episode_0218

Heading Towards the Tania Region

“Hahaha… Soon, this area will also belong to Goddess Camilla. I can barely believe it… This world truly becoming Goddess Camilla’s…!!”

“Isn’t it obvious? Goddess Camilla is the absolute one who governs the order and faith of this world! Rather, this is what’s fitting for her. And for us to be making such efforts for her… isn’t it truly glorious?”

“Hehehe… To think I can do something like this for Goddess Camilla… My heart is so…?”

A Saintess and a Priest, who were erecting a stone statue in a field, felt immense honor in being of such great help to Camilla. Just as they were greatly rejoicing that the world would soon return to Camilla’s hands, they suddenly heard the ground shake violently and were greatly bewildered. Then, seeing an enormous number of resistance fighters rushing towards them from the front, the Saintess and Priest were startled, but seeing Camilla’s statue next to them, they let out an awkward laugh and felt relieved.

“Ha… Hahaha…!! What a relief… We have Goddess Camilla’s statue right here beside us, don’t we?”

“Exactly… It seems we were startled for no reason. With Goddess Camilla’s great divine power, they too will gain enlightenment and become our allies, so there’s no need to be afraid like this…?”

The two, who were greatly relieved, believing that the divine power emanating from Camilla’s statue next to them would enlighten the resistance fighters and turn them into believers like themselves, were utterly shocked to the point of freezing when the resistance fighters continued to rush forward without stopping, even after stepping on the ground permeated with Camilla’s divine power. Regardless of their shock, all the resistance fighters were shouting battle cries and running, and Gid, who stood at their head, drew two knives from his waist and ran with even greater momentum.

“Waaaaahhhh!!!”

“Wh… What?! They weren’t enlightened even after touching Goddess Camilla’s divine power…!?”

“Ha… It seems they’re heretics, so they can’t receive Goddess Camilla’s enlightenment. In that case, what we must do is eradicate the heretics…? W-wait. Is that…?!”

The Saintess, thinking that the resistance fighters were heretics and thus unable to receive enlightenment even when touching their goddess’s divine power, instead believed this was correct and drew a sword from her waist, preparing to fight the resistance fighters. However, seeing a familiar face next to Gid, the Saintess was greatly bewildered, and when the face became clear, she cried out in surprise.

“Ah… No… You are Saintess Viola-nim, the Senior Saintess…?! Why are you with such heretics…?!”

“You absolutely must not kill them, everyone!! Those Saintesses and Priests might also be victims, just like me!!! Just capture them!!”

“Understood, Viola!!! Yuria-nim, would you help me!! Just knock them out!!”

“Alright, Gid!!”

Seeing the Saintess and Priest greatly shocked by Viola’s presence next to them, Gid heard Viola’s cry to only capture them and requested Yuria’s help. Then, he quickly rushed towards the Saintess and Priest with two knives, striking both their abdomens simultaneously with the blunt side of his blades. The Saintess and Priest cried out in great pain, clutching their stomachs, and Yuria intensely blasted cold air from her hands towards their faces. Unable to breathe in Yuria’s cold air, the Saintess and Priest fainted and collapsed, and those following behind them picked them up on their backs while running. Then, Alten let out a hollow laugh and muttered.

“Hmph…!! To think they could have worked together this well all along, yet they fought like that…”

“Good!! We’ll pull back for a moment!!! You all, too, pull back once you’ve secured the Saintesses and Priests!!”

“To think they now trust each other and act without anyone guiding them… Hehehe… It’s been a long time since I wanted to see such a sight… It feels truly strange to think that it took a situation like this for us to finally see such a harmonious scene. Don’t you agree, Merzel?”

“I’m not particularly interested in such things, so I don’t have much to think about, Arvina. However, it’s still a little pleasing that they’ve changed to be of great help to Cecilia-nim and me.”

Arvina recalled how she had previously wished for a world where beastfolk and humans cooperated and lived together, asking Merzel if it wasn’t truly strange that a harmonious scene was only appearing now, after the world had almost been destroyed. Merzel, who had decided to fight against the cult primarily to fulfill Cecilia’s wishes, had little interest in harmony itself, but still felt a small amount of joy that these unified individuals could now be of great help to Cecilia and him. Thus, the resistance fighters advanced relentlessly, and the Saintesses and Priests who faced them were greatly bewildered.

“Th-this is strange?! This is clearly sacred ground where Goddess Camilla’s divine power flows… So why aren’t they receiving Goddess Camilla’s teachings?! Everyone should be receiving her teachings in their hearts and be moved by them…?!”

“Ah… The reason they can’t receive the teachings?”

“That’s obvious, you cultists. We’ve completely drained all the divine power from people’s bodies…!!”

“El-elves?! Th-these bastards, when did they…!! *Cough*…”

The moment a Priest wondered why the resistance fighters were voluntarily rejecting Goddess Camilla’s teachings, elves, who had instantly approached that Priest and the surrounding believers, held daggers in their hands and explained that they had completely drained all the divine power from the resistance fighters’ bodies using the energy of nature. They then struck the believers’ heads with the dagger hilts, knocking them unconscious, and immediately carried them back to the resistance group that was running. They then waved to Veronica, who was running at the front, and seeing the elves carry the believers from the front, return, and wave to her, Veronica smiled brightly and waved back, saying.

“As expected, elves show incredible speed even in open fields, not just in forests!! By the way, isn’t it fortunate that we finished the work within the time limit, Village Chief Kelly-nim?”

“Indeed. It’s fortunate that the magic circle Akada researched before was also a great help.”

“Hehehe. It’s thanks to us elves living in the Kriton region and the fairies of Karizan.”

Veronica and Kelly, recalling how they were able to quickly drain divine power from everyone by imbuing the magic circle Akada had left behind with the elves’ energy of nature, chuckled at each other. Then, a forest appeared before their eyes, and within the forest, the cult’s believers were preparing to resist the approaching resistance fighters.

“Those are the foolish ones who dare to defy the great Goddess Camilla. To think there are so many of them, more than expected… Forgive us, Goddess Camilla-nim, for not completely eradicating the heretics…!!”

“Everyone, focus. Although their resistance is strong… for us, who are blessed by Goddess Camilla-nim, they will absolutely never be…”

“No match? For low-level believers who are constantly losing power, your pride is truly remarkable, isn’t it?”

“…?!”

As the resistance fighters approached the forest, the low-level believers who had been ambushed in the forest stood up, preparing for a surprise attack. At that moment, a voice suddenly came from atop a tree, startling the low-level believers who looked up. And at the same time, beastfolk, including Karina, leaped from the trees, swiftly ambushing the low-level believers before they could react. Then, Dio V Runner, who had arrived in the forest, let out a hollow laugh upon seeing the beastfolk pinning down the unconscious believers and waving at him.

“Hmph… So they’re fighting according to their respective specialties… And it’s truly surprising to see that everyone trusts Viola’s words.”

“There are still more believers around, Dio V Runner. For now, we’ll pull back with the captured believers!! When we return, you must have advanced further than this point!!”

“Yes… Understood. But it seems the other hidden believers will be dealt with by the other races on their own.”

“Uwaaahhh…!! An ambush… Ughhh…”

As Karina warned him about other believers still being around and pulled back, Dio V Runner heard the sounds around him and sensed that other races were dealing with the believers Karina had warned him about. And as he had sensed, fairies were suppressing the believers still hidden in the forest using songs and their magic, and spirits, including Iruvan and Nerha, were also sweeping through the forest, clearing out all the believers. Then, Riera, having finished her song, took a deep breath and spoke to Nerha, who had arrived beside her.

“Huuuhhh… It feels like my voice might get a bit hoarse singing the Lullaby of Sleep after so long. Are you alright, Nerha?”

“Of course. We spirits are the race most deeply connected to nature. So fighting in nature is what we’re most used to~!”

“That’s good. Then, let’s go somewhere else…”

“Now…!! Repent, you filthy heretics!!!”

“…!!”

The moment Riera and Nerha were catching their breath and about to deal with other believers again, believers ambushed in the tall grass rushed at them, holding swords and hammers. The two, realizing the ambush late, were startled and about to be hit by their weapons when humans appeared, urgently saving them and other races who were about to be ambushed. Then, Pertian, who had also almost been hit by a believer’s surprise attack, stammered upon seeing a human male block the believer’s hammer with a sword, protecting him.

“Th-this human…?”

“Hey, beastfolk…!! Are you okay?! I can’t completely block this guy right now, you know…?! If you’re alright, could you finish him off instead of me?!”

“Ughhhh…!! This heretic dares…!! Dares to hit my hammer, which contains the divine power of the sacred Goddess Camilla-nim…!! *Cough*…”

As the human, unable to finish off the believer because he was busy blocking the hammer, asked Pertian to take care of the rest, Pertian struck the abdomen of the believer, who was trying to imbue the hammer with divine power, with the blunt end of his spear. The believer was hit in the abdomen by Pertian’s spear and collapsed, and as the believer fell, the human took a deep breath, extended his hand to Pertian, and said.

“I ran at full strength to help because I also wanted to apologize for what we humans did in the past… I wonder if I just got in the way?”

“…To receive help from a human, and even an apology… This truly feels strange. You saved my life, human.”

Pertian let out a chuckle when the human who helped him even apologized, then took the human’s hand and stood up. At that moment, they flinched, startled, as a massive light appeared from deeper within the forest, and turned their heads towards it. All the resistance fighters were bewildered, unable to fully open their eyes because of the intense light emanating from within the forest.

“W-what in the world is this light?! Could Goddess Camilla herself have appeared…?!”

“No, it’s not…!! It’s a bit weaker than the light I saw before with Dio V Runner-nim and Cecilia…!! That light is…!!”

As the spirit beside her anxiously wondered if Camilla herself had appeared, Yuria said it wasn’t, and began to observe the light closely. Then, Yuria realized that stronger-looking believers from deeper within the forest were creating a magic circle above their heads and charging the light, and she was greatly shocked.

“The Light of Judgment shall descend upon the heretics who reject Goddess Camilla-nim’s teachings…”

“May… only Goddess Camilla-nim’s grace fill this world…”

“Th-this damned thing…!! Is it a large-scale beam attack?!! Quickly, respond…!!”

Alten, who anticipated that the Saintesses would gather light and fire a powerful beam at them, urgently pondered how to respond, looking around. Then, just as the beam finally erupted from the magic circle, fiercely approaching as if to completely annihilate the resistance fighters’ location, the dragons in the sky, including Protega, similarly gathered their attributes in their mouths and then unleashed them, countering the Saintesses’ beam. Seeing the dragons spew attributes from their mouths, Andres, who was among the resistance fighters, was greatly impressed.

“A d-dragon’s roar…!! To think I’d get to see th-that with my own eyes…!! Kwaaahhh!! Amazing!!”

“Is this the time to be discussing such things, human?! While the dragons are blocking the Saintesses’ beam, we need to advance further and take down the Saintesses firing the beam!!”

“You are right, Cecilia. We’ll go ahead and subdue them.”

Cecilia was bewildered by Andres admiring the dragons’ attack instead of thinking about fighting beside her, and she began to rush quickly into the forest with Viola. At that moment, as everyone else also started running forward, Dio V Runner spewed fire from his boots, soaring into the sky, then fiercely flew towards the Saintesses who were unleashing the beam, and equipped red orbs into the flamethrowers attached to his arms. As he got quite close to them, Dio V Runner extended both his arms and shouted.

“Viola also requested not to kill you, so I won’t…!! Flame Shoot!!”

“Protect the Saintesses!!! Don’t let that fire touch them…?!”

“How dare you try to block Dio V Runner-nim’s path…? Frozen Field.”

As Dio V Runner blasted fireballs from his flamethrowers towards the Saintesses who were unleashing the beam, the believers tried to protect the Saintesses by deploying a barrier of divine power. However, Yuria, who had already passed through the forest and swiftly reached them just like Dio V Runner, blasted cold air from her hands, freezing the area solid. As their bodies froze slightly, the believers ultimately couldn’t concentrate, failing to properly deploy the barrier. Then, Dio V Runner’s fireballs struck the Saintesses, forcing them to stop unleashing the beam, and with the beam no longer being fired, the dragons ceased their roars and continued to advance with the resistance fighters. Rapien, observing them dealing with the believers according to their respective specialties and talents, and helping each other, peeked her head out from inside a box and was greatly amazed.

“Woaaah… How amazing… Everyone who used to fight is now helping each other and moving forward… It’s truly incredible, Tess…”

“It is strange for me too, seeing beastfolk and humans fighting shoulder to shoulder… By the way, Rapien. You said the mutated monsters are in the Tania region, right?”

“Yes…!! When we arrive in the Tania region, the mutated monsters will help us!! So for now, let’s just keep advancing like this!!”

“Good….!! We’ll be arriving in the Tania region soon, so… let’s run even faster, Kartun’s detached force!!!”

“Understood, Vanguard Captain-nim!!”

Upon hearing from Rapien that they could receive help from mutated monsters upon arriving in the Tania region, Tess shouted to Kartun’s detached force around him to run faster and continued to advance. Thus, unlike the cult’s expectations, the resistance fighters were able to subdue even the low-level believers without overexerting themselves, thanks to their large numbers and cooperation. With that momentum, they fiercely headed towards the Tania region, shaking the world. About three days passed like that. Still making my way to the Tania region, I crossed a stepping stone bridge, took a deep breath, and muttered.

“Huuuhhh… I’ve finally crossed that stepping stone bridge… Well… It’s been a while. My hometown… Tania…”

Having crossed the stepping stone bridge that connected the Magrion region and the Tania region, I felt a bittersweet sensation upon finally arriving in the Tania region. I had surely thought Aria would be beside me when I returned to the Tania region… Huuuhhh… I felt a bitter feeling returning to the Tania region without Aria beside me, but I soon pulled myself together and continued walking along the path the resistance fighters would have taken.