Ch.798Side Story) Carolus

“May Elpinel protect us!”

A charge like a storm.

The cavalry gripping pure white spears became a massive wave of steel upon impact, mercilessly sweeping through the orcs’ rear lines.

The orcs, wearing thick leather adorned with human skin and bones as decorations, had their protruding tusked faces pierced by pure white spear tips. Heads shattered and severed by the knights’ longswords and maces soared into the air.

“Grooooar! You’re insane! Attacking while worshipping a weak god!”

“How dare you speak of our god with that filthy mouth!”

The orcs hurriedly turned around, swinging swords and axes at the prey that had so audaciously charged at them—

“What?! They won’t die! These things are strange!”

The humans swinging longswords while emitting streams of pure white light were beings of an entirely different dimension compared to the prey they had faced until now. So much so that the orcs, who had been dispatched to hunt down hundreds of prey with just one knight, could not possibly match them.

It didn’t take long for all the once-rampaging orcs to be hunted down.

—-

Decades ago, after a blue meteor tore open the heavens and fell, humanity—which had been suffering from the atrocities of other races—obtained divine blessings that allowed them to transcend the limits of their species.

A blessing that granted greater power to the body with each otherworldly being killed, eventually guiding one to manifest miracles with a human body.

Star’s protection. Fragment of god. Celestial grace. Fighting spirit.

After various names were mixed together haphazardly over decades, a name emerged that all who obtained the power of blessing could nod in agreement to.

Achievement.

That name became established as a symbol of resistance for humans fighting to reject the fate of being prey.

Thanks to the blessing of Achievement, humans who gained the power to compete with other races established resistance organizations around the world, refusing to be ruled by other species.

The honorific used in old legends passed down from grandparents to grandchildren to describe brave humans who took up swords to fight enemies.

Carrying the name “knight” on their backs.

However, even with the power of Achievement, it was nearly impossible for the handful of humans to win independence against the powerful otherworldly races.

Most of the sporadically formed resistance organizations were either massacred by the armies of otherworldly beings who came to suppress the rebellion of the inferior species, or met an even more miserable end.

Except for a few knightly orders that stubbornly survived and maintained their lineage, perhaps with divine protection.

The Patricius Order of Knights, who worshipped Elpinel, the god of sky and grace, was one such organization.

—-

Pipinus, the Grand Master of the Patricius Order of Knights and a hero who had reached the miracle of will beyond the wall, let out a deep sigh with a devastated expression despite his picturesque victory.

Having heard rumors of a knight with skills comparable to an orc champion leading hundreds of fellow humans, he had hurriedly marched to gather and protect them, but…

“I was too late…”

When the knights arrived, all that remained were burnt ruins and brutally murdered corpses.

It was a sickeningly familiar sight, but no matter how accustomed he had become, the grief did not diminish.

‘Lord Elpinel, watch over their souls…’

Pipinus made the sign of the cross and prayed for the peace of the victims. That those who had suffered from cruel fate might find peace in God’s embrace after death.

‘And please grant us the power to destroy those hideous evil beings…’

“Grand Master!”

It was then.

“Here, there’s a survivor!”

One of the knights collecting bodies raised his hand with an incredulous expression and shouted.

“A survivor?”

Pipinus rushed over, only to find himself making the sign of the cross once more and praying to God with a perplexed expression.

Looking down at the only survivor lying like a corpse in a sea of blood.

“What is this boy…? No, is he even a boy?”

The survivor they had barely found was a being beyond his common sense. Not only did he possess the vitality to still be breathing despite having six spears pierced through his entire body…

“Such height…”

His face was pale with boyish features intact, but the body below his neck easily surpassed that of most knights.

It was as if someone had sewn a boy’s head onto the body of a Dane warrior in his prime.

“Grand Master, from what I heard, the knight ruling this place was definitely called Karl ‘the Great’… Could this be the boy they were referring to?”

“…That might be the case. To think a knight with skills surpassing an orc champion would be so young… Surely, Lord Elpinel’s protection must be upon him.”

After carefully removing the spears and providing emergency treatment with healing miracles, the Patricius Order of Knights returned to their base with the limp Karl.

After completing a simple funeral by burning the gathered bodies.

Six orc champions slain. Five hundred warriors defeated. One survivor.

The battle that day, a tragedy for some and a great victory for others, carved a scar in one boy’s heart.

An indelible grudge.

—-

Two weeks later.

What awaited Karl when he finally awoke was the harsh truth that everyone he had tried to protect was dead.

Why did they have to die? Why was he the only one who survived?

The man named Pipinus, who subdued Karl as he raged and shouted with his injured body, looked down at him with eyes weathered like a storm-beaten rock and taught him the reason.

“They were killed because they were weak. You couldn’t protect them because you were weak. And… we couldn’t save them because we are weak.”

From the deep regret in those words, Karl finally understood.

The reason why he, No. 2067, the people who called him a knight, and all humans were suffering in this hellish world.

There was no grand reason he occasionally imagined.

Being weak. For that reason alone, humans had to live as livestock, food, and toys for all other races.

“Then, I…”

At that moment, Karl made a vow.

“…will become strong. Stronger than anyone in this world. So that I can repay our suffering to those who committed all those atrocities without hesitation just because we are weak.”

I will kill all orcs.

I will burn all fairies.

I will cast all otherworldly races into hell.

To the boy’s determination, which felt like madness beyond hatred, Pipinus nodded firmly and extended his arm toward Karl.

“Welcome to the Patricius Order of Knights, knight.”

That was the moment when Karl, still a young boy, rose as a knight.

—-

Three years passed like an arrow.

After joining the Patricius Order of Knights, Karl learned and mastered many things from senior knights, growing and accumulating numerous achievements.

Until the Patricius Order of Knights, once just a small group of a few hundred people, became a powerful force that even werebeast kings and orc chieftains were reluctant to attack.

Greatly pleased with Karl, Pipinus took him in as his adopted son and made him the heir to the knightly order.

Saying that every time he saw him, he was reminded of the son he had lost over a decade ago.

Instead of the northern dialect name Karl Grosse, he gave him a new name in the ancient language with the same meaning.

Karolus Magnus.

Great man, Karolus Magnus.

That was the name of the future Grand Master who had crossed the wall and obtained the miracle of will before even reaching twenty.

“…Wouldn’t you normally take someone as a son-in-law rather than an adopted son?”

“Nonsense. Give our Bertheia to a bleak fellow like you? Dream on.”

“I’m not saying I want that.”

“What? What’s wrong with Bertheia! Where else could you find such a proper bride…!”

While Karolus doubted whether the strong woman who knocked out men with a single chop could be called a “proper bride”…

It wasn’t easy to bluntly say “your daughter is closer to a bear than a human” in front of the Grand Master whose mental age seemed to drop by twenty years whenever his daughter was mentioned.

Therefore, Karolus accepted his position as Pipinus’s adopted son without much complaint.

After all, becoming Bertheia’s brother seemed a thousand times wiser than becoming her husband.

—-

Karolus, who had already reached the level of a master when he was brought to Pipinus, grew his Karma by leading the slaughter of countless otherworldly beings over three years.

Until he reached the level where he could manifest miracles of will by infusing his soul into his Karma projected toward the world, beyond merely enhancing physical abilities.

【 Eye of Balor 】

That was the name of the miracle Karolus obtained.

Just as a being that sees the world with only one eye cannot distinguish between far and near, Karolus’s sword cut through the very scene before his eyes without distinction of distance.

Although its power weakened and consumed enormous energy the farther the distance…Karolus intuitively understood.

While his limit was barely cutting a single tree hundreds of meters away, if he honed and developed this power to its extreme…he could cut a mountain with a single stroke.

‘Someday…’

With this sword, he would cut down the disgusting divine tree that those cursed fairies praised as if bewitched.

That was his secret wish.

—-

Destruction came bearing fire and storm.

“Death dragon-! The death dragon, Dabran is attacking!”

Screams stained with terror shook the fortress of the knightly order.

A monster with the form of a winged beast, possessing immeasurable power and bottomless ferocity—the death dragon.

It was synonymous with an irresistible calamity.

Scales that deflected even weapons wielded by heroes. Magic spells pouring down like a meteor shower. Breath like lava spewing from its gaping maw.

The Patricius Order of Knights, which had grown into a force so powerful that even werebeast kings and orc chieftains hesitated to attack, was destroyed by the hand of this calamity from the sky.

“Evacuate-!”

“Scatter! Scatter and flee!”

“Lord Elpinel, help us…!”

What value could human strength have against a monster that flew through the unreachable sky and melted stone walls in an instant?

“Karolus! I entrust Bertheia to you!”

Even the hero who had crossed the wall, Grand Master Pipinus, had no way to counter the dragon’s rampage. He could only throw his spear at the dragon, risking death to save as many people as possible.

“I will fight too! With my sword…!”

“I forbid it! Escape from here and survive at all costs! We may give our lives here, but you, only you must not die here!”

“But…!”

“This is an order! If you die, everything ends. Who else could replace you! The greatest talent of humanity bestowed by heaven, a hero who crossed the wall at nineteen!”

Pipinus, who struck the hesitating Karolus, rushed forward without looking back. Toward a death he could never defeat.

“Father-!”

That day, Karolus lost his friends, his subordinates, his people, and his father.

All that remained was just one thing.

“Father…!”

Only his fifteen-year-old sister, who shed tears in grief.

—-

The fiery calamity that swept through the castle of the Patricius Order of Knights burned everything there.

Leaving only Karolus and Bertheia.

Was it because Pipinus and the knights held the dragon’s attention until they burned to ashes that the two survived?

Or was it, as Pipinus used to say, because Elpinel’s protection was with Karolus? The surviving Karolus couldn’t know.

Because he couldn’t know, he raged.

After the dragon left. At the site of their castle, now just ashes.

Glaring at the unresponsive sky while shedding tears of blood.

“Elpinel-! You utterly incompetent gods of heaven-! Are you watching us! Can you hear our voices!”

His cry, like a wail, echoed loudly.

“If you’re watching, this cannot be. If you’re listening, this cannot be! While the wails of those who worship you flow like rivers, what are you doing! Are you just watching? Are you just looking down at us struggling on earth from your lofty heaven, laughing like children watching ants! And you call yourselves gods-!”

The hatred of a man who had endlessly lost and suffered for twenty years erupted like a volcano.

“Can you hear me! If you’re listening, answer me. Answer me! Elpinel-!”

And then,

Above Karolus’s screaming head.

– Whoooosh!

A beam of pure white light, so brilliant it was blinding, pierced through the clouds and struck down.

“Kuk…!”

When Karolus, who had closed his eyes for a moment due to the dazzling flash, opened them again.

“What… is this…?!”

Before his eyes appeared the figure of a woman embracing a great sword glowing with pure white light.

A woman shedding tears of blood, with twelve wings wrapped around her like a dress and a brilliant halo floating behind her head.

【 I’m sorry. Blame me for my powerlessness. My child. 】

The voice of the goddess, filled with grief, seeped into the ears of Karolus, who stared at the divine figure with a blank expression, at a loss for words.

—-

The goddess, Elpinel, told him.

That the moment he drew this sword, peace would never come to his life.

‘I don’t care.’

Elpinel warned him.

That the moment he drew this sword, a cruel and heavy duty to bear the fate of all humans would be placed upon him.

‘I don’t care.’

Karolus nodded.

He no longer desired peace.

He could bear any duty to shoulder the fate of all humans.

He needed power.

Power to bring down the dragon.

Karolus drew the divine sword.

—-

【 The name of that sword is ■■. It is my sorrow and my anger, now forgotten. 】

“I will call this sword Joyeuse. To achieve the joy of revenge, carrying my sorrow and anger.”

【 Do as you wish. My child. 】

—-

Two years after the tragedy of the Patricius Order of Knights.

Karolus looked up at the sky where the death dragon Dabran was gliding with its wings spread, and drew his pure white sword.

At a distance so far that the dragon’s body, hundreds of meters long, looked as small as a bird.

From there, Karolus raised his sword and swung it downward.

The dragon, split in half, fell from the sky spraying blood.