All Freed?
“All freed?”
“Seems like it.”
“Good. Karema, open the space. You lot, shove the vessels into the space quick and escape right away.”
“Understood.”
At Hector's command, the few remaining Salvation Cult followers—being used as bait—began herding the brainwashed children into the sub-space that Karema had opened.
“Come on, kids. Just wait here a bit, and paradise will be waiting for you.”
“Yes……”
With glazed, vacant eyes, the children shuffled into the space at the followers' urging.
“Damn. It's full. We're at the limit now.”
In an instant, all two hundred children vanished without a trace.
Sub-space—a sacred law newly devised by drawing on the concept of erosion. It was Karema's specialty.
It was the same sacred law he'd used to shelter his subordinates during the Solemnute raid. Stashing two hundred people in a sub-space was a first for him, though, and his divine power was draining away like mad as a result. It was only because they were kids that he'd managed it; if they'd been adults, he couldn't have fit more than fifty.
“We have to flee somewhere—anywhere—before my divine power runs out. Time's short.”
The other executives nodded at Karema's words.
“Head east, fast. Good thing we switched hideouts midway. If we hadn't, we'd be in deep shit already.”
They had already relocated their hideout once. Deeming the first one near Ortara too risky, they'd moved it to a remote spot entirely: the city of Delaban, some distance from the capital. Even though it was an underground hideout outside Delaban, the intelligence agency's eyes had still caught the followers being tracked, leading to this mess. If they'd stuck to the Ortara outskirts and pushed ahead, their heads would've rolled by now.
“So that's why you flipped out so bad, Daneb. Who'd have thought you'd actually be useful one day.”
“Ha, only realizing it now? Then shut up and move. I still don't wanna die. Never wanna see that psycho Sione Solenute again.”
As the Salvation Cult executives fled with haste, Delaban erupted into chaos. Highest-grade erosion beasts and swarms of lesser ones began rampaging through the streets.
The once-peaceful city of Delaban could only tremble in sudden terror at the unbidden erosion rift.
“Erosion……? Why here?”
“Everyone, evacuate to safety!”
The priests and warriors guarding Delaban rushed to shelter the citizens, but the sheer scale of the erosion beasts—far beyond imagination—filled every face with despair.
“Madam, request reinforcements from the palace at once. Any delay, and Delaban's done for!”
Gould Delaban, the city's lord, knew he had to call for aid immediately. An erosion of this magnitude could sweep the city away in moments.
At her husband's words, Gould's wife, Jenia Delaban, summoned a messenger spirit to relay the plea to the royal court.
Gould barked orders to his subordinates with a tense expression—evacuation protocols first, then protecting the people before the city crumbled.
As Gould scrambled, the messenger spirit Jenia had sent returned swiftly.
“A response!”
“What does His Majesty say?”
“Reinforcements are coming soon!”
“Reinforcements? What scale?”
“The Ortara Warrior Corps and Priest Corps, plus the Solenute Imperial Knights! Even students from the National School!”
“Everything else makes sense, but Solenute out of nowhere……?”
“Forgot? It's the exchange event period right now.”
“The exchange……! Right. They're helping us just like that?”
“I don't know the details, but yes.”
“Got it. So we just have to hold out.”
“That's right.”
“The warriors?”
“Clashing with erosion beasts in the city streets now. What are your orders, my lord?”
“I'll fight too. Madam, buff me with sacred law. I need to lead the warriors.”
“……Yes.”
“Let's go together.”
Once prepared, the pair rallied all the warriors guarding the lord's castle. Until reinforcements arrived, they had to defend the city.
Meanwhile, the joint Ortara-Solenute force that Gould Delaban awaited so desperately was hurtling toward Delaban at breakneck speed, propelled by Professor Rohan's newly devised sacred law: the Wind Path.
To put it simply, the Wind Path was like a skyway on the ground. Fierce gales pushed at the allies' backs, and all they had to do was yield to the wind—no fatigue, just rapid transit.
“Where are we headed?”
“Delaban. Ortara intel says the bastards switched hideouts once—from near Ortara to Delaban.”
Imperial Knight Martin Taylor—leading the group Ludenberg Lavante was in—answered his question.
“Delaban?”
“You wouldn't know, but Gould Delaban, the lord there, is a renowned warrior in Ortara.”
“I see. How much farther?”
“Not much. Adapting the sky path for ground worked wonders. Lucky to have Lord Rohan Heywards with us. And Ludenberg.”
“Yes.”
“If things get dicey, pull back and tell me or the other knights right away. We can't afford you getting in real danger like last time.”
“……Understood.”
Ludenberg nodded. He wasn't hotheaded enough to dismiss an adult's advice. Sure, he'd grown stronger, but he wasn't at Liberatus's level yet, nor could he solo a highest-grade erosion beast. No need to play hero and worry or endanger others. Just fulfill his role from his position. With that thought, he surrendered to the Wind Path.
The joint force, racing via Wind Path, gaped as Delaban drew near.
“Highest-grade erosion beast……”
“They went all out.”
Professor Hainkel Hereis glanced at Sione Solenute beside him.
She nodded.
“As expected. But it doesn't matter.”
The shock on her face was fleeting. Regaining composure, she even smiled faintly.
“Haha, indeed.”
Hainkel matched her. The prior raid had caught them off-guard amid the festival chaos, but this was different. True, the enemy numbers dwarfed that assault, and their power was incomparable. Yet the allies' force was overwhelmingly superior. Solemnute Adem's professors alone were elite; add Ortara's Warrior and Priest Corps, Imperial Knights, Ortara National School faculty…… It was a convergence of every fighting force imaginable. Even highest-grade beasts posed no real threat.
And among them, Sione was undoubtedly the strongest, letting them laugh freely.
“Professor Rohan.”
“Yes, Crown Princess.”
“Can you boost the speed?”
“Any more might strain this old man……”
“My, you've gotten cheeky. You look overflowing with energy still.”
“Haha, caught me?”
“No need for Solem's Eye. I know you have reserves.”
“Then shall I meet expectations?”
Professor Rohan smiled leisurely and poured divine power into strengthening the Wind Path. Their speed turned dizzying, Delaban looming close in moments.
“Charge!”
At the thrilled cry of the Ortara warriors, Delaban's defenders atop the walls—locked in combat with erosion beasts—spotted them.
“Reinforcements! Open the gates!”
“Open the gates!”
As the gates swung wide, warriors and knights surged in on the Wind Path's ferocious momentum. The city fighters stared, dumbfounded.
“What the hell……?”
Even the erosion beasts ravaging the streets were swept away in the storm of overwhelming might. Evacuees gawked in disbelief. This lineup didn't belong in a minor city like this.
From Sione pulverizing street beasts with her massive warhammer, to Imperial Knights intercepting visible upper-grade erosion beasts with precise swordplay. Professor Rohan's defensive sacred law halting a highest-grade beast's massive arm mid-swing. Ortara warriors, cloaked in priests' buffs, charging another highest-grade fearlessly. Lesser-than-upper-grade beasts in the streets were snagged by students.
Many erosion beasts? It might buy a little time, but devastating Delaban was impossible. Especially after the Solemnute raid cost them loved ones—Solenute folk were seething at the cult. Knights, students, professors slaughtered every visible cultist-bait or beast on sight.
Guilt over killing humans? A luxury on the battlefield. Especially scum kidnapping and puppeteering kids—they weren't human.
“Die!”
Cultists toppled one by one under students' frenzied strikes, streets gradually clearing.
Ludenberg danced through, annihilating beasts effortlessly. Infusing his convictions seemed to make slashing their hides far easier—even upper-grades. Unlike relying on that bizarre vitality before, now his will empowered his moves. An upper-grade hurled razor blades, but he dodged all, piercing its heart in a blink. Whatever caught his eye died instantly.
Ashytara Solenute beside him wreathed the area in flames, turning it to ash. Her cross greatsword, flame-clad, spun trails of afterimages. Each fiery whirl charred beasts crisp.
Unlike the Solemnute raid, no students were pushed back. Even Adem's Abyss ranks now wrestled mid-grades, their levels leaped.
If the weakest shone, imagine the elites. Dalia Retiu's axe-spear upheaved earth with each swing. Seia Shahain's arrows pierced a beast heart per shot. Seniors flaunted their prowess. Ortara students matched them, backed by priests, surging the frontlines. Even with highest-grades, no worries—the radiant warhammer at the fore was unmistakable.
Sione cleared her surroundings, eyeing the highest-grade reeling from Professor Rohan's sacred law. She stomped; light burst from the ground.
Boom!
Her body rocketed toward the beast. Mid-flight, she poured fiercer divine power into her warhammer. Solem's power—most effective against erosion—swelled the already massive hammer further. Larger than the beast's arm, it smashed full-force into its face.
A world-shattering roar echoed.