In the blink of an eye, a brilliant radiance oppressed his entire body.
The sunset-colored divine power enveloping the Beoncheon Society Leader’s body faded helplessly, and the long-spread wings began to crumple miserably.
‘How?’
There had been no time to resist.
As if they had known from the very beginning exactly when he would appear there, the moment he crossed space and arrived at his destination, the entire ritual had already been completed.
Rebelling against the pressure crushing down on his body, he turned his gaze and swiftly swept his eyes over his surroundings.
From those who glared straight at him even while reciting prayers, a vivid hostility was transmitted.
-[Uninvited outsider. Invader of a world where you will never be welcome. Remember this.]
Why was that?
At that moment, the final words Hahoe Mask had left behind before departing surfaced in the Beoncheon Society Leader’s mind.
-[There is no place for you on this land.]
The single-minded will (一念) of countless crowds arranged in orderly ranks merged into one and took form.
His body, which had grown light as though freed from shackles, was bound by restraints even greater than before, making movement difficult as if he were sinking into the deep sea.
‘This won’t do.’
Something had gone wrong.
But he had no time to think in detail about how this had happened.
A sharply surging sense of crisis stimulated the Beoncheon Society Leader’s mind, forcing him to hurriedly devise a countermeasure.
‘I’ll destroy it before the restraint grows stronger.’
He put the judgment he had made in an instant into action almost simultaneously.
Amid the pressure constricting his entire body, he rapidly read the structure of the holy formation and was able to identify the points that served as the centers of the ritual throughout it.
Then, targeting those places, he swung his right hand in a long arc.
Kuuung—
A power of space, separate from the sunset-colored divine power wielded by the Beoncheon Society Leader, activated purely through his innate skill.
The gravity around the target points surged drastically, and the faces of those standing there turned pale all at once.
Thanks to the force field protecting the participants in the ritual, they were able to avoid being flattened like dried filefish, but naturally, even that had its limits.
Kwadeudeudeuk—
Through the gaps in the force field weakened by the pressure of gravity, the force of spatial collapse seeped in.
And it immediately bared its teeth at the high-ranking priests positioned at the vital points of the holy formation—
Kwaang!
“Not a chance!”
“O Lord God!”
Before it could achieve its goal, it was thoroughly neutralized by paladins who had appeared without warning.
The Beoncheon Society Leader’s brow twitched.
No matter how much its power had been sharply reduced by this holy formation, blocking his attack, which interfered directly with space, was not something just anyone could do.
Moreover, had this move not been a strike into which even he had put a fair amount of effort?
His gaze, now filled with displeasure, turned toward the seven paladins who had blocked his attack.
As they slowly stepped forward, an aura flickering as if burning their very flesh blazed around their bodies.
“Stay on guard. This heretic’s level is higher than expected.”
“To think he can manage that much even inside this holy formation… One wrong move and our heads will fly in an instant.”
“Indeed, just as the Saint said.”
Tushkin of the Silverwing Paladin Order, who had brought Saint Heinrich to the Holy Land; the Black New Moon, whose main duty was the eradication of black magicians and demon worshipers; and the commander of the Radiant Guardian Paladin Order, which protected the Great Temple of Rosellia.
They were paladins standing at the peak of the Lord God Church’s military might.
‘…This has become troublesome.’
The Beoncheon Society Leader’s expression twisted as he measured the aura emanating from them.
In truth, taken individually, they were nothing special.
Paladins were master-class warriors and high-ranking clergy at the same time, but from the standpoint of one who had attained the rank of a demigod, either aspect amounted to no more than a slight nuisance.
However, that was only true under ordinary circumstances; in a special situation like the present, they could never be taken lightly.
Their bodies, tempered sturdily through ordinary training and accustomed to dense concentrations of divine power, would become excellent mediums for projecting the immense divine power filling this space.
Though that power was temporary and had a severe adverse effect on lifespan, to paladins who were prepared at any time to become martyrs for the will of God, it was not much of a problem.
Hwaaaak—!
The air grew heavy, and heaven and earth in every direction were dyed in brilliant divine power.
Because of the “spy within,” whom no one had been able to anticipate, the Lord God Church had lost face in many ways against the Undying King, but they were unmistakably one of the greatest powers in Auterica and the center of all religions.
“Tch, this is…”
The Holy Land of the Church, located at the center of the world.
Tens of thousands of fervent believers chanting prayers in unison.
High-ranking clergy leading them and conducting the ritual, and paladins standing in his way after accepting the surrounding energy to its very limit.
And even the cardinals standing at the center of the holy formation, quietly gazing in his direction.
‘It’s no good.’
Having swiftly grasped the situation, the Beoncheon Society Leader was able to decide at once to give up.
With this much preparation in place, there was nothing he could do for the moment.
If he recklessly charged into a board prepared to this extent and even a god ended up intervening, that would truly be the worst possible outcome.
‘I’ll withdraw for now. They can’t maintain this level of preparation at all times. I’ll watch the situation over the long term, then when an opening appears…’
In any case, he had plenty of time remaining.
It was a little regrettable that he had already blown the down payment by trying to end things quickly, but thanks to that, he had learned quite a lot, so it was not purely a loss.
‘There is a prophet on that side. And one capable of exerting considerable influence over the entire world.’
Hahoe Mask, who had appeared with troops as if he had been waiting at the point where he emerged.
The top-class powerhouses of this dimension and their helpers, who had appeared afterward as if taking turns.
Even a massive holy formation prepared in advance by predicting where he would move, and a ritual using it.
It was a chain of events impossible to explain unless a prophet existed.
‘To think they can make such a meticulous prophecy against me.’
Prophecy was something that became unstable even with the involvement of a transcendental being, an existence that had broken out of the framework on its own.
Was that not why he gave Oracle preferential treatment—because she was almost the only person who had overcome that limitation?
Yet the fact that someone could read the movements of him, who had risen to the rank of demigod, in such detail meant that existence was a dangerous individual beyond imagination.
‘I must deal with that one first.’
In reality, the revelation received by the Saintess had only been about the existence of an “invader from an external dimension,” but since he did not know the information and abilities of whoever had intervened in this matter, he had no choice but to think that way.
‘I’ll have to use the loopholes in prophecy. With that, somehow…’
But before he could finish that thought.
Paaaaat—
While keeping in check those who were annoyingly interfering and slowly extricating his body from the holy formation’s restraint.
“In the name of the Lord God. There is no place for you to set foot in this world, heretic.”
He had no choice but to frown upon seeing the champion of the Lord God appear with a sudden flash of light and aim the Holy Sword at him once more.
But his appearance was only the beginning.
“Yeah! Where do you think you’re going? Not a chance until you hand over those wings! Puhahahah!”
“Mm, the divine power is thick. It feels as though my skin is burning.”
“The forests around here are quite small… Well, I suppose it’s just that the northern mountain range was especially dense…”
As if they had been there from the start, the trio revealed themselves one by one behind Heinrich.
At the sight of those tenacious leeches, the Beoncheon Society Leader’s face finally distorted viciously.
***
When I learned of the Beoncheon Society Leader’s intrusion, there had been candidate locations I had separately considered as places he might target.
‘I was lucky. If he’d gone somewhere else from the start, I might have lost him.’
At the time, there were two places I judged to be the most likely.
The Church’s Holy Land, the center of the Ion Continent, and the World Tree located in the middle of the Enamel Continent.
And having predicted as much, it was only natural that I would prepare for what might happen, just in case…
[This is Harris. The apostle of the Outer God has headed for the Holy Land of the Lord God Church.]
[Is that so? I suppose we should call this fortunate…]
[A bit of a shame! We prepared quite thoroughly on our side too!]
[S-still, it’s better that nothing serious happens! No matter how hard we prepared, casualties would have been unavoidable. I hope the Lord God Church doesn’t suffer much damage either…]
Accordingly, not only in the Church’s Holy Land but also in Drasha, the capital of the Elven Kingdom, everything had been prepared to deploy a large-scale barrier using the World Tree.
So that the barrier could be activated immediately upon receiving a signal from Harris.
Of course, the effort and resources required in the process were not small, but since no one dared lightly ignore the words of the current strongest person in the Elven Kingdom, one who was also deeply loved by the World Tree, making it happen was not especially difficult.
[Still, just in case, please maintain vigilance until the end. If anything strange happens while dealing with him, I’ll contact you immediately.]
[Understood, Lord Harris. Please take care of yourself.]
[Don’t get hurt! And don’t push yourself too hard.]
With Cecily’s worried words from Drasha as the last message, Harris ended the World Tree network connection.
Normally, even for a High Elf, he would have needed to use the forest’s energy over such a great distance, but after reaching transcendence and undergoing a great growth in ability, something of this level was now nothing to him.
‘Then…’
Letting out a light sigh, he placed an arrow on the bowstring he had raised once more.
Then he narrowed his eyes and quietly watched the fierce battle unfolding a short distance away.
Kwaaaang—!
A shockwave transmitted along with an explosive roar.
But compared to what he had felt in the mountains not long ago, its power was clearly reduced.
Of course, the greatest reason was that the Church’s holy barrier had absorbed the aftermath in order to reduce the damage…
‘He’s definitely weakened. I gave a warning to the Imperial Palace and the Republic’s Assembly just in case, but there was no need to go that far.’
Not only that, he had sent warnings to every place he deemed important, just in case.
And in order to immediately track him even if he disappeared to some other location, he had mobilized information organizations from all over, including Banshee Queen Olivia.
‘I’ll end this here for certain.’
But looking at the situation, it seemed he no longer needed to worry about other places.
The instructions he had given to the Lord God Church as a precaution had, when the results came out, proven more effective than expected.
Without needing to weigh or calculate anything, this place, right now, was the most perfect timing to finish him off.
Kagagang!
“Grrr! You irritating bastards! How did you follow me all the way here?!”
Perhaps the Beoncheon Society Leader himself sensed that crisis, because after resisting passively as if assessing the situation, he could no longer hold back and burst into a roar.
Having come here to avoid being ganged up on, only to end up on the verge of receiving an even worse beating, his feelings were understandable.
Of course, Heinrich, whose Holy Sword was clashing with his, did not care about those feelings in the slightest.
“Because that is the will of this world! Disappear, heretic!”
The Holy Sword wrapped in 「Blessing: Light Sword」 became a pillar of light and cleaved through the air.
The intangible curtain blocking the way of that 「Spatial Slash」 was torn to shreds, and the collapse energy that had been lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity, lost its path and scattered to pieces.
‘This is incredible.’
Inwardly impressed, Heinrich tightened his grip on the sword’s hilt.
It was an environment that could forcibly push even an ordinary paladin beyond their limits.
Since he, as the Hero, was actively making use of it, the sight of radiance streaming from his entire body made him look as though an incarnation of God had descended upon the earth.
Kwaak!
And riding that advantage.
“Kahahaha! Then I’ll be eating well!”
“Krgh! You monster!”
At last, Harley was able to achieve what he had wanted.
As the grotesque humanoid creature forcibly pulled on a crumpled wing and took a huge bite from its root—
Kwajijik—!
With a gruesome sound of flesh being crushed, one wing was finally torn off.
Before the Beoncheon Society Leader could respond, Heinz II silently appeared, collected the pure white blood scattering through the air, and stabbed sharp spikes of blood into the wound.
“You lowly things…!”
The wingless angel, driven further and further onto the defensive by the continuing chain of attacks, ground his teeth.
It was a sight that made all the cash he had spent to repeatedly use 「Individual Convergence」 feel worthwhile.
‘It wasn’t applied to perks like 「Summon Otherworld Transfer Circle」 or 「Hero’s Footprints」, so I hadn’t paid attention to it until now, but this is more useful than I expected.’
The item he had used, 『Skill Cooldown Reset』, was rather expensive as befitting a VIP Market product, but it was quite a decent option to use at an important moment like this.
Though, in the end, aside from 「Individual Convergence」, the only skill with a cooldown long enough to require something like that was 「Individual Projection」.
‘Now, let’s finish this.’
The Holy Sword in Heinrich’s hand shone with a keen light and thrust forward as if piercing the air.
He did not think that defeating his opponent here would solve everything.
The man would probably appear before him again in some form.
His intuition, sharpened as his rank rose, whispered that this was fate.
But what mattered now was this:
He had finally put the brakes on the one who had been ceaselessly devouring the possibilities of countless worlds and swelling in size.
Pook—!
And in the end, he had succeeded in protecting this Auterica.
“Disappear, heretic.”
Heinrich, who had driven the Holy Sword gripped in both hands into the Beoncheon Society Leader’s chest, glared straight into his distorted eyes and spat the words like a growl.
《The entity has fulfilled the conditions and gained enlightenment. Special Skill 「Great Blessing: Wings of Radiance」 acquired.》
As expected, it seemed his sponsor was quite satisfied as well.