Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Salasma's Darkness 7
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Finding the replica of the New King's Scripture was great, but this grimoire was alive in its own right. The unholy and wicked could not touch it carelessly.
"Damn it. What kind of grimoire is this? Power of the Yaegas divine clan? This thing!"
At that moment, squeaking erupted from the entrance to the wine cellar. Azadin had entered.
*********
-Squeak, squeak...
A wave of rats surged toward Azadin.
"Oh, crap!"
Azadin saw the rats swarming like a wave and leaped nimbly onto a wine barrel. The rats tried to climb up and attack, but Azadin unslung the Moon Antler Bow from his waist. He didn't fully string it—just half.
He drew the string and released it against the bow body, sending the string whipping out like a lash that swept across the barrel. The rats crawling up were shredded and flung away by the string.
-Snap!
The sound of a whipcrack rang out as the rats were swept aside.
"It's damaging the string... but this isn't the time to worry about that!"
He kept whipping the string to strike the rats, killing every one that tried to climb up.
"Hmm... stand down. You can't kill that one with these."
At the fallen holy knight's command, the rats ceased their attack.
"You're a Herald! From the Herald Clan!"
Azadin eyed the man dressed in Salvation Knights attire.
"Are you a fallen holy knight? From the Salvation Knights?"
"Fallen? Ha, haha. Fallen? This is just serving the true gods at last. Not those false archangels!"
"False archangels?"
Azadin scowled. For a former Salvation Knight holy knight to say such a thing right in front of someone who believed in the Three Great Archangels—it felt like an unbearable insult.
"Yeah. They say believing in the archangels grants you white mana? All bullshit. The angels are already dead, and their corpses hold no power. The Salvation Knights are just a massive scam!"
The holy knight said this while pointing to his surcoat. It bore the Salvation Knights' emblem overlaid with Mezzeri's symbol in blood.
"The Kurt divine clan—they're the true gods. Their era is coming! The Yaegas divine clan, weakened by mixing their blood with humans, can't handle it. When the true gods rule this world, we, their apostles, will become the new nobility and govern this land!"
"So that's why you became Mezzeri's apostle, harming people? Pathetic. A true holy knight practices the virtues of wisdom, mercy, and courage. Of course you can't wield the Salvation Knights' power. You've never even come close to those virtues."
Azadin condemned the holy knight, which clearly struck a nerve this time.
"You dare lecture me on the Salvation Knights' faith? You soulless blasphemer?"
"In this situation, you should be worrying more about your own soul."
"What a joker."
As the holy knight raised his chin, several shadows climbed onto the barrels. Wererats, their bodies swollen with grotesque tumors.
"Mezzeri's kin, huh."
Azadin restrapped the Moon Antler Bow to his waist and switched his weapon to the halberd head. The holy knight sneered.
"You've pissed me off, but you seem to have decent skill. Coming this far, handling those rats earlier... How about it? Join us and serve the true gods this time?"
The holy knight tried to recruit Azadin. But Azadin rejected him outright.
"Sorry, but I believe in the Three Great Archangels."
"......"
The fallen holy knight's expression was quite the sight.
An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment.
"Why?"
"Wait a second. You're serious? You, a soulless blasphemer, claim to hold the Salvation Knights' faith?"
The fallen holy knight was shocked by Azadin's words. He'd seen plenty of fanatics claiming to believe in the Salvation Knights' faith before. But he'd never met one with genuine conviction.
And now this Herald clansman was claiming the same.
"Yeah."
"You're insane! Didn't you hear me? The Three Great Archangels are dead—they have no power! The holy knights in the Salvation Knights who can use any magic at all are originally Yaegas divine clan! Nothing but nobles!"
"Whether they have power or not isn't the point. It's whether their virtues hold beauty."
"But you, to begin with..."
The Herald clan were those who had committed the sin of killing Yaegas divine clan. That was why all of Hybris persecuted them.
And from that position, he sought virtues and beauty?
"The Three Great Archangels are powerless, and the Salvation Knights are frauds. I'm speaking from experience. That faith only betrayed me!"
"Doesn't matter. Even if the Three Great Archangels are powerless, I've already received salvation in advance. So the faith can't betray me. I'm just afraid I might betray the faith."
Azadin said this and assumed a stance.
"You're truly mad. You have some skill, but whatever. You're just annoying. Die!"
The holy knight valued Azadin's skill highly, but his displeasure with the man's convictions outweighed any admiration for it.
Mezzeri's kin, the plague-ridden ones, lunged at Azadin. The rats climbed the barrels again to attack as well. But even as enemies swarmed from all sides, Azadin calmly said,
"One piece of advice."
He moved toward the Mezzeri kin and plague-ridden ones climbing the barrels to attack him.
"In terrain like this, I'm overwhelmingly favored!"
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Azadin kicked a "Mezzeri's plague-ridden" one full-force, like punting a ball. The climber's head exploded, and its body tumbled backward off the barrel. Azadin seemed about to fall under the barrel with his momentum...
But he leaped, grabbed a support pillar that kept the barrels steady, spun around it, and landed on another barrel.
A plague-ridden one leaped after Azadin, bounding from barrel to barrel in pursuit, but Azadin spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to it mid-air.
-Thud!
Azadin's roundhouse struck the airborne plague-ridden one's leg, spinning it like a top in the air. It crashed headfirst into a barrel and flopped over upside down.
Rats clambered up the barrels to attack, but Azadin dashed across them, dodging the rats. He unclasped his cloak, gripped it, and swung it wide while sliding. A clump of rats got caught in the cloak.
Azadin clutched the cloak like a sack, slammed it against the floor, then whipped it open again. The impact killed the rats inside, and their bodies rained out like projectiles.
"Ugh..."
"Am... amazing..."
Mezzeri's plague-ridden were so far gone with disease they could barely speak. Even they couldn't help but marvel at Azadin's feats.
His movements, effectively using the terrain to repel enemies, were almost exhilarating.
"Insane bastard. But his skill is incredible."
The holy knight was appalled by Azadin's astonishing display.
On the wine barrels that even normal people struggled to navigate, this Herald clansman ran freely, toying with the climbing plague-ridden by exploiting the terrain.
"Ah..."
"Incredible. So this is an emperor's herald."
Among the bound captives, those still conscious marveled at Azadin's exploits.
Mezzeri's kin, the plague-ridden, were granted speeds far surpassing normal wererats by their madness-inducing disease, making them not just fast but strong as well. And anyone they touched would succumb to a deadly plague.
But they had to reach him first.
No matter how much faster than regular wererats they were, accelerating recklessly on the barrels would make their feet slip into gaps or send them tumbling below. Yet Azadin toyed with them effortlessly—kicking them under barrels, slicing ankles with the halberd head, and hurling them down.
"Hm?"
The holy knight looked up as the light flickered. The glow from the New King's Scripture replica's pages on the cellar ceiling wavered.
'It's chosen that one! Impossible. A Yaegas divine clan's grimoire acknowledging someone with their blood on his hands?'
But thinking the other way around, it was a good thing.
'Killing him will let me claim the New King's Scripture replica.'
The grimoire's resistance to becoming his property was squeezing out the mana stored within it.
If it chose a new master here—the Herald clansman—as its vessel, that resistance would inevitably weaken. Killing the Herald clansman would weaken the replica's resistance, making it easier to seize the grimoire then.
"Guess I can't let you keep running wild anymore."
The holy knight drew his sword and stood. The swarm of rats below gathered at his feet.
-Kiriririk!
The rats moved in perfect unison, lifting the holy knight up to barrel height.
"Huh?"
Azadin was startled by the sight.
"I'll show you the power of Mezzeri's apostles!"
As the holy knight raised his sword, an ominous black aura rippled along the blade.
"Hup!"
Azadin hurled something—a broken arrowhead. Arrowheads he'd snapped off earlier to start the fire when entering the building. He threw them like daggers, but the holy knight scoffed and swung his sword.
A black storm surged toward Azadin, sweeping away the arrowheads.
"Oh no!"
Azadin dove aside to dodge. Because of it, another person—bound and hanging from the ceiling—took a direct hit from the black storm.
"Gaaah! Uwaaaaaah!"
Vitality drained from him, his body shriveling dry. He was a man with some meat on his bones, but now he looked suddenly ten years older, as if time had accelerated just for him.
"Dodged it, eh? Wise choice!"
Riding the wave of rats, the holy knight pursued Azadin, swinging his sword. Each swing birthed a black gale targeting Azadin.
"Urk!"
Azadin dodged the black gale, but realized then that the people behind him would take the hits.
"Hang on!"
Azadin kicked backward, shoving the hanging person aside to let him evade the black gale. In this crisis, he wasn't just saving himself—he was rescuing the sacrificial victims too.
"Impressive! Do you really believe in the angels? A Herald clansman trying to save people!"
"Shut up! Is saving people that weird?"
Azadin threw another arrowhead, striking the holy knight. But it didn't pierce his plate armor. No matter how strong Azadin's throws, a mere arrowhead from an unsteady perch couldn't penetrate plate.
"Foolish!"
The holy knight unleashed another black gale.
"Urk!"
Azadin tried to dodge, but realized the person directly behind him was the baroness in her satin dress.
Too late to get her out of the way.