Chapter 64: Divine Trial (2)

Krrr-rng—!

A magic array was drawn, using the sky as its canvas.

At its center, a black lightning bolt twisted through the air and fell.

“I’ll block it!”

Aaron threw his body toward the lightning aimed at Richard.

A purple Aura wrapped fiercely around his spear as it spun wildly.

He drove it into the lightning bolt.

Yet, no thunderous sound echoed as expected.

Only a soft pshh of escaping air was heard.

“Whoosh.”

Seeing Aaron’s move, Richard blew a sharp gust of wind.

Piercing Aura is a mana trait that distorts the composition of mana.

By disrupting mana, any magic composed of mana becomes nothing more than a mere trick.

It was truly the bane of any mage.

Aaaah—!

The spells cast by the Liches continued without pause.

Flames, lightning, and wind encircled and relentlessly attacked.

Once again, Aaron stepped forward.

Psshh, pshh—

The spells made a raucous noise as they scattered.

Amid the swirling currents of mana, Aaron shifted his footing.

His step was soon followed by a rapid drumbeat.

That drumbeat signaled a charge toward the enemy.

Behind him, Richard and Huger pushed off the ground.

Kwack!

A Lich deployed a barrier.

At the same time, a pillar of flame rose at Richard’s feet.

Boom! Aaron quickly plunged his spear into the ground, extinguishing the pillar of flame.

Meanwhile, Huger and Richard closed the gap to the Lich’s front.

“Chiiik!”

Huger swung his fully raised axe down with all his might.

Crackle, sizzle—

The barrier ripped apart like a sheet of paper.

A single sheet could not withstand Huger’s brute force axe strikes.

Through that opening, Richard’s star pierced through.

Thwack!

It embedded deep into the Lich’s two white eye sockets.

No matter how the bony, skeletal hand tried to pull it out, it only dug deeper.

“Chiiik. What is this? Not as easy as I thought, huh?”

Huger, lowering his gradually crumbling bony hand, shook his head.

Richard nodded at him and spoke.

“It’s only going to get harder.”

There was one more existence among the five.

Before the battle began, the Liches had clearly said so.

And Richard understood exactly what that meant.

Goooh—

More powerful magic stirred from the remaining Liches.

***

The Liches attacking the castle were cursed to destroy one another.

When one died, the remaining would bear the burden of the deceased—a terrible curse indeed.

But that was for humans.

For Liches who absorb magic, it was an unparalleled blessing.

“You brats!”

The battle raged on for a long time.

Grah!

Continuous explosions echoed across the battlefield.

The last surviving Liches cast powerful magic one by one.

Aaron’s Aura was no longer enough to suppress them.

Then the elves stepped in.

“Kraaaak!”

Magic clashed with magic.

Beyond the intense explosions, more spells flew in.

The Liches were strong, but they couldn’t withstand the magic unleashed by fifty elves.

And that wasn’t all.

The Liches trembled as Richard and his group tenaciously clung to them.

When they used their highest magic, the elves sought their openings.

When the Liches turned their heads to counterattack, the spear-wielding warriors wrapped in Aura hammered the barrier.

The once-mountainous mana began to show its limits.

One Lich alone could no longer resist the overwhelming momentum.

“Magic users really aren’t easy opponents. Still, thanks to them, I got some practice.”

Richard, his body scorched in places, laughed.

Before him, the Lich had collapsed.

Once, it had briefly reached the level of a great sorcerer.

But without a name or status, it silently surveyed the battlefield.

Humans were strong.

They did not fear magic and had definite countermeasures.

All the monsters that had swarmed in black masses had long been dealt with.

The proud faces of humans bore the pride of having defended the castle.

The end of the battle.

The Lich was left alone, tapping its jaw.

“Kuh-huhu. What’s so glorious about all this?”

Originally, it was a messenger who came to deliver the words of a noble being.

What use was there in conquering a castle like this?

“Did you think the Darkness was just going to be stopped by you?”

They would never understand, not until they died.

The truth that the silent Darkness was swelling its strength behind them, using them as shields.

Foolish tribes who believed that if they just held firm inside the castle, the nightmare would end.

“Your end is destruction and despair. Soon the sky will split, and the Great King will descend!”

The crumbling Lich chuckled harshly.

It seemed as if the anguished cries of humans echoed faintly through the ruins.

It was then.

Crack—

A star suddenly rose between its two eye sockets.

Standing before it, Richard muttered with a stern expression.

“The breach will not open. I will stop it.”

“Finally, the nightmare ends as nothing more than a dream.”

The red flames in the Lich’s eyes flickered.

What was that look, as if it knew everything?

“You… who exactly are you—”

There was no time to ask.

The body of the Lich, which had been glaring at Richard, scattered like dust.

***

Days and nights changed several times after leaving the castle.

Had the battle truly ended safely?

Surely, we won.

How many casualties were there?

I hope not many died.

On the barren Nar Plain, Moritz bowed deeply.

If he didn’t recall other thoughts, he felt like he would go mad.

“Ugh… ugh…”

He had been bestowed with a great trial.

If he overcame it, he would have fulfilled an important duty; if not, death awaited.

Of course, Moritz had no intention of failing.

Whenever he wanted to give up, he remembered the debt Richard had taken on.

A truly warm and beautiful light.

Power bestowed from God.

“I too… I want to have that.”

Despair settled in Moritz’s eyes.

“Damn you, Richard!”

He had definitely thought himself superior, looked down on him, but now his younger brother had risen so high.

He thought he could catch up soon, but when he realized it, he was below him.

He cried for a long while, looking up at the path ahead.

Now he had to admit it.

He respected Richard.

To think that was the man he used to look down on with disdain.

“If the winter wind bites and the dark night frightens you…”

“He will hold you close.”

“I will advance. I will overcome.”

To realize and acknowledge Richard’s true nature was an exhausting thing for Moritz Bartenberg.

Yet after serving God, everything had changed as if by magic.

The one he trusted and prayed to was God, but the more his faith deepened, the stranger he felt toward Richard.

It was surely respect and awe.

The feelings one would have toward the knight they served, and the ultimate devotion of a believer toward God.

“Others might not have noticed.”

From time to time, Moritz recalled the knights who nodded their heads when looking at Richard.

Whoosh—

A cold wind laced with a bitter feeling blew, snapping Moritz out of his thoughts.

He looked around, steadying his trembling body.

Far from the castle, he felt as if he had been thrown into the outside world alone.

The world outside the castle was harsh and unforgiving.

“Hor, please light the path ahead!”

He prayed earnestly as he charged forward.

Ridiculous as it was, the image of God in his mind looked exactly like Richard.

Roar—!

Scattered undead were written off by Narre.

They said Richard had tamed these spirits, but their fierceness and strength could never be considered his alone.

“That’s… winter—”

After running for some time, Moritz spotted a forest.

It was a kind of boundary line cutting between Polin Castle and Riot Castle.

“Finally, we’ve made it this far.”

If he crossed this line, they would enter the territory defended by the warriors of Polin Castle.

Gritting his teeth, Moritz didn’t stop and headed into the forest.

***

“Chiiik, do you know where comrade Moritz is? Haven’t seen him around the fortress.”

While taking a rare break, Huger came and asked.

Looking into his eyes filled with worry, a sigh escaped from within.

An uncaring Orc was truly an enviable existence.

Some didn’t have a care because they had no concern for the future.

“I sent him on a mission. Won’t be back for a while.”

He gestured to hurry away, but Huger stubbornly pulled up a chair and sat beside me.

“What mission? Chiiik.”

“Ha… a scouting mission. He was told to scout Polin Castle and its surroundings.”

“Ha ha! Our cowardly comrade is going to have a hard time!”

Ignoring Huger’s laughter as he patted his belly, I flipped through my prayers.

The usual wishes floated in the void.

[Listening to Moritz’s prayers.]

-Hor, please light the path ahead!

Among them, the one that stood out was Moritz’s prayer.

It was remarkable that his simple wish contained 95% faith.

That much fear and awe must be in it.

“Seems like the comrade has grown up, chiiik! Not like when he trembled like a kitten—now he even goes scouting alone!”

“Shut up. Go out and talk.”

An Orc’s deep voice echoed through the room, shaking the walls.

“There’s no one but you who can talk to me right now. Please deal with it.”

“The one you like so much…”

I was about to talk about Mary but I closed my mouth.

Right after the fight with the Liches, she had taken my tattered cloak and clothes.

She promised to fix them, but even now, long after, she hadn’t shown her face.

Apparently, she was busy with matters related to the Saint’s clothes.

“A remarkable human warrior.”

“Why is that?”

“Do you have bad feelings toward comrade Moritz?”

The Orc nervously bit his aching fingers.

I looked up at him.

“Chiiik, of course I don’t really know what kind of relationship you had.”

“Then mind your own business.”

“When I see you and comrade Moritz, I see myself and Mary overlapping.”

“… What?”

Huger said something absurd.

Why did he suddenly bring up unrequited love?

“Fine, but don’t hate me for it…”

I threw a pillow at his face.

Cleverly catching it, Huger laughed heartily.

“Just kidding! Chiiik!”

“If you keep spouting nonsense, get out now. This is the first break we’ve had in ages.”

There was absolutely no reason for me to have ill will toward him.

To be honest, my first impression of Moritz was dislike.

That was it.

Nothing worth admitting or discussing.

“But why?”

Like it or not, Moritz had already become my believer.

He never shook his tail in submission to my power.

Hearing his prayers showed clearly that his violent nature had been tamed.

What reason was there to discriminate against such a devout believer?

“Just… I felt sorry seeing the comrade watch his back nervously. I wonder if this scouting mission isn’t just an excuse to torment him, chiiik!”

I hope you’re not too pitiful when Mary rejects you.

“Kuui!”

I smiled faintly and closed my eyes.

“No need to pity someone who watches nervously over past troubles alone.”

A foolish guy.

I pictured Moritz struggling terribly.

I didn’t want to send him alone if I could avoid it, but he was the only one who could carry out this mission.

I had prepared for the worst, but the leash was entirely his.

Thud, tap—

For some reason, the fingers pounding the table gripped it tighter.

“Hu hu… What’s this? Worried about the comrade? Chiiik.”

Huger laughed unpleasantly.

That Orc really had a knack for reading the room.