Ch.107107. Overwhelming

If Gwon Heejin had been a diligent man, he might have ruled humanity until his death.

This thought naturally occurred to me while crushing the Demon Lord’s army.

Thwack!

After neutralizing an undead beast twice my size with my elbow rather than my fist, that conviction grew stronger.

I had swung impulsively without proper form, yet that single strike shattered its skull and pulverized its brain.

This was possible thanks to the enhanced strength granted by the Hero’s blessing.

After repeating this hundreds of times, I truly realized how vulnerable a Hero Gwon Heejin had been.

It was pathetic, but also fortunate. If he had been physically powerful as well, I wouldn’t have been able to handle him.

‘To feel relieved about something like this.’

The situation was relaxed enough to allow such idle thoughts.

Every time I extended my aura and drew an arc with my sword, the undead scattered into fragments. It felt less like fighting immortal soldiers animated by necromancy and more like breaking fragile porcelain dolls.

It wasn’t just because the opponents were weaklings.

This was something I realized while facing a patchwork golem made from who-knows-what corpses.

‘What a fucking monstrosity they’ve dragged here.’

It stood over 4 meters tall and seemed to have slightly better mobility than other golems. If thrown among soldiers, it would have caused devastation.

I had intended to bisect it with a single strike of my holy sword, but unfortunately that failed. The moment my blade made contact, disgusting flesh and bodily fluids exploded in all directions.

“Hero!”

“I’m fine. Just feeling a bit gross.”

If I had done this to humans… or even orcs or goblins, they would have lost their will to resist and scattered long ago.

The greatest advantage of the undead was that they charged fearlessly regardless of their opponent. But for me, they were actually easier to fight. All I had to do was keep swinging my sword at the endless stream of attackers.

Still, I couldn’t keep doing this forever.

I needed to find the lich, the controller of this army.

As if reading my mind, my party members who had been following behind and eliminating stragglers lent their support.

“Lord Wellesley! West from your current position… ugh!”

It was Lord Ordellon shouting, who had come to the capital to buy rabbits but ended up on the battlefield. The mages must have detected something.

West. That hint was enough.

I pushed forward, clearing the undead blocking my path.

I swept away all obstacles with my holy sword, and occasionally just smashed through them with brute force. I wouldn’t get hurt doing that anyway.

Though all I could see were still miscellaneous undead—perhaps due to some illusion magic—I could sense an enormous presence.

It might have been thanks to my battle-honed senses, or perhaps due to the holy sword that had begun vibrating on its own.

Immediately after, I utilized a power of the holy sword I had never learned.

‘Reveal yourself.’

The illusion magic obscuring my vision instantly dissipated, and a lich accompanied by a Death Knight entered my sight.

High-level illusion magic, plus the magical power to turn creatures like wyverns or cockatrices into undead for siege warfare. This was truly one of the Tetrad.

It seemed to recognize me too.

The way it stared at me, its morale visibly dropping. An eerie light flickered within its empty eye sockets, and black mist seeped from its hands.

‘A Tetrad member on my first expedition.’

It was a scene straight out of a heroic tale, but unfortunately, this battle would likely never be immortalized in song.

After Cordana, minstrels had become one of the rapidly declining professions. Compared to the thrill of gambling, songs plucked on a lute were too dull. The current Empire, or at least the capital, was not a place that leisurely enjoyed heroic tales.

‘Perhaps even now, someone is betting on the outcome of this situation.’

While large-scale gambling had been forcibly suppressed, there was no way to prevent people from making bets among themselves in taverns or workplaces.

There would certainly be people trying to recapture the excitement of Hero gambling under the guise of betting on drinks. What use was romanticism in times like these?

“Better to just kill it quickly.”

As I readjusted my grip on my sword, I heard a shout from behind me.

“Hero!”

The gruff voice of the elderly priest.

Simultaneously, a warm energy enveloped me. He must have hastily cast a holy spell after seeing my ghastly appearance, but honestly, it was unnecessary kindness.

My appearance was just messy; my body hadn’t sustained a single wound.

Even my stamina remained intact. Though my breathing was a bit rapid from the intense fighting, I wasn’t gasping from exhaustion.

“Focus on the undead instead of—!”

I was about to turn and shout this, but stopped myself.

My party members, ranging from their 20s to 50s, were in relatively good shape. Five knights and two mages were still steadily reducing the number of undead. They seemed to be cleaning up the battlefield I had carved through.

Even Saintess Gang Hannah was among them.

It was impressive to see her clutching a defensive weapon nervously while being thoroughly protected. She probably hadn’t contributed much. Despite being chosen by the Goddess, she was currently just a novice cleric.

But just standing without her legs giving out was commendable.

‘At least I don’t need to worry about her losing heart.’

As I muttered “that’s good”—

With a slicing sound, multiple cutting attacks rushed toward me.

While defending with my holy sword, I felt a slight vibration in my wrist.

Looking back, I saw a Death Knight with impressive swordsmanship charging at me, emitting black aura.

The only worthy opponent among those I’d faced today. Clearly a knight of great skill in life.

Definitely a Master. Perhaps even my senior.

Such an opponent deserved my full effort.

As soon as I decided this, a brilliant aura enveloped my holy sword. I didn’t even feel the need to conserve my strength. Unlike when I was a Master, power now overflowed within me.

Honestly, I didn’t think the fight would last long.

A lich that had been controlling a large army for days, and one Death Knight. The rest of the fodder was being cleared by my party members.

No need to drag this out.

The next moment, I charged forward with my holy sword leading the way.

***

Saintess Gang Hannah, stepping onto a battlefield for the first time in her life.

Clutching her mace like a lifeline, she couldn’t suppress her rising curiosity.

‘Is that person really human like me?’

She knew it was a rude thought, but couldn’t help it. The “Hero’s” display of power was that overwhelming.

Despite the nauseating smell and ominous energy making her chest tight, she couldn’t look away. There was no one to point out her daze anyway.

The undead cleaned up by the Hero’s party numbered in the thousands, and the few still standing moved extremely sluggishly since the controlling lich was directly engaged in combat.

Currently, only the Hero and the lich were fighting.

…And even that seemed to be ending.

“Haap!”

The lich was becoming increasingly tattered with each strike from the light emitted by the holy sword. It tried to create distance by releasing black magical power, but the Hero refused to allow even that slight gap and relentlessly pursued.

“…Would my efforts even help?”

It was an unconscious utterance, but the holy knight Holan didn’t let it slide and gently reprimanded her.

“Saintess. Today is a special situation. That lich has already depleted its magical power after attacking the fortress for days.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry. …Still.”

Becoming a streak of light, instantly grinding down the formidable-looking Death Knight, and then overwhelming even the lich.

Could this really be dismissed as a “special situation”?

Even now, the Hero was essentially fighting alone, apart from the support provided by the elderly mages and priest from a distance. They had said that reckless intervention would be a hindrance rather than help.

Even holy knight Holan couldn’t continue speaking for a while after her question.

“…Saintess. Actually, this is my first time witnessing the Hero’s martial prowess in person as well. Of course, I’ve read about it many times.”

“Ah, I suppose that’s because you’re young.”

“No. Not just me—almost no living human has witnessed it.”

The previous Hero was Gwon Heejin, and the one before that returned to Earth shortly after defeating the Demon Lord in the Demonic Land. Only a few passing stories from his party members remained in records. It was literally legendary.

‘They said most Heroes return after completing their mission. No wonder they’re treated as legends.’

But the violence the current Hero was wielding didn’t seem destined to remain legendary.

There were too many witnesses.

Even now, countless people lined the fortress walls, watching the battle between the Hero and the Tetrad member. They were just spectating rather than rushing out to support the rescue force, but they didn’t seem like bad people. Help was unnecessary anyway.

She felt a bit melancholic thinking about the Hero who single-handedly bore responsibility for so many lives, but…

Even that thought didn’t last long.

The Hero Erick’s holy sword suddenly shot a beam of light that illuminated the battlefield. The Saintess hurriedly covered her eyes with her hands.

“Ugh…!”

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the Hero bisecting the lich’s body.

As the lich’s eye-light extinguished, signaling the end of the battle. Yet the Hero, as if not satisfied, began thrashing the black bones with his holy sword. He seemed to believe the fight wasn’t truly over until the bones were reduced to powder.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but his bone-crushing technique seemed remarkably practiced.