Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The First Trial
I already knew this world I lived in was full of injustices, but it felt especially harsh toward me alone.
Rather than rage against this cruel fate, Bulki could only close his eyes in poignant sorrow. He barely held back from clutching his head and wailing.
"Please..."
Where on earth was the goddess?
Prayers went unanswered, hope faded away, and only terror welled up inside him.
Bulki knelt before the fear, his hands trembling uncontrollably. He must have been truly agonizing. The more righteous and easier path was to take Dapbaganel right now and hand him over to the celestials. Then the fear would die, and he could earn the angels' approval to claim Orr's will.
"Hero, you must decide. Sacrificing this one child now is the more righteous..."
Liliet spoke to help the Hero decide, but Bulki steadied his breath and finally spat out words.
"Wait a moment."
Bulki stared straight at Dapbaganel once more and the terror that had taken root in him. What of this soul who would die and vanish if they took the more righteous, easier path? Bulki recalled the moment he had saved the trembling child from being brutally slaughtered by the Maamarks and tumbling across the deck of the ship.
That brilliant moment when all hope had found its place. Bulki clenched his fists tight and stood.
"Liliet, blindfold Dapbaganel."
Recalling that moment stopped his trembling. If he couldn't save everyone, he wouldn't take any path at all.
His sword still called that his one hope. Following his words, Liliet secretly smiled and tore a long strip from her outer garment to cover Dapbaganel's tear-soaked head. As fear surged back and Dapbaganel reached out with both hands, the Hero grasped them in his golden armor and pulled the boy into his embrace. Bulki steadied his breath and spoke to the sobbing child.
"Dapbaganel! It's okay now. I'm here. We're going to find the others and escape this place, but it's where those Maamarks live, so there are gruesome sights everywhere. Ah, the things I saw coming here to find you. You don't need to see them. Just rest against me for now. And then... once we get out, yeah, when we meet your father, everything will be fine."
The Hero's bright tone pushed back the boy's terror for the moment. Exhausted from crying, the boy quickly fell asleep, and Liliet used a witch's spell to send him dreams that would deepen his slumber. She said,
"Really... is this okay?"
"Yes, because it has to be. Let's go."
As Bulki turned, Liliet followed behind him again. An overwhelming wave of relief nearly made her collapse right there. The Hero hadn't changed, and now he wouldn't break easily. He was truly the Hero destined to lead this world down a more righteous path.
Just as she remembered him. But the celestials' first trial was not yet over.
"Hero!"
"Hero!"
Shainelius and Rondnel appeared. They had been searching every inch of these underground passages to find the Hero after meeting the great archangel. Bulki, feeling both joy and anxious fear, slung the sleeping Dapbaganel onto his back and hurried to them. Seeing this, Shainelius stopped Rondnel and quietly asked,
"That on your back... is it the dwarf captain's son, by any chance?"
"Yeah. More importantly, we need to get out now..."
"No. We met the great archangel. He explained everything about this place."
At those words, Bulki halted, blocking Liliet and stopping as well. What did meeting the great archangel mean? Why hide the captain's son in that state? Had they realized Dapbaganel harbored the fear that was sin's kin? Were they protecting the sin-kin?
To hand him over to the great archangel?
To keep him from the great archangel?
All the answers to these swirling doubts lay with Liliet, but neither knew she was the one who had first blocked the great archangel. The Hero hadn't seen it, and the guardian of his destiny was under a curse of oblivion. But Liliet wouldn't intervene. The first trial wasn't over yet.
"Hero, the great archangel we met here isn't the one who fought you! Zeker, the Archangel of Judgment who blocked the Maamarks from Orr's waist-he's helping us escape."
"He said the one who fought you can't come here recklessly. The circle-like afterimage his body movement creates would draw the Maamarks straight to their hearts-big trouble."
Rondnel seemed to continue, but Shainelius pushed past him to explain further. Rondnel didn't stop her, merely bowing his head silently. Bulki sensed the uncomfortable tension between these longtime comrades and fell quiet, but Shainelius approached without hesitation. She reached out toward Bulki's face as she gave the biggest reason for her explanation.
"He could have drawn his bow. Hand over the child."
It was the duty of a knight guarding his destiny to keep the Hero from wavering. This was a warning. Bulki took it that way.
Explaining his thoughts on saving everyone would be futile, just as he had feared. The great archangel would come eventually. So the Hero drew his sword.
"This child has no sin-kin. He's just hurt. No reason to fight you."
Shainelius dropped her hand in exasperation. Was he seriously asking her to believe that now? She'd suspected it from the moment he took the captain's son separately. No, even setting that aside, her sun fairy's senses had already detected that Saarl-like presence dwelling in the boy.
"We're here on knightly duty. We have work to do, and it's saving the world. Finding Mir and making you stronger-that was our top priority, Hero."
"I said the child is innocent."
"Mir vanished suddenly, and we need the celestials-no, the angels-to trust and help us. There was friction with the unyielding great archangel, but a stronger one is trying to believe in us. Now, now is our last chance. Don't complicate things. We can't beat the great archangel, and we don't need to. Hand over the sin-kin and accept his guidance."
Bulki gritted his teeth. He couldn't refute a single word.
"I won't say it again. Don't waver, Hero. The fate of this world hinges on your resolve. If that's about to happen, I'll have to draw my bow myself."
Shainelius threateningly placed her hand on her bowstring again.
"Hand over the child."
"No."
"I know why you're wavering now! But it's not right for the child you saved to tremble in fear either! If you hand him over to a higher being than us even now, there might be a way..."
"No."
As Bulki firmly refused again, Shainelius drew her bow, and Rondnel and Liliet rushed to stop them. But the Hero was fastest, twisting his drawn sword to block Shainelius from raising her bow. Then, in a very low voice, he said,
"You're right about everything. Except one thing."
"What? Let go."
"I can beat the great archangel."
'[Formation - Rock Guarding the Sword]'.
Boom!
It happened in an instant. Bulki manifested the sign, erecting a wall of light to protect the whole party, and something like a thunderbolt struck it and vanished.
"Orr's Hero, I've been looking for you. I am Zeker, Archangel of Judgment."
Bulki knew Zeker hadn't attacked anyone specifically-he'd just scattered light to rush here faster. Even that required a sign to block. A presence even greater than the previous great archangel slowly approached the Hero and spoke.
"Hand over the sin-kin and hurry to escape this place. I'll hold off the Maamarks. Only then can you save the others."
Bulki took a deep breath and entrusted the sleeping Dapbaganel to Shainelius. No matter their differences, she was still the one he trusted most here to hold the child.
"Orr's Hero, you must not defy him. I don't want to attack you. Tehila's method was wrong, so trust me and hand over the sin-kin. I am on your side."
"If I hand over Dapbaganel... will you save everyone?"
"Yes."
"No, Archangel, can you save everyone, including Dapbaganel?"
The archangel halted at Bulki's question, gazing down at him gravely.
"The child harboring the sin-kin must die."
"I can't allow that. I have to save this child."
Before the Archangel of Judgment used his full power, he asked once more as a final mercy.
"This is no decision for a fleeting being like you. The sin-kin may be a greater threat than even the Demon King. Hand him over, and I'll grant you Orr's will immediately. Moreover, on the day of the coming war, the great archangels will follow you. I'll guarantee it, even if it means fighting Tehila. Will you still refuse?"
In response, Bulki drew his sword, aimed it at the archangel, and declared to everyone,
"Everyone, battle stations."
"Very well."
Zeker smiled faintly, drawing a spear in one arm, an axe in another, a sword in yet another, and a shield in the last. All gleamed in the same golden hue as the Hero's, their aura overwhelming even compared to the other great archangel Tehila. But he couldn't stop now. Even against such unreasonable might, for what he believed in.
For the more righteous path, he had to raise his sword.
Suddenly, a halo shone behind the archangel, and Bulki swung his sword-or tried to, then froze. The archangel set all his weapons on the ground, bowed his head, and said,
"Then I will help you and the child escape this place."
Bulki couldn't comprehend the situation, but Liliet could only collapse laughing. The first trial was passed.
The Hero would never lose the path to saving everyone.