Chapter 11 – The Former Demon King, Draws The Holy Sword

“Haa… haa. I see that the other two haven’t shown up yet.”

“Is this really the end?”

“That’s right. Is there anything strange about it?”

It was a dead end.

The path stops here. There are no other branching paths.

That means we are at the end of the cave. But there was not anything that looked like a holy sword.

“Isn’t this supposed to be the holy sword’s cave? I thought there would be a pedestal with a holy sword.”

“It’s not on display, but the holy sword is there.”

Odette pointed to a corner of the wall.

The hilt of the sword was sticking out of the rock wall.

“This is the holy sword?”

“Told you it was sealed.”

“How did it get here?”

“It is said that the sword was sealed here by a priest who feared its power. No one has ever seen the sword itself, and it is impossible to pull it out.”

“Sounds like a pretty terrific ‘Ancient Artifact’.”

“The high-ranking mages have left it alone too, and it’s none of our business.”

Odette Sorey shrugged.

“More importantly, it’s our win.”

“Yeah. You did well, Odette.”

“…I didn’t do much, though.”

“The movement of the undead got strange all of a sudden.”

“Yeah… they had stopped moving.”

About halfway through the cave, the undead started ignoring us.

It was as if they heard voices that only the undead could hear.

“Anyway, that concludes the exam. Demeter-sama. Are you seeing this? The winners are Odette Sorey and Yuuki Grossalia!”

Odette is waving her hands all over the place.

Demeter’s familiar must be around here somewhere…

‘OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH!!’

Instead, a roar came from the entrance.

Gilvan Kiers… no, Guiel Wolfgang, huh…?

“Oh? It seems the other two have arrived. What a pity. Yuuki and I have ──”

“Stay where you are! Odette.”

Who is that? The guy with such dark magic power?

“It’s neither Gilvan nor Guiel approaching.”

“What are you talking about!?”

“That’s a ghost. Or, more precisely, someone possessed by a ghost.”

“……!?”

Odette readied her sword.

She seems to know what I mean.

“What is this magic power? It’s too strong for a dead person.”

“I’m guessing it’s a high-ranking ghost… wraith or specter. If you can hear footsteps, then someone’s body has been possessed.”

A figure in the Magic Guild’s uniform appeared.

It was Guiel Wolfgang.

Behind him… is a floating shadow that looks like a skull.

‘I’m… the seventh priest of the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’, Roglelle──’

said the shadow.

‘I have ■■■ responded to the summons with the ‘Ancient Magic’ we left behind. Let’s have the holy sword we found ■■ returned to us.’

“A priest of… the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’!? Who summoned the spirit of the dead here!?”

“Get out of the way. Small fry mage. I will kill you.”

Blades of ice started to float around Guiel Wolfgang.

As expected of a spirit. The activation is fast.

Even without a body, he can supply magic power directly to cast his spell.

“Kyaa!?”

“Get back, Odette!!”

I activated ‘Body Strengthening, Boosted’ x2, and struck down the floating blades of ice with my enhanced speed.

‘Oh? I’m surprised. You can avoid my ■■■■■■. The mages of this era are not bad.’

“…The Dead doesn’t disturb the living.” 

The seventh priest of the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’, huh.

…Come to think of it, Kachel was trying to use ‘Ancient Magic’ to summon these guys in the barony. He was trying to use Xellos nii-sama’s magic power for that purpose. But in the end, the spell failed, and the priest of the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’ did not appear.

Did Guiel Wolfgang use similar ‘Ancient Magic’ in this place?

I have heard that people from the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’ once lost their lives in this huge dungeon, the ‘Capital of Ancient Magic Civilization, Elysium’. In other words, their souls remain in this place. It might be possible to summon them as ghosts by using the ‘Ancient Magic’ of summoning. The amount of magic power required to use the spell shouldn’t be that high.

But… why did Guiel summon this guy?

Was it an accident? Or did someone give him an order?

I do not recognize the face of the spirit. Although I was killed by the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’ in my previous life, I have never met a priest.

I wonder if this spirit is from my previous life, or if he was appointed afterward…

Either way… this is troublesome.

The ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’ ── the one that treated me like a monster in my previous life ── and hunted me down ──── is here.