It’s been a few days since we entered the forsaken land.
During that time, the Asura sect attacked us using the powers of other heretics, but we managed to fend off their attacks without much difficulty.
“…Is this the place?”
The forsaken land was a deathly land where not even a blade of grass could grow. But this place was different.
Grass and flowers were growing.
One could say it’s a beautiful place at first glance.
But maybe because of that sense of otherness?
“…I-it’s a terrible place…”
Lena, who was sensitive to magic, muttered while trembling. She was right.
It was horrifying.
The magic was roiling, revealing that this place wasn’t of this world.
“Uwaaaack!!”
One of the paladins eventually began to vomit.
Others collapsed in fainting spells.
It was that strange and unpleasant.
“Let’s go in.”
I felt uncomfortable too, but we couldn’t stop here.
I took a step forward, and my disciples and the paladins followed me.
“Welcome.”
I halted at the soft voice.
A man rising from the grass had a large scar on his face.
I recognized him.
Leonardo, the pope of the Asura sect.
“Welcome to the holy land.”
“…This place doesn’t seem holy at all…”
“How could that be? This is the holy land. We’ve painstakingly created this place for Asura to descend.”
“…The stench of blood is overwhelming.”
Sowol murmured quietly, swinging her Moonlight Sword.
As the sword energy that clung to the Moonlight Sword struck the ground, hidden corpses were revealed.
Arisha’s face turned pale upon seeing that.
Yes. These grasses and everything here were nourished by those corpses.
“It is for Asura. They all gladly offered their lives.”
Leonardo wore a smile free of any shadow.
With him, black-robed Asura sect members began to appear.
“And you will be among them.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
It would be too wasteful to die in a place like this after everything I’ve done.
I pointed my sword at the grinning Leonardo.
“Anyway, if I take you lot down, Asura won’t descend upon this world.”
“Uhuhuh. Why do you wish to prevent the descent of Asura?”
“Are you saying that without knowing what happens when Asura descends?”
Sowol snarled, gritting her teeth. Having spent a long time at the church, she was likely aware of the events that would unfold upon Asura’s arrival.
Thus, she spoke in a chilling tone and swung her sword.
“It would be a joyful occasion. The world falling into the hands of Asura.”
Leonardo deflected her blade with a flick of his hand, spreading his arms wide.
He was so crazy that calling him a zealot was an understatement, grinning widely.
“So then, everyone.”
“…..”
“With a pious heart, welcome Asura…”
“Hey, everyone! Attack!!”
With my shout, my disciples and the paladins sprang into action.
Leonardo, happily watching them charge in, waved his hand lightly, and the black robes around him stirred.
“Whoa!!”
– Chaaaanng!!
Using the back of my hand to block his sword, he glared at me.
What I saw in his eyes was hostility.
“I know that you killed my brothers.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll send you to join your brothers too.”
– Clang! Clang! Clang!!
“Cough?!”
Surprised, the man who had been blocking well stumbled back.
I smiled at him and lightly waved my sword.
“You coward…”
A small wound on his hand was oozing black blood.
How does that feel? Must be shocking.
I did everything I could to get this poison.
“Is this Sage’s technique?”
“It’s the Sage’s Tower’s special poison.”
Leonardo possessed almost final boss-level power.
It was by no means easy to defeat him through ordinary methods.
But that didn’t mean there weren’t tricks up my sleeve.
The poison obtainable from the Sage’s Tower was a way to take him down easily.
The Sage’s poison, acquired after completing over 300 missions at the Sage’s Tower, ignores all defenses.
Even with his steel-like body overflowing with stamina, if I used a poison that whittles his health down by percentage, it wouldn’t be hard to bring him down.
All that time diligently playing the game was finally paying off.
“Brothers!! Protect me…”
Noticing that the poison in my sword was fatal for him, he seemed to want to call others to take my place.
But it was too late.
Sowol, Lena, Arisha, and the paladins were already holding back the black-robed members.
“What’s wrong? Want to call for more?!”
– Chaaaanng!!
“Ugh…!!”
Even though he was blocking, enduring the poison wasn’t easy for him.
In the end, opting for evasion instead of blocking, Leonardo dispersed black energy toward me.
– Woooooosh…!!
“…Magic…!!”
Protective magic easily deflected Leonardo’s black energy.
Leonardo’s attack patterns were divided into physical strikes and magical attacks using black energy.
To avoid damage, one needs to accurately judge those attack patterns.
These attacks might be predictable to novices, but after all I’ve been through in this world, I was far from naive.
I had no reason to fall for such pathetic attacks.
“Ne-noooom…!!”
“Haha! Can’t even afford to speak honorifically?!”
As Leonardo’s complexion gradually grew pale from poisoning, I glanced around.
Everyone was fighting well.
Great. If we keep this up, finishing the first phase wouldn’t be hard.
“Die!!”
– Sshhhhk!!
I entangled the retreating man in a Spider Web.
Normally, that magic would keep him bound for at least a minute, but he was a near final boss level opponent.
The time spent trapped by the Spider Web was merely a moment.
But that moment was enough.
I had at least one opportunity to attack.
My strike tore into Leonardo’s chest, and the Sage’s poison buried itself deep inside.
“Udaaaahhh!!”
Coughing up black blood, Leonardo finally knelt.
As I watched him, I twirled my sword and gripped it reverse as he looked up at me with closed eyes.
“Asura…”
– Stab!!
I plunged my sword into Leonardo’s neck, head hanging low.
As I slowly withdrew the blade, his head rolled across the ground.
Simultaneously, the black robes began to lose power and slowly vanish.
While my disciples, who were fighting a while ago, looked bewildered, the grass in the plains began to wither.
“Teacher?! Is it over?”
“This is just the beginning. If anyone’s injured, come here.”
Arisha, Sowol, and Lena stepped forward.
No matter how I looked, they seemed uninjured.
After giving the smiling girls a heal, I checked on the paladins.
Though some paladins were injured, they could heal themselves.
“…M-Master.”
It was then, as everyone sighed in relief thinking it was over, that Sowol looked up at the sky in panic.
The sky was darkening.
“Something feels off. Something… something.”
“Here it comes.”
Trying to soothe Sowol’s trembling mumble, I pointed at the sky.
From the stained sky, something plummeted down.
It was a black shadow, as if it had dropped from some viscous liquid.
“…E-everyone, beware!!”
Was it the atmosphere emanating from that black shadow?
Even the paladins, who felt no fear against anything, were trembling.
Arisha, looking utterly terrified, hid behind me, and Lena clung to my arm without letting go.
“Teacher… Teacher. I’m scared…”
Even the usually cheerful Arisha wore a fearful expression.
That shadow was that foreign.
It was enough to instill fear into everyone here.
The wriggling black shadow began to change shape. Six arms. Three heads.
A massive torso slowly growing larger.
Asura. The Shadow of Asura.
It was not the real Asura, just a mere fragment, and yet the morale of everyone present plummeted.
It felt like the recent victory was a lie.
“Master…”
Even the proud Sowol trembled uncontrollably.
So, I stepped forward.
“Teacher! D-don’t go!!”
I heard a wet cry.
She was crying.
Arisha looked lost and was sobbing like a child.
But even so…
“I can’t just sit still!!”
My hands were shaking. Instinctive fear was consuming me. Yet, I charged at the shadow.
– Roaaaaaar!!
Ignoring the roar of Asura, I swung my sword at it.
– Pathetic human. Are you not afraid of me?
“I’m not afraid.”
After all, I’m human too.
Just standing before you makes my legs want to buckle beneath me.
But…
“I have to show my kids a magnificent sight!!”
And so, the final battle of this religious war event begins.
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