I Became the Dark Wizard Who Rules Over the Heroines

18 – Joint Lesson-7

It can’t be helped.

It’s too late to escape. I mustered all my strength.

My body began to decay gradually.

Tsk.

A normal person would have decayed mentally before their body reached this stage.

It’s not as dangerous as it seems. The aimless magic is not as perilous as those who handle black magic think.

It just starts to discolor, like a finger that has been soaked in water for too long and is swelling up.

Maybe this is a bargain…

My fingers began to rot. My left ring finger has withered severely.

Heavy raindrops cruelly fell onto my hand, now disjointed, no longer part of me.

Ah…huh?

However, the behemoth standing before me could not charge at me.

Behind me, a shadow arrow larger than its body was being formed.

I did push my limits…

Left ring finger. My daily life would be a bit inconvenient without it, but I wouldn’t die from its absence.

Although it wouldn’t be easy to recover the finger eaten away by magic, if I met a decent dark priest, it wouldn’t be impossible to recover it.

Die.

The massive shadow arrow, condensed from an extended period and numerous amounts of magic, flew towards the behemoth.

Kraaah! aaa!!!

A variety of beast-like screams echoed from the mouth of the behemoth.

Ugh…

A huge shockwave shook the mountain.

Grrrah! Uh! aaa!!

The behemoth, with half of its body gone, howled as if it couldn’t comprehend its own deficit.

What a pity.

The behemoth is a rare beast. If I were a bit stronger and in a better position, I might have been able to tame it.

But not now.

The terror that accompanied the behemoth only happened after the protagonist grew significantly, specifically after Kazo’s failure repeated multiple times.

Currently, I could do nothing else but kill it.

aaah!!!

With a thunderous roar, the behemoth collapsed. The traces of the shadow arrow that had sheared off the mountains and crossed over its fallen body were left distinctly behind.

It stopped breathing. It could have been used.

The name “Behemoth,” even if it’s not a holy being, carries immense pressure.

Those who don’t understand the situation would look at me and simply think, “He hunted a Behemoth all by himself during his apprentice days?”

However, this is tough…

I could no longer stand. As my legs gave way, I slumped onto the ground.

It’s tough. There was no immediate threat nearby, but my body had already reached its limits.

…Is it a loss?

At least I’m not going to die. The body of a grown man wouldn’t stop so easily.

But Claire is a different story. She has never been a particularly robust woman to begin with, and the experience of having her reason plucked away by magic certainly took a toll on her health.

The rain was relentless. It seems that I won’t be able to take her with me.

After all, not everything has been beneficial…

Making sure to take down the Behemoth’s throat here would no doubt prove useful later.

However, I couldn’t be satisfied with just this.

If I lose Claire here, I’d have to rethink my grand strategy about the party that I’ve been setting up so casually.

Eurysia is also unusually late…

But, there was nothing I could do. I had to admit it.

I had no choice but to give up on Claire.

“..sobbing…”

The moment I thought this, I heard a woman crying above my head.

It was Claire.

“Hell, get yourself together…”

“Sorry, sorry! Because of me. Why, why would you do this for someone like me!”

“You were worth a shot. Well, things turned out to be more complicated than expected…”

Even if it hadn’t rained, I could have pressured the Behemoth with my endless magic power in a long battle.

That said, my choice itself was not wrong. Regardless of the result, I had to protect Claire here.

“I’ll do anything, anything at all. Please, survive…”

“No, you’re in danger now, not me.”

Somehow it seemed like she got up but Claire’s energy was clearly at its limit. This is basically a last-ditch struggle, a mere shadow of her usual vitality.

Her shaky breath and weakening voice clearly communicated Claire’s condition.

“Please, tell me how I can save you. Even if it costs my life, please stay alive…”

As I was listening to her with one ear, I thought of one variable that could resolve this situation.

“You said you would do anything, right?”

“Uh, Yes. I sincerely mean it…”

I’m not going to die. However, if this situation persists, Claire will die.

No one would die from mere rain if we only had a healer with us…

The hostile magic spewing from the Behemoth’s body, the pouring rain, the body at its limit.

I thought Claire’s death was certain, but in reality, her death could have been prevented if there had been a priest or a healing potion, or failing that, a healer or two.

Sadly, none of these were immediately available, but if I don’t have them, I can make them.

“Well then… Claire. Are you able to dedicate me something even more precious than your life right now?”

“Of course!”

A wry smile curled up on my face.

She should have doubted, I thought. She should have asked what it was, I thought.

But at this moment, she accepted my proposal without hesitation.

“In that case… give it to me.”

Although my body had already reached its limit, it would only take a moment. A tiny bit of magic work to blaze a trail is sufficient.

“Your life, which is of greater value than your death, your remaining life. Thus -“

It’s different from black magic. It is much more primitive and wild.

Even before the concept of the dark wizard came into being, even before methods for controlling each other through contracts and promises were created, there were human beings who wielded the power of demons.

“Serve me!”

Those who worship devils, magical beasts, or very rarely, humans with overwhelmingly powerful magic.

Claire’s eyes were filled with magic. Her mind touched the infinite magic that was hidden within me.

Claire became a dark priestess.

/////

The power of the dark wizard is given based on a contract.

A human does not have to pay the demon anything more than what they have offered, and even if they are consumed by magic, they can remember their purpose.

However, the promise between a demon and a human made in ancient times had a slightly different form.

A primitive form of contract in which a human gives up everything they have and entrusts the demon with everything.

Not using darkness as a means to achieve one’s own purpose as a trading partner but having a promise to dedicate everything to darkness itself.

It was less a wizard’s act and more akin to serving a God like a priest.

Not making a deal with the devil for one’s honor, power, wealth, and happiness, but giving up everything for the goals, happiness, and will of the demon.

So people called them, dark priests.

“I’ll do it! I’ll save him! Somehow … I’ll manage it!”

She must have felt her body pressurized by the massive magic, but Claire desperately casted healing magic.

It wasn’t something she learned. Like a newborn baby knows how to breathe, she was purely performing what she could instinctively.

It ….. works?

On second thoughts, making someone serve me as a priest was a fantastic remedy to my problem efficiently.

I do not lack magic.

Like not being able to use water despite connected to the sea if the tap can’t withstand the water pressure, my physical form just had a limit to implement magic.

Then naturally, increasing the number of facets was a simple and easy way to improve my strength.

The reason I hadn’t even imagined such a beneficial method was simple.

This much, trust in me?

People can’t be saved.

Despite being a loyal subordinate, they have feelings. They have things they like and dislike, things they can’t give up.

If there are knights serving the princess, they will be loyal.

However, if the princess despises them, regards them as mere slaves rather than knights, violently abuses them without reasoning, and treats them even worse than stray animals on the streets, their loyalty will vanish.

They devote loyalty to get what they want. To protect what they value, they keep faith. That was the basis of the contract.

But, becoming a dark priestess was not a contract, but a dedication. A vow to give her entire mind, body, and life to my will, no matter what I do.

Even if you max out the favorability of some colleagues, without special conditions, it was impossible to make someone a dark priestess.

That’s how much Claire trusted me.

“She … survived.”

“Thank God! I don’t know what happened, but we succeeded! You’re amazing!”

That’s not the point. I was just talking about Claire’s life.

But seeing the bright smile on her face made me think that no matter what happened, it was fine.

After the Behemoth died, the rain stopped. The dawn had broken, seemed like the night had passed without our notice.

I was with Claire. We silently stared at the gradually brightening mountain view.