episode_0197

Just 1 clash.

With just 1 clash, the divine barrier spread by the Pope was half destroyed.

“Gah!….”

“Your Holiness the Pope!”

“Are you alright!”

Seeing the Pope staggering, groaning from the repercussions of the barrier being forcefully destroyed, the guardian knights protecting her urgently approached the Pope. However, the Pope slightly raised a hand and calmed the guardian knights.

“Sigh…. I am alright. However…, it seems more people are needed to maintain the barrier. Could you please call them quickly?”

“Ah, I understand.”

If one were to point out one thing the Pope was thinking of too easily. The swords of the Sword King and Leon, these two people, are swords that overturn terrain with just a single swing.

Even if magic power is not infused, the power and mystery contained within those swords cannot be hidden.

Let alone the repercussions that arise in the surroundings the moment they clash at perfect timing are not something a single human can block.

Even if it is the Goddess’s proxy.

Flash!

“Ah, the divine barrier is…”

“Gasp!…. Sa, Saintess!…”

“Why, during the daytime, Saintess Bathory is…”

Before the guardian knights could go call the nuns skilled in barrier techniques, a new barrier appeared, covering the half-destroyed barrier that was cracked here and there.

Seeing the person who created that barrier, the paladins were greatly surprised.

Saintess Bathory.

Basically, it is often the case that she appears in official settings always at ‘night’.

The reason for that is because Bathory is a blood fiend, but only high-ranking priests of the Holy Nation, including the Pope, know this.

Therefore, most people only know that the reason Saintess Bathory does not appear during the daytime is that she is meditating to listen to the Goddess’s voice and praying to the Goddess.

In such a situation, it was natural to be surprised that Saintess Bathory revealed herself during the day.

“…Saintess Bathory.”

“It seemed like it was time for Your Holiness the Pope to need my help…. That is why I made my way here, but was it an unnecessary act?”

Saintess Bathory walked, served by several nuns, her body heavily covered under a large parasol that shielded her from the sunlight.

The Pope knew how fatal ‘sunlight’ and ‘divine power’ were to Saintess Bathory, so unless it was necessary, they preferred her not to use her power.

No matter that Saintess Bathory was not human, but a blood fiend craving human blood, she was in the true sense a pilgrim enduring the Goddess’s trials at every moment, suppressing her race’s nature and following the Goddess’s teachings without drinking a single drop of blood.

The Pope is a shepherd who announces the Goddess’s will to the world.

Even if it is a non-human being, if they faithfully follow the Goddess’s teachings, that person is also a believer that they must lead.

Therefore, the Pope slightly furrowed their brow seeing Saintess Bathory appear at this moment attempting to overexert herself, but said with a light sigh.

“Yes. It seems I will need your help. But please do not overexert yourself. You are…”

“I know. I have brought other priests to maintain this divine barrier, so I will not have to overexert myself.”

“If so…, that would be fortunate.”

The Pope collected their breath and looked at the spread divine barrier.

The divine barrier that had become more solid than what they had spread. The divine barrier spread by squeezing out divine power from Saintess Bathory and several high-ranking priests would surely be a solid barrier that completely blocked the inside and outside.

Nevertheless.

‘…Why does it look so unstable?’

That to contain the 2 beings within this barrier, it was far too weak….

They ended up thinking that way.

* * *

‘It can’t even last 1 clash.’

I thought, glancing at the divine barrier being half-destroyed by the repercussions of mine and the Sword King’s ‘Earth Splitting’ clashing.

If I had truly used magic power and slammed in , it would have been a disaster.

I would have become a terrorist who collapsed the Holy Nation and would have been chased all over the world.

“Hmm….”

And perhaps judging that the divine barrier would not be able to handle clashing further, the Sword King thought for a moment and then swung the sword normally instead of using .

Of course, even if swinging the sword normally, was originally based on 3 basic techniques.

It is a sword technique that has trained the 3, vertical cut, horizontal cut, and thrust, to the extreme.

It’s just that the techniques equivalent to finishing moves are ‘Earth Splitting’, ‘Taishan Splitting’, ‘Great Sea Splitting’, but the subsequent basic attacks are not weak.

“Alright, try to follow.”

“Isn’t that what I should say?”

Without waiting for each other, they take stance.

And then, their bodies spring out almost simultaneously, swinging their swords.

Clang! Clangclangclangclangclangclangclangclangclang!!!

1 clash, 2 clashes, 3 clashes, 4 clashes.

Soon, countless slashes clashed, scattered, and clashed again, to the point where counting became meaningless.

The repercussions of those slashes naturally spread in all directions and struck the divine barrier. Of course, both sides were restraining their power to some extent after the first clash. And the divine barrier itself was strengthened more than before, so it could withstand it to some extent.

“Sigh….”

“Hoh….”

One breath.

After sword and sword clashed densely enough to be described as intense during one breath, they retreated from each other.

In the meantime, the ground not protected by the divine barrier became a mess from countless slashes, but neither side paid much attention.

“In that time, your sword energy has become quite skillful.”

“Well, thanks to that.”

“But…. It seems you have not yet realized the ‘Extreme Mastery’.”

“That is…”

I cannot deny those words.

In reality, I could use skillfully, but I couldn’t use properly and could only imitate it similarly.

And the Sword King, who accurately realized that fact, flicked his sword.

“Well, perhaps it is better to show you directly than for you to remember.”

“?”

…What now?

Show what?

“After exchanging swords directly, I already know enough. That you are already capable enough to entrust the future to. But an old man’s greed is, when they see a young person doing excellently, they start to think, ‘Could they do even better?’.”

“So…, you will slam in the ‘Extreme Mastery’ so I can do better?”

“That is the case.”

Are you trying to kill someone.

“Can I curse?”

“Where is there a disciple who curses at their master.”

Shit.

However, no matter what I thought, the Sword King had already decided to use the ‘Extreme Mastery’, his eyes looking at me were unusual.

“Thanks to the ‘Secret Technique Injection Education’, you know it. There is nothing particularly special about ‘Extreme Mastery’. It is just slamming in the 3 . Earth Splitting, Taishan Splitting, and Great Sea Splitting, all 3 simultaneously.”

“Without even an inch of error…, you mean.”

“As expected, you know it well.”

The Sword King takes stance.

Since I also had no intention of just openly taking that, I also take stance.

There is no leisure to use .

Although the activation speed had become reasonably faster as mastery increased, it was not enough to catch up to the speed of that the Sword King used.

So, what I can do is….

Neutralize as much as possible.

“Heaven and Earth Splitting.”

“Heaven and Earth Splitting!”

The sword is plunged down from top to bottom.

I also plunge my sword down from top to bottom to match it.

Neutralize it.

Simultaneously, the sword slashes out from left to right.

Barely catching up to the speed, I slash my sword out from left to right.

Neutralize it.

Simultaneously, the sword launches a straight thrust towards me.

I could not catch up.

I cannot neutralize it.

Boooooom!!!!!!!!!!

An enormous aftermath occurs.

The divinely restored barrier, unable to withstand the clashing , ends up being miserably shattered.

The repercussions of the neutralization that had been building up inside the divine barrier spread in all directions, destroying and swallowing everything around it.

“Your Holiness the Pope!!”

“Sa, Saintess!!”

“Miss Leviya! Behind me!!”

“Kyaah!!”

The key figures who were located there.

To protect the Pope, Saintess Bathory, and Saintess Leviya, the guardian knights, priests, and Baekryeon’s party took on the repercussions of the neutralization violently raging.

But as ordinary people could not possibly block the repercussions caused by those who surpassed humans, the area turned into a chaotic mess as if a powerful explosion magic had fallen.

“…It hurts, shit.”

“Hehehe…. As expected, since there is no magic power, my true power isn’t coming out.”

“If you had even drawn out magic power, I would already be dead, wouldn’t I?”

Health: 42400 / 129870

I really almost died….

* * *

“Are you alright?”

“Do you give the sickness and then the medicine?”

“The way you speak to your master is truly insolent.”

After roughly receiving healing from the clerics and Leviya.

Having recovered my body condition, I returned to Saintess Bathory’s underground temple where the ‘mirror’ is, along with the other party members.

I wondered why we even fought if it was going to be handed over so simply….

Thanks to the skill [Sword King’s Memory] and directly experiencing with my body, something seemed on the verge of being seen, so it wasn’t entirely without gain.

“So, how do we draw out the sealed here?”

“You will have to go in directly.”

“How?”

“Try touching the surface.”

Following the Sword King’s words, I slightly touched the surface of the mirror, and the mirror surface created ripples as if it were water.

“This is…”

“This is a mirror, but at the same time, it is acting as a door. What you must do is go inside this and find the main body of the ‘Demon King’s Fragment’.”

“Find it…, seeing as you say that, it must be hidden, right?”

“Yes. From what I heard, they call it a ‘maze’.”

Hmm…. A maze….

“And only those protected by divine power can enter inside this. If others besides them enter, they will be affected by the power of the ‘Demon King’s Fragment’.”

At the Sword King’s words, I glanced around.

Baekryeon, no divine power.

Seolrin, no divine power.

Leviya, is a Saintess.

Lucy, is a nun for now.

Pyeongcheon Daeseong, no divine power.

I have to take Leviya and Lucy?

I don’t know about Leviya, but Lucy is a bit…. Or not? Is it a good selection?

“And it would be good not to go in with many people. If the number of people increases unnecessarily, it will react inside.”

“…Leviya.”

“Yes, yes?!”

“Let’s go.”

If the inside is a maze and we have to go with a small number of people, naturally….

I have to borrow the strength of the Black Rabbit.