Ch.241Chapter 241 – Divine Command

After clearing out all the monsters that had invaded the village, I gathered everyone at Dodo’s house.

“I should offer you some tea, but I’m sorry.”

Dodo said apologetically as he drank water, genuinely looking ashamed.

“As you can see, there are many dwarf refugees here now. Some are wounded too. Anything that might help calm them down was used up long ago.”

“The situation seems quite dire,” Ive remarked.

Dodo nodded at her words.

“We’re running low on food too… I was just contemplating gathering our warrior class to somehow find food in the surrounding areas.”

But before they could properly discuss this concern, monsters attacked, as Dodo briefly explained.

“Never mind our situation here. Do you have a general idea of what’s happening outside the village?”

“Of course. I heard from the dwarves who came from outside.”

Dodo nodded in response to Beatrice’s question.

“Let me start by telling you about the first day of the invasion.”

Dodo then began summarizing the events.

The sudden invasion of monsters, accompanied by a red sky and ominous energy. The clouds apparently appeared the very next day after the monsters’ invasion.

“That ominous red cloud keeps expanding its range. I heard it gets thicker as you get closer to the capital.”

Dodo finished speaking.

Then Sera quietly said:

“The red sky is indeed…”

“Yes. It’s just as you suspected, miss.”

Mask nodded and responded to Sera’s words.

“It’s one of the characteristics of the Soul-Devouring Formation.”

Mask spoke quietly.

Hearing this, Dodo tilted his head curiously and asked:

“Soul-Devouring Formation?”

“Let’s just say it’s magic that exploits the souls of those who die within its range. More importantly, there’s information I’d like to have.”

After briefly explaining the Soul-Devouring Formation to Dodo, Mask looked at him quietly and said:

“First, what you’ve told us is mostly what we’ve already guessed or seen ourselves. We need some different information.”

“Different information?”

“For instance, whether anyone saw suspicious individuals before the sky turned red.”

Mask looked around briefly.

Then, clearing his throat slightly, he spoke quietly:

“The Soul-Devouring Formation can’t be created suddenly. There must have been groundwork laid. If you have any information about someone acting suspiciously or any strange sightings, please tell us.”

“I see what you mean.”

At Mask’s words, Dodo lowered his head for a moment.

Then, as if remembering something, he looked at Mask and said:

“…There were indeed reports of suspicious individuals.”

“What kind specifically?”

“From what I heard, they were people wearing black robes.”

Dodo’s speech was somewhat slow, probably because he hadn’t seen them himself but had only heard about them.

“Black clothes, huh.”

“I heard they were like some religious cult. Believing in a strange god. At least not a famous name like Emiris, from what I heard.”

However, Dodo testified that there was a dwarf who had overheard them muttering about working for something.

And at those words, Mask’s expression began to harden.

“How credible do you consider this information to be?”

“Well, the refugees shared it thinking it might provide a clue. Since I didn’t see it myself, it’s hard to judge its credibility.”

Though Dodo said this, he soon focused his gaze on me and continued:

“…However, even if the testimonies vary slightly, there were many who witnessed such a group. I don’t think it’s entirely fabricated.”

“Where were they sighted?”

“I can mark it on the map, but…”

At Dodo’s words, I nodded slightly and raised my hand.

That could wait a bit.

First, we needed to hear about the other situations.

“What exactly have you heard about the situation in the capital?”

“It’s not good, but I heard they’re somehow holding out.”

Dodo nodded and said:

“It seems a saint from the Emiris Order happened to be staying in the capital. She’s apparently leading the defense of the walls now.”

“…I see.”

So Kara is in the capital.

It seems she had gone there following our traces.

“It was indeed the right decision not to go straight to the capital.”

If we had gone, we would have had to fight the Order first.

In a situation where we already had to deal with monsters, expending energy against the Order wasn’t a good choice.

‘…For now, we can ignore the Emiris Order.’

At least since Kara seems to be focused on defending the capital, she probably won’t have time to track us for a while.

There’s no need to appear near her and provoke her movements.

It seemed better to ignore that side and focus all our energy on the demon race.

“We probably don’t have much time either.”

As I said this while looking at Mask, she nodded.

“As long as the demons continue to absorb power through the Soul-Devouring Formation, the later we deal with them, the stronger they’ll become.”

“A swift resolution is the answer then.”

Mask nodded at my words.

I asked her:

“How can we destroy this Soul-Devouring Formation?”

“It’s best to explain its structure first.”

Mask looked around briefly, then sighed once and waved her hand.

Magic gathered above her hand, creating a model.

“So you can use magic.”

“I only know the basics. Look at this first.”

Mask pointed to the model above her hand and said:

“The structure of the Soul-Devouring Formation is typically like this. Three magical convergence points supply the magic to maintain the formation, and the formation spreads from the center.”

Mask soon created a simplified map of Ferarius with her hand.

It seemed she was relying on her memory, as it was cruder compared to the model Lirina had made, but I decided not to point that out.

Then Mask pointed to the central part and said:

“To efficiently spread the formation, it would be best to base it where there are many lives to sacrifice… but given the timing, they probably couldn’t investigate that precisely, so I believe they’ve set up the Soul-Devouring Formation to spread from the capital as its center.”

“It’s not installed there, but they set it up so that place becomes the center, right?”

Mask nodded at my words.

“As I said earlier, the formation is composed of three magical convergence points. So to destroy it, you must destroy all three points.”

“If three are needed, wouldn’t destroying just one be enough?”

Mask shook her head at Sera’s question.

“Maybe right after installation, but if time has passed since it was set up, as is the case now, all three must be destroyed for the Soul-Devouring Formation to be destroyed. They don’t need to be destroyed simultaneously, but…”

“But?”

“If you destroy one and some time passes, that one will be restored. So we need to destroy all three as quickly as possible.”

After saying this, Mask pointed to three points on the model and continued:

“Destroying a magical convergence point is easy. The magic used there is from the demon race. Simply introducing new magic that isn’t from demons will disrupt the concentration and theoretically, anyone who can handle magic could destroy it… but…”

Mask’s tone suggested it was troublesome.

I think I understood what the problem was.

“We need to find out where they’re installed, right?”

“Exactly.”

Mask soon added another circle to the model.

A circle passing through the three points.

“The structure is simple, but only the enemy knows exactly where those points are. We can guess that the center is the capital, but we need to find where the three points are located.”

If we find at least two, the position of the remaining one can be determined, but the problem is finding those two first.

As I stared at the circle on the map, I turned to Dodo and asked:

“Could you mark the locations here, please?”

“…Alright, I’ll try.”

Dodo, with a somewhat disgruntled expression, placed his finger on the map.

Looking at the points he marked, Mask clicked her tongue.

“They’ve laid a smokescreen.”

“It seems they deliberately revealed themselves to the dwarves to delay the destruction of the Soul-Devouring Formation.”

It was as Mask and Ive said.

The points on the map existed both inside the circle, on the circle, and outside it.

It would be difficult to find them based solely on sighting information.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

I nodded to Dodo as he apologized.

At least we could calculate a rough range based on those sighting reports, so his information wasn’t useless.

But in this situation, it would take too much time to find them.

‘We need to remove all three points as quickly as possible.’

It was a more annoying magic to eliminate than I thought.

Since we didn’t know all the locations in advance, there was no guarantee we could destroy them all in time even with warp.

‘…Is there no other way?’

A method to find three magical convergence points in this vast Ferarius.

A way to overcome this situation where monsters are rampaging everywhere, making it difficult to get help from the Ferarius Kingdom, and where sighting information isn’t reliable.

‘Come to think of it, they said it uses magic from the demon race.’

Mask had expressed it as somewhat different from regular magic.

‘And Chris has been able to detect the energy of demons from before.’

Perhaps that’s because Chris could detect the magic used by demons, as Mask mentioned.

I don’t know if everyone can do it, but Chris definitely seemed capable.

Though it’s hard to imagine from her usual appearance, I thought that if it were Chris with her excellent divine arts, she could easily find the three points.

Plus, for some reason, she was also good at finding hidden objects.

She would have been especially reliable in this situation.

“It would be good if Chris were here.”

“I was thinking the same.”

Ive quietly agreed with me, having apparently reached a similar thought.

‘Wait a minute.’

Chris was a nun who used divine power.

If that’s why she was sensitive to the magic used by demons…

Couldn’t divine power be sensitive to the magic of demons?

If we had divine power, couldn’t we find the demons’ magic?

‘…None of us can handle divine power, but…’

We did have divine power itself.

It seems worth trying.

“I have an idea.”

“What is it, Kay?”

My companions looked at me as I spoke.

After a moment, Sera and Asam quietly said:

“…Using divine power to find the demons’ magic.”

“And the material for that is…”

Sera carefully took something out from her bosom.

“…This should work.”

The shell of the egg that Chris is currently in.

The piece that Sera had collected for research was now in her hand.

+

At the same time Kay was discussing future plans at Dodo’s house,

Kara was looking at the red sky from atop the capital’s walls.

“…Somehow we managed to hold them off today too.”

Looking at the wounded dwarf warriors and adventurers who had somehow ended up here, Kara quietly sighed.

Though the elite forces of Ferarius were absent, fortunately the remaining dwarf warriors here were skilled, and the quality of the adventurers staying here was high.

The strength of the walls, the reserve forces, the adventurers, and Kara’s own power combined to maintain the defensive line.

“…Damn it.”

Looking at the red sky, Kara cursed softly.

“Damn you, Hakan.”

Kara cursed the general of the New Kingdom who should have been moving with her.

Normally, she would have been careful considering the person’s eyes, but it didn’t matter now.

Because that person had withdrawn just as the defense was beginning.

‘It still makes me angry.’

Kara gritted her teeth slightly as she recalled the previous incident.

About 6 days ago.

The day before the defense began.

Kara had decided to respond to the urgent plea for help from the dwarf royal family.

Although her role was to hunt heretics, before that, she was a saint and a clergy member.

She did not want to refuse the plea for help from those suffering from the demons’ dark arts and monsters.

Therefore, she had immediately ordered the holy knights of the Emiris Order and the Jeolei Order to participate, but…

‘What secret mission?’

Hakan had stated his intention not to participate in the defense, using a secret mission as an excuse.

He even mocked Kara, saying:

‘If you want to do it, do it alone.’

Kara immediately condemned Hakan, but he didn’t even pretend to listen.

Instead, he asked the other holy knights what they would do.

Even the holy knights of the Jeolei Order declared their intention not to participate in the defense, following Hakan’s words.

‘How could knights chosen by God…’

Withdraw their hands from where salvation is needed?

Above all, refuse to use their power where it’s most needed?

Kara still had a headache thinking about it.

‘At least I was fortunate to be able to deploy the Red Knights…’

Though she was clearly in the right, she had barely managed to keep the Red Knights by almost forcing them.

However, their number was just over 10.

To be exact, about 13.

Of course, they were incredibly strong, but their numbers were far too few to handle all the monsters that gathered so densely during each invasion that one might wonder where they all came from.

Moreover, for some reason, the Red Knights couldn’t properly handle weapons like bows, so they couldn’t attack enemies from the walls during defense.

At best, they could only repel enemies that managed to climb up.

‘…If only the other knight orders were here…’

At least they wouldn’t have to struggle unnecessarily, Kara thought as she bit her lip slightly.

But that was the reality she couldn’t change right now.

She sighed and checked the time.

‘It’s prayer time.’

Though the situation wasn’t good, it was a daily routine she never skipped.

Neatly folding her hands and knees, closing her eyes, she prayed quietly.

‘O God, please hear my prayer.’

What came to mind were the injured dwarf warriors and adventurers.

The damaged walls.

Kara continued her prayer quietly.

‘Please give me the strength to save them.’

‘Please give me the strength to protect them.’

‘Please give me the strength to overcome adversity.’

‘Please allow me to save them from the demons’ attacks.’

‘O God, hear my prayer and answer me.’

With a heart without a trace of falsehood,

Kara prayed to her god, Emiris.

She prayed that He would answer.

“…I suppose God wouldn’t answer someone like me anyway.”

Someone who has lost even the power to protect and is ignored.

Perhaps she had hoped for too much.

Just as she was about to rise, bitterly mocking herself, divine power gathered before her.

“What…”

But soon she could identify it.

“Lord Emiris…”

God had heard her prayer.

Kara’s face brightened with joy at that realization.

Truly believing that He was giving her an answer, Kara offered another prayer and said:

“Thank you, Lord Emiris…”

Please give me the wisdom to overcome this ordeal.

Kara thought this as she looked at the mass of divine power.

[My servant, Kara.]

A kind and warm voice spread from the mass of divine power.

Shedding tears of emotion, Kara listened intently to the voice.

[I have heard your prayer.]

[I will not abandon you.]

[I shall lend you wisdom. I shall lend you strength.]

[In return, work for me.]

‘…Lord Emiris.’

In a situation where she was truly hearing the voice of God, Kara continued to listen with emotion.

‘Working for You, I can do that anytime.’

After all, she is Emiris’s saint.

She can do anything.

[My servant Kara.]

“I am listening.”

[Hear my command and fulfill it.]

Kara listened again.

And then.

[Bring me the head of the white dragon heretic you are pursuing and the newly born goddess.]

The divine command was given.