Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: The Snake
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Zegar Demorus.
Nicknamed the Snake.
His burly frame didn't quite match the moniker, but one look at his eyes made it all too clear.
Why he'd earned that nickname.
"Your scar adds a nice touch to your face."
Sein—no, Ain—said.
At this moment, Sein had no intention of revealing his true identity.
Crunch.
Zegar ground his molars as he assumed a stance.
"Looks like the mark of His Greatness."
"Something about your speech... feels familiar."
Ain's appearance and voice were nothing like Sein's.
Since it was altered not by magic, but by drugs, there was no way to detect it.
"No way. Who else speaks as calmly and politely as I do?"
"You bastard..."
Zegar's eyes turned feral.
Throb.
For some reason, the scar around his eye—the one he'd left untreated to remember that day's humiliation—began to ache.
"You're the Saint, aren't you?"
"Paladins don't lie."
"Doesn't suit you."
"I get that a lot."
Veins bulged on Zegar's forehead.
But even so, he couldn't move.
*What the hell was that?*
It was because he still wasn't sure how Ain had blocked his dagger, Snake, just moments ago.
"...Immortals really can't be trusted."
They'd sent him out like hunting the Saint would be a cakewalk, but they clearly knew better.
That the Saint before him was just as tricky as any Paladin.
"How long are you gonna keep flapping your gums?"
Ain felt a weight lift from his chest.
He'd been sick of putting on the act of the holy Saint in front of Blackgreen.
Swish.
It finally felt like he could breathe.
Gratitude toward Zegar for granting him that sense of release.
He repaid it.
"With the judgment of God."
Whoosh—!
A gleaming spear of light.
Clang-grind!
The flying spear of light clashed with Zegar's dagger, Snake, spewing sparks.
Clang!
By the time Zegar barely deflected it.
"Judgment upon this foolish worm."
Six glowing swords encircled Zegar.
"......!"
His judgment was swift, his movement even swifter.
Thud!
Zegar leaped upward.
The swords of light crashed into where he'd stood just a heartbeat before, booming thunderously.
But that wasn't the end.
Ain, the Saint, lifted a single finger toward the sky.
Zegar's gaze followed downward.
"Shit."
He saw the swords of light with their tips reversed.
Boom!
He blocked them again with Snake and was sent flying.
"The Saint's... lineage was supposed to be severed."
Zegar's voice echoed from the smoke.
"How is a Saint already this strong..."
This level of control and combat sense didn't come in a day.
Even Demorus, who kept tabs on the Church, had never heard of a Saint's birth.
Either they didn't know, or this Saint had truly popped up out of nowhere.
But that wasn't what mattered.
"Punishment upon the arrogant one."
What mattered was winning.
*-There are no losers in Demorus.*
Shooting arrows of light hurtled toward him.
Staring at them, Zegar chanted.
"Blessing release."
If the Immortal drew his card, he had to play his.
*
*
*
Swish.
Right where Zegar had been.
The arrows lost their target and exploded against the ground.
Boom!
The earth erupted from the Titan's descending fist.
In that instant.
Clang!
Sparks flew behind Sein's back.
"Tch."
Zegar's voice.
When Sein turned, Zegar was gone.
Clang!
Another clash boomed ahead.
This was the Saint's perk that had blocked Zegar's dagger earlier.
"Annoying, huh?"
Holy Domain.
No different from a Paladin's.
But the Saint's holy power—no, Sein's holy power—was denser and purer than Blackgreen's.
And his mastery over it.
Clang!
Was incomparable to someone freshly minted as a Paladin.
Every attack Zegar made was repelled.
His entire body.
Swish.
Turned to smoke and vanished.
*-Black Smoke.*
That was Zegar's blessing.
His body became black mist, unbound by physical force, free to move without restriction.
The funny part was.
"I thought you were an assassin, but you're a rogue."
That it wasn't an awakening skill from an assassin's life, but one gained from a thief's apprenticeship.
"You little—!"
An agitated fragment of Zegar materialized and thrust Snake at Sein.
An aura blade dwelled in the red dagger.
"No use..."
Sein cut himself off.
Tap.
A blade flashed before his brow.
Zegar had finally pierced Sein's Holy Domain.
But.
"I said no use."
It didn't reach in the end.
"You're awfully cocky, Saint."
But Zegar, whose face had materialized, smirked.
What he'd said was.
*-Blessing release.*
But what he'd shown was merely using the blessing.
Amplification of physical abilities, mana amplification, special ability usage.
"......!"
There was still something left.
Fwoosh!
Inside the Holy Domain, Snake spewed black smoke.
The black smoke filled the barrier Sein had trapped him in for protection.
"Cough! Cough!"
Sein hacked and coughed.
Zegar, standing a short distance away, wore a victor's smile.
"Even a Saint can't hold his breath forever."
That was for warriors trained through grueling ordeals.
In the end, the Saint he'd observed seemed closer to a mage or priest.
*'Impossible.'*
Zegar's judgment: the Saint's holy power and holy magic might rival a Paladin's, but his body fell short.
And moreover.
"You can't chant incantations with black smoke invading your lungs."
The Saint cast holy magic like a mage, with incantations.
Proof that chants were essential.
In that case.
Smirk.
With black smoke filling his lungs, depriving him even of breath, the Saint had lost his means of attack.
Yet the Holy Domain remained intact.
Zegar took his time.
"Even a Saint's holy power can't do anything about this."
The black smoke, bolstered by Blessing Release, was like a poison of darkness.
A glutton that devoured mana, organs—anything it burrowed into.
Zegar turned, victory assured.
"Tch."
Then let out a short sigh of regret.
"That fight's far from over."
The Paladin and the Immortal.
Their battle had intensified.
The Immortals' numbers had dwindled, and so had the Ironclad Knights'.
The silver lining.
"Hraaah—!"
Was that scratches now marred Paladin Blackgreen's body, and Pelpero's chest was torn open longwise, gushing black blood.
Zegar pondered.
What to do.
But in the end, the one he had to face was the Paladin.
Dealing with the holy sword and the Immortals' deal could wait.
Stab.
Then Zegar dumbly looked down.
A glowing spear protruded from his gut.
Swish.
He slowly turned his head, face full of disbelief.
"Got nothing else to show?"
No way.
"Time's up. No more playtime."
The Saint held a gleaming sword.
From below upward.
"Figured your balance was off."
Slash!
A straight scar appeared over Zegar's one eye.
"Wow, looks just like a washboard now."
"Gaaahhh!"
Zegar let out a scream—whether from pain or humiliation, who could say.
"Now have some fun with him. Don't kill him."
But the Saint no longer engaged Zegar.
He kicked off and vanished.
"You dare—!"
Zegar tried to turn to black smoke again to pursue him, but.
"Eye patch. Play with me."
Something radiant charged at Zegar.
*
*
*
*'I get the gist of what Blessing Release does.'*
He had a rough idea of its power too.
Given more time, he'd love to toy with Zegar for real.
New power, new secrets.
Unraveling them would make them his.
But he couldn't.
Step-step!
Sein advanced, stepping over the earth the Titan had shattered into fragments.
He'd never forgotten for a second.
Leap.
That there was an uninvited guest in the whirlwind.
An uninvited guest he'd expected to reveal themselves as the battle deepened.
"It's you guys."
They were here now, atop the Titan's body, welcoming Sein.
"Who woke the Titan."
The Titan that had woken at just the right time.
No such thing as coincidence.
He'd sensed an alien presence, which quickly vanished.
If not for the enemies before him, he'd have chased it.
"Got a question."
Sein cracked his neck as he spoke.
"How'd you wake the Titan? It's not the type to stir easily."
The Titan required conditions to move.
"You guys."
Mask-wearers.
Even at a glance, their gear was no ordinary stuff.
"The Empire?"
Nothing but the New Empire came to mind.
Shing!
A blade whistled past Sein's nose.
He jerked his head back in time to dodge.
Crunch.
A masked figure was clutched in his hand.
"I asked you. New Empire?"
Crack.
The neck snapped and the body tumbled to the ground.
The Titan's body was shielded by countless holy barriers.
Blackgreen, the Immortals, and Demorus were all fully occupied with their foes right before them.
So no one would see or hear this place.
The battle here wouldn't leak outward.
Which meant.
Hum.
No need to keep up the lone Saint act anymore.
Sein's torn chest from the Zegar fight began to etch with patterns.
His arms blackened as the very aura he wielded transformed.
Rumble-rumble.
A power as dark and fearsome as the darkness spewed by the Dark Zone.
"Don't wanna talk? Fine."
He awakened the heart of the final demon he'd possessed.
"You won't be leaving alive anyway."
Slice.
With claws that had grown from his hand, Sein rent another masked figure.