Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Somehow, Agares, having used the Demon’s Seed, effortlessly neutralized the divine power unleashed by the Holy Knights and priests, to the point it felt futile.
The divine power of Excalibur was of the same lineage as theirs, so it was no different. No matter how one looked at it, it all originated from the Goddess anyway.
‘But if I strike together with Prometheus’s Flame!’
Blue sacred flames intertwined atop the white Aura Blade. It became a slightly brighter pale green light than before and pierced into Agares’s mouth.
[……!]
At first, the bastard received it as if it were only natural.
He probably intended to snap my sword just like that, but to destroy a sacred relic of Excalibur’s caliber, at the very least his true body would have had to descend directly.
Moreover, the divine power mixed with Prometheus’s Flame displayed a force he could not simply ignore.
Paaaat-!
The head of Agares, which had swallowed Excalibur, soon began to swell. It then burst into pale green flames, grotesquely melting and warping as it burned.
[-------------!]
At the same time, a shriek loud enough to tear eardrums echoed out. It sounded filled with immense rage, yet also carried a hint of bewilderment somewhere within.
With his head blown apart, Agares staggered back several steps, moving out of my sword’s effective range.
I wanted to press the momentum and smash him down just like that, but the place where I stood was the very center of the demonic energy storm he was spewing. I could barely manage to take a single step forward.
[That loathsome flame is the very sacred fire that a foolish demigod bestowed at the beginning of time!]
Agares screamed as if lamenting, pointing at the flames clinging to Excalibur. Then he restored his head back to its original state and stared at me with his vivid yellow eyes.
[To think that a mere Hero who has achieved only a single Awakening……!]
When Agares first saw me, he had called me a being who styled himself a Hero. But judging by his appearance now, it seemed he truly believed that I was a Hero.
‘Well, I suppose I would too.’
The wielder of Excalibur, and someone who even handled Prometheus’s Flame—something said only a tiny few could use.
Moreover, I had already declared myself a Hero within the Holy Kingdom. For Agares, who had been deeply involved to the point of inhabiting a Paladin’s body, it would not have been strange for him to have planted a few informants within the Holy Kingdom.
“As a first offering, a lord of the Demonic Realm like Agares. Not bad at all.”
[How dare you place the name of this Agares upon that frivolous mouth of yours. Utterly laughable.]
When I provoked him with a bit of bluster mixed in, he responded to it as if it were only natural. Perhaps preparing for a full-fledged battle, Agares retracted the demonic energy storm that had been sweeping the area and stood facing me.
“…You really made a spectacle of things.”
As my field of vision barely cleared and I looked around, a groan escaped me. The remains of what looked like over a dozen Holy Knights and priests were strewn about nearby.
And beyond them, personnel of the Holy Kingdom were in the midst of preparing to seal Agares, having erected a barrier of divine power.
Thud.
Before Agares could act again, the Holy King stepped forward. As if determined not to be pushed back so easily this time, he had already equipped full body armor and surrounded himself with Paladins, his body overflowing with dense divine power.
[Pathetic creatures.]
But Agares did not shrink back. Rather, he took another step forward and burst into loud laughter at those standing before him.
[Go on, entertain me a little, you insignificant mortals.]
The way he kept prattling on about mortals was the very image of a clichéd villain who played along, but unfortunately, his power was real.
Above all, fighting Agares who had manifested in his true form was something even the protagonist, standing on the brink of the final Awakening, would have struggled with.
Soon, darkness surged up from the ground. Despite the name Holy Kingdom, numerous demonic beasts of the Demonic Realm, including Death Knights, began to take shape.
Their numbers rivaled those of the Holy Knights. No, rather, they continued to swell endlessly under Agares, who ceaselessly spewed demonic energy.
“Prayer of Purification.”
The Holy Kingdom’s side did not simply watch idly either.
When the Holy King swept his hand, the priests chanted prayers. In response, the divine power spread through the air took the form of a cross and crushed down upon the demonic beasts, including the Death Knights.
However, more demonic beasts began forming atop the training ground than those being erased.
Soon, reinforcements from elsewhere joined the fray, but the power of Agares, endlessly producing demonic beasts by spewing demonic energy, and the Holy Kingdom, pouring out divine power through sheer numbers, reached a deadlock.
However, the progression of this world had not yet even reached the midpoint of the original story. Their divine power would only truly amplify after the Hero achieved several Awakenings and his connection to the Goddess became solid.
At this point in time, against Agares—who had gained abnormal strength through a possessed body—enduring was all they could manage.
As the battle stagnated, I cautiously retreated and steadied my breathing.
After consecutively sparring with numerous strong opponents, I had ultimately ended up fighting Agares.
It felt like some kind of absurd story, but if the Holy King, the Saintess, or the Paladins were to suffer massive losses here, then when the gate to the Demonic Realm eventually opened, a significant portion of the fighting strength would be lost.
It was a vague story of the future, but one that absolutely could not be overlooked.
“I’ll help you.”
Just as I was about to twist open the cap of a Mana Potion, Sylvia approached with a stiff expression and lightly placed her hand on my shoulder. A warm light spread throughout my body, and the body that had been engulfed in demonic energy began to be purified.
[…Amazing. If we’re only talking about the quality of divine power, you’re no less than me. No, since you’ll grow even more, your potential in divine power alone seems like it will surpass mine.]
River, who had remained silent while assisting my battles until now, let out a quiet note of admiration. Once my body felt somewhat at ease, I nodded to her in thanks and grabbed the potion again.
“Normally, this lowers efficiency.”
If it were an ordinary mage, they would be able to utilize about seventy percent of a Mana Potion’s recovery effect, but for a swordsman, the story was a bit different.
To convert mana into aura, it had to be one’s own pure energy. The pure energy referred to here was a refined essence created by drawing external mana into the body and transforming it to suit one’s own nature.
But a Mana Potion forcibly injected condensed mana into the body. Naturally, since it was an artificial substance, it was not pure.
To convert that into aura resulted in roughly a fifty percent loss. I had already consumed one Mana Potion earlier during the sparring. As such, the loss rate this time would be even greater than before.
“But that loss rate can be covered with quantity.”
I pulled out bundles of high-grade potions and gulped them down, restoring the mana I had expended. What was so great about having a lot of money? In the end, fights were waged with capital. Anything that could be used had to be used.
Clatter.
Several empty potion bottles rolled across the ground. As I let out a breath, feeling full, Sylvia looked at me with a slightly taken-aback expression.
“…This is the first time I’ve seen someone consume potions so recklessly.”
“Then it’s good you’ve seen it now.”
Later on, everyone fought like this. The only difference was that instead of Mana Potions, they chewed on Mana Beads.
The forces of the Holy Kingdom and Agares were still locked in a war of attrition.
Divine power and demonic energy raged and shook the training ground.
At first, the Holy Knights, supported by the priests, cut down demonic beasts with unstoppable momentum, but from the high-ranking Death Knights onward—perhaps influenced by Agares—they appeared unaffected under waves of divine power.
Even so, the Paladins displayed an unrivaled divine authority. Moreover, the Paladin who had nearly become my final opponent earlier fought splendidly alongside the Holy King against Agares.
‘If I had continued the Pilgrim’s Path like that, I think I would’ve lost.’
Each time the sword of the 60th Paladin swung, Agares’s demonic energy was shaved away. It was not divine power, but his innate strength that was severing the opponent’s energy.
It even made the Holy King’s side, who fought using overwhelming divine power, feel sluggish by comparison.
In the midst of that, it was Agares’s side that changed the situation first.
Woooong.
Suddenly, his presence swelled several times over. As if he had never imagined Agares could grow even stronger here, the Holy King’s face twisted.
At the same time, Agares’s fist, engulfed in dense demonic energy, struck the two of them.
Kwaaaaaaaaang-!
Two long trails were carved across the floor of the training ground, creating a massive explosion. When the personnel of the Holy Kingdom realized that the ones blown away were the Holy King and the Paladin, they hesitated for a brief moment.
Kieeeek-!
Seizing that opening, Agares’s army surged forward. With him at the forefront, his entire body wrapped in surging demonic energy, they began advancing slowly.
The remaining Paladins stepped up to block their path, but their stiffened faces suggested they had realized this was an opponent they could not handle with their own strength.
Yet they did not retreat. Was it faith in the Goddess, or the determination to protect those behind them?
“Sylvia, pour every support spell you have onto me.”
“…Pardon?”
Ignoring her question, I slowly walked forward.
“[Prometheus’s Flame].”
Once more, blue sacred flames settled upon Excalibur. Soon, they mingled with divine power and bloomed again into a pale green light.
An army of demonic beasts that easily numbered close to a hundred, led by Agares, the lord of the Demonic Realm.
The Holy King and the 60th Paladin had been blown so far away that there was not even a hint of them returning yet.
[You ran away like a rat—why have you come back again?]
His vivid yellow eyes narrowed as he sneered. In response to that blatantly condescending face, I smiled back at him.
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? To announce the advent of the Hero to this continent, there’s no first offering more fitting than you.”
I slowly raised Excalibur.
Behind me, the Paladins and Holy Knights lined up, combining their strength. But I intended to end everything with this single strike.
[SYSTEM: Excalibur-exclusive extra skill ‘Last Stardust’ is activated.]
Hoooooong-.
Perhaps sensing that the aura raging from Excalibur was no ordinary thing, Agares wiped the sneer from his face. He then waved his hand, summoning even more demonic beasts, and once again erected a barrier of demonic energy before himself.
‘I couldn’t finish it against Isabel.’
Previously, in the battle against Isabel in Leipzig, I had used this as a trump card, but perhaps because her resistance to divine power had increased due to the Demon’s Seed, I had failed to deal a decisive blow.
My opponent now was Agares, who emitted an even stronger presence than Isabel. But there was a way.
‘If I fought with either Prometheus’s Flame or Excalibur’s divine power alone, it wouldn’t land properly. But if I combine the two, like I did earlier.’
The power scraped together down to the very bottom was poured into Excalibur. Just holding it caused my planted feet to dig into the floor of the training ground.
Even if I failed to bring him down with this, I was not alone right now. There were other Paladins, and if I bought a bit of time, the Holy King and the others would surely rejoin the fight.
“Haaaaaah—!”
As I swung Excalibur with a powerful shout, nearly ninety percent of my mana was drained away in a lump. And like a raging wave crashing through, it swept over Agares’s army before my eyes.
Paaaat-!
Lower-grade demonic beasts could not endure even a single second. High-ranking Death Knights pressed their bodies together, swelling their energy in an attempt to block it, but that too proved utterly futile.
Eventually, the end of it all was directed toward Agares.