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Chapter : 63
Black Sorcery Techniques
“Lower your stance!”
Katarina stepped on the tree outside the window and slashed the crow’s neck with her blade.
“It’s black sorcery. Why would a dead crow—!”
The crow nodded its severed head.
The cut neck liquefied into a viscous fluid, then reattached itself to the body.
The crow scratched its own neck with its talons, twisting its head completely upside down.
Kraah.
Click, click.
The captain of the royal guard, who had been providing cover, threw a throwing knife.
“It looks like something latched onto a dead bird’s corpse.”
“The stench of decay is overwhelming.”
It was the foul odor of low-grade monsters they’d smelled on the suppression front.
The large glass pane in the window shattered, shards raining down.
Charlophe raised the crossbow in her hand.
“That isn’t a corpse.”
“…What?”
“It was dying while something clung to it.”
It reeked of death.
Just as the guard realized this and the crow drew its final breath—
The thing spoke words that were impossible to comprehend.
[You decide whether to kill it or let it live.]
[I will flay that bastard and offer its skin on the altar as a sacrifice to my clan.]
The crow opened its beak wide.
Dried blood clung to the torn beak.
Bang!
Charlophe aimed and pulled the trigger.
The bullet lodged itself in the dying creature’s head.
Bang!
The crow’s eyes narrowed into slits.
It looked as if it were asking, What will you do?
Ah… that way, then? You chose that path?
“Prepare to move out.”
The biological father had abandoned being human—
“We’ll have to visit the imperial private residence.”
—and begun weighing his own child.
It seemed he intended to offer his son as a sacrifice on the altar.
The imperial family’s unofficial private residence.
“Is support still far off?!”
“We sent an urgent report, but nothing yet!”
A red roof covered the estate, surrounded by tall walls. In the past, this place had been used to confine dethroned members of the imperial family.
Now it served as the empress’s private residence, but few ever came here by choice.
“Where did it all go wrong? Why—why—why is this happening? Why, damn it?!”
Chloe froze.
A guard drew his sword, skewering a crow’s neck, and shouted.
“Damn it! Didn’t you hear us telling you to get out of the way?!”
“I—I twisted my ankle! I wasn’t trying to end up face-first in the mud like this—!”
Chloe stared blankly. Something was wrong.
“I… I never wanted this.”
It was all for the child.
My baby, my baby… Was my choice for you wrong?
Was I wrong? Or was the child wrong?
Chloe fumbled at her throbbing hand.
She had struck the child—slapped that tender cheek. A cheek still full of baby fat. She had slapped and clawed at it—
Ugh!
She was disgusted with herself. Nausea surged as stomach acid rose in her throat.
“Aah… AAAAAH!”
At her desperate scream, the crow narrowed its pupils.
“Where is my child?! My baby! Damn it! You cursed crows! Get lost before I rip out every last one of your eyes!”
You can skin me alive. I don’t care if I die.
Just not my child.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to ruin the child’s future.
What went wrong? No—who ruined it?
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
Chloe jerked her head up.
Feathers from dead crows scattered through the air. Kraah! Kraah!
“Aah…!”
A dead crow fell limply beside Chloe. Its rotting body turned to ash.
Her breath caught painfully in her chest.
“Carrion-eaters sniffing around—what rotten luck.”
Charlophe murmured softly, pulling aside her coat.
A crow perched on the wall cawed ominously, as if waiting for its prey to die. A sinister aura spread.
“Draw your swords.”
The warhorse lowered itself. Charlophe dismounted and brushed its mane.
Haa…
She sighed lightly and spoke.
“The area’s in chaos from low-grade monster miasma.”
“The Imperial Sword will guard Her Majesty’s path.”
At first, even the royal guard tried to stop her.
‘You’re going there yourself?!’
‘There’s been an attack by low-grade monsters on the imperial residence!’
Afterward, the empress quietly pressed their shoulders.
Clear the way.
Walk beside me—but do not block my path.
The guards drew their swords and shouted.
“Exterminate the monsters attacking the capital!”
Even as they fought, the guards shared the same unspoken doubt.
What is this bone-chilling gloom?
Why?
The empress was someone who inspired such fundamental questions.
Her gaze felt hollow—every emotion shaved away, leaving only emptiness.
As if she had lost something essential to being human.
Her eyes were cold, like bare flesh scraped across ice.
There was nothing inside.
That strangeness flowed around her.
The guards tightened their grips.
Clear the path.
Remove anything that stands before her.
“Where shall we proceed?”
“……”
“We will walk with you as far as your steps carry you.”
“Forbidden sorcery has taken root. Punish those who disrupted order and regroup with the assigned guard.”
Katarina opened the path.
“We obey the words of the imperial matriarch.”
With the emperor absent, authority lay with the empress.
For an empire forged through monster warfare, her duty was absolute.
“Proceed quietly. Many are asleep at this hour.”
The guards dispersed inward.
“Mutated low-grade monsters! Behead them and show the empire’s strength!”
The crows died and turned to ash, foul gray dust drifting through the air.
“They turn to ash when they die.”
“Even if consumed by black sorcery, they were merely crows. Such frail creatures can’t withstand the technique.”
Charlophe, cloaked in a shawl, stepped into the estate.
Bang!
She fired, reloaded the crossbow, and aimed again.
Stone-carved bullets struck with lethal force.
Some monsters burst, splattering gore across the field of view.
Others opened their beaks to tear at flesh.
Shots pierced vital points, and the corrupted creatures turned to ash, falling like snow.
Black ash piled beneath Charlophe’s feet.
She stepped on it, stopped, and brushed her curly hair back over her shoulder.
“Father is using a vile talent.”
“Please protect yourself.”
She reloaded again, her wrist tensing from the recoil.
“Where should we open the path?”
“Somewhere below. Find a place to hide, away from adult eyes.”
Soon, a guard emerged.
“There’s a child inside.”
“Do not approach carelessly.”
“……”
“The child is cautious. Even if someone comes near, they’ll curl up.”
Charlophe walked into the mansion.
Her feet crossed the red carpet and quietly reached the child.
“You didn’t need to resemble me that much.”
There, she saw her own childhood self overlapping the scene.
“Is the nearby suppression nearly complete?”
Benjamin loosened his grip on his sword hilt. Cloth bound his wrist, soaked with sweat and monster blood.
“The basilisk nest is nearly cleared.”
“There’s more beneath the cliff.”
“Likely mid-grade monsters. A unit has already been dispatched.”
Benjamin pulled his sword from the tree and wiped his brow.
Blood pooled in his palm. The cloth was slick.
As he raked a hand through his short hair, mercenaries opened the way.
“We’re heading down.”
“Will you regroup with the unit?”
“We’ll uproot everything nearby at once.”
The mercenaries split—some organizing the rear, others breaking through.
Roschella approached with a report.
“All harbor vessels have been ordered to halt.”
That was standard. Civilian lives weren’t to be gambled.
Basilisk corpses burned, smoke rising thickly.
“It feels like something was left behind.”
“This area can be left to the rear units.”
“That’s not it. It feels like I left a thorn at my feet.”
Benjamin loosened his coat.
“I’m a mess.”
“Should you withdraw and regroup?”
“Not yet.”
He shook blood from his blade.
“Those losing focus, fall back. The rest support the front line.”
He cut a path forward.
“There are so damn many.”
Horse-shaped monsters crowded the cliff entrance.
Hooves kicked soldiers aside. One monster leapt into the water with a soldier’s arm in its jaws—Benjamin severed its neck mid-air.
“If you’re going to die, die with honor.”
“I—I’m sorry!”
“Those losing focus, retreat!”
He pulled a soldier from the water.
“Don’t die to them.”
Your death only clutters the battlefield.
“Information officer, Your Majesty.”
The officer whispered urgently.
“You should withdraw.”
“Why?”
“A victim consumed by black sorcery has been found.”
The report continued.
“Similar to the unidentified deceased earlier. Still alive—but dying.”
“Take me there.”
“They’re sacrifices… offering themselves to bind the spell…”
The officer hesitated.
“Please don’t get too close.”
Benjamin approached slowly.
Beyond the barrier, a pale woman was dying.
Her body was charred black. She clawed at herself, clutching her throat.
“Am I… not dead yet?”
“……”
“P-please kill me. I want to die as a human.”
Benjamin asked quietly.
“Are you one of the missing?”
“She once served the young lady… the empress… Was this divine punishment…?”
The maid gasped.
“I am human.”
“You are human.”
“The lord summoned monsters, offered us as sacrifices… gained power… broke the curse binding him… If I die, then I…”
Her words broke apart, meaningless even to herself.
“I won’t be saved, will I?”
Her skin rotted black. Death energy seeped out.
Benjamin rested his arm on his scabbard.
Beside him, the officer gently ended her breathing.
You died as a human.
Not as a sacrifice to sorcery—but as a person.
