Chapter 74 "A Big Shot Has Arrived"
"This is a big shot."
Karema stared at Sione before him. The radiant glow, the massive warhammer, and the sacred laws of light swirling around her. Cold sweat began to trickle down his back.
Damn it. I had to eliminate the Lavante bloodline at all costs... and now the most dangerous situation has arrived.
Crown Princess Sione Solenute was naturally a figure of utmost caution. Not just because she was the heir to the Solenute throne. Her martial prowess was beyond imagination. Even if every Salvation Cult member present charged at her, they couldn't guarantee victory. Karema and Jepita together might win, but it was merely a possibility. Moreover, Jepita was already severely depleted. Karema alone couldn't defeat Sione.
The Salvation Cult members who had faced her during the massive eastern erosion incident couldn't forget the power of the warhammer in her hands or how many erosion beasts her sacred laws had incinerated. And that was when she was just eighteen.
Karema gritted his teeth. The cult's original plan hadn't been like this. They aimed to release only high-grade erosion beasts, signal their continued strength, and plant a seed of unease in the hearts of the Solenute Empire's citizens. But the appearance of Lavante blood had derailed everything. The high-grade erosion beasts that should have sown chaos failed to bring despair to the citizens. Jepita had even been forced to step in. Yet even he, one of the cult's strongest, had been defeated by that Lavante scion. Then the Solenute second princess appeared to interfere, dragging things out until it came to this. Now even the imperial knights had joined the battlefield. There was no chance of victory.
"How dare you filthy, repulsive scum set foot in this sacred place."
Gone was her usual gentle tone. Sione addressed the cultists with a murderous ferocity. The sacred laws whirling around her intensified.
Karema was overwhelmed by the sight.
"I will not allow you to defile this place."
The erosion-tainted red sky split open, and a ray of dawn pierced the darkness. Sione raised her warhammer high and slammed it down.
Boom!
A deafening roar echoed as light exploded outward. All nearby erosion beasts vanished in an instant, leaving only ashes scattering in the wind.
From the moment Sione lifted her hammer, Karema had deployed a defensive sacred law. The dark red mist enveloped them just in time, but the surging light shattered even that. They barely blocked it, but the aftermath was dire.
"Urk! Cough!"
Karema spat blood from the exposed light. Those who had joined him in the sacred law fared worse. Some were outright consumed as Sione's divine power invaded their bodies, turning them into handfuls of light that faded away.
Watching from behind as the barrier dissipated, Ludenberg Lavante, Ashytara Solenute, and Idilrock Seraha could only shudder.
"As expected of the greatest Solem saintess in history. Overwhelming. To reduce those mighty Salvation Cult priests and knights like that..."
"Sister..."
I'd heard about it from Father, but I never imagined it was this much. Overwhelming. Those powerhouses... so easily.
Sione didn't stop there. She raised her hammer again, engraving the sacred law Solem's Judgment upon it, then struck the ground once more.
Boom!
Another roar swept through the Terra cathedral. Even the injured Jepita had no choice but to join in the defensive sacred law. Together, they withstood it better than before, but damage was inevitable. They quickly made their decision.
"Retreat. This is too dangerous."
"Understood."
Karema's dark red mist began to envelop the cultists.
"I won't let you escape."
As the cultists resolved to flee, Sione swung her hammer again, but Jepita met her strike with everything he had left—to buy time for retreat. Fierce light clashed with a dark purple tidal wave, but the wave was unilaterally pushed back. Yet that fleeting moment was enough for the remaining cultists to complete their sacred law.
In the end, just as Nadan Tes, Nah Tes, the imperial knights, and the capital guard—who had been handling scattered erosion beasts—were about to join Sione, the cultists vanished into the dark red mist.
"They're gone."
Sione showed no particular regret. They were experts at slipping away anyway. Chasing them risked sacrificing others needlessly.
Sione turned to Ashytara behind her and approached.
"You're badly hurt. Sorry I'm late."
"N-no, it's fine. I survived thanks to you, Sister. Thank you for coming."
"Good."
Sione stroked Ashytara's head once, then bowed to Idilrock.
"Saintess Idilrock Seraha. Thank you. My sister is alive because of you."
"N-no, Your Highness. I did nothing. If anything, I owe my gratitude to Duke Lavante."
"To Ludenberg?"
"Yes."
Idilrock began explaining what had happened in the Terra cathedral to Sione.
"So... Ludenberg stood against the high-grade erosion beasts and slew them, and he even severed the left arm of the one who blocked your final attack just now?"
"Yes."
Idilrock nodded solemnly. Ashytara chimed in.
"The saintess is right, Sister. Ludenberg saved everyone here."
Ashytara recounted everything from the moment the erosion opened: gathering students to protect citizens, moving to the smithy near the cathedral, and all that followed upon arrival.
"My goodness."
Sione gazed at Ludenberg with genuine admiration.
"You've done something incredible."
Ludenberg bowed his head as she smiled warmly.
"No, Your Highness. Without you, we all would have died."
"You saved everyone until then. Without you, those students over there and the citizens inside the cathedral wouldn't have survived. Impressive, Ludenberg. And... I want to thank you personally."
"Pardon?"
"My sister is safe because of you. Thank you, Ludenberg."
Sione offered her sincere gratitude with utmost courtesy.
"No, I..."
As Ludenberg waved it off, a sudden wave of exhaustion drained his strength. His body grew heavy, and consciousness plummeted into darkness. The severe wound piercing his right chest, combined with overexertion, had finally caught up. It was a miracle he'd lasted this long; the crisis had kept him going by sheer will. But with peace restored, tension released, and he collapsed.
"Lude!"
"His wound is serious. We need to treat him now..."
Ashytara caught him as he fell, but he didn't regain consciousness. Voices urging treatment faded, and Ludenberg's mind sank into darkness.
"Here again."
It was the space where he often met Raha in his dreams. She sat on her jade throne, bound in six layers of chains, speaking to Ludenberg.
"Well done, Ludenberg. You no longer falter easily against strong foes."
"No. That wasn't my power. That strange vitality coursing through me—it felt like the Starting Knight's body in the trial world. You must have done something."
Ludenberg frowned in dissatisfaction. Raha smiled faintly beneath her mask.
"Heh. No. That was your power."
"What?"
"You said vitality surged? That was the power dormant in your body, awakened by overcoming trials. I told you: with each trial, you'll grow stronger."
"Wait. Then why did it vanish after just one use?"
"People transcend limits unknowingly on the brink of death. You were pushed to that edge and broke through, drawing on the power accumulated from your trials. As you overcame death, the remnants manifested as vitality, letting you fight."
Just the remnants made me that strong? Enough to dispatch a high-grade erosion beast effortlessly and hold my own against a Salvation Cult knight?
"Just from that one—no, two trials, I've grown that much?"
"Just? Can you call that 'just'? The trials you faced: even in the Starting Knight's body, you soloed a highest-grade erosion beast. Now you know what those are like."
Ludenberg couldn't refute her. She was right. The high-grade one he'd faced was monstrous; a highest-grade would be unimaginable.
"Then how did I survive death? Even if it was my latent power, that wound... it was fatal."
"You've died once before. In the trial world, you experienced death, recognized it, and overcame it. A normal person would die the moment consciousness fades... but you'd already tasted true death virtually. That gave you time to draw your latent power before it fully slipped away."
"Is that even possible?"
"You did it—why ask me? Anyway, don't underrate yourself. I helped a little, but overcoming death requires your own will. You achieved it."
"Everything's so hard to grasp."
"No need to overthink. Just accept it as natural. Today's trial expanded your limits; you'll grow even stronger. The next one will be tougher, so prepare fully."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Good. Now go. People are waiting."
With Raha's gesture, the space collapsed as always, and Ludenberg's consciousness rose back to reality.