Chapter 53
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: In the Name of the Evil God (5)
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- Fanatic has died.
- Karma acquisition from faith will be slightly reduced.
Even now, messages continued to pop up, announcing the deaths of my followers.
I moved the screen around, searching for the source of the trouble.
Yutenia. Estacia. Evan. And Loan.
Shifting the view sequentially, I quickly identified where the incident was taking place.
The Order's headquarters, located at the entrance to the mountain range.
A battle was raging there between the Order and another faction.
- "You filthy dogs of the empire! As long as I live, you will never set foot in this place!"
From a building where followers of the Order lay fallen, Loan shouted thunderously, holding the Magic Sword: Ednos.
In front of him stood characters in matching uniforms.
Perhaps they had been struck down by Loan's magic.
Nearly half of the uniformed characters appeared to be incapacitated.
It seemed he had already unleashed several spells on his opponents.
- "You're Loan Hebriss, aren't you?"
- "That's right. I am Loan Hebriss, Archbishop of the Order."
- "Haven't you already cast eight spells? You must be low on mana. It would be wise to give up and surrender peacefully."
The man who appeared to be the leader of the uniformed characters spoke, pointing his sword.
What the leader said was true.
The Magic Sword: Ednos that Loan possessed could only store a maximum of ten spells.
If he had already used eight, he would only have two left.
In contrast, half of the uniformed characters were still standing.
Despite this, Loan was holding his ground, blocking the entrance.
- "The Great One is watching over us. I will overcome this trial and uphold His will!"
- "Just as expected of a member of the Order. Every last one of you is insane."
- "Come at me, if you don't value your lives!"
I finally understood the situation.
While I was away, these uniformed characters had attacked the Order.
Currently, all the Apostles were away from the headquarters.
This meant that if another faction attacked, Loan was the only one with any real fighting power.
I sighed, looking at the screen as the situation became increasingly tangled.
I had been so focused on expansion that I had failed to properly defend my main base.
"Ha so this isn't just an idle game, it's a tower defense game too."
The monsters that used to periodically visit Yutenia had now targeted the Order instead of an Apostle.
I thought I could just let the characters be, but it seemed leaving them completely unattended risked annihilation.
My complacent judgment, failing to consider the game's rising difficulty, was the problem.
I couldn't watch the game 247, but I should have at least left enough forces for defense.
A deep anger boiled within me as I looked at the intruders who had killed the followers of the Order.
"How dare they touch my precious Karma source?"
The followers of the Order are valuable characters who provide me with a steady supply of Karma.
They might offer useless items from time to time, but they were the ones who regularly made offerings at the altar.
To kill such precious followers.
It was unforgivable.
I watched a character draw his sword and charge toward Loan.
Now, it was time to make a mere AI pay the price for defying a human.
"You're dead now."
Press.
I tapped the skill icon and moved the target to Loan.
The skill I activated was Barrier.
It was to protect Loan and the followers from the enemy's attack.
Just as the character closed in on Loan and was about to swing his sword.
I tapped the target, activating the Barrier spell.
- Barrier has been used.
A translucent barrier materialized, separating Loan from his opponent.
Given its size, one might mistake it for a ward rather than a simple barrier.
Clang! Kang!
The leader character swung his sword several times at the ward blocking his path.
But no matter how many times he swung, the barrier I had erected did not break.
A speech bubble appeared, the character's face filled with bewilderment at the barrier before him.
- "You were hiding a spell like this!"
- "O Great One!"
- "Don't worry. I'll shatter it soon enough and send you to your Great One's side."
The more I watched, the more this character got on my nerves.
Was it right to grant such a person an ordinary death?
No matter how I thought about it, that alone wouldn't be enough to quell my accumulated anger.
Annoyed by the sight of this irritating fellow, I tapped a skill at the bottom of the screen.
I had chosen a moderately powerful spell from my arsenal.
- Lightning has been used.
KRA-KOOM!
With a roar of thunder, a bolt of lightning struck down on the leader's head.
Kaang. Kang.
Was it because he was an elite monster, one I hadn't seen in a while?
He was deflecting the lightning crashing down on him with his sword.
But even if he blocked this attack, it was meaningless.
My reason for using the Lightning spell was to break his defense from the very beginning.
"Go ahead, block with all you've got. I'll keep firing."
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
I moved my finger, continuously pressing the skill button.
It was a rapid-fire skill technique I had acquired through long hours of play.
In proportion to my rapidly moving finger, messages scrolled up from the bottom of the screen.
- Lightning has been used.
- Lightning has been used.
- Lightning has been used.
- Lightning has been used.
- Lightning has been used.
KRA-KOOM! KRA-KA-KOOM! KRA-KA-THOOOM!
The sound of thunder repeatedly blasted from the speakers.
Simultaneously, as lightning rained down like machine-gun fire, the leader character frantically swung his sword.
Kang! Kang! Kaaang!
The falling lightning bolts were deflected one after another.
It was skillful swordsmanship, as if to prove he was an elite monster.
Watching him swing his sword to the sound of thunder felt like playing a rhythm game to the beat.
KRA-KOOM! Kang! KRA-KOOM! Kang! Kang!
After deflecting dozens of bolts.
His defense, honed to its limit, seemed to be reaching its breaking point, as the AI made a mistake.
He tried to deflect an off-beat lightning strike and ended up taking a direct hit.
- "Keoheok!"
The leader character flinched after being hit by Lightning.
Of course, I didn't miss the opening and used the Lightning spell several more times.
KRA-KOOM! KRA-KA-KOOM!
Hit by consecutive bolts, the character froze completely in place.
It seemed he was afflicted with a status effect from being repeatedly struck.
The moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived.
"Hoo Now it begins for real."
Only then did I stop my finger from casting the Lightning spell.
I placed my smartphone on the table and rested the fingers of both hands on the screen.
What I was about to do.
It was this game's basic attack, something I hadn't used in a long time.
Bringing my fingers to the character, I began to tap him repeatedly with both hands.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of tapping echoed as the smartphone on the table shook.
Regardless, I kept my fingers moving frantically.
To release the pent-up frustration of losing my followers.
And to completely blow off all the stress that had built up.
"It would be wise to give up and surrender peacefully."
The standoff continued at the entrance of the Order's main building.
There, Agent stood with his sword aimed at Loan.
He had thought he could break through quickly, but the fierce resistance from Loan and the other followers was prolonging the stalemate.
Moreover, the surprise spells Loan launched were incredibly dangerous.
More than half of Cloud's investigators were already incapacitated by Loan's magic.
Even an Archbishop couldn't use magic indefinitely, but if the battle dragged on, Cloud's casualties would only worsen.
For Agent, it was imperative to end this battle as quickly as possible.
"The Great One is watching over us. I will overcome this trial and uphold His will!"
However, Loan remained resolute.
Other followers had thrown their lives at him, but this Archbishop displayed an even more fanatical faith.
It was a sight that made it clear why he held the position of Archbishop.
Agent clicked his tongue at Loan's continued resistance.
This was what made fanatics so troublesome.
"Just as expected of a member of the Order. Every last one of you is insane."
"Come at me, if you don't value your lives!"
This time, Loan leveled a dagger at Agent, issuing a threat.
He was saying that anyone who approached should be prepared to be struck by magic.
Hearing Loan's words, Agent tilted his sword.
Even if Cloud's forces had taken heavy damage, he couldn't retreat now.
If he didn't finish this mission, more people would die than the number already lost.
He had to completely eradicate the enemy's base while he had the chance.
'Looks like I'll have to break through myself.'
Gauging the distance to Loan, Agent calculated the trajectory for a sword swing.
Even he couldn't block the magic Loan fired.
Any spell cast at point-blank range had to be dodged, not blocked.
Step.
Taking a step forward, Agent raised his sword and looked at Loan.
And in the instant Loan blinked.
Agent's body shot forward.
"Damn it!"
Loan, who had been watching Agent, tried to cast a spell, but by then, Agent was already right in front of him.
At close range, Loan's and Agent's gazes clashed.
Loan's face was painted with bewilderment, and Agent's sword was imbued with a blue aura.
An aura-enhanced attack cannot be fully blocked.
Either get hit, or attack at the same time.
Loan had only two options left.
"Die."
Agent's sword flashed through the air.
Seeing Agent so close, Loan also moved his dagger.
It seemed he intended to unleash an electric shock at point-blank range, even at the risk of being caught in it himself.
Crackle. Sizzle.
The sword in Loan's hand was wreathed in lightning.
But Agent's sword was a fraction of a second faster.
Just as Agent's sword swung toward Loan's neck.
A translucent wall erected itself, blocking Agent's sword.
"!"
Clang!
Agent's aura-infused sword collided with the barrier that had appeared out of nowhere.
His full-power swing blocked, Agent frowned and retracted his sword.
Loan had clearly been panicking from his attack.
And yet, to create a barrier of this strength in that short moment.
It was a skill that astonished Agent.
"You were hiding a spell like this!"
Agent exclaimed in admiration for Loan.
He might be a follower of some insane evil god, but Loan was a formidable mage.
Of course, even while marveling, Agent's sword was moving to cut through the barrier.
No defense is impenetrable against an aura-enhanced attack.
If he kept striking, this barrier would eventually fall.
"O Great One!"
"Don't worry. I'll shatter it soon enough and send you to your Great One's side."
After promising death to Loan, who was crying out to his evil god, Agent powerfully swung his sword.
No, he was about to.
Just as he was about to swing, Agent sensed something and quickly retreated.
From the sky where he had been standing, an immense amount of mana was pouring out.
The shimmering, heat-haze-like mana of lightning began to coalesce into a single form.
"This is"
It wasn't Loan's magic.
This was a much more powerful and dense mana.
Watching the spell form in the air, Agent raised his sword.
This was dangerous magic. A direct hit would not leave him unscathed.
KRA-KOOM!
As the lightning fell toward him, Agent swung his aura-infused sword.
'Heavy.'
A heavy sensation traveled up Agent's arm as he deflected the lightning.
He could block it a few times, but he wasn't confident he could handle a continuous barrage of such attacks.
It was fortunate that only one lightning bolt had fallen.
Just as Agent was processing the lingering sensation in his hand.
KRA-KA-THOOOM.
Another lightning bolt began to fall from above his head.
'Another one?'
Agent swung his sword at the lightning again.
But this attack felt different.
No sooner had he deflected the bolt than another one struck down.
KRA-KOOM! Kaang!
When Agent deflected the next bolt with his sword, another one fell from the sky.
Faced with the continuous lightning strikes, Agent sensed that something was terribly wrong.
'He can unleash attacks like this repeatedly?'
KRA-KOOM! Kang! KRA-KOOM! Kang! Kang!
Agent parried the ceaselessly falling lightning with his sword.
At first, he could see and deflect them, but at some point, he had to rely on instinct alone.
The interval between attacks had become too fast for him to handle.
After deflecting dozens of lightning bolts from the sky.
Agent, who had been swinging his sword while maintaining the rhythm, failed to deflect a bolt.
"Keoheok!"
KRA-KOOM!
A sharp bolt of lightning tore through Agent's body.
As Agent, struck by lightning, struggled to hold onto his sword, another bolt fell from the sky.
KRA-KOOM! KRA-KA-KOOM!
Agent's body began to convulse, electrocuted by the direct hit.
Though he had a high resistance to mana, even that couldn't completely nullify the damage from the lightning.
"Ugh Uuugh"
Thud.
The strength completely drained from Agent's hand holding the sword.
His electrocuted hand refused to grip it any longer.
At the same time, the strength left his legs.
His weakened legs refused to walk, and his body fell backward.
Thump.
Lying on the ground, Agent's gaze turned to the empty sky.
'Who on earth cast that spell?'
No matter how he thought about it, there were no mages nearby who could have used such magic against him.
Even the Archbishop Loan had shown no signs of casting a spell.
And yet, powerful magic continued to rain down from the sky.
For Agent, who was well-versed in mages, it was an incomprehensible phenomenon.
Of course, it didn't take long for him to understand the reason.
Right after the lightning strikes on him had ceased.
From beyond, a colossal presence revealed itself to him.
"Ah."
An overwhelming presence.
A massive aura, unthinkable for a mere human, emanated from the sky.
A being that the eyes of a lowly creature were not even permitted to behold properly.
Such a being was now moving before Agent.
The immense presence crushing his body made Agent feel as if he couldn't breathe.
Facing this otherworldly being, all Agent could do was let out a groan.
"Aah."
Why did Loan call him the Great One?
Agent finally understood.
The being was beyond the measure of human perception.
A being great by its very existence, a being that should be revered simply for being born.
The world had only one name for such a being.
A god.
The Evil God from another dimension was moving to punish Agent.
"Aaaah."
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Agent's heart began to pound violently at the approaching form of the god.
He could not resist.
And he could not defy.
This being was the world's rule, its truth, its natural order.
A mere human had blasphemed a great god, and now it was time to pay the price.
As the pressure grew even more immense, Agent closed his eyes.
A moment later, immense pain spread throughout his entire body.
"Ah Aaaah Aaaaaaaargh!"
A scream burst from Agent's lips as the pressure pummeled his entire body.
The agony continued until Agent lost consciousness.