Chapter 85
Chapter 85
11. A War Without Faith -5
Andersen and I sprinted toward the bowl at the center.
"No! Stop them! I said stop them by any means!!"
The composure had long since evaporated from Bishop Bento's face. He raised the necklace high into the air, shrieking with a desperate expression. It seemed he wanted the bishops to wring out their very souls to stop us.
For us, every second was precious, so if they resisted with their lives on the line, there was no telling how it might turn out. But still.
"Th-that's⋯⋯ if someone in the front row would step forward first⋯⋯"
"If the Holy God is returning, then already⋯⋯"
Look at them.
These bishops of the Church of the Holy God were faithless unbelievers. Instead of believing in something and plodding steadfastly down their own path, they were bats too busy flapping their wings toward the sound of rolling gold coins.
Would wretches like that throw their precious bodies into the fray for victory? If they were the type who could, they wouldn't have been so easily swayed by Bishop Bento's silver tongue and betrayed the Holy-God Faction in the first place.
Which meant the only real enemies left were the Moon-Shadow Faction's holy knights.
But since you should always test a stone bridge before crossing⋯⋯ I shouted loudly, partly to rattle Bento and partly to pressure the hesitating bishops.
"If you're going to give orders like that, why not set an example yourself, Bishop Bento of the Moon-Shadow Faction! If you've stirred up the board this much, shouldn't you take responsibility?"
"Aaaargh-! Olmun! Get rid of them, now-!!"
Looks like he doesn't even have the composure to pretend to be dignified and answer.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Uwoooooh──!!"
After all that running around, it comes back to this bastard. Even the Holy God, who briefly revealed her power, couldn't strip away Moon Shadow's gaze, so in the end there's no choice but to bring this guy down somehow.
But there's a big difference between me before and after entering the Holy God Hathor's 『Garden (庭園)』.
"O Holy God, grant your champion your blessing!"
The buffs are different.
Fwoosh-!
Warmth radiating from Andersen coiled around my entire body. It wasn't a buff that made me dramatically stronger like the giant holy knight before me—at most, it restored a bit of my vitality⋯⋯
But that handful of vitality was exactly what I needed.
"Come on-!"
"GRRRRRR──!!"
Olmun, who had now begun howling almost like a beast, threw a punch with his abnormally swollen left arm. It looked less like a human body part and more like a pillar.
Even in a match between trained fighters, once enough rounds pile up, it turns into a dogfight. Because with an exhausted body, you can't use technique. So, conversely—
"It means I can use technique now, you bastard!"
I thrust out my shield.
Then, matching the direction of the incoming force, I moved every joint in my body to disperse the impact. What I pictured in my head was a lightning rod. As if a bolt of lightning striking down were passing through my body and draining into the ground.
Sssss-
I let it flow through.
WHOOOSH──!! CRUNCH!
[Impact Conversion: 88%]
The ground at my feet caved in from the redirected impact. My organs rattled, and the wrist that had been broken just before let out an ominous sound.
But my body didn't go flying like last time. I took the punch head-on and still stood firm on the ground. Olmun froze, showing signs of bewilderment.
"Uu—"
"⋯⋯So even in a frenzied state, you can still feel surprise, huh?"
Grrrrrk-
And the fact that my stance hadn't collapsed meant I had a window to counterattack. I gripped my dagger and poured strength into my hand.
With a blade this short, even if I cut into those bloated muscles, I couldn't deal any meaningful damage. So what I was aiming for was the head. I feinted as if I were going to sever his wrist tendons—
SHWIK-!!
I hurled it at Olmun's helmet like I was flinging it. The moment I threw it, I felt it. This one hit.
THUNK- The dagger lodged precisely into the gap of his helmet.
"GRAAAAAAAH──!!"
Holy knight Olmun clutched at his eye socket and howled. In the meantime, I charged toward the remaining holy knights who were rushing at Andersen. After all the fighting, only a few were left. I needed to deal with them first.
Because our team's victory condition was completing the Holy God ritual.
"Andersen, don't look back, just run! Focus only on what's ahead!"
"⋯⋯Yes!"
She ran without even a hint of doubt, looking only forward. Firing her gun wildly at the holy knights approaching from the front.
BANG-! BAANG-!
Footsteps tangled chaotically between the sounds of gunpowder bursting.
My lungs ached, but I just needed to push a little harder. Hff- hff- I took short, sharp breaths and moved my legs in long strides. With a wide gait, I quickly caught up.
I sprinted in one dash, grabbed the nape of a holy knight who had turned to look back while chasing Andersen, yanked him down, then spun my body once with the shield gripped in both hands and—slammed it into his head. CRASH!
"Gurk!"
[Impact Conversion: 88%]
Then I naturally picked up the fallen holy knight's mace, put centrifugal force into it, and hurled it forward. The mace's handle spun through the air in an arc and—smashed square into the face of one unlucky holy knight.
"Gak!"
Nothing left worth throwing. Should I take off a gauntlet and use that? Maybe one more⋯⋯
"Hahahahahaha! O 『Moon Shadow (月影)』!"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯!!"
The moment I heard that sound, I whipped my head toward Bishop Bento. Laughter in combat is one of the most dangerous warning signs. Because no one laughs on a battlefield unless they're a lunatic.
Even more so in a losing battle. Bastards like that laugh loudly, and nine times out of ten, they self-destruct while dealing massive damage to the enemy. This isn't intuition—it's statistics.
"They say you love a world like this, yet you drive even me, your servant, into the pit of failure. Very well, then! Take everything I have and make a hellscape of it──!!"
I knew it, goddammit!
WOOOOOONG──!!
A horrifyingly cold light burst from the necklace Bishop Bento wore. It was a vicious, dizzying moonlight that seemed to seep past my skull just from looking at it.
Ssssssss—
The radius of the light gradually expanded. Everyone touched by its fringes writhed in agony. I, too, felt a raging torrent churning in my mind as I watched. My head felt like it was going to burst⋯⋯ no, like I was going to go insane.
It felt like thousands of people were screaming curses directly into my ears.
Even I, standing quite far away, was experiencing symptoms like this. So it was obvious what state Bishop Bento, who was bathing in that light closer than anyone, must be in.
"AAAAAAARGH-!!"
Bishop Bento clawed at his own head and let out a horrific scream. Looking at his face, he didn't even seem to have the presence of mind left to regret his own decision. At the same time, my 『Download -2』 reacted.
[-> Download Slot 1: 『Moonlight Detonation Execution (月光起爆刑)』 (Downloading⋯⋯ 0.1%)]
"⋯⋯Shit."
Just seeing the download progress tick up in decimals told me everything. This wasn't some half-baked skill. Judging by the horrific hallucinations stabbing at my mind, it seemed to be a wide-area mental attack that gradually grew in power. I had to stop it.
FWIP-!
In a hurry, I kicked a pebble with the top of my foot and sent it flying at Bento. But the moment the pebble touched the white moonlight, it instantly crumbled—dissolved. Damn it, the deepening radiance had a defensive function too. It was unnervingly solid.
Joero's transformation came to mind. Back then, I'd blown his heart out in one shot by mixing skills. I needed to do the same now. Before the moonlight spread any further!
Swish-
"『Azure Wind Wanderer』⋯⋯ dammit!"
Flutter. The wind gathered in my hand was nothing more than a faint breeze.
The skill⋯⋯ won't activate! Andersen's buff didn't restore my magic power! And throwing a chair leg like I did to send Bishop Seldicto packing didn't seem like it would cut it.
[Impact Conversion: 88%]
Then the only thing left to try was this deformed shield's greatsword transformation—『Claw』. I lowered my stance, sprinted toward Bento, and slammed the shield into the ground with all my strength.
BOOM! BWOOM!
[Impact Conversion: 89%⋯⋯ 90%]
Too slow. Way too slow. At this rate, it would take forever.
Anxiety surged. Should I just swing the shield at it? But the moonlight had already nearly doubled in diameter, and its color was turning almost opaque. A simple bash wouldn't break through. Think. Think—
"UWOOOOOH──!!"
⋯⋯You came, Olmun!
Olmun came charging in one dash as if to protect his master, trying to block my path to Bento. I nearly burst out laughing in delight. That swinging fist was a welcome sight.
Come on. Hit me as hard as you can. Hard!
WHOOOOSH- With the sound of tearing wind, Olmun's fist came flying. If I anchored myself firmly so I wouldn't go flying too, and channeled the impact through my whole body into the ground⋯⋯!!
BWOOM──!!
[Impact Conversion: 99%]
"Shit⋯⋯!"
Of all times!
WOOOOONG, GRRRRRRK— The moonlight was gradually completing itself. It intended to shake our minds and forcibly mutate us like Olmun, whose eyes had rolled back. If that thing went off, could I even resist? I didn't know about me, but what about Andersen?
CRACKLE. The condensed light was on the verge of exploding.
One breath. I was exactly one breath too late.
Ding!
A cheerful system alarm rang out, completely out of place for the situation.
[Andersen : Noah Wno]
[Andersen : lfet]
[Andersen : shild]
Frantic. A message full of typos.
But I understood it. I could understand it. Without even turning my head, I thrust my shield to the left. At the same time, I gripped the shield's handle with both hands.
I spread my legs wide, lowered my center of gravity, twisted my hips, and coiled my whole body like a spring. I finished preparing to swing. And then—I trusted.
Trusted that her years of effort would reach me.
In the instant when countless people's actions and breaths intertwined, Andersen was also feeling the flow of time with her entire body. Impatience, urgency, zeal, hope, and—the sensation that everything she had built up until now was pushing her forward from behind.
Andersen ran across her own life. At the end of it was a bowl made of gold.
She had never moved her legs this hard before. She ran as if abusing her own lungs—no, she ran having forgotten even to breathe. Wasn't the very thing she had wished for right in front of her eyes?
A wish.
It wasn't wealth or power. It wasn't divine might either. She didn't need it.
Firearms and gunpowder, science and civilization—those weren't what she wished for either.
What Andersen had yearned for every night was—the obvious thing. The natural thing. The kind of thing that made you wonder if you really had to suffer this much just to obtain it. A single desire to save people.
That was enough.
And fortunately—a companion who shared that same heart had appeared from that distant cosmos and joined her journey. The young man with white hair was even now swinging his shield for that simple wish.
With his mouth, he talked about mutual benefit and whatnot, but who wouldn't know? That kind heart of his.
She pulled the trigger again and again with her clumsy marksmanship. She hurled protective barriers with holy magic to shake off the Moon-Shadow Faction's holy knights, and if they grabbed at her clothes, she tore free and pressed on even if it meant ripping her garments.
There were many holy knights chasing her. Under normal circumstances, she would have been caught long ago and sent tumbling across the floor.
"Catch her──!!"
"Dammit, why is she so fast⋯⋯?!"
"B-behind, from behind⋯⋯ gak!"
But Andersen was one breath ahead. She stayed ahead. By a hair's breadth, the holy knights couldn't catch her. It was thanks to Noah Won, who had supported Andersen even while fighting the giant called Olmun.
"No──!!"
"⋯⋯Hah."
BANG!
Thanks to that one breath, she reached the bowl. She threw herself forward as if hurling her body, offering up the ballot.
WHOOOSH-!
The ballot granted by the Holy God burned away, tracing a sun emblem in the air. A soft, warm light flowed out from the center, bidding the Saintess to state her wish.
But this was no time to relax. The battle wasn't over yet, and time was still running short. This wasn't Andersen's fight alone—it was a joint battle with Noah Won.
He was.
"AAAAAAAARGH-!!"
"UWOOOOOH──!!"
Facing Bento, who was radiating light in the form of living brilliance, and the giant Olmun at the same time. He looked like he was short one breath.
And just then, Andersen had one breath to spare. He had made it for her.
For some reason, this exchange made her want to laugh. It had been a tight relay race where everything would have collapsed if either side had slacked off even a little. A strange sense of camaraderie rose above the dizziness.
Saintess Andersen now knew what she had to do. Kneeling before the bowl in prayer, she simultaneously gripped her gun properly with one hand. She closed her eyes and began to pray.
"O Holy God, the vote is complete. The conclave ends here. We have won."
With her mouth she made her wish, but with her hands she had separate work to do. Click. She chambered a round. She felt the bullet seat into place. Then she extended her arm straight out to the side.
A prayer accompanied by a gun.
It was surely an irreverent prayer no Saintess had ever attempted, but she believed the Holy God would understand, since it was done for the righteous. Andersen poured all her faith into it—
"Therefore I beseech you—banish the false gods from this place. And."
She laid her finger on the trigger.
"Let this bullet reach the right place."
She fired.
BANG──!!
The report. A lead bullet wrapped in thick gunsmoke flew through the air at near-supersonic speed and struck the shield. The lead bullet crumpled, transmitting its impact deep into the core of 『Claw』.
At the same time, a rumbling engine sound filled the inside of the shield.
[Impact Conversion: 100%⋯⋯ Charge complete.]
You passed it on properly. Andersen.
Nothing lacking, nothing short. It was truly perfect timing. So I had no intention of delaying any further.
"Slot 3, 『Lightning』."
CRACKLE-
"Fire."
Let's finish this.
CLICK, KABOOM-!!
『Claw』 revealed its true form. The deformed shield instantly changed shape and reassembled, becoming a greatsword that blazed with blue light. The stored impact charge rapidly drained.
[Charge: 100%⋯⋯ 80%⋯⋯ 60%⋯⋯]
But it didn't matter. An instant was all I needed.
I moved the muscles I had coiled like a spring in sequence. From the tips of my toes to my knees, from my hips to my shoulders, from my wrists to the very tips of the fingers gripping the greatsword. I let it flow through and connect.
It connects.
From the earth to the sky. Filling my vision with the giant Olmun blocking my path and Bento wrapped in moonlight—I swung 『Claw』 with everything I had.
SHWAAAAAAAK──!!
"Y-you—"
The blue greatsword, cutting through even that wretched scream—
SLASH──!!
Bisected Bento and Olmun diagonally from the waist.