Chapter 347
Chapter 347
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 347
Chapter Title: Scribe (2)
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A familiar human form wrapped in sunset glow.
His longtime nemesis, whom he'd clashed with several times before—each encounter a brutal fight to the death—stood right before him.
'The Reverse Heaven Leader.'
A surge of危機 shot through Harris, alarms blaring in his mind.
He'd assumed the man wouldn't move easily, but to appear so suddenly like this...
And without any warning from the formations he'd set up around the area.
"Tch."
Paat—
With a single stomp, he leaped far back, gripping his bow tightly as he heightened his tension.
The spirits he'd summoned had already gathered around him, forming an ironclad defensive line.
Harris, a spirit archer type, specialized in long-range sniping with aggressive evasion tactics.
Facing an enemy of that caliber at such close range...
'Wait, that's...?'
As frantic thoughts raced through his mind.
Debating whether to retreat or call for reinforcements and fight for real, Harris's eyes narrowed.
His starlit pupils, hidden beneath his helmet, flickered rapidly, meticulously analyzing the clues he'd overlooked in the sudden chaos.
"Ah."
It had only been a few seconds since the attack was blocked and he'd retreated to assess the situation.
Finally realizing the source of his unease, Harris let out a quiet groan.
"...You really startled me."
Before the Scribe stood the Reverse Heaven Leader's form, still cloaked in light.
But upon closer inspection, it was clear.
It wasn't the real deal—just a shadow, a projection of part of his thoughts.
'Overreaction on my part. Some kind of divine technique using holy power.'
He'd even considered the possibility of the real Leader showing up, which had amped up his tension more than expected.
Of course, that didn't make the situation optimistic.
Even so, this thing had effortlessly blocked an attack infused with his full power just by appearing.
[Adelaine.] "Aaah—! My Lord! This humble servant greets her master!"
[It seems a troublesome fool has gotten involved.] "I-I'm sorry! It's because of my own shortcomings...!"
A resonant voice spread out, heavy presence crushing the surroundings.
The Scribe paid no attention to Harris, kneeling before the entity and bowing her head repeatedly.
Even though it was just a fragment projected from him, not the Reverse Heaven Leader himself.
[I'm sorry, but the timing isn't right now. Holy power damage has made Earth's interference stronger than ever.] "I have no excuses, my Lord. This is another trial laid upon me. I shall overcome it and prove my worth!"
[Hmm...] The human form made of holy power—the Reverse Heaven Leader's thought projection—turned its head toward Harris.
Toward the suspicious foreigner surrounded by spirits, on high alert in his odd attire.
'...Does it recognize me?'
Harris swallowed, cautiously scanning the situation.
He'd played a role in the previous battle in Outerica, so it wouldn't be strange if the Leader knew him.
Even if they'd never faced off directly—only long-range sniping—the Leader's level could identify foes by aura alone.
[Maintaining the projection is reaching its limit. Not much time left.] But contrary to his fears, it showed no particular reaction.
Whether it was just hiding it or constrained as a projection, he couldn't tell.
The entity looked down at the Scribe worshipping it and continued solemnly.
[Adelaine, my apostle. I grant thee a spirit body. Slay the one obstructing the Great Renovation with your own hands and offer their soul and flesh as sacrifice.] "Aaah! Thank you for your grace, my Lord!"
Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the form dissolved into light in an instant, absorbed into her kneeling body.
With his saint-level knowledge of holy power, Harris instantly recognized what it meant.
'Spirit Descent?'
The Scribe was a priest who revered the Reverse Heaven Leader as a god and his direct apostle, receiving power from him.
Her holy power exploded in quantity and quality, boiling fiercely as only a select few high priests could perform the ritual.
"Aaah! I feel the Lord with me! Glory and holiness eternal!"
A powerful wave spread outward, and the holy armor cladding her body ignited with lava-like heat.
Harris winced at the drastically changed aura.
'No wonder it didn't seem like it'd end easily. Phase 2, huh?'
Influenced by the ritual, her holy power surged to three or four times its previous level in both amount and quality.
Just the holy power alone was that much; her overall combat prowess, including other abilities, would be far greater.
Entering spirit descent state, the Scribe was becoming a foe even Harris couldn't guarantee victory against.
However—there was one crucial difference between games and reality...
'Now!'
He wasn't a courteous enemy who'd politely wait for her transformation to finish.
Wuuung—
Harris's star-shaped pupils glowed as Observer of the Milky Way caught the opening in the spirit descent ritual.
Of course, it was blatant enough to show openly, meaning the ritual had solid protections, but that wasn't enough to fully fool Harris's expertise in holy power.
Gooo—
Heir of the World Tree, Nature Assimilation, Call of Nature, Nature Body, Fairy Spellcraft, Melody of Harmony, and even Formless Eight Trigrams Flying Steps (Modified).
All his abilities converged, and the power he'd secretly gathered since the Leader's appearance—biding his time for this moment—unleashed in a torrent.
———!
Toward the Scribe, who hadn't finished preparing yet.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Hectar!"
Kururung!
With Harris's shout, a massive stone wall erupted from the ground.
Not mere rock, but infused with nature's energy—hard enough to resist even gold without a scratch.
It grew rapidly, blocking one figure's path.
Kwaaang!
But it shattered under the assault of a massive hammer soon after.
It had only briefly grabbed the foe's ankle, as initially hoped.
'Tougher than expected. The formation limits my mobility too.'
Harris clicked his tongue, frowning as he retreated while ceaselessly firing arrows to keep pressure on his target.
Toward the female warrior charging like a tank, spewing crimson light—the Scribe.
Shiiik—! Kyaak!
Kuung! Kwaang!
Lightning from the sky was blocked by her shield, flames devouring the area pushed back by hammer gusts.
Even razor-sharp wind blades merely scraped her sturdy armor.
Wrapped in sunset glow, silently piercing all obstacles and advancing—it was the very image of a heavenly divine warrior.
'Tch, still more manageable than I first thought...'
And that was all thanks to the full-power ambush striking during the ritual.
As expected, the ritual was protected by immense divinity, but it couldn't completely ignore a premeditated killing blow slammed down from the start.
If it had ended there, that would've been ideal, but expecting that much was greedy.
"How dare you! How dare you! I'll kill you, you heretic!"
But the opponent clearly didn't see it that way.
Her polite speech gone, veins bulging across her face as she spat crude threats—Harris shook his head.
"Why not calm down a bit? That can't be good for your health..."
"Disrupting a sacred ritual! I'll burn you alive and offer you as a burnt sacrifice to the Lord!"
"No, I thought you were confident since you ignored me standing right here and proceeded openly. There's a limit to negligence—if it was that important, you should've done it somewhere secure with better security..."
"Shut up! Shut your mouth! I'll rip out that tongue!"
Pointing out facts and complaining about unfair treatment fell on deaf ears; her face twisted in rage, eyes rolled back like a demon.
Well, provoking her had been the main goal anyway.
'This is problematic. Taking longer than expected. Spirit descent has a time limit too, but...'
The issue was the timeout for this operation arriving before the descent even finished.
Objectively, he was just a terrorist attacking Pantheon's leadership.
Even the delay so far was quite burdensome.
'I've hidden traces as best as possible with the nature energy formation.'
But it couldn't last forever.
Either cumulative shocks would collapse the formation from within, or external searches would expose it—either way, things would fall apart soon.
Guardians from America storming in right now wouldn't be surprising.
'...Can't let that happen. Miss this golden chance, and who knows when another will come.'
Unlike the shadowy Regulator or the duke and Doctor lured into traps, the Scribe operated openly—as a leader in the religious giant Pantheon.
If she hunkered down under public protection after sensing the threat, even he couldn't touch her recklessly.
It could sour public opinion and sow needless division among allies who needed to unite.
"I beseech thee, my Lord! Grant me the power to judge this heretic blocking the path of Renovation!"
At that moment, the Scribe finally broke through the barrage, swinging her massive hammer at Harris.
The formation's Dimensional Barrier Mitigation had eased restrictions on the spirits somewhat, but not enough to suppress her fully amped momentum.
Holy power was inherently a higher energy to begin with.
Kyaeeaak!
"Hup!"
"Urk? What...!"
But the hurtling warhammer never struck its target.
Before its destructive arc could fully unleash, Harris's oddly extended hand twisted its trajectory naturally.
Kuung!
The hammer smashed empty ground instead.
Dodging the erupting sunset holy power from the cracking, upheaving earth, he retreated with a grimace.
Rubbing his wrist—the one that had deflected the blow.
'...Heavy. Even deflecting with utmost softness technique.'
Until now, he'd mainly used it to aid nature power and spirits, but Formless Eight Trigrams Flying Steps (Modified) was undeniably a martial art.
An S-rank comprehensive masterpiece, arguably the pinnacle of this world's martial arts.
Having tasted martial principles through Hugo's All Flows Return to One, applying it was trivial.
'Efficiency drops a bit, though.'
More than that, this turn of events only firmed his resolve.
Even under constraints, she showed this much power.
Letting her live would guarantee future backlash.
"You're dodging nimbly. But how long can you keep it up?"
Her head cooling from the last attack, the rampaging Scribe spoke calmly, reverting to her initial polite facade.
She frowned thoughtfully, then shook her head with a smirk.
As if it no longer mattered.
"Anyway, it's over now. Barrier mysteries have limits, no matter how much effort you put in. Tougher than expected, so it took a bit."
Harris's expression hardened at her confident demeanor.
As she said, cumulative shocks had shaken the formation, causing major cracks.
He'd poured full power into repairs right after detecting it, but security's value vanishes with one breach, no matter a hundred successes prior.
"At most ten minutes left. By then, Pantheon and Guardian elites will seal the area and swarm in. Shame I can't crush you myself right now... but it's just a slight delay."
Finishing with a radiant smile, the Scribe—cloaked in red-tinged holy power—uttered chilling words casually.
Less apostle of god, more devil's minion.
"At most ten minutes...?"
Harris, unphased by such threats, glanced around and nodded lightly before continuing slowly.
"A bit tight... but yeah, that should be enough."
"...Ha?"
Her face twisted at his nonchalant reply.
Quickly dismissing it as bluff, she regained composure with a sneer.
Arrogant eyes gleaming coldly from twisted lips.
But unfortunately.
It was neither bluff nor overconfidence.
And why not—
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Entity Rally "Kahaha! Been a while! Wanted to take it slow and enjoy, but no time—such a shame!"
"...Better leave some margin. Finish in five minutes."
He truly had something to rely on.
The ancient tradition passed down through generations to the heroes of justice.