wjnovel Chapter 150
Chapter 150
Chapter 150
Tsstsstsst-.
When Silvia gestured with her hand, the Paladins and Cardinals responded in unison, drawing the sign of the cross over their chests.
At once, light surged up into the sky and formed a cruciform barrier, which soon began to rain down upon the heads of the Majin and monsters standing before us.
-Krrraaah!
Unlike the ones I had encountered in the Holy Kingdom, they had no resistance to holy power.
Ordinary monsters melted away without leaving a trace, and even that ferocious Behemoth staggered and collapsed without managing any resistance at all.
‘One of the fragments rather than the main body, I suppose. If it had been an awakened Behemoth, everyone except the Sword Saint would’ve died the moment we met.’
A Behemoth that had achieved awakening through demonic energy was an opponent even the protagonist—who had already gone through several awakenings—struggled to handle.
Even if I, as I was now, had rushed in while wrapping my entire body in the power of Excalibur and Prometheus’s Flame, lasting more than a few seconds would have been my limit.
Before long, the sacred barrier dissolved. The monster horde vanished without a trace, leaving only the gruesome remains of the Behemoth sprawled across the center of the banquet hall.
Crackle.
Silvia stepped closer from inside and approached the Dimension Eater that had been binding the Sword Saint, releasing holy power.
It shattered into countless fragments like cotton candy being torn apart by a child’s hands, scattering and fading into the air.
Under the pouring holy radiance, the Majin who had been crouched down while shielding themselves with demonic energy finally straightened up, looking around with hollow expressions.
With the Dimension Eater neutralized, the Sword Saint was freed, and the seal on Excalibur was released.
Among those who had attended the gathering, only a few members of the delegation had suffered harm. Most of the Sword Masters remained intact.
Moreover, the members of the Holy Kingdom who had answered my request lined up beside us.
Not only the Saintess, the pride of the Holy Kingdom, but also Paladins who boasted Sword Master–level strength, and even Cardinals—the completed form of the priesthood.
Facing a force that would not be lacking anywhere, I shrugged my shoulders and turned my head toward Mersen.
“So then, we’ve laid all our cards on the table. You’re not going to tell me your side’s done after releasing a few monsters and spreading some fog, are you?”
“…….”
Mersen’s eyes hardened as he stared at me. Just as I was about to give him a sneer, the face of one person among the distant group caught my eye.
‘…Werner.’
Seeing his collapsing expression, I felt a pang of regret.
For me, Mersen being a collaborator of the Majin faction was nothing more than an unexpected variable. But for him, it would carry a very different weight.
Hadn’t he already lost his father and his kingdom once at the hands of his uncle, Sword Marshal General Isaac?
And if he had now learned that the brother he trusted and followed was connected to the Majin faction, it would feel as though the sky itself were falling.
Crunch.
Strength flowed into the hand gripping my sword. As I briefly sank into thought, the Sword Saint—who had been bound and then freed by the Dimension Eater—thanked Silvia’s side and stepped forward.
“Surrender quietly. If you do, as I said before, I will not grant you a disgraceful death.”
His eyes gleamed coldly. It seemed he was genuinely furious about having been restrained.
Aura Blade surged along the sword he had drawn, and demonic fire blazed fiercely in his eyes. Perhaps sensing that massive surge of emotion, the Majin exchanged quick glances with one another, their faces stiff.
I tensed my legs.
If they tried anything else—if, for instance, they attempted to embed that black heart into their own bodies like Isabel or the Majin I had met in the Holy Kingdom—I intended to sever their limbs to avoid repeating the same mistake.
“…You asked if that was all the cards we had prepared.”
Mersen lifted his head, his face twisted. All kinds of emotions churned in his eyes as he looked at me, but what remained at the end was a fighting spirit that had yet to fade.
“…….”
He then turned his head and met the gazes of his companions. As if making a silent resolve, they each nodded once, and he slowly opened his mouth.
“I never thought we’d end up using this here, but…….”
Pitch-black demonic energy billowed up from their entire bodies. I summoned Excalibur once more and stepped forward while drawing out its power, but the Sword Saint glanced at me and stopped my advance with a look.
“After being humiliated like this, staying still would make the name of Sword Saint a waste.”
Wooooong.
Once again, his sword let out a cry as it began to emit a power that defied common sense. No matter how much the aura of Sword Masters—numbering in the double digits—surged forth, it could not even reach the fringes of the Sword Saint.
“Regret your misguided choice and writhe in it.”
Slash.
A single, casually swung strike.
Yet its aftermath was anything but light.
Compared to when he had cut through the Dimension Eater, that display seemed like child’s play. An indescribable divine authority unfolded.
Even if I had been standing there, I would not have thought of blocking it. I would have merely closed my eyes and waited.
The same was true for the Majin.
Ggrrk.
The bodies of more than a dozen Majin—who had been on guard while unleashing their full power—split cleanly from top to bottom and began to fall to the floor.
Mersen barely caught the edge of it, but thick demonic energy started leaking from the wound where his waist had been severed.
Whoosh.
After cutting down most of the enemies in a single strike, the Sword Saint looked down at them with icy eyes.
“Bear witness! From that deep abyss called the Demonic Realm, these rat bastards have crawled out and are secretly infesting every corner of the continent! That is why I gathered you here—to uproot them completely!”
The reactions of those who had joined the gathering varied widely.
Some had already known the truth, while others pieced it together roughly by watching what was unfolding before their eyes.
Their commonality was that all of them had been overwhelmed by the Sword Saint’s blade.
Being trapped by the Dimension Eater had been an unforeseen blunder, but as if to make up for it, the Sword Saint swelled his momentum until it felt as though the world itself would burst.
As a result, although only a single strike had been swung, the number of Majin left was now a mere five.
Faced with the horrific outcome unfolding before him, Mersen, who had been clutching a wound leaking demonic energy while gasping for breath, suddenly burst into laughter like a madman who had lost his sanity.
“Uhuhuhuhuh, uhahahahahahaha!”
At that grotesque sight, my brows naturally furrowed.
“He seems to have lost his mind.”
Silvia also shook her head, her eyes filled with discomfort. The expressions of the others showed that they felt the same.
The Demonic Realm. The appearance of the Majin.
Although the Holy Kingdom had already sent official notices to nations across the continent and formally acknowledged their emergence, only a handful of places had accepted it.
The Majin who had already been rooted in place dismissed it as nothing more than absurd rumors, or as a scheme by the Holy Kingdom to inflate its own influence.
In truth, it was unavoidable.
The more the beings of the Demonic Realm ran rampant, the more dependence on the Holy Kingdom would grow, along with its power.
But here, before the gathered dignitaries of every nation, the Sword Saint had made a declaration in his own name.
That was tantamount to the Empire itself acknowledging their existence. The name of the Sword Saint carried that much weight.
Under such circumstances, it would no longer be possible to casually dismiss it as mere hearsay.
“…Master, I would like to capture the one in the middle alive. For now, I want to hear what he has to say.”
From a glance, it seemed that Mersen—the older brother of Werner—was the leader of them all.
He would not speak easily, but in this world, there were many ways to uncover hidden secrets.
Especially when it came to Majin, it was widely known that holy power was their natural nemesis. No being could endure the agony of having their soul burned away.
“……?”
The Sword Saint, who had been nodding slightly to indicate his understanding, soon had his eyes fill with doubt.
“What is it.”
Following his gaze, I saw masses of demonic energy clumped together above the heads of the Majin, as if dark clouds had gathered.
It was the power they had raised to oppose the Sword Saint. When those who had reached higher realms fought, the energy they released would sometimes remain congealed in the air instead of dissipating, so it was not an especially strange sight.
Click.
However, perhaps sensing something from it, the Sword Saint’s expression hardened slightly as he took a step forward.
Shraaaak-!
At the very moment his foot seemed to touch the ground, the Sword Saint’s blade swung at a blinding speed. Like a gunshot, it tore through the air and charged straight into the mass of demonic energy above the Majin.
Boom-!
‘…Boom?’
Certain that it would be shredded to pieces, I widened my eyes at the unexpected sound.
A gust of wind from the collapsed ceiling swept away the thick dust. And then, within that dense demonic haze, I saw a single arm rising up.
Zzzzz-.
A pale, bluish arm. That hand, tipped with black nails, slowly emerged into the world while gripping a massive sword that looked as though it had been forged from bronze.
“That is…….”
“We must stop it. Follow me.”
For the first time, tension appeared on the Sword Saint’s face. He whispered to me and, without a shred of hesitation, kicked off the ground and leapt into the sky.
Soon, a dazzling cluster of stars began to rain down along the trajectory of his blade onto the arm rising from the demonic mist.
Tudadadadada-!
The barrage of star clusters, like machine-gun fire, hammered into the demonic energy. The blue arm spun the massive sword it held in a full rotation, canceling it out, but the star clusters relentlessly bored in and succeeded in carving wounds into it.
“…No way.”
I hurriedly turned my gaze. I scanned the Majin who had fallen after being cut down by the Sword Saint’s blade, but I felt no energy from them at all. Only Mersen, crouched among them while clutching his wound, looked toward me with a crooked grin.
“These lunatics.”
Nearly twenty Majin—each having reached the realm of a Sword Master—had paid the price of their lives, souls, and all their power to summon something.
That was likely the being they worshiped.
Only high-ranking demons like Aloken, Gremory, and Agares, whom I had encountered before, could command this many Majin under them.
“Silvia! We can’t let that thing break free! Don’t hold back—pour everything into it!”
“We were already prepared-!”
As if the Holy Kingdom’s side sensed the same crisis as the Sword Saint, they began drawing in an even greater amount of holy power than before.
This was not possession through a specific medium, nor was it a summoning bound to a single person.
It was a descent carried out by the Majin through a ritual using their own lives as the catalyst.
Which meant that the being itself was manifesting here with its true body.
I fixed my gaze on the Sword Saint as he relentlessly struck at the demonic mist.
Though the Sword Saint was called the strongest human in the story, he too underwent several growths as the narrative progressed.
That was why, at the end of Part Two and the beginning of Part Three, he had been able to perish together with the Hell Archduke Aloken after a fierce battle in the Middle Realm.
‘…But the Sword Saint as he is now.’
I could not measure it by my own standards, but compared to that point in time, he was lacking.
And so, without hesitation, I poured everything I had into Excalibur.
There was no need to worry about the remaining Majin. Having summoned such a being, their souls themselves would soon be extinguished.
Fwaaaash-!
At my will, Prometheus’s Flame intertwined with the light of Excalibur. Ignoring the system notifications ringing through my eyes and ears, I stepped forward with all my strength.
“…….”
As if sensing my presence, the Sword Saint retreated a single step. Through the gap he created, I drove in the strongest technique I could currently use.
“Last Stardust-.”
The searing flames—where the holy sword’s light and Prometheus’s Flame merged—cut through the demonic energy. No, they were about to cut through it.
Wooooooong.
From deep within the demonic energy came a bizarre cry that pierced my ears. My vision shook, and blood began pouring from my mouth, ears, and eyes.
“This much is nothing!”
Gritting my teeth, I steadied the trembling tip of my sword. And just as those flames reached their peak—
“…Huh?”
From within the demonic energy, deep in the darkness, a pair of vivid yellow eyes fixed their gaze on me. It had a face resembling a black goat, with long horns splitting to either side.
“…Baphomet.”
The moment that all-too-famous name slipped from my lips, flames erupting from the creature’s blue arm crashed into my entire body.