Dark Mage - Volume 1 - Chapter 8

From long ago, the vast Zhongyuan had developed a lot of dialects. They each had developed autonomously, therefore even if they are a person from Zhongyuan it was possible that they would not be able to communicate with each other.
If a person from the south region of Woonnam and a person from the north region of Sanseo was to meet then it was almost impossible for them to speak to each other. Dok-gosong’s homeland was in Yangju, so it wouldn’t be easy for him to perfectly communicate with someone from the west. This foreigner was speaking the dialect of his homeland, and he was speaking it eloquently.. If he closed his eyes, he would have mistaken him for a native of Dok-gosong’s homeland. How baffling. He stuttered while responding back.

“Who, who are you? How can a foreigner (TLN: he says Semu: ethnically diverse people under the mongol-wouldn’t be strange to see a green-eye person) know the Yangju dialect?

“Ah! You mean this language.”

Shrekhiemer burst into an ambiguous laugh. He kind of liked the fact that the other world’s expert, who had exhibited frightening abilities, was surprised by this continent’s magic.

“Please don’t be surprised. I am able to speak to you using magic.”

“Ma, magic?” (TLN: he stuttered, said half the word, then said the full word)

“Currently I am using the official language of the Truvania continent to speak to you. The reason you are able to understand it is, because the power of magic.”

“Tru what?”

“The continent of Truvania. The land you are on is the Truvania continent. While you were knocked out, we were able to arrive here safely.”

Shrekheimer’s answer had a slight sense of pride in it. He loved the Truvania continent, where he was born. He was especially satisfied with the fact that he was the only one who was able to use the difficult Dimensional transportation.   Also, he was the only priest that had grandly succeeded in his mission.
However, Dok-gosong’s disposition was ill-equipped to believe the explanation that was coming out of Shrekheimer’s mouth. Even though Dok-gosong was practitioner that was proficient in using the black arts, he was foremost a being from another world. Dok-gosong’s complexion was turning cooler as he couldn’t understand what Shrekheimer was saying.

“Don’t fuck with me. I don’t know why you are trying to deceive me, but I won’t fall for it. I’ll ask again. Tell me truthfully where this place is.”

“Didn’t I already tell you? This place is the Truvania continent.”

“I don’t care if it’s Truven or dog shit. If you don’t reveal yourself then I’ll find out. Move.”

Dok-gosong didn’t hesitate to speak down on Shrekheimer. First, he still had the habits he learned when he was the absolute being, but it was also an intentional act since he couldn’t identify the opponent’s identity. Dok-gosong felt the opponent flinch from his angry tirade, so he raised his body while feeling inwardly elated. However his body was in an abnormal state and it didn’t respond to his will.

“Mmmmm.”

Dok-gosong had to give up after trying to raise his body for an extended amount of time. The state of his body was still very broken. Shrekheimer carefully opened his mouth after observing him.

“You shouldn’t be able to move your body yet. The potion and healing was able to cure your superficial injuries, but your insides have already been severely injured.”

“Shut up, you bastard! What do you know?”

Inwardly, Dok-gosong was embarrassed so he bluffed by shouting angrily. Shrekhimer had no choice but to retreat one step after seeing Dok-gosong’s response.

“His temper is unwell. Then I’ll retreat for today. I’ll meet you tomorrow after you have rested well.”

Shrekheimer turned his body without any hesitation. Although he was in a position where he had to beg for help, he had been a high-ranking priest. Therefore, Shrekheimer was not happy being talk down to. After watching the back of Shrekheimer leave through the opened door, Dok-gosong stared with suspicion.

“What is that bastard planning?”

However, his thoughts didn’t continue for long. His body was as weak as it could get and sleep crashed down like a tide. Dok-gosong fell asleep immediately. Suddenly, the sound of loud snoring started spreading from the fancily decorated room.

“Will he really accept our request?”

Shrekheimer spoke to himself while walking down the wide hall. The soldiers that were lined up on the corridor politely gave respect, but he walked past like someone who had lost their mind. He had succeeded in Dimension Teleportation. Shrekheimer and his fellow members of the delegation was able to bring the nameless warrior to their homeland of Truvania. They were able to safely return. However the only delegation that had returned was them. They all left at different time, but none returned. Shrekhiemer and his companions received a warm reception from each country’s king when they had succeeded in their mission. They had brought the hero that would save the continent from danger, and they had brought a ray of hope to their hearts. It spoke to how desperate the situation was in the Truvania continent. It was a situation where after a night of sleep, one kingdom would certainly disappear. He didn’t know for sure if the foreign warrior would have a solution, but Shrekheimer couldn’t help but see him as the last ray of hope to look forward to.

“If we stay the course then our continent will only be able to walk down the road of destruction. No matter what they had to recover the Tablet of Oath.”

Shrekheimer was mumbling like a mental patient, but he was thinking about the time when the most important treasure of the humans were stolen. Shrekheimer may have felt more guilt, because he had personally witnessed the event.

At that time, the Truvania continent had just over come the second crisis of bloody moon. The order of Belhazel’s authority had waned significantly at that time after going through two wars. At that time, Shrekhiemer participated in both wars and he was a priest with a lot of experience. He held the important position of educating the order’s trainees. He was a priest of the main order that was located in the strongest country on the Truvania continent, Ikarot. The training of future priests were emphasized, but not overemphasized. At the time as a high level priest, he was directly in charge of the education. Shrekheimer was reminiscing those times, and gradually he started thinking about those times.

“As you probably know, the Truvania continent has many other races that aren’t human. If seen from the other races’ perspective, the existence called humans were a race that was very unreasonable. Don’t you think so?”

In front of Shrekheimer, about 30 trainees were hanging on every one of his words with bright eyes. They were the young talents that would be in charge of church’s future. Shrekheimer briefly smiled when he looked at them before continuing to speak.

“The humans have a very low life expectancy compared to the elves. They live close to a thousand years so how can the human follow them? If you think about it, it is an impossible task.”

The trainees slowly nodded their heads since this was reasonable statement.

“In terms of craftsmanship, humans cannot follow the dwarves. No, it is fair to say that humans can’t even compare. You all know this truth very well. The best human blacksmith cannot make the equipments the dwarves make. Also, it is the same with strength. Ogres and trolls are monsters with low intelligence, but humans are an existence that can’t even compare to them in terms of strength. Our constitution is weaker, and even in terms of procreation and speed of growth, humans markedly loses. This weak existence is called the humans.”

Shrekheimer briefly stopped speaking to look around his surrounding.

“In the conquest war, the main enemy of the humans were the orc race. Differing from the elves that lived in the robust forest or the dwarves that dwell in the mountains, the orcs were a race that occupied the same lands as the humans. Wouldn’t this cause a situation where it was inevitable that the two races would confront each other head on? In the beginning, the war progressed in the favor of the orcs since they were ahead in population and strength. They were stronger than humans and they were natural-born hunters. Humans were in a difficult circumstance when trying to overcome the orcs. However, it was ironic that the situation progressed in reverse. In the beginning, it was thought that was humans would die out. However even when handicapped in several ways, the humans were able to decorate themselves with victories in many battles. They were able to conquer almost all the different tribes.”

Shrekheimer momentarily paused from speaking and he looked around at the trainees’ faces.

“Does anyone know how the humans achieved victory against the mighty orcs and drive them to the other side of the Felucia mountain range?”

One trainee raised his hand responding to his question.

“Yes, I will answer.”

The trainee calmed his breath for a moment before laying out his lengthy opinion.

“It has never been researched as to why the humans were able to rise to the top. According to normal people, it vaguely happened because of Belhazel-nim’s blessings. However my thoughts on the subject is a bit different. I think it’s because humans have wisdom. It is a wisdom where the previous generation’s experience were passed down to the future generations. I believe we benefited from this and the humans were able to overcome their short life-span. Also, we have a surprising number of different relationship unlike orcs with other tribes. Consequently, the human relationships enable the soldiers to fight with their lives in the battle field. It is to protect the family, also to protect the woman you love..”

As Shrekheimer listened to the trainee’s explanation, he progressively gave himself up to his deep emotions. This trainee’s opinion would have never been tolerated 30 years ago when the religion was in disorder. If it was the past, they would have immediately put the speaker on trial for having impure thoughts. At worst, there would be no trials. The person who made the comment of this nature would have been burned to death. The assertion given right now by the trainee wasn’t that different from the heretics. It was Truvania continent’s worst tragedy and it was the cause of the religious strife. However the extremist Belhazel church’s power did not exist any more. Moreover, this kind of statements weren’t considered sins anymore.

“A lot has changed with the passage of time.”

Shrekheimer quietly reflected on the past situation. It was hard to believe all these events happened in a mere 100 years. The churches’ strife continued to cause a very horrible and dark war.
Moments after the trainee’s speech had finished, Shrekheimer stood in silence before telling the student about the situation back then. Today’s subject was history, and half of the people alive in this generation had not experience that events back then…

“Let’s start the class now.”

Shrekheimer started his lecture and he spoke about the second calamity’s dark war. He reminisced while unraveling the story. He felt that it was his duty to pass the experience of the previous generations onto the young trainees.

“The skeleton soldier swung their rusty sword while their rotted flesh hung off of them. There were nameless demons of the demon world that boasted a variety of appearances. Also there were an unknown amount of golems and death knights. Dark shades. The soldiers put their life on the line when facing these horrifying army of darkness. Do you know what was the reason?”

Shrekheimer thrust his chest out while looking around at the trainees, who were holding their breaths. One trainee immediately responded. It was the same trainee who had presented his opinions.

“It was the manifestation of self-sacrifice, where they tried to save their family even at the cost of their own lives. They sacrificed themselves so their family members would not die a horrible death.”

Shrekhimer’s face was a little disappointed, because he thought they would ignorantly answer ‘It was because of Belhazel-nim’s protection.’ However he wasn’t disappointed too much. It was fortunate that someone didn’t answer that they had won, because Arkadia continent’s reinforcements had played a big role. Each kingdoms were still forbidden to talk about the name of Arkadia, because of the religious strife. Still time had passed when the entire people of the kingdom were all devout believers of the Belhazel church. Ironically, it happened because they had participated in the bloody moon and the war between the dark army was the reason.

‘In 100 years, it’ll be impossible to know what will happen to the church.’

He was shaking his head when he saw the bright gazes of the trainees. He thought he should end the lecture, so he reached his hand towards the bell. At that moment, he heard a thundering noise.

Boom.

The classroom they were studying in shook. Shrekheimer stood awkwardly, but he almost fell unseemly backwards. Shrekheimer’s eyes became round after barely stabilizing his body.

“Wha, What.

This was the main headquarters of the Belhazel church located at the center of the Ikarot kingdom. This kind of noise and trembling should not happen here.

“We’ll have to end the lesson here. Dismissed.”

After recovering his senses, he instructed the students before heading towards the door. However before he could even arrive at the door, the door was utterly destroyed with a loud noise.

Boom.

The body that appeared was… Shrekheimer’s eyes became round with surprise.

“O, orc?”

Couple dozen of the monsters ran into the inner classroom while holding axes covered in blood. Their skins were a gleaming green. Their body was about 1.5m that was pretty small in stature, but they possessed big muscles and at a glance, one could tell they were warriors. The had low-grade armors that looked rough, but sturdy. They had eyes that were bloodshot red. They were orcs.

They fell into disarray after the 1st race wars, and they went into hiding in the Felucia mountain range. Those orcs had suddenly appeared here. They had appeared in the headquarters of the Belhazel church located in the Ikarot kingdom. This was an unexpected event that Shrekheimer could not even imagine. The orcs’ mission was revealed. It was named slaughter. They started ruthlessly swinging their axes.

“Ooh-ahh-ahk.”

With a horrible scream, the trainees who were just standing  was cut down in place. Blood sprayed out of the site of the axe wound. Shrekheimer recovered his senses after hearing this noise. His mouth reflexively casted a strong incantation.

“Blindness”

The orcs that were sweeping through the deathly pale trainees started floundering and screaming. At a glance, one could tell that they were confused. Shrekheimer succeeded in stopping the orcs from killing the trainees. Now it was time to put them to sleep.

“Burning hands”

Shrekheimer’s two hands emitted a blinding radiance. Burning hands was an attack where the area around the hands radiated with heat, and it was able to give a strong blow to the opponent. He thought he could defeat the orcs easily with this, so Shrekheimer hurried towards the blinded orcs.