Chapter 413 – Holding Back the Tears (4)

Nobody could say anything for a moment.

"…Oo… oo..."

The silence was broken once they heard the painful groan.

'What the hell?!'

Sword master Hannah looked toward Lion King Dorph with a shocked expression. She could see Dorph holding one of his subordinates by the head.

"I apologize."

And now, Dorph was apologizing to Hannah.

"Our battle was ruined because of my subordinate. I know this makes me look bad."
"…Oo… ugh..."

Dorph didn't even care about his subordinate's groans as he gently smiled toward Hannah.

"I hope this can be seen as a token of my apology."

Dorph swung his fist as he said that.

"Ugh! Ugh!"

Two groans came out.
He had punched the subordinate's arm and leg. He blankly stared at the broken arm and leg before smiling at Hannah.

"Let's resume our fight."

His arm then started to move.
Hannah's eyes opened wide.

'…This crazy…!"

Dorph threw his subordinate toward the ground that was full of dead mana.

"Ahhhhh!"

The person who had been pushing soldiers into the pit started to scream as he himself was being thrown into it.

"Why does he have to be so loud?"

Hannah's gaze quickly moved back to Dorph.

"…This bastard!"

Clang!

Hannah raised her sword again. She then kicked off the ground and charged toward Dorph.
The gently smiling Dorph now had a shaking soldier by the neck in each hand.

"Woah, woah. Calm down. It looks like I need to quickly take care of all of these idiots so we can fight fairly in peace. So, give me a moment."

The soldiers were then flung toward the ground.

"N, noo!"
"Holy Maiden-nim!"

Hannah did her best to look away from the falling soldiers and shot her aura toward Dorph.

Baaaaang!

Dorph shook his perfectly fine hand after the explosion.

"Do you really want to fight against me that badly? Mm, I understand why you may feel that way. You have a wonderful heart of a swordsman."
"You crazy bastard! Stop with your nonsense!"

Hannah raised her voice on purpose as she provoked Dorph.
She then tried to lure Dorph away from the soldiers as much as possible.

'…He hasn't even gone berserk.'

Hannah bit down on her lips.
Dorph had not entered his berserk transformation. He was able to easily block Hannah's attack even without it.

'I'm a sword master, so how...!'

How was Dorph able to block an aura attack so easily?!
Hannah was started to get frustrated and annoyed.

"…Ugh, Holy Maiden-nim..."
"Jack-nim, oh, Sun God..."

She could see the tied up soldiers crying.
Hannah started to get even more annoyed.

They were all enemies. She was also no longer the Holy Maiden and just living her life as a sword master.
However, she could not ignore the desperate pleas of the enemy soldiers who were looking at her and seeking the Sun God and the Holy Maiden.

'If we could have fought one on one!'

If she could fight Dorph one on one without worrying about anything else…
Then she might be able to go in with everything she had.

'Both Choi Han and Eruhaben-nim are not here. Rosalyn said she would be late too. Mary is late as well.'

There were not many people who could fight right now.

'…Looks like I've changed too.'

Hannah let out a sigh-like laugh.
The old her would have charged in without thinking about anything else.

'Hannah, this battle is important. The Church of the Sun God needs to show its new appearance. We need this for the Mogoru to rise again.'
'Miss Hannah, I hope that we can play the pivotal role this time.'

She recalled what her brother Jack and Sir Rex had told her.
Hannah was not just thinking about fighting right now.
She had to think about the future as well.

"You can't lose focus during a fight."

Hmph!

Hannah gasped and bent backward after seeing a fist that had instantly arrived in front of her face.

Boooooooong!

A large gust of wind passed through the path of Dorph's fist. Hannah twisted her body and swung her arm. Her aura aimed for Dorph's foot.

Baaaaang!

"Ugh!"

However, that foot moved first to kick Hannah's arm.

'Damn it!'

Hannah started to frown.
Another punch came for her again. It was a regular fist without aura and without being in berserk transformation. However, Hannah still felt significant pressure as if a giant boulder was flying toward her.

Baaaaang! Bang!

The sword and the fist continued to clash.

"Ugh, ugh!"

Hannah had to take steps back after each clash.
She wasn't injured, but it was obvious that she was being pushed back.

"F*ck!"

Rough words were starting to flow out of her mouth.
Dorph sighed as he started to speak.

"It looks like I have no choice. I need to get rid of your hesitations."
"You motherf*cking bastard! Shut the f*ck up!"

Hannah raised her sword like a spear and charged toward Dorph as if she was trying to shut him up. Dorph easily dodged her attack.
His mane-like hair fluttered in the wind as he shouted.

"Push all the soldiers in!"
"You crazy bastard!"

Baaaaaaaaaang!

The tip of the sword and a fist collided and created a loud noise.

"Ugh!"

Hannah let out a short groan before she was pushed back.
She could see the enemies pushing the soldiers down through the dust.

"Pwahahahah!"

She started to laugh.

"Hmm?"

Dorph looked behind him.

The Northern Alchemists' Tower. He could see something grabbing on the ledge and climbing up to the top.
The person on his back soon got off.

"Thank you, Beacrox."

It was Saint Jack.

"…The Saint!"
"Hurry up! Quickly push the soldiers over!"
"It's fine! He's just a Saint for show with no offensive powers!"
"He was down on the ground just a moment ago!"

Some of them looked down toward the ground.
They then started to frown.

"And who is that?"

A person wearing Saint Jack's priest overcoat and a hat to cover most of his face sat on the ground and waved his hand.

"Even without being in a wheelchair, the grass is nice and soft."

Clopeh was the one who was waving his hand.
Then there was another masked man. They thought it had been the masked man from earlier, but this masked man looked slimmer.

"Be careful so that you do not get the Saint-nim's priest robe dirty."

Ron was the second masked man.

"When did they-?!"

They looked back toward Saint Jack to see that he was not wearing his priest robe.
Saint Jack, who was dressed like a wealthy noble, had the Sun God's healing powers wrapped around both hands.

"Hannah!"

He shouted out. Hannah started to laugh at the same time.

"Hahahaha!"

There was a simple reason for it.

– Hannah, the human told me to tell you this! He said, 'This isn't like you. Just fight!'

Hannah laughed so hard her shoulders were moving up and down.
Dorph's expression turned odd.

She started to run at that moment.

Tap, tap.

She then started to fly.
She was kicking off the ledge to fly.

The top of the Alchemists' Tower that had split into four.
She was jumping between the ledges of the southern portion where Dorph and the enemies were toward the eastern portion.

Boom!

She landed on her feet.
There was nothing on top of this portion.

"Are you running away?"

Dorph asked with a benign smile.

Smirk.

Hannah started to smirk.
It was at that moment.
A gold aura with black mixed into it shot up through her sword.
She then slashed down.

Baaaaaaaaaang!
Baaaaaang!

Hannah started to break the eastern portion of the Alchemists' Tower's roof.
She was breaking the roof without any reservations.
She then smiled toward Dorph and started to speak.

"Come here if you want to fight."

Dorph started to smile.

"Kekekeke, how entertaining!"

Dorph jumped over the ledge.
Just like Hannah, Dorph also crossed the gap between the portions with his physical strength alone. Hannah looked toward the leaping Dorph as she started to shout.

"Do whatever you want!"

Jack was the one who responded to her.

They were apart.
Hannah was away from him now.
They were in separate areas so he wouldn't hurt her.

"Attack the Saint!"
"This is our chance!"

The knights and Lions stepped forward to attack the Saint.

"We will take the rear!"
"Use long-distance attacks! Then that power of the Sun won't be able to reach us!"

The black mages and mages stepped back.
This was especially the case for the black mages who moved behind everyone else and started to channel their dead mana. Then they immediately started to use black magic.

Ooooooong. Ooooooooong. Ooooooooong.

Many different black magic spells rose into the air.

"Attack!"

One black mage shouted out before the others followed behind him, creating mud-like black arms and legs with black magic. They all charged toward Jack.
They were all moving in unison.
They seemed more thorough and accurate than most Mage Brigades.

"I'm relieved."

Saint Jack started to smile.

He was very relieved.
He was glad that it was the black mages and not the mages who launched the first attack.
Really.

"I'm relieved they divided the tower into four."

He was relieved that he could fight away from Hannah.
Jack pulled up all of the Sun God's healing power from his body.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

A warm light instantly surrounded the area.

'Jack-nim, why do you only use your healing powers like that?'

Saint Jack recalled a conversation he had with Dark Elf Tasha.
There had been a time when Tasha who was helping crown prince Alberu Crossman who was secretly assisting in the Empire brought over some documents to the Vatican for Jack.
Tasha had asked that question as she put the documents on Jack's desk.

'Excuse me? Ah, I'm not very good at using it properly, am I?'

Jack had put on an awkward smile as he responded.
He had heard about all of Cale's group's accomplishments at the capital's Alchemists' Bell Tower. That was why he had felt small.
He had been smiling, but he was upset on the inside.

'No, that's not what I mean.'

Tasha had a confused expression before asking that question.
That question had served as a clue for Jack.

Black magic was flying toward him. Jack waved both hands toward the spells.
Light gently shot out from his hands.
It looked very weak like a butterfly flapping its wings that were wet from the rain.

"Huh?"
"What is that?"

The enemies' eyes opened wide.

Pssssssssss-
Shhhhhhh-

Light surrounded the black magic spells.
The spells started to disappear.
They crumbled into dust without making any noise.
Jack clenched his fists after seeing what happened.
He recalled Tasha's comments again.

'As you are aware, the Dark Elves escaped and hid in the desert after running away from the sun god and the different churches of light. It is a very old story.'
'…I'm sorry. We should have all lived in harmony with each other.'
'No! I am not bringing this up for that reason. Anyway, there are records of that time. It was so that we could prepare for similar situations in the future. And if we look at those records…'

Jack pulled out even more life force, his healing power.

'The records say that while the Holy Knights were scary, the scariest people were the people with life force. It is because it is incompatible. It is incompatible with dead mana.'

The Dark Elves' records discussed the person that they should fear even more than the Holy Knights.

'People seem to make this mistake often, but while offensive powers are scary and defensive powers are formidable, the powers that force everything you do to turn into nothing is the scariest.'

A power that makes creatures with the dark attribute unable to fight at all.

'Of course, it usually takes hundreds of skilled priests working together to make something like that happen.'

Tasha had looked toward Jack and continued to speak with a serious expression.

'I believe that if it is you, Jack-nim, you might be able to do that to a degree even if a large-scale is difficult to do.'

Jack was putting that into practice right now.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

It felt as if a gentle breeze was blowing by.
The portion of the tower he was standing on became covered in light.

"Ugh!"
"…How is this possible?!"

The black mages felt as if that light was a swamp dragging them down.
The power that made the living become filled with life surrounded the dead mana.

It was not an attack.
It just suffocated them.

That was the beginning.

Ooooooong-

The light started to climb down the tower.
Every area other than where Hannah was fighting started to get covered in light.

There was no need to cover everything with a strong and powerful light.

It was just like a gentle breeze.
Maybe some short grass.
Possibly even flower petals fluttering in the wind.

Jack's light slowly and gently started to reach out to the forest starting with the tower at the center.

Screeeech!
Screeeech!

The golems started to become dull because of the light.

Clunk.

The black mages in the cockpits could feel this gentle life force preventing the golems that were born from dead mana from moving.

It could not force them to stop like a sturdy boulder or a strong wind.
However, it quickly and gently wrapped around everything.

There was no sun during the night. However, the Northern Alchemists' Tower where the dead mana lake existed…
That tower became the place with the most life force in an instant.

The golems and black mages started to turn their bodies.

"…We must kill the Saint first."

They all realized the importance of the Saint's presence.
As well as the dangers of his power.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Half of the golems started to head toward the center of the forest.
Saint Jack.
They were moving to get rid of the power he was sending out.

"How could...!"

On the other hand, the knights and mages were not being impacted by that power.
In fact, they felt as if their condition was getting better.

"We will kill him!"
"Capture the Saint!"

The knights, Lions, and mages saw the dull movements of the black mages and golems and immediately started to attack the Saint.
A few knights were already charging toward him.

Baaaaang!

However, a greatsword slammed down and blocked their way.
The person holding the greatsword put on a pair of white gloves as he started to speak.

"There's no sword master with you."

Beacrox took his greatsword out of the ground.

"Then this should be doable."

His greatsword that was now bigger than before was pointed toward the knights.
The knights flinched after seeing Beacrox's action.
It was because they didn't know this masked man's identity. There were many swordsmen who were on Cale's side. Furthermore, most of the people here had never personally experienced Cale's group.

The confrontation continued.

"Everybody attack at once!"
"Support them with magic!"

The knights who were observing the enemy found a moment to charge toward the greatsword.
Beacrox calmly said something at that moment.

"My work is done."

'What?'

The knight who was running in the front looked confused.

'Had he not just said this was doable? But it's done?'

Beacrox was telling the truth.
He had received the following orders from Cale.

'Stall for some time.'

The duration he was asked to stall was now over.

Rumble- Rumble-

He heard rumblings in the sky.
The enemies raised their heads.

The black night sky was getting foggy.

Swoooooooooooosh- Swoooooooosh-

They could hear heavy winds as well. They could see a large gust of wind coming out from the cross-shaped path as well.
The soldiers who were pushed off the tower as well as Dorph's subordinate who had turned into a bloody mess from Dorph's attacks.
They were all placed at the bottom of the tower.

And at the center of that wind…
A masked man stood there with both fists clenched.

"…Shall we give it a go?"

There were magic stones clenched within his fists.

The cloud covered the moon and the stars.
Once there was complete darkness and the sources of light in the sky that were shining down on the Alchemists' Tower disappeared…

FLASH!

A blood-like fiery thunderbolt shot down toward the ground.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]