Bazel controlled his crimson tentacles, pouring a vial of high-grade supreme healing potion onto the body of the pinned knight. Only when the man's wounds stabilized did Bazel dust off his hands. The altar beneath them slowly sank into the earth, leaving no trace behind.
"All right, one pillar down," he muttered with a satisfied grin. "Next is Cassius in Golden City. I wonder how the others are progressing…"
As he looked off into the distance, Bazel caught sight of a massive horde of undead shambling toward Flower City. His expression twisted in irritation.
"Those two idiots can't even handle a simple task," he snapped. "Once they pass Flower City, they'll leave the boundary of the ritual circle!"
He was tempted to fly over and give those "noble lords" a piece of his mind, but after a moment of thought, he just sighed.
"Forget it. A few thousand low-grade undead wandering off won't affect the ritual too much anyway."
Then his lips curled into a wicked smile, revealing his sharp, predatory teeth.
"Besides, if they'd done too well, I wouldn't have a reason to get rid of them later — and where's the fun in that?"
With that, he spread his wings and flew eastward, disappearing into the clouds.
Meanwhile, in the capital of the Snowvelvet Principality, the city of Snowvelvet,
the black-robed leader of the cult finally enjoyed a rare day off.
After more than a month of sleepless work preparing the grand magic array, his shift had finally ended. He climbed the city wall, gazing at the breathtaking scenery beyond, savoring a moment of rare tranquility.
Perhaps, once the ritual was complete, everything before him would become a blazing inferno of ruin.
But he didn't care. It was all for his Lord.
For now, he simply wanted to rest his old bones, enjoy the view, and clear his mind.
After all, it was already exhausting enough for an old man to work this hard for divine ascension.
Unfortunately, even such a humble wish was too much to ask.
A red-eyed crow, flying with an annoyingly smug posture, descended and perched on his shoulder.
"The fifth human pillar is ready. Bishop Bazel is moving toward the fourth node," the crow croaked.
"Nodes two, three, and seven are also complete, and the bishops in charge are heading here.
As for the first node, it's in the Kingdom of Honor's territory — so Bishop No. 2 is currently leading his troops to assault the Tulip Northern Gate."
The crow's beak curled upward as if it wanted to laugh but didn't dare. After a pause, it said gleefully,
"Oh, and Bishop Hasan buried the human pillar for the sixth node. Guess who it was!"
"I don't want to know," the black-robed leader sighed heavily.
There were times he seriously wondered if summoning such an irritating familiar had been a colossal mistake. Maybe he should have just strangled the thing the moment it appeared and saved himself the headache.
But the blood-eyed crow continued chattering, unfazed by his lack of interest.
"It was that idiot eldest son from the Sellephis family! Can you believe it? The moment Bishop Hasan showed his face, that fool charged out of the city like a man possessed.
Who knows what kind of grudge he had — maybe Bishop Hasan slept with his wife or something! Hah! Never expected that one!"
The leader froze. "Wait… you buried the Crown Prince of the Sacrificial Kingdom?"
The crow tilted its head innocently.
The leader rubbed his temples in disbelief. This generation of bishops was truly unmanageable.
Burying a foreign prince — did they not realize that the old king would likely march an army straight to their doorstep over this?
He sighed again.
"Well, better finish the ritual quickly before any more disasters happen…"
He muttered, "Let's just hope things stay quiet for a while."
But fate had other plans.
His eyes suddenly widened as he stared toward the distant horizon.
"Wait… those are undead? No — that can't be right! There shouldn't be any undead within the Sacrificial Kingdom's borders!"
"Oh, that?" the crow replied cheerfully. "Bishop Bazel found his two lost subordinates from the Free Kingdom. He also brought back all the undead over there while he was at it."
The black-robed leader froze, horror dawning in his expression.
"Is he insane!? A million Beastmen, eight hundred thousand Sellephis citizens, and now tens — maybe hundreds — of thousands of undead?
Doesn't he realize the array could collapse from the overload!?"
"Bishop Bloodrobe said it's fine," the crow chirped. "So there's nothing to worry about!"
That was the last straw. The leader snatched the crow by the neck, lifting it up until they were eye to eye, his voice shaking with fury.
"So once again, I'm the last person to hear about this!?"
The crow's glowing red eyes darted side to side, avoiding his glare, though it still tried to defend itself.
"I—I just didn't want to bother you! Everything I do is for the glory of the Holy Church, after all!"
Back in the Heim Territory, in Heim City,
Hel lay lazily on her bed, bored out of her mind.
The undead invading the Sacrificial Kingdom had now been divided into three forces:
One marched toward the southwest, to establish another National Transmutation Array there.
Another advanced north, aiming to pass through the border forests between the Tulip Principality and the Kingdom of Honor, to set up a similar array in the latter nation.
These new arrays might not be as large as the one in Mandrake Territory, but they were far stronger in density — and Hel needed that power for what she had planned next.
As for the remaining undead, Hel had scattered them throughout the Mandrake Principality and southern Sacrificial Kingdom, letting them spread her influence far and wide.
All the Ranked Undead were stationed near her lesser soul avatar — the "Little Magus" — though unfortunately, most of them were still under the control of Yomi. Their levels didn't exceed Tier 3, and any higher-ranking undead were missing.
Hel speculated that they were either fighting alongside Yomi in the Holy-tier battle, or had simply not been drawn northward — perhaps still hiding somewhere deep in the Free Kingdom.
Either way, it didn't matter. She didn't need them right now.
With that thought, she focused her will and pulled a word sigil from her storage library, setting it into the mithril ring on her finger.
The sigil read: [Storage Space (Purple)].