Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: After the Capital Invasion (3)
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Somewhere in the vast northern mountains teeming with monsters.
A certain individual sat atop a house-sized bear-shaped beast, stroking its fur while furrowing his brow.
"...What's going on here?"
The leader of the Oath of Reverse Heaven—the Revolutionary—who had toppled the Rohan Principality and vanished, wore a grave expression as he mentally reviewed the information passed to him.
A bet between the Hero and the Immortal King? A three-year grace period? What nonsense.
In the end, he couldn't trust the report and went through the verification process again.
Assuming something had gone wrong with his intelligence network amid the chaos of launching the operation and fleeing.
But no matter how many times he checked, the result remained the same...
The Immortal King wasn't focused on blanketing the continent in death. Instead, he was indulging in games purely for amusement.
And that was impossible.
I had my suspicions from the start, when he deviated from expectations and acted strangely...
His face twisted sharply.
Until then, he'd thought the Immortal King was scheming in some other way. But given the current developments, it seemed the Immortal King had fully overcome the influence stemming from the Abyss.
Impossible. No one can overcome the Abyss.
It was an irresistible force that applied to every existence in this world—and for a human in particular, it was an unchangeable law.
Was the Immortal King never human in life? No, that's not the issue. Even if he were a different race, it wouldn't make much difference.
There was one matter that no being in this world ever questioned.
[Why do humans worship the Main God?]
Of course, this wasn't denying the Main God's existence or belittling His authority.
It was a pure, literal question.
Each race had its own religion.
The elves revered the World Tree rising at the heart of the Enamel Continent, while the dwarves worshipped the God of Fire and Metal.
Beastmen followed indigenous faiths centered on animal deities symbolizing their tribes, but those were ultimately mere incarnations of the greater Beast God.
Of course, those religions weren't exclusive to their races.
Even minority faiths among humans, like those of the Sea God or Earth God, had gained some traction.
But at their roots, they all stemmed from each race's tribal deities.
So why did humans lack such a tribal god?
It was puzzling, yet few ever pondered it.
It's just... how it's always been. Everyone accepts it that way.
The Creator, the Main God, was closer to an immense concept or law beyond the grasp of mortals.
Under normal circumstances, He shouldn't be intervening in the world like this, granting divine power and blessings based on faith.
What He did now was merely filling in for someone else—to prevent errors from arising in the world.
Yes, humans surely had a god for them alone.
Though history itself—nay, causality—had been erased by the Main God, leaving not even a fragment behind.
He had undoubtedly existed in this world.
"No helping it. Sorry, Valtheon, but I'll have to claim the madness for myself. With death having escaped its fate, I can't just leave it to others anymore."
The Revolutionary clicked his tongue as he pictured the hulking warrior likely stirring up trouble in the south right now.
In some ways, he was the most reliable ally in the Oath of Reverse Heaven. But circumstances didn't allow for such considerations now.
He rose from the bear beast's back and slowly made his way toward a nearby scar of the Abyss.
Only then did a bloody glint ignite in the eyes of the beast, which had remained docile until that moment. With a savage roar, it charged off into the forest depths and vanished.
"For the god of humanity."
With those quiet words, the shadowy figure thrust himself into the scar.
He was the sole apostle of the "god of humanity" that no longer existed.
The Revolutionary, devoting himself to restoring the god exiled to Auterica's dimension dump—the Abyss.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The gist of what Mercenary Guild Executive Director Patrick told Harley was simple.
Basically, he'll handle everything else, so I just need to focus on building my fame. Enough to spread evenly across the entire continent.
Though they'd discussed various matters, it all boiled down to that.
Harley needed to boost his reputation, as his name wasn't widely known relative to his skills.
Of course, he'd handled numerous missions worthy of the Special-rank during his mercenary career so far. And recently, he'd made a name for himself in the monster madness incident...
But that fame was limited to the western continent—specifically the northern region of the Tulk Kingdom.
Well, in truth, Harley's mercenary career hasn't even hit a full year yet.
Time was a key factor in spreading one's name.
His rivals for Mercenary King were all veterans who'd steadily built their reputations over long years to reach their current status.
They were all at the master level, enough to be idolized by mercenaries, so objectively speaking, the experience gap was glaring.
If it came to direct combat, I'd smash them all without breaking a sweat!
But such brute methods wouldn't yield popularity without losing public favor in equal measure.
Even in a strength-focused organization like the guild—a continental-scale entity no less—becoming its leader required a more refined approach.
The ancient tradition of dojo-crashing did hold appeal...
Fortunately, they had an even better option for Harley.
KABOOM—!
A deafening explosion erupted violently, followed by a soaring pillar of black flame.
"Argh!"
"Y-You bastards! Do you even know where you are?!"
The notoriously ruthless Beoin Count's family of the Sharoti Kingdom—infamous for their pitiless oppression and exploitation—found themselves engulfed in flames from a sudden assault by unknown assailants.
Thousands of undead troops surged from all sides, surrounding the lord's castle.
"Kihik! All according to His will! We shall purify this world through death!"
Black mana, fueled by the leaders' burning life force, rose like wildfire from their bodies.
As if they'd never intended to survive, their malice—heedless of consequences—blanketed the territory.
In truth, such attacks weren't isolated to this place.
For some reason, shadowy forces that had lain dormant began rearing their heads one by one from a certain point onward.
Their power, nurtured over long years in the world's underbelly, was far from negligible.
Especially now, with the monster chaos already stretching resources thin.
Such cunning foes, treating their own lives as mere tools to exploit gaps, were amplifying the damage considerably.
Flash!
Yet even in this chaos, some stood firmly against their terrorist acts—
"Phew, we made it in one go this time. And not too late, thankfully."
"You're getting more adept at it. Even for an archmage, teleporting a group over such distances isn't easy."
"That just means we've used it too often lately—not exactly good news. The situation's that dire."
Four figures who appeared amid a burst of radiant light were precisely those individuals.
"Kahaha! How long you gonna chatter? I'll head in first!"
"...I'll go as well."
A muscular giant wielding a massive axe and a gloomy middle-aged man with a spear charged into the enemy ranks like lightning.
"Tch! Take those guys out first!"
"M-Magic's not working?! What kind of monsters are these?!"
"Kuhahaha! Where do you think you're running? Get over here!"
Harley, who struck first, ignored all attacks with his immense magic resistance from dragon scales, swinging his enormous axe relentlessly...
Shwick— Shwaaak!
"Puhit! Just die alrea— Gahk!"
"Argh! Spare m— Huh? I-I'm alive?"
The spear of the gray-haired man sliced through space swiftly, rescuing those in peril.
"We need to thin out the undead numbers first. To lead a force this size in a surprise attack... the Immortal King must have intervened directly."
Vmmm—! BOOM!
Vast mana surging from Isea's body instantly manifested a miracle, sweeping away hundreds of undead at once.
"Tch! Do they have precognition or something? Arriving this fast!"
The black mage leader gnashed his teeth as over a hundred followers and thousands of undead melted away in real time.
He'd anticipated their arrival from the start and had already forsaken his life... but their prowess exceeded expectations, leaving him unconsciously anxious.
So this is my grave, after all.
Still, he couldn't die so pointlessly.
Even in death, he had to leave a mark proving he'd existed in this world!
Ruuuumble—
He immediately ignited his life force and forcibly rampaged his heart's mana, preparing a grand magic he could never normally cast.
Sacrificing his soul to drown everything here in death.
"Kihik— Filthy elites. Remember this well! Our resistance doesn't end here. Death is the one true equality, transcending class! We will forge a world without discrimin—"
"I get your ideology, but..."
Yet his curse-laden incantation was involuntarily cut short...
Puke!
"Gahk—!"
"Too much pointless talk."
"H-How... There was a barrier..."
Heinrich had silently approached and plunged his holy sword deep into the black mage's heart.
True to his words, there had been various defenses, but they were no match for the natural counter to Black Magic: Blessing: Radiant Sword.
The light injected through the embedded holy sword then utterly incinerated the wicked mana raging within the black mage's body. In the end, he crumbled to ash without meaningful resistance, scattering quietly.
And after a brief moment passed.
"Waaah—!"
"W-We survived!"
Though only four in number, they dispatched the thousands of foes without needing much time.
Regrettably, by the time it all ended, most of the count's family had already perished from the initial assault and ensuing assassinations.
"May the Main God's mercy be with them."
After a short prayer, Heinrich turned a blind eye to the commoners discreetly ransacking the castle as he diligently healed the wounded.
"Oh my~ Saint, you saved us and now heal us too. Truly grateful!"
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"No need. Helping the suffering is the duty of any true follower of the Main God."
"What righteous spirit! As expected of Saint Heinrich of the Church of the Main God!"
"Ah, you're embarrassing me. You worked hard too, Mr. Harley."
With even Harley chiming in to imprint their names on the locals, they gathered by Isea once more to move to the next site.
Elite personnel like them couldn't afford to linger long in one place.
That aside, he's quite capable. I picked him for his skills and character... and his circumstances.
Heinrich nodded subtly toward the blue-eyed, gray-haired middle-aged spearman, Geos Kalkin.
Geos had volunteered upon hearing of the Hero Party, and there were reasons for selecting him.
First, his abilities.
For a pure aura user not yet at transcendence to strike beyond space meant his secret art was extraordinarily unique.
...Temptingly so.
Establishing one's own system and perfecting one's energy led to the pinnacle.
Known in other dimensions as Sword Masters or Realm of Transformation, their energy naturally augmented all abilities even passively, with active use yielding explosive efficiency.
The sheer density made imitation impossible.
Further growth shattered that framework, transcending existential limits—that was transcendence.
Slicing space with a sword, manifesting phenomena with will alone, naturally reading causality itself.
Methods varied, defying simple definition.
For instance, Empire Guard Captain Conwell could "slash" even Abyss energy like cloth.
In that sense, his technique is awfully tantalizing. I'll have to coax it out of him gently.
It shouldn't be hard.
The second reason: Geos's personal history.
His family got caught in the sacrifice incident across the continent—blamed on the Immortal King opening the Abyss...
A noble of Lesk Kingdom, he'd risen purely on merit like Isea.
From commoner orphan to husband and father, he'd cherished his family deeply—until tragedy struck.
Thus, his motivation for joining wasn't duty, but pure vengeance against the Immortal King.
And Heinrich... couldn't refuse a man begging for a shot at revenge with lifeless eyes.
...He's a bit like me.
Of course, he'd ensure that revenge.
Many of the foes he'd just slain belonged to the Oath of Reverse Heaven, and it wouldn't stop until the perpetrators were all eliminated.
"Then, let's move. Don't resist the mana."
Vmmm—!
Isea's endless mana enveloped them.
And with that, they vanished from the Beoin Count's territory in the Sharoti Kingdom.
Minor raids were handled via precognitive warnings for preparation, while the Hero Party tackled only large-scale invasions—yet they were still run ragged.
But proportionally, the fame of Hero Heinrich and his comrades was gradually spreading across the continent.