Ch.80Sacred War (1)

“You damn monster—!!”

William’s eyes went wild after watching all his comrades die before him. Dozens of arrows that had been vibrating in the air with a woong sound flew toward me, and I dodged the attack by riding lightning to relocate once again.

Woooong—!

When the arrows hit the ground, they created dozens of holes by sucking in the space around them.

“You must be somewhere in this space…!! I’ll kill you without leaving a single piece of flesh!!”

Woooong—!!

A black sphere formed in William’s hand. This sphere was incomparably larger than the previous one.

“Black Moon!”

With those words, the black sphere rose into the sky. Looking like a black moon hanging in the air, the sphere absorbed all the lightning bolts that had been falling everywhere.

Not stopping there, it even absorbed the electrical currents floating along the ground, forcing me to move across the ground rather than through lightning.

Woong—!!

And as if this was just the beginning, the black moon started to fulfill its role with a woooong sound.

Kuguuguung…

Lightning, walls, ground. Everything was being sucked in by the black moon’s gravitational pull. Even the twenty-meter-high walls and the black lightning that melted those walls with its intense heat.

Even the ground where I was hiding. Everything was being absorbed by the black moon that pulled in everything.

“Whether you’re deep underground or in the lightning, this black moon is a mass of gravitational force! It won’t disappear until it absorbs everything in the space I’ve designated! Only I, the caster, am free from this black moon! Now, show yourself!”

Woooong—

Kwadddduuk—

As William finished speaking, the Black Moon’s gravitational pull strengthened, and the speed of absorption increased.

To escape from this gravitational vortex, I dug through the ground and moved far, very far away, to a place where William appeared as just a tiny dot.

The Black Moon absorbed everything around it, just as William had said. It completely sucked in everything within a radius of about 25 meters, leaving the ground with a circular crater as if it had been hit by a meteorite.

This spectacle continued for over 10 minutes, and after that time, the Black Moon gradually began to fade.

The fading Black Moon continued to absorb everything until the very end. Thinking it looked almost like a black hole, I kept my eyes on William, preparing to pounce.

“Huff… Huff…”

His face was drenched in sweat, and his complexion was deathly pale. His hands and feet were trembling, and he who had been flying in the sky began to descend to the ground.

Thinking that if this was an act, I would have no choice but to fall for it, I gathered lightning in my legs to prepare for flight.

Kurrrung…

Black lightning growled like a car starting its engine, and the lightning wrapped around my feet spread across the ground, signaling the start.

Kwarung…!

I pushed off with my legs and flew. The speed was literally supersonic.

In an instant, I moved behind William, pulled stones from the ground to compress them into an axe, wrapped lightning around the blade, gripped it with both hands, and swung it upward.

“I knew you would approach!”

He fired a gravity sphere he had been hiding at me as I approached him instantly. It was a smaller sphere than the Black Moon from earlier, but it was enough to pull my body in, and my body began to be sucked into his sphere.

“I thought you would approach if I pretended to be exhausted. As expected of a beast, you fall for such a simple fake.”

William looked at me with his arms crossed, as if he had already won.

As my axe was helplessly sucked into the black sphere and even my right arm was being consumed, I emitted lightning from my entire body to resist the sphere.

Kurururung——!!!

The lightning that spread from my entire body was sucked into the black sphere, and my arm was now consumed up to the elbow.

And then black arrows flew toward me.

The black arrows collided with the lightning emanating from my body and disappeared, but some still flew toward me. I emitted as much lightning as possible and pulled up the ground to defend against his attacks as much as possible while creating footholds.

Thinking I would lose my arm if this continued, I gathered lightning in my right arm that was being consumed.

Fortunately, it seemed that the part connected to my arm still had sensation until the sphere remained.

I emitted lightning from inside the black sphere and continued to resist his attacks as he fired black arrows while keeping his distance from me.

“You’ve held out this far! Impressive! But now disappear!”

The black sphere gradually began to fade. Thinking that if it disappeared like this, my arm would vanish with it, I emitted all the lightning I had.

Pajik…

For the first time, an anomaly occurred in the black sphere. A crack had formed in the sphere! Seeing this, I drew out all the lightning in my body and concentrated it in my arm.

Pachang!

“What!?”

The crack in the black sphere gradually grew larger, and eventually the sphere itself shattered, revealing my intact right arm. I flew toward him as he stepped back in surprise, pushing off from my foothold.

Kwaaaang——!!

The foothold reformed into an axe, and I gripped it tightly with my right arm. Black lightning flowed along the blade of the axe.

The stone axe surrounded by black lightning struck William, who had a face of disbelief, and he was pathetically sent flying into the sky.

And I didn’t let him go. I gathered the remaining stones to create a space for my feet, and again gathered lightning in my legs to move forward.

Tukwaaang—!!

With a thunderous sound, I flew toward William and swung my axe again at him as he was flying through the air.

Kagagagak—

The gravity barrier was still intact, as my axe couldn’t deliver a proper hit, but the impact of the axe striking the gravity barrier left him disoriented.

Seeing this, I changed the axe to a hammer, which was better for delivering impact, then approached him again as he was flying and swung the lightning-wrapped hammer.

Kwaang—!

“Kuluk!”

As expected, he couldn’t handle the impact generated by my strength and flew away, spitting blood. I flew to him again, swung, and sent him flying again.

Swing again, send flying again. Swing, send flying.

Woooong…

Using floating stones in the sky as footholds, I sent him flying several times like playing a solo game of tennis, and after sending him flying into the sky, I prepared for the final blow.

Kwaaang—!!

Using the last foothold in the air, I rose into the sky and compressed black lightning into my hammer.

Pajijik…!

The black lightning settled into the hammer, turning it into a black hammer, and I, high in the sky, began to fall slowly.

Shiiing—!!

The cold wind at hundreds of meters altitude welcomed me, and as I, weighing several tons, began to fall, the speed increased more and more until I spotted William slowly falling.

Looking at his small figure, I made the hammer pointed. The hammer, which looked like a battering ram, compressed black lightning at its tip.

I grabbed the hammer with both hands, raised it high in the sky, and applied force.

Kwaddduk—

Though the hammer was compressed by my strength, my grip was even stronger, causing the handle part of the hammer to crack.

It would shatter after just one swing, but that didn’t matter.

With this strike, I would break his gravity barrier and kill him.

As he gradually came closer, I aimed the hammer and swung it.

Muooooo—!!

Kwang——!!

With a roar, my hammer struck his gravity barrier. That strike was so godlike that one might believe it was Thor’s Mjölnir from Norse mythology being swung.

Woooong—!!

Pajijik——!!

William, who had been reduced to a rag doll, either regained consciousness or unconsciously strengthened his gravity barrier, extending his hand to block my hammer.

Along with the sight of black lightning being refracted, his shield began to appear more clearly to my eyes. With the thought of completely breaking through it, I put even more strength into my arm holding the hammer and struck down.

Mueeeeee!!!

Kwajik—

“Keheuk—!!”

Finally, the gravity barrier shattered, and at the same time as the handle of my hammer broke, I sent him flying to the ground.

Kuung…

The sound of his collision with the ground was so immediate that it could be heard even where I was. To finish him off for certain, I grabbed the shattered hammer with lightning.

Pajijik——!!!

The black lightning revealed its presence and fell at high speed to pass judgment on William.

I could see him lying in the crater he had created himself, with his lower body gone, and as I raised the hammer to strike him down again.

“Uldur’s Shield!”

Kwaaaang——!!

A shield made of light blocked my hammer. Electricity scattered in all directions, and the shield developed cracks as if it would break at any moment, but it succeeded in protecting William.

As I was about to stomp down with my foot to shatter the shield that had interfered with finishing William off.

“Holy Smite!”

Four fists made of light flew at me and pushed me back. To identify those who had interfered with me not once but twice, I turned my head toward their position, detecting their presence through the earth.

There stood three men and two women.

* * * * *

The Order of Light, having regrouped, rushed at full speed toward the site of the fierce battle. The First Star Party was engaged in battle with Wrath, as evidenced by William’s trademark black sphere that was sucking in everything.

It was clearly visible even to the Order from a distance, and they advanced quickly toward the sphere, breaking through walls.

“Baytram, Bell, Floc. Lead the way and break through the walls. Iris, carry me on your back.”

“Yes, Saintess.”

“Aquis! Archbishop Pelosi! I leave the command here to you! I will proceed ahead with the four Knights of God to join the First Star Party!”

The commanders of the Order’s forces, Knight of God Aquis and Archbishop Pelosi, who was once called a Battle Priest, nodded in agreement.

When the Saintess was carried by Iris, the only archer among the Knights of God, along with the unrivaled skilled knights Baytram, Bell, and Floc, their speed became incomparable to before.

Floc, wielding a mace, cleared the path, while Baytram and Bell swung their swords to prevent debris from reaching Iris, who was carrying the Saintess.

As the four superhumans worked together, the black sphere grew closer, and just as they were about to increase their speed further.

Shwook—

The black sphere floating in the sky disappeared. Whether its power had run out or the First Star Party had been annihilated was unclear, but it wasn’t a good sign.

“Can you run faster?”

The Saintess urged the Knights of God, and they responded to her expectations.

“Holy Smite!”

While until now they had been breaking walls with just strength and technique to conserve energy, now the Knights of God used holy power to attack the walls, blasting them away entirely.

The fists of light broke through walls two meters thick and continued forward. When one’s power ran out, another’s Holy Smite took over, and then another’s.

As the three alternated, advancing without concern for debris and leaving fist marks on the walls, they now moved faster than horses.

Kwang…

The sound of impact could be heard from here, indicating they were almost at the battle area.

“We will soon encounter Wrath! Everyone, prepare yourselves! Assume the worst-case scenario that the First Star Party is gone and engage in battle accordingly!”

When they arrived at the battlefield, what they saw was William, who had fallen from the sky and collided with the ground, and Wrath, holding a lightning-wrapped hammer in the sky, about to swing it down.

It was obvious that William, if he was even still alive, would die if hit by that hammer.

The Saintess moved first.

“Uldur’s Shield!”

A shield made of light that the Saintess created above William. The Order’s greatest defensive technique, which according to scripture had even blocked dragon breath during the ancient war with dragons—Uldur’s Shield.

This technique was recreated by the Saintess’s hands after hundreds of years, and although much weaker than when Uldur used it, it was enough to block Wrath’s attack.

Kwaaang—!!

As the lightning-wrapped hammer clashed with Uldur’s Shield, and the lightning wrapped around the hammer flowed along the ground.

Uldur’s Shield also blocked the space below the shield with sacred light, stopping the electrical current flowing through the ground.

But Wrath’s attack power was beyond imagination. Uldur’s Shield cracked with just one hit, and it was uncertain whether it could block the next attack.

“Iris, secure William! The rest of you, help me push back Wrath!”

“Yes!”

As the Saintess spoke, the others prepared, and Iris rushed toward where Wrath and William were.

Wrath, seemingly annoyed by the shield that had blocked his attack, raised his leg to try to break the shield.

“Now! Holy Smite!”

“Holy Smite!”

The fists of light created in response to the Saintess’s signal instantly flew and struck Wrath. He withstood the first hit, but the second and third followed, and the final attack succeeded in pushing Wrath back.

Not missing this opportunity, Iris successfully retrieved the battered William.

Wrath, seemingly angered at having his prey taken away, turned his red eyes toward the Saintess’s group, and they stared back at him unflinchingly, despite this being their first encounter with Wrath.