Chapter 237: Escape (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 237: Escape (4)
Alon exhaled a calm breath and looked ahead once more.
Atop the canyon, soldiers stood with bows, spears, and various armaments, ready to rain them down at any moment.
Monsters with unnaturally long limbs clung to the cliffs, drooling.
And blocking the path ahead was a crowd of believers so vast it made one sigh in weary disbelief.
That wasn't all.
As if to demonstrate that he still had strength to spare, the red stalks Rumurpa controlled—which were currently held at bay by Line’s Golden Tube—had begun to swallow the entire canyon.
“Uuuugh...”
“Ah...”
What followed was a vicious cycle.
Fear bred despair, and despair bred lamentation.
It spread, weaving despair and lamentation into the hearts of the people, which in turn birthed more fear.
That endless loop stripped away the hope of everyone present.
Exactly as those standing before them desired.
“....”
Alon assessed the situation with cold detachment.
In this state, breaking through that absurdly large army to escape toward the Allied Forces was practically impossible.
If the enemies ahead were at the same level as those he had faced at the sacrificial altar, it might have been feasible.
But these were no mere rabble.
They can wield divine power.
The unpleasant divine power wafting from the soldiers made it clear.
They were on a completely different level from anyone he had faced before.
And that wasn't the only problem.
...Apostles.
Alon frowned as he looked at the two Apostles standing at the front.
The two, their faces flushed with ecstasy, were clear targets of caution.
One had already revealed his abilities, but the other’s power remained unknown.
In other words, even if Alon were to go on a rampage alone, the probability of escape was low.
Even if he managed to take down the Apostles, he couldn't possibly eliminate every single soldier here.
Therefore, a change was needed.
A change that could overturn the current situation.
And for that change, hope was required once more.
“....”
Alon turned his gaze back.
The first thing he saw was Ryanga, standing with a stiff expression.
Next was Nangwon, holding his sister’s hand.
Behind Ar, who was also trembling, he saw the soldiers sinking into despair.
Watching them, Alon’s lips twitched.
Ten thousand different words to rouse their fighting spirit flickered through his mind before vanishing.
What should he say?
What kind of story should he tell?
How could he break this chain of despair?
In a span of time shorter than a heartbeat.
Alon pondered, pondered, and pondered again.
“...Rangban.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll leave it to you.”
In the end, he made his choice.
“Pardon?”
He chose to say nothing at all.
Instead—
Crackle!
—He would show them.
Without answering Rangban, who asked back in confusion, Alon simply stepped forward, drawing upon his divinity.
Zap, crackle—!!!
His black coat surged with lightning, and simultaneously, the ashen world was dyed in a brilliant blue flash.
Two horns sprouted from his head.
Thunder dwelled within his black eyes.
What stood there at last was the God of Thunder, the one who had saved the demi-humans from crisis time and time again.
But Alon knew.
This was not enough.
It wasn't enough to dispel the despair of the soldiers behind him.
Nor was it enough to wipe out the believers of Baarma, who were already preparing to attack in response to Alon’s transformation.
That was why.
“Whew.”
Alon took it one step further.
SCREECH—!!!!!
As Alon draped himself in lightning, the monsters shrieked sharply and lunged toward the soldiers.
In response, Penia activated a large-scale Shield, creating a barrier.
The monsters were slammed back by the wall.
However, only the main force was protected within that barrier.
Alon, who had already stepped out in front of Baarma’s army, was beyond the reach of the Shield and naturally exposed to danger.
SCREECH—!!!
Realizing this, the monsters quickly turned and pounced toward Alon, reaching point-blank range in an instant.
At that moment.
“Severe Cold—”
Alon flicked a finger.
C-C-Crack—!!!!
Black mana erupted from Alon’s gauntlets, and a frost-like chill began to howl around him.
It was the magic Alon always deployed when fighting powerful foes.
A spell he had created to stand upon the ‘Land of Severe Cold,’ originally intended to compensate for the loss of magical abilities due to his constraints.
But it was different now.
KRA-KOOM—!!!!
Blue lightning exploded from the unfolding cold, electrocuting the monsters surrounding Alon and killing them instantly.
SCREECH—!!!!
A horrific scream rang out.
But the monsters who had already entered the domain of the Severe Cold were helplessly reduced to black ash.
“...! All units, attack!”
Rumurpa, watching the scene, shouted urgently.
In that instant, six hands manifested behind Alon’s back.
As the believers, following the Apostle’s command, rushed forward simultaneously to kill Alon.
Snap—
The first Ice Seal formed a hand seal.
The first thing Alon had gained from his research with Penia after obtaining his divinity was Transformation.
The second Ice Seal formed a hand seal.
But Transformation wasn't the result Alon had originally sought.
That was merely something he had stumbled upon by chance; Alon’s original research objective was something else entirely.
Soon, the third Ice Seal followed.
It was the study of using magic while clad in divinity.
After devoting a vast amount of time to that research, Alon had finally reached a conclusion after arriving here.
The fourth Ice Seal.
The fact that magic used while clad in divinity takes on the properties of that divinity.
“....”
Alon looked ahead.
The believers, having reached him on the Apostle’s orders, had already raised their weapons to take his head.
Hundreds of monsters launched from the cliffs, leaping toward him while trampling the charred corpses of their kin.
Beings steeped in fanaticism, glaring with bloodshot, horrifying eyes.
Yet, even amidst that, Alon created the fifth Ice Seal and looked up at the sky.
In the sky were dark clouds, dyeing the ashen world even darker.
Clouds he had created.
Magic imbued with the properties of divinity.
And.
The moment the sixth Ice Seal formed its hand seal.
Transformation.
Hand Ice Seal, Six Knots.
Thunder Ice.
With Alon’s murmur, a thunderbolt crashed down.
C-C-C-Crack—!
A thunderbolt that imprisoned everything.
* * *
Rangban was feeling despair.
No, it wasn't just him.
Everyone present was feeling it.
It was only natural.
The enemy army easily overwhelmed their own numbers, and above all, there were Apostles here.
Apostles of Baarma.
Irrational beings who could face hundreds of Allied soldiers alone and even stand against the gods of the Union—and there were two of them.
Rangban thought it was all over.
No matter how strong Alon was, facing two Apostles was close to impossible.
That was why he despaired.
...Until the world was split in half.
“Wha— what...?”
Rangban muttered unconsciously as he looked ahead.
There stood a massive Ice Flower, created by the thunderbolt.
“....”
He then looked up with a dazed expression.
The colossal lightning that had fallen from the sky did not vanish; it maintained its form, splitting the world in two.
That wasn't all.
Inside that Ice Flower were the numerous believers who, until a moment ago, had been charging with ferocious momentum.
And it wasn't just the believers.
One of the Apostles, who had been brimming with confidence just seconds before, was also trapped within the Ice Flower, his expression frozen in confusion.
And in front of it all,
“....”
A man stood.
A fluttering black coat, lips pressed firmly together.
A man who simply maintained his silence—
No, the figure of a god.
“Ah...”
Triggered by someone’s gasp of awe, everyone’s eyes simultaneously converged on the man.
The man who stood arrogantly, having split the world into left and right.
Looking at his back, fear and despair were no longer found in the soldiers' eyes.
The terror that had dominated them was now—
“Aaaaaagh—!!!”
Unlike the Apostle trapped in the Ice Flower, Rumurpa had barely managed to escape the lightning’s range, but he had lost his entire right arm.
His vivid scream reached the ears of—
“!!”
“This... this is impossible—”
—the believers, and the terror transferred to them.
The faces of the believers, who had been ecstatic at the thought of hunting the demi-humans, were now stained with horror.
Fear spread among the soldiers who had been rushing to kill Alon.
The momentum created by their eerie fanaticism began to evaporate.
Watching this, Rangban—
“!”
—finally realized.
The meaning behind the words Alon had uttered earlier: ‘I’ll leave it to you.’
A smile bloomed on Rangban’s lips.
He gripped the sword in his hand tightly.
As if his body, which had been as heavy as waterlogged cotton from grief, had been a lie, his hand grasped the hilt with more strength than ever before.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!!”
Rangban’s thunderous roar echoed.
At this, the soldiers who had been staring blankly at Alon’s back snapped out of it and picked up their weapons in unison.
Fear was no longer on their faces.
Despair could not be felt.
Lamentation was the same.
Instead.
A different emotion dwelled in everyone’s eyes.
Hope.
Unmistakable hope was shining clearly.
“Comrades! Raise your weapons!”
Rangban shouted once more, raising his sword-hand high.
His steadfast gaze looked firmly at those standing beside him.
Hope calls to hope.
The weapons held with resolve.
The resolute eyes looking at the fear-stricken believers.
They shared hope with one another.
“Do not be afraid!!”
At his words, courage welled up in everyone’s eyes.
“For we have—”
And finally—
C-C-C-C-Crack—!!!!
The moment the Ice Flower that had imprisoned the Apostle and the believers—the one that had split the world—shattered, scattering pure white snow.
They saw it.
The ice, exploding as it tore through the sky, pushed back the ashen clouds and allowed the light through.
A sight they hadn't seen in so long.
Brilliant sunlight.
And seeing Alon’s silhouette against that radiant sun,
“God is with us!!”
Rangban’s roar, loud enough to tear his throat, resounded.
──────────────—!!!!!!!!
Letting out a cry like thunder, the soldiers began to surge toward the believers.
With the symbol of hope held deep within their hearts.