Ch.211Chapter 211 – Saint of Emiris (1)

The next day, we left the dwarf village early.

The reason was to save as much time as possible and to move quickly considering the centipede’s ability to travel underground, which would give us more time to track it.

Of course, two people remained in the village.

“I wouldn’t be much help anyway.”

Peri said apologetically.

After all, he was a blacksmith, not a fighter, so it made sense for him to stay out of dangerous monster-hunting business.

Asam also stayed behind, claiming he would guard Peri.

“Besides, fighting while chasing isn’t really my thing.”

“You’re just being lazy, you brat.”

Beatrice shot back playfully.

So those two stayed behind while the rest of us left the village after meeting up with our guide.

“So where did you say the nest is located?”

“In a mine cave beyond this mountain.”

Lara, a dwarf carrying a massive hammer, replied while looking at us.

“You didn’t need to bring a weapon along.”

“This is originally something we dwarves should handle ourselves! At the very least, I need to contribute to the extermination to save face!”

Lara answered confidently without any hesitation.

“Besides, I’m from the warrior class, so fighting is quite my specialty.”

“Warrior class?”

“Dwarves are divided into four classes. Royalty, artisans, warriors, and commoners.”

“Is the warrior class lower than the artisan class?”

In response to Chris’s question, Lara thought for a moment before answering.

“The royal class is a bit special, but the other three are more like job distinctions rather than a hierarchy like humans have.”

Lara said with a smile.

“It’s simple. If you have talent as a craftsman, you’re in the artisan class. If you’re good at fighting, you’re in the warrior class. If neither applies, you’re a commoner.”

In other words, it was nothing more than classification based on ability.

“However, since our village is outside Ferarius, the warrior class has been responsible for gathering supplies. The commoner class could get seriously injured if they encountered monsters.”

Lara explained that she and her companions had been transporting supplies for the village.

“That must be hard work.”

“It’s not much. We’re strong, so we can move a lot at once, which means we don’t have to make supply runs very often.”

She added that there weren’t many frightening monsters in the mountains.

However, a moment later, Lara’s expression darkened slightly.

“…Still, my companion got injured during our last supply run.”

She said, clenching her fist in frustration.

“Is that why you’re joining the centipede hunt?”

“It’s revenge for my companion… Actually, my companion’s life isn’t in danger, and they’ll probably recover in a few days.”

Lara said, swinging her hammer.

“But we wouldn’t be dwarves if we just stood by when one of our own gets hurt.”

Lara said with a slightly fierce smile.

“Dwarves seem to value their kin greatly.”

Lara nodded at Chris’s comment.

“Well, we’re not particularly numerous or powerful, so we need to take care of each other.”

Lara then turned her gaze toward Sera.

“That’s why we recognize someone as kin even if the scent is faint, like that person.”

“Scent…”

Sera looked slightly embarrassed and began sniffing her arm discreetly.

Watching her, I asked Lara:

“Dwarves have a good sense of smell, I take it?”

“We’re not just a race that makes various items from ore; we also mine deep underground. They say our sense of smell developed to help us respond quickly in emergencies.”

Lara seemed to enjoy explaining things to us and continued with a bright smile.

“As a result, we can tell all sorts of things just by smell. We can recognize our kin’s bloodline even from the faintest scent of blood.”

After saying this, Lara looked at me with a slightly mischievous smile, glanced briefly at Eve, and said in a very small voice:

“…As a bonus, we can also immediately tell whether someone has crossed the threshold of adulthood.”

“Ahem!”

I immediately cleared my throat.

To think they could detect even that.

What a frightening race.

“That’s enough about our race… But is everything alright with your equipment?”

“I think it will be fine.”

I smiled in response to Lara’s slight concern.

But there was something that made me uneasy.

‘It’s too light.’

That was my thought as I slightly lifted the halberd on my back, one of the weapons the elves had given us as gifts when we left Albheim.

It was much better than being too heavy to swing properly, but it was significantly lighter than my halberd that had transformed from the holy relic.

This made me feel somewhat uncomfortable.

‘I guess I’ve just gotten used to the holy relic.’

I need to find a way to repair it soon.

With that thought, I readjusted my grip on the halberd.

Lara approached me and spoke:

“Hmm, that’s elven-made.”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

I answered late, having been lost in thoughts about the holy relic.

But Lara didn’t seem to mind and asked with sparkling eyes:

“May I take a look at it?”

“Here you go.”

I carefully handed her the halberd with both hands, and she lifted it with just one hand.

She began swinging it around.

“As expected of elven craftsmanship. It’s light.”

“Right?”

Lara said with a smile.

“It’s quite light, but the durability seems fine. It probably won’t break under normal force.”

“Is that so?”

“Trust a dwarf.”

Lara confidently thumped her chest.

Well, if what she says is true, it shouldn’t break even with rough handling.

We continued walking toward the centipede’s nest, chatting along the way, until we finally reached the path to the mine.

“If we follow this path, we’ll get there.”

I nodded at Lara’s words and was about to step forward when—

There was a sound of something cutting through the air, followed by Eve’s voice.

“Kay, duck!”

I immediately lowered my head, feeling something brush over my helmet.

Then Eve quickly drew her sword and swung it, knocking something to the ground.

“Miss Beatrice! Miss Seraphina!”

Eve had simply called their names, but both already knew what to do.

Immediately, Sera cast Magic Missile while Beatrice threw a ball of fire, followed by a dull thud and an explosion.

“Argh!!”

“F-fire!!”

Someone fell from a tree, apparently set on fire by Beatrice’s attack.

With a thud, someone in full armor fell to the ground.

Recognizing the armor, Chris shouted:

“It’s a holy knight from the Zeolei Order!”

“Why are they here?!”

As Beatrice’s voice faded, people began rushing out from the underbrush.

One of them shouted:

“Capture the heretics!!”

A holy knight who had shouted confidently began swinging his sword at me.

I quickly raised my halberd to deflect the sword, then kicked away his shield, knocking him to the ground.

As I was about to deliver the finishing blow to the fallen knight, someone blocked my path.

“I’ve come to settle the score from before!”

A holy knight wearing somewhat elaborate armor, armed with a shield and spear, stood in my way.

The face was familiar, but I couldn’t recall the name.

“Who are you?”

My question seemed to displease him, as his face contorted greatly.

Then he shouted loudly:

“…I am Max the Iron Wall!!”

I see.

Hearing the name, I remembered who he was.

‘The guy I fought when the Paladin position was at stake.’

While I was briefly recalling that time, Max charged at me aggressively.

“I’ll show you how different I am now!!”

Shouting this, Max blocked my halberd swing with his shield and tried to close the distance between us.

It seemed he was trying to get as close as possible to make it difficult for me to swing my halberd.

“This way, you won’t be able to swing that precious halberd…”

“Oh really?”

Then I’ll just not use it.

I immediately let go of the halberd and grabbed his shield.

Then I twisted his arm forcefully and wrenched the shield away from him.

Whether he hadn’t expected this, or hadn’t thought I would take his shield so easily, Max stared at me with wide eyes.

Then I swung the shield toward his face.

-KWANG!!

“That’s one down.”

With a loud noise, Max flew backward and collapsed along with other holy knights who had tried to catch him.

As soon as I registered this sight, I raised the shield.

-KUNG!!

“An arrow, huh.”

I felt a slight impact despite the shield’s thickness.

‘That must be a skilled archer.’

Even in the midst of the chaotic battle, someone was targeting me specifically with arrows.

Thinking the archer might be in a similar position to Max who had just fallen, I quickly looked in the direction the arrow had come from.

“There.”

Far away, behind a wall of holy knights, one knight was aiming an arrow at me.

Seeing him drawing his bowstring again, I immediately threw the shield at him.

“Who do you think you’re—ARGH!”

I saw a holy knight who had rushed to protect him get hit by the shield and fly away.

Clicking my tongue slightly, I quickly looked around for a weapon.

“An opening…! Prepare yourself!!”

Perhaps emboldened by the fact that I had no weapon in hand, a holy knight swung his sword at my back.

I easily dodged the attack, and he raised his sword high with both hands.

“Hey, can’t you see me?”

Beatrice flew in and kicked him.

The impact knocked him down, causing him to drop his sword, which Beatrice caught in mid-air and threw to me.

“Helmet, catch!”

I stretched out my hand and caught the flying sword.

Then I deflected another incoming arrow with the sword before stepping back slightly and gripping the sword in reverse.

“If you’re going to ambush, hide your presence better.”

I thrust the sword between my armpit, and there was a sound of something bursting.

“ARGH!!”

A scream rang out.

At the same time, blood splattered slightly on my back and the sword.

When I turned around, a holy knight in lighter armor wielding two daggers had been impaled by my sword and stood frozen.

“Impossible…”

He collapsed with a groan. Simultaneously, I heard the sound of something cutting through the air, so I quickly moved away as an arrow struck the ground.

‘I need to deal with that archer first.’

The archer seemed quite confident in their skills, shooting arrows even when allies were nearby.

However, Eve and Eina had already pushed in between me and the archer, engaging and subduing the holy knights.

In other words, the archer had no subordinates to help him immediately.

I threw the sword I was holding and hit the archer.

“Ugh!”

With a short cry, the knight fell backward.

At the same time, I saw Chris aiming her staff in my direction.

“‘Protect the Lamb!'”

With Chris’s incantation, a golden shield expanded above my head.

And immediately, a massive axe blade came flying toward the shield.

-KUNG!

“It was Mihail, wasn’t it?”

“You remember well!”

A large-bodied holy knight began swinging his massive axe.

I quickly slipped out from under the shield Chris had created, picked up two daggers from the ground, and deflected the swinging axe.

-KAGAK!!

The daggers sparked as they deflected the axe.

However, the dagger blades were too weak to properly block the axe blade.

In the end, both daggers broke, and seeing me lose two daggers so pathetically, Mihail laughed and shouted:

“You have no weapon!”

“Is that so?”

No sooner had I finished speaking than something flew toward me from behind with a terrifying sound.

Mihail’s eyes widened as he jumped diagonally backward, while I ducked and caught whatever was flying toward me.

“Kay! Don’t worry about this side!”

I saw Sera in a throwing stance shouting.

Behind her, Eve was visible, subduing a charging holy knight with her sword.

I nodded immediately and swung the halberd Sera had thrown to me.

“You won’t win!”

Mihail shouted loudly as he swung his axe.

The two thick blades collided in mid-air.

-CHAENG!

Mihail must be quite strong too, as I felt the impact slightly in my arm.

But it was an impact I could easily withstand.

I wouldn’t drop my weapon from this level of force.

I immediately began thrusting and swinging my halberd at the holy knights attempting to flank me while continuing to face off against Mihail.

For the first few exchanges, Mihail managed to parry my halberd with his axe, but before long, he found himself at a disadvantage.

“I-I can’t lose to a heretic…!”

The large holy knight struggled to deflect my halberd, seemingly fighting on pride alone.

Looking at Mihail, I smiled slightly and said:

“What’s wrong? You’re already staggering.”

“ZEOLEI!!”

Mihail charged at me in desperation.

I watched him until the end, and the moment he raised his arm—

I swung my halberd to counter.

-PUHK!

The blade of the halberd penetrated Mihail’s body, and blood stained the blade.

At the same time, Mihail grabbed the shaft of the halberd.

“This… much!”

With the halberd embedded in his armor, Mihail raised his arm.

Unable to counter my halberd with his weapon, he had decided to use his body to force an opening.

A classic strategy of sacrificing flesh to gain bone.

I quickly let go of the halberd to avoid Mihail’s axe, then kicked his arm.

Mihail’s axe flew through the air.

“Ah…!”

“Sleep well.”

I muttered as I looked at Mihail, who had frozen after his final move failed.

I grabbed the halberd I had dropped, lifted it in reverse, and pulled the blade out.

‘I’ve won.’

Sensing victory, I swung the butt end of the halberd toward Mihail’s head to subdue him.

“I seem to be a bit late.”

-CHAENG!!

A silver staff appeared beside Mihail, blocking my halberd as if protecting him.

I quickly retrieved my halberd and jumped backward as a woman walked up behind Mihail.

“Rest assured and leave your back to me, Holy Knight of Zeolei.”

A blonde woman wearing black clothes with golden embroidery and a veil covering her face spoke quietly.

“For the Saint of Emiris has arrived.”

With those words, a silver holy power began to gradually spread around us.