Chapter 250: The Angry One Comes
Ramin Solost Muel heard a massive roar not far away. There was a faint shockwave, yet one that seemed to shake the ground.
“Did something fall?”
Beside her, Gorgota Falu fired their pistol in rapid succession before taking cover and said, "It doesn't seem like the time to worry about that."
Alongside the soldiers of the Rasdasil Ruins base, Ramin, Gorgota, and Owen were holding off an attack from the Canine unit, who had attacked from the rear.
The area, scattered randomly with white stones that were remnants of a past civilization, provided too many good positions to take cover from bullets. This was advantageous for delaying time, but conversely, it made it difficult to prevent the enemies from flanking and infiltrating.
The Canine unit, taking advantage of the small number of soldiers defending the base, was skillfully moving from cover to cover by taking advantage of their agility, thus advancing while avoiding combat as much as possible. Given that most of the soldiers defending the base were not particularly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, it was necessary to somehow stop the approach.
Ramin grumbled, "When are the reinforcements coming?"
Right next to her, Owen leisurely took a drag of his pipe even amidst the turmoil of war.
Though it was necessary for using the power of the Chosen One, it still somehow seemed spiteful.
Ramin said to her teacher, "Aren’t you being too laid-back?"
"What, do you think the enemies will drop dead if we're busy?"
He wasn't wrong.
Owen said, "By the way, Ramin, it doesn't seem like you smoke herbs."
"I get dizzy if I use too much power at once, so I only do it a little, but I do smoke herbs."
While saying this, Ramin pulled out a thin paper rolled with herb leaves and put it in her mouth. As electricity flared up at her fingertips, Ramin inhaled deeply. The rolled-up herb leaves began to burn from the end.
"Oh, that's a good method."
"Your way is too old-fashioned, Teacher."
After emptying their magazine, Gorgota reloaded and took cover again.
Gorgota looked at the two and said, "...Are you two resting?"
"No, Teacher said..."
Gorgota interjected, "I saw a bad omen."
"An omen?"
Gorgota said, "There was a Werewolf with white fur among the Canine."
"Could it be Aruega Rob?"
"Yes, unlucky of us to see it again."
"No."
Owen peered around the corner to secure his view and said, "The unlucky one is that guy."
Unsheathing his sword, he continued to say, "It would be wise to inform the unit commander. If it comes close, I will confront that one."
"Teacher?"
"Will you be alright, Elder?"
The enemy was an Apostle. Even Ramin, with her peculiar level of swordsmanship capable of deflecting bullets and blades, couldn’t stand against an Apostle.
Owen said, "I thought I needed to prove that I still follow the will of Night Sky. This is an opportunity."
Gorgota looked at Owen with a complex expression and then nodded.
"Alright. Then Ramin and I should go assist the other units."
Ramin asked, "We're not going to help?"
"Without reinforcements, it’s going to be difficult to hold the enemy forces here with this unit alone. Besides, I'm not sure how much help I or you, who is injured, would be."
Owen, flicking off the ash from his pipe, got up from his spot. "Let's do that."
After Ramin and Gorgota left, Owen picked up his bow. Looking past the corner, he could see the Canine agents quickly moving to hide behind cover, avoiding the Empire's firepower.
'Are they hiding behind that pile of stones?'
Owen thought guns were a splendid weapon. Even a child could take down a veteran warrior with one. But there were problems as well. Not even a veteran warrior would be able to get a bullet to do more than what the set amount of gunpowder produced. Becoming proficient with firearms was about developing the ability to quickly understand and respond to situations, not about performing great feats with the gun itself.
Owen nocked an arrow to the bowstring,
'And it’s too linear.'
As Owen lightly twisted the arrow and released the bowstring, what seemed like a straight trajectory began to curve, and the arrow entered an unseen space around the corner. The sound of the arrow flying was almost unheard amid the gunfire.
But a Canine agent fell from behind the corner, a drooping arm peeking out. Owen confirmed the hit and nocked another arrow,
'One down.'
***
"What about Hegemonia?"
Responding to Wisdom's question, Lunda answered, "She hasn't shown up yet. She’s not using Divine Control.
At that, Crampus said, "Wait, this is the same as the Sanctuary had predicted. The Sanctuary had calculated that if Hegemonia was dealt such a blow, she wouldn’t attempt to use Divine Control again."
"What’s the extent of Hegemonia's damage?"
Eldar replied, "Firstly, a level drop would have occurred. According to the Sanctuary's predictions, she could have dropped from level 31 to as low as level 28, and the estimated loss is 30 percent of her stored Faith points compared to the original amount."
Sung-Woon had been confident that things would end up this way, but for Wisdom, it wasn’t until now that he was certain that his evaluation of Hegemonia being able to challenge the Large Area was completely broken. It had become impossible for Hegemonia to challenge a Large Area in a short period of time.
Of course, it was difficult to say that Hegemonia's power had plummeted drastically.
While the death of an apostle could strike a blow to Hegemonia, a blow to Hegemonia wouldn't particularly harm her apostles. This was because apostles always obtained separate resources of Faith points and achieved separate levels of Divinity.
"It seems we've gained a significant advantage." It was Lim Chun-Sik who said so.
Solongos chimed in, "However, hyung-nim, our oldest hyung-nim said we must never let our guard down."
"I know that, you fool."
Lim Chun-Sik grumbled in response.
"But hey, that warmonger now has almost no options left to choose from. Moreover, she must be feeling a lot more impatient internally because if she hadn't used Divine Control and merely poured out creations with the same amount of Faith points, she would’ve been in a better situation than now."
Of course, even if Hegemonia had done so, the Empire would have had measures in place and would have been able to fend it off. The problem for Hegemonia lay in the loss of 30 percent of the Faith points that could have been expended on strategy. Nevertheless, despite Hegemonia still having the advantage in numbers, since the Empire was never lacking in overall power and had achieved many tactical victories, the overall balance of power could be considered favorable to the Empire.
"...Right, we've gained a considerable advantage."
Still, Wisdom didn’t rush to assure victory.
Initially, Hegemonia had breached the dam they had laboriously built up, and the current surged forth, but they managed to contain it well.
'Hegemonia is still dangerous.'
Even in the game called The Lost World, or rather, in the history of the world Wisdom had observed, there had always been instances where a dominating position could be completely overturned by minor mistakes and small failures. There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t be the case this time.
'Nebula has stepped away for a moment. The decisions that Nebula would make must be made now.'
Wisdom asked, "We still have Faith points left at our disposal outside of the 9 percent Nebula requested us to set aside. Has the Sanctuary responded to the question we sent?"
As if in reply to Wisdom's words, a notification window popped up. It was sent by Kyle. The players of the Pantheon, who were looking at various places of the battlefield, also shifted their attention to the notification.
[Kyle Lak Orazen: Sanctuary's answer to the question raised from the Pantheon’s meeting, 'The next move of the Angry One' →]
[Kyle Lak Orazen: Hierophany.]
The moment Wisdom read the last word, flames erupted from the central screen that Wisdom had set up. What was displayed was in the middle of the battlefield, so it was unnatural for such an eruption of flames to occur. Yet none of the players were surprised. It was a scene commonly seen in the latter part of the game of The Lost World.
When a player, whose Divinity level was in the late twenties, used Hierophany, their mere appearance would cause a natural disaster.
AR1026 said, "You see. It's Hegemonia's Hierophany."
***
There was a massive blast, one that forced soldiers on the battlefield and apostles engaged in their fights to turn to look, even if just for a moment. A gigantic column of fire rose from the center of the battlefield, reaching up to the sky where the airships were. The spectacle could be seen from anywhere in Rasdasil.
-Be afraid.
A raspy voice reached the entire battlefield.
Those engulfed by the flames, whether they were soldiers of the Empire or the Union Kingdom, turned into mere handfuls of ashes, swept up into the sky by the increasing air pressure.
-All who bear sins, bow down.
What emerged first from the flames were people wearing black hoods. They held in one hand a brazier symbolizing the undying wrath of the Angry One, and in the other, each clutched their weapon, representing unrelenting retribution. These were the warriors of the Red Land who followed the Angry One even after death.Though they hadn’t reached the status of Apostles, each had left behind achievements in their battles and had promised an eternal fight by the side of the Angry One after death.
One of the warriors stepped out of the procession and shouted.
-Realize the frailty of that vain illusion called courage.
Along with those words, the bang of a bell being hit was heard. In the midst of the warriors who continued to march out in a line, a golden chariot was pulled forward.
Attendants of the Angry One pulled the chariot themselves, revealing one by one the golden statues that symbolized the achievements of the Angry One. Above this grand procession chariot, which carried the history of the world, chanters climbed to sing praises of the accomplishments of the Angry One.
-Wherever they tread, the earth crumbles...
Up in the sky, the Dragon knights, pride of the Union Kingdom, were seen in groups of sixteen, each pulling along Dragons bound in chains. All these Dragons, slain by the Angry One, proved that even these mighty immortal creatures were nothing more than trivial beings in the face of God’s power.
-Wherever they leave their footprint, eternal flames blaze…
What was revealed was a gigantic horseshoe. The massive black horse, with a shoulder height of 10 meters, had an indistinct silhouette due to its lush mane and the fur covering its hooves, and its eyes were not clearly visible. But there were few in the Union Kingdom, and even in the Empire, who didn’t know the name of this horse. It was a divine beast—a Gytrash, to be exact, which brought misfortune by its mere presence. And it was named Kazaha, the fourth Apostle of the Angry One.
As Kazaha moved its hooves, a heavy tremor spread through the ground.
-Your death has come.
The flames slowly subsided, revealing the rider mounted on Kazaha. It was a giant who was in no way lacking compared to Kazaha’s massive stature. They were a knight who seemed to have just come out from a blast furnace, their plate armor red-hot, wearing a horned helmet that soared to the skies, and within that helmet, real flames blazed. It was the Angry One.
The Angry One had appointed their own mount as an Apostle. As Kazaha trod, shaking the earth, the Angry One looked down upon the battlefield from their elevated position. Then they forcefully pulled at the reins on Kazaha. Kazaha lifted its front legs high and kicked out at the air in succession.
The Angry One drew their sword and swung it with all their might.
-Destroy them!
At the command of the Angry One, the frenzied army of the Union Kingdom attacked the forces of the Empire at once.
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