Ch.81Sacred War (2)

Khan, the gravity user who had made William’s two legs disappear, tried to finish him off, but the sudden intrusion of cult members wouldn’t allow it.

When Khan raised his hammer to break the shield of light, hands of light pushed him away, allowing William to survive. Then a woman with a bow on her back appeared, placing her hand on William and creating a bright light.

Their bodies transformed into light and teleported to where a cult member was positioned above the crater.

Khan hurled lightning as he moved toward those who had stolen his prey. By the time William and the woman completed their teleportation, Khan was already above their heads, swinging a hammer made of lightning at them.

BOOM—!!

“Divine Shield!”

But someone who hadn’t missed Khan’s movement created a shield of light above their heads.

Khan’s lightning hammer broke through that shield and continued forward, but the divine knights created a second and third light shield, eventually blocking the lightning hammer.

“Holy Arrow!”

The woman who had teleported William fired an arrow of light toward Khan. The light arrow flew instantly toward Khan’s eye.

Judging that even such a small arrow could be dangerous to his eyes, Khan raised his hand to block it, but the arrow of light pierced his skin and burned his hand.

Hissss…

White smoke billowed out, and a small hole formed in Khan’s hand as the flesh inside burned.

But the arrow was too small compared to Khan’s size. Khan ignored it as if it were nothing and was about to face the others when dozens of arrows flew toward his vital points.

Crackle!

Khan neutralized the arrow attack by surrounding his body with lightning, then moved to eliminate the kneeling woman—the Saintess—who seemed most troublesome.

BOOM—!

Thunder echoed across the battlefield. His lightning-wrapped legs moved instantly, and Khan immediately teleported above the Saintess’s head, spinning to throw a punch.

CRASH—

The lightning wrapped around his fist flew toward the Saintess. As those who were far away rushed to face Khan, and the divine knight Bell who was right beside her drew his sword—

CRACKLE—!!

A hemispherical barrier formed around the Saintess, blocking Khan’s attack. Bell stopped the sword he was swinging toward Khan and glared at him.

As Khan pulled back his arm to throw another punch, the Saintess opened her eyes, raised her tightly clasped hands high into the sky, and shouted:

“El Rapim’s Barrier!”

BOOOM——!!!

A wall of light fell from the sky, creating a barrier that completely isolated a 100-meter radius.

This barrier was one of the highest-level barrier techniques of the Uldur cult, symbolizing the power of El Rapim, an angel who follows Uldur and serves as a guardian angel. Only some archbishops, saintesses, saints, and the pope could use this technique.

Its effect: a barrier that only those who believe in Uldur can pass through. Non-believers cannot escape from within it.

But Khan, regardless of whether such a barrier was deployed or not, swung his fist again to attack the Saintess.

CRASH—!!

This time, the Saintess’s protective shield didn’t appear, but Plok stepped forward and blocked Khan’s fist with a shield infused with holy power.

With a sound like a fireball exploding, Plok’s body was sent flying. Both his arms broke, unable to withstand Khan’s power, but this place was currently designated as a sanctuary due to the sanctuary proclamation.

Uldur is a god so powerful that he could be considered the single deity of the human race, and the sanctuary proclamation of the Saintess, who could be called his agent, lasts for a full day.

Its effect: Turn Undead and enhancement of Uldur’s followers.

It weakens powerful undead, strengthens those who follow Uldur the God of Light, increases their recovery if they are injured, and even improves the efficiency of holy power—all the cult’s buff skills and counter skills against undead.

Plok used the recovery from the sanctuary and his own holy power to reattach his bones and jumped back into battle.

The others were the same. The divine knight Bell had his spine shattered after being hit by a tail while trying to swing his sword with a shield of light in front, but the power of the sanctuary realigned even his broken spine.

Khan was taking damage bit by bit, very gradually, from these attacks that were almost zombie-like.

Beytram’s sword was incredibly sharp, causing damage to Khan’s skin, and Bell’s sword was tearing those wounds open.

Plok’s mace couldn’t inflict proper wounds due to Khan’s thick skin, but his shield protected the others from Khan’s attacks.

Iris’s bow kept Khan in check, occasionally targeting vital points to divert his attention. Meanwhile, the Saintess, having finished setting up Uldur’s barrier, instantly healed William’s wounds and joined the fight against Khan.

“El Rio’s Blessing!”

White light descended from the sky, enveloping the divine knights. As the light wrapped around them, they became even faster. El Rio’s blessing, Uldur’s messenger, made them move as fast as light itself.

“Divine Impact!”

With El Rio’s blessing making him even faster, Beytram—flash!—widened the wound on Khan’s left leg even further.

Blood now pooled on the ground, and about a quarter of Khan’s left leg was gouged out, exposing bone.

“Push forward! Just a little longer!”

They teleported dozens of times in flashes of light.

Though they attacked while avoiding Khan’s strikes, honestly speaking, it was such a fierce battle that they would all have died already without the sanctuary and the Saintess’s support.

Beytram had been so severely burned by Khan’s lightning that he would have died if the Saintess hadn’t personally healed him. Iris had been split in half between her upper and lower body by a suddenly protruding rock.

Fortunately, the two parts of her body could be rejoined and healed, but the pain hadn’t completely disappeared. The same was true for Plok and Bell.

When Bell’s sword-wielding hand met Khan’s axe, it was torn off at the shoulder, unable to withstand the impact. If Iris hadn’t retrieved that arm, it would have been completely burned away by Khan’s lightning.

In Plok’s case, as he took on the party’s tanking role, he received the most healing from the Saintess and came closest to death the most times.

His arms were shattered numerous times, and his shield, despite being reinforced with the Saintess’s holy power and defensive skills, was now so cracked that it seemed it would break if it blocked one more attack.

So far, he had broken his arms 17 times, had his spine shattered 8 times, lost his legs 5 times, and even had his neck broken once, nearly dying if they had been just a little late.

No matter how much healing he received, these were injuries severe enough that an ordinary person would have given up and fled immediately.

But he was a divine knight.

They were the exterminators of Uldur’s enemies, following the orders of the Saintess and Pope, Uldur’s agents, and Plok was the shield protecting those exterminators.

Understanding his mission better than anyone and knowing that the battle would instantly turn against them if he fell, he continued to rise and protect his comrades even after his body had been broken dozens of times.

* * * * *

“We will soon arrive at the battlefield, Archbishop Pelosi. Let us once again imprint the light of Uldur upon our brothers and sisters.”

“Hmm. Very well, Divine Knight Aquis.”

Archbishop Pelosi, who had been leading the cult’s forces at the very front, turned around and raised his clenched fist, causing all troops to gradually stop walking.

When everyone had stopped and was looking at Archbishop Pelosi, he began to speak.

“Today, many of our brothers and sisters have sadly gone to Uldur’s side. This happened because we underestimated the enemy, and that responsibility lies with all of us in leadership, including myself. First, let us observe a moment of silence to apologize to those who have gone to Uldur’s side and honor their souls.”

“I am sorry.”

With those words, Archbishop Pelosi bowed his head. Following him, approximately fifteen thousand members of the cult all bowed their heads in unison.

Among those who had gone ahead were their close friends, parents, and even lovers.

“Today, we will once again proceed with the holy war according to Uldur’s revelation. We will defeat that evil monster, Wrath, and bring the light of Uldur from the heavens to earth. For that, we need your strength once more.”

The cult members’ expressions grew determined at his words. Though those who had entered as the advance party were not in good condition when they returned to this labyrinth, they steeled themselves at Archbishop Pelosi’s words.

“Your united strength will defeat that evil Wrath and allow Uldur’s light to shine upon the earth. Uldur’s light to the earth!”

Archbishop Pelosi stretched out his hand and shouted the slogan.

“Uldur’s light to the earth!!!”

When approximately fifteen thousand people shouted that slogan loudly, it echoed powerfully off the labyrinth walls.

“Let’s go!”

With those words, Archbishop Pelosi and Divine Knight Aquis advanced. Those following them could finally see the divine knights and the Saintess battling against Wrath.

* * * * *

Khan continued to battle against the divine knights and the Saintess.

The situation wasn’t looking good.

He cauterized the bleeding wound on his leg with lightning, burning the flesh, and defended his leg with Earth’s power, but it was continuously being destroyed by the two knights with swords.

The wound was gradually widening, and Mary was apparently unable to enter due to the barrier, so proper healing wasn’t happening.

Additionally, because he had created the labyrinth, the forest had disappeared, meaning he couldn’t count on the natural regeneration from the World Tree’s blessing. Life Drain could only be activated by killing living beings, so his recovery was completely blocked.

Though he wanted to finish them off, their coordination was so good that while he had torn apart and shattered their limbs countless times, he couldn’t deliver the killing blow.

Those he failed to kill were invariably healed by the Saintess at the back, as long as their limbs were intact. Though he wanted to kill the Saintess, their healer, he was blocked by the shield of the first line of defense and the shield cast on the Saintess in the second line.

The shield on the Saintess was so solid that it couldn’t be destroyed in one blow, and while he would be breaking it, enemies would rush in and cause him trouble.

Just as he was resolving to kill the shield-bearer among the divine knights at all costs—

“Uldur’s light to the earth!”

The voices of a human crowd came from somewhere. Khan turned his head to check the direction of the sound, and there he saw a wave of humans looking at him.