Ch.234The Gospel by the Cursed (5)

The evil spirits swarmed toward Laios’s body. Among them, a frog-like creature opened its mouth wide, extending a tongue with a snake’s head. Kain drew his Imperial Sword and sliced off the tongue.

The enraged frog then swung its tongue like a whip. Stepping back twice, Kain calmly placed his staff against the trajectory. As soon as the tongue wrapped around it, he gently pulled the staff and raised his blade, scraping it along the surface.

The frog-man writhed on the ground. Thanks to this, three creatures running from behind stumbled and fell. Cutting through the tongue with his sword, Kain shouted.

“Laios!”

With a clang, a stone stake fell to the ground. Laios, bleeding black blood, barely managed to utter a spell. His body melted like smoke and flowed away. A short distance away, it writhed as it reconstructed itself.

He raised his scabbard. Shadows gathered around him, flowing along the blade to lend their strength. His armor grew thicker, and a heavy shield materialized in his empty left hand.

Laios blocked the front with his shield. A stone stake scraped against it and deflected to the side. He struggled to take one step at a time.

“Keep going! Go!”

Kain shouted as he cut down the approaching creatures. A beast with a bull’s head, a plank-like body, and a monkey’s tail lunged at him. He broke its knee with his staff and kicked its abdomen, causing the plank to shatter helplessly.

Without pause, he pushed away one with a porcelain head. A stone stake flying from Ismene’s direction shattered its head and continued past.

The creature grumbled as it pulled another piece of porcelain from inside its neck to serve as its new head. However, having put it on upside down, it now walked on its hands.

An angel swooped down from the sky. It had jammed a ship’s figurehead between its thighs. The figurehead, carved with a naked maiden, thrust toward Kain.

He quickly picked up a stone and threw it. The angel smirked and batted the stone back toward Kain with the figurehead. While Kain deflected it with his staff, the angel charged with flapping wings.

Without a second thought, Kain flung the Imperial Sword upward as the angel passed overhead. It didn’t embed itself but merely grazed the thigh, which was enough.

There was a drooling dog where the bleeding angel was flying. It leaped up and latched onto the figurehead as if it were a delicious bone.

A loud crashing sound was heard. Finally, one ship had rammed its bow into another ship’s side and was devouring its contents greedily.

A black mist emerged with a whoosh and flew toward Ismene. Hans the Diligence must have been on that ship.

He had moved diligently, never resting for a moment. He had worked tirelessly toward his goal. But because that goal was misguided, his efforts were truly in vain.

Diligence with the wrong direction ultimately led to his own destruction.

But three still remained.

* * * * *

Laios stopped walking. He seemed to have some small hope.

However, Ismene’s expression grew darker. Her smile widened, but her body trembled violently as if about to break.

“It hurts… let me go… please…”

As her soul returned, terrible memories seemed to come back one by one. The cone’s shape had changed too. Small thorns like rose thorns sprouted from its sides.

Even a mere thrust was enough to penetrate and tear through angels and beasts. Even sturdy shields were no exception. Just a glancing blow from the cone was enough to chip away at the edges.

Kain gritted his teeth. He regulated his breathing with short, strong exhales. Snowflakes began to fall from the cloud-filled sky.

The black cross in the sky loomed like a tall mountain. The dead Günther’s body convulsed as he looked down.

– ‘If conquering the mountain had been the goal, we wouldn’t have crossed it.’

A strange voice. Kain looked around warily. But then he recalled it was his own voice.

– ‘But our destination wasn’t the mountain, but the fortress beyond it. So the mountain became not a mountain, but just a somewhat high and cold hill.’ That’s what the White Blood Knights said after crossing that mountain. What remarkable people, don’t you think?

When was it? A memory of a brief conversation with Boehm in Valhalla. Boehm’s answer also came to mind.

– “They became legends because they succeeded. In truth, failure wouldn’t have been surprising. It was the kind of thing where failure would have been expected.”

– “I don’t think the White Blood Knights deliberately abandoned safe and certain methods to choose a dangerous path. It was probably the only path available, so they walked it as best they could.”

– “That’s right. How many people would jump into danger because they enjoy it? When the current methods definitely won’t work, you endure and challenge to achieve results.”

“There’s no other way,” Kain recalled Boehm’s answer. “We just have to find a way that works.”

He had no desire to become a legend. Surviving would be a miracle.

But he had to do more than that. He needed to recover the woman who had lost her memories and the cursed man. That was all he had to do.

A thought flashed through Kain’s mind. The creature charging at him now was somewhat smaller. He could have easily cut it down, but instead, Kain tripped its legs with his staff.

He swung his sword to inflict a wound. Thick blood flowed. He grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and threw it in front of Laios. Wild dogs rushed in, only to die from the stone stakes after smelling the blood.

More blood flowed from the dead body. Angels from the sky flew down seeking prey. They fought over who would get more. Some were even seen pushing competitors into the path of flying stakes.

“Now!” Kain shouted. “Laios, now! Turn to smoke and approach!”

Kain ran toward the pile of corpses. He grabbed pieces of flesh from the midst of the fighting and threw them.

He built a barrier that wouldn’t interfere with Laios’s movement while protecting him from flying stakes. Fearless beasts charging in made the barrier walls thicker.

“Don’t come!”

Ismene’s scream was heard. The scream seemed to push away dust, and soon the ground rippled and the snow scattered in alarm.

Even the monsters screamed and collapsed. Kain’s ears were filled with a piercing ringing sound. Despite grimacing in pain, he readjusted his stance.

Thanks to this, Kain saw the ground splitting open. The crack was red like blood pooling in an open wound.

As soon as he retreated, black thorns shot up from within. Unlike the white horns from before, these were as black and sharp as obsidian.

The cones rotated. Thorns extending from inside the horns crushed the beasts caught in their path. Kain ducked and ran. He jumped and threw himself in various directions to avoid the splitting ground.

He saw Laios, who had regained his form, raise his sword. He saw him shoot darkness upward toward the sky. Günther’s corpse, hanging from the black cross, fell limply to the ground.

The massive body shattered into pieces as it hit the ground. The thorns embedded in the thick flesh broke off helplessly. But soon there was a wave of flesh, and dust rushed in.

Before darkness descended, Kain threw himself forward. Something collided violently with his body. Kain was pushed back.

And then,

Blackout.

* * * * *

Kain opened his eyes to a low howl. “Cough.” But his body wouldn’t obey. He knew he needed to get up, but the shock hadn’t yet subsided.

The crying grew louder. Kain tried his best to look toward where Laios and Ismene were. But a large beast’s carcass was blocking his view.

Instead, he saw two will-o’-the-wisps floating in the air. The growling sound came from there. His focus wasn’t quite right, so Kain tightly closed his eyelids and opened them again.

Even after reopening his eyes, the pair of will-o’-the-wisps remained. But he saw something else too. A bright red muzzle. A small body, perhaps only ankle-high.

It was a wolf pup with an injured leg, like the one he’d seen in an orchard during his childhood. The little creature kept trying to stand up. But because of its injured leg, it couldn’t approach properly.

But that was strange. The pup’s leg had definitely healed. Kain was puzzled. He tried to raise himself to look more closely. The pup wagged its tail happily and ran toward him.

Pleased, Kain reached out his hand. But the wolf had already vanished. In its place lay the Imperial Sword. A short distance away, he could see his staff.

He raised his gaze. He saw Laios standing tall. He stood before the cross, with stakes piercing his entire body.

“Laios.”

Kain grabbed the sword and staff and stood up. His body collapsed, but he ignored it and rose again. He walked, leaning on his staff and sword.

The black armor melted away like smoke. The knight who had once brought terror to the world was gone. In his place was a boy who had simply grown too large, reaching out his fingers to a lover who pushed him away.

Ismene howled and shook her head. Laios didn’t rush. He calmly caught his breath.

Something dark flowed out from inside his body. It ran along the stakes like they were slides and entered Ismene.

Finally.

Everything was accomplished.