Chapter 89
Chapter 89 - Raid (3)
'Hmm…….'
Ruelle advanced toward the Black Tower.
Though horrific monsters filled all around her, the immense divine power that filled her body drove away fear.
It was a dark demon realm devoid of sunlight.
However, golden light wavered in all directions from the aftermath of the Holy Spear.
Kyieeeeek!
Flinch!
Still, she couldn't help but be startled.
Where the Holy Spear's flames couldn't reach was filled with pitch-black darkness.
From within it, suddenly massive monsters appeared…….
'Startling!'
She couldn't help but be alarmed.
To be honest, it was a little frightening too.
Even though she'd witnessed terrible things in conflict zones in the past, the monsters of the demon realm felt on a different level.
So she recalled good memories to drive away the fear.
'I heard that the U.S. military is similar to the Astia Religious Order?'
It was a story about Earth that Erik had told her in childhood.
"After bombing and creating flatland with spear-like weapons, they deploy soldiers."
When Erik had explained the Astia Religious Order's Holy Spear throwing, he had first brought up Earth's story.
He said the strongest military in that place used similar tactics.
'He said that's how fewer soldiers die.'
The scene before her now was the same.
The Astia Religious Order's casualties thus far: 0.
'Is it natural since they rallied around His Holiness?'
It was possible because the Pope's overwhelming divine power focused on recovery and defense instead of offense.
Because Julius and Erik existed to handle the attacks.
And Erik was especially an absurdly broken existence who could instantly recover his divine power 100% with money.
Kwaaang!
In real-time, a massive meteor shower erased the demon realm's monsters.
Behind it, a vast sacred curtain wavered.
The Pope's power illuminates the demon realm.
It was supreme divinity, but she felt no inspiration from it.
'……I've truly become a heretic.'
Pushed along, she'd become Erik's believer.
Ruelle realized this.
Normally, there would have been something that resonated within her from the Pope's power, but now there was nothing.
Instead.
'Hut!'
A strange energy was felt in Ruelle's body.
It was similar to when she received revelation from Astia God, but a more familiar sensation.
'Erik?'
No voice came through.
Yet something felt different.
Intense light.
Burning passion.
The radiance of the sun.
Landscapes passing by in a flash.
Definitely, it was power related to the sun.
'Huh?'
A flame wavered at Ruelle's fingertips.
Pure flames despite being divine.
'It's like Lu-Solace's power.'
Though slightly taken aback, assuming Erik had done something, Ruelle continued approaching the Black Tower.
For Mollard, the path going against the monsters was arduous and lonely.
Yet she advanced steadfastly.
"Just as you protected me in my childhood days, I too will repay you for all my life."
Erik is an existence who keeps whatever words he speaks no matter what.
The image of him boasting grandly with "A word spoken is worth a thousand gold" came to mind.
Certainly, Erik would protect her.
With such thoughts, Ruelle overcame the darkness of the demon realm.
Walking like that for quite some time.
"Thomas Director, that direction."
"Quickly secure the capsule first! The Representative went to buy time!"
Uncharacteristic noise reached Ruelle's ears.
'Black Mages.'
The Black Tower split in half.
With one wall collapsed, the interior of the Black Tower was filled with dazzling white light.
'Is that fluorescent lighting?'
As pure white light shone through the darkness, her eyes strained.
Ruelle squinted, adjusting to the light.
Black Mages busily moved about, transporting human-sized capsules.
One particular oddity was that all the Black Mages kept glancing to one side…….
'Hmm.'
Ruelle's teal eyes turned from the tower toward a distant place.
Beyond the demon realm's abyss, sacred light was abundant.
In the sky, Erik with wings spread was looking down.
'What is that woman?'
She saw a black-clothed woman approaching Erik and the Pope.
From Ruelle's angle, her face was clearly visible.
'Not as beautiful as me, but…….'
She was quite a beauty.
The inhuman quality gave her a mysterious charm.
With a vague feeling, Ruelle observed Erik.
'Huh?'
Erik's eyes were wide open, staring intently at the black woman.
'No……. He hits on me like that and yet.'
It was the first time she'd seen Erik with such a surprised expression.
His eyes widened tremendously.
Crackle!
Ruelle's eyes became fierce.
It was then.
Scraaaaaack!
A sound distinctly audible even from far away.
Kaboom!
'What?'
Though she hadn't seen it clearly as it happened too fast, she understood the rough situation.
'So…….'
The black woman said a few words.
Erik suddenly looked startled and drove a spear into her.
'Is this right?'
The Pope was looking at Erik like he was a madman.
'A beautiful woman speaks to him, and he blows off her head…….'
Contrary to her shocked inner thoughts, a pleased smile hung on Ruelle's lips.
***
'A Field Boss?'
Erik faced an extremely familiar existence.
[Field Boss Makia.]
The name of a famous boss that provides max-level set items.
'She dropped pretty good gear.'
As for items in general:
If the performance is good, the appearance is usually terrible, and if the aesthetics are excellent, the performance suffers.
It was the fundamental truth of MMORPG games.
However, the set items dropped by Makia were among the rare few that satisfied both performance and aesthetics.
'The guild master was obsessed with this boss.'
In exchange, the drop rate was nearly abysmal.
So he'd hunted her countless times.
Thanks to that, he'd heard the background story repeatedly.
Why must I live as a sinner?
Was it so wrong for me to learn black magic and resent the world?
A Field Boss Makia—a colossal spider body with the beautiful face of a gorgeous woman.
Unlike in the game, Makia before his eyes was in the form of a person dressed in neat office attire.
'The essence is the same though.'
The commonality between the field boss in the game and the black mage in reality.
'A being deserving of death.'
So the task was simple.
When Makia spoke a few words, Erik threw his spear.
Kaboom!
The spear shot from close range shattered Makia to pieces.
Black blood scattered in all directions, and the Pope looked at Erik incredulously.
To which Erik shouted.
"This is Father Astia's will! Everyone, take up your spears——!!!"
It appeared as though he'd ambushed when conversation seemed to be happening.
And the Astia Religious Order's paladins were rich in combat experience.
"Waaaaaaaa!!!"
Immediately, the paladins drew their spears, and the Holy War Knights began throwing them in succession.
The choir blessed and boosted the morale of the knights.
"Everyone target the tower!"
Indiscriminate Holy Spear throwing from close range.
Scraaaaaack!
Dozens of spears aimed toward the Black Tower beyond the abyss.
Erik threw his spear toward Makia's remains.
'First strike and see what happens.'
Six lines drawn under his eyes.
A faint line visible on the side, so soon it would form seven lines—such an existence.
The dismembered body quickly began regenerating befitting the realm.
'Field Boss Makia had eight lines under her eyes.'
A spider-form boss that feeds on despair.
Certainly, it would be a powerful and dangerous existence.
Since in the game it was set to appear after destroying a kingdom.
'That's the Solar Holy Kingdom.'
A nation of fanatics serving Lu-Solace.
There was no heredity.
Nobles who gained power were forced to surrender all their wealth and become believers—a mad country.
And.
'The Solar Holy Kingdom must be absorbed into the Empire.'
Lacking faith is a sin, and all ages, without exception, become conscripts sent to war.
Erik doesn't consider such a place a nation.
And he knows well that the woman Makia was that kingdom's victim.
The lines she'd muttered in the monitor as a Field Boss all carried such sorrow.
'Even if she sacrificed nearly a million lives as offerings for her own victimhood, that doesn't make it right.'
However, to Erik, such things were merely excuses.
'Du-sik also lives openly.'
Nameless Orphan No. 6 from an organization engaged in human trafficking.
He extracted the neck of the boss who gave him the name Jang Du-sik and efforts to conduct good himself.
Thereby, he met Erik and Riferoze, being reborn as a new person.
Now he had become a War-Mage, and was displaying his might as the world's only holy mage.
'He even made a promise to marry the princess.'
Choosing the best from the worst reality was also fundamental to being human.
'Why spout such sophistry.'
The more he thought, the more resentful he became.
Erik continuously threw his spear, shattering Makia as she regenerated.
Doing so for quite some time.
Erik suddenly felt a question.
'What exactly is that?'
It was a Holy Spear.
The complete collection of divine power, honed from the divine holiness flowing from Astia's fingers.
A body that didn't die even when struck by such Holy Spears.
Though he'd burst the heart—the very core of the black mage—it endlessly regenerated.
This seemed strangely bizarre.
"Phew."
Erik stopped throwing and caught his breath.
[Used 10,000 gold to recover divine power to Max.]
He carefully assessed the battlefield.
Looking closely, the Holy Spears being driven into the tower were half-blocked.
"What exactly……."
And he found something strange.
Swoosh!
The barrier containing Lu-Solace's Saint disappeared.
The recovered black magic power flowed toward the tower's apex, beginning to form a human shape.
An ominous energy was felt.
However, there was one piece of good news.
'The Saint wasn't completely absorbed.'
A half-remaining golden heart quivered, with black magic spreading through its blood vessels.
"In the days when they were called the Black Society in the past, they exalted one being with darkness."
The Pope also seemed to notice that strangeness, tidying the battlefield as she approached Erik.
"Now, he's called a major shareholder, I hear."
Since the Black Mage Group proclaimed itself a company, shareholders—the masters—naturally existed.
"Thou who received the call of darkness."
"May thy rest exist in this place."
Makia, who didn't die even with her heart burst.
The reason became clear.
"That must be such an existence."
Red eyes floating above the broken tower.
Above them, dark shadows wavered.
The shareholders of the Black Mage Group.
The shareholders who'd hidden away to escape Riferoze maintained their complete power, their bodies curled.
"Your Holiness, am I not seeing correctly?"
And now.
They revealed themselves to the world.
"Is that truly……."
The deepest darkness draped over the highest position.
Human yet not human.
Unholy and filthy power.
Yet something transcendent was unmistakable.
Though profane to say…….
'Such a being might be called a god.'
No other word came to Erik's mind.
A phenomenon-like something.
Darkness so deep it made even the demon realm's abyss appear bright.
Yet it possessed a human form.
And even on its forehead, crude lines were drawn.
'Nine lines…….'
Erik's breath caught.
'1 billion, is it?'
The entire Empire's population is 10 million.
Not a world like Earth with 8 billion people.
Yet nine lines were achieved.
"A pure 100 million lives as offerings—can that even be……."
"Since the Primordial Three Gods existed, black mages also existed, so there's a possibility."
The Pope also seemed to experience this for the first time, her great shock evident.
Her fingertips trembled, a state of indescribable impact.
Moreover.
"Return to thy proper place."
Swish!
Following the words of the nine-lined black being, Makia's remains were sucked toward the Black Tower and disappeared.
'The power to annihilate even undead was unleashed, yet…….'
It was shocking.
Makia, having suffered enough damage to be annihilated by the Holy Spear, somehow remained in small fragments, regenerating endlessly.
Now those small fragments were being sucked into darkness.
"Vile things obstructing the great design."
A black shadow wavered at the tower's end.
As if wrapping the broken section and preparing to flee.
"Holy Saint Erik, now I understand why you had me conserve my power."
To which the Pope took a step.
Thoom!
Following that footstep, sacred light wavered through the demon realm's darkness.
What appeared was the form of a blade.
A sword as massive as Rudrick's knights appeared, cutting through empty space.
Whoooosh!
It was driven down into the Black Tower's barrier.
"Nooooo!!!"
Darkness wavered, releasing a long wail.
At that sight, Erik laughed deeply.
'I was startled seeing nine lines…….'
His mind lit up.
"Your Holiness, those bastards don't seem capable of fulfilling their function no matter how I look at it."
***
[Field Boss One-shot.]
[Photo of Makia in perfect form]
[Photo of shattered Makia]
Brief and impactful post.
Hundreds of comments streamed in.
Because it was a post containing news of a famous being's appearance and death.
"Pung-ho, did you film this?"
"Yeah yeah!"
The three possessors had nothing else they could do.
So they simply devoted themselves to praising Erik and spreading word of his might.
Field Boss Makia appeared and departed simultaneously.
What followed was even more shocking.
"Chargeeeee!!!"
The Astia Religious Order's paladins charged forward.
Thanks to the Pope's bold decision.
The Holy War Knights threw their lives into destroying the Black Tower, and the Black Mages summoned demons to prevent them.
Kyieeeeek!
From the sky, Siuron's black knights riding wyverns scattered terror.
However, the choir's blessings drove away fear.
Without any deception taking hold, the Astia Religious Order's paladins fought against the darkness.
'Infinitely regenerating black mages and infinitely regenerating paladins…….'
The three possessors watching swallowed hard.
"How do we even explain this……."
Even Nishida Ryo, of all people, couldn't determine the title, so shocking was the sight.
It truly felt like witnessing a war of the immortals.
Killing each other yet neither dying.
"The matchup difference is overwhelming."
Even with mutual infinite regeneration, ultimately the matchup difference decided the outcome.
Since holy power purifies black magic, reversing this advantage would be nearly impossible.
"No matter how I think about it, choosing this side was a good decision."
Nishida Ryo spoke with confidence.
Park Chang-ho frowned deeply.
"……You idiot, we're captives."
"But! Erik the Holy One did save us, right?"
"Keep talking like that and brother Du-sik will beat you again."
Though he said so, Park Chang-ho also thought internally it was a fair point.
'Being on the same opinion as that bastard……'
Should he like this or not?
Feeling somewhat complicated, Park Chang-ho drank the holy water and concluded it was a good thing.
'Really, there's no legal drug like this.'
Holy power that brought stability even in terrible battlefields.
As he relaxed,
[You distort the world's laws.]
[Transfer effects have been sealed.]
Strange messages appeared above the possessors' status windows.
A message indicating field effects.
"All black mage skills will be blocked."
"Really, divine power is broken."
The three possessors looked at Erik.
There was no need to ask who did it—it was obvious.
However, the same-situation possessors felt a degree of sympathy.
"Poor things."
Kang Pung-ho's eyes glistened.
"They indiscriminately killed people to live comfortably—what's there to pity?"
To which Nishida bristled.
"The children in the capsules……."
"Ah."