Ch.169169. The Final War (7)

Bjorn arrived on the battlefield before he could single-handedly wipe out half of the forces. These five apostles, servants of the 12 main gods of the Pantheon, immediately took action.

“Activate it!”

“Yes! ───Release!!”

Among them, someone completely concealed in robes—presumably a woman—pulled out a blue cube about the size of a 3×3×3 puzzle cube from within her garments and activated it──

──FLASH!!

The cube glowed with a color that modern people would associate with radiation, then emitted a blue light that engulfed all six apostles and Bjorn.

This cube was actually the divine artifact of Hermecus, god of commerce, deception, and alchemy—the ‘Shinning Regular Hexahedron.’

Its ability creates a space from which no one can escape unless specific pre-set conditions are met, and it sucks in all targets designated by the user.

Though its usage is complicated and its purpose somewhat ambiguous, the true value of this artifact lies in its absolute effect that cannot be resisted.

Of course, there are ways to overcome it by figuring out the set conditions or exploiting loopholes like “it’s not technically a lie,” but…

They solved this issue by setting an extremely simple condition:

No one can leave until either Bjorn or the Imperial apostles are completely annihilated.

Under this simple yet inescapable condition that left no room for clever tricks, Bjorn found himself trapped in an unknown space surrounded entirely by blue.

The apostles revealed themselves around the isolated Bjorn, looking at him with sneering, cold smiles.

“Hey, barbarian slave. So how does it feel to be trapped?”

Though one apostle attempted to provoke him to shake his composure, he was indeed worthy of being called the “Doom of Imperium.”

[Trapped? No, you’ve got it wrong. You’re trapped in here with me.]

Countering their words with a face excited at the prospect of slaughtering them all from within his helmet, Bjorn—

“Attack!!”

—greeted the five apostles converging on him from all directions with a wide, delighted grin.

※ ※ ※

The apostles, representatives of the 12 main gods who were the empire’s effective rulers and spiritual monarchs, and treated as the empire’s greatest heroes, were magnificent beyond compare.

First was the apostle of Hermecus, who had activated the cube that trapped Bjorn—a scantily-clad female thief.

Beneath her black robe, she wore what appeared to be an outfit made only of strings, a perverted costume clearly designed with specific intentions.

Yet as both a first-class thief and a divine apostle, she was an opponent one should never underestimate.

Having reached the final stage of the Arcane Rogue class—a thief profession capable of using magic similar to a magic swordsman—she was formidable.

Her utility abilities were considered superior to other thief classes, and in one-on-one combat against mages specifically, she was unrivaled.

Her most representative special ability, Steal Spell, allowed her to steal spells that enemy mages were about to cast and use them herself.

In this process, she could copy the opponent’s magical attack power or use the MP of the opponent who was casting the spell—all manner of trickery was possible.

Though Bjorn, her current opponent, wasn’t a mage, her ability to interfere with magic in a situation where apostles could use magic was quite significant.

Meanwhile, subtly protecting her was someone raising a shield—a warrior in medium armor, the apostle of Phobos, a Brute Fighter.

Brute Fighter.

A warrior profession specializing in close-quarters combat using bare hands and simple tools, with a more straightforward and less tricky style compared to monks who also primarily use their fists.

While Brute Fighters lack special abilities unique to their class compared to other warriors, they focus even more heavily on dealing damage while tanking.

Particularly, their various grappling techniques and skills at extremely close range give Brute Fighters a distinctive edge beyond being mere “sturdy meat shields.”

Specialized in fighting humanoids, capable of restraining opponents if he could just establish a grapple, he was naturally equipped with thick medium armor.

He wore typical medium armor of this era, made of multiple layers of connected metal plates, with gauntlets and pauldrons embedded with fulgurite gems.

Fulgurite, also called petrified lightning—quartz formed when lightning strikes sand or soil—contains the power of thunder.

If he could land a proper hook, he could electrocute his opponent using the current.

Right beside him stood a male light-armored warrior—the apostle of Astraea-Justia—armed with ornate light armor and two scimitars, wearing a greasy expression.

With golden long hair, a face beautiful yet reeking of narcissism, and equipment decorated with various jewels that looked like works of art, he was the very definition of unpleasant by the standards of this era.

Nevertheless, he possessed combat abilities befitting a chosen apostle.

This light-armored warrior, a close-combat dealer focused on speed and technique, was a model student who had faithfully followed the standard tech tree for his class.

Unlike heavily armored warriors whose individual strikes were powerful, light-armored warriors were granted overwhelming attack frequency.

Of course, to achieve this attack frequency, “light” weapons were necessary, which put him at a disadvantage against heavily armored types like Bjorn….

But he wasn’t foolish enough to leave such an obvious weakness unaddressed.

In the enemy’s back line, two apostles who appeared to be typical rear-position classes were preparing magic while being guarded.

One was the apostle of Plutos, wearing a skull mask and black robe, holding a staff made entirely of bone adorned with an eagle decoration wreathed in blue flames.

Befitting an apostle of Plutos, god of death, his profession was Necromancer, one who deals with the dead.

While necromancers typically specialize in controlling undead, they can be classified in various ways.

From those who command armies of undead, to those who specialize in a few elite undead, to those who focus more on death magic than summoning, to those who form bonds with specific undead.

Among these various types of necromancers, this apostle of Plutos specialized in handling a few elite undead.

The moment he tapped his staff on the ground, several top-tier undead emerged from the necromancer’s undead storage space.

A first-class Ghoul Lord, the pinnacle of ghoul-type monsters; a first-class Grim Reaper, a skeletal undead wielding a large scythe; and even a first-class Bone Dragon which, though it had lost all magical abilities upon becoming undead, still retained physical capabilities nearly identical to when it was alive.

These already powerful undead were further strengthened by the skills of the necromancer, the apostle of Plutos.

And the final apostle was a priestess—specifically, a High Priestess, the pinnacle of the priest class—the leader of a religious order serving Iris, goddess of betrayal.

Though she appeared to be a typical rear-line priest without particularly outstanding features, the priest profession as a whole was powerful enough to make this sufficient.

Capable of tanking with summons, healing and dealing damage with divine magic, her mere presence greatly enhanced the party’s stability.

Thus assembled was a party of apostles formed specifically to target Bjorn.

A damage-dealing tank specialized in one-on-one tanking and brawling against humanoid enemies; a light-armored warrior—a melee dealer—who sacrificed some durability for damage output;

A dealer who suppressed magic use and pressured Bjorn with various utility abilities; a ranged damage dealer who commanded undead and provided additional attacks through magic;

And a healer-type supporter who could bind them all together as a single party.

Having coordinated dozens of times on battlefields against orcs, and having experienced victories against enemies stronger than themselves multiple times,

These five apostles believed without doubt that they would emerge victorious despite potential casualties, and began their attack against Bjorn before them…..

“《Spear of Punishment》!!”

[….Lukewarm.]

When Bjorn effortlessly dispelled the ‘Spear of Punishment’—the strongest single-target divine attack magic cast by Iris’s priestess—with his aura-wrapped greatsword,

At this point, the apostles instinctively began to feel that something was going terribly wrong.