abcnovels
Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Chapter 66
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
Chapter 66: The Traitor (1)
***
“Death for Gamal!”
Dionysius shouted urgently.
“Madam Sanus! What is this?”
“Dionysius~ Calm down~.”
Sanus spoke in his usual calm voice.
“Gamal was the one who attacked first~ We were resting with our sect’s paladins when Gamal, who had been hiding, attacked~.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! Why did Sir Gamal do such a thing?”
“I don’t know. Ask Gamal?”
Dionysius looked at Gamal with trembling eyes. Gamal screamed at Sanus.
“Dionysius! Don’t believe her. Sanus… cough!”
Sanus squeezed harder on Gamal’s neck. Gamal coughed up blood.
“Death for Gamal!”
Dionysius shouted urgently and tried to save Gamal.
But the paladins of Blinding Pain blocked Dionysius’s way.
“Don’t come any closer. You might be on Gamal’s side too.”
“There must be some misunderstanding. Why did Sir Gamal ambush Madam Sanus?”
“Misunderstanding? Several of our knights almost died. Can you call that a misunderstanding?”
Dionysius bit his lip at Sanus’s words.
“Then please arrest me and Sir Gamal. We’ll have a fair trial at Church!”
“That’s not possible~ We’re in a dangerous place right now~ We can’t leave any loose ends~.”
Sanus grabbed Gamal’s neck and raised her axe. Dionysius was about to leap forward to save Gamal.
“Did Sir Gamal ambush you?”
Damien, who had been watching quietly, asked Sanus.
“Yes~.”
“And you subdued him?”
“That’s right~.”
“You seem too fine for that. Considering that you seem quite unscathed
Originally, the attacking side had a significant advantage over the defending side.
Moreover, Gamal was a 2nd-grade paladin like Sanus. If Gamal had attacked, Sanus would have suffered considerable damage.
Even if that was the case, the surroundings should have been in chaos.
“Are you sure it’s Gamal who attacked first?”
Sanus smiled slyly at Damien’s question.
“Oh my, you’re not fooled~.”
***
“Madam Sanus, what are you talking about?”
Dionysius asked with a trembling voice. Sanus spoke naturally.
“What do you mean? I ambushed Gamal first. I planned to subdue you both after you let your guard down, but it didn’t work.”
Dionysius’s eyes narrowed with tension.
“Why would you do such a thing…!”
“Ah, I don’t have any grudge against Gamal. It’s all to fulfill the will of the gods.”
Dionysius’s forehead creased at the cryptic words.
“The Church has become too soft. Just look at the recent incidents in the Jousting tournament. We only interrogated the nobles who participated in the competition and sent them back. It’s truly lamentable.”
“That’s just natural after the interrogation is over…”
“That’s exactly what’s lamentable.”
Sanus shook her head with a sigh.
“If it were the old Church, they would have started by cutting off the fingers of the participants one by one. Anyone who was even slightly suspicious would have been burned at the stake. People have to suffer to bring out the truth.”
While the church was renowned for its fanaticism, it was unexpectedly more softened now.
There was a time when they killed all the villagers because they couldn’t find the hidden dark mages.
“Our Blinding Pain has always been regrettable in that regard. That’s why we plan to lead the Church to its former glory.”
“And what does that have to do with killing Gamal?”
“It does. In order to carry out the plan, our Blinding Pain needs to become the backbone of the Church. We have to stand above the other sects.”
The best way to weaken the power of other sects is to kill talented paladins who can lead other sects in the future.
And in this Crusade, there were not only the Mixed Blizzard’s ordinary paladins but also Gamal, a disciple of the Black Snow and Cheongyeum’s two direct disciples.
“…Are you really trying to kill Gamal for that reason?”
“Can’t you understand? It doesn’t matter. I can’t understand you either.”
Sanus released Gamal. Gamal fell to the ground weakly.
“That’s why we’re doing this. Since we can’t understand each other, all that’s left is to shed more blood, isn’t it?”
Sanus raised his axe high.
“Death for Gamal!”
Dionysius, unable to control his rage, rushed at Sanus.
But the paladins of Blinding Pain again blocked Dionysius’s path.
“Get out of the way!”
Dionysius swung his spear, but the paladin blocked it with his shield.
At that moment, light burst from the shield.
“Cough!”
Dionysius’s body was thrown back. He spat out blood and rolled on the ground.
“Don’t resist in vain. Our Blinding Pain will rise to glory today.”
What had just sent Dionysius flying was not a paladin’s skill.
The shield had released a shockwave of its own, sending Dionysius flying.
“D-Damien… run away…”
Dionysius spat out blood as he spoke.
“I’m armed with a high-level holy relic…! No matter who you are, you can’t win…!”
Dionysius used his spear as support and struggled to stand up.
“I’ll hold them off here! You go and join the Incinerator… Argh!”
Damien kicked Dionysius’s leg. Dionysius’s balance collapsed, and he fell to the ground.
“W-What are you doing!”
“You can’t even stand up, and you’re trying to hold them off… Sit down and heal your wounds.”
Damien stepped forward. Sanus looked at Damien with a surprised expression.
“Are you seriously going to fight us?”
“I’m not going to let you go anyway, and I’ll be in trouble if I run away and tell the other paladins of your treachery.”
Damien replied bluntly. Sanus laughed.
“The more I see, the more I regret it. Well, Sir Damien, why don’t you join our blinding pain now, and we’ll spare you.”
Instead of answering, Damien drew his holy sword.
Sanus sighed as if disappointed with the clear refusal.
“Kill him, but don’t let your guard down, he’s quite skilled.”
Just now, the paladin who had sent Dionysius flying charged forward.
Damien swung his sword towards the paladin. The paladin raised his shield in response.
The holy sword clashed with the shield. In the next moment, the blade of the holy sword pierced through the shield.
The shield split without resistance as if cutting through cheese with a red-hot knife.
The body of the paladin holding the shield was also split in the same way. Crimson blood spilled onto the ground.
“….”
“….”
Every person in the room wore an expression of disbelief.
When a knight used aura, they could slice through steel plates with ease.
But that wasn’t an ordinary shield; it was a holy relic. It was an item that wouldn’t even have scratches if an ogre struck it.
“You were too careless. You shouldn’t underestimate me.”
Careless?
Could one expect a shield, a high-level holy relic, to cut like tofu?
Could it be called carelessness just because one didn’t anticipate it?
“Are you all just going to watch?”
Damien looked at the remaining two and asked. The two paladins growled in response.
“Oh Lord! We offer this battle to you!”
“We are the executors of God’s wrath!”
Both paladins swung their weapons towards Damien.
Just before the weapons could make contact, Damien disappeared before their eyes. Suddenly, Damien was standing behind the two paladins.
“Wha…?”
“Wha…?”
Blood sprayed from the necks of the two. Their heads fell to the ground. Their bodies, now headless, staggered and collapsed.
3rd-grade paladins of the Blinding Pain sect were killed by a single stroke. They didn’t even seem to realize that they had been attacked.
“You…”
Witnessing this unbelievable scene, Sanus came to one conclusion.
“You weren’t low class after all.”
“As you can see.”
Damien responded nonchalantly to Sanus’s question.
“You said you betrayed others to fulfill the will of God?”
“It’s not betrayal, it’s just…”
“No matter how you sugarcoat it, it’s still betrayal.”
Damien cut off Sanus’s words.
“Anyway, I can’t help but be grateful to God. Thanks to that, I was able to quickly identify the traitor.”
Perhaps even in a past life, the Blinging Pain was a traitor.
The Blinding Pain side must have thought they could handle a Corpseplay on their own.
They had sent a 2nd-grade paladin, opened up the sect’s armory, and armed them with high-level holy relics.
However, as the results showed, such thoughts were nothing but a big misconception.
“It’s unpleasant. Don’t belittle our decision with words like betrayal.”
“If you can’t accept it, then don’t. I have no intention of convincing you.”
Damien circulates his aura. Aura covered the surface of the holy sword.
“Are you really going to challenge me?”
“I’m somewhat of a coward, you see. If I spare a traitor, I’ll be constantly paranoid about getting stabbed in the back.”
Sanus responded with a smirk.
“Fair enough.”
A tremendous divine power emanated from Sanus’s body.
***
“How much do you know about the Blinding Pain?”
The divine power emanating from Sanus was like the sun. It was so bright and hot that even standing nearby was unbearable.
“The Blinding Pain can enhance anything. It can simply improve physical abilities like strength, agility, and endurance… If you delve deeper, it can also strengthen armor and sharpen weapons.”
It was impossible not to know.
Damien recalled the time during the Death Knight era when he fought against the Radiant Light.
The Radiant Light enhanced gravity to crush and kill tens of thousands of undead.
“The power of the Blinding Pain can be stacked. As you reach higher levels, the number of times you can stack it also increases.”
Sanus gently placed the axe blade on the ground. Then, with a loud bang, the ground split open.
It was the result of simply enhancing the sharpness and weight of the weapon.
“How many times do you think I can stack it?”
“About ten times?”
“Thirty times.”
Sanus disappeared. The sound of a sonic boom was heard, and she suddenly appeared in front of Damien.
Sanus swung the axe down. Damien leaped backward.
As the axe struck the ground, thousands of cracks appeared. The ground and surrounding walls were completely shattered.
Damien was amazed by the sheer power.
‘I can’t even dream of deflecting it now.’
However, the stronger the enemy’s attack, the more mana was consumed. Damien’s mana was not enough to deflect Sanus’s attack.
“What, you’re still fighting back?”
Sanus said with a surprised expression. Meanwhile, she continued to swing the axe at Damien.
Damien dodged the axe without trying to block it. Blocking such an attack would be suicidal.
“Didn’t you just reach Middle Class~?.”
Sanus had enhanced her physical abilities dozens of times, making every attack incredibly fast and powerful.
If it was a beginner Middle Class, he would have died without even being able to dodge a single blow.
“You’re amazing! Excellent! Let me ask you again! Are you willing to join the Blinding Pain…?”
Damien’s hand moved. He swung the holy sword and cut Sanus’s body in various places.
Despite being incredibly fast and powerful, Sanus’s movements were large, leaving many openings.
Moreover, unlike other paladins, she wore a white robe, making her an easy target.
However, despite being cut several times, Sanus’s body was intact. Only her clothes were cut, and his body was unharmed.
“Oh~ You’re not listening to me while I’m talking.”
Sanus said with a flawless face. Damien inwardly clicked his tongue.
‘She’s damn tough.’
Sanus had ‘hardened’ her skin to block Damien’s attack. It was too hard to pierce, even with an aura.
“If you don’t intend to become my paladin… Then I’ll just have to kill you!”
Sanus swung the axe again. She ignored defense and focused only on the attack.
‘She’s too arrogant. She has too much faith in the power of Blinding Pain.’
Despite having such an incredible ability, the Radiant Light was not the strongest among the five Great Elders.
There was a reason for that. The Blinding Pain was a very useful skill, but it was too flawed to be called the best.
But the power of The Mixed Blizzard and The Incinerator can be used in many ways and combined with many skills. There was no end to the techniques that could be created.
However, the ability of Blinding Pain was only about enhancing existing abilities and things, making it easy to predict.
Sanus was a perfect example.
She had enhanced her physical abilities and defense, and although she was attacking, she had not succeeded in landing a single effective blow on Damien.
Even though Damien’s skill was excellent, ultimately, Sanus’s attacks were just swinging the axe.
‘Besides, enhancement consumes a lot of divine power. The more times you stack it, the more it consumes.’
Moreover, enhancement was not a one-time thing. Divine power was continuously consumed with each stack.
Sanus just wants to end this in the short term.
If he could drag out the time, it would be Damien’s victory. But Damien didn’t intend to spend much time on Sanus.
‘There’s a Corpseplay. I can’t afford to be tied up by this girl.’
Damien’s movements changed. He dodged the axe and rushed toward Sanus.
At the same time, he stabbed with his sword. The long blade grazed past Sanus’s neck.
“It’s useless……”
The sword cut Sanus’s neck. It seemed to have cut the artery. Blood spurted out like a fountain.
Sanus backed away with a shocked expression. Quickly, she used divine power to regenerate the wound.
“How…?”
Sanus looked at Damien with a shocked expression.
Among the masters Damien had fought, there was one called the Killer Ghost.
The Killer ghost was a person who had reached the master’s level with the art of killing.
Where to cut to easily cut a person’s muscles. How to cut to cut a person’s bones in half.
After studying these gruesome methods, Killer Ghost attained mastery of the Life-Taking sword and rose to the level of a master.
After mastering the Life-Taking sword technique, the Killer Ghost could cut a person’s body with just a twig.
No matter how much Sanus stacked his defensive abilities, it was useless. With the Life-Taking sword technique, he could ignore the “enhancements” and cut through the person.
“I don’t know what trick you pulled, but this much is certain. You’re too dangerous to keep alive.”
Sanus pulled out divine power. The divine power gathered on the axe.
“So I’ll finish this with this.”
Damien immediately recognized what technique Sanus was preparing.
It was a technique that paladins of Blinding Pain often used.
In simple terms, it was a downward slash.
However, the Blinding Pain enhanced every aspect of this simple movement, resulting in tremendous destructive power.
Every movement of lifting the axe, stepping forward, putting strength into both arms, and swinging the axe was “enhanced”.
When the axe fell, the weight, intensity, and cutting power of the axe were “enhanced”.
Finally, the destructive power and explosive power of the compressed divine power were “enhanced”.
It was a simple and brutal attack, but there was no way to evade it.
Even if you avoided the attack, the aftermath would cause significant damage.
Avoiding it was a losing proposition. On this side, you had to counter it with an appropriate technique.
“I’ll finish you off with this attack.”
Damien grabbed the holy sword with both hands. He bent his arms and pressed them against his head. Finally, he aimed the tip of the wword at Sanus.
A simple stabbing posture.
In that movement, Sanus could only sneer.
“You’re so arrogant. You think you can block me with that?”
“The real arrogant one is you. You almost died just now because your neck was cut.”
Sanus’s expression twisted at Damien’s mockery.
“Let’s see who the real arrogant one is!”
Sanus kicked the ground and leaped out. An elongated afterimage extended all the way to where Damien was.
The axe, compressed to the limit of divine power, fell from above his head.
Damien thrust the sword towards the axe.
The sword and the axe collided. The next moment, all the divine power of the axe scattered.
It wasn’t just the divine power. The axe blade shattered and broke into pieces, turning into powder.
“What…?”
Sanus’s face was bewildered.
With her knowledge, she couldn’t understand what had happened.
‘Annihilation’
The technique was created by Cheongyeum, one of the five Great Elders of the church when he got enlightenment.
He was able to focus all of his power on a single point and completely destroy anything.
There were no exceptions, whether it was an object, an aura, a magic circle, or even divine power.
“No, this can’t be…”
Sanus screamed in horror.
But before she could finish her sentence, Damien closed the distance.
The holy sword pierced Sanus’s chest.
***
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]