Chapter 55
Shwaaak!
The bastard's axe slashed across his chest.
The wound is deep.
A long gash running from his shoulder to his navel.
His chest bone is fully exposed, and his internal organs show off their pale pink color. At the same time, red blood spurts into the air.
‘I was complacent.’
The thought that sprang to mind in that instant was his own complacency.
And regret.
If only he had struck properly with Higanbana.
If only he had unfolded it more perfectly, this wouldn't have happened.
But regret is always late, and opportunities never come twice.
‘Can I survive?’
No.
I won't be able to survive.
It's deeper than Elberton's wound.
Moreover, the Orc Warlord before him shows no signs of stopping at just one attack.
The bastard's axe, having tasted my blood, looms over me again.
It's the end.
[Sasijakbi is activated.]
A realization that comes at the brink of death.
That dominates Callius's entire body. But this time, it is useless.
Even with a realization.
[Divine Power] - 0/6251
Consumed divine power does not return.
No matter how strong a pilgrim is, without divine power, they are merely a seasoned knight.
Even if what he possesses is a Phantom Sword, it is just a pearl thrown before swine.
‘It's coming.’
But unlike his calculating mind.
His body creaked once more as it lifted the sword.
It was an instinctive movement.
The period he had held a sword was merely three years.
But he swung it with his life on the line.
He crossed the line of death every moment, and having crossed the brink of death countless times, he dragged up his unsightly talent by sheer force.
‘I won't just die like this.’
However, contrary to his will, the sword rises ever so slowly.
"Callius, no!!"
Emily, shouting from the battlefield, cast everything aside and ran.
Even at a glance, Callius's condition was not good.
Nevertheless, his spirit in raising his sword was like something out of a heroic tale, but at this rate, he would die.
He would really die.
‘No!’
Orcs blocked the way beside Emily as she ran, sprinkling divine power.
Through the gaps between their legs.
Dodging through the gaps between their torsos, she went.
‘I'm too late!’
She was late.
It was plainly visible that Callius would be bisected.
"Huh...?"
But the situation flowed completely differently from the girl's expectations.
Callius had cleanly deflected the Warlord's axe!
The sound of the swords clashing was so faint that Emily couldn't quite hear it. He received it so smoothly, like flowing water, that for a moment it seemed as if the Orc Warlord had stopped his attack.
But seeing the Warlord's surprised expression, it wasn't a misperception.
"Callius!"
Callius staggered as if he had no strength left in his body. The Orc Warlord must have also sensed something was off, as he raised his axe again and continued his attack.
Though he only had one arm left, his attack still retained its powerful force.
However.
Miraculously, he avoided being cut as if he would be, dodging the bastard's axe with only slight movements.
One step.
Moving just a single step at a time, he was perfectly dodging the Warlord's axe.
At the same time, with the Storm Sword that seemed like it would drop at any moment, he slightly lifted it and let the bastard's destructive power slide off.
Forgetting that she had run to save him, she watched Callius's movements, which seemed possessed by a god.
Even as he countered each of the fiercely incoming sword strikes of the orcs one by one.
As if enchanted by him, Emily's eyes engraved each of Callius's movements into her mind.
The fingers raising the sword.
The movement of the joints.
She missed not a single one.
"Ah."
A strange sensation.
But also a familiar sensation.
‘Sasijakbi.’
Within the realization brought by the trait.
It was the effect created by his awakened five senses.
The sensation is faint.
But his mind is, on the contrary, clear.
Even without seeing with his eyes, Callius could feel the Warlord's attack.
‘How did I do it?’
He doesn't remember.
He tried to analyze it, but he doesn't know.
His eyes are directed at the sword he's holding.
But his body avoids the Warlord's axe.
He doesn't parry.
He doesn't have the strength for that.
So he merely dodges and deflects.
‘No need to think.’
Just feel.
It's ambiguous whether he's even holding the sword or if strength is entering his hand, but the bastard's energy felt throughout his entire body is vivid.
A thrilling aura.
It's sharp and makes his skin sting.
It must be the bastard's killing intent.
‘I've come to feel killing intent. How did I come to feel it?’
Is it because of the Sasijakbi trait?
Is it because of the awakened five senses?
He agonized over it, but it was futile.
‘Come to think of it, that was it. I relied too much on the Three-Color Eyes.’
The Three-Color Eyes is a convenient trait.
It detects danger and selects the correct path.
But because of that, there were few opportunities to train the senses to feel hostility.
It was even more so since coming to the North.
‘I did a stupid thing.’
Callius only then lifted his head.
He excludes the trait of the Three-Color Eyes.
The vision that was entirely stained in red now finds its true color.
‘Is it just my imagination that it's actually more comfortable because no strength is put into it?’
Not parrying, but deflecting.
Moving a single step, twisting his body, and letting the attack slide along the blade.
When Callius, who was leaking a weak aura, deflected all his attacks, the Warlord flinched in surprise and calmed his excitement.
But he was a step too late.
"You bastard!!"
An old man wreathed in blue lightning.
Bernard reached his side.
Bzzzt!
Boom!
"Drink this, Callius! Ugh!!"
Kuh-woong-!!
The Thunderbolt Sword blocks the Warlord's axe.
But it didn't seem like it could hold out for long.
The brief moment of time Bernard had carved out.
Callius fumbled to take out the last remaining holy water, drinking it and sprinkling it.
Vitality surges up.
The consumed divine power also slowly begins to refill.
The blood stops, and the wound heals.
But the speed is noticeably slow.
Because the stab wound inflicted by the bastard was quite deep.
Callius threw away the halved God-Descent Sword and gripped the Storm Sword with both hands.
‘One more time.’
Along with the current realization.
If he unfolds Higanbana one more time.
It seemed he could bloom a more perfect Higanbana on the battlefield.
‘I don't need the Three-Color Eyes.’
The Three-Color Eyes are unnecessary in this battle.
He had relied too much on it.
What's important is the senses.
With Sasijakbi activated right now, he should be able to feel it more accurately.
‘I don't even need Pahwaro.’
I don't need to sprout Baekmyo.
If it's now, it's possible.
It seemed possible to contain everything in a single strike without unfolding it beforehand.
No, if it's now, it's possible.
"I can do it."
His ash-gray eyes flashed with light.
What he had used while unfolding Pahwaro and Baekmyo was to assist the difficulty of the technique.
But right now, he doesn't need assistance.
He is confident he can fully contain the essence of Pahwaro and Baekmyo in a single strike.
One foot forward.
The shoulder holding the sword back.
The gripped sword above his head.
Callius's sword aura is overlaid.
The dragon-scale-like sword aura becomes sturdier and transforms.
The surface of the sword aura becomes smooth, and the hardness doubles as it integrates.
Although there was not a single bit of divine power.
The scattered divine power in the surroundings changes into sword aura.
Soon, the sword aura transforms into sword force and accepts the essence of Higanbana.
"...What the hell is this."
Ramatu of Crasion.
He looked at the battlefield with a completely stiff face.
The wall had collapsed long ago, yet the human knights were still fighting.
The Orcs, who should have charged without hesitation, were faltering.
That wasn't all.
The Orc Warlord, who had even brought down the ruler of the North, had lost an arm and was now down on one knee.
A spectacle no one had ever anticipated.
The wall should have collapsed long ago, and the Orcs should have been roaring atop their corpses.
"A single scoundrel overturned the battlefield."
The reason was simple.
One pilgrim right before his eyes.
Callius von Zervan alone had messed everything up.
"What an astonishing fellow."
He was close to a dying corpse.
His once brilliant divine power was mostly depleted, and the stab wound inflicted by the Warlord was gushing out blood.
A precarious and dangerous appearance, as if he would fall at the slightest touch.
"My. He's making things troublesome."
Ramatu did not just sit back and watch that sight.
Having lived for a long time, he saw through Callius's condition precisely.
‘Sudden Enlightenment.’
Realization.
A kind of awakened state.
If he survives in such a state, the knight will become undeniably stronger.
An opportunity that might only come once or twice in a lifetime.
Cases where one turns a crisis into an opportunity through realization in battle and becomes stronger are often passed down.
Ramatu's brow furrowed.
The deep wrinkles on his old and sick body were jealous of the youth's potential.
But more than that, the strike the bastard was preparing didn't look ordinary.
‘Higanbana... to think I'd see that sword again in my lifetime.’
Already, the chances of survival are very slim.
But the job must be done properly.
Ramatu raised his staff.
As he struck the ground, a small ripple occurred.
"I can't just leave it like this."
Rock-made awls protruded from under Callius's feet, aiming for him.
‘The young flower that failed to bloom shall be plucked while still bearing its bud.’
He offered this with a mix of regret and relief.
"Callius!!"
A small child rushed in.
The child, no different from a sprout, pushed through the battlefield and threw her body, becoming covered in blood.
Casting aside even the sword that was no different from her own life, she tried to save Callius.
"Lord Callius!! Dodge!"
It wasn't only the girl.
A boy with an eyepatch who had approached at some point, and a female knight with blue hair.
A man wielding a dagger and carrying a large backpack was also with them.
All of them threw their own bodies to protect Callius alone.
"Futile efforts!"
Kwagagagaga!
The ground heaved, and Ramatu's staff shook them off.
But it wasn't just them.
"Protect Lord Callius!!"
"What are you all doing! You all owe your lives!!"
All the Northern soldiers rushed out to save Callius.
Their swords could neither dodge nor block Ramatu's tentacles.
Nevertheless, they blocked Callius's front and roared war cries.
"Insignificant bugs...."
Kugugugugu-!
But now that the Sanctuary of the Storm had disappeared.
Many of their allies were rushing onto the battlefield.
And the master of the North, walking toward his son even while bearing severe wounds.
"Go, Callius!!"
"Elberton! You're half-dead yourself..."
Kugugung! Kwang!
Slash!!
"Kuaaagh!!"
Bernard's Thunderbolt Sword bounced off.
One of Bernard's arms shot up along with the sword. But the severed arm did not let go of the Thunderbolt Sword.
"Let's die together, you monster!!"
Kwajjijik! Kwaaang!
Blue lightning spread in all directions from the Thunderbolt Sword that flew up into the sky.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Within the thick smoke.
"Callius!!"
Bernard shouted while clutching his severed arm.
Hwii-iing.
Inside the massive smoke.
Callius gripped the Storm Sword with both hands and took a deep breath.
His vision was dyed with blood.
His legs had no feeling.
The Storm Sword he held felt like a thousand pounds.
But.
‘Just once.’
Just once more.
I can swing the sword exactly once.
So.
‘Forward...!’
Callius's figure appeared piercing through the sand and dust.
The gripped Storm Sword quickly guided his body toward the Orc Warlord.
"Ես քեզ կսպանեմ!"
The Warlord's roar, having discovered Callius, blew away the smoke.
However, he did not back down.
Callius's single strike, having closed the distance to point-blank, was thrust forward.
A simple thrust.
But what it contained was not simply ordinary, so the Warlord also put all his strength into meeting his attack.
Kwaaaah-!!
A flash of light blinded the eyes, and a bizarre shockwave echoed across the battlefield.
"……."
"……."
A shockwave intense enough to silence even the hellish battlefield.
But what was soon seen was.
"What, is this..."
Callius plunging his sword into the Warlord's chest, and Higanbana blooming as a green flower.
"Waaaaaaaah!!"
"Lord Callius did it!!"
"Waaaaah!! The Warlord is dead!!"
"The Orc bastards are defeated!!"
The collapsing Orc Warlord.
As its head hit the ground, the knights cheered indiscriminately.
In contrast, the Orcs stood with their mouths open in disbelief.
"How can this be...!"
Ramatu clenched his staff.
If he left it like this, it would be the end.
The orcs' morale was dropping rapidly, so as time passed, the color of defeat would deepen.
He didn't want to reveal himself, but if it had come to this, there was nothing he could do.
It wasn't just Luteon who risked his life on this job.
A massive amount of Crasion and the Empire's wealth and time had been consumed.
Ending in failure would be a massive loss.
"It's not over yet!"
Ramatu revealed himself in front of Callius.
It's not over yet.
First, he would crush that scoundrel's body. Then, if he severed Elberton and Bernard's heads, the tide of victory would tilt back to their side.
The moment he raised his staff and aimed it at Callius like that.
"I was just stalling for time."
He muttered.
"Time?"
"I saw it when I was flying over."
What did he see?
"It seems the stalkers chasing me have increased significantly this time."
"What kind of nonsense..."
It was then.
-Hiiiiiing!
The sound of horses neighing could be heard.
Not just one.
Ramatu, who was familiar with the earth, felt the vibration approaching from far beyond the horizon.
The sound of horse hooves.
The footsteps of quite a large number.
A great army running with the setting sun at their backs.
Armor and cloaks emblazoned with crossed red sword motifs.
"The Inquisition...."
The Inquisitorial force, said to have high combat power even within the Valterus Order.
"I thought it would take at least two more days for reinforcements to arrive..."
According to expectations, even at the fastest, reinforcements would arrive in two days.
Furthermore, if reinforcements came, he thought the main dispatched forces of the North would arrive, but for Inquisitors to come...
"……."
Ramatu clenched his staff tightly with a face full of anger.
His whitening fists showed just how immense his anger was.
"...This is our defeat."
But he couldn't delay any longer.
He gritted his teeth and threw his robe back over himself.
And he glared at the very person who had driven the situation to this point.
Callius von Zervan.
He had thought him a mere greenhorn of no consequence.
Ramatu looked at him with meaningful eyes and warned.
"Crasion will be watching you."
With that as the end, he disappeared, and the battlefield began to be cleaned up in an instant.
[The Wheel of Fatalite - Complete]
-Number of Orcs slain: 2782
-Number of Demonic Beasts slain: 786
-Number of People Saved: 453
-Number of Grand Warriors slain: 1
-Number of Orc Warlords slain: 1
[You have completed the Main Quest.]
[A special reward is given.]