Soul of Negary

“What’s the situation?” the one who asked this question was Grosk’s last remaining personal guard, the one he paired up with was a Knight of Divine Grace. The guard was displaying a particularly heavy expression on his face, obviously he had already found out about the other two’s deaths.

“I’ve used [Respiratory Art] to stabilize his rhythm, his life isn’t in any danger anymore, but he requires immediate medical attention. Otherwise, he won’t wake up again for the rest of his life” Chris stood up.

Rivers’ body was currently being sat up against one of the abandoned buildings, both eyes closed tightly as he fell unconscious. The Right of Sacrifice took so much out of him that if Chris hadn’t arrived in time to use [Respiratory Art] and help him ease the side effects, he would most likely be a corpse right now.

On the other side, the Knight of Divine Grace already had his sword drawn, currently keeping watch over the captured Crowmen. They intended to interrogate him for information, since every other Crowmen they had met were fanatics ready to throw their lives away for Negary, but this one was just sitting there obediently. When he noticed Chris looking at him, he even smiled brightly at him in return.

“Can you let me go? I’ll tell you everything you want to know. If you let me go, I swear I’ll leave Reya immediately and never show myself in front of you ever again” the Crowmen’s body bowed incredibly low to show how pitiable he was and asked them with a humble tone.

“Aren’t all of Negary’s Crowmen supposed to be fierce and unafraid of death?” Chris asked curtly.

“Lord Negary chose the Crowmen to complement himself, because of that, as long as one has a desirable characteristic, anyone can be chosen” the Crowmen spoke with pride: “My fighting strength is comparatively lacking to the others, but my will to live is the strongest among everyone”

“Complement himself?” Chris scowled: “Tell me in detail everything you know about Negary, as well as everything about the other Crowmen”

“I’ll talk, I’ll tell you right now” the Crowmen smiled amiably, he seems to have a sort of charm that made everyone who saw him slowly let go of their hostility, perhaps because his every movement was aimed to please you in a way that made you subconsciously want to forgive him.

“I don’t know that much about Lord Negary either. It was pure coincidence that I was selected as a Crowmen, in fact, I haven’t met Lord Negary directly too many times either” the Crowmen carefully explained: “At the time, Lord Negary wasn’t quite as… eerie as he currently is”

“The feeling he gave off at the time was a sense of regality, like the bearing of a ruler that made one couldn’t help but follow him. But as each enemy fell in his hands, as each Crowmen offered themselves to him, he gradually became more powerful, and gradually more inhuman”

“In truth, unlike the others who wish for nothing but to throw themselves towards him, I want to get as far away from him as possible. Because whenever I stand near him, I always feel an immense impulse to dedicate my life to him”

“Because of that, I sincerely and honestly suggest that you leave right now, truly!” the Crowmen looked at the three people with extremely sincere eyes, fearfully sincere: “Lord Negary, he— no— ‘he’ has already surpassed the lifeforms known as humans!”

“Everyone I meet him, ‘he’ would guide and lead me to commit suicide and dedicate my will to live for him. At the same time, every time I manage to break out of his charm, I can feel the pure joy in his gaze, the gaze similar to that of a farmer who saw that his crops were growing healthily”

“Even now, a voice is constantly whispering in my head, telling to me kill myself and offer my everything to Lord Negary, only then will I no longer have any troubles or feel fear”

“Do you understand it?” the Crowmen opened his eyes wide, showing a look of madness. His boneless body started to coil around itself and sprang forward like a serpent going for its prey. The Crowmen headed straight for the Knight of Divine Grace as two jet black bone javelins appeared out of nowhere from the holes inside his palm.

“For Lord Negary!” the Crowmen roared in his frenzy. When he recounted what he knew about Negary, he couldn’t help but recall his figure and the scene in which Negary offered him his hand, and this time, he couldn’t endure the impulse.

Since the Knight of Divine Grace already had his sword drawn to look out for any tricks this Crowmen might pull, when the Crowmen suddenly lunged at him, he instinctively slashed downward at him.

Without bones to protect the inside of his body, the Crowmen’s body was easily cut in half. The intense pain made him regain his senses as his tears, snot and blood were mixed together. He desperately used what remained of his strength to crawl towards the direction of the forbidden zone’s great tree.

“Lord Negary, I don’t want to die yet, I still have room to grow further, save me, Lord Negary!!

〖 No, you are already ripe! 〗a voice suddenly resounded in the Crowmen’s head: 〖 As you are right now, your will to live has become the strongest it will ever be! 〗

“Lord Negary!” the Crowmen was still begging for his life up until the very last moment, but he couldn’t escape death and his life simply ended. The pitch-like [Black Crow] germs slowly dripped down from his palm, seeped into the ground and flowed towards Negary.

“This is…” the three people there saw everything that took place in fright. A man who wished for nothing but to live, just by recalling Negary, had decided to make a suicidal attack right in front of their eyes. The shadow of the entity called Negary inside their hearts subconsciously grew bigger.

“Let me take this knight back to be tended to” the personal guard lowered his head and said with a trembling voice, feeling extreme shame. He was truly frightful, at this point, he could already faintly feel the ominous air all over this operation. Volunteering to take Rivers back to be healed was nothing but a different kind of fleeing.

“You don’t have to feel ashamed, everyone else would feel the same” Chris smiled bitterly. After adventuring for so long, he had already seen all kinds of people, and after witnessing Negary’s eerie terror with their own eyes, anyone would’ve made the same decision. To ask others to throw away their lives for the sake of their perceived justice isn’t actually justice, that is only taking their morals hostage.

Looking on as the guard carried Rivers away, Chris sighed, at this point, they only had 10 people left. Since they had eliminated two Crowmen, not counting the Bizarre Scales that were running free, from the line up they showed earlier today, the other side still had at least 4 Crowmen and 3 Bizarre Scales.

I wonder how the battle of the others and the people from Royas went.

“Let’s go, we need to help the others as well. We can’t afford to lose anyone else, and we’re only a bit away from reaching Negary” Chris told the Knight of Divine Grace. The two of them quickly moved through the darkness and headed for the other groups.

…

Sitting on top of his throne of bones, Negary currently had his chin resting on top of his hand and a joyful smile on his face. This smile was similar to those of farmers whose crops had grown big and strong just in time for their harvest.

Suddenly, Negary lifted his head and looked forward, someone was quickly moving forward on the path paved with bones.

〖 So you’re finally here. Come, show me just how good you really are, hak hak hak! 〗