Chapter 436

Chapter 436: Overwhelming

Kwaaaaaang―!

A roaring sound that seemed to split the sky in two shook the plateau.

Hundreds of blinding spears of light poured down like a heavy rainstorm from the tip of the golden staff extended by the Higher Angel Seferin. A brilliant and fierce bombardment of divine power that could paralyze one's sight.

The mana drawn directly from the core using system administrator authority was practically limitless.

"Burn, you impious ones!"

Cedric leaped like lightning and swung his demonic spear.

As the spear tip, concentrated with the pitch-black energy of the dead, slashed through the empty air, dozens of pouring spears of light were cleaved in two in a single strike and crumbled.

"Kumkak— Tui! It reeks of disgusting angel smell."

Kwareureung!

An explosive flame surged and swallowed the trajectory of light whole, and the massive blood-red curtain Olivia raised with an elegant hand gesture perfectly deflected the remaining fragments.

"……!"

Seferin's blue pupils wavered minutely.

Kim Minwoo was also calmly striking away the pouring spears of light with his sword.

Sword strikes accurately deflecting each and every spear. However, one streak narrowly grazed the blade and touched the back of his hand.

Chiiiiiik―!

With a bizarre rupturing sound, the surface of his glove boiled up and melted down.

Kim Minwoo's brow twitched.

'Is this…… not the light attribute?'

Being called the Apostle of Radiance, he thought he mainly utilized light, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

The thoughts of the Legion Commanders rushed in.

They were in perfect sync.

Having gone through countless battles so far, they were sick of joint attacks.

However.

'This time, just stall for time. Don't kill him.'

Kim Minwoo had absolutely no intention of catching that Apostle of Radiance in the first place. Not only was catching that apostle not the only way to pass the trial.

'He's clearly not a normal participant at a glance.'

He had already confirmed the level of ordinary participants in District 1. The participants from other districts he faced at the rest stop were not much different. The Ascension Ritual was something undertaken by existences who couldn't even become Lower Gods at best.

But an existence with power exceeding an Intermediate God suddenly appeared out of nowhere?

And a cultist gathering believers just like himself at that?

'Looking at it, this is obviously a sniper attack.'

A feeling as if someone had sniped him and sent him.

'But for a sniper attack, the response is quite lukewarm.'

That angel is definitely strong.

But it shouldn't be the strongest move the system can utilize. Even so, why did they respond only to this extent.

'Because they can't be certain yet if I'm a real Higher God?'

That was about all he could think of.

He did enter the testing ground through illegal means, but.

From the system's side, wouldn't they just be at the stage of suspecting whether he really committed illegal acts or not?

'Makes sense.'

His strength and authority were greatly restricted.

When climbing the stairs in the 1st trial, he just sliced his way up with sword strikes.

In the 2nd trial?

He did show reviving the vampire swarm as undead using Land of Death, but this could not be clear evidence of being an illegal participant.

'By that logic, are all Necromancers who use swords well illegal participants?'

Perhaps they weren't sure if he was the apostle Park Hyunsung.

Or the Higher God Kim Minwoo himself, so they might have sent such an ambiguous force.

What would happen if he hunted that Apostle of Radiance here.

'Then it would be undeniable.'

He might get kicked out of the testing ground if things went wrong.

The movements of the Legion Commanders who received the command changed in an instant.

The vanguard, which had been rushing in with murderous intent, switched mainly to defense and checking, and Merhen also focused on distorting the space around Seferin to tie her feet in the empty air instead of offensive magic.

"These arrogant things……! How dare you act so leisurely in the face of the judgment of light!"

Seferin distorted her face in humiliation and poured an even fiercer storm of magic power, but it was close to impossible to break through the barrier of the four Legion Commanders and Kim Minwoo, who had intentionally switched to defense.

The battle situation in the sky truly looked like a tense fifty-fifty fight.

And that tense boss battle in the sky was causing a fatal crack in the hearts of the fanatics remaining on the ground.

"……."

The borderline between District 1 and District 7.

There, over two thousand true fanatics who hadn't thrown away their weapons yet were holding out, panting heavily.

Right before their eyes, the juicy smell of the Dragon Bone steaks Nasar was grilling vibrated, and the half of the survivors who had converted earlier were wildly tearing at meat, falling into ecstasy.

The desire to throw away their swords right now and crawl in front of that grill filled up to their throats.

Even so, there was only one reason they hadn't betrayed yet.

'Fear.'

The Apostle of Radiance.

The miracles and authority he showed were overwhelming.

Behind the benevolent warmth lurked the irresistible pressure of an absolute.

What if they were mesmerized by a shallow piece of meat right now, abandoned their faith, and crossed over to those heretics, but their leader tore the head of those heretics in the sky and won?

In that moment, what remained for the traitors was only terrible divine punishment and ruin.

That fear was barely suppressing their survival instinct.

So they desperately looked up at the sky. Earnestly praying that their great leader would turn that arrogant herd of heretics into ashes in a single breath.

However.

"Uh, uheo……?"

"Why…… is the leader's authority not reaching them?"

The pupils of the fanatics looking up at the sky began to tremble like aspen trees.

There was no overwhelming slaughter they had expected.

The light of Seferin pouring down drawing infinite trajectories was thoroughly blocked and deflected by the monsters of the Faction of the Dead.

Watching that bizarre stalemate, a cold and realistic calculation began to run in the heads of the fanatics.

'Wait. The boss battle is dragging on.'

Their gazes came back down to the ground.

'The victory condition of the trial is to destroy the enemy's sacred relic and defend our sacred relic.'

Their heads stiffly turned backward.

They saw the pure white fortress standing precariously at the end of the empty canyon behind their backs.

'More than half of our believers are already tearing meat over there.'

Their gazes turned forward again.

'If that massive volume pushes in to break our sacred relic…… can it be defended with our remaining personnel now?'

Impossible.

No, it was an overwhelming volume difference where the very concept of a defensive line could not even be established in the first place.

Then the remaining hope was only for the leader to end the boss battle in an instant and come down to the ground to provide support, but.

Looking at the situation in the sky, it didn't seem like it would end easily.

"……."

Silence. It was the sound of blind faith silently crumbling before the cold calculation table of reality.

'The leader is…… not winning.'

The absolute. The proxy of God. The Apostle of Radiance.

Under that grandiose name, what was the existence they revered showing right now up in the sky.

A single angel stamping her feet, unable to properly land a single spear of light against four monsters of heresy.

There were no miracles, no authority, no slaughter.

Only a sluggish offensive and defensive battle of being blocked, deflected, and blocked again.

'That is…… the person we devoted our lives to serve?'

The strength gripping the sword hilt from the fingertip of one fanatic loosened.

Jjeoeoeong―.

The clear sound of a lump of iron falling to the floor broke the silence. At that sound, the person standing next to him flinched and turned his head, but no one could scold him. Because.

Jjeo-eong. Jjeo-eoeong. Jjeo-eong―.

The exact same sounds were ringing out consecutively from here and there.

'What's the point of protecting the sacred relic.'

An undefendable fortress.

And the rich juicy smell of Dragon Bone steaks wafting from behind their backs.

The reason to risk their lives disappeared.

Chaenggeurang―!

Breaking the silence, an old sword dropped from the hand of a man standing in the front row onto the floor with a tuk.

"I-I can't do this. I, I have to live……!"

"Me too! I want to go too! Hire me! Give me meat!"

The moment the first block of the domino fell, the fear and hesitation that had been spreading like an epidemic exploded all at once.

Chaenggeurang! Chaenggeurang! Chaenggeurang!

"Wait! I'm converting too! Light or whatever, I want to chew on meat first!"

"Line up! Don't push, you bastards!"

The group of over two thousand who had been holding their spots while reading the room until the end threw away their weapons like a lie and began to run like a horde of zombies toward District 1's meat grills.

"Y-you impious traitor bastards! Stop! You will fall into hell!"

Dozens of extreme true fanatics whose souls had been brainwashed to the very bottom by Seferin tried to block them with bloodshot eyes, but it was not enough.

"Move aside, you bastard! Starving to death is hell!"

Peok! Kwadangtang!

Beneath the hooves of thousands of traitors whose eyes had flipped at the smell of meat, the true fanatics were miserably trampled without even being able to scream properly.

"……!"

Seferin's head, who had been struggling in a magic power battle with the Legion Commanders in the empty air, whipped around.

The terrible sensation of the 5,000 thin threads of faith connected to her soul snapping tuk-tuk without leaving a single strand behind struck her entire body.

"Wh-what is this……!"

Seferin looked down at the ground with astonished eyes.

The blood-splattering sublime holy war was nowhere to be found.

Her believers had already abandoned their faith and were indulging in meat.

Furthermore, that group of traitors who had firmly filled their bellies picked up their tools shoulder to shoulder and began to swarm toward the fortress of the Faction of Radiance.

It was a bizarre and vulgar sight as if employees of a demolition company were excitedly going on a picnic.

Seferin's pupils blurred like empty glass beads.

'Why…….'

In the despair of the bottom crumbling down, her gaze once again headed toward Kim Minwoo and the Legion Commanders surrounding her. Only then did the sense of incongruity of this bizarrely contrived battle hit her bone-deep.

Kwang!

Kwaaang!

Spears of light poured down ceaselessly, but the Legion Commanders were solely focused on deflecting and blocking.

The moment Seferin lost her mentality and unreasonably drew up her magic power, leaving her defensive membrane completely empty.

Even though a perfect opening that anyone could see could pierce her neckline was completely exposed, the pitch-black demonic spear unnaturally changed direction right under her chin and merely deflected fragments of light.

It was the same for the flames and the blood-red curtain.

Only thorough defense.

Movements as if locking her inside a massive birdcage and merely watching.

'……They have absolutely no intention of catching me.'

The moment she realized that fact, a creepy chill shot up Seferin's spine.

That leader of the heretics had seen through the essence of this boss battle from the very beginning.

That she was bait thrown by the system. He perfectly saw through the shallow trap structure that killing her would provide a justification for the system to intervene and punish.

So even if an opening shows, they absolutely do not strike.

They don't kill, just stall for time. Until those vulgar demolition crew bastards below smash the sacred relic and the trial ends!

"I, iik……!"

From humiliation and anger, Seferin's features distorted like a Yaksha. Even her role as bait was denied.

She felt as if her pride as a guardian of the system had been shoved into the gutter.

"Do not deceive me! Bring it on! Fight me properly matching swords!"

Seferin screamed full of malice and tried to charge toward Kim Minwoo holding Hell Rhapsody.

However, the magic barriers and space distortions wrapped in layers ensnared her limbs like sturdy iron chains.

Looking at the Higher Angel struggling tied up in the empty air, Kim Minwoo let out a pishik snort.

"I don't want to?"

"Wh, what……!"

"We win automatically even if we just stand still and breathe, why would I sweat and fight like a crazy person?"

Kugwagwagwang―!

As soon as Kim Minwoo's words ended, a massive rupturing sound echoed from the other side of the canyon.

The pure white fortress of the Faction of Radiance, which tens of thousands of the demolition crew had united to smash, lost its pillars powerlessly and was collapsing with a rumble.

[The destruction of the sacred relic is confirmed!]

[The 3rd trial, the Proof of Faith, has ended!]

[The Faction of the Dead has perfectly won the trial!]

Red system messages burst up in the empty air like firecrackers.

"Ah…… Aah……."

Witnessing the sight of her fortress collapsing clearly with her own two eyes, even the last remaining intelligence in Seferin's pupils slowly slipped away.