On one hand, I felt a bit puzzled.
‘Areina’ must know that I’m strong enough to use Meteor, yet she still believes she can defeat me. Is she really that confident? Does she know that the cooldown for Meteor is still going? Or is she planning to grant me another buff?
‘Well, it shouldn’t be possible for her to beat me…’
The situation now is completely different from when we first confronted each other.
There’s a huge difference between just sparring moderately and actually thinking of killing me if things go sideways.
I had many thoughts racing through my mind, but how important is this situation for a divine being?
‘Maybe the type of guy who doesn’t see the need to think.’
Is it really appropriate to judge divine beings with my common sense?
Whether I win or lose, ‘Areina’ won’t lose anything. In the eyes of the goddess, we must be less than ants.
‘Maybe it’s just a game for her.’
I felt like a clown up on stage, but I had to be cautious.
“Clap, Clap, Clap…”
“……”
The paladins seemed to have similar thoughts, as they started to glance at me while staring blankly into the air.
Is it because I look like an Orc?
They don’t even try to hide the excited looks in their eyes.
‘That look is obvious. They want me to accept their challenge, don’t they?’
Even if ‘Areina’s’ blessing has weakened a bit, for them, who can still unleash a powerful combat force, it’s clear they think they can easily subdue me.
Especially since it’s 15 against 1.
‘Still, I can’t live with this damn mark attached to me. If things get rough, I’ll just self-destruct.’
At this point, I’m not nice enough to care about the paladins’ lives.
Swish—
I drew my great sword and aimed it straight at the paladins.
I accepted their challenge not with words but with actions.
– ‘You have accepted Areina’s challenge.’
– Condition of defeat: Lose consciousness or die.
‘Damn, they even included losing consciousness for their own followers.’
Stomp, stomp—
The paladins nodded in satisfaction, adjusted their helm visors, and started to close in on me in a fan formation.
‘The three stronger ones are moving to the back… do they really need to go that far?’
“Attack!!”
The paladins coordinated their movements and launched a unified attack at me.
Whoosh—
“Damn it, they dodged into the sky?!”
Of course, I had no intention of facing them head-on.
‘The barrier in the air isn’t as low as last time. With this, I can use my skills from the sky to torment them—’
Crackle—
‘Huh?’
Zoom—!
As I levitated into the air, contemplating how to deal with them, a flash of light suddenly burst forth, and I quickly turned my head.
Snap—!
In that split second, an arrow whizzed past my face.
A part of the thorn embedded in my helm exploded off.
‘Huh, there’s an archer?’
Zoom—!
Thwock—!
Then from behind me came two more arrows.
Having twisted my waist and dodged again, I couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered.
‘Twice now, aren’t all three of them archers…?’
The golden arrow zipped past me before vanishing like smoke.
‘They have long range too…’
The way the thorns on my helm and shoulder were plowed through indicated considerable power.
As I stared blankly in the direction the arrows had come from, one excited paladin burst into laughter and shouted.
“Hahaha! Did you think we fought to our full power?! Behold our guild’s pride, the Divine Archers! How about it?”
“Clap…”
I spot three paladins at a distance, fitting arrows onto their golden bows.
I didn’t care if they were divine archers or whatever; the method of just hammering down skills from above wasn’t going to be easy now.
I hurriedly revised my safe strategy and targeted the weakest paladin, darting straight at him.
“Judgment Sword!!”
“Celestial Shield!”
“Strike of Light!!”
Were they already predicting my next moves? Their responses were quick, and several skills overlapped in my path, exuding an intense aura.
‘Slow.’
But I had already caught up to my intended target from behind.
Crack—!
“Ugh…!”
Putting all my mana into a palm strike to his chin, the paladin collapsed to the ground.
Before the fallen paladin hit the ground, I maxed out my mobility and turned to my next target.
“Wait, when?!”
“He disappeared—”
“Divine Detection!”
“Too fast—”
Unable to keep up with the speed I had maxed out, the paladins activated their detection skills, searching for me, but by then, the second target’s head had already turned around.
Crack—!
Thud—!
It might look like a common strike, but the level of skill I had in handling my mana was enough to pierce through the paladin’s defenses and knock him unconscious.
From the sound, it seemed like his jaw shattered, but since they were zombie-like beings, I figured they’d recover on their own.
With two of them taken down in the blink of an eye, the archers at the back joined up, and the paladins reestablished their formation.
“Watch for your openings!!”
“Fine, just draw them in! I’ll blow a hole in their heads!”
They had firmly misunderstood me as an Orc, revealing their entire strategy.
They likely noticed that their inability to match my speed was the main issue and gathered in an orb-like formation, as if they were confident.
In fact, for me, wanting to utilize a skill against such clustered enemies was what I wished for.
– The form of magic using flames becomes more versatile.
This was a power that grew during my job change.
In the end, since the essence of flame remained the same, I was gradually mastering the ability for shape alteration nowadays.
‘A large chain of flame, much larger, like a chain made to bind a giant.’
I visualized it and activated [Chain of Flame], swiftly enveloping the paladins in a much thicker, longer chain of fire, binding them all together in one go.
Crash──!
──?!
The thirteen paladins trapped in the chain looked at me with shock in their eyes, and in that moment, I unleashed [Thunder Roar] in rapid succession, brutally shocking them.
Boom! Crackle!!
With their eyes dimming after being burned and electrocuted, I remained vigilant, preparing my Fireball from a distance.
‘Grow bigger, grow bigger, grow bigger.’
Watching them fight with the chimera, I poured more than half of the mana I had restored into the Fireball.
A massive fireball collided with them, turning the area into a sea of flames.
The paladins were simply taking the hits from the continuous powerful attacks.
The golden aura that had been protecting them was rapidly diminishing as well.
‘Impressive. With this much input, I’ve only managed to chip away a little of their health?’
But at this point, having shattered their defenses completely, there was no reason for me to lose.
“Ugh…”
“It’s a monster…”
“The chimera isn’t the problem… That Orc is a must-kill demon.”
‘Demon might be a bit extreme.’
[Poison Scale]
Still on high alert, I swung my long tail forcefully, knocking them unconscious one by one.
Whoosh—
Thud—! Thud!
They toppled like dominoes.
The incredulous looks in their eyes as they glared at me was the punchline.
They probably never imagined they’d be taken down without landing a blow.
Just as I thought it was getting sorted out, a surge of concentrated mana began to rise from the five paladins who had just joined the fight.
“Wrath of the Holy Sacrifice…”
“May the blessings of the heavens be upon us…”
Boom!!
At the moment they recited a few lines, the golden shields and weapons they held merged into their armors.
With smoke rising in abundance, rapid regeneration of their attacked physiques began.
The altered [Chain of Flame] had long since vanished.
‘Is it worth going so far just to catch me…?’
The paladins could momentarily raise their ranks at the cost of their life force, and that’s exactly the state they were in now.
By life force, I mean their lifespan-related abilities, not just their health.
‘I didn’t want them to use that skill so badly.’
Does ‘Areina’ find satisfaction in pushing her followers to use their lives to take mine? It was clear they didn’t regard our connection as something precious.
Of course, I didn’t think they were forced into that decision, but it was true that they were driven to it.
‘To hell with the god of light.’
I wanted to end this meaningless fight as swiftly as possible.
‘First, I need to cancel their skills.’
[Red Horn Pipe]
– An invention unintentionally created by the Red Goblin. It casts ‘Provocation’ in a wide area by consuming all mana.
– All body abilities of enemies excited by the Red Horn Pipe increase by 15%.
A horrifying invention created by the Red Goblin to wreak havoc on the battlefield.
As soon as the skill activated, a pipe the size of my palm lodged itself in my mouth, and it began to suck up all of my mana while I started to play it.
I fell into mana exhaustion, but thanks to the effect of the high-grade mana circuit, I managed to keep from collapsing.
Puuuu—
The crude sound of the pipe echoed across the battlefield, and the eyes of the paladins drawing on their powers glinted as they turned towards me.
They even canceled their self-sacrifice skills, re-summoning their golden shields to charge at me.
‘This is surprisingly effective!’
I had kept it on hold because it consumed all remaining mana, but depending on the situation, it seems there’s enough value to utilize it.
“Woooaah!! Die!!”
“You filthy Orc bastard!!”
With their physical capabilities boosted by 15% from the provoking pipe, the paladins were fired up.
‘Too straightforward.’
But nothing is easier to deal with than an excited enemy.
I entered [Stealth] to confuse their sight, then swung my long tail to gracefully knock out each of the paladins that charged at me one by one.
Thud—!
Thud—!
And as the final one collapsed to the ground like a deflated balloon, a message of victory in battle appeared along with my rewards.
The whole process took less than a minute; it all happened in an instant.
‘What? They’re weak? Was the damage from the Skeleton Bomb that severe?’
I was a bit surprised at how smoothly I had subdued them, but now I understood that the serious damage from the battle with the chimera and the over a hundred skeleton bombs had been much more potent than I originally thought.
– ‘The Mark of Justice from Areina’ will be removed.
‘Justice… well, justice is subjective.’
– The location of the hidden Temple of Light is revealed.
‘Ooh— this is…’
It was definitely the dungeon where I received the entry ticket from the Ilseom Guild.
Considering the location, there was no doubt about it.
However, it only marked the location, and didn’t provide any further information.
‘Hmm- of all places, here… no, it’s okay. I was going to check it out sooner or later anyway. Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing after all.’
Nodding my head, I grabbed the legs of the subdued paladins and bundled them together in one spot.
‘If they had left the skills they unleashed at the end intact, I wouldn’t have been able to guarantee the outcome myself.’
Having a variety of skills really shone in moments like this.
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