More than two hundred thousand soldiers surrounded the Holy Land.
A huge cave and the crude stone towers built around it.
The warriors of the north facing them were only around 30,000.
However, the confrontation had been going on for over a month already.
Among the northern warriors, it was because of the monsters with special powers.
Those who are both human and have the appearance of monsters.
They call it ‘God-received’.
‘Is this a god?’
Archduke Carlos.
giant body. With that heavy hand that had inherited divine power, he lifted the corpse in the barracks.
The wizards who saw it were frightened.
“Come on, don’t go near me.”
“It is the energy of powerful black magic. You never know when it will break through the mana wall and pop out.”
Archduke Carlos did not care.
His body was like a sanctuary.
The aura of black magic can never invade him.
“It is the energy of powerful black magic. You never know when it will break through the mana wall and pop out.”
The aura of black magic can never invade him.
Archduke Carlos did not care.
“Hmm.”
His body was like a sanctuary.
The body was deformed.
The flesh swelled, the intestines protruded, and it became an unknown shape.
Air bubbles burst on the skin.
Every time that happened, something like an unknown gas came out.
The most surprising thing is the blood.
blood, white
The wizards were blocking it with a mana wall, but the energy flowing from the corpse’s whole body ate away even the mana wall.
“Hmm.”
The body was deformed.
They even tried to invade the ‘sanctuary’ surrounding them.
It was formidable power.
‘It’s a killing field that kills even the sword master.’
The corpse was a sword master under the command of the Grand Duke.
After secretly infiltrating the Holy Land, this has changed.
The sword master, who is said to have reached the limits of his physical body, could not last even 10 minutes.
A normal person would die as soon as he entered.
Even with the ability called ‘Walking Sanctuary’, it seems that it will not last long.
Killing Field.
It’s literally like the dragon’s absolute magic.
It is as written in the ancient texts.
‘In that holy place, there is a dragon.’
Doubts became certain.
Those with special constitutions in the north gain strength by entering the killing field.
However, it is said that no one even went to the end of the Holy Land to confirm the existence of the dragon.
The deeper you go, the more body transformation and strength you get, but there is also a downside that the lifespan is extremely short.
Archduke Carlos was not interested in those who received God.
All he wants is a dragon called God.
The legend that is a mystery and has been passed down is in there.
My heart was pounding.
It was to the point of intoxication with an intense sensation that had never been felt even in war.
Take that dragon and you’ll put the world under your feet.
An empire alone is not full of castles.
All the behind-the-scenes work for that has been completed.
Finally, the confirmation of the Holy Land was over.
All that remains is conquest.
“Great Gong. Thebeus has come to visit you.”
“… Thebeus?”
Thebeus. his stupid third son.
I placed it in the rear, but I couldn’t stand it and came back.
said Carlos frowning.
“Stop by.”
As soon as he had finished his words, Thebes opened the barracks and walked in.
Thebeus approached with quick steps and opened his mouth with a hasty expression.
“father.”
“This is a battlefield, my sister…”
“Reinhardt is in the north.”
Reinhardt.
Why did that name come out of Thebeus’ mouth?
As always, the prince had to do nothing while confined to the palace.
After the Northern Expedition is over, the Crown Prince will become his puppet.
But, it’s north.
As if that wasn’t all, Thebeus continued.
“I am with Lord Croft. It is clear that he came with a different intention.”
“Did you just watch it quietly?”
“That, that’s…”
Thebes bit his lip.
I couldn’t bear to say that I was overwhelmed by Reinhardt and couldn’t do anything.
When he came to his senses, it was after the wagon had disappeared at great speed.
I tried to find it, but I couldn’t find it because there was no guide.
Thebeus got down on one knee.
“Give me a chance. I will definitely find it.”
Carlos rubbed his chin.
At this time, Reinhardt left the palace and came to the north.
With Croft the Sleeping Lion.
‘For what?’
Did you notice something?
We’ve come too far for a mad prince’s walk.
I don’t know why Croft was with Reinhardt, but it was clear that he had come with doubts about what was happening in the north.
And if Croft was with him, it was understandable that Thebeus couldn’t catch Reinhardt.
However, the timing is very precise.
Of course, right before attacking the Holy Land.
‘Is it responding to the discovery of the shadow?’
In order to conquer the Holy Land and take the dragon, he wiped out the spies inside.
It was to avoid letting the imperial family know about the process of taking the dragon and what a ‘dragon’ was.
I thought about the number of cases in which the emperor, noticing the strangeness, sent Croft.
‘A peace-stricken, incompetent emperor moved?’
incompetent emperor.
Carlos considered Deus, the so-called guardian of peace, incompetent.
He does not know the monster that exists on the other side of peace.
Due to Deus, the empire was being culled.
If time passes like this, eventually the empire will lose its past prestige and power and be conquered by other nations.
The history of the great thousand-year empire disappears into the underworld due to Deus.
Shouldn’t that be blocked?
The plan to make the empire even greater was running toward an end.
But.
Did the words on the board you made move on your own?
“Thebeus.”
“Yes, Grand Duke.”
“Catch it. However, you must not kill them.”
Thebeus’ mouth reached his ears.
The opportunity to correct mistakes has arrived.
A great opportunity to play on the front lines again.
Reinhardt. The guy was an asshole.
Even though I was humiliated, it’s okay if you pay me back.
“Is it okay if I don’t kill you?”
“You can cut off one of your ankles so you can’t escape.”
“I accept your order, Grand Duke.”
“Patrick, go with Crow. With the two of us, we should be able to subdue even Croft.”
“ah······! thank you I will definitely catch it and come back!”
Patrick and Crow are among the top five sword masters under the Archduke’s command.
Even if Croft dared to come, they were strong enough to be difficult to deal with.
Even if there were variables, if I accompanied them, I couldn’t help but catch them.
Although the entry into the holy land would be delayed due to the absence of the two, it was proof that it was urgent to catch Reinhardt.
Thebeus clenched his fists.
A great opportunity that will never happen again.
‘Wait, Reinhardt.’
***
People in the north read the wind and smell and orient themselves.
It was something I knew instinctively, even without training.
Following the guidance of the two children, the wagon set its direction and moved.
The sadness of losing their mother was intense, but it was because the two children were also aware that it was we who saved them.
“······ We have arrived, Your Highness.”
Edith said.
The place we finally arrived at was a half-destroyed cathedral.
The entrance to the basement of the cathedral. There was a man on it.
A warrior wielding a huge halberd.
However, the body was strangely deformed.
The muscles in his arms and legs were abnormally overstretched, and the hair that grew out was covered like that of a beast.
“Pagan!”
“Pagan!”
Two children from the carriage approached the man, knelt down and bowed.
like a sacred ritual.
Seeing that, Edith explained.
“It means ‘one who has received God’.”
I knew what that meant.
The most exceptional among the warriors of the north.
They were called pagans.
the one who received the gods. All monsters with bizarre body transformations.
The people of the north revere them. I felt like a real god.
However, the lifespan of a pagan is extremely short.
It is said that if you receive God, you will not live for one year at most.
The reason they couldn’t conquer the north for a long time was because of the strength of those factions.
In exchange for lifespan, the north was protected by the sacrifices of those who gained divine power beyond imagination.
“Are you surprised?”
“I heard they don’t live long. Haven’t you been there for quite some time?”
A few years have passed since my granddaughter went berserk.
If he continued to guard that place, it meant that several more years had passed since he had received God.
This exceeded the average lifespan of Pagan.
Edith nodded.
“It is said that he has a unique constitution among pagans. He is also an old friend of mine.”
Edith then walked over to Fagan and spread her arms.
With the expression you get when you meet a really good friend.
Pagan also welcomed him with open arms.
But it wasn’t the pagan’s grotesque appearance that surprised me.
[The ‘radiation exposure’ value has exceeded the limit.]
[It is suppressed by ‘unauthorized nanomachines’, but treatment is not possible at the current stage.]
[Enter the defense system.]
In order to protect his body from the radiation that would inevitably flow in, Zero went into a defensive posture.
Nanomachines began to surround me like a wall.
‘radiation?’
Then I remembered where I had heard the word.
It’s a word from another world.
The ultimate weapon that destroyed a brilliant civilization in just 10 minutes.
The substance that the weapon spewed out was radioactivity.
That is the name of the real devil who annihilated mankind.
But why was that pagan exposed to radiation?
‘Zero. What if I get exposed to radiation?’
[There are many symptoms of radiation exposure.]
[Radioactivity destroys human DNA structure, causing mutations. It is a deadly weapon to living things, causing cancer, hair loss, leukemia, necrosis of tissues, and whitening of blood even at low levels.]
[But don’t worry. That nanomachine ‘Zero’ was created to save mankind exposed to radiation. There is no possibility that the radiation will harm the Master’s body as long as I am maneuvering.]
It’s a mutation phenomenon.
That grotesque body of Pagan means that it was caused by radiation.
And Zero showed a firm will to protect me from such radiation.
‘Only warriors who have been chosen and entered the Holy Land become Pagan. There are dragons in the Holy Land. The dragon emits radioactivity…’
Then what is a dragon?
It was a matter that had to be seriously considered.
Following Edith and Pagan, we opened the door and headed underground.
A wide underground cavity.
After seeing a pillar of ice in the middle, all worries flew away.
“This is my granddaughter, Your Highness.”
Edith said in a heavy tone.
A woman trapped in the center of a pillar of ice.
White face and white skin.
It is a white species that is hard to find even on the continent.
It was the girl that Edith had forcibly frozen due to runaway mana.
All I knew was that the granddaughter would die and Edith would step down as the head of the Mage.
I had no interest in who the granddaughter was or what she was doing.
But the look of that woman, for some reason, was familiar.
An existence that can blow away your worries about dragons at once.
‘······ The Demon King of White Silver.’
That was the name of the seventh feat Malfiel had accomplished.
The end of ＜The Demon King of Silver＞