Zich’s eyes quickly moved as the knights’ swords tried to pierce him in all directions. He narrowed his focus, and his senses became sharper and more precise. He also increased his concentration to the maximum.
One sword aimed at his heart; one at his neck, and another at his side. He didn’t even have time to think. He had to sense their attacks and immediately move his body.
Clang!
He flicked away the sword aimed at his chest. Then he shifted his balance, twisted his body, and craned his neck.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The swords narrowly missed his neck and side. Zich swung his sword between the gaps.
Clang!
His sword was blocked. A knight behind Zich extended his sword and blocked Zich’s attack. Zich took that moment to launch his second round of attacks. Four swords shot toward him this time, and each aimed at a different place on Zich’s body. None of them were on the same track, and this indicated that the knights were used to doing cooperative attacks.
Zich swirled his mana. The mana extending from the tip of his sword swerved according to his intentions. As expected of a sword that the Karuwimans had gifted him, his mana flowed out much more easily than it did for other swords. Then he keenly raised his senses and infused mana into his eyes to increase his vision. He poured out an explosive amount of mana to only one side of the blade.
This skill was called ‘Flashing Sword.’
When mana seeped into only one side of the sword, the sword gained an incredible increase in speed from the reaction. Like its name, it instantly became a shining light. Zich focused his attention even more. He knew he couldn’t simply be fast; he had to also maintain perfect control and consider multiple factors at once.
The sword shot forward like a wild horse. Zich clutched his sword handle and tilted it. One of the swords from the Bellid knights collided against Zich’s sword.
Claaaang!
The sword bounced off Zich’s sword strongly. A large ringing numbed his hands, but Zich didn’t even blink and placed more pressure on his hands.
Swish!
Zich’s sword continued straight ahead and changed directions only under his commands.
Claang!
That was the second collision, and another sword bounced off. Zich’s sword also twisted off track from the rebound, but that was within his calculations. He drew a closer projection with his sword.
Clang!
A third collision.
Clang!
And finally, the fourth. In the blink of an eye, Zich had flicked away four swords. The Bellid knights looked at him with shock. But Zich couldn’t afford to be smug or mock them, and he pierced his sword into the closest knight.
Push!
The sword penetrated through the knight’s armor and pierced into his chest. However, Zich didn’t push his sword in too deeply; he pierced just enough to damage the knight’s organs and took out his sword again.
Whoosh!
As soon as Zich pulled out his sword, the knight’s hands brushed where Zich’s sword had been. The knight also looked surprised, and Zich ran backward.
Ruuuush!
Water pillars with a tremendous amount of force struck where Zich was. The knight whose heart Zich had pierced got mixed up with the water pillars and exploded. The intense water pressure in the pillars shredded him apart. However, Zich avoided it, and not a single drop of water landed on him.
“You bastard!” Trislowa spat out curses as he shot water pillars. His attacks sacrificed his subordinate rather than capture Zich.
‘They aren’t holding anything back.’
The knight Zich killed didn’t evade or block Zich’s attack; this was a result of Zich’s fast judgment and the ‘flashing sword’ skill. However, there was a difference between being unable to block or escape and not thinking of their lives at all.
Zich landed a critical wound on the motionless knight and immediately stepped behind.
‘He tried to capture me even at the cost of his life.’
The knight had planned to stop Zich from pulling out his sword even if he was stabbed. If he had succeeded, Zich and the knight would have been hit by Trislowa’s attack and accompanied each other on their way to the afterlife.
The knights who had scattered under Trislowa’s signal rushed towards Zich again.
‘Time is on my side. Those guys are going to rush towards me even while putting their lives at stake.’
That’s what both Trislowa and the knights wanted.
‘Then, there’s only one thing for me to do.’
Zich had to minimize his chance of getting injured, and he had to respond passively with a focus on defending. Of course, he didn’t plan on turning down an opportunity to attack if a similar situation like before happened.
‘I have to watch out for myself.’
A battle, which had a characteristically different nature than the ones Zich had ever fought before, unfolded.
* * *
After entering the Bellid temple, Weig advanced forward without hesitation. As soon as he spotted a Bellid priest, he separated their heads from their bodies and continued forward. The Bellids who had lost the protection from their barrier were helpless against him.
‘Where is Zich?’
Zich should have heard the commotion caused by the Karuwimans’ entry, but Zich still hadn’t joined them.
‘He could be dead or still have some work left to finish. Or he could be captured.’ Weig quickly erased the terrifying thought that Zich might be dead.
‘Sir Zich’s target was Trislowa.’
Then, Zich could be fighting with Trislowa now. Weigh mercilessly sliced the Bellid priests blocking his way and tried to sense Zich’s presence.
‘Found him!’
He felt Zich’s presence from not too far away; there were also many other presences that he felt besides Zich’s. Weig was sure that Zich was in the middle of a battle. ‘There’s a high chance that Trislowa could be there.’
“Lady Lubella!”
“Yes?” Lubella struck a beam of light through a resisting Bellid priest and turned around.
“Let’s go to meet Sir Zich.”
“Did you find out where he was?”
“Yes.”
Lubella gripped her staff and stood behind Weig. “Let’s go.”
Weig moved towards the presence he felt in front of him. It was not far; when they ran a little further, they reached the front of a shattered door. Weig and Lubella ran into the room.
“Mr. Zich!” Lubella cried out to Zich. Without saying anything, Weig looked around the room. There were gruesome corpses covered in blood on the ground, but when he saw that they were wearing Bellid uniforms, he lost interest in them. When he looked up, he saw people who looked like knights surrounding one person. From a distance, a Bellid priest was standing by himself.
The Bellid knights looked straight at Weig. Looks of dismay strongly appeared on their faces as they recognized who he was. There were even some who stepped back. However, Weig paid no attention to any of them and stared at the man they were surrounding.
“Hey, you have finally arrived?” Zich suffered minor injuries, and waved at Weig and Lubella.
Weig asked how his condition was. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m all right. I have no deep injuries.”
A great amount of blood was flowing down from his body, but it really did seem like there were no deep injuries.
“That’s great. Then why don’t we…” Weig, who had been smiling while talking to Zich, became cold in an instant. “First take out the trash.”
Whoosh!
Weig swung his sword. The holy energy inside his body shone brightly and spread out of him like bright rays of light.
Crassssh!
An enormous sound echoed across the room. As if God’s judgment was coming down upon the world, a sharp ray of light shone in only one part of the area. Zich closed his eyes from the harsh ray of light. However, light still seeped through his eyelids. His ears were numb from the loud explosion, and his clothes fluttered from the shockwaves. Small shards of debris hit his calves and feet. When the light disappeared, Zich opened his eyes.
“Wow!” He lightly showed his admiration.
Next to him, an enormous black stain was on the ground. No trace of the Bellid knights who were standing in that area could be found. The remaining Bellid knights quickly retreated; they moved near Trislowa and stood guard against Weig. However, they were unable to hide the terror in their eyes.
But Weig did not even take a moment to acknowledge their behavior. “You must excuse me, Mr. Zich.”
“It’s all right. Since I was in this cave for so long, I was slowly missing the light. All the light I’ve experienced so far since I came here was light from a torch. The fluttering wind was also comfortable and nice.”
Weig laughed out loud at Zich’s easygoing attitude. Lubella walked towards Zich and used her healing magic. In an instant, all of the injuries on his body were gone.
“Thank you, Lady Lubella.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled warmly.
Zich stared at the Bellid followers in front of him; he also met eyes with Trislowa. With an overexaggerated movement, he swiped his body all over. He wanted to mock them by showing how clean his skin was, implying, ‘Look at how all your efforts have become useless in an instant.’ But this was not enough for Zich; he also had to use words to mock his opponents.
“Didn’t I tell you? I said it was time for all of you to run away. So tell me, why did you guys make such a stupid and reckless choice?”
And as if he was shocked, he continued, “What? But now that I see all of you guys, huddled together in fear, you guys look like rats?! I can’t believe it! I thought I was the rat, but was it you guys all along?”
Weig burst out laughing. Lubella also covered her mouth and laughed. But the Bellids couldn’t laugh.
“Well, I guess you can’t help it. That’s how important this thing is to you guys.” Zich took out the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls from the magic box. Weig and Lubella looked at the object with curiosity.
Lubella asked, “What is that?”
“It’s a sacred object of the Bellid, and it’s called the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls. They left it unattended for anyone to steal it, so I just took it.”
Trislowa gritted his teeth.
“It seems like a pretty significant item.”
“Sir Weig, you are perfectly right. This thing in my hand can control monsters. When it’s fully completed, it can not only control common monsters like ogre, troll, and orcs but legendary monsters like the Behimos, Basilisks, and Titans.”
Lubella and Weig’s faces immediately became stiff. If any of the three monsters that Zich mentioned appeared, it was enough to annihilate an entire army.
“…They were making something so dangerous.” Weig sharply glared at Trislowa. “Lady Lubella, Sir Zich, please step back for a moment.”
As expected, there was no reason to let the Bellids live. Weig began moving towards the Bellids. His powerful and overwhelming presence made the Bellids flinch and retreat further back, and even Trislowa was not an exception.
“Wow, his presence is sick.”
“Of course, what else would you expect from Sir Weig?”
Zich and Lubella whispered to each other in soft voices.
Crashhh!
The fight began again with Weig’s ferocious light attack. But surprisingly, Trislowa blocked Weig’s attack with a barrier.
“I guess you are a cardinal after all!” Weig immediately launched another attack and the Bellid resisted. A fierce power struggle erupted, but as expected, Weig was winning. Moreover, he was winning by a landslide. One by one, the Bellid knights fell down. With ease, Zich and Lubella watched this sight from a distance.
“Sir Weig is really amazing.”
“I also agree with that statement, Lady Lubella. However, Trislowa and those guys won’t give up. Can’t you see them glancing around, scratching their brains to find a way out of this?”
“Then do you think they have a way to beat Sir Weig?”
“Of course not. They just aren’t willing to give up on this.” Zich shook the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls in his hand. “If they manage to retrieve this, it won’t be a complete loss to them. I’m sure they are trying to somehow escape from Sir Weig and take this from my hands and make a run for it.”
“Then why are you holding on to it?” Lubella looked at the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls as if it was an insect. “Crush it.”
“Should I?”
Everyone in the room could hear Zich and Lubella’s conversation; in the first place, they didn’t lower their voices at all. Zich met Trislowa’s eyes, and he smiled. Thinking back to everything that happened when Zich smiled, Trislowa began sweating from his forehead. Then Zich opened his mouth. No sound came out from his mouth, but Trislowa was able to read Zich’s lips. It was as if Zich was saying the now-familiar words directly to his ears.
‘All of this is because of you.’
Zich pierced the Pyramid of Souls with his sword.