, there was a large room with five people gathered inside.
One of the five was a child, and Ernolf was certain that it was the Lord’s son, Kazar.
In another room, three people who appeared to be patients lay down, while in yet another room, someone was reading and keeping records.
‘A little farther......’
Because his Mana Heart’s proficiency was low, even when he drew out its potential, the range he could search was smaller than before.
Ernolf searched as wide an area as he could, then opened his eyes.
With his body pressed against the wall, he moved toward the first room.
Inside, two priests were reading books and recording something.
‘As I thought, the library aboveground was a facade. This is the real one.’
The Blue Vine Temple opened its library to everyone without discrimination and held classes to teach children.
That was why Ernolf had offered a sacrifice without suspicion and asked them to treat Kazar. Yet it had all been a ruse to hide their true identity.
‘I will have to pass through here again to escape. I cannot proceed while leaving two priests here.’
However, if he were discovered here or used up all of his mana, it would be over before he could even begin.
Not only did he need to prevent the people inside from noticing what happened here, he also had to save mana for the greater battle ahead.
After recalling the mother and daughter, as well as the slaves he had killed with his own hands, Ernolf hardened his resolve.
‘Before they create more victims, I must break the chain of evil.’
Ernolf placed his left hand on the closed door.
‘Vacuum Shield.’
In an instant, the flow of air changed, turning the area around the library into a vacuum.
A priest inside noticed the flow of mana and began gathering mana.
However, Ernolf’s spell was faster.
‘Ice.’
It was the same spell that had frozen Retchaka’s legs in the mines, but its power was different from that time.
Kazar was not the only one who had grown stronger on the way to Talisa.
Though he was still far below his original strength, Ernolf’s magical power had improved astonishingly since he fought Retchaka.
The priests who noticed the danger and tried to respond were instantly frozen white.
‘Ice Slasher.’
A vacuum barrier surrounded the library, so the sound inside could not reach the outside.
In that strange silence, the two bodies were rapidly sliced to pieces.
Ernolf absorbed the cold and quickly released the vacuum barrier.
The slaves at the farm had become monsters that threatened humanity, but they were entirely victims.
The perpetrators were the Blue Vine Temple, which had performed forbidden sorcery upon them. Though he was using lethal magic against people, Ernolf did not feel the slightest guilt.
The next room Ernolf entered had three patients lying in beds. All three had received transplants of monster tissue. Ernolf had no choice but to kill them.
The temple’s underground structure was unimaginably vast and complex. Ernolf slowly searched through the underground chambers while replenishing his Mana Heart to the fullest.
After searching through the underground like a mole for quite some time, he finally found the child and the priests.
“I know I have emphasized this until it is tiresome, but this is the first surgery in which we will replace every part of the body other than the head, including the heart, with monster tissue. Even with the Beast King’s Heart, we must never let down our guard. First, we will sever every nerve connected to the brain, and then......”
The fattest priest among them explained the steps of the operation to be performed the next day, as though reviewing them one by one.
“Keeping the Healing Magic going for three days is no ordinary ordeal. Everyone, steel yourselves and proceed with resolve.”
“Please trust us, Priest Irnatol. We have devoted everything to accomplishing this feat. There will not be the slightest error.”
“Thank you for saying so. If we succeed in this operation, we will welcome a new age. Even if people lose their limbs, they will not become disabled, and when a body reaches the end of its lifespan, they will be able to exchange it for a new body and enjoy eternal life.”
“That is right. Humanity will soon be freed from the shackles of mortality.”
“Did you hear that, young master? You are the hope not only of us, but of all humanity.”
The four priests looked down at the cradle with eyes full of longing.
The child slept obliviously, with a rake-like finger in his mouth.
Beneath the child’s large head was a dry, wrinkled body.
‘The Beast King’s Heart?’
Ernolf was startled after overhearing the priests’ conversation.
The Beast King’s Heart was an artifact modeled after the heart of Bestiarius Rex, a Beast King with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake, called ‘Vex’ for short.
It was said that whoever possessed it inherited Vex’s wisdom and gained exceptional insight and tremendous power.
‘I do not know whether that is truly so, since the tale has gained embellishments over sixteen hundred years, but it is said that the Beast King’s Heart contains the power and knowledge to control every monster.’
Ernolf could not tell exactly how the Beast King’s Heart contributed, but it seemed to play some role in successfully carrying out Cross-Species Biological Fusion.
‘Damn......’
Sweat soaked Ernolf’s forehead. He had grown quite powerful on the way to Talisa and had been confident he could deal with minor threats like these. But then a legendary artifact had appeared. This was a crisis.
‘Even if I combine lower-tier spells to fight, I cannot be certain that I will have enough mana to last until the battle ends.’
There were four enemies in total. The Beast King’s Heart would likely be in the possession of the fat priest named Irnatol beside the cradle.
‘It would be best to reduce the enemy’s numbers first. I will ambush the nearby priests, then kill Irnatol.’
Before possessing this body, Ernolf had not had much experience fighting people. At most, he had fought grave robbers or competitors who hindered excavations, but he had rarely killed people with magic.
The reason he had been able to eliminate his enemies relatively easily so far was that he had succeeded in ambushing them, not because his combat ability was high or because he had much experience.
‘This time too, I will make use of the advantage of a surprise attack.’
If he destroyed the Beast King’s Heart, they would no longer be able to use the Chimera Creation Art.
Ernolf resolved to kill the priests, find the Beast King’s Heart, and destroy it.
“Who is out there?!”
Irnatol shouted from inside.
‘Damn it.’
Ernolf had erased his presence as thoroughly as possible, but he had still been discovered.
Two priests moved toward the door, while Irnatol and the remaining priest began gathering mana.
There was no time to hesitate. Ernolf placed a hand on the floor and immediately cast a spell.
‘Stone Pillar!’
Four enormous pillars rose from the floor beneath the priests’ feet.
“W-What is this?!”
BAM! CRASH! BAM! BAM!
The stone pillars shot up to the ceiling in the blink of an eye.
One priest was crushed into a bloody pulp between the ceiling and a stone pillar, while the other two avoided the pillars.
Irnatol destroyed the pillar blocking his path and lifted the Lord’s son from the cradle.
‘Rock Spear!’
Without giving them time to breathe, Ernolf immediately cast his next spell.
Sharp spikes sprouted from the enormous stone pillars.
“Argh!”
One priest who had narrowly avoided a pillar was pierced through the shoulder by a long spike and screamed.
“Huff, huff......”
Ernolf breathed heavily. Creating four stone pillars at once, then following it with a linked attack, had made his Mana Heart burn as though it were about to explode.