Chapter 88
Chapter 88: Raid (2)
Erik was composed.
It was all repetition of things he already knew, so there was nothing difficult about it.
'All that preparation paid off.'
It was the result of image training he had done since childhood, taking into account the Labyrinth's scale that had expanded tens to hundreds of times over.
He also greatly appreciated Riferoze's help in matching this.
'I should be able to block at this level.'
The Hierarchist pattern. In theory, defense seemed possible.
The locals had hunted Hierarchists in human fashion rather than clearing them like a game.
It was only natural.
Uuuuuuu!
Rudrick's Knight drew the next pattern.
This time it was a technique of swinging the sword horizontally.
It was a skill that unleashed an overwhelming cutting aura. In terms of pure power alone, it was stronger than the vertical slash pattern from before.
However, Erik was confident.
'It would be difficult alone.'
There were two people here stronger than Erik.
Though the scope of their power differed, the Pope and Julius far surpassed him in terms of pure might.
'I still can't see his true form.'
The evidence was the Pope.
He continued to change, becoming a child then an old man, displaying ever-changing appearances.
However, it wasn't the Pope's turn to step forward yet.
'We must conserve His Holiness's strength.'
So Erik looked toward Julius.
"Julius, let's prepare."
"Khrhrhr. A Saint commanding the Holy War Knight Commander as if receiving permission from His Holiness."
Julius made a joke and drew his greatsword.
It wasn't quite as powerful as the [Sword of Creation], but it was a formidable weapon nonetheless.
[Legendary – Greatsword of Astia]
'That's enormous.'
It was a greatsword so large and sturdy-looking that Erik felt covetous of it.
Julius, holding it, looked very reassuring.
"Half remaining!"
Behind them, the Paladins and the Holy Choir were hunting the giant soldiers.
They had to do their best to block Rudrick's attacks so they wouldn't fall into danger.
"Let's start preparing."
The giant's sword kept growing larger.
Whoooosh!
The overwhelming-sized sword came flying like an arrow, tearing through the wind.
Now that the wings' cooldown was active, Julius's help was desperately needed.
"Now!"
With a shout, the two leaped high into the sky.
Their earth-shattering footwork was directed toward the giant's sword.
Boom!
A thunderous sound that shook the very earth itself spread out.
Two swords thrust upward vertically blocked the Hierarchist's horizontally sweeping sword.
Zzzt!
In the brief clash of strength, the blades cried out.
The superiority was clear.
No matter how enormous and how much the monster used the Labyrinth's power, the Divine was its natural enemy.
'All I need to do is cancel the motion.'
As a result, an art that canceled the Hierarchist's pattern became possible.
"You say we conquered the Labyrinth without knowing the strategy?"
This too was the way of the locals, taught by Riferoze, the supreme strong one.
"Erik, the Labyrinth conquest corps are all transcendent strong ones. How could they be the same as the keyboard warriors you speak of?"
At first, he thought that didn't make sense…….
But now that he thought about it, it was truly right.
'Now that I've transcended the wall, I can see it.'
Unlike in games, you could block what needed to be blocked.
Boom!
The giant's sword was pushed back.
A thirty-meter giant being pushed back and falling over by two people barely over two meters tall.
Truly, it was a sight that made one feel the greatness of humanity.
"We've finished it as the Saint instructed!"
Just then, the Paladins seemed to have finished off all of Rudrick's soldiers.
"Commander, now it's our turn."
In other words, it was time to take the offensive.
"Krahaht! Let me show you why heavy swordsmanship is heavy swordsmanship."
***
Park Chang-ho stood at the center of the three-fold divided religious order.
Hundreds of Paladins moved at his command solely because of the orders from the Saint and the Pope.
'I hold the lives of so many people…….'
Park Chang-ho's hands and feet trembled.
His heart felt like it would burst.
He had received salvation from Erik and been blessed with the Divine.
Naturally, he should follow Erik's instructions.
Yet the current situation was far too burdensome.
Whoosh!
With a faint sound effect, a dim gray light rippled from the ground.
"Left side now!"
Park Chang-ho shouted quickly.
Just as the monsters had grown larger, the traps and attacks they created had also become massive in scale.
However, the local Paladins showed movements incomparable to video game characters.
Whoosh!
A Paladin carrying Park Chang-ho lifted him onto his shoulder and changed positions.
'Hundreds of people moving this fast?'
Everything was evacuated within one second of Park Chang-ho's shout.
Immediately after.
Boom!
A gray pillar of fire with an instant-death effect erupted where they had been standing.
A random pattern used by the Hierarchist.
'Kang Pung-ho is'
Park Chang-ho glanced to the side.
A short-haired beauty was sitting on the shoulder of a handsome Paladin, giving instructions left and right.
The instant-death pattern also erupted where she had passed.
Feeling slightly uneasy, Park Chang-ho turned his gaze toward Nishida Ryo.
'Ah, a unique trait.'
Surprisingly, Nishida was also performing his role well.
"Gahhhh!!!"
When Nishida reacted, everyone immediately changed positions in one direction.
Nishida, who claimed not to know about the Labyrinth past the 30th Floor, seemed to be displaying the effect of his [Instant Death Sense] trait.
Uuuuuuu!
At that moment, the giant's roar sounded.
Two Paladins riding a thirty-meter giant were thrusting their swords.
The giant cried out in pain.
Soon, five-meter-sized soldiers began to be summoned from the shadows.
'Are they really trying to push to phase 2 already?'
The fact that soldiers were being summoned meant the Hierarchist's health was being depleted.
"Stop dealing! No, cease fire!!!"
Park Chang-ho adjusted the number of summoned soldiers.
While doing so, he continued giving instructions while observing the instant-death patterns.
After going on like that for a while.
Once some breathing room appeared, he looked at the giant, Rudrick.
A thirty-meter giant in rusty gray armor was a being that inspired fear just by looking at it.
'He's already stripped his armor?'
Around the half-naked giant, a golden light sparkled.
The Hierarchist's true body was being torn to shreds by the Divine.
'Maybe being enlarged isn't entirely bad?'
Erik and Julius were right on Rudrick's flanks, unleashing attacks in a flowing manner.
Paladins gathered at the giant's ankles and swung their swords.
Though they couldn't deal major damage, even Jang Du-sik and Janson were helping with one hand each.
'I never thought I'd see Jang Du-sik look so pathetic…….'
Compared to the thirty-meter giant, Jang Du-sik was tiny.
'He looks like some kind of shining beetle.'
From his double-armed tattoo came blue light, and from his short-cropped hair emanated golden Divine radiance.
Jang Du-sik moved between the giant's eyes, swinging his club.
The battle between a small human and a thirty-meter giant made humanity seem pathetic, but because of that, it felt all the more magnificent.
'These are the real people of this world…….'
Rudrick's Knight could only flail his arms helplessly.
As a result, the rusty armor covering him was being completely destroyed.
'They're really rushing straight to phase 2.'
That meant the real strategy was just beginning.
Usually, phase 2 and onwards are where raids become important.
'I need to prepare too.'
Park Chang-ho steeled himself.
Boom!
Erik set up a massive pillar of Divine Power, covering the giant.
The overwhelming-sized giant was being consumed by an even greater Divine force.
It was a signal they had prepared in advance.
Park Chang-ho shouted.
"Among the giants we spared, you must kill the one with a mark on its forehead!"
Uuuuuuu!
The giant cried out.
At the same time, the twenty giant soldiers they had spared suddenly stopped as if frozen.
One by one, marks appeared on their foreheads, and the Paladins selected and killed those marked giant soldiers.
Erik, looking down at the sight, smiled slightly.
'Possessors are certainly skilled at this sort of thing.'
Phase 2: When the Hierarchist Rudrick marks the surviving soldiers, that is the beginning.
'They find them right as the marks appear.'
If you don't kill the soldier bearing this mark within five seconds, a permanent field penalty is applied equal to the number of surviving soldiers.
In a dark demon realm no less, adding all sorts of negative effects on top of that.
However, knowing the strategy well, they passed through this without much difficulty either.
'The pattern is exactly the same.'
If you spare only twenty giant soldiers, phase 2 becomes farmable.
Rudrick doesn't summon additional soldiers and marks only the surviving ones.
"All marked entities have been eliminated!"
All the giant soldiers on the field had been cleared.
'Overwhelming conquest speed.'
Now only phase 3 remained.
Phase 3 was Berserk Mode.
The Hierarchist's main body's attack power simply increased, and it would occasionally shroud itself in an aura of instant death.
This too could be finished quickly.
'I never thought it would end this fast.'
Beyond the abyss. The Black Tower.
It was quite a distance away, but Erik's eyes could clearly see the expressions of the black mages standing on top of the tower.
Their eyes wide in surprise, their expressions of shock were rather amusing.
Clearly, their intention was to use this to block the Religious Order's advance.
'Even Siuron's eyes aren't omnipotent.'
Black mages, Paladins, or Saints alike.
No matter how strong the power, strength is ultimately something that gets consumed.
So the Saint of Lu-Solace must have been overcome by the sheer number and captured like that.
'I too have clear limits.'
Erik, who maxes his Divine Power for 10,000 Gold.
When money runs out, Divine Power gets depleted and he'd have to wait for natural recovery.
'But I have 8.9 billion Gold.'
Of course, money overflowed abundantly.
Also, unlike Siuron, who had exhausted his power, Erik and Julius remained steady.
"Commander! You can kill him now!"
Erik shouted, pulling out his wings.
***
The view from the tilted Black Tower was truly majestic.
The Paladins facing the Hierarchist, the giant Rudrick's Knight, presented a genuinely mythological spectacle.
Aaaaah!
With the choir's melody echoing through the demon realm added to it, it truly seemed like a recreation from scripture.
'He canceled the pattern?'
For Thomas, it felt like a video game boss fight had come to life.
The grand sound, as if a BGM had been layered.
The golden-glowing Paladins clashing with the giant Rudrick's Knight.
'They spared only twenty giant soldiers?'
However, Thomas was even more shocked by the sight of the Hierarchist dying than by that magnificent spectacle.
At first, he thought it was luck.
But now, wasn't it clear that they knew the strategy?
"How, how do they know the strategy!"
Thomas's body shook.
A thick blankness descended over Makia's face, which had been smiling throughout.
All the black mages looked the same.
It was clear to anyone that the Hierarchist Rudrick's Knight was dying.
However, from their perspective, the Hierarchist shouldn't have died yet.
Schlurp!
Makia lifted her black veil. Her already murky black eyes became even more turbid.
"Thomas, we still need more time to completely offer Lu-Solace's Saint."
The gift for the Shareholders is none other than the Saint of Lu-Solace.
An existence bearing tremendous power befitting the name "Child of God," but requiring equally long to digest.
"Siuron."
At Makia's worried face, Thomas turned to look at the Shareholder.
Clink!
Siuron approached Thomas.
Armor encasing his entire body from head to toe.
He raised his hand.
Even his finger joints were covered in iron armor. A bright yellow ring stood out over the gauntlet covering his ring finger.
Its color was murky.
"My power……."
The ring's power had been exhausted in summoning the 30th Floor Hierarchist.
Since he had also used considerable power in kidnapping the Saint earlier, natural recovery would take several days at least.
"Perhaps I should offer the Saint."
"Thomas, that won't do."
Offering the Saint to recover Siuron's power would be putting the cart before the horse.
The Saint offered for the Shareholders, the Primordial Black Mage.
That's where the meaning lies.
As he remained lost in worry, a change occurred on the battlefield.
"The Hierarchist!"
Uuuuuuu!
The Hierarchist's scream echoed through the demon realm.
Erik, having pulled out his golden wings, unleashed a long Divine sword aura into the sky.
Kiiing!
The Hierarchist Rudrick's Knight with a neck circumference of several meters.
A large crack appeared in such a giant's neck.
Into that crack, the Holy War Knight Commander Julius thrust his greatsword.
Spurt!
Gray-tinted blood scattered.
"Those barbaric Paladins."
Makia's brow furrowed.
Watching two-meter Paladins slaughter the giant's neck as if butchering, her blood boiled involuntarily.
Crunch!
The giant's head rolled to the ground.
The impact of the severed head sent dust flying in all directions, and the headless giant's body began to topple toward the abyss.
"No, why this way!"
Normally, the giant's body should have disappeared into the abyss.
But Erik, having pulled out his wings, changed its trajectory.
'That's the Astia Religious Order's Saint…….'
Thus, the giant's body fell toward the Black Tower.
Boom!
The tower shook with a brief thunderous sound.
"Those, those monsters!"
The sight of the Paladins approaching after killing the giant was truly terrifying.
The black mages could only stare blankly at their advance, unable to continue their work.
"I think it would be good if I stepped forward."
Crunch! Crunch!
Before the Black Tower, a black veil was consuming Lu-Solace's Saint.
The Saint's heart and head still remained intact.
"Thomas, I'm counting on you."
Makia smiled darkly, looking at Thomas.
***
"Haah……."
The Pope was astounded.
The Saint Erik had requested command of the Paladin forces, and the Pope had granted it.
What was the result?
"A supreme revelation indeed."
Erik had directed the army by predicting the actions of the massive Hierarchist.
Moreover, he had positioned the Possessors at just the right places and moments to respond appropriately.
"A being called by God."
The Pope nodded while looking at Park Chang-ho.
Riferoze's words were truly right.
He had confirmed it himself.
"Your Holiness, I merely followed the Saint's will."
Park Chang-ho lowered his head respectfully at the Pope's praise.
He had simply shouted according to the strategy.
"That can't be so. Now is the time for all your perceptions to change. A Possessor with yellow skin has received God's will!"
The Pope was genuinely impressed.
Their military power was meager, but their instructions were accurate.
Warning when to avoid.
Suddenly ordering to cease fire.
At first, many of their words were difficult to follow.
But ultimately, their words were correct.
"Saint Erik, starting with the matter of the Spear, there are truly many things to discuss but……."
The Pope looked at Erik.
'How, with Astia's power, did you wield the Sun God's flames.'
Different from ordinary Saints.
In fact, there were many absurd and strange occurrences.
However, the Pope accepted even this.
【Trust in him.】
Astia's arrangement.
There must be a sublime will.
"I shall ask nothing and merely observe."
"I am grateful for Your Holiness's grace."
Erik bowed his head.
"Soon, the time has come to end this."
The Pope raised his hand.
Paladins transferred the remaining Sacred Spears to the Holy War Knight Order.
It was an intention to destroy the Black Tower at close range by using up the spared Sacred Spears.
'He still lives.'
The Pope intended to save Lu-Solace's Saint being sacrificed before the Black Tower.
It was then.
Thud!
A heavy vibration ran through, and darkness rippled in the empty air.
Erik quickly grabbed a spear.
'A Portal.'
A skill of the [Black Mage].
Through the portal's ripple, white skin was revealed.
It was like transparent glass.
From delicate feet came slender legs, and then a woman in a neat office suit appeared.
"Hello. I'm Makia, representative of the Black Mage Group."
A strange woman wearing an office suit draped with a veil.
Her red lips visible through the veil seemed bewitching.
She removed her veil and raised both hands to the sky. It was a gesture requesting dialogue.
The Pope opened his palm, stopping the army.
"I was once a criminal, a flagellant of Lu-Solace, wandering the battlefields."
Translucent white skin, red lips.
And turbid eyes with a smile-tinged tone of voice.
And her continuing words.
"Because I didn't know God's will, at thirteen, I became a criminal and a flagellant of the Solar Holy Empire."
She was alone, yet her presence was overwhelming.
"At night, prisoners violated me, and during the day, I had to receive the spears of the Empire's soldiers."
Makia spoke her story in a monotone.
"Struggling to survive, I somehow became known as the Assassin of the Night, and I was abandoned on a battlefield with black mages."
The Pope was momentarily taken aback, but he listened intently to Makia's continued words.
"Would you not like to have a discussion with someone like me?"
Clearly, she was requesting dialogue as a person.
'Even in darkness, there is humanity…….'
Just as the Pope was about to respond to the dialogue.
"What nonsense!"
Whoosh!
Erik threw the Sacred Spear at blinding speed.