Ch.91The Beast That Heralds the End (2)

When Khan was consumed by rage, unleashing the sealed power of fury that was destroying both the Transform and Hydra.

The Saintess and Plok were using this opportunity to continue their search for Mary.

If those undead were destroyed, they knew they would be next.

While searching for Mary to protect themselves from Fury, they successfully moved to where the Life Detect spell was responding.

It was the place where Envy had gripped Mary tightly with the hand of the dead.

Carefully scanning for even the smallest life signs, they finally reached where Mary was located.

“This is the place. Since the body is small, let’s search carefully and thoroughly.”

“Yes. I think you can turn off Life Detect now. We’ve confirmed that it’s here.”

Nodding at Plok’s words, the Saintess began to examine the area as slowly as possible.

Life Detect is a divine spell that creates a map in one’s mind showing where living beings are located.

This spell, typically used to find missing people, only reveals approximate locations rather than exact positions.

For humans, this wasn’t an issue as long as they weren’t completely hidden, but…

What they were searching for now was a tiny fairy barely over 30 centimeters tall.

Of course, among fairies, it would be considered large, but finding a creature just slightly larger than a human hand in this vast area was a difficult task.

BOOM—!!!

“Kuh!”

And then there was Fury rampaging nearby. Fury continued to tear apart the transforming skeleton and fling it far away, and was now facing the Hydra.

Wary of the Hydra, which possessed poison potent enough to nearly kill with one bite, Fury kept its distance, using only rocks and lightning to fight.

Unlike before, the Hydra was now extending its necks as far as possible to confront Fury.

The Hydra, facing Fury who was now twice as large as the 10-meter Khan, was aiming for any part it could bite rather than just the nape of the neck.

BOOM—!!!

But Fury never gave it any distance, focusing its efforts on blocking the Hydra’s necks and legs.

Giving distance meant risking poison exposure—the mind showed this, so instinct used only abilities to gradually block the Hydra.

Even when an arm grabbing the Hydra’s neck was shattered, Fury created another.

It collapsed the ground, causing the Hydra to fall below with only its neck bones dangling.

Death Knights and Liches launched fierce attacks at Fury to prevent this, but…

Fury created stone armor for its legs, relied on its magic resistance and hide against the Lich’s magic, and focused solely on the Hydra.

Then Fury plunged its arm into the ground and began to pull something out.

Rumble…

“That’s…”

“Do you know what it is, Saintess?”

“I’m not certain… but it appears to be the Executioner’s Blade… a weapon said to have been used by Elizabeth, a hero and inventor summoned from another world hundreds of years ago. It’s said she used it in her country for beheading people… I’ve only seen it in documents, but I believe that’s what it is.”

Just as she said.

What Fury pulled out wasn’t a sword but a blade designed solely for cutting—a dao.

The Executioner’s Blade, once used by executioners in medieval Earth before they abandoned axes and before the guillotine was invented, had reappeared in Grancia after hundreds of years.

Shing…

Despite being made of stone, it made the sound of a real blade being drawn from its scabbard.

Gripping the Executioner’s Blade tightly, Fury moved to strike the Hydra’s neck.

The Hydra, unable to move properly due to the massive hand and deep pit, opened its mouth to threaten Fury.

But in such a position, its threat looked no more intimidating than a frightened dog barking.

Khan moved to the side of the Hydra with the Executioner’s Blade pulled from the ground.

Below, Death Knights were swinging their weapons to cut at his ankles, and Liches were casting spells, but that was all.

Fury swung its tail at the Death Knights wielding weapons against it as if shooing away insects, ignored the magic, and raised the Executioner’s Blade high into the sky.

The current Fury stood 20 meters tall, and the Executioner’s Blade, sized to match, was about 12 meters long.

This sight was visible to everyone on the battlefield.

If there were a demon threatening the world, it would look like this.

The beast with four horns raising the Executioner’s Blade high was the very image of a demon trying to cut the world in half.

CRASH—!!

And with that, black lightning struck from the sky.

The lightning flowed along the blade, filling the brown Executioner’s Blade with darkness, dyeing it black.

ROAR—!

RUMBLE——!!!

SLASH!

And the Executioner’s Blade was swung.

The blade successfully cut through the Hydra’s remaining three necks without any resistance.

The black lightning slash created by the swinging blade cut through the earth and extended all the way to the mountain on the opposite side, leaving a mark.

SNORT—!

Fury snorted, seemingly satisfied with the sight.

It pushed the Hydra’s skull and neck into the pit and dug deeper to ensure it would never emerge again.

All that remained now were Death Knights and Liches with green flames emanating from their eye sockets, and hundreds of skeletons attacking the cult.

Among them, the most irritating were those who had inherited Envy’s power.

Fury decided to deal with the creatures scurrying at its feet first and stomped down.

BOOM—!!

* * * * *

“That’s…!! A monster…!!”

The quiet words of a Holy Knight who witnessed the scene.

The slash mark that extended all the way to the distant mountain was clearly visible even from here, causing him to lose his fighting spirit and collapse to the ground.

“You fool! Get a grip! If we can’t stop that beast, your family, your friends, the world will be next! Pull yourself together!”

His comrade beside him scolded him, urging him to regain his senses, but there was no need.

SLASH—

A Skeleton Knight appeared before him on an undead horse and took his head.

“Clont!!”

The comrade beside him called out the name of the beheaded man, but once the head falls, the dead cannot be revived.

Such scenes were visible throughout the battlefield.

Hundreds of Skeleton Knights continued to pound on the Holy Knights’ defensive line, taking lives whenever they found an opening.

Priests, Divine Spell Unit members, and Archbishops tried to counter them with divine spells, but they were on the defensive due to interference from Skeleton Mages and Liches.

When Uldur’s light was blocked, they could barely defend themselves, but suddenly these undead had grown more powerful.

The Death Knights at the front lines swept through the cult’s frontline, gradually advancing toward the Archbishops protected in the center.

“Reinforce the front line! Holy Knights and Hammer Unit, form groups of six to face each Death Knight! They’re fewer in number than us now! Use our numerical advantage!”

The cult members, now numbering about five thousand, used their numerical advantage to hold back just under a thousand undead, but…

With the sanctuary gone and the undead armed with buffs suitable for short battles, they easily trampled through the defenders.

Ten Death Knights led the way, followed by Skeleton Knights and Warriors, with dozens of Archers supporting from behind.

And Skeleton Mages led by three Liches alternated between attack magic and curse magic to ensure the Death Knights could break through.

Despite their numerical advantage, the cult continued to be pushed back.

Normally, they wouldn’t be pushed back like this, but the sanctuary had disappeared and the Army of Light had weakened.

Additionally, since the green flames burst in the sky, divine spells had become weaker than usual, making proper countermeasures impossible.

“Urgh… Archbishops and brothers and sisters who can use spells, use El Rapim’s Barrier to isolate us from them!! Choir, sing El Rapim’s Hymn again! Holy Knights and Hammer Unit, hold on just a little longer!!”

Following Archbishop Pelosi’s command, fourteen Archbishops and one Divine Spell Unit member prepared El Rapim’s Barrier while the undead continued to advance to prevent it.

The Holy Knights and Holy Hammer Unit risked their lives to block their advance, but now even the Skeleton Knights who had been creating openings by attacking from the sides turned back and charged in a straight line.

El Rapim’s Hymn echoed across the battlefield, and a barrier was placed over them, buying a little more time.

But in front were Death Knights followed by Skeleton Knights and Warriors.

Behind were hundreds of Skeleton Knights on undead horses.

As they were attacked from both front and back, even choir members were being killed.

“And so El Rapim shall look down upon us who carry the light!”

The incantation of El Rapim’s Barrier that had been echoing across the battlefield finally ended, and waves of light burst forth from the bodies of the fifteen people.

When the Saintess had deployed it, it had come directly from the sky and boasted an incredible height, but the Saintess was Uldur’s agent.

Though much smaller than the barrier deployed by the Saintess, this barrier created by 15 people had a stronger power to block opponents.

“Phew… Let’s take a brief rest. It would take a day for them to break through this barrier anyway…”

BOOM—!!

Just as they were about to relax and take a short break.

A sudden explosion made the cult members turn their heads to see a giant skeleton ramming its head against the barrier.

“A Giant Skeleton…!! Was there such a thing too!”

“No, Archbishop Pelosi. It seems that… it was formed by the improperly purified skeletons scattered around here combining together.”

“One problem after another. Still, it will buy us time, so it doesn’t matter…”

BOOM———!!!

The Giant Skeleton rammed its head again, but strangely, it was hitting with the side of its face.

Looking more carefully, they saw Fury, the same size as the Giant Skeleton, grabbing its skull and ramming it against the barrier.

“Fury—!!! Could it be that the Saintess, Brother Plok, Envy, and all the undead…!?”

CRASH—!!

As Archbishop Epa first thought of the Saintess’s safety upon Fury’s appearance, black lightning struck from the sky.

It fell where the undead were gathered, shattering them.

The green flames could not overcome the black lightning, and as the flames in their eye sockets extinguished, they fell to the ground—the same happened to both Death Knights and Liches.

Death Knights and Liches, variant-class monsters that could grow to disaster-class or catastrophe-class.

Even though they were undead without self-awareness, Death Knights and Liches were synonymous with terror.

Yet when struck by the black lightning, they fell to the ground like puppets with cut strings.

Their bodies, unable to withstand the power of the strong lightning, had their bones melting, emitting smoke from the ground.

“Impossible…! All of them…!”

“The Saintess…!? Where is the Saintess?!”

After melting all those with green flames with lightning, Fury now turned its red eyes, sparking with electricity, toward the cult members.

“Eek…!!!”

“Don’t be afraid! That wall is El Rapim’s Barrier! It’s a sacred barrier that those who don’t follow Uldur’s light cannot enter, so there’s no need to fear…!”

BOOM———!!

“Kyaaaa…!!!”

“Ohhh…!!!”

True to those words, despite repeatedly ramming the Giant’s skull against it, El Rapim’s Barrier showed no signs of breaking.

As the cult members began to hope and pray to Uldur.

CRACK—!

After crushing the Giant Skeleton’s skull with one hand, Fury pulled out a massive axe from the ground and raised it high into the sky.