Ch.85Sacred War (6)

A blonde woman was covering the clothes, with two men in pure white armor standing guard beside her, maintaining a vigilant defensive posture.

While they were maintaining full vigilance, worried about their companions who had left this place 15 minutes ago to ensure the woman covering the clothes could safely open her eyes.

“Huff!! Huff!! Huff…”

“Saintess!”

The Saintess who had died from a pierced heart was resurrected. Beitram and Plok, who had been watching over her, called out to her, but having just completed her body’s restoration, she was too preoccupied with gathering her wits.

After a moment of panting, the Saintess’s breathing gradually became more regular, and color began to return to her face, which had been deathly pale from blood loss.

“Phew… I trusted in Uldur’s sacred relic and continued the incantation, but experiencing the sensation of my heart being destroyed… was quite difficult.”

“You’ve been through a lot, Saintess. I’d like to briefly explain the current situation, if that’s alright with you?”

“Let’s hear it while we move. Plok, if you would.”

“Yes, Saintess.”

For faster movement, Plok carried the Saintess on his back as they headed toward Khan’s location.

On the way, she learned that many casualties had occurred while she was being resurrected, and that preparations to capture Envy were still ongoing due to continuous interference.

And the deaths of the Divine Knights Aquis and Bjor.

She also learned the information that Aquis had sacrificed his life to discover—Khan’s ability to heal himself the more people he killed. Upon hearing this, the Saintess closed her eyes tightly and prayed for their souls.

“They fought valiantly, and their struggles were surely witnessed by Lord Uldur in the heavens. They have moved to the realm of light overseen by Lord Uldur, and He will embrace and comfort their souls…”

The deaths of so many caused the Saintess’s voice to trail off. So many, so very many had died.

She could act recklessly knowing her resurrection was foretold, but they had no such assurance, yet they fought bravely against Khan without retreating, despite the terror of death.

Clang…

While she was praying for their souls, they had nearly reached the battlefield where Khan was. The sounds of clashing weapons could still be heard, indicating that the battle was still raging.

“We’ll reach the battlefield soon. Plok, protect the Saintess. I’ll join our comrades in battle.”

“Hmm. Leave it to me.”

With those words, Beitram drew his sword, accelerated, and advanced more quickly toward the battlefield.

“Plok, I too wish to go closer to the battlefield.”

“What?! But Saintess, the miracle of resurrection no longer exists. If something were to happen to you near the battlefield…”

“Many have already gone to Lord Uldur’s side. I’ve already prepared myself for such a possibility, and we need to approach to use the weapon being set up now. I’ll stay hidden as much as possible, so please proceed with peace of mind.”

“Urgh… Yes, understood. I, Plok, will protect Saintess Aura with my life.”

“I’m counting on you, Brother Plok.”

With those words, Plok accelerated just as Beitram had done earlier. His footsteps quickened as he carried the Saintess on his back.

Clang—!! Clang—!!!

The sound of clashing weapons grew louder. Plok’s face hardened, and the Saintess steeled herself as they arrived at a spot where they could see the battlefield at a glance.

Their faces were filled with shock.

“This can’t be…”

The Saintess couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

The pride of the Order, the strongest military force, the Divine Knights who had been greatly strengthened by the Saintess herself and could now hold their own against even disaster-level monsters…

And the Divine Spell Corps, known as all-rounders who had mastered various spells to respond to any situation…

They had been slaughtered mercilessly.

The Divine Spell Corps seemed to have fought until the end without fleeing, as their corpses were clustered together.

Their bodies had been pierced by sharp stones jutting from the ground, carbonized to black by lightning strikes from the sky.

Some had their upper and lower bodies separated as if swept by sharp weapons, while others lay beneath massive boulders, their red blood being sucked into the cracks.

And the Divine Knights…

There was no body of the Iris sisters. All that remained was one of her pure white greaves.

The Saintess could identify the greave because it bore the blessing she had drawn for her. The blessing on her foot was El Rio’s blessing, which enhanced speed.

Iris, who had proudly worn the unique blessing drawn by the Saintess herself after becoming a Divine Knight, had died without even leaving a proper corpse.

Next were the Plos brothers, whose necks were gone. Like the already deceased Jes brothers, they had used massive hammers to smash undead skulls on the front lines.

Their cheerfulness was evident even in conversations with others, and they were kind brothers who always had a smile on their faces.

Yet he had met his death by his own hammer. The pure white hammer had crushed his head and was embedded in his torso, soaked in red blood, with only the part of the long handle connected to the head remaining.

And Brother Jackal, who was lying some distance away.

A taciturn brother who diligently did his work and quietly approached to help others in trouble without being asked, he had been a model for the Order.

He had been impaled through the stomach by his own shield, his upper and lower body separated, and his flail shattered on top of the shield.

Finally… Brother Bell.

One of his arms was gone, his left leg was missing below the knee, and his right leg had been torn off with such force that the wound was irregular.

And his eyes. One eye was missing, the other had a long slash wound, and a sword was pierced through his heart.

Plok and the Saintess couldn’t help but recognize that it was Bell’s own sword.

And Envy, who had killed them all, had only a wound on the back of his head exposing bone and a few slash wounds.

“The Divine Knights… all of them…”

“There’s no time to mourn, Saintess. Brother Beitram is drawing Envy’s attention… we’ll move to where the lotus rods are being set up.”

“Sigh… Yes. I will mourn their deaths after this holy war is over.”

The Saintess and Plok quickly left the area while Beitram was drawing attention.

* * * * *

Clang—!!

Beitram, facing Envy again with weapons clashing, felt his entire body creaking. It was completely different from when they had fought earlier.

Even though he himself had been strengthened by the Saintess’s buff, he felt his entire body go numb as he blocked the axe swung by Envy.

The creature that had been using only strength and abilities until just a while ago was now pushing him back with a combination of 5 parts strength, 3 parts ability, and 2 parts technique.

Despite all the buffs he had received, his body creaked with each blow, and the lightning and earth-controlling abilities were more troublesome than anything else. Add to that the perfect harmony between the axe and iron chains.

Except for the wound on the back of his head, Envy didn’t have many major injuries, suggesting that only El Zeria’s judgment had left an effective hit on him.

To defeat this creature, they needed the power of the lotus rods currently being set up. To allow time for that setup to finish, he had to draw attention without sparing his body.

Crash—!!!

“Urgh…!!”

But even blocking this creature’s strikes was difficult, making it even harder to buy time.

He was trying his best to avoid attacks, but… the creature’s axe danced as if alive, and the chain attached to the axe was wrapped in lightning, restricting Beitram’s movements.

On top of that, the ground would either grab his feet or suddenly open up beneath him, nearly causing him to fall.

The ground, Khan in front of him, and lightning falling from the sky.

There were countless things to pay attention to, and even a small mistake would have been fatal.

Whoosh—!! Crash—!!

“Urgh…!!”

He dodged the axe that grazed his head, but it suddenly exploded, showering him with fragments.

Though his eyes, throat, and arms were pierced, his legs remained unharmed, allowing him to retreat and use healing. But given the severity of his wounds, Khan eventually caught up to him.

Hmm—

“Divine Shield!!”

The axe was swung straightforwardly from top to bottom, like chopping wood. Facing this unavoidable attack, Beitram poured as much divine power as possible into his sword and tried to create a Divine Shield to block it, but…

Rumble—!

Khan now used the lightning he had previously used for acceleration to accelerate his weapon swings. Before the Divine Shield could be created, Khan’s axe reached Beitram’s sword.

Slash—!!

“Argh—!!”

Beitram’s sword was easily cut in half by Khan’s axe strike. With a short scream, his arm was split in two and twitched on the ground.

Having gained the upper hand, Khan gave no respite, making arms sprout from the ground to grab Beitram’s legs and using his hooves to crush his body.

“Urgh…”

As he resisted by emitting as much divine power as possible against the pressure crushing his entire body, the hooves ignored his resistance. Under that pressure, his eyeballs were about to pop out of his face when…

“Uldur’s Nine Radiance!”

Hearing the Saintess’s voice echoing from afar, Beitram smiled through his pain and spoke.

“Now… it’s over, monster…! Lord Uldur will…!!”

Crunch—

Unable to withstand the force of Khan’s leg, his entire body finally burst, shattering into pieces beyond recognition.

“Beitram…!!”

The Saintess called his name upon seeing this, but… what she needed to do now was to capture Khan with Lord Uldur’s sacred relic.

She had to do what only she could do.

Even with the death of the most reliable Sword of Uldur, she couldn’t offer any help.

After killing Beitram, Khan looked up and was surprised to see the Saintess. Despite having completely blown away her abdomen and chest area, she appeared unharmed.

Though covered by different clothes, the glimpse of the Saintess’s abdomen and shyly exposed navel clearly showed clothing that had been pierced by his attack.

Whatever miracle she had performed, Khan tried to move through lightning when he saw the resurrected Saintess.

From the sky, nine radiant lights descended toward Khan.

Hmm!?

Uldur’s Nine Radiance was originally a sacred relic given by Uldur to capture powerful monsters.

It required time for preparation, but once that preparation was complete, a Saintess-level individual only needed to infuse divine power into the staff containing Uldur’s light and speak the activation word.

Its ability was to deprive powerful monsters of their physical freedom, leaving only the power to think.

This sacred relic, which had been used 60 years ago to restrain the mythical monster Hydra and cut off all nine of its heads, once again appeared on this battlefield.

Of the nine radiances falling from the sky, the pink radiance was the first to pierce Khan’s arm.

Khan’s arm went limp when pierced by that radiance. Sensing the gravity of the situation, Khan tried to escape, but the pink radiance that had pierced his right arm was embedded in the ground, fixing him in place and dyeing the ground pink.

He tried to pull away, prepared to have his arm torn off, but the pink radiance embedded in the earth rendered even that determination useless.

Boom—!!

He tried to use Earth to cut off his arm, but the pink-dyed ground rejected his power.

The second falling radiance, yellow, pierced Khan’s left arm.

His left arm went limp as a result.

Similarly, it embedded itself in the ground, dyeing it yellow. Now completely fixed in place, the remaining radiances began to descend rapidly toward Khan.

Purple pierced Khan’s left leg, green his right leg. Sky blue and gray pierced his thighs.

Red and orange pierced Khan’s abdomen and chest.

Finally, the gold radiance, the last to fall, pierced Khan’s neck.

With no strength left in any part of his body except his head, his body went limp, and his head could no longer face forward, forcing him to look at the ground and revealing his wounds emitting bright light.

* * * * *

Realizing that nothing but his face could move, Khan ceased all struggling.

Perhaps this was the power that allowed humans to survive in this world. The thought crossed his mind that if he had dealt with them first as his instincts had warned, he wouldn’t have ended up like this, but it was too late now.

Step— Step—

“It’s finally over. You were indeed a being worthy of Lord Uldur’s revelation.”

The Saintess appeared before Khan, along with Plok who approached carrying a flag spear and axe bearing the Order’s emblem.

Behind them came the choir, clergy, and the Holy Knight Order that had been protecting them.

Though their numbers had been reduced by about half compared to when they first appeared here, about 7,000 people showed themselves.

“Now, I will once again shine the light of Lord Uldur from the heavens upon this earth.”

With the Saintess’s declaration, the flag spear Plok had brought was raised high.

Red light swirled around the spearhead, which was aimed at the skull of Khan, whose body hung limply after being pierced by the Nine Radiance.

Looking at that red spearhead, Khan thought of Mary. Surely he was still up there, struggling to break through the barrier…

Swoosh——!!

As he thought this, Plok jumped and thrust the red flag spear toward the wound on the back of his head.

“No, that won’t do… This one is my prey…”

Clang——!!

“What!?”

Slash—!

A Death Knight covered in green flames suddenly appeared and struck the shaft of the red flag spear aimed at the back of Khan’s head, causing it to graze Khan’s cheek instead.

“Impossible…!!! How could an impure undead—when the sacred sanctuary and El Rapim’s barrier are deployed!!”

Rumble——!!

With those words, the sky tore open and a skull wrapped in green flames appeared. When the skull opened its mouth, black light gathered and struck El Rapim’s barrier.

The powerful death energy shattered El Rapim’s barrier, which had been blocking a 100-meter radius.

Crash——!! Boom—!!!

Not satisfied with just striking El Rapim’s barrier, the black light fell on the spot where Khan was.

Grr…

Khan was enveloped in black light, his form no longer visible, and countless corpses suddenly appeared when the barrier broke, all wrapped in green flames as they began to swarm toward this location.