Chapter 163
"Junis El Romatvi."
The Saint of the Shield God, and a half-fairy.
She is precisely a half-breed between a beastkin and a fairy.
Her purple eye and red eye.
A detail evident from her odd eyes.
Even outwardly, she shows differences from typical beastkin.
But the one Callias met who claimed to be a saint was a pureblood beastkin.
A beastkin whose entire body was perfectly covered in fur.
Therefore, she was not the true saint.
The saint he knew was not a pureblood beastkin, but a half-breed.
The dainty physique unique to fairies and her mysteriously enchanting appearance.
Because she was a half-fairy who possessed the ears and tail of a beastkin.
That was why he recognized it immediately.
That the one before him calling herself a saint was actually her proxy.
Or merely another saint candidate.
Step, step.
A slightly damp underground cave.
Callias walked the path, deep in thought.
"Why was she in a once-dead state?"
The saint's attendant he had glimpsed.
That is, the true saint's appearance was quite haggard.
Her odd eyes remained the same, but the hair he caught a glimpse of was dull and brittle.
Her face was the same; her complexion was pale, and her eyes were sunken.
A different appearance from the saint he knew.
Thus, Callias deduced that she must be in a state of having already died once.
The reason she called for him and the circumstances weren't far off from his expectations either.
Her goal was likely...
"For resurrection."
She met her death for some unknown reason.
But her flesh had already died, and to fully live again, she had to enter the Fairy's Tomb.
But it must have been troublesome.
"Because she wouldn't have been able to enter in a dead state. She would have needed another fairy."
But she isn't very close with fairies. Fairies capable of acting freely on their own start from the upper ranks, and such high-ranking fairies wouldn't even bother meeting her, who was merely a half-breed.
And then, the Dragonslayer appeared.
And the existence of Callias, who possessed the power of spirit energy, must have been an invaluable fortune to Junis.
"Just the minimum help should be enough."
But there was another reason Callias feigned ignorance despite knowing all the facts.
'Because Junis has a filthy personality.'
Perhaps because she was alienated and looked down upon since childhood, Junis has a terrible personality.
She's absolute trash for a saint, and despite serving the Shield God, she has a personality that smashes anything that acts as a shield and gets on her nerves.
She's not a bad person to build a friendship with, but if he were to needlessly try to get close to her, it would only arouse suspicion.
"She's also one of the top five troublemakers on the continent."
Not only is it hard to befriend her, but once you do, she's the type to cause all sorts of accidents and shamelessly demand help.
Callias wanted to avoid getting close to Saint Junis as much as possible.
It was best to maintain a moderate distance whenever possible.
Besides, for now, the tomb took priority over her.
"A tomb is indeed a tomb."
A dark cave.
The deeper he went underground, the denser the concentration of spirit energy became.
Perhaps due to the spirit energy, the passage emitted a soft glow, and the spirit stones embedded between the walls brought a smile to Callias's lips.
"This isn't a bad level at all."
Fairy Tombs exist in various places.
However, their levels and scales vary wildly, but seeing spirit stones pour out like this already...
"It could be at the level of a royal tomb."
Fairies also have a hierarchy.
Besides the commonly known upper, middle, and lower classes, there are other bloodlines.
Fairies originally originated from the natural condensation of nature's energy, but among those who survived for a long time, there are those who formed clans and became their progenitors.
Among them, the tombs of those with the royal bloodline are called royal tombs, and the tomb Callias had arrived at seemed to be just that.
He hadn't even descended that far, yet the spirit energy was so dense it was suffocating, and perhaps because of that, spirit stones were embedded everywhere with every step he took.
He would discover a spirit stone almost every ten steps.
Even if it wasn't a royal tomb, he figured it might be the tomb of fairly high-ranking noble fairies.
[Successfully digesting the spirit stone.]
[Absorption rate decreases.]
[Constitution - Bone Fusion increases the absorption rate.]
He picked them up and ate them as he saw them, but soon realized there was no need to.
It became possible to absorb the spirit energy from the spirit stones by manipulating the spirit energy accumulated within his body.
Of course, the efficiency dropped, but digesting spirit stones put a great strain on the body, so this was better.
And the further he headed toward the origin of the tomb, the more high-purity spirit stones he found.
'I could get rich just selling the spirit stones.'
Just the spirit stones in his spatial inventory were already numbering in the dozens.
Among them, he held the ones with high purity and large sizes in his hand, drawing their spirit energy into his body as he walked.
But the more he walked, the higher the grade of spirit stones that appeared, so the corners of Callias's mouth showed no signs of dropping.
"If it keeps going like this, it's only a matter of time before my Spirit Energy stat rises."
It was also only a matter of time before Spirit Energy was classified as a stat rather than a trait.
* * *
"It was you after all, Junis."
"Ailey!!"
The Saint of the Spear.
And the Saint of the Shield cried out each other's names.
While Ailey moved.
Junis did not move.
No, it was more accurate to say she couldn't. Her body was no different from a corpse, and the divine power she could use was extremely minimal.
"Damn it!"
She vented her frustration, but there was nothing she could do.
Except watch her strike down the knights of the Ashen Legion.
Crash!!
Meanwhile, Ailey narrowed her brows as she looked at the knights blocking her.
'Their levels are high.'
The aura she felt was of the elite class.
But their actual movements and experience were beyond that.
Moreover, their classes were diverse.
Some used swords, some used spears, and there were even those who bound her arms with whips or launched bodily charges.
Their coordination was also smooth.
They were covering their slightly lacking skills with breathless combos.
Tadat!
Dodging the incoming arrows, Ailey thrust her spear once again.
Boom!
With a single strike of her spear, thirty knights in a straight line were torn apart.
The Ashen Legion filled the gaps of the knights who disappeared, turning into ashen energy.
'It's a good thing I came first.'
If the rear army had clashed with the Ashen Legion, their losses would have been devastating.
For some reason, the more she struck down, the stronger the knights that stood in her way.
'If those just now were elites, these are commander-class.'
Ailey's holy spear.
Raphael scattered a sticky light of divine power in all directions.
The holy spear.
Raphael's inherent ability was surprisingly simple.
"Enhance."
It enhances anything.
Whether it's a spear, a person, or anything.
Thud-!
Ailey's entire body exuded an explosive aura. A crimson pillar of light shot into the sky, and her hair fluttered wildly.
The number of ashen knights was currently five hundred.
A fully manageable number.
Boom! Boom! Crash!!
Every time she moved, a roar that shook the heavens and the earth erupted.
A single breath.
With a single thrust of her spear, the knights were sent flying as if struck by a meteor.
But most of them were elites.
From the general-class, it was different.
The generals, who had regained most of their true abilities through their recent battles and training, were somewhat enduring the saint's spear.
Of course, they were barely holding on just enough not to die, but that was enough.
Their strength was meager, but they had enough experience to cover for it.
And the more she clashed with the saint...
'The Iron Monarch... It was a more dangerous sword than I thought. If I had known this would happen, should I have taken the risk and eliminated it?'
A sword whose existence she knew but couldn't touch.
The saint knew of Titeo, who had corrupted himself by becoming a sword himself, yet left him alone.
Because the conclusion was drawn that there was no being in this world who could be recognized by it.
In a world without players.
Titeo was a being that should have slept forever at the tip of Agathod's spear.
Screech! Clang!!
The sword of Agatho, who was barely blocking the saint's spear, broke.
Just as General Agatho, pierced through the chest, was about to collapse, General Vladi filled the gap and brought down his greatsword.
While the saint briefly stepped back.
The swords and spears of the other generals.
And arrows were fired towards her.
'Partial Enhancement.'
Revoking the enhancement of her entire body and focusing on partial enhancement.
She poured her power into enhancing her lower body.
Soon, the saint's figure became blurred.
A concentration of enhancement focused solely on speed.
Her speed was so tremendous that even the general-class couldn't keep up.
"Saint!!"
Clang-!
Philo's spear momentarily halted the saint's movement.
"Why is the Dragonborn tribe here?"
"You don't know the reason? Because of the Empire!"
Swish! Swish-swish! Swish-swish-swish-swish!
Philo's spear rode the wind.
It was a fluid spear technique that flowed on the wind rather than piercing through it.
It was a perfect blend of offense and defense, good for defending and also suitable for transitioning to attack.
"...."
Through two exchanges of offense and defense, the saint realized that he was on the verge of breaking through the wall, and that leaving him alone would make him a powerful enemy against the Empire.
"This won't do."
Ailey's aura changed.
If it had felt light up until now, it was a little different from here on.
Because a hint of killing intent began to form on her spear.
"......!!"
The killing intent the saint scattered.
At the brief killing intent, Philo's muscles instantly contracted violently.
It was an instinctive sensation.
And that slight opening was enough time for the saint to kill him in hundreds of ways.
"First Star-."
Flash!
The saint's figure instantly became like light.
Her spear, transformed like a flash of light, grazed Philo.
"Philo!"
"Ugh!"
Slash!
Philo's shoulder was pierced.
A large hole was pierced, leaving his shoulder in tatters. Aldu, who stepped forward to help him, was also blown away together.
"Get behind me!"
As Philo and Aldu were sent flying, Serena pulled her bowstring with all her might.
After loading intense magical power onto the tip of her arrow, she aimed at the saint and released it.
Roar!!
A powerful fire arrow capable of blowing away even the black knights at close range engulfed the saint.
However, the saint simply raised her spear slightly and easily twisted the trajectory of the fire arrow.
Crash-!
Behind the saint, Serena's arrow exploded and burst into flames.
Not a single drop of sweat was on the forehead of the saint, who fluttered her pink hair with an expressionless face.
Her breathing was the same as before, and she didn't have a single wound anywhere.
Seeing that figure, Serena shuddered.
'This is...'
One of the top five strongest on the continent.
The power held by the Saint of Lactus.
Serena had been mistaken.
The number and power of this legion.
She thought that if they combined their strengths, even if they couldn't win, they wouldn't be defeated in vain.
But that wasn't the case.
Not the Empire, but just a single person.
They couldn't do anything against just the Saint of the Spear.
They couldn't inflict a single wound on her.
Vice-Generals Niol and Garcia blocked the saint.
Niol's sword was sharp, and Garcia's spear was filled with dominance.
Their sword and spear techniques, which didn't care for their own lives, were unfamiliar even to the saint, making her hesitate a little.
But in the end, that was it.
Thud! Crash!
Slash!
Crunch! Splat-!
An arm was severed, and a waist was pierced.
Despite that, the neck of Garcia, who stood up and thrust his spear, spun through the air.
Turning into ash, Garcia's figure disappeared, and Niol also steadied his sword with his one remaining arm and regulated his breathing.
A desperate final strike.
There was no cry, but it was a movement that seemed to scream that she could not pass through here.
But the saint's eyes watching that were freezing cold.
"Second Star-"
Two starlights flashed.
But right at that moment.
Rumble! Crackle-crackle-crackle!!
Blue lightning echoed in all directions.
Boom-!
The saint's figure, which was about to finish off Niol, faltered once again.
The Thunder Wolf Dragon, enveloped in thunderclouds and moving as lightning itself.
Bibi's figure engulfed the saint.
"Phantom Sword...."
A half-dragon half-demon holding a sword in his mouth.
Oddly, the power of the lightning he scattered surpassed even that.
A demonic beast holding a Corpse Sword in its mouth.
Things not easily seen were gathered here in one place.
But all of them.
Could not block the saint's path.
Slash-!
Thud.
Leaving the fallen Thunder Wolf Dragon behind.
The saint, crossing her arms, looked at Obararna.
"Is Lord Orvire well?"
"My mother is originally a sturdy person even without our worrying, isn't she?"
The Saint of the Shield behind her.
With Junis in front of her, Ailey addressed Obararna in a somewhat calm tone.
Obararna, the Floor Master of the 61st floor.
She was an acquaintance of the saint.
"I'm quite surprised that the Floor Master is here. What is the reason?"
"It just ended up this way. It is not Agathod's will. It is my own free will. Since we've spent quite some time together, it seems I will be the saint's enemy here."
Ailey nodded slowly.
"It's hard to hold back against you. Will you be alright?"
"Saint. I am a former Floor Master."
A sufficient answer.
It was a somewhat rude remark, but Obararna didn't think so.
The Saint of Lactus, Ailey.
For she was a strong one recognized by Orvire, called the Master of the Tower.
She probably wouldn't be able to block her.
However.
'I can at least buy some time.'
Even if he appears, though we don't know what will happen.
Obararna looked around.
In the devastated area, the knights still holding their respective weapons, revealing their killing intent and will to fight.
They were all looking at the saint.
The saint's power was truly overwhelming.
Yet they never backed down.
The inexplicable desperate resolve made the corners of Obararna's mouth rise.
"Saint, you'd better brace yourself."
"Me?"
"The more people who survive this battle... the more mountains that will block your path in the future, I feel."
At Obararna's sharp jab, the saint's shoulders suddenly felt heavy.
"Then it can't be helped..."
I have no choice but to kill them all.