The Battle of Semec (3)

Bigrin gasped for breath.

She knew that the holy power efficiency of priests was not good, but she thought it might be different now that she had become a saint.

It was different, certainly. The power was definitely extraordinary.

At least, it was far superior to all the blessings she had used during her time as a priestess.

The duration had increased accordingly, and anyway, perhaps because she had become a saint, it was much better than when she was a priestess.

However, she was still inexperienced.

‘I must, I must exert more strength…!’

She had never seen such a sight of the dead swarming in such numbers.

Although it was the first time for everyone here to see so many dead, Bigrin didn’t think so.

Everyone was bravely standing against that wave of the dead.

As if there was no fear, as if that’s what they should naturally do.

Some suppress their fear with money,

Some suppress their fear with faith.

Bigrin was completely unaware of these facts.

She only thought that she was the only one afraid.

Lack of experience, lack of boldness.

In her self-reproach for being such an inadequate person, Yona in her eyes was calmly doing her part.

A peer who grew up together in the orphanage.

A peer who got along well with everyone, laughed well, and brightened up her surroundings.

She who smiled as if she didn’t even need Bigrin’s consolation despite becoming a healer on the Day of Judgment.

She already seemed to be way ahead, but now it felt like she had grown far beyond Bigrin’s imagination.

The sight of her weaving between her comrades and healing them one by one, even in the face of that wave of the dead that was terrifying enough to make one’s knees weak just by looking at it.

That figure—

Overcoming fear, dedicating herself to her comrades.

Yona, fully displaying that mindset that a cleric should have.

But compared to her, what about herself— standing still far in the rear, under the name of assisting the hero, in such a safe place, just praying for purification, healing, and blessings.

‘…Perhaps, Yona might have been more suited to be a saint than me.’

Her mouth felt dry as if chewing sand. Her throat stung as if a fish bone was stuck in it. The lump in her heart kept growing without wearing down. The boiled potato she had eaten earlier felt stuck in her chest, not going down, as if she had indigestion.

Bigrin blinked her eyes. It was uncomfortable as if dust had gotten into them. She moved her lips several times. The truth she had wanted to say, that maybe you’re better than me, now seemed to be being proven involuntarily. As her vision seemed to waver, Bigrin focused her eyes and stared at the hero.

He was truly a shining person. This person called Hero Ludvik. He had always been confident.

Why had he been so uncomfortable to her— thinking about it, he had that confidence that she lacked. Maybe that’s why, she thought. Even though she knew it was wrong to be lost in thought like this in front of that wave of the dead, in front of those fighting to block that wave, Bigrin still thought.

Was I ever a person confident in myself?

And her thoughts were shattered by Alec’s shout.

“Yona—!”

Alec was fidgeting. He was glaring ahead as if about to dash out at any moment. Only then did Bigrin also look at where Alec was glaring. Even while doing so, she didn’t forget to sprinkle the light of healing and the blessing of holy war on the hero.

Even as holy power drained from her body, making her feel weak, Bigrin opened her eyes wide. She saw Yona rolling around with a ghoul. Yona barely shaking off the ghoul and rolling to the side to stand up. And Yona falling to one knee, barely supporting her body that was about to collapse. Fresh blood was gushing from her side. Bright red blood was soaking her nun’s habit and dripping onto the ground.

“Yo, Yona.”

She saw her drawing something out. Unlike priests who go around empty-handed, Yona, being both a healer and an adventurer, seemed to carry some means to protect herself. Bigrin unknowingly gathered holy power. Though not much was left, seeing that fresh blood pouring from Yona’s side, Bigrin felt as if her reason was paralyzed.

Bigrin stretched out her hand. White light lingered in her hand for a moment, then the symbol of the Celestial God appeared above Yona’s head, scattering that light.

The flow of fresh blood stopped, and Bigrin went on to bestow a blessing. And then, purification towards that ghoul that had injured her peer— her classmate anyway.

One by one, like squashing mosquitoes, against the ghouls bouncing around in all directions.

However, even she couldn’t help but feel fear at the corpse giant that appeared soon after.

Even from this distance, she had to take a step back.

And then, someone lightly grasped Bigrin’s shoulder.

Turning to that presence, she saw a silver-haired beauty looking ahead with a stern face.

“I’ll be back shortly.”

It was Ceres.

*

Ceres took a breath.

A mage is, in another sense, a distance coordinator.

Always keeping distance in mind, it’s a profession that must consider the time for spell accumulation and discharge together.

In a situation like now where the battlefield is fixed, this is exactly when she should step forward.

Ceres raised her left hand and extended her index finger.

A blue magic circle slowly drew along her index finger.

She raised her right hand and extended her index finger.

A red magic circle flared up tremblingly along her index finger.

Her feet had already stopped.

Adjusting the exact distance, minimizing the magic power that evaporates during flight, maximizing the destructive power at the point of impact.

She raised both hands above her head and clasped them together.

Both hands with only the index fingers raised, those index fingers touching each other.

The blue and red magic circles merged into one according to her will, mixing to form a purple magic circle which then flared up violently.

Purple smoke rose continuously, and the burned magic power rose into the sky as smoke.

As she slowly lowered her hands that were raised above her head to the front, the magic circle faced forward.

Left foot forward, right foot back.

Preparing for the impact to come, Ceres suddenly pulled back the extended index finger and clenched it into a fist.

Bang!

The magic circle transformed into a purple fireball and flew towards the corpse giant she was aiming at.

The purple fireball burrowed into the corpse giant’s chest without fail, causing a massive explosion. Tattered chunks of flesh spread out brilliantly around, and sticky lumps of blood also splattered everywhere.

‘…Damn, that’s magic?’

The thought crossed her mind that what kids like Prickery and Viola were doing was just child’s play in comparison.

The purple fireball that flew into the corpse giant hit its chest and exploded with a tremendous sound.

Chunks of flesh flew everywhere, and sticky bodily fluids scattered all around.

Guwoooooork?!

The corpse giant opened its mouth full of stitches and roared, swinging its meat club wildly around.

Even though there were only friendly zombies and skeletons around, it swung its meat club as if it didn’t care, scattering zombie flesh and shattering skeleton bones.

The problem is that this corpse giant is not the only one.

“Yona, are you alright?!”

Someone suddenly pulled on the shoulder of Yona, who was blankly looking up at that sight.

Pulled back to reality by that, Yona turned around to find Alec there.

“Hey, baldy, why did you come?!”

Undisguised joy was evident in her voice.

“You, huff, got hurt, heck, so I, huff, ran here!”

Alec, gasping for breath, had a face red as a beet.

It wasn’t an exaggeration that he had run; he looked like he might pass out from lack of breath at any moment.

Why did you come, what about Bigr— the words mixed up in her mind and she couldn’t speak.

“You, you cra, crazy bleep?!”

She was so flustered that she bit her tongue without realizing.

She tasted the metallic flavor of blood.

Along with a stinging pain.

“The Saint— what about Bigr?!”

“The Regent said she’d protect her and told me to go to you!”

Even as he said this, Alec quickly came in front of Yona and raised his shield.

At that sight, Yona very naturally placed her hand on Alec’s shoulder.

It was comfortable.

So very comfortable.

It felt like she had finally found her place, so Yona was very comfortable.

This bald guy who would protect her front no matter what happened, and the shield he was holding.

That’s why it was so comfortable.

Nevertheless, the battle situation was not very good.

Since the corpse giants were made from the dead anyway, they would keep appearing as long as the dead weren’t dealt with, even if you killed them. Although Ceres’s magic was suppressing a considerable number of corpse giants, even she wouldn’t have infinite magic power.

“There’s no end to them. These damn bastards.”

Ludvik tore off his blood-soaked top and looked around.

Normally, they shouldn’t easily rush at him holding the light spear, but the dead don’t have such reason, so they kept charging without hesitation, and thanks to that, Ludvik had slaughtered hundreds of dead while rampaging all over.

The problem is that there’s no end in sight.

Although the support from Bigrin, the Saint, keeps coming in, it was noticeably weakening.

Her holy power must be depleting as well.

Ludvik thought it was about time to try something else.

The problem is that he can’t think of what that something else should be.

If they continue fighting like this, they will surely be outnumbered.

It’s starting to get tough, too.

And it was then.

Whoosh…

The sound of something cutting through the wind was heard from somewhere.

The sound of something heavy falling.

The moment Ludvik looked up, having detected that sound with his keen hearing—

He witnessed something silvery and shining falling down.

Kwang!

That silver thing collided with the ground.

It must have been so heavy that a crater formed at the point of impact.

Moreover, when the zombies and skeletons around were floating in the air with a thud due to the shockwave generated from there—

That thing, kneeling on one knee and supporting itself with the other hand on the ground, flashed its eyes through the visor, and along with an eerie sound like “Suu…”, holy power seeped out like misty breath.

“To the foolish worms who dare to oppose the Celestial God.”

Kaang!

With a sharp sound, it stood up from the ground.

Shining armor, and an equally shining large shield.

In the other hand, a morning star with spikes protruding from an iron ball larger than a normal adult’s head.

“—An eternal rest like hell.”

The symbol of the Celestial Church began to flicker around him.