Chapter 246
The Archbishop’s energy had vanished.
Could it be that he’s dead…?
Liam was locked in battle with the artificial spirit brigade to the southeast of the forest.
He realized that Vargan had appeared on the battlefield and was now fighting the Archbishop.
There was no way to ignore a mountain of mana being emitted so blatantly.
‘Vargan… just how much have you grown?’
The one who repelled Archbishop Bifrons must surely be Vargan.
Bifrons, governing the four elements, was at a middle rank among the Archbishops, and that ranking was no small feat.
No matter how much potent life essence he had used, his opponent was an Archbishop who had undergone Liberation.
It was hard to gauge the achievements Vargan had made.
‘Has the gap become too wide to close?’
A reincarnated person like himself.
Yet, the results they were showing were worlds apart.
He was barely managing to scrape by against a mediocre Bishop, let alone an Archbishop.
And even that required risking his life, while Vargan seemed to be on a completely different trajectory.
“Wooaaaah!”
—Swish!
Liam had killed yet another person.
Not a grotesque monster or some form of creature.
Just an innocent person being controlled.
Yet, Liam could only momentarily shut his eyes tightly against the guilt. He couldn’t stop shaking his head.
He couldn’t afford to.
If he stopped now, other heroes would die or suffer.
Moreover…
“Alicia!”
“……”
“Alicia…! Snap out of it!”
“…Liam.”
Liam called out Alicia’s name as she indifferently cut down enemies.
As he shouted her name to the point of losing his voice, Alicia finally recognized that he was calling for her.
Her eyes looked hollow, as if she had lost her purpose.
Alicia’s eyes, once shining softly like moonlight, were now clouded with darkness.
She knew her task and recognized the enemies, but her red aura held no hesitation for the innocent nor the gentleness it usually exuded.
It was merely an aura serving as a tool for actions.
—Swish!
Alicia’s sword took yet another life.
The precise diagonal slash split a person in two along with the weapon.
Her own body didn’t know how to defend itself.
The splattered blood colored Alicia in shades of crimson.
Meeting Liam’s gaze, she moved her dry lips.
“Liam… I… I just… for a moment… to ‘Sister’…”
Amidst the darkness of ash piling up in the flames.
—Boom, boom, boom!
The ground vibrated as if thousands of drums were beating simultaneously.
A resonance spreading outwards from a specific point.
The resonation spreads out in all directions from a certain point.
It feels as if a pack of starving bears is charging toward them.
Liam felt that tension as well.
‘Altife…!’
The emergence of a new Priest-level Altife faction.
And it’s from the very terrain where Vargan and the Archbishop were fighting.
What on earth is happening? How did they end up there? — Thoughts like these crossed the minds of the nearby heroes, who immediately noticed the change.
“W-What?! There are still reinforcements left?!”
“If they’re coming here, that’s at least 10,000… If you add in the ones heading in other directions… Roughly 20,000!”
The sudden appearance of an army of 20,000.
Even if all of them are just Priest-level without a single Special Entity amongst them, their numbers are overwhelming.
It’s only a matter of time before the precarious situation flips back around.
The heroes, trying to hide their fear, had pale lips.
Some had to brace themselves for death.
But then,
‘W-What is this…?’
Liam sensed ‘confusion’ from the reactions of the people under the artificial spirits.
Like robots confused by contradictory commands.
They were stumbling and even bumping into each other.
‘Could it be… because of that Altife army?’
Same as the Goddess Church’s beings.
Though it was a bit of a strange assumption, it had to be the only explanation, so Liam’s gaze naturally turned toward the Altife army.
‘Now that I think about it, their colors are strange. Their skin isn’t red but black…?’
Even though they couldn’t closely examine each one because the battle was continuing,
They could tell the ‘color’ produced by their ‘group’.
It was clearly the aura and mana of Priest-level Altifes, but the colors were different.
The uniquely shaped Special Entities always maintained a chilling red hue.
And the one displaying altered reactions was ‘her’ as well.
Kwahaaang—!
Archbishop Salecius thrust her sword, filled with murderous intent and radiating a red aura, into the ground.
The shockwave of her mana was so powerful that it uprooted every tree in the vicinity.
Kello and his team, locked in combat with her, had to muster all their strength just to hold on.
“U-uuu…!”
Upon seeing Salecius, Alicia reacted again.
However, Salecius didn’t spare them even a glance and instead led the transformation of the red aura into something transcendent.
Then, a massive red cross appeared that could be seen from anywhere in the forest, and the heroes soon understood what it signified.
—Kuuoooh!
—Kahaaak!
—Kuguung!
The forest screamed.
Every Altife that was tightening its grip on the heroes started to flee with a tremendous noise that felt like their eardrums would burst.
Salecius’s signal indicated retreat.
In other words, it meant they couldn’t handle such an unexpected major variable.
It was also the moment it became clear that the 20,000 black Altifes were unrelated to the Goddess Church.
“The minions of the Goddess Church are escaping! Don’t let a single one get away!”
“Woahhh!!”
The heroes’ faction surged forward, smashing the forces of the Goddess Church and giving chase.
The artificial spirit troops recognized the retreat signal and tried to flee as well, but it wasn’t easy with the front line entangled.
The heroes holding onto them wasn’t going to let them escape easily.
Salecius, who had ordered the retreat, pulled her sword from the ground and looked for an opening to slip away.
But the situation was already blocked on all sides by Kello and his team.
“Give it up. Salecius. Your life ends here.”
The one-eyed swordsman Kello pointed his sword forward.
Next to him, a red aura, resembling a serpent, writhed as if it were alive.
It was writhing like something.
In fact, Kello’s injuries were more severe than Salecius’s. His left arm was already consumed by a curse, rendered useless. And he didn’t have much mana left.
However, Kello had reliable team members.
Salecius was alone.
That difference restricted Salecius’s actions.
『…….』
Salecius’s appearance was so human-like.
His clear, bright blue eyes sharply scanned the surroundings.
Alicia was watching Salecius from a distance and inadvertently started to walk towards him slowly.
“Don’t come any closer, Alicia.”
Liam grabbed Alicia’s shoulder.
The hunt and capture of the artificial spirits were still ongoing, but he couldn’t ignore the possibility of Alicia making some impulsive move.
“But… but…”
Alicia whimpered.
A single tear rolled down her pale cheek like a shooting star.
She was holding back her emotions.
Thoughts she had replayed multiple times while fighting the artificial spirits.
Alicia wanted to rush towards Salecius immediately but restrained herself, focusing on her duty.
Fearing her unstable emotions would become a burden, she swung her sword with determination.
But now.
Standing just a few steps away, facing him, shaking off that desire was incredibly difficult.
This was the first time Liam saw Alicia like this.
He clenched his teeth in frustration at his own inability to help her and shouted out.
“That’s not your sister! It’s just a monster mimicking her appearance! An Archbishop!”
“But……”
“No ‘buts’! Don’t be deceived by appearances. You’re a proper aspiring hero now, Alicia!”
“……”
“A promising student of the Academia! A genius recognized by the Central Church! And the mentee of Charlotte, who was put into a coma by that monster, Alicia!”
Even as Liam spat these words out, he felt bitterness in his mouth.
Knowing Alicia’s personality, he aimed only to weigh down her shoulder and heart with heavy words.
It was the same in the novel Liam had read.
The moment Alicia saw Salecius, she was convinced he was her sister.
She could have been under an illusion.
Or a bishop purely wrapped in a shell.
Yet somehow, Alicia recognized him instantly and was left in unspeakable shock.
…Perhaps something scientifically unexplainable.
Something that transcended the five senses.
That’s why Liam desperately denied Salecius.
Even if his few words wouldn’t create a massive impact on her, he couldn’t let Alicia collapse like this.
He had to ensure she didn’t fall, whether it was clay, contaminants, or whatever else stuck to her.
“……”
Alicia faced Salecius, her lips trembling.
Her eyes, resembling a blue lake, seemed to exchange glances, but in reality, they did not.
Salecius quickly turned his gaze to Kello in front of him.
The Archbishop hadn’t given up yet.
Moreover, crucially, she was not ‘alone.’
『…—…….』
A language incomprehensible to humans.
A structure so hard to even grasp how it could be conveyed.
Yet.
It was transmitted correctly.
And it called for ‘another Archbishop.’
‘Do you think I’ll let you escape…!!’
Faster than lightning strikes.
Kello unleashed his mana infused with his will.
He stepped forward powerfully and had instantly arrived in front of Salecius.
Bringing down his sword just like that.
His red aura seemed to open wide like a snake’s mouth, ready to devour Salecius.
It tries to swallow the house.
『…Grrr.』
And then.
A moment unfolded that was hard to believe, even when directly observed and sensed with all five senses.
Kello’s right arm, wielding the sword, didn’t strike down powerfully; instead, it floated away like a twig on the riverbank.
It seemed Kello completely forgot his own command.
The severed arm floated briefly in mid-air before plopping down on the ground with a thud.
Archbishop Glashalabolas.
A chimera created by combining all kinds of Altife.
Its ultra-fast flight mode.
Glashalabolas darted through Salecius at such a high speed that only the sharpest observers would notice.
It broke through the encirclement surrounded by high-ranking heroes.
—Whoosh!
The whirlwind and noise paled in comparison to its speed.
What arrived late left everyone stunned and hesitant long after it had gone.
‘N-no way…!’
Liam, who witnessed the scene clearly.
With enhanced optic nerves granted by a special skill, Liam undoubtedly saw how terrifying it was for Glashalabolas, who absorbed Ami’s powers.
“……”
Liam quickly retraced the scene while looking around.
Glashalabolas passed right through the center of the heroes’ group.
The heroes positioned where it sliced through were all rotting, parts of their bodies decaying away.
Among them was Kello, ranked 8th among heroes, whose right shoulder suffered the same fate as the severed arm lying brutally on the ground.
*
The sudden appearance of student Vargan and four bishops.
And the astonishing support from the black Altife faction.
—Creak!
—Cough!
Ranked 7th among heroes, Trisena couldn’t believe the image formed in her retina.
A horde of black Altife was rushing in to help them.
The sight of the black and red waves clashing and tearing at each other was rather unpleasant, but it wasn’t unwelcome news.
After turning all four bishops back to soil, Trisena confirmed the black Altife were friendly and quickly instructed her troops, handing over command to another before hastening her steps.
Trisena leaped as if there were stepping stones mid-air, reaching the top of a bare mountain in no time.
It felt more like a giant rock than a mountain, but that didn’t matter.
“Did they really kill Bifrons…?”
Trisena’s stunned expression.
She muttered while gazing at the black staff swirling around Vargan.
Vargan stood still, staring far away.
Trisena didn’t care whether she was near him or not; she frowned and clicked her tongue.
“Tch. Now they’re pulling out something unheard of.”
Trisena also looked far away like Vargan.
Then, a massive curtain glowing with a giant red aura spread across the forest.
This enormous barrier, easily surpassing any mountain, seemed to stretch from the sky to the horizon’s edge.
It looked like it was strongly defending a ‘specific area’ to prevent heroes from encroaching further.
It was something newly created by the mad scientist Cardinal.
‘Jephar… No, Lafez. How long do you plan to annoy me?’
Recalling the guy who laughed unpleasantly and traveled with Schugenharz, Vargan furrowed his brow, thinking of his next move.
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