Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 194

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 194
The Black Mages had been murmuring amongst themselves, but now they gathered around the High Priest, hoping he might have some clever stratagem to offer.
“Is there some passage we could use to escape?”
Even now, their thoughts turned only to flight.
‘They still imagine they can run. How utterly blind to reality these dullards are.’
The High Priest, growing exasperated, rounded on them sharply.
“Do I look like I’m discussing escape routes to you? The Emperor’s dogs will be upon us any moment—if you have any way to slip past them, speak now!”
The High Priest’s voice cut like a blade, terrible in its fury.
“Then what do you propose? Our agreement was that in exchange for our cooperation, you’d guarantee our safety!”
Spark kindled in the Black Mages’ eyes as well.
Mutiny was on the verge of breaking out.
The High Priest forced down his rising rage.
They were still useful to him, after all.
Over the face twisted like a demon’s, he pulled on a mask of benign composure and spoke in measured tones.
“Your choices are exactly two. Be taken alive and burned at the stake, or strike an irreversible blow against the Emperor before you die.”
Both choices ended in death.
These Black Mages, so quick to offer others’ lives as sacrifice to Black Magic, now hesitated over their own necks.
“Then die as you are.”
The High Priest, anxious at the dwindling time, ground out the words and urged them on.
These Black Mages had lived for centuries like burrowing rats in the darkness, waiting for a future that might never come.
The Demon God Descent had long since become no more than a dream of their forebears.
The very reason they had joined hands with the Temple—enemies in all but name—was to secure safety.
But as hope had dimmed, resentment had accumulated in layers.
Under the High Priest’s provocation, the Black Mages accepted what they had always known: death awaited them in the end regardless.
Then they might as well strike a blow against the Emperor—that heir of the king who had forestalled the Demon God Descent.
Yes, they had to.
The Black Mages exchanged glances among themselves.
Like those accustomed to spending others’ lives for gain without a flicker of conscience, their gazes carried a flash of something unhinged.
The highest-ranking Black Mage among them gleamed his eyes and asked:
“Very well. What of the sacrifice?”
Black Magic was reviled not merely because its foundation lay in dark power, but because these practitioners sought to manifest creatures of the Demon Realm upon the land and bring ruin upon the Continent.
Stripped of their former might, it was no longer possible to summon the Demon God, yet they could still summon Monsters or Demons of the Demon Realm.
And all Black Magic, Summoning Magic foremost among it, required living sacrifice.
But they had been stripped of all the sacrifices they had hoarded for the Emperor.
To use Black Magic now, they would have to procure sacrifice themselves.
The High Priest smiled with a faint, metallic edge.
“Let it be me.”
The reason they had used junior Priests as sacrifice before was that those who possessed Holy Power made the Black Magic far more potent when offered up.
And the High Priest still possessed Holy Power second only to Ibeta.
If he willingly became the sacrifice, it would yield power equivalent to dozens of junior Priests, or hundreds of ordinary humans without power at all.
With that, they could summon a creature of quite high rank.
‘If I’m to die anyway, I may as well have my revenge before I go.’
The Black Mages accepted the High Priest’s offer.
While a few Lethal Magic specialists held the entrance, a Summoning Magic Circle was drawn.
The completed circle blazed with an ominous light.
“To think I’d live to see this with my own eyes.”
The Black Mages were moved to rapture—they had recreated the Monster Summoning Circle that their forebears had known only from records.
“We must decide the summoning location and which Monster to bring forth before the light fades!”
Only the highest-ranking Black Mage retained any clarity of mind.
“The coordinates: the summit of Jascaria Mountain, or rather the Imperial Palace Retreat nearby. As for the Monster, I think…will do well.”
“Agreed.”
As soon as the High Priest finished speaking, the Black Mages set to work with urgent haste.
Soon the Magic Circle stabilized, and one of the Black Mages pressed a palm-sized blade into the High Priest’s hand.
The High Priest took the blade and laughed like a man possessed.
Seeing him dawdle as though seized by last-minute doubt, the Black Mages urged him on with anxious eyes.
“Time is running out—hurry!”
The High Priest watched the Black Mages’ eyes dart back and forth from the entrance to him, then asked sharply:
“One last thing: once I offer the sacrifice, summoning will proceed? The sacrifice must be made by driving the blade through the heart directly, yes?”
As he began to draw out the process with trivial questions, the Black Mages answered in overlapping haste.
“Sacrifice alone is enough—do it now!”
“Even a sacrifice offered by another’s hand counts—stop thinking and act!”
But they never finished their words.
“I understand.”
In a single motion, the High Priest drove the blade through his own heart while simultaneously detonating every Black Magic Artifact he had kept in reserve.
With a thunderous roar, the great stone chamber collapsed in upon itself.
It was the end of the wicked.
The Monster Summoning Magic Circle, which had consumed dozens of lives, flared with a lurid crimson light.
* * *
What appeared before my eyes was a colossal form, as though roughly hewn from stone without care or precision.
“A Golem?”
I gasped in shock to see a Golem—a creature I had known only from the twins’ stories—made manifest before me.
Golems were Monsters of the highest rank, sighted so rarely as to be virtually unknown to exist at all.
‘There’s even a saying it’s the guardian of the Demon King’s castle.’
On the entire Continent, one had been spotted only once—hundreds of years ago, when the Black Mages came perilously close to succeeding in summoning the Demon God.
‘But if it’s a Golem…’
I screamed without thinking.
“Everyone turn and run! Get as far away as you can!”
When a Golem detects an intruder, it constructs a Domain around that intruder and destroys everything within it.
I ran like a madman toward the horses, calling out desperately to Harper, who stood furthest from the Golem.
“Harper, to Ed—hurry!”
Harper, frozen in shock, snapped to attention at my voice and bolted instinctively.
Fortunately, she was a decent runner.
And at that same moment, the Golem recognized us as intruders and began constructing its Domain.
A hemispherical Magic Field, spreading from the Golem’s core, expanded faster than we could flee.
Only Harper managed to barely escape the Golem’s Domain.
* * *
The moment the hunt began, Edwin spurred his horse forward at a gallop, cutting ahead of the field.
He needed to penetrate deep enough into the mountains to leave the other competitors far behind.
The knights assigned to guard him gritted their teeth and drove their mounts to keep pace.
After riding hard for some time, Edwin spotted a rabbit Monster, loosened his grip on the reins, and drew his bow.
Without slowing, he let the arrow fly.
It found its mark, of course.
An attendant tasked with collection retrieved the prey.
“Not a bad start.”
Edwin gave a brief assessment and rode on.
Ordinarily, the victor in a hunt was determined by the strength of the Monsters caught.
But since Lina was also competing this time, the emphasis had been placed on safety.
As a result, the only Monsters on Jascaria Mountain were rabbit Monsters, practically speaking.
With no exceptionally powerful creatures available, he would have to make up for it in sheer numbers.
Eager to give Lina the Golden Rose, Edwin pressed on relentlessly, dispatching rabbit Monsters with brutal efficiency.
Well before afternoon, carts laden with rabbit carcasses had begun to accumulate.
‘This should be more than enough.’
Edwin headed toward the mountain’s base—the starting point of the hunt—both to clear the cart and to take a brief rest.
If possible, he also wanted to catch a glimpse of how well Lina was doing.
As he approached the meadow where noble women had gathered for their riding wagers, someone came galloping toward him.
It was one of the familiar Attendant’s companions.
As if she’d fallen during her ride, her knees were scraped and bleeding, and her clothes were caked with dirt.
Edwin’s instincts flared with urgent warning.
Something was wrong.
Upon spotting Edwin, the Attendant gasped out between labored breaths:
“Your Majesty—there’s a Monster! A Golem!”
And Edwin’s animal instinct, this time too, had proven correct.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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