To prove that his decision to go to the ritual room was not a lie, Zich retraced his steps.
Bam! Bam!
Trislowa, who was on a knight’s back, threw attacks at Zich. Since he couldn’t concentrate his power on such a shaky position, the force he let out was barely a fraction of his strength; however, as a cardinal, he was far stronger than an ordinary person.
‘What a thrill.’
An energy blast barely missed Zich’s back and made a hole on the wall next to him. However, Zich laughed instead.
‘Heh! A battle should be thrilling like this.’
Zich evaded another close attack and moved forward. Like this, he soon arrived at the ritual room.
Crash!
Zich kicked the door open. Seeing his rude and careless behavior, the Bellid followers were furious again. The ritual room and the prayer room were the most important places in the temple. They followed Zich and went inside the room. But their anger at Zich for kicking the door only lasted a moment.
When they went inside the room and saw the sight in front of them, all the Bellid followers froze in place. Anyone would be paralyzed by the scene in front of them.
“…You…!” Trislowa shook from head to toe as he got down from the knight’s back.
The knight next to him quickly supported him. But the knight who supported him also couldn’t take his eyes off the horror in front of him. It was a slaughterhouse. The magic circle that encircled the statue of Bellu used to be beautiful and detailed, but now, it was difficult to even see the drawings from all the blood that covered it. There was so much blood that it didn’t even look like blood. It looked more like red paint that someone accidentally spilled all over the room. However, this was not the most shocking part.
All the Bellid followers here held high positions, and they were known to be the world’s pests. They all had experience with causing a bloodbath like the one in front of them. However, even for them, the sight of numerous priests covered in an ocean of blood was terrifying—no, it was difficult to even figure out if the corpses were priests. Their clothing no longer showed any of the blue color that signified that they were Bellid followers. As if the uniform was originally red, the entire uniform was dyed bright red. The same could also be said for the shape of the uniform. The clothes were ripped so severely that they couldn’t even be used as rags, and it was more accurate to say that ragged pieces of clothes hung on the bodies of dead priests.
On the other hand, the priests’ uniforms looked “lovely” compared to the state of the corpses. The body was cut in many places like pieces of meat, and blood flowed out from everywhere. It was hard to even tell if they were human corpses. The entire scene in front of them clearly displayed the deep hatred of the people who killed the priests.
“You…! You…!”
Even though Trislowa already predicted that all the priests in the ritual room probably died when the barrier disappeared, it was a whole new experience to witness the aftermath directly. It was a situation that looked horrifying to any person. Moreover, all the priests were high-level priests. If more time passed, one of them would have definitely become a cardinal. Even Trislowa used to perform the rituals before—that was how much the priests who performed rituals were considered the top elites of Bellid. This was also one of the main reasons why they were able to create such a strong barrier against the Karuwimans.
However, all of them were dead. Trislowa felt as if all his hair was standing up.
Zich leaned crookedly against the Bellu statue and asked, “How is it, Mr. Great Bellid Cardinal? Do you feel anything after witnessing this sight?”
Trislowa glared at him. “…Where are the bastards who caused all this?”
“Who knows?” Zich shrugged his shoulders. Even though all the prisoners probably escaped through the secret passageway that Zich showed them, he had no reason to disclose this information.
‘But they really did a good, clean job.’
Zich briefly looked over the gruesome sight in front of him. Zich was worried that the prisoners might still be hacking the priests when he came in; however, they had perfectly fulfilled the role given to them and disappeared off.
‘No, judging by the state of the corpses, did they feel completely satisfied by their revenge?’
Maybe it was not Zich’s advice but the full satiation of their revenge that made them move out. This was how bloody and gruesome the sight in front of them was.
“Speak,” Trislowa threatened Zich with a low voice. However, there was nothing more useless than a threat to Zich.
“Are you angry because of the scene in front of you? I understand. When I saw what you did to the little boy, I was also extremely furious. But I think you are trying to shift your responsibility to those people who you guys call sacrifices. Why don’t we talk about your responsibility to the scene in front of you?”
Zich turned his head and stared at the Bellu statue. “The great Bellu! He must have witnessed this destruction first hand. Then maybe we can ask him who is responsible for this destruction!”
Zich hid behind the statue. Then, as if he was Bellu, he made his voice low and rough. “Hmph, from what I saw, I think all the responsibility falls on Trislowa. He killed and played with the life of a boy in a village for absolutely no reason. Then, a young man who was close to that boy became furious and decided to avenge him. As a result, this destruction occurred. All of this happened because of Bellid’s Cardinal, Trislowa.”
Zich slightly moved away from the Bellu statue. He smiled at seeing how Trislowa and the knights looked as if they were going to explode from the slightest touch.
“You heard that? That’s what Bellu said. I also agree with him on this.”
And then Zich opened his mouth again while staring at Trislowa. “Everything is because of you.”
* * *
After the barrier broke, the battle completely skewed towards Karuwiman’s favor. Powerful light attacks fiercely rained down on the Bellids. The Bellid followers desperately tried to hold their ground, but Karuwiman knights’ skill levels were now on completely different levels. As the light attacks continued to disrupt the Bellid forces, the Karuwimans were almost finished with making the raft bridges and stepping stones.
Tap!
Finally, more Karuwiman knights were able to cross the lake. Without a single moment of hesitation, they wielded their swords against the nearest Bellid in front of them.
Crash! Crash!
The battle between the Karuwimans and the Bellids also continued on top of the lake. However, as they were no longer able to increase their powers from the barrier, they were completely helpless against the Karuwiman knights’ skillful attacks. However, the Bellids continued to resist with all their might. Their chance of succeeding was low, but they didn’t plan to let their enemies have the temple without a fight.
Craaaaash!
But it was a waste of effort. Enormous holy power blasted like a storm across the lake and swept its surroundings. Everything in its sphere became ruined: the knights, priests, and people in armor or official uniforms.
“You arrived, sir.” A Holy Knight clicked his tongue at the scene before him and turned around to the instigator of this massive attack.
Weig walked across the lake. “The barrier is gone. Bellu’s dirty energy, which was impeding us, has also disappeared. We don’t have to stand still anymore.”
“Are you going to stop commanding the troops?”
“The outcome of the battle has already been decided. A commander isn’t important anymore, and someone else can take command from now on.” Weig casually lifted the sword he received from the Pope and tapped it on his shoulder a few times.
“What do you mean that a commander is not important? How can the commander of the Karuwiman attack force say something so irresponsible?”
“Ah, I misspoke.” Weig smiled and told the holy knight, “I am saying that my role as Karuwiman’s greatest knight has become more important than my role as a military commander. But don’t worry. Even if the situation gets a bit chaotic, I can just sweep it all away.”
What he said was incredulous, but the holy knight nodded his head and didn’t refute Weig anymore. The Weig he knew was someone who could make the unbelievable into reality. Then, someone else suddenly came across the raft bridge. The holy knight turned his head thinking that another knight had come when he froze in shock.
“…Lady Lubella, why are you…”
“I called her here.”
The holy knight stared at Weig. He wanted to ask if Weig was out of his mind.
“Don’t look at me like that. Even Lady Lubella has to experience a situation like this first-hand. That’s how she will gain experience.”
“Yes, Weig is right. And this is what I wanted, so don’t be too surprised, Sir.” Lubella’s smile seemed to brighten up the dark cave. The holy knight shook his head.
‘Sir Weig seems to care for Lady Lubella like his own granddaughter, but sometimes, he pushes her mercilessly.’
However, that aspect might have made Lubella most like a saint.
‘Lady Lubella’s tenacity is also amazing.’
Who would have thought that he was one of the Karuwimans who used to criticize Lubella’s weak-hearted nature? The holy knight decided to stop thinking so deeply about this matter. He thought he should just focus on swinging his sword at the Bellid bastards and kill as many as he could, so he ran towards the battlefield again.
“Let’s go too. We have to squash out the Bellids and find Sir Zich.”
Lubella asked with concern, “Will he be fine?”
“We are talking about Sir Zich here. He is probably doing very well.” Weig assured Lubella and shouted towards the Karuwiman forces. “Follow me!”
As if they were reenacting a scene of a novel, the Karuwimans roared and ran into the Bellid’s camp base. Lubella also gripped her staff tightly and mixed into the heat of the battle. And like that, the fight outside of the temple ended with Karuwiman’s overwhelming victory.
* * *
Karuwiman’s holy knights flooded into the temple like a tide. The remaining Bellid’s followers resisted desperately, but they were pushed back without mercy. Even the people in the ritual room could hear the sound of this chaos.
“Don’t you guys have to run now? Karuwiman’s troops will rush in. They even have the ‘Bellid Slaughterer’ Belri Weig among them.”
‘Bellid Slaughterer’—when Zich first heard this title, he had wondered how a holy knight could keep amassing such violent nicknames; but as he continued to repeat these names, they rolled right off his tongue.
However, nobody responded to Zich. Trislowa didn’t even send out orders and simply pointed at Zich. The knights rushed towards him.
‘It seems like they don’t plan to back off.’
Since they weren’t on a path but in a wide room, Zich was surrounded instantly. Bellid knights flung their swords. Their attacks were sharpened with grudge and anger, but Zich continued to mock them.
He evaded the first sword flying at him. But the next moment, another sword came in his way. Zich responded to the attack by sticking close to Bellu’s statue.
“Urgh!”
Contrary to the murderous intent he was giving off, Trislowa loosened the strength of his attack. He didn’t want to damage Bellu’s statue while attacking Zich. Zich easily flicked away the sword flying at him, and this pattern continued. The knights continued to launch attacks, but Zich hid behind Bellu’s statue or stuck right beside it.
‘These fanatics can’t harm their god’s statue.’
Moreover, this statue wasn’t an ordinary one; it had been the center of the ritual that protected this temple. There were more meanings attached to it. The knights became more enraged that Zich kept hiding beneath their god’s statue. Zich even had his shoulders on Bellu’s statue and that sight made the knights lose their minds.
Crash!
Bellu’s statue suddenly exploded. Zich had sensed the attack before and escaped so he wasn’t injured, but the statue was broken into pieces. The knights stared at Trislowa who had attacked the statue with shocked faces.
“I will shoulder the sin, brothers. Only focus on killing that guy now.” This was the Honorary Cardinal’s sacrifice. The knights were deeply moved, and they swore to kill Zich with the same amount of conviction.
Zich looked around his surroundings. The statue was gone, and he was surrounded by enemies. There was a secret passageway in this room as well, but the prisoners who killed the priests in the ritual had used that passageway, so Zich couldn’t use it. The escapees could become part of the chase then.
It seemed like Zich was at a dead-end, but he wasn’t afraid.
‘Should I face them seriously now?” Zich decided to fight head-on for the first time since he infiltrated the Bellid temple.
‘I have already fulfilled most of my plans. Now, it’s just a fight against time.’
Zich was at a disadvantage now, but time was on his side. It was a matter of whether Karuwiman’s forces would arrive first or Zich would die before that. Zich gripped his sword tightly and looked at the forces rushing towards him.