Chapter 69 "This Situation Is Getting Interesting"
"This situation is getting interesting."
Jepita muttered to himself as he observed the Terra Church's predicament from afar, borrowing the eyes of a small erosion beast flying through the air.
"What is it, Sir Jepita?"
"One of the high-grade erosion beasts we sent into the Terra Church has been destroyed."
"Impressive work from the church knights. To take down a high-grade erosion beast so quickly. Their stamina must be waning from the endless waves of low- and mid-grade ones."
Jepita shook his head at Edga's question.
"No. It wasn't a church knight."
"Pardon?"
"It was a young boy. Looks like one of the students dispatched from Solemnute Adem this time around."
"What...? Are you sure you saw that right?"
Edga stared at Jepita with a dumbfounded expression.
"Positive. No chance I saw it wrong."
"But that doesn't make sense. How could a student pierce a high-grade erosion beast's hide?"
"I can hardly believe it myself."
Jepita let out an incredulous laugh.
"And here's the even more amusing part. Want to know what it is?"
"...?"
"The boy's sword wasn't wrapped in any divine power."
"That's impossible...!"
"It's certain. No trace of the six gods of Solemnute on that boy at all. And yet..."
"There's more?"
As Jepita trailed off with a puzzled look, a equally curious Edga pressed him.
"That boy... he looks familiar. Like I've seen him somewhere before..."
With that, Jepita began scrutinizing the boy—Ludenberg Lavante—more closely. His eyes widened as he turned to Edga.
"Edga."
"Yes, Sir Jepita."
"Change of plans. We're heading to the Terra Church now."
"Pardon?"
"That young boy who just crushed the high-grade erosion beast's heart... no doubt about it. He's of that detestable Lavante bloodline. That dark ash-gray hair. The face so strikingly like Leonard Lavante's. Must be his son, Ludenberg Lavante."
"But Sir Jepita, didn't you say this was just to let them know we're here?"
Jepita nodded at Edga's words.
"True, I did say that. But Lavante blood is dangerous. Special. They've always stood in our way. So now... we cut off the Lavante line."
"Understood."
Jepita severed the saint law connecting him to the erosion beast and immediately headed to the Terra Church with Edga.
The erosion beast with its head pierced collapsed pathetically. Everyone around stared at Ludenberg in disbelief, but he ignored them and kept moving. There was no time to hesitate. The other high-grade erosion beasts were still alive.
The knights who had fought alongside Ludenberg against one beast snapped out of their daze as they watched him dash off, turning their attention to the erosion beast swinging its blunt weapon and the one lunging with fist strikes.
He ran. No time to stop.
Ludenberg headed straight for the blunt-wielding erosion beast in the center. The knights were struggling just to block its attacks with their depleted stamina. But as the side lines steadied and the tide began to turn in their favor, they started squeezing out every last bit of strength.
Behind them, the ten knights who had felled the previous high-grade beast split into groups of five and latched onto the remaining ones. The knights' formations stabilized noticeably.
The difference between ten and fifteen needed no explanation.
As the burden on each individual lessened, the pressure on the erosion beasts mounted.
Ludenberg rode the momentum. His eyes fixed on the massive blunt-wielding beast blocking the knights' approach. Its unnatural vitality still coursed through its body.
If so, then this should work too.
He charged straight at its front, dodging the savage downward swing of its blunt weapon with nimble footwork. Even as the weapon cleaved empty air, the beast's assault didn't end. Sensing the miss, it stomped down with its enormous foot and swiped with its free arm. From its back, it spewed black clumps toward him.
But none connected. The eerie vitality surging through his flesh made him far stronger and faster than usual. In an instant, Ludenberg closed the distance.
Perhaps sensing the threat, the erosion beast ignored the knights entirely, focusing solely on him. Its massive blunt weapon swung horizontally at his face—unlike the previous overhead strike, there was no room to evade.
Ludenberg gripped Liberra and swung fiercely at the weapon, channeling the same sensation that had pierced the last beast's skull.
Claaang!—
The sound defied belief for a clash between an enormous blunt weapon and an ordinary longsword. A shockwave rippled outward, staggering even the knights.
The result was much the same as before. As Raha had called it—an unbreakable sword—Liberra showed no damage, while the erosion beast's blunt weapon shattered into fragments across the ground.
But an erosion beast was an erosion beast, its entire body a weapon. Undeterred by the broken armament, it hurled itself at Ludenberg with reckless fury.
Unfazed by the overwhelming pressure of its colossal frame, Ludenberg trusted his body and thrust Liberra forward. In that stepping moment, a lightning-quick stab pierced where its heart lay.
A single tentacle erupted from the beast's body, halting inches from Ludenberg's face. Its movements froze. At the same moment, the fist-striking erosion beast halted too—thanks to the knights' desperate efforts.
All three high-grade erosion beasts had finally fallen.
"We... we won..."
The crisis wasn't over, but having vanquished the greatest threats, the knights collapsed to the ground. No time for celebration. Just the simple relief of survival washed over them.
The students inside the barrier rushed out to the severely wounded. Especially those awakened to Mare's divine power, who immediately began healing the knights and expressing their gratitude.
"Thank you."
"Yeah..."
They managed joyful smiles at having survived. Plenty of erosion beasts remained outside the Earth Citadel, but for now, they could smile at having defeated the most dangerous foes.
"That student, though... unreal. Can't wrap my head around it."
"He's the strongest first-year Knight Faculty student. Sir Martin Taylor said the same. Everyone who meets him says it's unbelievable."
"What student takes down high-grade erosion beasts? And that blunt-wielder—he basically did it solo. Makes me ashamed."
"Still... we all survived thanks to you knights."
"Glad you see it that way. Come to think of it... no one died, thanks to that student."
As the knight said, there were no fatalities. The most hopeful fact of all.
Injured, yes—but no dead.
Meanwhile, Ludenberg sat on the ground, catching his breath. The eerie vitality had faded, leaving profound exhaustion in its wake.
"Lude!"
Ashytara came sprinting from the barrier, checking him over frantically.
"You okay? Hurt anywhere?"
"Yeah. Fine. Just... tired."
"Really, really glad..."
"Yeah. Lucky."
Ashytara plopped down beside him and said,
"Lucky, sure. But still... frustrating. Sad."
"Why?"
"Made me realize how weak I am."
"You're not weak."
"I am. If I weren't, I could've fought with you."
"..."
Ludenberg, whose social skills had atrophied from five years without human contact, had no idea what to say and fell silent.
"I've made up my mind."
"About what?"
"When this is over, spar with me. No holding back."
"...You'll get beat and cry like old times, don't blame me."
"Ugh, seriously? You have to bring that up?"
"Facts are facts. Fine. Doesn't seem too dangerous right now, so I need a break."
"Yeah. You worked so hard—thank you, Ludenberg. We survived because of you. And... sorry for not trusting you."
Ashytara seemed to be berating herself for doubting him when he'd charged out alone.
Ludenberg brushed it off.
"If it were you, I'd have reacted the same. Don't sweat it."
"...Yeah. Rest easy, then."
Ludenberg felt drowsiness creeping in. Unrecognized fatigue crashed over him, but...
KABOOOM!
A massive explosion rocked the air, and the situation shifted dramatically once more. The Earth Citadel surrounding the main gate shattered completely, breaching the entrance.
Everyone froze in shock, staring ahead.
As the dust settled, two men stood there: a sturdy one in plain clothes and a slimmer one beside him.
Jepita and Edga had arrived at the Terra Church, come to eliminate the root of the problem after sensing their high-grade beast's defeat.
"Who are they? People? Not erosion beasts..."
"No way they're reinforcements."
As the students murmured,
darkness began to envelop Jepita's surroundings, soon blanketing the entire Terra Church in a sinister, shadowy aura.
The students recognized the familiar sensation from that dark aura.
Divine power. The darkness had taken form as divine power.
"Wh-what is that?!"
"Such thick, evil divine power... No way!"
Only then did everyone realize: this erosion wasn't natural.
It was artificial.
"Salvation Cult!"
The church knights and priests cried out in horror.
"Greetings, unbelievers of Solemnute."
Jepita's low, resolute voice echoed through the space on waves of dark aura. At the same moment, countless erosion beasts slithered in behind him through the breach in the Earth Citadel.
After a flicker of hope, despair like plummeting into an abyss began to invade everyone's hearts.