Ch.80Descent (2)

The black knight galloped across the field.

The muddy ground broke roughly beneath him. That’s how dynamic it was.

“Ah, a demon!”

“Fall back! Don’t engage! Call the priests quickly!”

“Holy water! Sprinkle holy water on his head!”

The Crusader detachment retreated in complete disarray. They could not dare to stand against him with human strength.

Any living being that came into contact with the black aura surrounding the knight immediately lost their life. Literally stolen away. Without even crossing swords once, they became skeletal corpses sinking between raindrops.

“We cannot fight him. We cannot fight him.”

“Oh God!”

Their struggles were futile. Knights wrapped in holy power leaped to their deaths but could not stop him.

Even those who could resist the black aura were cut in half with a single exchange. Unable to withstand the black knight’s sword, they sprayed fountains of blood.

The earth was stained with the blood of those who followed God.

They mingled with the bodies of heretics. Fallen together, they were indistinguishable.

Only wretchedness lingered.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Run away!”

In the end, the lambs, gripped by terror, backed away.

They floundered, consumed by the blind instinct to survive. Holy knights, priests, common soldiers—it didn’t matter. They tried to escape the black aura. Stepping over corpses and cutting down comrades who blocked their path, they sought hope.

“God has abandoned us!”

Faith lost in an instant.

Truly futile.

#

“Is this what they call submission?”

Durin looked around and lamented. The battlefield had ended too easily for one who had desired combat.

No matter how lowly they might be, they were servants of God, yet he hadn’t expected them to be this weak.

He had expected warriors like Azakiel, who fought to the end on a losing battlefield. He had upheld his faith and ultimately met his destruction. It was the end of a great one, a being worthy of respect.

“The angels who fight to protect these people are pathetic.”

To be precise, they were merely using methods to effectively control their own food bowl.

The Pope, holy land, prayers, hymns—all of it was like a farm of faith tailored for humans.

“I-I’ve told you all the information. So please! Please, I beg you!”

He looked at the old priest trembling before him.

The high-ranking cardinal had already taken his own life long ago. The subject before him was a young priest who had served him.

A fragile lamb waiting for disposal after failing in his desperate struggle to survive.

“Please spare me!”

“Silence.”

There was no peace for the noisy one. Durin exerted force and burst the priest’s head.

The pitiful final gesture was a death befitting the weak. After his fingertips convulsed one last time, he became a headless corpse.

Durin shook the blood from his hand. He looked at the remains on his gauntlet as if looking at garbage.

“There’s less information about the human realm than I expected.”

As the Regent was expressing his dissatisfaction, Ludmila approached with her hood on.

“I’ve collected some parchments, but they probably won’t contain vital information.”

“That’s fine. We have mountains of things to figure out, and right now, even one troop location is valuable.”

“If you want information about the ruins, we’ll eventually have to advance to the human capital, to the Vatican.”

Besides advancing to the heart, there were no options. This made Durin ponder deeply.

There was the simplest method of breaking through with force, but that would invite concentrated opposition from Heaven. No matter how confident he was, if high-ranking beings like Archangels blocked his path, he might not achieve his objectives.

“The Demon Lord is also a problem, Ludmila.”

“I was just about to bring that up.”

Ludmila snapped her fingers. An elf who had been fidgeting nearby appeared discreetly.

“I investigated the heretics… of the ruins.”

“I didn’t give such orders.”

When Durin turned his gaze toward him, the elf flinched and stepped back. Ludmila gently blocked his retreat.

“If we’re going to operate in the human realm, we’ll need help, right?”

“That doesn’t mean I tolerate independent action.”

“Right. I know that well. I’m controlling them well with magic, so don’t worry too much, okay?”

The mediator’s intervention barely managed to patch things up. However, it seemed difficult for the elf to withstand the pressure.

The elf handed over several tokens to Ludmila and quickly rejoined the hero.

“What’s that pendant?”

“It seems the Demon Lord distributed them to her followers. I can feel that woman’s demonic energy inside.”

Durin examined it carefully. Inside the crude black necklace, small letters were engraved.

“Dark Cult.”

“An old name. Seeds planted by demons in the human realm 1,000 years ago.”

“They’ve maintained their lineage until now?”

“Of course not. The Demon Lord is simply reusing that eradicated name.”

“I’ll have to correct this someday.”

He clenched his fist. The pendant crumbled inside his gauntlet. Black demonic energy scattered into the air.

“First, we clean up the surroundings. While the advance party fortifies the area around the ruins, we’ll crush those so-called Crusaders first.”

Durin turned to Ludmila.

“I’ll entrust all non-combat duties to you, Ludmila.”

“That’s what I’m here for. First, I’ll send a signal to the Demon Lord’s castle. I need to let them know it’s safe to warp.”

The supreme sorceress put her hands together. A small, round ball of demonic energy swirled above her chest.

“This is just the beginning.”

Simultaneously, Ludmila raised her hand. A black pillar shot up into the sky.

It struck the rift Durin had emerged from and disappeared beyond it. Fragments of shattered space began to scatter throughout the world. A massive shockwave split the dark clouds.

Sunlight seeped through the gap. Durin stared directly into the light.

#

The power that cut through the sky spread throughout the world.

Few were unaware. Not just the Vatican that only looked to God, or the heretics abandoned by heaven, but even ordinary people who received news about the Crusaders came to know.

-A demon has appeared.

An unprecedented event after 1,000 years.

It came as a shock to those who had dismissed as absurd the rumors that the Demon Lord had descended to the human realm.

“If the Demon Lord has appeared, why is the world still peaceful?”

“The newly emerged hero remains only in the Vatican, which lacks credibility.”

“I cannot accept this situation where even Heaven doesn’t respond.”

These were the claims they had been making. Because the world was peaceful, the skeptics didn’t want to pay attention. They thought it was just another excuse to build new authority in the name of faith.

The descent of the strongest being from the demon realm.

It was something incomprehensible by human common sense. Such a tyrannical figure wouldn’t leave peace undisturbed. It should have been an event that would split the world in two, yet looking around, people were attending worship services as usual. No matter how one thought about it, this could only be interpreted as a scheme by the Vatican. If not a scheme, it would mean that the common sense humans had held until now was wrong.

“Only innocent people will die in the Crusades.”

“Lord, have mercy on them.”

Time passed like that. Even the view of the Crusades, which claimed to subjugate heretics, became skeptical.

Stagnant war situation.

Incompetence in failing to kill the heretics’ saint despite her appearance.

Discovery of corruption among holy knights.

In some quarters, there were movements suggesting the Pope should be deposed, and it seemed a council would soon be convened.

But this sudden event overturned everything.

“The southern monastery is burning.”

“There are no survivors in the path of the demon with the black helmet.”

“A castle is being built where the pillar of demonic energy descended. We must send the Crusaders immediately.”

The urgent reports that came day after day pounded on the Pope.

There was no time to respond. With each passing day, followers of God perished, and brothers in faith fled.

No firm faith was visible. They only showed the misery of humans being hunted.

“Should I laugh or despair?”

The old priest sitting on the golden throne opened his wrinkled eyes. His voice carried no emotion.

He seemed to be observing the world. Despite being in the highest position serving God, he showed no passion.

After all, other zealous priests would be fulfilling their duties in related matters. He would merely keep worldly affairs at his side and watch as always.

“But I can’t just sit idle.”

However, since a demon had directly descended, he intended to do his part this time. He would instill a sense of urgency in Heaven.

He wanted to ask if they could ignore this again.

The one bearing the sins of humanity raised his head to look at the sky. Through the mosaic-painted ceiling, a colorful scene was visible. The scene of angels from mythology burning demons was vividly engraved.

“Convey the voice to Heaven. They will soon respond.”

The hollow voice echoed in the great hall.

Along with a contradictory wish that lacked desperation.