episode_0076

The Prophets’ Knights.

Though not comparable to the knights of the Shahlnu Imperial Family, these knights also possess exceptional skill, such that few on the continent could surpass them.

No, considering their smaller numbers compared to the Imperial Knights, their combat prowess actually surpassed the Imperial Knights in terms of quality.

It was a profession that offered not just money, but immense honor that even the Imperial Family couldn’t bestow.

Towards the end of the Golden Age, they even managed to repel Morgoth, the Third Calamity.

And since then, they had never allowed a single intruder.

Therefore, they were filled with even greater pride, confident that even the heroes of Shahlnu Stellarum would find it impossible to breach this place, and they believed they could easily repel the enemy that had infiltrated their dwelling this time as well.

***

“Gasp… gasp… gasp…”

Under the oppressive weight on his shoulders, the knight trembled.

He had lost even the will to fight.

He had been resolved to sacrifice his life to protect the temple, but gazing at the scene before him, he found himself unable to take a single step.

But—

Thump!

Crunch!

Thump— thump—

How could anyone step forward after witnessing such a scene?

In the beautiful garden, no different from paradise, knights’ bodies and organs lay scattered, blood spattered everywhere.

Inside the temple, where the starlight from the night sky shone, a giant, hidden in the shadows, was crushing the corpses of his comrades.

Gripping his sword with trembling hands, he mustered his courage and stepped into the darkness.

“Aaaahhhh—!!”

Thump!

………Thud.

Without even uttering a dying scream, an arm, still clutching a sword, was thrown before him and rolled away.

No matter how devoted a knight to the Prophets, witnessing the sight of comrades with blood spattered and flesh torn apart like meat on a chopping block, one couldn’t help but tremble in fear.

Even if death itself wasn’t feared, such a gruesome demise was undeniably terrifying.

Thump… thump…

The colossal figure emerged from the darkness.

“Ah… ah…”

Could that even be called human?

His muscles, gleaming with blood, were so solid that even the blades of the fallen knights couldn’t pierce them.

His overwhelming strength, combined with a physique at least three meters tall, was colossal, almost reminiscent of a giant from the snowfields.

“Hmph…”

Despite killing so many knights, the man didn’t seem to consider it even a light workout, stretching his neck and openly displaying his disappointment.

“Is this all? …Hmm?”

His dark eyes, in the shadows, gleamed in the starlight.

“You seem to be afraid.”

His gaze turned to the knight, who had remained frozen in place.

“Gasp… gasp… gasp…”

Finding something amusing, the man grinned, revealing his teeth, and pulled his black winter hood, with its long chin strap, further down.

And then.

Tap. Tap.

He tapped the shoulder of the knight who had lost the will to fight.

It was a light touch.

But despite its lightness, the power within his grasp was directly and indirectly felt.

A powerful grip that could instantly crush and shatter someone like him, heavily armored in plate, if he so desired.

Passing by the knight, who was so frozen by the indirectly felt power of the man that he couldn’t even tremble, the man, Oh Shin, spoke softly.

“Strip away the veneer of honor and pride, and the knight vanishes, leaving only a frightened child.”

At those words, the knight’s expression froze.

A frightened child.

As the knight dropped his sword, its weight feeling unusually heavy, Oh Shin muttered to himself, as if for the knight to hear.

“Not even worth killing.”

With those words, Oh Shin vanished.

From behind the knight, who had collapsed in place, came ceaseless screams.

Screams of defiance.

And dying cries uttered in fear, mixing together.

Throughout the night, the knight listened to their screams, unable to stand up from where he sat.

***

With his back to the massive door, Oh Shin looked down at the corpses they had cut down.

A few of the corpses were apprentice prophets, but most were knights or guardians who defended the dwelling.

As he gazed at the corpses with his dark eyes, a middle-aged man approached him and asked,

“Is there something bothering you?”

“It’s more disappointing than I expected.”

“Disappointing… could it be that you couldn’t find a prophet to settle your grudge with?”

At those words, Oh Shin burst out laughing.

“Do I look so petty as to remember a grudge that’s almost fifty years old?”

Of course, it was a little disappointing.

While taking over the dwelling, all that remained were apprentices who couldn’t properly handle prophecy, while the experienced prophets were nowhere to be seen, hidden somewhere.

But that was disappointment from not being able to fight the prophets who displayed mystical powers through the combination of Golden Age artifacts and divinity, not disappointment from failing to settle a grudge.

The middle-aged man, having heard that much, recalled the character of his lord, whom he had long observed, and said to Oh Shin,

“You didn’t find an opponent you liked.”

“Indeed.”

That was true.

The skill of the knights defending the dwelling was indeed high, almost the best on the continent, but among them, no exceptional strong individual caught his eye to satisfy him.

Most were Aura Users, or mid-to-lower level Aura Experts.

The more skilled, ‘true’ knights who guarded this dwelling were nowhere to be seen.

“The forces guarding this dwelling couldn’t possibly be this meager. I wonder where they all went.”

“Did the Creator give you any hints?”

“He has a serpent’s tongue, but he never tells an Executioner like me what future he’s seen. Perhaps to the Judges, but not to me.”

“Then…”

His dark eyes turned towards the massive door.

“If our assumptions are correct, then most of them are likely hidden inside here.”

[The Door of the Forbidden Library, Vaalbara]

This door, etched with the shape of the continent, is a glass door adorned with the myths of the Navigator who created the continent, and Feanor and the Prophets who followed him.

Though merely called glass, it was made of an unknown material, boasting greater durability than even Moonstone.

“So, you’ve given up on destroying the door?”

“It seems we must. Even Moonstone requires a dragon’s breath to melt, but for some reason, that door is made of something even harder than Moonstone.”

“Truly… worthy of the Navigator’s descendants.”

Thump!

He plunged his sword into the ground, using it as a staff to stand up.

Then he slowly approached the door, touching the seemingly fragile, glass-like surface with his enormous hand.

“Seeing as there are so many objects here whose origins are unknown and which follow a different path, it makes sense.”

“Even so, we found traces of the hurried sealing of the door, and our mages will soon unseal it.”

“Hurry. Our guests are expected to arrive here soon.”

“Yes.”

“My Lord!”

Just then, a man ran up and reported.

“We’ve finished securing the teleportation gate.”

“So now we can bring our guests waiting at the foot of the mountain here?”

“Yes. Once we link it with the Imperial Palace’s teleportation gate, they’ll be able to step directly into this place.”

“Is that so.”

Though it would be a while before the Forbidden Library’s door opened, Oh Shin began to move, to greet the heroes who would soon arrive.

***

“Sir Talfinus, are you truly planning to go to the Forbidden Library?”

Just before the gate activated, Maugrius spoke to him with a voice filled with worry, and Talfinus nodded as if resigned.

“Given the current situation, there’s no other choice.”

“But…”

“I already know what you’re concerned about.”

Putting aside the unbelievable fact that a single Executioner climbed Mount Minerva and seized the Prophets’ dwelling, what truly bothers you is likely the moral reluctance to team up with Gram, who is practically evil, and search the Forbidden Library of the Prophets, who were once symbols of justice.

Maugrius was always such a person.

Despite his young age, he was a knight so upright and unyielding that he would only pursue justice, refusing to compromise with evil under any circumstances.

He knew Maugrius’s nature, and it bothered him that he, himself a hero and one of the Imperial Forbidden Library’s administrators, was resorting to such an act, but there was truly no other option.

‘Half of the heroes are dead.’

It wasn’t just half.

Orlando and Nemo, who were practically the core of the heroes, had died.

Olivier, the greatest strategist, and Rinaldo, who inherited the blood of the Idea clan and possessed transcendent physical abilities comparable to Bradamante, had also died.

Not to mention Perumbura and Talfinus, who were from the giant race.

And wasn’t Astolfo rumored to have defected to the Army of Death?

In such a situation, the expedition against the greedy prince had even failed, leaving them to face him and his two strongest Legion Commanders.

‘Cerebus said he would support us without fail, but no matter how good the weapons and armor we receive, we will soon reach our limits in the current situation.’

Their forces were severely lacking.

Even if Sir Kara and Bradamante had reached the Master stage, it was impossible to kill a Calamity and two Legion Commanders with the strength of merely two Masters.

‘That’s why we must go to the Forbidden Library even more.’

The power of information is greater than one might think.

As the head administrator of the Imperial Forbidden Library, he could assert this with certainty.

Even in the Imperial Forbidden Library, which was far inferior to the Prophets’ Forbidden Library, an immense wealth of books and secrets from all over the continent, exceeding imagination, were hidden.

So what about the Prophets’ Forbidden Library, which has existed since immediately after the continent’s civilization was established?

He didn’t know what might be there, but there would certainly be information beyond imagination.

‘Perhaps there might even be information about a weapon that defeated the Third Calamity, related to the forgotten history of the Golden Age.’

Even if he didn’t expect that much, it was clear that there would undoubtedly be at least one piece of information that would be of great help in subduing the Calamity, so he slowly gazed at the teleportation gate beginning to activate.

“Talfinus, let’s go in.”

“Yes, Sir Danoa.”

Following Danoa, who was leading the way, he stepped into the gate.

‘Please, may we find an answer.’

In this situation where there was not a speck of hope, he prayed that an answer awaited them, one that could face the colossal enemy.

Talfinus inwardly prayed fervently as he rode the gate and stepped into the dwelling.