Ch.866Did I Really Need to Step Forward…?

The ground had transformed into a hell of fire.

The streets were engulfed in flames, reduced to nothing but ash heaps and shattered debris piled high in the ruins.

This was the miserable end that awaited Ordos, the greatest city of the east, which Orhan had spent half his life perfecting.

There were no survivors.

Not ordinary warriors, nor Champions who had gained the power of Karma, nor even warrior leaders who had awakened their mental energy by crossing the wall.

Before the extreme heat and widespread explosive impact, they were all equal. Equal in death.

Even with strength that could break steel, their bodies were still made of human flesh and blood. How could they withstand a fiery storm that thoroughly cooked them inside and out?

Unless they possessed means to block the flames themselves, mere swordsmen stood no chance.

Only one remained.

“Graaaaaah…!”

A being with human form but who could not be called human.

The powerful figure from eight hundred years ago who had swept away most of the flames and shock with space-cutting slashes.

Only the demented old Rotholandus remained, having stolen the body of his great-great-great-granddaughter’s descendant and stripped off all her clothes, leaving them discarded on the street.

“Why are you screaming so much? If you have complaints, use words, I say, words.”

I jumped down from the airship’s iron chain, landed, and walked through the flames toward him with a grin.

With each step forward, confidence filled my chest.

Unlike a few minutes ago when I had no proper way to win, now I held an overwhelming advantage.

Rotholandus, who had lost an arm and consumed vast amounts of Karma in the bombing.

Versus

Me, Astika, Saint of Order, completely uninjured and receiving support from Millia and Adamante.

It was an unwinnable situation for him.

Even the battlefield environment favored me.

The carpet bombing had ended, but the flames ignited by the mana bombs still burned fiercely throughout the city.

Unlike me, who was unaffected by the heat of the flames thanks to the rune seal, the ginger corpse would find it difficult even to breathe.

And that wasn’t all.

With Lacy watching with ice-cold eyes, the ancestor’s remaining lifespan was at most two minutes.

After that, he would inevitably return to Elpinel’s side.

Probably.

Facing a significantly weakened opponent, in a 3:1 situation where I only needed to hold out for 2 minutes. How could I lose? I’m not someone like Amin.

“Grrrrrr….”

Finally reunited with the ginger corpse. Rotholandus glared at me with a resentful expression, making a phlegmy growl.

“Ha. You look quite miserable, our ancestor.”

I smiled wryly and pointed Durandal at the ginger corpse.

Up close, I could see it. He had suffered far more damage than I expected.

“Did you rejuvenate? Your face is quite flushed. Did you eat something good?”

His left cheek and various parts of his body were covered with distinct burn marks, and his right thigh had a fist-sized metal fragment embedded in it like an arrowhead.

His torn, cut, and burned limbs trembled thinly like a patient’s, and the pool of blood beneath his feet was boiling into puddles.

Fighting him with a sword seemed less like combat and more like euthanasia.

“Graaaaaah…!”

Of course, his fighting spirit remained fierce and intense… but it was ultimately just the struggle of a wounded beast. Nothing to fear.

“You wouldn’t call this cowardly, would you? This isn’t a duel but a war, so there’s no reason to fight fairly with matched conditions. You have to use whatever weapons you have. Right?”

I shrugged my shoulders lightly as if joking. Half sincere, half mocking.

“Kuaaah, huarrrgh!”

Had his anger reached its limit? The ginger corpse, who had seemed to struggle even standing, charged at me with a bizarre roar.

Was he planning to burn what little life he had left to fight? He was as fast as lightning.

“So what!”

So I decided to become lightning too.

I scraped up all the Karma power I had recovered somewhat during the city bombing and spread it throughout my body.

I couldn’t use ‘Defying Fate.’ If I did, attacks like Sky Slash might come flying.

I might be able to handle it, but the companions aboard the airship would not survive.

So, instead of manifesting Defying Fate, I poured all the extracted Karma into my muscles to enhance my physical abilities to their limit.

– Woooooong!

An indescribably enormous power surges through my limbs.

The great achievement that reached the limit permitted by Heaven’s Wall.

And something unknown of a different nature.

I kicked off the ground with enough force to nearly disintegrate it and shot myself toward the approaching ginger corpse.

– Kwaaaang!

Black lightning and blue lightning collided as if swimming through the pit of fire.

“Kishaaaak!”

The black sword struck diagonally downward. The dark trajectory tore through space as it approached.

The power of space cutting… no, I won’t need it.

“Kyaaaah!”

Instead of wrapping Durandal’s blade with Karma teeth, I simply swung it with all my might, just as before.

– Kaaaang!

Sparks flew. The unbreakable sword blocked the space-cutting ability.

Unlike when countering with equal force, a strong impact was transmitted, but it wasn’t difficult to withstand.

The sword strike from someone who had lost an arm was only half as heavy as before.

Moreover, the deadly poison that had flowed along the blade had long since evaporated and dried up.

“Huu…!”

I slid back a couple of steps, while the ginger corpse staggered back half a step before quickly regaining his posture and thrusting his sword again.

“Kiaak-!”

“Where do you think!”

Taking a step forward while twisting my waist to the side, I quickly bent my wrist holding Durandal and drew a semicircle with the tip of the sword.

– Kagak…!

The space-cutting thrust seemed to be caught on the blade.

I pressed down on his blade with my sword tip, pushing forward, and took another step while completely turning my body sideways.

I swung the firmly entangled blade backward, sending his sword and his entire body flowing behind me.

“Kaak-?!”

And as I turned my body another half turn, his back was fully exposed before my eyes.

His shoulder blades and lower back, mottled with burns and cuts.

“Ha, you’re probably too old to stand straight?”

I thrust my clenched fist toward his defenseless back, intending to shatter his spine completely.

The blessing of the fire person, which showed transcendent defense against thrusts and cuts but was somewhat vulnerable to impacts. That was the weakness I aimed for.

However-

– Kwang!

“Kehak?!”

A tremendous impact struck my face. I let out a bizarre scream as I flew backward, barely managing to flip my body and land in a sliding motion.

I covered my throbbing face with my left hand, pressing down hard.

Dripping nosebleed stained my front bright red.

“Did he have an iron plate in his head or what…”

I wiped away the nosebleed with the back of my hand and cursed.

His left arm had been blown off in the bombing, and his right arm was stretched out following inertia, so I thought he had no way to counterattack. But to think he would headbutt me with the back of his head.

It was a madman’s attack method. He could have shattered his own head if he wasn’t careful.

“Giaaaaa….”

Yet, despite successfully counterattacking, he was staggering while clutching the back of his head.

“This crazy bastard…”

Well, a human head is naturally much harder at the forehead than at the back, so he must have been in several times more pain than me.

“Fine, if that’s how you want it. I’ll smash your head first as you wish!”

I kicked off the ground again and thrust Durandal toward him, while the ginger corpse turned his body sharply to face me and swung his black sword horizontally.

– Kagagagak!

Crossing blades. At the moment of collision, I let go of the hilt and struck the ginger corpse’s cheek with my left hand.

“Gyaaaak…!”

With a cracking sound, the ginger corpse’s body, with its shattered cheekbone, flew a dozen meters and crashed.

“Kugh…!”

Of course, I too flew in the opposite direction and crashed. The price of blocking a space-cutting slash with just the strength of my right arm.

However, even though we both flew and crashed into the ground, there was a huge difference between me and the ginger corpse.

– Hwararruk!

The still blazing fire engulfed both our bodies.

For me, it was merely warmth like a stove, but for him, it was hellfire that melted flesh and burned muscle.

And that wasn’t all.

– Swaeaeaek!

– Hwaaaak!

A giant arrow flying in like a shell seizing the perfect opportunity, and golden blade rain pouring down to fill the space above his head.

Adamante’s “Light of Judgment” and the heroic tale arrow shot by Millia mercilessly pounded the ginger corpse sprawled in the flames.

– Kwaaaang!

Even one of the airship’s mana cannons joined in.

Had he blocked it with the “Sword of Severance” before being hit, it might have been different, but collapsed on the debris in a broken posture, he couldn’t respond in time to the shower of long-range bombardment.

Rotholandus’s ginger corpse couldn’t even raise his body and was one-sidedly pummeled, only pitifully flailing his limbs with grotesque screams.

For nearly fifty seconds.

Until Lacy, who had been reciting prayers for two minutes, finally broke the primitive regression spell.

“…Was there even any need for me to step in?”

I looked down at the ginger corpse, which had turned into something like a smashed dumpling, with a wry smile.

“Geeee…gruuu…grrrrrk…”

No trace remained of the overwhelming presence he had shown when he first appeared.

A blue arc severed his neck.