Ch.1108Access

I faced a monster I could never defeat alone, while everyone fought desperately in their own positions.

“I still have plenty of arrows left! If one isn’t enough, I’ll fire as many as it takes…!”

Millia kept firing spire arrows as if she’d stripped Alhebron’s cathedrals bare, while Kudsedra flew erratically with her on its back, occasionally breathing out its breath.

Massive spires literally cut through the air like arrows, creating gusts of wind, while lava-like breath burned through the Dark Mana barriers, spreading like rivers.

Though far from enough power to bring down Invidius, it was more than sufficient to irritate him and divide his attention.

“Order of Knights! Light of Judgment! Deploy in unison at my signal! First, we’ll sever those entrails!”

The Paladins gathered on the ground launched a coordinated assault against the evil god under Perlien’s command.

– Guuuuung!

Golden rings appeared consecutively in the air.

The light of Astraea that destroys sin poured down like heavy rain, while counterattacks were blocked by layered holy barriers that burst into flames.

Their movements resembled an army using the realm of crimson flames as a fortress.

Perlien deflected the Dark Mana beams with Hauteclere, while the Church of Elpinel handled defense.

Astraea’s Paladins took charge of the offense, and priests from the Church of Menes protected the minds of those gathered.

They say one hand cannot handle ten.

Though each individual’s power was insignificant, when gathered in numbers, they became quite formidable.

Of course, even considering that, they seemed to be fighting better than expected…

Ah, perhaps the “Realm of Crimson Flames” itself enhances the power of miracles performed within its domain.

That’s originally a power of “Sacred Domain Declaration” bestowed only upon saints.

It wouldn’t be strange if it had the effect of enhancing holy miracles, not just healing.

‘They’ll hold out for a while… the problem is still on this side.’

I turned my gaze back to the front.

– Kwaooooo!

The face of an evil god one would fear to see even in nightmares. A net of black beams with enough power to melt mountains. Between them, an endless barrage of magic and curses, clashes of Karma and divine powers.

If hell existed, I imagined it would look something like this.

—-

“I left Sir Joshua in the rear! Next, do we just break through like this?”

“For now! Can you properly use the holy sword?”

“No problem!”

After briefly moving the injured Joshua to the rear, Demian returned to our side and faced the evil god’s fierce attacks head-on.

“Haaaap!”

Skywalk, a Tale of Heros that enables free flight and spatial transfer by ignoring inertia through coordinate movement.

The holy sword in his grip and the wings on his back carved pure white trajectories in the darkness, repeatedly disappearing in a flash only to reappear from a completely different direction.

– Hwaaaak!

Added to this were miracles of pure white holy light.

Heavenly Protection, White Night, Sword of Radiance, Shield of Devotion, Barrier of the Firmament, Fury of the Heavens.

Each time the holy characters engraved on the holy sword glowed, Elpinel’s miracles—which he had never even learned—shimmered brilliantly across the sky.

A hero wrapped in pure white holy light, flying with wings spread wide, swinging his sword to fire barrages of light.

In appearance, he was truly the embodiment of a warrior piercing through darkness.

“Simple cold doesn’t seem to work… then…!”

Meanwhile, Persiella, seeing her cold energy being absorbed by Dark Mana, withdrew her frost and fought on as a straightforward swordswoman.

Covering her entire body with all manner of magic that enhanced physical abilities, she froze and shattered the oncoming storms of Dark Mana along with space itself, breaking through head-on.

“Falling Star Sword Ultimate Technique, Star Cleaver-!”

Unlike Demian with his complex and bizarre trajectories, she charged forward in a straight line like a wild boar, which was quite impressive.

…What on earth was she doing? Was she trying to show off her strength?

Well, thanks to her, things became a bit easier for me.

【 Insolent…! 】

Charging head-on always means facing the fiercest resistance.

Thanks to Invidius focusing his attacks on Persiella, I could ignore more than half of the numerous attacks I would have had to deal with.

“Let me take advantage of this!”

Just by following behind Persiella, attacks that would have been troublesome to block shattered before they could reach me.

“Don’t use me as a shield!”

Persiella was quite disgusted at suddenly being used as a human shield… but well, that’s the role of a vanguard.

If she volunteered to take the lead, she should accept that much. Take it gracefully.

“In situations like this, shouldn’t the Dragon Lord take the lead? Right? You’re the master of demons who subjugates ten thousand demons.”

“Shut your mouth!”

Despite expressing her annoyance, Persiella didn’t shake me off and obediently served as a human—no, half-human-half-dragon shield.

【 Meaningless. 】

The dark clouds in the sky spewed thousands of black lightning bolts.

“That remains to be seen!”

Demian swung the holy sword above his head.

Fury of the Heavens. A pillar of light burst from Gram’s blade, drawing a massive arc of pure white.

– Kwaooooo!

Holy light slowly curved sideways following the greatsword’s trajectory.

Like an eraser wiping across a drawing on paper, the lightning bolts that touched the light dispersed and vanished.

【 Unpleasant power. But futile. 】

With Invidius’s sneer, black spheres appeared in the air, and Dark Mana vortices wrapped around them, transforming into black whirlwind spears.

【 The power of divine slaying is merely excessive. Stop posturing, human. Can you even properly control that power? 】

“I controlled it well enough to kill the World Tree.”

“You’re getting better at comebacks?”

A retort thrown back. Invidius swung his arm instead of answering.

– Kwagwagwagwagwa!

Spears of fierce whirlwinds flew all at once. Five toward Persiella, three toward Demian. The remaining two aimed at the ground.

“I’ll block up to three! Handle the rest yourself!”

Persiella spread her wings wide and stopped, then opened her mouth wide toward the approaching whirlwinds, breathing out blue breath.

Flames of cold that freeze and shatter everything they touch.

The frigid breath shattered her mask and extended outward, colliding with the leading whirlwind.

– Kwajajajajajak!

Fragments of frozen and shredded air. Tiny ice shards bloomed beautifully like scattered snowflakes.

That was one.

“Myriad Snow Frozen Heaven!”

Another whirlwind collided with countless ice spikes and dissipated after being torn to shreds.

“Falling Star Sword, Blue Flame Meteor!”

The last one shattered into pieces upon touching the tip of her sword, which was wrapped in her breath. That made three.

– Wudddeuk!

Persiella’s right arm twisted and crumbled with a horrifying sound of rupture as she blocked the whirlwind with her sword, but she seemed unfazed by the pain and calmly raised her arm toward Demian, shouting:

“Heal this. You can do that, right?”

“Just wait a moment!”

Demian avoided two whirlwinds through spatial transfer and blocked the remaining one with a holy barrier as he shouted.

“So two are my share. Simple enough.”

Meanwhile, I stepped in front of Persiella and shattered the remaining two whirlwinds.

“Kenaz, Hagalaz!”

Runic flames devoured the Dark Mana whirlwinds as they blazed, and the force I extended, imbued with the Mana of collapse, rotated in the opposite direction of the whirlwind, colliding with it and neutralizing its power.

– Kwagwagwagwagwa!

The last two whirlwinds, as I mentioned earlier, extended toward the ground.

Too far for us to handle. These were blocked by Millia and Agnes.

“I said I still have plenty of arrows!”

Millia pierced through the Dark Mana whirlwind with three spire arrows.

The debris of the spires, unable to withstand the impact and exploding into pieces, rained down like hail and plunged into the sea of Dark Mana.

“Lord Menes!”

Agnes illuminated her moonlight stigmata, emitting holy light as bright as the full moon.

The power of a saint bestowed upon her by the god of moon and dreams.

A massive glass-like structure formed in the air behind the holy corps, absorbing the Dark Mana whirlwind, then shattering into pieces and disappearing the next moment.

It was flawless defense, leaving no room for objection.

“For someone who called us ‘mere humans,’ nothing seems to be working against us?”

In the gap we created, Demian, Persiella, and I charged forward with all our might as soon as the whirlwinds disappeared.

– Guuuung!

Black nets layered before us. The next moment, they were torn apart by a golden flash.

“Go forth!”

Adamante, sitting behind Millia. It was a javelin she had thrown, imbued with holy power.

As if it were a sacred artifact, the javelin pierced through and shattered all darkness blocking our path, exploding right before Invidius’s eyes.

The dazzling golden flash erased the darkness, if only for a moment.

“Well done!”

“Your subordinates are better than you!”

And, charging through the golden passage that formed, we finally reached Invidius’s vicinity.

At last.

Close enough for my sword to reach.