Ch.1089To the Battlefield

While the holy orders of the capital were busy organizing reinforcement troops to send west, I headed straight there without hesitation.

It was obvious the Great Forest was in an urgent situation—how could I afford the luxury of waiting for reinforcements to be fully assembled before marching with them?

What if the front lines were breached in the meantime? Who knows what might happen.

Besides, unless the reinforcements included someone of Lacy or Ceylon’s caliber, they wouldn’t be much help against Void creatures anyway.

Rather than waste time waiting for such troops, wouldn’t it be wiser for me to go ahead alone and eliminate as many monsters as possible in advance?

For these reasons, I handed three letters to the Paladin and immediately took flight, racing through the air while gazing at the setting sun.

I never thought I’d return this way to the demon realm—heading toward the western great desert where not even traces of old Alvheim’s charm remained.

—-

The journey would take at least a full day.

Since there wasn’t much else I could do while flying, I spent the entire time chatting with Hersella about various things.

From meaningless small talk to reviewing our previous battle, to random questions that came to mind.

‘About this incident—could it also be Feirius’s doing?’

[How would I know that? Do you have any basis for such suspicion?]

‘If it weren’t for this situation, we’d be pursuing him right now. Don’t you think he might have caused this to divert our attention elsewhere?’

If not for these Void creatures suddenly appearing, I would be reuniting with Ophelia by now and chasing after Feirius.

Perhaps I might have even caught up with him and put an end to his three-hundred-year life.

But these monster bastards ruined that plan completely. Is this really just a coincidence? Or is Feirius behind it all?

[Hmm… I think that’s just your speculation. I don’t know much about monsters, but isn’t that man’s specialty the dark arts that desecrate the dead? He might command undead, but Void creatures seem quite different…]

‘…That’s true.’

It was a convincing point.

Though we lump them all together as “monsters,” Undead, Hybrid, and Void creatures have nothing in common except their use of dark mana.

They originated from completely different sources.

While Undead and Hybrid monsters were mostly created by Baltyr, Void creatures apparently had little connection to Baltyr from their very origin.

Feirius was an apostle of Alfodhr and a necromancer who toyed with death.

Since Alfodhr and Baltyr were likely the same entity, his apostle Feirius might be able to control Undead and Hybrid monsters unrelated to Belliona… but Void creatures seemed unlikely.

I couldn’t be certain, but based on what I knew and the circumstantial evidence, this seemed the most reasonable conclusion.

Searching through both my actual experiences and knowledge, I couldn’t recall any instance of him commanding Void creatures.

So was this just a coincidence after all?

Did the Void creatures simply emerge because it was their time, and this happened to be incredibly fortunate timing for Feirius?

[Besides, there are countless demons in this world—how could everything be his doing?]

…True, there’s no shortage of demons and villains.

While Feirius’s “Cult of Forgotten Gods” had certainly infiltrated the core of various nations across the continent, causing and instigating all sorts of incidents, they weren’t behind everything in the original story.

Isabella herself served a different god than Feirius, and Valkers was completely unrelated to him. Orhan even more so.

[While underestimating an enemy is dangerous, being overly fixated on them and attributing everything to them isn’t particularly wise either.]

‘That’s sound reasoning. How unusual for you to say something sensible.’

[What do you mean unusual? That’s an outrageous insult. I’ve always been right, haven’t I?]

‘Only in your imagination.’

I give her one compliment and she immediately starts talking nonsense. Always right? Yeah, right. More like a broken clock.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, after all.

[I offer advice and you respond with sarcasm. Your mind is as narrow as a millet seed.]

Hersella grumbled as if feeling wronged, criticizing me for being incredibly narrow-minded.

[Who did you take after… or rather, why are you so narrow-minded?]

‘Well, maybe it’s because we’re both virgins. Me and you.’

[Hmm…? What does that mean… what does being cautious have to do with purity…? Wait a moment. Surely…?!]

Perhaps she finally understood what I meant. Hersella’s voice, which had been muttering quietly as if talking to herself, suddenly grew louder at the end.

[You mad woman…! Mind your words, you crazy wench…! Is that something to say in front of me? You really have no filter!]

Is it really worth shouting about like that? Instead of answering, I just burst into giggles.

It was hilarious seeing a woman who had seen everything life had to offer reacting so sensitively to such a joke.

Hersella remained silent for a while afterward.

Sulking again, I see.

So narrow-minded. Maybe it’s because she’s essentially a virgin ghost?

======[ Great Desert ]======

“Don’t retreat! Spread out! We need to draw their attention somehow!”

The battlefield spread across the great desert was brutal and horrific.

On ground turned to black mud from blood and dark mana, monsters of all shapes and sizes exchanged deadly intent with a group of Paladins.

KWAAAANG!

A series of explosions followed.

A beast resembling a bear but five times larger swung its arms to create a sandstorm, while in the sky, a monstrous bird with three wings dive-bombed into a holy barrier.

“Goddess of Earth, grant us firmness like great boulders!”

KUDRRRR…!

Holy light emitted by the Church of Ceres priests seeped into the sand not yet contaminated by dark mana, and then massive rock walls suddenly rose around them.

Unlike other orders’ holy barriers made purely of sacred energy, the Church of Ceres’ protective miracle reinforced their defense through rocks imbued with holy light.

The Earthen Fortress barely withstood the monstrous bird’s charge and crumbled, only to immediately reform by gathering the scattered rock fragments.

KUNG, KUNG. The impacts accumulated with each heavy collision.

The priests maintaining the protective miracle sweated profusely and groaned under the strain of the monster bird’s relentless physical assaults.

“KYAAAAA!”

While they held their ground, elsewhere an eight-legged sea serpent swam through the sand, emerged suddenly, and swallowed several unfortunate humans.

“AAAAARGH!”

“LORD KRANUS—!”

While the agile Paladins and battle priests who received thorough protection as critical forces mostly escaped harm, ordinary soldiers couldn’t hope for such luck.

The dying screams of soldiers sucked into the sea serpent’s throat without a chance to react were suddenly cut off, and after instantly digesting them, the serpent dove back beneath the sand.

“Focus on defense and evasion! Hold on and buy as much time as possible! Don’t let these creatures break through the defense line!”

High-ranking Paladins in charge of field command shouted until their voices grew hoarse, directing and encouraging their forces.

Bulging eyes. Strained necks. Hair matted with sweat and blood.

Their harsh breaths through clenched teeth were filled with rage and desperation.

The unfavorable situation was obvious to anyone watching.

All attacks and bindings were rendered ineffective.

They could hold out with protective and healing miracles, but it was ultimately just buying time, and even then they could only block simple physical attacks, nothing more.

Unfortunately for them, the monsters had numerous attack methods with far greater power.

“—!”

Things like beams of dark mana spewing from gaping maws or light clusters covering entire bodies.

“Bombardment incoming! Evade!”

When a turtle-shaped monster ten meters long opened its mouth wide, a massive black sphere formed inside.

Dark mana bombardment. A beam containing enormous heat and curses, similar to what the resurrected wyvern had favored, cut straight across the battlefield.

KWAOOOOO—!

Though not comparable to the wyvern’s breath due to the difference in class, it still possessed power that the garrison’s priests wouldn’t dare try to block.

The armor of Paladins who hastily dodged melted and warped just from the passing heat, while those hit directly vanished into ash without even a scream.

WHIOOO…!

The aftershock followed. Residual heat in the air distorted the atmosphere creating fierce winds, and the rising smoke was torn apart like a whirlwind in that wind.

And then.

“How dare you, disgusting monster—!”

Breaking through the dispersing smoke, a red-haired Paladin plummeted like lightning toward the turtle monster’s head, emitting a blue-silver afterglow.

【 Sun Blade 】

Crimson holy light burst forth like a tidal wave, becoming a sphere of blazing flames that enveloped the Paladin’s entire body.

The garrison’s strongest swordsman had been concealing his presence using the Crescent Veil miracle cast by a Church of Menes battle priest.

The descendant of the Great’s Twelve Knights, Perlien’s blade pierced through the turtle monster’s skull.

“Goddess of the Sun, sing your wrath!”

In the next moment, the solar flames covering Perlien’s body instantly compressed and extended into the monster’s head through his sword Hauteclaire.

Whoosh.

Flames leaked through the cracks in the split skull.

Like a harbinger, the small flame that briefly rose suddenly extinguished, and then a blinding flash and thunderous explosion swept across the battlefield.

KWAAAANG!

After the flash disappeared with the echoing explosion.

Through the rising steam and shimmering heat haze, the Sun Paladin rose, wielding his burning sword and exhaling fiery breath, standing atop the monster’s remains as they crumbled to ash.