Episode 148
“Damn this cursed canyon.”
Cardinal Verdi of the Holy Kingdom gritted his teeth in frustration.
He had pursued Zeke Draker into Death Valley, but as soon as he entered the canyon, he lost his way.
The winding narrow paths, dry sandy floors, and endless canyon walls disoriented anyone who dared to enter.
He considered regrouping and tried to return to the entrance, but in his confusion, he only ventured deeper into the canyon.
“Your Eminence, the condition of the Luberen captives is deteriorating.”
Louis, the captain of the paladin unit dispatched to find the sacred relic, reported to the cardinal.
With an irritated expression, the cardinal followed Louis to the back of the unit.
Several young boys and girls, shackled at the wrists, ankles, and necks, huddled together, trembling in fear.
The cardinal grabbed the hair of the oldest-looking boy and shook him roughly.
“Damn heretics. What’s the problem now?”
The platinum-haired boy groaned in pain as the cardinal shook him.
A girl behind him spoke up cautiously.
“Th-this place is strange.”
The cardinal released the boy’s hair and turned to the girl.
“If this is some heretical trick, stop it at once.”
The girl shook her head and pointed in one direction.
“No, it’s really strange. The closer we get to that place, my heart pounds harder.”
The cardinal’s expression shifted at her words.
He stood up and called Louis over.
“It seems these young heretics are reacting to the presence of the relic.”
“I agree, Your Eminence.”
The cardinal pondered, fiddling with a large jeweled ring, before speaking.
“Put the girl in front and follow the direction she reacts to. If she doesn’t lead us correctly, start executing the youngest ones.”
“Understood.”
Louis unshackled the girl and brought her to the front of the unit.
Suppressing her fear, the girl pointed in the direction where the strange sensation grew stronger.
At each fork in the path, she indicated the direction where her heart beat the strongest.
Surprisingly, unlike before when they wandered aimlessly, new paths began to reveal themselves.
Louis approached the cardinal.
“It seems Your Eminence’s insight has found us the way.”
“All is guided under the light of the Sun God.”
With a satisfied expression, the cardinal urged the Luberen girl to find the path quickly.
After some time, they finally reached a massive cave at the base of the canyon cliff.
The cave, resembling the mouth of a demon, made even the paladins tense.
The cardinal tugged on the chains binding the girl and asked, “Is this the place?”
The girl nodded, her face pale with fear.
The cardinal leaned in close, his voice low and threatening.
“If the relic isn’t there, not only will these heretics burn, but so will all the Luberen bloodline within the church.”
Tears streamed down the girl’s face as she trembled.
“Y-yes, the closer we get, the more my heart pounds.”
The cardinal, still skeptical, gestured to the paladins.
The entire unit entered the cave.
Despite being in the heart of the desert, the cave was surprisingly cold.
White breaths escaped from the paladins’ mouths.
The Luberen children, dressed in thin clothing, shivered violently from the cold.
Yet the paladins offered no blankets or coats, only pulling the cold chains to hurry them along.
The vast stalactite cave seemed endless.
The girl, fighting the cold and fear, led them deeper, following the pounding of her heart.
After hours of walking, something appeared.
“Your Eminence, it’s a door!”
A massive door filled the cave wall.
The cardinal, Louis, and the paladins were all struck speechless by its sheer size.
The cardinal was the first to regain his composure and examined the door.
“It’s enormous. How do we open it?”
He knocked on various parts of the door, but it didn’t budge.
Louis approached the cardinal.
“Perhaps it’s time to use the item we received from Draker’s side.”
“Hmm.”
The cardinal hesitated, uneasy about the item sent by Abel Draker, despite its potential usefulness.
‘But we can’t leave empty-handed…’
He nodded to Louis, signaling him to proceed.
Louis approached the girl who had led them there.
He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the door.
“W-what are you doing, sir?”
Louis pulled a vial from his coat and handed it to her.
“Drink it.”
“W-what is this…?”
“If you keep asking questions, I’ll cut off the youngest one’s arm.”
Terrified, the girl took the vial and drank its contents.
As the mysterious liquid coursed through her, her heart began to burn.
Louis then took her hand and sliced her wrist with a dagger.
Blood spurted from her wrist like a fountain.
“Aaaah!”
The other Luberen children screamed and tried to rush to her side.
But bound by chains, they couldn’t move.
The girl stared blankly at the blood flowing from her wrist, too shocked to comprehend what was happening.
Louis splattered her blood on the door.
The cardinal watched anxiously.
Despite the blood, the door remained unmoved.
Louis, with a cold gaze, left the bleeding girl on the ground and approached the other Luberen children, dagger in hand.
He was about to force another vial on the oldest boy when—
Rumble!
The door, which had been firmly shut, began to open slowly.
The cardinal raised his hands in triumph.
“Under the Sun God’s protection, the light has come!”
Boom!
The door opened with a resounding noise.
The cardinal shouted to the paladins.
“Hurry! Find the relic before anyone else arrives!”
The paladins dragged the Luberen captives through the door.
Before entering, Louis looked for the girl whose wrist he had cut.
But she was nowhere to be found.
‘Where did she go?’
As Louis pondered, a strange sound echoed.
Rumble!
As one of the paladins stepped inside, two massive warrior statues on the inner walls began to move.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The paladins, seeing the statues emerge, raised their shields and drew their swords.
“W-what are those…?”
They had faced golems controlled by mages before, but these warrior statues felt different.
Facing an unknown, incomprehensible entity, they instinctively felt fear.
The statues moved with a lifelike fluidity, exuding an aura of mystery and dread.
They recited prayers to quell their fear.
Boom!
Suddenly, the statues, over four meters tall, brandished their weapons, threatening the paladins.
The cardinal shouted to his men.
“They’re heretical beasts! Destroy them in the name of the Sun God!”
Simultaneously, the cardinal chanted a spell from the Sun Church.
The magical symbols on his robe glowed brightly.
Fwoosh!
Two massive fireballs appeared, like twin suns.
The cardinal launched them at the statues.
Boom! Boom!
The fireballs struck the statues.
Seizing the opportunity, Louis ordered the paladins to attack.
“Attack those heretical beasts!”
The paladins, divided into two groups, charged at the statues, shields raised.
Their charge, bolstered by aura, was a force to be reckoned with.
They struck the flame-engulfed statues with their shield wall.
Crash!
But then, the flames vanished.
Astonishingly, the statues remained unscathed by the cardinal’s magic.
The cardinal stepped back in disbelief.
“Th-this can’t be.”
Rumble!
The statues readied their shields and weapons again.
They charged at the paladins’ shield wall.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, the paladins’ shield wall crumbled.
“Ugh!”
The cardinal and Louis watched, their faces grim.
Louis shouted to the paladins.
“Reform the wall! Stop their movement and attack from behind! If they’re golems, they must have a core!”
At Louis’s command, the paladins regrouped and raised their shields.
Simultaneously, the statue swung its massive axe at the paladins.
Whoosh!
The axe cleaved through the air, sending a paladin flying.
“Aaaargh!”
Though their bodies were reinforced with aura, the blow shattered the paladins’ solid formation.
“Damn it! Hold your ground! Can you still call yourselves knights of the Sun God?”
Louis roared, drawing his sword and unleashing an aura blade towards the statue.
As a strong contender for the rank of Arc Paladin, Louis was an exceptional knight with the skills of a Red Knight.
He leaped into the air, slashing his sword at the warrior statue.
Crash!
The warrior statue raised its shield, blocking Louis’s aura blade.
Crack!
The shield of the statue began to fracture under the force of Louis’s attack.
Louis stepped back, catching his breath.
‘The aura blade works.’
He shouted to the paladins, “Blue Knights, step forward and unleash your aura blades!”
Soon, the swords of the Blue Knight-level paladins flared with aura blades.
They formed a solid wall of shields to fend off the statue’s attacks and countered with their own aura blades.
Crack!
Though the aura blades were effective, landing a decisive blow to topple the statue was no easy feat.
The statues adjusted their stance, raising their shields and pressing shoulder to shoulder, focusing on defense.
As the statues assumed a full defensive posture, it became increasingly difficult to find an opening with aura blade attacks.
Seeing this, the cardinal shouted at the top of his lungs, “Damn it! What are you doing? Take down that monster now!”
Growing anxious, they found themselves unable to proceed, blocked by these mysterious golems before even reaching the sacred relic.
Just then, Louis noticed something amiss and looked at the cardinal in alarm.
“Your Eminence, the, the children of Luvern are nowhere to be seen!”
The children of Luvern, who had been bound in chains, had vanished without a trace.
The cardinal spun around in shock, then yelled at the paladins, “Damn it! What are you doing? Find those Luvern brats now!”
At the cardinal’s furious command, part of the paladin unit broke away from their shield wall.
Boom!
As the paladins’ formation faltered, one of the warrior statues seized the opportunity, swinging its spear at the strongest among them, Louis.
Crash!
“Haah!”
Louis leaped into the air, barely deflecting the incoming spear.
The warrior statues stood firm at the entrance, determined not to let a single intruder pass.
Grinding his teeth, the cardinal shouted, “Damn it! The Sun God is watching! Destroy that heretical monster now!”
Louis felt a momentary urge to throttle the cardinal, but he suppressed it.
‘If I can just become an Arc Paladin…’
The cardinal was his political connection to achieving that rank, so he had to ensure the success of this mission.
With a voice tinged with ambition, Louis called out to the paladins, “Reform the line! We break through!”