Book 19 Chapter 40
Episode 173
The Arch-Nemesis of the Mission, and the Advanced, Shincheon Cadetpol Knights (5)
‘Could that guy’s true identity be…?’
The cracks spreading at Bierkisa's feet and the cracks spreading at Rista's feet were almost simultaneous. Insane reflexes!
And they clashed fiercely!
The pinnacle of martial prowess, narrowing a distance of nearly 20 paces to just one, collided with Shuan as their focal point.
“Get out of the way, fake! I have questions to ask him, those ‘bastards’!”
“Stabbing people to death with a spear isn’t called asking questions!”
“Get out of the way, you damn idiot!”
In an instant, the holy sword and spear clashed multiple times, and Bierkisa shouted in a gap where they were evenly matched.
“Oh, ye <Comers>!”
What was that emotion?
Anger? Resignation? Despair? Provocation?
“Oh, ye minions of Genesis!”
It didn’t seem to be any of those either. To Friede, Bierkisa’s cry seemed like… a desperate prayer seeking a response.
“Why in the world did you leave behind a scripture filled with lies and deceit?!”
That sorrowful exchange made the hero party feel deep suspicion.
‘Why is Bierkisa calling Shuan the <Comers>?’
‘And why isn’t Shuan refuting it?’
‘No way… if you achieve the [Background Setting Bucket List] as perfectly as Shuan, you get mistaken for the <Comers>! Envy!’
However, the hero party was not in a position to listen to that conversation comfortably. They had to stop Bierkisa’s rampage.
“Do you feel even an ounce of guilt for those who died trusting this scripture you left behind implicitly?”
Friede pulled out a scroll of psalms from his belt and unrolled it.
A psalm of clear specification for slowing!
At the same time, three higher-grade fire spirits, Hagnis, were deployed!
“First, let’s get rid of that crazy paladin. Rin, you’ll probably just destroy these ruins, so stay still!”
Rin, who was excitedly contemplating what magic to use, instantly looked crestfallen.
“Why do you always hate only me?”
Having to parry the blade of the holy sword while also dodging fire spells and rays of verdant light gradually pushed even Bierkisa into a disadvantage.
“Pyuladon!”
Mounted on Pyuladon’s back, Bierkisa seemed to have lost all strategic or tactical goals.
There was only one target coordinate.
The unknown shepherd, Shuan.
Pyuladon’s unrealistic speed and impact force, and its breath that conjured sandstorms… were enough to shake off the hero party’s cover.
“How did such a noble person as you end up like this, Sir Bierkisa?”
Rista was the only exception, landing on Tuaki’s back, who was soaring with his pinnacle footwork, and continuing the fierce battle.
“You shout that I’ve fallen, that I betrayed the light… but that’s utterly absurd. The light betrayed me first!”
It wasn’t an equal footing.
Because Pyuladon, who had become a ‘living arena,’ twisted its body this way and that, and swung its wings and tail, making it disadvantageous for Rista.
In contrast to Bierkisa, who could firmly establish his footing by digging his tail into Pyuladon’s back.
That’s why Rista’s armor was increasingly damaged and scratches were appearing on his body.
“Argh, damn it, we need to get him off that monstrous bird’s back first!”
“Isn’t it fine if Peepi handles it, since they’re both birds?”
At Rin’s words, Peepi, perched on Friede’s head, tilted its head with pure innocence.
“Wow, look at it pretending not to understand at dangerous moments! You opportunistic, strong-against-the-weak sun parrot! You’re not even [The Strongest Sun Parrot] anymore!”
“Kyukyukyukyu!”
“You guys, don’t say bad things to Peepi! And that guy is only a monstrous bird in species, but it’s completely dragon-sized! Then your Sval, who would be disappointed to be second in uselessness, should handle it!”
At that, Rin’s drooping eyes began to regain vitality.
“I’ve been waiting for those words. You mean I can step forward, right? Am I right?”
The rosary of light firmly bound to his left hand also gains vitality.
“Waiting for what? Hey! I told you not to step forward!”
The rosary unraveled into several beads and floated up, beginning to construct a new micro-universe of power.
“Osarius-style Beast, 3-star! Extracting only the core of the magic I’m currently researching!”
Rin was a natural explorer.
His curiosity about power, in particular, was higher than anyone else’s, and the power of his party member Friede’s ultimate psalm, the Genesis Psalm, was enough to captivate the boy’s heart from the moment he first witnessed it.
‘But I have no intention or interest in touching spells full of literary sensibility.’
Instead, he merely tried to reproduce that power with magic.
“Chained Entanglement (鎖闌鍊)!”
Originally, the attribute of this magic was a combination of steel and electricity, but for this moment, he decided to combine it differently.
The magic circle was a combination of two circles (圓) and one semicircle (半圓)! In short, two water attribute magic circles and one ice attribute magic circle!
This would require a new foundation, that is, the calculation of a new mathematical equation, but the boy's genius brain instantly calculated the combination and made the providence accept it.
“…!”
From the trajectory where Kees’s ‘Triple Shot: Pristine Kill (鮮潔殺)’ was avoided by Pyuladon by a hair’s breadth!
Chains (鎖) sprouted (鍊)!
The power of the White Spear Bow Serwebon is based on the fact that its fundamental magic power takes on a water attribute because it uses the power of the World Tree! This insane catalytic ability!
“Kyukyu!”
Originally, the destructive power of water attribute magic is the weakest among all magic, but there are two exceptions.
If the rank of the magic is high enough to summon a disaster close to a tsunami, or if it is rapidly frozen!
Rin was capable of both, and what he used this time was the latter, focused on cooperation with Sval.
“Come here and get down, you brute.”
The chains of frost that instantly entwined Pyuladon’s ankles dragged the ferocious monstrous bird down from the sky and slammed it into the ruins!
“Good boy~ You listen well.”
Master!
Crazy master!
Truly utterly insane master!
“KyaaAAAAAAAAKKKKKK!”
Its bones and muscles collapsed during the fall, but Pyuladon’s regeneration speed, which, like Bierkisa, had [King’s Flesh] parasitizing its skin, was exceedingly fast!
“Regenerating cowardly again!”
As Pyuladon opened its maw wide, once again a sandstorm began to sweep across the entire ruins.
“I have no choice but to use it! I have no choice but to use the unfinished Genesis Psalm!”
For an inhuman existence, it would be a meaningless restraint unless it was a completed psalm, but for Tuaki, who was essentially just a monster, even a fragment of the Genesis Psalm would grant transcendent binding.
‘Instead, it would be impossible to release him from the seal for decades, perhaps centuries, so the subjugation will have to be left to future generations…!’
There was no other choice.
This was a golden opportunity created by Rin in a critical situation, and he couldn’t let it slip away.
‘In the future, that crazy paladin won’t be here, and neither will the [King’s Flesh]… It’s irresponsible, but I have no choice but to entrust it!’
It was at that moment, as the chains of the unfinished Genesis Psalm began to bind Pyuladon here and there.
“Doesn’t this feel like the wind has gotten a bit stronger?”
Rin said nonchalantly.
Due to the impact of Pyuladon crashing, the ruins collapsed along with the bedrock, deviating from the light’s trajectory and beginning to plummet downwards!
“Hmph, is the hero party’s expedition ending here too…”
“Argh, you idiot! You should be thinking of doing something with your magic!”
Meanwhile, Rista and Bierkisa, who were fighting on its back, were also flung in opposite directions from Pyuladon’s back by the recoil of the fall.
That became the problem!
The direction Bierkisa was flung was closer to the center of the ruins, making it easier for him to approach Shuan, who was adjusting the artifact.
“Shuan!”
Therefore, it was a beat too late!
By the time Rista collected himself from the shock of the fall and tried to resume his footwork, it was already!
Shuan was dangling in mid-air, his feet flailing, with Bierkisa’s hand gripping his neck.
“Answer me, <Comers>…!”
Rista carefully regulated his breathing.
‘What should I do?’
If I act recklessly, Bierkisa might kill Shuan right away.
“The master I served…! The master of Hyeun-eun…! She was a woman who, according to your teachings, loved and named even a single blade of grass and cared for it!”
“….”
“Didn’t you say that if we followed the teachings of light, all tribulations would avoid us? Didn’t you promise a peaceful life!”
Rather than acting rashly, Rista first exchanged glances with Kees.
‘Rin is re-weaving the bedrock, and Friede is sealing Pyuladon…’
Kees is the only one who can help in this fleeting struggle.
‘Kees’s help is enough.’
In such a struggle, Kees, who can accurately target a single point, is best suited to shine.
“When she died! When she was dying! By those who deny, scorn, and despise the teachings of the scripture! Where were you, the Light of Genesis, then?!”
“….”
“Why! How! How in the world! Is this world more merciful to those who scoff at your teachings than to those who follow them?!”
Shuan was an unusual person with a somewhat mysterious smile, but the expression he wore then looked very pained.
“I’m sorry, but… I only inherited a little of the Holy Spirit from my parents… I am a creature of Genesis just like you… and I don’t know much…”
Was it because his neck was being squeezed and his breath was about to be cut off?
Rather than physical pain, it seemed like mental pain stemming from his own helplessness.
“My faith, unlike my parents’, is not yet… fully mature… meaning I cannot accurately discern the will of Genesis… I lack the ability to give you an accurate answer to your… sad tragedy… right now…”
“What…?”
“If… by killing me… your… anger and resentment towards the providence of creation… would subside even a little… I would… gladly… accept… that death…”
What emotion rushed through Bierkisa’s mind at that moment?
Powerlessness! A feeling of utter relaxation, a loosening of all tension, manifested as a bitter laugh.
He could have stabbed Shuan to death instantly, but for some reason, he had neither the strength nor the will to do so.
‘I don’t know. What kind of answer was I, this man, hoping to hear… It’s not like she would come back alive even if I did.’
It was around the time the ruins collided with the ground.
The Red Holy Land, <Shuriganaquyus>, was built in the heart of the Keltimus volcanic region.
This volcanic region extends in a wheel-like shape, and the six mountain peaks that form the core of that wheel are all volcanoes.
Since the <Comers> filled all those craters, it turned into a highland and was called the Shurigana Mountain Range.
<Shuriganaquyus> had satellite cities in each of these places, and the place where Rista’s party crashed was the northern satellite city, <Banesys>.
“Now!”
The culprits were in the midst of the great chaos of collapse and fall, unable to stand on two feet…!
Rista ran, pushing through the storm of stone fragments scattered wildly everywhere.
“Now, Kees!”
Using those remnants as a kind of shield, and the arrows that flew in, aiming for blind spots, as bait…!
He succeeded in snatching Shuan from Bierkisa’s grasp!
Rin was safe inside the barrier Friede had erected. Placing Shuan next to him, Rista said.
“Bierkisa… how could someone like me fully understand your sorrow, but there’s one thing I want to tell you for sure.”
“…?”
“The heart of Genesis was not wrong! Thanks to that heart, I was able to meet these companions here! Didn’t you clearly have such a moment too?”
By now, the noise of collapse and falling had quietly subsided, and the dust storm that had scattered everywhere was also settling calmly.
“You say the very foundation of this world is wrong? Yes! All cracks that appeared in the created world, the beginning of sin, started from the abyss!”
“Then what are the <Comers> doing? The parents of Genesis? Why are they leaving it alone?”
“They didn’t leave it alone. They made me a hero. They let me meet my party friends. I will definitely fill all those holes. If I cannot fill them in my generation, I will become a being that illuminates the path for the one who comes to fill those holes.”
Suddenly, Bierkisa’s eyes widened as he looked at Rista.
No, not really.
His eyes were looking at Rista, but not at Rista.
He was seeing a vision of the distant past, Hyeun-eun’s master, superimposed over Rista.
- Bierkisa, do you know? The order of creation is perfect. But its perfection began to change into imperfection due to the interference of the abyss (深淵).
Loving nameless wildflowers.
Loving nameless migratory birds.
- I am weak. It would surely be impossible to fill all the cracks that have appeared.
Helping the weak.
Crying with those who cry.
Laughing with those who laugh.
- But… I wish I could live a life that fills even a little of the gap of that imperfection.
Her face, who lived according to the heart of Genesis… living out its teachings.
- You’ll always be by my side, so I can be that way, right?
What would he look like reflected in those eyes, eyes shining purely and clearly without a speck of impurity?
Stained with blood, ugliness.
Unable to bear his own reflection in those eyes, unable to endure the sense of sin emphasized by that extreme contrast.
“Don’t pity me, fake. I’ve wandered the demon realm for 200 years and killed tens of thousands of demons with this one spear.”
“….”
“Is that all? Sometimes I came up and killed thousands of humans for no reason. In front of their parents! Or in front of their children! I pierced their hearts instantly with this spear and killed them! Hoping that if there truly was divine retribution (天罰), if there was a God, it would come down upon me. But it never came. For 200 years!”
He just shouted.
Shouted whatever came to mind.
“So if you want to say that God truly exists, and that God has the will to punish evil, then stop talking and kill me to prove it!”
He just laughed.
The emotion of laughter had already vanished from his life.
“That’s a lie.”
“…?”
“Friede said that your spear doesn’t really feel like it carries such resentful spirits…”
Bierkisa struck the ground with the butt of his spear.
To cut off the sorrowful gaze coming from the distant past. To drive away the echoes of the past.
And he took a stance, preparing for a charge of immense power.
“If you truly pity me, then shut your mouth and kill me with your holy sword, Hero. Only that… is the only pity you can show me.”