episode_0228

No one dared to open their mouths. No one opened their mouths at Camilla’s descent. The aura emanating from Camilla felt like immense terror to the resistance forces, and a great blessing to the Order. Even the members of the Children of Light, who had carelessly underestimated the resistance forces, observed silence and paid their respects to Camilla like other devotees. Cecilia, Yuria, and Dio V Runner, who had previously felt Camilla’s power, were greatly astonished by Camilla’s even stronger power and remained speechless. But only one. Only one person opened their mouth on the black battlefield, filled with nothing but silence.

“Ahhh…!! You have finally descended upon this world, Goddess Camilla-nim…!! My light…!! My light, who led me when I was sobbing in the darkness…!!”

“Aria Ritt… My child. With your help, I have descended here… And because my children also did well, I was able to descend here without fail…”

“Our Light…!! We feel truly honored that you have come here!!! Lead us!!”

At Camilla’s words, all the Children of Light felt honored and shouted to Camilla. However, the resistance forces were greatly perplexed by that shout, as they couldn’t come up with any measure to kill Camilla. Her power was stronger than they had expected, and the devotees’ faith in her was so strong that everyone instinctively felt it would be overwhelming to even face the morale-boosted devotees.

“Damn it… This is trouble… I wanted to save the world, but is it going to end like this…? What a damned moment…!!”

“Ah… Let’s not give up yet…!! If we combine our strength, surely even a goddess…!!”

“Foolish heretics… Have you still not grasped your fate?”

As some of the resistance forces did not give up and tried to defy her even after her descent, Camilla looked at them with pitying eyes and pointed her index finger at them. Then, she fired a thin yellow beam from her fingertip, lightly grazing the spot where they were. When the ground struck by the beam exploded, the resistance forces were seized with fear upon seeing even a dragon caught in the explosion.

“What… what is that…? Did she just turn the ground into scorched earth with a single beam…? Is that even possible…!!”

“My children. The time has come… To create a pure world, all heretics must be purified.”

“…!!!”

“In my name, execute all heretics who refuse my divine power and reject my will. Let us now begin our great final work to create a world filled with light.”

“Yes, my Light…!!”

While the resistance forces were briefly astonished by Camilla’s swift disposal of part of their group, they quickly tried to retaliate as the devotees, emboldened by Camilla’s command, charged at them. However, perhaps due to Camilla’s descent, the devotees’ divine power was stronger than before, and the resistance forces slowly began to lose to them. Hidden powerhouses tried to protect the resistance forces somehow, but it was not enough to stop the numerous devotees whose morale and divine power had increased. Cecilia was greatly flustered upon seeing the resistance forces gradually losing to the devotees.

“N-no…!! Everyone is too confused and stunned by Camilla’s attack just now to defeat the devotees…!!”

“That was always the intended reaction, you unsightly creatures. Are you so foolish that you don’t realize our Light has descended personally to enlighten you? Rest assured. This world will now be filled with Goddess Camilla-nim’s light. And you, the very darkness that obstructs her light, will vanish from this world without a trace.”

As Cecilia was alarmed that their battle situation was being reversed, Remie instead stated that this was how it should be, and raised her sword towards Cecilia and Rapien. Cecilia and Rapien looked at Remie with perplexed expressions, unsure how to break free from this situation. Meanwhile, the dragons attacking the devotees from the sky also began to fall, taking the full brunt of the devotees’ beam attacks, which had become more powerful due to Camilla’s descent.

“CRAAAAAAWL…!!!”

“Everyone, focus…!! If we lose here, all our efforts will be for nothing!!! We must resist them to protect others…!!”

“But Dragon… no, Protega-nim…!! Everyone is terrified by Camilla’s light and beginning to lose their will to fight…!! They all expected Camilla to descend personally, but they were terrified after seeing Camilla scorch the earth as an example just now!!!”

“Damn it…!! Dragons can do that too…!!! Why are they scared of something their own comrades can do…!!”

“Because you and Goddess Camilla-nim are on different levels, you race that has lost its pride…!!”

“…!!!”

At Andres’s words that everyone was scared, Protega was puzzled as to why the resistance forces were terrified of Camilla’s recent attack when they themselves could perform the same feat. Shalev, who had flown into the air, answered that Camilla and the dragons were on different levels, and then fired a beam from the yellow circular formation drawn behind him, attacking Protega. Protega blocked Shalev’s beam with his crossed arms, taking the full force of it, while Andres, behind Protega, was greatly flustered and worried about Protega.

“P-Protega!!! Are you alright?!”

“Yes…!! I can endure…!! But whether it’s due to that filthy god’s descent or not, that devotee’s attack is much stronger than before…!! My strength won’t be enough…!!”

“Oh no…!! Understood!!! I’ll immediately create a spell formation to support you…!”

“Do you think we’ll give you time for that? Fire, Knights of Goddess Camilla-nim.”

The moment Andres was about to prepare something by creating a circular ring containing a spell written in ancient language from his staff, Shalev, who hadn’t forgotten about Andres, commanded the devotees on the ground to fire something. Then, some of the devotees on the ground chanted prayers and fired beams at Andres in the sky. Andres realized that beams were being fired from the ground and heading towards him, and was greatly alarmed. Meanwhile, Viola and Adoleth were struggling, precariously blocking fierce attacks with their spears.

“Damn it…!! Their physical abilities are stronger than before…!! What happened…?!”

“Through Goddess Camilla-nim’s light, I have grown stronger than before, you traitorous Saintess…!! I am now stronger, more relentless, and more dangerous than before…!!”

“Ugh…!!! But I can’t keep being pushed back like this!!! HAAAAAAAAP!!!”

As Adoleth began to unleash a fierce assault, thrusting her spear at high speed as if to overwhelm Viola, claiming she had grown stronger through Camilla’s light, Viola recalled the evacuating children and declared she couldn’t be pushed back like this. She swung her spear widely, deflecting Adoleth’s spear. The moment she then immediately gripped her spear straight and was about to stab Adoleth, Viola was greatly alarmed to see spears of light forming around Adoleth. Adoleth smiled broadly and said to Viola,

“Did you think I was such a weak Saintess that I would be deflected by your spear, foolish traitor? I am Adoleth of the Children of Light.”

“Th-this damn it…!!!”

“You shouldn’t have underestimated the Order’s power…!! Holy Spear.”

Adoleth mocked Viola, saying that underestimating the Order’s power was her downfall, and then launched all the spears of light around her at Viola. Viola was thus impaled by four spears of light, moved by Adoleth’s divine power. Adoleth smiled, looking at Viola’s miserable state. Meanwhile, Arvina was struggling, finding it difficult to deflect all the divine power Kate continuously threw at her.

‘Damn it…!! The divine power is stronger than before, making it hard to deflect all of it with my spear…!! And it’s hard to approach either…!!’

“Where is that anger from before, wolf beastkin?! Where are those angry eyes directed at the Order, and why do you now have the eyes of a cornered mouse…!! Didn’t I tell you!!! This was your foolish fate from the beginning!!!”

“Fate…?!! Are you daring to blather that kidnapping my precious beastkin… and others’ precious ones, and forcibly turning them into devotees, is also fate?! Who would acknowledge such a miserable fate!!!”

“Miserable…!! What unpleasant words…!! What we are doing is proselytizing…!! Everyone receiving salvation through Goddess Camilla-nim’s light…!! What problem could there be with our actions, which have such good intentions!!!”

“People didn’t want it, did they!!! And yet you keep spouting such high-sounding… no, merely illusory words as excuses!!! I will…!!! I will definitely end you with these hands!!!”

As Kate gave outrageous excuses that there was nothing wrong with proselytizing people towards salvation through Camilla’s light, Arvina was greatly enraged and vowed to kill Kate with her own hands. As Arvina somehow deflected Kate’s fierce attacks, Esti tried to somehow find an opening while dodging Okute’s heavy hammer. However, as Okute showed surprisingly agile movements for his huge size, Esti just continued to dodge Okute’s hammer while gathering crimson energy in both hands.

“Damn it…!! Why is someone so big so nimble…!! I can’t find an opening at all…!!”

“Our Light desires your lives…!! I am merely a hammer to fulfill that wish and judge you!!!”

“Then how about you take our fire!? Ready, Iruvan!!!”

“Yeah, I’m ready!!!”

“Huuuup!!!”

The moment Okute continued to focus his attacks on Esti, Rubaea and Iruvan, standing on either side of Okute, gathered flames in both hands and shouted. Both then simultaneously unleashed flames at Okute. Okute let out a shout and created circular formations on both sides of him, blocking the two people’s flames. Rubaea and Iruvan flinched in surprise at Okute’s quick response. Okute, still blocking their flames with the circular formations, swung his hammer at Esti and said,

“It’s useless…!! As long as her light fills this place, I have no blind spots now!!! And as long as she protects me like this, you can no longer launch any attack against me!!!”

“Haaah… This is driving me crazy…!! Since they’ve existed for a long time, you have to admit they’re persistent…!!!”

“Monster who has strayed from the world’s natural order!! You have a rightful duty to disappear from this world!! So offer your life to my hammer…!!”

“Duty?! How dare you discuss the duty of life in front of me…!! It already breaks my heart to remember that Rezef died because of that damn prejudice!!!”

As Okute claimed that Esti had a duty to die as a monster who had strayed from the world’s natural order, Esti became greatly enraged, as if a raw nerve had been struck. She unleashed crimson energy from her right hand, clashing with Okute’s hammer. Meanwhile, Jervell showed no signs of being pushed back against Tess, Veronica, and Karina. Instead, he kicked them in the abdomen, dominating them. Tess, who was sent flying after being kicked in the abdomen by Jervell’s foot, spat blood and was perplexed that the situation had become even more difficult.

“Damn it… That kid’s strength has gotten stronger…!! He was already agile, but now that he’s even faster, hope is starting to disappear…!!”

“Kihahahahaha…!! Did you perhaps forget something important? You don’t realize we’re not fighting at full strength, do you?!”

“What…? What do you mean…!!! Holy… Holy Ring’s Radiance!!!”

When Jervell asked if they didn’t realize they weren’t fighting at full strength, Veronica remembered the Holy Ring’s Radiance that Aria had used when she defeated the World Tree. She was greatly astonished, thinking that they might have also reached that level. Jervell chuckled, as if Veronica’s guess was correct, and then, along with the other Children of Light excluding Aria, began to raise their divine power and transform into the Holy Ring’s Radiance. As everyone was greatly astonished that the Children of Light were finally about to use their true power, Yuria froze all the devotees who were about to attack Dio V Runner, saving him, and then immediately hugged him, worried.

“Dio V Runner…!! Are you alright?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”

“Ugh… Yuria… Thanks for saving me… Anyway… I didn’t think Camilla would descend to this world so early due to her impatience…”

“What do we do…? Camilla’s power is stronger than before…!! And the devotees’ power has also gotten stronger, seemingly reacting to Camilla’s descent…!! And now it seems they’re starting to transform into something called Holy Ring’s Radiance…”

Yuria looked around, feeling that the power of the devotees and Camilla had become stronger than before, and was greatly perplexed. In particular, the power emanating from the Children of Light, who were beginning to transform into the Holy Ring’s Radiance, started to make hope seem distant. Then, Dio V Runner emerged from Yuria’s embrace, slowly stood up, and attached two orbs to the flamethrowers on his arms, explaining to Yuria.

“That’s right… But fortunately, thanks to Camilla’s impatience, there seems to be hope…”

“Huh…?! There’s hope in this situation…?!”

“That’s right… Thanks to her impatient movements… Look at that. Isn’t there a line extending from Camilla’s back connected to the sky?”

“A line…?”

Dio V Runner said there seemed to be hope even in this terrible situation, pointing at Camilla’s back. Yuria followed Dio V Runner’s finger and looked at Camilla’s back. She was greatly surprised to indeed see a yellow line extending from Camilla’s back and connected to the sky, and said,

“It’s… it’s really there…? But what is that line…?”

“It seems she’s not fully able to bring her original power from another dimension into this world, so she’s getting it supplied like that… Perhaps at the end of that line is the core of her original power, located beyond the dimensional gate and existing in another dimension… Simply put, if we cut that line, Camilla will be weakened.”

“R-really…? Then…? Oh…?! Di… Dio V Runner?!”

When Dio V Runner said that Camilla’s power was not yet complete and that there was hope if they cut the line transmitting her power from another dimension to her, Yuria was greatly surprised that there was still hope. At that moment, Dio V Runner suddenly flew into the sky, greatly alarming Yuria. Meanwhile, Camilla watched with satisfaction as her devotees began to thoroughly crush the resistance forces.

“Finally, this world will be mine… No… This was its original fate from the start. Because I am a god… Now others will continue to love me…”

“And it will be an ideal world for me and Zeke-nim. Come… Will you step into this place that will become an ideal world, my Light?”

“Yes… That’s ri…!!!”

As Aria extended her hand and invited Camilla to step into this dimension, which would become their ideal world, Camilla slowly began to descend to the ground. At that moment, Dio V Runner, who had flown into the sky, suddenly attacked her by spewing flames from his flamethrower. Camilla, realizing this belatedly, was instantly engulfed in flames. Aria was startled and shouted at Dio V Runner.

“…!!! You damn…!! Dio V Runner!!! To still try to…!!!”

“You’re my opponent, Aria…!!! Don’t interfere with Launcher-nim!!!”

“…?!”

As Dio V Runner attacked Camilla, Aria immediately flew towards Dio V Runner, intending to swing her staff. However, Yuria, who had flown into the air to support Dio V Runner, grabbed Aria’s arm and tried to freeze it, surprising and alarming Aria. Unhindered by Aria, Dio V Runner took a deep breath and shouted loudly for all to hear.

“There’s still hope!!!! You’re not fighting at full strength either!!!! Don’t be flustered just because these guys got a little stronger!!! I’ll handle Camilla, so you do what you can do!!!!”

“…!! What we can do…!!!”

“Aghhh!! Damn it!!!”

As Dio V Runner attacked Camilla and shouted for everyone to show their full strength and do everything they could, a beastkin, hearing his words, flinched. He then spotted a human knight on the verge of death from a devotee’s attack next to him and immediately kicked the devotee away from the knight. He then extended his hand to the human knight, and the knight grasped the beastkin’s hand, stood up, and thanked him.

“Phew… Thanks for saving me. Anyway, did you hear that shout just now?”

“Yeah… I’m a little ashamed of being so disheartened just now… We haven’t even shown our full strength yet, so we can’t give up over just that…!!”

“I have a son. He’s evacuating right now… For my son’s sake, I can’t fall here…!!”

“What a coincidence! I also have a son evacuating with others right now… For the sake of making a better world for them later, we can’t fall…!! Let’s go!!!”

The resistance forces, whose morale began to rise again at Dio V Runner’s shout, immediately began to fight back against the Order. To their great surprise, even though the devotees’ power had increased, the resistance forces did not falter and resisted strongly enough to fight on equal terms. The battle between the resistance forces and the devotees grew more intense, and Dio V Runner, spewing flames at Camilla, had one worry.

‘Damn it…!! Everyone is fighting more fiercely now, but… the thing that will decide this battle… it’s only that…!! Come quickly…!!’

#227 Behold the Descent of Camilla

Behold the Descent of Camilla

“Haa… haaah…. D-Damn it…. How could this happen…. ”

Arriving late on the battlefield, I saw Aria, enchanted by Camilla’s divine power, had finally shared her own divine power with Camilla, completely bringing Camilla into the world. I realized I was too late. And beneath that descent, many holy maidens were praying, beholding Camilla’s advent. Damn it…. So I couldn’t do anything by myself after all…. Damn it….!!!

“Ugh…. I… I can’t lose Aria like this…. I can’t lose this world either…. There are still so many places I want to explore… I can’t just collapse like this and do nothing….!!”

“Hehehe…. Zeke-nim. Why are you so sorrowful? Finally… our ideal world is being completed, isn’t it? The illusory world that… Cecilia showed me before… is finally unfolding… aren’t you happy, Zeke-nim?”

“Happy…!! Do you think I’d be happy seeing something like this….?! This world is being destroyed…!! You didn’t want the world we could explore together to be destroyed either….!! What is Camilla, the Goddess’s divine power, that… your will would just… succumb to Camilla’s will…. ”

“Hmph…. How dare a mere human belittle my divine power…. How utterly unpleasant. I’ll get rid of you first….?! Wh-What is this….?! Something…. something is… in my head…. Aaaaaaaah….!!!”

“….!! Aaaaaaaah!! My… my head…. Something’s entering my head!!! Aaaaaaaah!!!”

“Huh….?”

The moment Camilla reached out her hand to fire a beam at me, Camilla and the holy maidens suddenly grabbed their heads with both hands and began to complain of headaches. Then, the place where Goddess Camilla had descended began to fill only with screams, and I was bewildered and flustered by the sudden situation. What is it…? What’s happening all of a sudden…? Why are they all complaining of headaches like that? I haven’t done anything yet…? The moment I, flustered and unable to understand the situation, Aria approached me and spoke.

“Hehehe…. Zeke-nim. When did I say I would destroy this world? You’re mistaken. I don’t want this world to be destroyed.”

“Wh-What did you say? Then Camilla, the Goddess’s divine power, must have been weak…!! Thank goodness…. It’s such a relief that you’re sane…. ”

“However, my thought of making the Crentid World an ideal world hasn’t changed. An ideal world where I can live with Zeke-nim…. That is….”

“Aaaah…!!! Zeke-nim…!!! Aria-nim!!!”

“…. Huh?”

At my words asking if she had returned to her senses, Aria spread her arms, explaining that she still wanted to change this world into our ideal world. Just then, Camilla and the holy maidens suddenly smiled blissfully and turned their heads toward me, making me feel a chill. Aria then explained her ideal world to me.

“That is….. a world full of subordinates who swear allegiance to my and Zeke-nim’s love…!! Now!! I will use Camilla to turn everyone into slaves….!!!”

“N-No way… with her own divine power, Camilla and her followers… Wait, what…?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Stop it!!!! ”

As Aria, declaring she would turn all people in the world into slaves, headed elsewhere with Camilla and the other holy maidens, I was greatly horrified and tried to stop Aria, but then I lost consciousness. Then, regaining consciousness and sitting up, I realized I was in an inn and was relieved, thinking it was a dream. At that very moment….

“Zeke-nim!! Breakfast is….”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! ”

“Huh….?”

As Aria opened the door and entered, saying that breakfast was ready, the dream from earlier came to mind, and I involuntarily screamed. Aria, not knowing why I was suddenly so startled, looked flustered. H-hoooh…. That was a truly terrible nightmare….