Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Rift Opening (8)

RUSTLE…….

An alien sensation, as though my skin had grown rough.

It was a strange feeling, as if hard, thin scales were wrapping around my skin, but it was not bad.

Grace of Durability, Grace of Strength, Grace of Agility.

With these blessings… I should be able to defend against that Fallen Cult Leader’s attacks well enough.

Holy Light Shield, two consecutive forgings.

I gripped two one-handed shields made of Holy Power in both hands.

“Let us try another Time Attack.”

RUMBLE!

The Fallen Cult Leader and the snake’s maw aimed at Yulia without a moment’s rest, but Lucia and I had long since figured out how to respond.

RUMBLE……! 

THUD!

Lucia blocked the Red Snake’s approach, and I faced the Fallen Cult Leader in close-range one-on-one combat, pushing forward with my shields and my body enhanced by Holy Power.

BANG!

“Kh!”

My left arm was knocked backward by the Fallen Cult Leader’s kick, but I used one foot as an axis, half-rotated, and regained my stance.

His speed and physical strength were on a completely different level.

However.

“Kraaa……!”

Because of ‘Divine Blessing,’ the Holy Power came into contact with his ‘Demonic Armament,’ making him let out a painful scream.

The Fallen Cult Leader’s Demonic Armament, which had been rising clearly, grew faint.

CRUNCH!

I blocked the Fallen Cult Leader’s teeth as he tried to bite into the nape of my neck with the shield fastened to my left arm.

I was pushed back a little this time too, but I could clearly feel it.

The more he exchanged blows with me, the more his power was steadily weakening.

…Come to think of it, that was true.

The hand-to-hand combat between the Fallen Cult Leader and me was like a ‘curse’ that weakened his ‘Demonic Armament.’

Yes. 

Exactly like the ‘Curse Combat Arts’ I had learned.

Only the means were different. 

The framework was the same.

THUD!

I stomped my foot and injected Holy Power into the ground.

Holy Light Forging, Holy Light Spear Single Forging.

CRUNCH!

I flicked the tip of the Holy Light Spear that shot out from the ground with the end of my foot.

The spearhead that rose in a surprise attack pierced his right arm, which had transformed into a snake, and at the same time,

Giantification.

BANG!

His right shoulder, connected to the Red Snake, burst apart.

“You… grrk……. You son of a bitch!”

BANG! THUD! CLANG!

The Holy Light Shields in both my hands and the Fallen Cult Leader’s hands and feet collided without pause, letting out bursts of air-splitting sound.

Thanks to ‘Grace of Durability,’ I was holding out, but there was nothing I could do about occasionally allowing some attacks through.

There were now roughly twenty seconds left until the Holy Magic activated.

If I did not want to be swept up in that Holy Power, I had to distance myself from this bastard at the right timing.

“This… urgh! …cannot be……!”

The Fallen Cult Leader, sensing a crisis of survival, scraped his vocal cords like a beast.

“If the Enlightened One… Lord ‘Aron Bayonel’ had been here……!”

“……!”

“Someone like you would not even have been worth one punch!”

“…Ah, is that so?”

To be honest, I had more or less guessed it.

The old Defector I had first met in the Artificial Rift had said something similar.

‘I know that the Dark Empire is different from us. But even among such foolish humans, an Enlightened One is bound to appear.’

‘An Enlightened One?’

‘Yes. Like Lord Aron Bayonel.’

The Defectors here had been praising me, a direct-line descendant of one of the Four Great Houses who had fled the Dark Empire.

They must have thought they should serve me as the Cult Leader instead of Lucia, who came from a branch family of the Four Great Houses they did not like.

They must have thought they should summon a demon and find me in Saengterminum.

All on their own.

‘Was there… someone here who fired Demonic Aura?’

Was that why the strength of the Defectors I had faced had been slightly different from what I remembered?

The strength of Defectors who surrendered themselves to madness varied greatly depending on their emotional state.

That must have been why ten times as many Defectors as in the previous timeline had gathered under this Fallen Cult Leader.

“…Kheh, this one and that one alike.”

It was so absurd that I could only laugh.

CLANG! CREEEAK!

I received the Fallen Cult Leader’s footwork head-on.

WOOOOONG……!

I could not see behind me, but I could at least tell that the casting sound of the Holy Magic Yulia was preparing was growing louder and louder.

With this much noise and this much distance… she probably will not hear it, right?

“You asked earlier, did you not?”

“Kraaa!”

CLANG!

“Grrrk……!”

“How I was able to use High-Rank Black Magic.”

BANG!

“How do you think I did it?”

His reason had already been devoured by Demonic Aura, so the conversation could not continue.

Still, his ears should be open, so he would hear me.

“Because I am Aron.”

Flinch.

Oh, looks like he did hear me.

“What… did you……?”

“Do you want me to say it again?”

I kicked the Fallen Cult Leader away and widened the distance while his body had frozen in shock.

“It is me, you bastard.”

SLASH…….

Along with the clear sound of wind cutting through the air, a vivid light spread out like a fan along the path of the sword and swallowed the Fallen Cult Leader and the Red Snake.

***

WHOOOO…….

The surging Holy Power faded away.

“Phew…….”

Yulia stood frozen in the posture she had taken after drawing her sword, breathing roughly.

Perhaps because she had used the Sacred Mark too forcefully, the Sacred Mark engraved on the back of her hand flickered faintly.

“That is insane.”

Seeing it in person made it astonishing all over again. 

If a Sacred Mark was used properly, it could raise the output of Holy Power this much.

Hmm… even looking at it again, its performance is worlds apart from the Sacred Mark engraved on me, is it not?

There were many things I had to learn from Yulia in various ways.

CRUMBLE…….

The bodies of the Fallen Cult Leader and the Red Snake, which had taken the Holy Power head-on, turned into ash and scattered away.

The Demonic Aura rising from Lucia had also lost its vitality and was calming down.

“…Did that somehow work out?”

I looked around and let out a relieved breath.

With this, I had completely eliminated the possibility of Lucia going berserk.

However, it was not as though I could simply be happy.

Because the most important problem remained.

Even though we had defeated the Fallen Cult Leader, a strange current was flowing between the three of us right now.

Yulia was the first to speak.

“You will have to explain this properly, Senior. What are the believers here and that Corrupted Body… and why are you here as the Cult Leader?”

Her voice was still cold, but I could not help smirking.

With Yulia’s original personality, it would not have been strange if her sword had come out first.

“At least you are willing to listen.”

“It is true that she saved you, Brother. Still, I simply think I need to hear the reason.”

Perhaps embarrassed, Yulia scratched her cheek.

“Yes, I suppose you should.”

Lucia, who had also steeled her resolve, nodded.

Well, this alone was a huge step forward for now.

Yulia was from the Holy Order. 

Because of that, if we told her exactly what had happened here, it would probably gain more credibility.

This was a good thing. 

With this, there would be no chance of Lucia becoming the ‘spark of war’……

Chill.

…Huh?

I suddenly felt a chill, and my brow furrowed.

“What the…….”

I rubbed one arm.

It was not my imagination. 

The surrounding temperature had sharply dropped, causing a natural reaction.

RUSTLE…….

A white particle brushed past my eyes.

“Damn it…….”

The moment I saw it, I realized it was a snowflake.

And once I grasped the situation, an even colder chill ran down my spine.

“Senior, n……!”

KWAAAAAAA!

A raging snowstorm dyed everything before my eyes pure white.

“……!”

I thought I heard Lucia and Yulia’s voices, but they were completely buried beneath the sound of the violently raging wind.

FLAP! 

KWAAAAANG!

Something landed near where the snowstorm had unfolded, casting an enormous shadow before my eyes.

My vision was filled with white, so I could not properly identify what the shadow was, but there was only one being who could exude such skin-freezing pressure just by appearing.

SWAAAK…….

My purely white vision recovered, and Levia, the Headmaster of Saengterminum and a Blue Dragon Hatchling, stood before us.

No, calling that ‘standing’ was quite inaccurate.

Because she had not appeared in a human form.

WHOOOSH…….

Each time her huge flapping wings folded, a small gust of wind stirred around us.

GRRRRR…….

A dragon.

A being said to stand at the apex of all races.

She had revealed herself before us in her complete form.

Even after completely folding her spread wings, her enormous body still clearly imprinted the majesty of a dragon.

The narrowed pupils unique to dragons flashed as she began looking down at us.

“What… do you think you are doing here?”

A cold, low, beastly voice, utterly different from her mature woman’s voice, passed through my eardrums and vibrated through my body.

Even though she was still only a Dragon Hatchling, my stomach instinctively churned.

“Why did only you two enter a place like this? Is this not something you should have reported to me the moment you saw it?”

Damn it.

How did she find this place?

Even if the barrier had been unstable, this was still a barrier created by worshippers who had contracted with ‘Valak.’ 

No matter how perfect dragons were as beings, Levia was still only a hatchling. 

There was no way she could have found it on her own.

Did someone help her? 

Damn it, who in the world was it?

“Ah…….”

Yulia, crushed by the aura of a superior race, shrank back.

No, perhaps that was not the only reason.

After the snowstorm cleared, even I could not keep up with how drastically the surrounding situation had changed, like the front and back of a coin.

CRUNCH…….

Levia’s right foreleg was clenched into a fist, holding something in its grasp.

“Ugh…….”

Lucia, whose body had been seized in Levia’s grip, was trembling in midair.

She was being held so tightly that even her pained groans could barely be heard.

Demonic Aura was still surging from Lucia’s body, but with that amount of Demonic Aura, it would not corrupt a dragon’s scales.

“You are Lucia, a second-year student, right? You dared to enter this place as a student and establish a Demon Order? You had better not expect to die peacefully.”

Thousands of ice spikes had grown from the floor of the altar.

Roughly a thousand believers had their limbs pierced by the ice spikes and were groaning in pain.

She had not pierced their vital points. 

It seemed she intended to capture all of them alive in order to grasp the situation.

It would be a relief if she only captured them alive, but…….

Levia twisted her teeth and glared at one side of the altar.

I, Yulia, and even Lucia, at the very least, turned our heads with effort and followed Levia’s gaze as if entranced.

Before long, we saw it.

“It seems you were trying to hold a ritual with those Corrupted Bodies, but you should have known where to draw the line with your madness. Should you not?”

The dreadful sight of two Corrupted Bodies whose chests had been pierced through by ice spikes rising from the floor.