After he ordered his underlings to find Zich, Trislowa began to ponder. ‘If he’s trying to cause chaos internally, what’s the first thing he’d do?’
In challenging situations, one should attempt to predict their opponent’s next move and plan accordingly. Trislowa predicted that Zich’s first move would be to cause a commotion inside the temple to trap some of their military force inside and separate them from the rest of the force fighting against the Karuwimans.
‘He’s already succeeded in this.’
Even though thinking about Zich made Trislowa grit his teeth, he had to accept his present situation. Currently, Trislowa, the leader of the northern branch and the greatest military power, was tied up inside the temple and about 50 Bellid knights were also trapped with him. Moreover, people fighting on the forefront would be wondering why a part of their force was not in battle with them. If their curiosity turned into suspicions, the morale of their whole team would fall. In order to solve all these issues, Trislowa needed to deal with Zich as quickly as possible.
‘If he didn’t infiltrate for the purpose of stealing the sacred object, what did he infiltrate for?’
A thought immediately popped up inside his mind.
‘The barrier.’
So far, the barrier was the number one contributor to driving back the Karuwimans and pulling his branch to its peak.
‘Let’s head to the ritual room.’
Trislowa quickly moved ahead; he soon reached the front of the ritual room. The door of the ritual room did not lose in extravagance compared to the door of the prayer room; the luxurious state of the door indicated how important the ritual room was to the whole temple. Trislowa opened the door. The first thing he saw was the statue of Bellu stationed in the center of the room. The unique head of the statue (which Zich called fish head) looked arrogantly down on all those who stared at it. A complicated magic circle was drawn on the floor, with the statue of Bellu in the middle.
The ritual room was ginormous, only a little smaller than the prayer room, but the magic circle made up most of the space in the room. And on top of the ritual were numerous Bellid priests who had their knees on the ground, surrounding the statue of Bellu. They were the ones who were keeping the temple’s barrier alive. Two knights were on guard to protect the Bellid priests. When the priests were performing the ritual, they were unable to react to even the slightest outside stimulation and had to focus all their attention on maintaining the barrier. For that reason, having guards was essential. However, due to the Karuwimans’ surprise attack, only two knights were protecting the priests. It was embarrassing to even say there was a defense unit protecting the priests with only two people.
Trislowa stopped the two knights who were about to say their greetings with his hands and focused his attention while leaning on the wall. As a priest, he didn’t have sensing abilities like a knight. However, he was able to hide his presence. His holy power surrounded his whole body; the energy from Bellu in the ritual room further helped him hide his presence.
If knights were like predators who sensed their prey and actively hunted their prey, he was a predator who camouflaged with his surroundings and waited to find the perfect opportunity to pounce on his prey.
Click!
Someone opened the ritual room. Trislowa’s eyeballs rolled around. He made eye contact with the person who opened the door. Then, he smiled; his smile was sharp and murderous.
Kwaaa!
Trislowa immediately released the holy powers he was collecting in his hands. Even though the Bellid’s specialty was controlling moisture, Trislowa was one of the strongest cardinals in the Bellid; just firing his holy power was strong enough to blast his enemies.
Crash!
“Ughh!”
‘I did it!’ Trislowa was filled with bliss; the rat he threw his holy powers at was starting to come into view.
Trislowa loudly shouted, “Follow him!”
The knights guarding the priests all looked at him.
“Put off the guarding and chase that bastard who ran away just now.”
“But…!”
“I said, chase after him!”
Trislowa snarled at the reluctant guards. Without much choice, they started chasing after Zich.
‘Right now, securing the sacred object is our top property. I have to prioritize catching that bastard over everything!’
There could also be more intruders. If there were more intruders, the priests in the ritual room would be easy prey since they were unable to move. However…
‘…I just have to hope that doesn’t happen.’
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. They could not lose the sacred object here at all costs. If there were enough people, he could leave some guards behind; but right now, there were only two guards to help him. Since his opponent seemed to be pretty skilled, he needed their support to retrieve the sacred object. After ordering the guards to chase after Zich, Trislowa quickly ran out and followed behind. The only ones left were the priests, who were so focused on maintaining their ritual that they were unable to notice the commotion happening around them.
Thud!
When Trislowa went out, the door of the ritual room closed. There was a constant uproar outside the room. It seemed as if the injured Zich was doing a very good job running around, so the chase continued. The knights who were searching for Zich moved towards the sound of the commotion. A few more Bellid knights ran past the ritual room. The sound of people chasing after Zich moved further and further away from the ritual room. Soon enough, only soft murmurings could be heard in the front. Moreover, the thick walls in the ritual room blocked all sound. It sounded as if the commotion had passed.
Creak!
The door opened again.
Thud!
Like a rock dropped in still water, a footstep from the open door broke the silence. It was an incredibly light footstep. However, the resentment in this footstep was heavier than anything in this room. The door completely opened and dozens of people came rushing in. All of their clothes were ragged, their skin was covered with all kinds of dirt and dust, and their bodies were emaciated. Their hair was dirty and rough, and their beards were overgrown and tattered. Their eyes were sharp and the sharp glint in their eyes glistened in murderous rage—they were the people who had been locked up in the temple’s prison. One of them, Lewan South, glared at the Bellid priests in front of them with rage and recalled what happened to them earlier.
* * *
“Revenge?”
Even while his mind was half-unconscious from being tortured and starved for so long, South responded to Zich’s words.
‘Revenge.’ It was the wonderful word he had cried out to himself again and again while he was trapped here, and it appeared even in his dreams. It was a word that he could sacrifice the rest of his life for.
“Yes, revenge!”
As soon as Zich found a person who was interested in his words, he nodded to confirm his statement.
“I’ve come here to save all of you. Outside, the Karuwimans have come to raid the Bellids.”
Hope shone upon people’s faces. Their hearts were filled with joy at the thought they could escape this hell.
“I have already secured the path to let all of you escape. Everyone just has to follow my words, but I was wondering if any of you are dissatisfied with just escaping like this.”
“…Revenge.”
South opened his mouth. It had been so long since he last talked that it was hard for him to move his tongue and his pronunciation was slightly off. His throat was also hoarse from screaming continuously.
“Is it possible?”
“It sure is.”
“Revenge against the Bellids is possible?”
“Yes, revenge is possible.”
Like teaching a child who had just learned his first words, Zich repeated his words patiently without any signs of annoyance.
“Since someone’s interested, let me explain right away. I am going to help everyone escape. But I’m sure many of you want to rip apart the Bellid bastards.”
‘Many’ was an understatement. Anyone who still had their senses left let out their bloodthirst. It was more accurate to say ‘all of them’ wanted revenge.
“So, I will give you all a chance to get revenge.”
* * *
South clutched onto his knife’s handle tightly. Unlike before when the Bellids had cut off his tendons, he could make a fist now. His hand’s condition was similar to when he had swung his large sword at monsters before the Bellids captured him.
‘I can’t believe he was able to cure me even after a lot of time passed since my tendons were sliced off.’
His savior had told him that the potions they took were the best quality potions that the Karuwimans made. Thus, it made sense how his injuries were all healed.
‘I regained a bit of my strength now too.’
His body, which had weakened from injuries and starvation, felt stronger now. Of course, his whole physical condition wasn’t the same as before. But it didn’t matter.
‘It’s enough to kill those bastards.’
South raised his sword and approached the closest priest. As his savior told him, the Bellid priests didn’t move even when he stood in close proximity.
Smirk.
A smile naturally formed on his lips. The sight of the priests praying in uniform—like they were doing a solemn memorial service—was despicable, and the thought that each of them would be shrieking soon made him laugh. South gestured with his fingers and his companions moved.
Although everyone in the prison dreamed of revenge, many of them wanted to escape out of this hellish place as fast as possible. They didn’t want to face any danger, so they escaped, and the people here now were those who had chosen revenge over escape. They wanted to show the Bellids a cruel retaliation even if they had to take a dangerous risk. Thus, they grouped in a cluster of four and approached a priest they liked. Of course, the expression ‘liked’ didn’t include even an ounce of positivity.
“…In one and two, we all pierce the priest we chose at once.”
The swords that Zich had stored in his magic box weren’t high-quality weapons, but they were enough to pierce humans clothed only in priest uniforms. The group held their swords hanging upside down and pointed at the priest’s every limb.
South counted, “One…two!”
Push!
He could hear the sound of skin tearing apart.
“Ahhhh!”
“Ah! Ahhhh!”
Since the priests’ entire attention was on the ritual, they screamed the very moment the swords pierced into them. Their screams filled the ritual room, and their screams were muffled by the room’s thick walls. The priests who were not stabbed stayed focused on the ritual and barely noticed what was happening around them. There was no one who could help them.
After losing their limbs, the priests who were stabbed became immobile and rolled on the ground like a piece of meat. They were hateful pieces of meat.
“Kill them.”
Pluck! Pluck! Pluck!
“Urgggggh! Urgh! Kkieh, Kkiaaaaaaah!”
Like a butcher cleaning up meat, they stuck their swords into the priests’ bodies. The priests resisted, but they had the strength and stamina of a normal person and couldn’t use their limbs, so their resistance was futile. In addition, even if their opponents were in a weakened state, South and his companions were moving in a group of four.
“Stop!” South shouted and stopped his companions. While they breathed harshly, his companions’ eyes were filled with satisfaction.
“Okay, everyone. Let’s move to our next work,” South said while wiping the blood off his cheeks.
“There are still many of them for us to enjoy.”
They sloppily disposed of the meat pieces which used to be ‘priests,’ with their feet and moved onto their next target.
* * *
Trislowa chased after Zich. He looked threatening as he moved onto another priest’s back. Besides him, there were a bunch of knights he had gathered together. After receiving Trislowa’s blessing, their physical abilities were heightened, and they chased after Zich with menacing eyes.
In comparison, Zich’s state looked terrible. He was clutching onto his bleeding sides while staggering. He looked severely injured, but even in this condition, he was running well at a great speed. However, his unstable pace made it seem like it would come to an end soon.
“Urgh!” Zich groaned and switched his direction to the side. Other Bellid’s knights ran towards him in the same path.
Trislowa shouted, “Yes, like that! Corner him! Since he acts like a rat, we have to treat him like one!”
They looked as if they would capture Zich any moment now, so Trislowa was thrilled. He had high expectations to retrieve the artifact again. No matter how big the temple was, there was a limit to the places Zich could run to, and in the end, Zich was cornered.
“You are good at running!” Trislowa got off the knight’s back and said confidently, “But in the end, this is your fate. Give me the artifact now. If you do that, I will show you mercy and let you die a painless death.”
Of course, this was a lie and Trislow had no intention to let Zich die peacefully. He was planning to torture Zich again and again until he got sick of it. But Zich was silent. He somewhat looked like he was desperately trying to get out of the situation and somewhat like he was despairing at his hopeless predicament.
Trislowa didn’t wait long; he didn’t feel the need, nor did he have the time to do so. Thus, he was about to order his knights to kill Zich and take the holy item when—
Craaaaash!
A large shock shook the whole temple.