Chapter 12: Battles Beneath the Ground (1)

Many people are accustomed to referring to evil forces as dark forces, but [Black] and [Dark] are never the same concept.
[Black] refers to the improper use or exploitation of certain things to their fullest extent. For example, [Black Magicians] who propose the theory of negative elemental energy and use it as a direction for magical improvement. It should be noted, however, that [Black Magicians] are not the evil [Necromancers] seen in knightly novels—there is no connection between the two.
[Dark], on the other hand, is a type of energy characterized by [devouring], [absorbing], [twisting], and [fear of light]. It is the true force that stands in opposition to the Church’s white magic. The reason the Church calls Black Magicians [heretics] is not only because most of them are atheists who do not believe in gods but also because the highly destructive [Black Magic] leans toward the dark aspect—an improper use of elements, much like demons from ancient times…
Yet, neither in the empire nor in the Church does anyone call Black Magicians [Dark Magicians], as the two are distinct.
If Black Magicians exploit elements abnormally to unlock the most powerful magic, then Dark Magicians are pure users of dark magic.
Of course, one thing is common to both: they both pursue the most powerful force. The difference lies only in how they obtain it. Black Magicians gain power through their own efforts, while those who obtain power at the expense of harming others by using some ancient evil pact from demonic beasts are called Dark Magicians. Among Dark Magicians, the most notorious are [Necromancers].
Necromancers can also be called undead magicians, but this term is not commonly used. Because whether they are Black Magicians or White Magicians, whether they believe in gods or despise them, all magicians acknowledge and confirm that souls exist!
The great Holy Mage Yvonne Alinson once said, “The soul is the purest form of life!”
The Church even adds prefixes such as “sacred” and “inviolable” before “soul,” showing just how much importance magicians in this world place on souls.

Perhaps this is related to a legend that says people reveal their best side before death to face it, so the vast majority of souls are kind and harmless. They cannot stay in this world for long; after a while, they disperse—either through true death or simply leaving this world for another subspace. This is what the dark magicians believe about the fate of souls. Meanwhile, the white magicians of the Church, based on legends of gods and demons, proposed the concepts of [Heaven] and [Hell], where kind souls go to heaven and evil souls go to hell… Whether there truly is heaven and hell aside, it is an undeniable fact that souls cannot remain in this world for long—this is one of the fundamental laws of this world. But sometimes, there are exceptions… Hundreds of years ago, at the founding of the empire, in the Skarsio Mountains to the north, there was a small principality named Ivan. At that time, relations between humans and barbarians were extremely tense. More than food shortages, the barbarians were driven by a fierce desire for land. To ensure the survival of their race, they launched attacks on Ivan, but were ultimately repelled by an army led by a count named Laurie Conser. This heroic count, who defeated a powerful enemy, received widespread admiration and praise throughout the principality. Of course, the barbarians did not back down. A year later, they gathered an even stronger army and wiped out a count’s knightly order in the Skarsio Mountains. Though this heroic count fought bravely, he still could not withstand the barbarians’ powerful forces and perished… Yet the barbarians still failed to conquer Ivan because, when they crossed the Skarsio Mountains, they encountered fierce resistance from none other than Count Laurie Conser and his knightly order… Weren’t they dead in battle? Yes, they indeed died. What appeared before the barbarians was an army composed of the spirits of fallen knights! When Laurie Conser loudly proclaimed the oath of “sword and protection,” the barbarians retreated in terror… This was no illusion, as the empire’s dark magicians, upon hearing about this, came to Ivan to investigate. They indeed saw the spirits of the fallen knights in the Skarsio Mountains—even after death, they continued to protect this small principality of Ivan…

For such special souls, magicians refer to them as [Elders], as these brave, honest, honorable, and beloved warriors are unwilling to give up what they protect due to some oath. In contrast, there are some extremely vicious individuals who completely degenerate after death, becoming the feared [Evil Spirits]—but we won’t discuss those for now. Generally speaking, souls that can remain in this world are those who were highly revered or cursed during their lifetimes, and they are all people with strong wills—whether warriors or villains. If they were ordinary farmers, their souls will neither ascend to Elders nor degenerate into Evil Spirits after death. Such examples are rare in history; it is said that in the history of the ancient castle of Riox, the souls of some magicians once resided there. In short, all the above examples stem from the will and strength of the soul during its lifetime. But beyond that, souls can also remain in this world for a long time through another method—even the souls of ordinary farmers… through a forbidden black magic! Black magic encompasses a wide range, as any magic that misuses elements falls under it, including the forbidden necromancy that is prohibited from being spread or mentioned… The unique allure and immense power of necromancy have driven countless black magicians mad. It is a dreamlike, forbidden summoning magic that allows inhabitants of the land of death to return to the human world, and it is a magic that severely violates the laws of the world. This field of study originated from a magician who lost his beloved. To bring his beloved back to this world, he discovered the land of death from ancient texts and made a pact with the demons there, thus founding this dark magic discipline filled with death and corruption. Initially, necromancy was used for profit motives, as magicians believed that after death, souls could know everything and see everything. Thus, magicians at the time summoned the dead mainly for those who wanted to know the location of treasures. After all, not all magicians were solely focused on studying magic. However, some black magicians weren’t after treasures. After black magic reached a certain bottleneck in its development, those seeking greater power turned to necromancy, and thus this magic began to evolve.

During their research, many dark magicians could not resist the mysterious allure and immense power of this dreamlike magic. They began to study the dead, exploring how to summon a once-powerful person back to this world as a weapon against their enemies.

Compared to the several hundred years of development in dark magic, necromancy has a much shorter history. The profession of necromancer only lasted a little over a hundred years before being eradicated by the Church, which considered it heresy—many dark magicians also played a role in this.

It’s no wonder that all orthodox magicians believe such evil magic, which severely violates the laws of the world, must never exist in this world. As a result, countless necromancers were burned to death or hanged, and numerous books and magical texts were publicly burned. Necromancers thus disappeared from human history…

Perhaps some of them are still alive, but they dare not show themselves, for if they did, not only the Church’s white magicians but even the Empire’s dark magicians would destroy them.

“Dead souls belong in the place where they belong!”
“Demons who toy with sacred souls must be destroyed!”

These two statements are recorded in the magic textbooks of the Empire and the Church. If possible, they wish to erase necromancers entirely from the history of magic!

This is a good wish, but Professor Hod knows that there are still many necromancers studying necromancy in the world. As long as there are magicians seeking power, necromancy will continue forever…

At least this guy right in front of him is proof of that!

“Tch!” Upon seeing the dead souls beside that man, Professor Hod didn’t even want to speak to him. With a wave of his hand, the area where the man stood was instantly engulfed in raging flames.

Those who toy with souls must be destroyed!

But to Professor Hod’s surprise, a layer of deep dark energy enveloped the man at some point, swallowing the flames.

“Hey, attacking from behind isn’t fair!” Standing seemingly unguarded in the flames, the man glanced at them with a hint of mockery. “Angering me won’t benefit you at all…”

“Is that so?” Professor Hod sneered and pointed ahead at the man.

Almost simultaneously, a burst of blue flames exploded beside the man’s cheek. The shockwave scattered the dark energy around him, scorching him.

“You…” The man touched his burned cheek in disbelief, glanced at Professor Hord, and said in a low voice, “Alright, you’ve succeeded in angering me… I had thought that if you begged for mercy, I might spare you, but now…” He slightly lowered his head and said, “Argus BartClarkfield!”
“What do you mean?” The professor, who was about to cast a spell, stopped mid-action, looking puzzled.
Argus slowly raised his right hand, gathering a sphere of dark energy in it, and said slowly, “When you pass by the Three Rivers Road, give my regards to the Ferryman…” As soon as he finished speaking, he waved his right hand, and the sphere of dark energy vanished instantly. In that same instant, it appeared in front of Professor Hord and exploded. The energy distorted space like a black hole, sucking in everything nearby, including light sources.
“Damn it!”
With a curse, Professor Hord found himself in another place.
[Flash]
“Oh? Flash?” Argus smiled slightly. To be honest, he hadn’t expected to be able to deal with this guy so easily.
“Dark magic…” Professor Hord stared solemnly as the black hole-like entity gradually disappeared, then sneered, “People like you belong underground!”
Hearing this, Argus’s eyes filled with anger as he said in a low voice, “You really have angered me!”
“And so what?” Professor Hord sneered. At the same time, waves of blue flames erupted around Argus. Unfortunately, perhaps due to his precautions, these spells didn’t cause much harm to him.
“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?” The dark aura around Argus grew stronger, seemingly overpowering the flames.
“My name isn’t something for people like you to know!” With a sneer, Professor Hord’s body was engulfed in fierce blue flames.
The dark aura clashed violently with the flames.
“That’s too bad!” Argus shook his head lightly and pointed at Professor Hord, saying, “Poor wretch, you’ll just have to lie here forever!” With that, the dark aura around him surged like countless tentacles, attacking the professor at once.
[Flash]
“Sss!” With several strange sounds, those tentacle-like dark auras corroded everything in their path—whether it was long tables or alchemical instruments, not even hard blue rocks could stop them.

In return, azure flames erupted around Argus almost constantly, only to be swallowed by dark energy. For a while, the two exchanged blows evenly. But this situation likely wouldn’t last long, as Professor Hode had to use teleportation repeatedly to dodge Argus’s magical attacks. Meanwhile, Argus hadn’t moved at all from the start, giving Professor Hode little chance of winning. Moreover, before encountering Argus, Professor Hode had already spent some of his magic power on those werewolf puppets. Fortunately, Argus was severely injured, which was one of the reasons he hadn’t moved. Neither of them was at their peak strength. “You cowardly scoundrel only know how to run away like a rat?” Argus sneered. “Hmph! Your shell is quite tough, but I just want to see how long you can hold on!” Professor Hode retorted. Although it wasn’t as costly as teleportation in terms of magic power, using dark energy to counter damage still required magic power… “Heh, then let’s see!” Due to his serious injuries, Argus chose to use transformation magic. As soon as he spoke, two wolf-shaped dark beasts emerged from the darkness around him. Professor Hode frowned as two leopard-shaped flame beasts appeared. The four transformed beasts clashed, with dark and fiery energies scattering everywhere. Within seconds, the four beasts were reshaped by the two fighters three or five times, and neither stopped casting spells at all—something an ordinary magician could never achieve. “Not bad, you’ve got some strength!” Argus could already feel the tearing pain in his right chest, while Professor Hode was also out of breath, likely due to the mental strain of fighting such a foe for so long… Staring at his opponent, who kept appearing and disappearing, Argus let out a deep sigh. The color of his eyes gradually dimmed, and strange symbols began to appear faintly on the back of his bare hand. Was that… a spell tattoo? His eyes showed surprise, which soon turned into shock.

Similar linear rune tattoos appeared on Argus’s face as well. With their appearance, darkness surged around him, engulfing most of the alchemy room and covering everything in darkness—a pure darkness where nothing else could be seen at all. Professor Hode’s flames could no longer withstand this darkness; the blue flames were gradually being consumed. In just a few seconds, the entire room was plunged into utter darkness…
“Hmph! It’s over…” Argus smiled faintly, then seemed to sense something, instinctively looking up to see a burst of white flames not far ahead.
To be honest, it was more like a stream of air than flames, as those white flames no longer had the form of flames at all—they rose straight upward like columns of air. With their appearance, even from a distance, the bookshelves and long tables couldn’t withstand the intense heat and were instantly vaporized.
Yes, vaporized—not burned!
Professor Hode stood in those white flames, with similar rune tattoos appearing on his face and arms.
“You really are troublesome!” Argus sighed lightly, with a hint of frustration.
To be truthful, he had thought he had already dealt with the other party…
“You’re not the only one with amplification tattoos!” Professor Hode said calmly.
“Amplification?” Argus was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
“Amplification… haha,” Argus shook his head, speaking with disdain, “That’s a seal! Under normal circumstances, I don’t want to use this powerful force—it might cause me to accidentally kill people I didn’t intend to kill…”
“Accidentally? Ridiculous!” Professor Hode snorted coldly, but deep down he was shocked. If what this guy said was true…
How could it be? Such a guy who disregards the value of life!
“Don’t believe me? No problem,” Argus shook his head, the smile fading from his face. Raising his right hand, he said slowly, “I’ll make you believe!”
“Believe your ridiculous claims?”
“Hmph!” Argus said softly, “I didn’t really want to kill someone like you either… But now, I’m not as merciful as before!” As he spoke, the darkness around him surged like boiling water, ready to strike.

“Mercy? To hear the word ‘mercy’ come from someone like you!” As if in response to the darkness beside Argus, the white flames surrounding Professor Hode hissed and became even straighter, resembling lines rather than flames at all. This was already beyond a battle between ordinary magicians! “Angering me will only make you die faster!” As soon as these words were spoken, Argus, who was about to cast his spell, suddenly stopped. Professor Hode also stopped mocking his opponent. Both of them turned their gaze toward the door of the alchemy room simultaneously. After a brief silence, the door creaked open, and a man in a gray robe walked in with his head lowered. Seizing that something was different about the alchemy room, he instinctively looked up. Upon seeing the horrific state of the room, he was stunned and shouted angrily, “What have you all done?! You two bastards!” “Huh?” Argus and Professor Hode were stunned. Looking at each other, they asked in unison, “Who is that?” They were silent for a few seconds before asking again, less confidently, “Your accomplice?” They were stunned once more, staring at each other for a long time before saying in a hostile tone, “Then who are you?” They fell silent…