Ch.200200. Kagan (8)

After sharing opinions through the mental network, the framework of our “operation” was roughly established.

“I ask this of you, two druids.”

“Leave it to us!”

“…Your Majesty, I wish you good fortune.”

As we both sincerely offered our support, Louis VII mounted his beloved steed and launched a short-range charge.

His valiant rush forward—radiating a halo like ancient saints depicted in religious paintings—was like witnessing a legend of old, performed by the world’s strongest holy knight and role model for all knights.

I couldn’t tell whether he was using the sacred power inherent in his holy sword or his special abilities as a holy knight. But regardless, the fact that Louis VII transformed Durandal into a golden lance for his charge remained undeniable.

As if embodying sublimity and grandeur in his very flesh, he made even me—not particularly devout in my faith toward Jephtal—offer a prayer involuntarily…

-KWAAAAAANG!!!!

Unfortunately, despite its noble appearance, Louis VII’s charge was as foolish as Don Quixote rushing at windmills.

The three of us… or four counting the Pegasus Lord, were only slightly advantageous against our opponent even when working together. Considering the enemy’s immortality, we were actually at a disadvantage.

Moreover, El-Temur was no fool who relied solely on his immortality. Beyond his physical durability, he had prepared various combat measures in advance.

He compensated for his lack of ranged attacks with retrievable javelins and prepared area-of-effect attacks by keeping several magic scrolls in his possession.

Thanks to this preparation, despite the tremendous impact with which Louis VII rammed into El-Temur, the latter didn’t budge. Instead, he parried the sword strike and immediately counterattacked.

Louis VII, mounted on the Pegasus Lord with its two-meter-tall massive body, exchanged blows with El-Temur, whose size nearly matched the knight’s elevated height.

-KWAAANG! KWAANG!! KWAAAANG!!!

‘…Hasn’t he gotten bigger than before?’

In a situation where explosive sounds erupted from the collision’s recoil instead of metallic clangs, El-Temur—who made me unconsciously think he had grown larger—was clearly dominating the situation.

This was despite Louis VII’s desperate resistance using the Pegasus Lord’s mobility and his own magical abilities—advantages El-Temur lacked.

Wielding a massive greatsword with a blade at least 2.5 meters long as if it were an extension of his body, El-Temur thoroughly battered Louis VII before throwing him far away.

The Pegasus Lord’s left wing was severed and its hind legs bent in an unnatural direction, while Louis VII crashed to the ground, bleeding profusely from all over his body…

In the end, Louis VII’s charge produced results no different from a banzai attack or kamikaze from another world.

However, his charge wasn’t entirely meaningless.

Because during the time he bought while being practically toyed with:

[—Now!]

Sophia, who had been suppressing her presence in the rear, activated one of the ultimate celestial magic spells with magical assistance from Minerva, Cretinus, Kechak, and Astra.

The spell was called “String of Fate.” It summoned silvery glowing strings from thin air to bind and neutralize any designated target.

Looking solely at its binding effect, it wasn’t particularly unique compared to other binding spells. At most, it differed in that the strings extended from empty space rather than surrounding objects, making it impossible to escape by destroying nearby objects.

However, this spell contained formidable effects worthy of its classification as an ultimate technique.

First, being a “celestial” type spell rather than a climate manipulation type, it used fate observation to ensure a guaranteed hit effect, making it impossible to avoid the binding.

Additionally, to use an easy metaphor, the mechanism of this spell was closer to inflicting a “binding” debuff on the target rather than physically restraining them.

Therefore, what was needed to escape such magical effects was none other than magic resistance—the broad resistance to magical effects that some living beings, especially those who handle magical power, naturally possess.

In gaming terms, it would be something like “status ailment resistance.”

While one might assume El-Temur would have high resistance to such effects, there was an easily overlooked fact.

Namely, the “magic defense” and “magic resistance” provided by El-Temur’s immortality were distinctly different concepts.

Magic defense reduces damage from magical attacks by a certain amount and percentage, while magic resistance increases the probability of resisting magical special effects—a kind of immunity stat.

Since these were different concepts, while El-Temur’s magic defense was abnormally high, his resistance wasn’t quite at the same level.

Of course, he possessed resistance beyond what a high-rank warrior would normally have, but…

While El-Temur’s magic defense could be described as abnormal, his magic resistance, though high, was only high within reasonable limits.

It wasn’t enough to resist a spell cast by Sophia with 50% of her remaining mana—25% of her total mana—in an overcasting.

Thus, as the “String of Fate” spell bound El-Temur tightly, before he could react, transmutation spells from the waiting transformation school mages in the rear poured onto his body.

Of course, due to the extreme difference between high and mid-rank, the effect was minimal, but they still managed to momentarily stiffen his body…

-BOOOOOOOO!!!

At that moment, inexplicably grand trumpet sounds echoed from all directions—more precisely, the precursor phenomenon of “The Bugler of Jericho,” one of the large-scale miracles.

This was a massive spell bordering on ritual that required the assistance of at least 100 priests and was led by a high-ranking priest (holy knight).

“The Bugler of Jericho” was originally developed as a divine magic for siege warfare.

In the era when the ancient empire collapsed and heretics flourished, when the pantheon was in the midst of its “reconquest” campaign, castles belonged to heretics. Priests who needed to advance their conquest quickly devised this magic to capture the then-impregnable “Jericho Fortress.”

Named after the first fortress where it was used, this magic naturally produced trumpet sounds as its name suggested, then began to drop pillars of light from the sky—dozens of pillars in one place.

The walls of this world, especially those of the ancient empire, were fundamentally more than just physical defenses.

Even now, after more than a thousand years, some defensive magic remains—and the fully intact magical walls of the past were almost impossible to breach.

Therefore, this “Bugler of Jericho” magic, with dozens of magical light pillars converging in one place to break down such walls…

-CRACK!

These pillars of light, created solely for the destruction of structures (inanimate objects), completely shattered the adamantium armor El-Temur was wearing.

-CRUNCH!

The armor, which had been cracking with ominous sounds, finally broke into pieces and then slowly began to disintegrate into dust-like particles.

As the armor was breaking apart from the Bugler of Jericho, the “String of Fate” was gradually fading as its duration ended, allowing El-Temur to start moving and grip his great sword that had survived the magical destruction.

Though it appeared we had accomplished something grand, we had only managed to break his armor. Realizing this, he showed a disappointed expression…

[—Now!]

At that moment, I, who had been concealing my presence while waiting, rushed at full speed toward El-Temur as soon as Sophia, who was coordinating the operation, gave the signal.

“What—”

With snake-like movements from resonating with the Hydra’s soul, I concentrated all my body’s strength and lunged at his exposed flesh where the armor had been stripped away—

—CRUNCH!

I sank my teeth—especially the newly grown venomous fangs—into his chest and injected the deadly poison of the high-rank Hydra… the Hydra Lord, generously into his body.

And immediately after:

[—■■■■■■■■!!!]

From Orc El-Temur’s mouth came a terrible, desperate scream so horrific it seemed not of this world.