Episode 149
“Captain, it’s impossible to break through with our current strength!”
The lieutenant at the front, holding a shield, advised Louis earnestly.
A wise commander might have ordered a retreat, considering the disparity in power, but neither the Cardinal nor Louis had any intention of doing so.
“Shame on you! Can you still call yourselves warriors of God?”
Louis cloaked his greed in the guise of faith.
It was an unreasonable order, but there was no choice.
The paladin unit raised their shields and stood once more before the warrior statues.
Rumble!
The statues, too, shifted their stances, weapons at the ready.
They had moved beyond mere warning; their intent to annihilate was clear.
The Cardinal gritted his teeth, glaring at the statues.
“The miracle of the Sun God shall bring us light!”
His robes began to glow once more.
Whoosh!
A fireball, much larger than before, erupted.
The flames of the Sun Church were more potent than any other magical fire.
Developed since the days of the Holy Empire, the power of sun magic was not to be underestimated.
“Burn under the sacred flames of the sun, you heretical beasts!”
The fireball shot towards the statues with incredible speed.
Boom!
The statues raised their shields.
Magical circles appeared on the shields, blocking the fireball.
Simultaneously, the fireball shattered into pieces, flying back towards the paladin unit.
Boom! Boom!
The reflected fireballs exploded all around.
“Aaargh!”
Paladins engulfed in flames screamed in agony.
The shield wall quickly crumbled.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the statues swung their weapons at the paladins who had broken formation.
“Aaah!”
The screams of paladins, both from the flames and the statues’ attacks, filled the cavern.
Amidst the pandemonium, the Cardinal trembled and shouted.
“D-damn it! L-Louis! Protect me! Now!”
At that moment, the Cardinal felt the sharp edge of a dagger against his neck.
“W-what is this?”
A voice spoke, holding the dagger to the Cardinal’s throat.
“Shut up. You piece of trash from the Holy Kingdom. Try any magic, and you’ll find a hole in your neck.”
The one holding the dagger was none other than Zeke.
Zeke kicked the Cardinal’s knee.
Crunch!
The Cardinal’s knee shattered, and he collapsed.
“Gah!”
Reeling from the shock, the Cardinal gritted his teeth.
Zeke drove the dagger into the Cardinal’s shoulder.
“Aaaargh!”
Zeke had witnessed how the Cardinal and Louis had treated the children of the Lubern bloodline.
He was furious at the inhumane acts committed against those young ones.
Louis finally noticed Zeke when the Cardinal screamed.
Zeke tossed the screaming Cardinal aside and spoke.
“Boris, keep this piece of trash restrained. If he tries any magic, cut his throat.”
With a cold gaze, Zeke approached Louis, who had finally noticed him.
Thud!
Louis saw Zeke emerging from the shadows and immediately sensed the formidable aura surrounding him.
He steadied his breath and addressed Zeke.
“Zeke Draker. Do you intend to become an enemy of the Sun Church as a heretic?”
Zeke pointed his sword, Bahamut, at Louis and replied.
“Will the Sun Church’s exploitation and enslavement of the Lubern bloodline remain hidden if it becomes known to the outside world?”
Louis’s face hardened at Zeke’s words.
An aura blade flared from his sword.
“All in the name of the Sun God…”
“You only invoke the name of God when you have nothing else to say.”
Without further exchange, Louis charged at Zeke.
“Hah!”
Louis believed that no matter how young Zeke was, as the youngest blue-ranked warrior on the continent, he couldn’t possibly match a red knight like himself.
But that belief shattered the moment their swords clashed.
Crash!
Bahamut met Louis’s sword with a fierce impact.
Louis staggered back in shock.
“How… how is this possible?”
His wrist throbbed with pain.
The power emanating from Zeke’s sword was far beyond that of a blue knight.
“Are you… are you a red knight?”
Zeke’s aura blade surged with intensity.
Louis hesitated, seeing Zeke’s aura blade, larger and more powerful than his own.
If he retreated further, the warrior statues would move again, so Louis steadied his breath and gripped his sword tightly.
‘Even among red knights, my experience gives me the advantage.’
With that thought, Louis prepared the secret technique of the Paladin swordsmanship.
The legendary swordsmanship said to have been bestowed by the Sun God incarnate.
Louis’s body, poised in the stance of the Sun Sword, blazed with an aura blade.
Vroom!
His sword hummed with power, vibrating with concentrated aura.
As soon as he was ready, Louis charged at Zeke.
“Haaah!”
Paladin Sun Swordsmanship
Secret Technique
Scorching Sword
Zeke watched Louis charge and assumed the stance of the Dragon Slayer technique.
Dragon Slayer Sword Technique
Chapter 2, Verse 2
Earth Piercing
Zeke’s sword spun, generating a powerful aura blade.
Vroom!
Louis and Zeke collided simultaneously.
As their swords clashed, waves of powerful aura rippled outward.
Boom! Boom!
Zeke and Louis’s aura blades entwined and clashed.
Rumble!
The intense pressure crushed the ground beneath them.
“Ugh!”
At that moment, Zeke’s rotating aura blade pierced through Louis’s scorching aura blade.
Louis was shocked to find Zeke’s aura denser than his own.
‘Impossible! To be overpowered by a mere child not even twenty!’
Louis’s body was gradually pushed back.
He gritted his teeth, trying to hold his ground, but he couldn’t withstand the crushing weight of Zeke’s aura blade.
“Aaaargh!”
Finally, Zeke’s aura blade broke through Louis’s Sun Sword technique and pierced his shoulder.
Crunch!
Louis’s left shoulder and arm were torn apart as if bitten by a massive beast.
He was flung backward, rolling across the ground.
“Gasp. Gasp.”
Realizing his arm was gone, Louis’s face turned pale.
Zeke slowly approached Louis.
Sweat poured down Louis’s face as he spoke to Zeke.
“Huff. Huff. Young Draker. I am a candidate for the next Arch Paladin. Do you think you can harm me and walk away unscathed?”
Zeke, now close to Louis, grabbed his throat and spoke.
“Arch Paladin, you say…”
With a piercing gaze, Zeke continued.
“The Arch Paladin I knew sacrificed everything for the suffering, giving up his life.”
“Gah!”
As Zeke tightened his grip on Louis’s throat, Louis struggled in pain.
With his remaining hand, Louis clutched Zeke’s wrist.
“S-spare me…”
“This is the price for what you did to the Lubern children.”
Zeke activated the power of decay in his hand.
“Ugh, ugh!”
It was the first time Zeke had used the power of decay on a living being.
Blisters began to form on Louis’s body.
He writhed in agony, unable to breathe properly.
“Aaaargh! Please, spare me…!”
Zeke looked down at Louis with cold eyes.
Louis’s life didn’t end until his entire body decayed and rotted away.
Writhing in pain, Louis finally succumbed, his body dissolving completely.
Zeke sheathed Bahamut and turned towards where the Cardinal lay.
The Cardinal, seeing Zeke approach, trembled in terror, his face pale.
The extreme fear numbed him to the pain of his shattered knee and the dagger in his shoulder.
Zeke sat on a rock in front of the Cardinal.
“Cardinal Verdi.”
Zeke already knew about Cardinal Verdi.
In his past life, Cardinal Verdi, along with Howard Draker, the current head of the academy, had allied with Abel to ignite the Third Continental War.
His betrayal led the Holy Kingdom to kneel under the banner of the Rom Empire, resulting in countless innocent sacrifices.
Dragging his broken leg, Cardinal Verdi crawled to Zeke, clutching his leg and desperately pleaded.
“Zeke Draker! The Lord will watch over you. Please, show me mercy. I beg you.”
Zeke glared at the Cardinal with icy eyes.
“Did you show such mercy to the Lubern children?”
The Cardinal’s lips cracked as he trembled, pleading for mercy.
“P-please spare me. The Church will pay a price beyond imagination.”
“Where are the other Lubern bloodline members?”
At Zeke’s question, the Cardinal’s eyes darted around in fear.
Without hesitation, Zeke drew a dagger and hurled it.
The blade embedded itself in Cardinal Verdi’s thigh.
“Aaaaargh!”
Zeke pressed his foot against the dagger, driving it deeper.
The cardinal screamed in agony.
“I-I’ll talk! Please! Stop!”
Cardinal Verdi revealed the location of the monastery where the Solar Order was holding the Rubern family captive.
Zeke committed the information to memory and asked again.
“What does the Holy Kingdom plan to do with the relic?”
Verdi’s eyes darted nervously.
Zeke plunged another dagger into his other leg, forcing Verdi to speak once more.
“There’s a legend… that whoever possesses the Holy Grail gains the power of immortality! Like the dragon slayer, Terrakan Draker!”
“I’ve never heard that Terrakan Draker had such power.”
Sweating profusely, the cardinal stammered.
“There’s a secret version of the dragon slayer legend passed down within the Order. I-I’ve seen it.”
“Interesting. A legend even Draker doesn’t know.”
Zeke recalled a similar tale told by the hermit of stories.
The tale of Siegfried, the free knight, who met Claudia Rubern and became an immortal knight through the power of the Grail.
With that power, Siegfried took on the name Terrakan and became the hero of the dragon slayer legend.
Zeke questioned the cardinal further.
“What do you intend to do with the Grail that grants immortality? Does the Pope wish to become immortal?”
The cardinal shook his head.
“The Emperor of Rome desires the Grail.”
As Zeke suspected, Cardinal Verdi had betrayed the Holy Kingdom and secretly allied with the Empire.
“So, the Third Continental War wasn’t just a coincidence.”
Zeke looked down at the cardinal and remarked.
“A cardinal of the Holy Kingdom delivering a relic to the Emperor of Rome. Quite the scandal.”
The cardinal clung to Zeke’s foot, pleading.
“Please… if you keep this secret, I will support you with all my power. You’ll have the backing of the mighty Holy Kingdom!”
Zeke clicked his tongue in disdain.
“A corrupt cleric is a pitiful sight.”
He turned the cardinal’s face to look behind him.
The children of Rubern, freed from their chains, and the young girl who had nearly been sacrificed to open the door, stared at the cardinal with fear in their eyes.
Zeke whispered to the cardinal.
“The moment you showed no mercy to those children, your fate was sealed.”
With the power of decay, Zeke inflicted excruciating pain and a disgraceful death upon the cardinal.
“Gaaah!”
As his body rotted away, the cardinal screamed in torment.
It was a wretched end for a cleric consumed by greed for power.
At that moment, the young girl from Rubern approached Zeke.