๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐: ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก (5)
“It’s been a while. It’s good to see you. Of course, it’s a bit unfortunate that we’re meeting in these circumstances, in this place. . . . . .”
Since their last encounter during an escort mission, Oswald and Estell had been very busy, and since they were even from different faculties, it was very rare for them to run into each other.
‘๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ. . . . . .’
The four men and women surrounding Estell. Each one of them exuded an extraordinary aura, and they were the current guardians of the Eight Great Guardian Hymns who protected the Saintess and the Saint. In other words, ‘Guardians’. Each one of them was a Crusader who had reached the Master level.
Starting from the left, there was ‘Cain’, a handsome red-haired man like Estell, ‘Abel’, a silver-haired woman with long, flowing hair like Oswald, ‘Dante’, a middle-aged man with an uncommon black hair color in the West, wearing typical aristocratic attire and single-lens glasses, and ‘Aaron’, a brown-haired man who had started as a priest and honed his gun skills to the level of a Gun Master.
Their names were passed down through the generations to their successors. In addition to these four, there were four more ‘Guardians’ protecting the Saint. . . . . . But the current Saint did not require that much protection, so they had been assigned various missions by the Order and were scattered throughout the western part of the continent.
“Well. . . when everything is over, . . . . . . how about we meet on weekends at the Academy?”
“Really?”
“Umm. . . . . .”
One of the Guardians, ‘Dante’, was intimidating Oswald with his aura.
As Oswald recalled, ‘Dante’ was a Saintess-obsessed guy who couldn’t get enough of women. If I had to compare him to someone. . . . He’s kind of like Valerian?
“What’s with that wishy-washy answer? Answer her clearly!”
“Alright, after this is over, I’ll buy you dinner at your favorite place.”
“Alright!”
” . . . . . .”
She set up camp near the infirmary where the wounded were being treated, and instead of going straight back to her own barracks, she went to tend to the nearby wounded.
As a physician before she became a Saintess, she also had considerable medical skills.
Oswald went back to his own barracks nearby and rested for a while, and by evening, he was finally able to meet the Saint.
‘๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฐ.’
With his black hair and pure white full plate armor, he carried a large shield and sword, and was a Grandmaster and diamond-class powerhouse, and also a Saint.
Although he usually traveled alone without an escort, this time, he was coming to the Chaos Dungeon, so he was accompanied by four Guardians from the Eight Great Guardian Hymns who normally protected him.
Starting from the left, there was ‘David’, an old knight with pure white hair, ‘Bane’, who also had pure white hair but had a long scar on his left eye, ‘Hamel’, a female knight with long black hair who carried two swords on either side of her waist, and ‘Saul’, a female knight who had her emerald-colored hair tied up, and who possessed Neptune’s Holy Sword Mogwin, which emitted a faint blue light.
‘๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ. . . . . .’
To have so many heroic individuals gathered in one place before the end of the world. . . . It was a moment that could not help but make Oswald’s heart race.
As Oswald was about to turn away after seeing the Holy Sword and the rest of the Eight Great Guardian Hymns from afar, he couldn’t help but stop when he saw the man and his party who were following them.
‘๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐’๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. . . . . .’
A dark knight with long black hair and a crimson-blazing sword, wearing a tattered cloak and glowing green eyes. He was none other than. . . . . .
‘๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ, ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ด.’
His primary goal was to find and kill immortal beings.
And the same went for those who followed him. Beings that seemed like demons that did not belong in this world. . . . They were the ‘Death Hunters’, aka the Deatheaters, of the Pluto Order.
Their appearance was reminiscent of Burning Skeletons. . . The difference was that instead of having white bones like skeletons, they had bones that were blacker than black. The color of their burning flames also varied.
‘๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐’๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฐ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ข๐ณ.’
Even in the game, the Deatheaters were so difficult to encounter that you could consider yourself lucky if you ever met one. Since they were only active at night when the undead were at their strongest, it was even harder to meet them, and they were so secretive that it was difficult to notice them.
The same went for Leto Zagreaus, the Champion of Pluto. To think I’d meet such beings here. . . . . .
After that, all the heroes gathered in the command post barracks to begin their final battle meeting.
๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ
The next day. . . . . .
Cardga had been preparing to advance while watching the human forces who had been holding the front lines without attacking for a while.
He opened the gate that connected to Chaos and replenished his troops, and used all his magic to create a flying fortress. In addition, he inserted the Eye of Horus, a legendary item that should have been worn by the archduke demon of truth, into his forehead.
With the Eye of Horus that could see through everything, he would be able to easily deal with the human archwizard and the Champion of Jupiter.
As he was doing this, two pieces of intelligence came in from Century outside the dungeon. The first was that the Saint and Saintess of Chronos were headed to the dungeon.
Cardga knew that if he could eliminate the Saint and Saintess, it would have a huge impact on his future plans. Although he did not care about titles. . . . He knew that if he killed the Saint and Saintess and absorbed their ranks, he would be able to rise in the ranks and become even stronger.
Cardga, whose pride had been slightly scratched while fighting Valerian, sought even greater power and magic.
ใAdvance! ใ
And so, Cardga led fifteen giant flying fortresses and 200,000 Chaos Garuda demons and Chaos Jotunn soldiers towards what had originally been their first line of defense.
The entire trench line was engulfed in flames as magical shots were fired from the flying fortresses. The legions of the Empire fired back with gunfire and energy shells. . . . But it was not enough to deal with the overwhelming firepower of the Chaos of Truth forces.
At the same time, ‘Cardga’ cast the large-scale magic spell Thunder Cloud.
In an instant, dark clouds formed over the trench line, and soon after, blue lightning bolts began to fall towards the ground from within the dark clouds.
Crackle!
The lightning bolts exploded with a blue flash. At that moment! A rune barrier formed over the Imperial legionnaires, blocking the lightning bolts.
Boom!
ใHe’s here! That bastard!!ใ
He knew they were using ancient rune magic, but seeing it through the ‘Eye of Horus’ allowed him to clearly see how the magic was being activated.
Next, ‘Cardga’ analyzed the magic structure through the ‘Eye of Horus’ and calculated how to break it down.
The defensive magic was densely woven together with runes like a spider’s web.
In order to crush it, he had to burn it down using the same rune magic.
Soon, ‘Cardga’ gained knowledge of rune magic through the ‘Eye of Horus’. As he swung his magic staff, a rune of crimson flames formed and flew towards the rune barrier.
Hundreds of flaming runes began to burn the rune barrier.
“You’ve already mastered rune magic?”
Valerian muttered in astonishment at ‘Cardga’s’ counterattack.
Soon, the rune barrier collapsed. . . . . . And once again, the damage to the Imperial legionnaires began to increase rapidly due to the redeployed Thunder Cloud.
Crackle!
At that moment, a golden lightning bolt shot out and collided with ‘Cardga’, exploding.
Boom!
ใPathetic! ใ
The rune barrier and Absolute Shield that had been formed in the meantime blocked Minos’ Astrape.
Crackle!
Next, Minos, who had appeared behind ‘Cardga’, attacked with a fist imbued with lightning.
Boom!
However, it was difficult to penetrate the Absolute Shield, a 7-circle defensive magic spell, superimposed on the rune barrier. Then, this time, Marquis Lionheart, the leader of the Golden Lion Knights, came forward and attacked with his Victorious Sword.
The Victorious Sword of the Marquis Lionheart, which was filled with Aura Blade, directly attacked the rune barrier and Absolute Shield, causing them to crack.
Valerian seized the opportunity to cast Aqua Jet. A high-pressure stream of water quickly broke through the cracks and destroyed the shield and barrier.
ใMirror Dimension! ใ
However, at that moment, Cardga, who had been waiting for this, deployed the 10th circle magic spell ‘Mirror Dimension’, trapping Valerian and Minos.
The ‘Mirror Dimension’, which had been strengthened by mixing in runes of confinement through the ‘Eye of Horus’, had evolved even further than when it had trapped the diamond-class powerhouse Grave McRee. Thanks to this, the ‘Mirror Dimension’ was able to withstand being trapped by the human Archwizard and the Champion of Jupiter.
Just as ‘Cardga’ had gotten rid of those two nuisances and turned his attention back to the front lines, he sensed powerful blood magic and holy power waves coming from the gate.
ใWhat the. . . . . .? Don’t tell me! ใ
Thinking about it, the number of Imperial troops guarding the front lines was smaller than he had thought. That’s why the trench line was being pushed back without being able to do anything. . . . . .
But what if this was the enemy’s plan?
Cardga recalled that overwhelming attack that had blown away an entire legion. As ‘Cardga’ was about to head there, he was blocked by beings. . . . . .
ใYou bastards. . . . . . ใ
Blazing skeletons, each exuding the aura of a Master. . . They were the Deatheaters.
And behind them stood Leto Zagreaus, the Champion of Pluto, leisurely holding the green-blazing Holy Sword of Pluto, ‘Ruin’.
“Archwizard Cardga, you were originally supposed to die after reaching 9th circle, but. . . . . . You dared to become a demon of Chaos and escape your fate, so your sin is great.”
ใHow laughable.ใ
Cardga laughed at them and swung his magic staff, unleashing hundreds of attack spells. Brilliant, multicolored magic spells poured out and flew towards the Deatheaters and Leto.
At that moment, Leto stepped forward and swung the Holy Sword of Pluto, ‘Ruin’, causing all the magic spells that were flying towards them to vanish into nothingness.
ใDispel? ใ
When he looked through the ‘Eye of Horus’, he saw that all the magic spells that had been destroyed by ‘Ruin’ had been dispelled. He added more runes and sent out hundreds more magic spells. . . . But this time too, as soon as ‘Ruin’ was swung, the magic spells vanished without a trace.
ใThis is bad. . . . . . ใ
The problem was that he could sense powerful blood magic coming from behind. To be more precise, it would be more accurate to say that it was life force made of pure blood.
ใIs that why they needed the Saint and Saintess? ใ
The life force he was sensing now was enough to exceed tens of thousands of people. And yet, that damn aura continued to grow stronger without stopping.
However, he could not approach that aura. The Hounds of Pluto were too persistent, and his compatibility with them was bad.
Cardga immediately sent other demons to that location through telecommunication magic. The problem was whether they would be able to stop them in time, since there was no way the area where the Saint and Saintess were located would not have been prepared for.
ใDamn it. . . . . . It’s been blocked. ใ
Cardga calculated the various possibilities of the future through the ‘Eye of Horus’ and tried to calculate a way to stop them, but there was no way.
He then entered a trance, recalling the power of that last attack and creating a barrier that could block it.
In an instant, various mathematical formulas and combinations of runes intertwined to produce the best possible result, and in order to prepare for it, Cardga summoned Garuda demons to block the Hounds of Pluto and fell back.
Soon, Cardga was preparing a large-scale defensive magic spell, drawing up the ritual and carving runes while drawing on his demonic power.