Chapter 539
Change of Plans. (1)
Swish!
Julien's sword sliced through Helgenik's body once again.
Kwaaaang!
Ghislain's blade tore through space itself, piercing Helgenik.
Helgenik deployed a shield, but it was useless.
Julien's sword ignored the shield entirely and struck him, while Ghislain’s sword shattered the shield as it plunged through.
Fwaaaah!
A dense black smoke erupted violently from Helgenik's body where the attack had landed.
"Kh…!"
Helgenik staggered backward, summoning Death Knights.
The Death Knights, infused with his mana, glowed menacingly as they lunged at the two.
"Julien!"
Ghislain called Julien’s name as he unleashed threads of mana.
Clank!
The Death Knights charging at them were momentarily bound by the mana threads, freezing in place.
Swoosh!
Seizing the opening, Julien shot forward like an arrow, swinging his sword at Helgenik.
Slash!
"Krghh!"
He had timed his attack to strike in the brief moment Helgenik was focused on summoning. Once again, Helgenik failed to evade completely and was cut.
Kagagagagak!
Ghislain spun, tearing apart the Death Knights.
Though they quickly regenerated thanks to Helgenik’s magic, Ghislain ignored them, dashing toward Helgenik once more.
Kwaaaang!
Pushed back repeatedly by Julien’s relentless assault, Helgenik barely managed to widen the distance and summoned a barrier of bones.
Kukukukukung!
A massive wall of bones, larger than ever before, erupted from the ground. At the same time, Helgenik raised his hand toward the sky.
Guuuuuuuu!
A black sphere formed high above. It shot a beam of death straight at Ghislain.
Kwaaaaa!
The sheer amount of mana radiating from the beam was terrifying. Even a superhuman would suffer severe injuries if struck directly.
"Ghislain."
Julien called Ghislain’s name softly as he drew out his mana. He had almost never unleashed this much power before.
Taking a step forward, Julien swung his sword.
Swish!
The bone barrier was sliced clean through in a diagonal line, collapsing instantly. The death beam surging toward Ghislain flickered and momentarily lost its brilliance.
In that brief instant, Ghislain seized his chance.
Kwaaaaang!
Trusting Julien, Ghislain didn’t even bother defending himself.
Leaving a crimson trail behind, he shot forward toward Helgenik, gritting his teeth as he swung his sword.
Crunch!
"Graaaagh!"
Helgenik’s left arm was severed from the shoulder. He immediately extended his right hand, unleashing a blast of energy.
Kwaang!
Ghislain took a direct hit in the abdomen and was sent flying backward. But before Helgenik could catch his breath, Julien was already upon him, swinging his sword once more.
Slash!
"Guhh!"
Helgenik’s neck was cut halfway through. Using every ounce of his strength, he unleashed another energy blast.
Kwaang!
Julien was struck in the side and skidded backward.
Drdrdrk!
He lowered his stance, stabbing his sword into the ground to steady himself.
Having rolled back and regained his footing, Ghislain grinned at the sight.
"Ah, seriously? Do you always have to look so cool by yourself?"
"……."
Julien didn’t answer, simply straightening his posture.
Ghislain rolled his shoulders and muttered,
"Aah, that one hurt a little."
They had taken hits, but neither of them was incapacitated. The impact was substantial, but it wasn’t enough to render them unable to fight.
In contrast, Helgenik was in shambles. He had taken too many direct attacks.
Black smoke seeped from his wounds, making him look as if he were engulfed in dark flames.
"Khh… You bastards…!"
Each of them was strong enough that even a one-on-one fight wouldn't guarantee victory. Yet, these two powerhouses had no hesitation about working together.
Their coordination was so seamless that there were no openings to exploit.
Even after losing an arm and nearly having his throat severed, all he had managed in return was landing a few blows. And even then, they weren’t lethal.
Fwaah!
Ghislain and Julien lunged at Helgenik once more.
Helgenik had been infamous in his past life for his cunning. They had to keep up the relentless assault and finish him off while they had the chance.
Grrrrrrr…
The Death Knights took to the air, encircling them. But they couldn't interfere in the fight.
The Death Knights were strong, but they weren’t at the level to intervene in a battle between some of the continent’s strongest fighters.
The three combatants were moving at speeds far beyond what the Death Knights could handle.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
Helgenik continued to be pushed back under the combined assault. He had already been driven far from the battlefield, where the corpses piled high.
There was nothing left to aid him.
"How could I, of all people, be pushed into such a corner?!"
The relentless onslaught of the two warriors prevented him from utilizing the true strength of a necromancer.
Spells that took time to cast were entirely out of the question. He was completely preoccupied with dodging and blocking.
"At this rate, I’ll die for real."
The wounds he had sustained should have been fatal for any normal being. Yet, even as he moved despite such injuries, his opponents showed no signs of surprise.
They knew exactly what state his body was in.
"How the hell…?"
It made no sense. Even the Salvation Church, with whom he had allied, didn’t know this secret.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
There was no time to think. His wounds kept accumulating, and his mana was draining rapidly.
‘I can’t escape.’
Nor could he win.
Even his massive army of corpses would be meaningless if he, the summoner, were to be captured.
‘I made a mistake. I underestimated the Allied Forces. No, I didn’t realize that the Duke of Fenris and the Prince of Turian were this strong.’
In the end, there was only one option left.
‘I’m not the type to rely on luck, but…’
'Right now, I have to hope for a bit of luck.’
Helgenik resolved himself to death and unleashed all his remaining mana.
Kwaaaaaang!
A massive storm of mana erupted. Ghislain and Julien were thrown backward before they could even react.
Ghislain tumbled as naturally as ever, but even Julien, just this once, failed to maintain his stance and rolled across the ground.
Both of them were covered in wounds, their clothes torn. That was how powerful this attack had been.
Ghislain sprang up and looked at Julien.
“You actually roll around in the dirt too? You finally seem a bit more human.”
“……”
Julien ignored him and raised his sword again. Ghislain spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva and turned his gaze forward.
Helgenik’s condition was strange. His already battered body was trembling violently.
And then, the four orbs floating in front of him all began to crack simultaneously.
“Orb of Life?”
Ghislain recognized what they were. They were incredible artifacts capable of creating superhumans.
He had expected Helgenik was using them to control a vast number of corpses.
‘But there were still four left?’
And right now, he hadn’t even used them to raise more dead.
Kwaaaaaaa!
A terrifying energy surged out from the four orbs and poured into Helgenik’s body.
“This is insane.”
Ghislain’s expression twisted in disbelief.
Helgenik had already reached the level of a superhuman. If he absorbed even one of those, the energy would exceed what his body could withstand, endangering his very life.
Yet, he was consuming all four at once. There was no way he could endure such an overwhelming power.
But if he was doomed to die anyway, it was understandable that he would gamble on a desperate chance. If he succeeded, he could eliminate them all in one stroke.
“Kuaaaaaagh!”
As he absorbed the immense energy, Helgenik screamed in agony. From his severed shoulder, an arm made of pure mana sprouted forth.
The power of the orbs did not fuse with his own mana. Helgenik knew that.
Even so, he had absorbed them all, intending to unleash everything in this battle.
‘I will kill them!’
Absorbing even one was enough to put him at risk. In that case, it was better to take in as much as possible and swiftly annihilate his enemies.
Guuuuuh…
The Death Knights surrounding him began to dissolve into smoke. Even the mana that composed them was being drawn into Helgenik.
Crack! Crack! Creak!
Helgenik’s body twisted unnaturally. His bones shifted out of place, and his body swelled grotesquely, unable to contain the excess energy.
Just like the Crusaders of the Salvation Church, he was beginning to grow. At this rate, he would soon explode.
“Grrrrgh…”
Realizing this instinctively, Helgenik released his energy.
He simply swung his arm wildly, slashing through empty air, but the mana he unleashed was devastating.
Kwaaaaaaang!
Ghislain quickly raised his sword to block, but he was still sent flying.
The sheer power was staggering. Across all his lifetimes, Ghislain could count on one hand the number of times he had encountered such force.
Seizing the moment while Ghislain was airborne, Julien moved. In an instant, he closed the distance and swung his sword.
Kaaaang!
Even though he aimed precisely for the neck, the blade failed to cut through.
Helgenik swung his fist at Julien.
Kwaaang!
Julien was sent flying just like Ghislain. The strength was truly overwhelming.
“Khuhuhu… Such overwhelming power…”
Helgenik, unlike the Crusaders, was maintaining his consciousness. That alone was proof of how powerful he was.
However, even he struggled to fully endure the power of the orb. The moments where his consciousness flickered out were growing longer, and his body felt as though it would burst at any moment.
He had to release this power rapidly and without pause.
"Dark Spear."
Kwaaarrrrk!
Dozens of massive spears of darkness formed in midair. Each one held power equivalent to an attack from a transcendent being.
They shot toward Ghislain and Julien.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Ghislain and Julien were desperately blocking and dodging the spears of darkness.
With an overwhelming amount of power at his disposal, Helgenik continued to cast spells relentlessly.
Drrrrrrrrrk!
Countless bones began to surge up from all directions. Before they knew it, the ground was packed so tightly with bones that there was no space left to step.
"Bone Explosion."
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
The rising bones all exploded simultaneously. The two had no way to completely escape the blast radius and had no choice but to endure the impact.
"Urgh!"
"……."
Both Ghislain and Julien felt their insides churn violently. Their bodies were covered in wounds.
In an instant, the tide of battle had completely turned.
Helgenik had become an absolute monster. And worse, he was managing to exert some level of control over that power through sheer, superhuman will.
Only someone of Helgenik’s caliber could pull off such a feat. If a priest of the Salvation Church had attempted the same, they would have exploded on the spot.
But no matter how strong someone was, there was always a limit. Eventually, his body would burst, and he would die.
Helgenik, however, was determined to kill the two of them before that happened. He continued casting magic recklessly.
‘As long as I burn through all this energy… if I have even a little mana left, I might survive!’
He was a necromancer. When it came to avoiding death, he excelled more than anyone else. His priority was eliminating his enemies first.
Zzzzzzzzzt!
Dozens of black spheres formed in midair. Even as an 8th-circle mage, summoning one or two had been his limit but now, he had created them by the dozens.
They fired deadly rays in every direction like a torrential downpour.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
Now, all Ghislain and Julien could do was evade. Blocking a few attacks wasn’t enough this onslaught was relentless.
And attacking was pointless. Helgenik wouldn’t even receive a scratch.
As he frantically dodged, Ghislain muttered,
"Looks like running isn’t an option."
"……We have no choice but to endure."
They could run. If they dragged this out long enough, Helgenik’s power would eventually wane.
But their allies, still fighting against the undead, were the real problem.
Though they had moved quite far while battling Helgenik, if they fled now, their allies would immediately come under attack.
In the end, the two of them had to hold out until Helgenik’s power ran dry.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
Ghislain and Julien were both masters who had reached the pinnacle of combat skills.
They somehow minimized damage by dodging the overwhelming magic filling the area.
For spells they couldn’t avoid, they focused their mana and took the hits directly.
Anyone else would have died already. Only the two of them could withstand this.
"Haa…"
"……."
But even they were accumulating more and more wounds. If this continued any longer, they would be the first to fall.
"We need to change plans. The two of us alone aren’t enough."
"……Agreed."
Originally, they had planned to finish off Helgenik themselves. Had he not used the orb, they would have succeeded.
But since the situation had changed, their response needed to change as well.
They needed one more person.
Since their attacks weren’t landing, they needed someone who could weaken Helgenik’s energy while strengthening their own.
‘Dark, bring them now.’
Above them, Dark who had been observing in the form of a massive crow moved.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Helgenik’s attacks grew even more ferocious. If he wanted to survive, he had to burn through his energy no matter what. So, he unleashed every spell he knew indiscriminately.
With magic being flung around wildly, reducing everything in the surroundings to ruin, dodging became increasingly difficult. Their injuries continued to multiply.
As the two were being pushed closer and closer to the brink—
Dark returned, shouting,
"Ugh! So heavy!"
At the same time, something shot down from the sky like a beam of light.
That light sliced through the dark magic Helgenik had spread across the battlefield.
"Tch."
Helgenik felt the presence of an irritating energy and lifted his gaze.
The figure descending from the sky wielded a massive mace.
The radiant, gleaming weapon swung straight toward Helgenik’s head.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
"……??"
With power that defied reason, Helgenik’s head was slammed into the ground.
Thud!
The one who had fallen from the sky landed and immediately released an overwhelming surge of divine energy.
Fwaaaaaah!
The dark energy that had been encroaching upon the surroundings began to dissipate. At the same time, Ghislain and Julien’s wounds started healing.
The exemplar and ultimate goal of Elena, the Princess of Destruction, and the natural enemy of all things unholy—
Parniel had joined the battle.