Ch.256Chapter 256 – Descent (2)

“Serra, are you ready?”

“Yes!”

As soon as I spoke, Serra picked up the red book.

Soon, several pages flew out from the book and scattered into the air.

“I saw it earlier. You’ve created quite a fearsome tool.”

“Originally, I was just thinking of a way to store and quickly retrieve surplus tools.”

Serra explained that it was a tool she had completed with the help of witches.

She added that after some adjustments before this battle, she could now use it in its current form.

“You really worked hard on this.”

“I’ll reward you later.”

“Really?”

Serra said with a smile.

I silently nodded to her.

“In return, help me a little more.”

“Of course.”

Serra replied confidently with a smile.

“That’s why I came here in the first place.”

I smiled back at her smiling face.

Then I moved forward to face the enemy, determined to protect her.

“By the way, what a horrific appearance.”

I was referring to Emiris, who now had eight arms sprouting from her back.

Normally, she would have had a complete form with sacred power, but her form was imperfect, likely due to the Divine Chaff that had been scattered.

Some arms had only bones, while others were excessively enlarged.

Some hands were even missing fingers, while others had grown extra ones.

Looking at this appearance so far from anything sacred, I chuckled softly and said:

“I’d like to show this sight to those who believe God is omnipotent.”

Judging by that appearance, the opponent was clearly in a greatly weakened state.

[Silence.]

Emiris spat out her words with murderous intent, apparently offended.

[If it weren’t for your petty tricks…]

“I think your argument loses credibility the moment you fall for ‘petty tricks.'”

[Silence!]

Emiris shouted loudly, seemingly embarrassed by her own vulnerability.

She was clearly agitated.

I quickly approached her, taking advantage of her agitation.

“You’re falling for such simple provocations.”

As I extended my fist, Emiris desperately tried to block it with her arms.

But by the time she moved her arms, it was already too late to defend.

Emiris took a direct hit to the abdomen, coughed out a breath, and flew backward.

This deity was paying dearly for falling for a simple provocation.

[Damn this feeble saint…!]

“I thought you said she was fine earlier?”

[Shut up!]

She immediately closed the distance and swung her arm again.

Perhaps unwilling to fall for provocation twice, this time Emiris blocked my punch in time.

Then all eight of her arms began raining down on me, and I raised my arms to block the barrage of fists.

“K!”

I heard Serra’s voice.

I quickly used magic power to jump backward, causing the eight fists to strike the innocent ground instead.

As my body flew back, it was caught by something like a thread.

Glancing to the side, I saw a page from the book extending a magical string.

“I’ll launch you!”

With Serra’s voice, the string that had stretched behind me suddenly became elastic.

Like a rubber band trying to return to its original state, the string catapulted my body forward.

Riding that momentum, I extended my fist and saw Emiris overlapping all eight of her arms.

-KWANG!!

A tremendous sound rang out, and Emiris’s body was thrown backward again.

Soon her eight arms dug into the ground to support her body, but I could see three arms breaking and disappearing from the impact.

Just as I was about to pursue, I saw silver weapons falling from above. I quickly dodged to the side and smashed some of them.

Looking back at Emiris, I saw five arms extending their palms toward me, and soon lightning began to fly from those palms.

As I was about to deflect it using my armor, a paper suddenly flew in front of me, launched by Serra.

Something pointed emerged from the book page, absorbed the lightning, and then burned away.

Serra’s support had successfully blocked the deity’s attack.

Thanks to that, I approached the enemy who had created a large opening while attacking, and delivered another punch.

[Ugh!]

Emiris rolled across the ground after taking my heavy punch.

[…If I had come in my true form… if things had gone according to plan…!]

Emiris muttered resentfully as she stood up again.

I quietly spoke to her:

“Everyone has a good plan. Until they get hit.”

[Are you mocking me!]

I immediately threw another punch at Emiris, who had fallen for the provocation again.

She didn’t get hit like the first time, but her defense was still delayed due to her excitement.

‘For a deity, she’s quite emotional.’

When one thinks of deities, they usually imagine beings detached from all emotions, but this one wasn’t.

No, more than that, she had become less composed than before.

It felt almost as if she couldn’t control herself.

‘Thanks to Serra?’

The enemy had lost much of her composure as her divine arts were thrown into disarray by Serra’s Divine Chaff.

Of course, if the enemy had been in her true form, it might have been different, but she was fighting from afar using Kara’s body.

That’s why she was more vulnerable to Serra’s tools.

While I was analyzing this, my heart started to ache.

‘No time left.’

This armor would soon be dispelled.

I needed to end this quickly before that happened.

I swung my fist with all my might.

I needed to finish this decisively now.

“I’ll support you!”

I heard Serra’s voice.

Soon, long objects with slightly rounded tips began flying from the book Serra had opened.

Those objects hit Emiris’s arms, causing explosions and smoke.

Then, punching through the smoke toward Emiris, I shouted:

“It’s time for you to get out of that body!!!”

I struck down with all my might.

Red and blue energy gathered in my fist.

Once again, my fist connected with Emiris’s abdomen.

[Kuuugh!!]

Perhaps she could no longer endure.

Soon, silver divine power began to pour out of Kara’s body.

A terrifying light engulfed the surroundings, and I quickly jumped back while raising my arms.

And after a moment.

I could see the silver divine power that had escaped from Kara’s body beginning to wrap around her again.

[The…connection…is…breaking…!]

“Persistent bastard.”

The divine power with apparent will that had escaped from Kara’s body due to my earlier blow couldn’t re-enter her body.

One more effective hit here would end everything.

‘This is really my limit now.’

My entire body was screaming in pain.

The armor would probably dispel after one or two more movements.

Even now, the pain in my heart was concerning due to the extended time, but if I could somehow attack with full power just once more, I felt I could resolve this situation.

While trying to gather my remaining magic power with that thought in mind.

Emiris’s voice spread around us.

[Before I go… you all…!]

With those words, the divine power surrounding Kara changed into something like a cocoon.

It began to pulsate like a heart.

At the same time, magic circles began to appear around us.

[Come, my slaves.]

Emiris’s voice echoed in my head.

And soon, seeing red armors rising from the magic circles, I gritted my teeth.

“…I heard Kara deliberately left them behind.”

I said these words while watching the Red Holy Knights gradually appear.

And Emiris’s voice began to laugh.

Soon, she left her final words:

[Come and bind their feet until the end.]

The deity’s command was given.

[I will erase everyone here.]

The Red Holy Knights began charging at us with their weapons, leaving behind the pulsating heart of divine power.

+

“The Red Holy Knights…!”

Eve’s voice, who was fighting Phobia, was filled with dismay.

‘Of all times…!’

K had maintained his armor for too long.

He might be able to move once or twice more, but he needed to dispel the armor and rest soon.

He shouldn’t be allowed to fight anymore.

“Damn it, Serra, get back…”

“K, you need to step back! It’s too dangerous for you now!!”

Serra was seen almost screaming as she forcibly blocked K’s path.

Then she summoned another golem to charge forward and physically pushed K back.

And despite wearing the dragon armor, which should have allowed him to resist Serra’s strength, K began to yield to her push.

Though he was forcing himself to move, he had clearly reached his limit.

‘We need to retreat now…!’

The problem was what Emiris had said earlier.

Bind their feet until the end.

Having received that order, the Red Holy Knights would never let K and Serra escape.

Someone had to stop those knights.

‘But who…?’

That was the problem.

There was no one available.

Mask was busy fighting the doll that had merged into a monster.

She herself was fighting Phobia.

And Serra couldn’t handle the Red Holy Knights.

While she might be able to deal with one or two on her own, more than ten would be impossible.

The golem Serra had sent as a delaying tactic was already being dismantled.

“Hee hee, hee hee hee!!!”

“You’re really noisy!”

Eve shouted as she slashed Phobia’s body with her sword.

But Phobia wasn’t cut by the sword.

The reason was similar to when Kara faced K earlier.

“Why are you so tough…!”

It was because Phobia’s defense was exceptional, perhaps due to special materials used because she considered herself special.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t be scratched at all, but cutting through her with Eve’s beloved sword was impossible.

Moreover, the heart left by Emiris was also ominously threatening.

‘She said she would erase everyone here.’

The meaning of that wasn’t hard to imagine.

“Are you okay? We’ll all die if we stay here!”

“I’m fine!”

Phobia shouted brightly.

“Because I won’t die!!”

Phobia shouted as she twisted her body even more grotesquely.

Eve, who had barely been responding, suddenly rolled backward in surprise at what she saw.

“What…!”

Silver tentacles began to extend from the heart.

Soon, the tentacles began targeting moving objects around them.

Eve quickly dodged the tentacles as she observed what was happening.

“What is this!”

Mask, who had been farther away, cut one tentacle and then approached Eve with nimble movements, avoiding the tentacles.

Meanwhile, Serra began creating stone walls to block the tentacles, protecting herself and K.

“Huh?”

Instead, Phobia was caught by those tentacles.

And she began to be dragged away by them.

“Huh? Huh? Huuuh?”

Phobia muttered as if she couldn’t understand the situation.

In an instant, she was dragged to the silver heart and disappeared into it.

And she wasn’t the only one.

The corpse golems around them, as well as Phobia’s dolls, all began to be dragged away.

The only exceptions were the Red Holy Knights.

“Do you know what that is?”

“How would I know!”

Eve snapped irritably at Mask’s question, her mind urgent.

But she quickly changed her expression and shouted:

“Anyway, now’s our chance! We need to retrieve K and Serra…!”

“…But I think we need to deal with them first!”

Mask immediately kicked off the ground and charged.

He sent one of the Red Holy Knights flying—one who had been breaking the wall Serra had created using the flat of his sword.

In that time, Eve was also able to reach her companions.

“Eve!”

“Eve!”

“We need to retreat now. It’s too dangerous!”

Eve shouted urgently.

And at that moment, she saw it.

Something like a pupil forming in the heart.

And that pupil was precisely targeting them.

[I won’t let you go.]

The next moment, Eve’s body became heavy.

Serra and K seemed to be experiencing the same thing, as they suddenly lowered their posture.

[Those who do not bow before a deity are blasphemous.]

“That damned thing…!”

Mask, who had been fighting the Red Holy Knights a little distance away, also seemed to be weighed down.

Soon, one of the knights kicked her.

“Damn it!”

“Mask!”

They saw her rolling back behind their group.

But there was no time to worry about her.

The Red Holy Knights were approaching to capture the remaining companions.

[All of you, die.]

Emiris’s voice was heard.

And just as one of the Red Holy Knights was about to pin down K.

Someone suddenly appeared and kicked him away.

“Get away!!”

A somewhat timid voice, and a gallant kick that didn’t match it.

It was Eina.

“Eina?!”

“Suddenly a magic circle threw me here, what is this…!”

Eina seemed to be rambling, confused by the sudden change in situation.

But even so, she engaged in battle with the Red Holy Knights.

[Even the broken slave appears due to interference…!]

It seemed that due to the Divine Chaff still spread around, the ritual had partially failed.

As a result, Eina, who had been far away, was summoned.

And in response to Emiris’s voice, Eina shouted loudly:

“Who are you calling a slave!”

Eina shouted at the pupil.

“More importantly, who are you! Are you the one who summoned us to this world? How dare you call us slaves…!”

Eina shouted as she sent a Red Holy Knight flying with her axe.

“I won’t waste words. Return us to normal and send us back to our original world right now!”

[Silence, slave! Know your place!]

With an angry voice, the eye began to glow.

Magic power, not divine power, was gathering within it.

“…Is that Phobia’s magic power?”

It must have been Phobia’s magic power that was absorbed earlier, now gathered inside.

The magic power was turbulent enough to be visible even to Eve’s eyes.

‘This is bad.’

The only one who could block a magical attack here was Serra.

But whether her level of magic power could handle it, or whether she even had enough magic power left, couldn’t be guaranteed.

Nevertheless, Serra steeled herself and extended her staff forward, and the eye in the heart began to glow.

[Die, die. Everyone here must disappear. There is no need for anything uncontrolled in my world.]

Soon, a purple beam shot out from the eye.

Serra gritted her teeth and raised a stone wall, but it was instantly shattered.

The beam that had broken through the stone wall began to approach, burning everything around it.

“‘Protect the lamb.'”

A golden shield appeared and blocked the beam.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

A familiar voice echoed in their heads.

Golden feathers were falling from the sky.

Everyone looked up.

Christina, with wings glowing golden, was descending from the sky.