166 episodes
“I’m trying to get a sense of what’s inside.”
Ethan sat with his palms on the floor as he did at Mount Nord, spreading his divine power thinly.
I was planning to scan the entire mine once using my divine power.
Ethan closed his eyes and focused.
As I concentrated my mind, I could feel the divine power spread thin and thin like a thread running into the mine.
That was then.
“… … !”
The divine power that was running through the deep darkness was cut off at some point.
The divine power had been crushed as it was.
‘Can you see this?’
Ethan chuckled.
The huge darkness encountered deep in the mine was not unusual.
Even if the divine power was spread thinly, Ethan’s divine power was amplified with divine magic and the purity was high.
‘How did you handle it so easily?’
For Ethan, it was absurd.
Ethan stood up and delivered what he had just found out to the Knights Templar.
“It seems that there are uninvited guests in here besides us.”
“All right. Be careful.”
Those who did not know Ethan’s skills would have asked what nonsense this is.
However, the Knights nodded without a single doubt.
It was a trust that was formed because of the experiences I had experienced while working with Ethan.
Conrad asked Ethan playfully.
“Is that intruder a dark follower?”
He was also a quick-witted knight.
He noticed that what was inside was different from a typical rebel soldier.
“why? Were you scared?”
Conrad then smiled, revealing it.
“Ha, please. My heart races to get revenge on those who put such a curse on us.”
* * *
Deep in the Nord Mine.
The knights were divided into three and searched for the mines connected like a spider’s web.
We were looking for something to do with the Dark Followers.
Of course, I wasn’t looking for it without any clues.
Ethan informed the knights of the approximate location where the divine power had been cut off.
“There are no traces here. How about there?”
A knight raised his back and looked back.
The knights behind them also shook their heads, holding torches.
“no. There is nothing here either.”
“Then shall we move?”
The knights searched for the dark inside of the mine without getting lost.
It was thanks to the sharply forged feeling.
That was then.
Kang!
The sound of metal crashing into something hard came from over the dark passageway that forked.
The knights looked at each other at the sound heard in the silence.
“This?”
“It’s a battle! Come this way!”
The knights noticed that the battle had taken place and hurriedly headed towards it.
And there, as expected of the knights, a battle was taking place.
One of them was already seriously injured and fell out.
The remaining two were barely blocking the attack of an unidentified monster.
“You take care of the wounded first! I join over there.”
“All right!”
The two knights hurriedly joined to stop the attack of the monster.
The battle, which had been driven by the defense, finally turned into a stalemate.
“Lean on me!”
“Ugh… … .”
The knight who supported the wounded ventured back.
But once the monster smelled the blood, it came after them, showing an obsession with the wounded.
Grrr!
“Aww, damn it!”
The monster ignored the knights facing him, and rather leaped towards the retreating knights.
swish!
The monster’s claws barely touched the knights.
It was a moment when the bones were brittle.
The knights eventually fled with the wounded at the forefront, blocking the monster from behind.
Kang!
Each time the sword blocked the monster’s claws, the blade was sharpened without mercy.
If that attack hit the body directly, even with armor on, it seemed that the internal organs would be torn apart.
“What kind of monster is that?!”
One of the knights eventually vomited his anger.
It was a new kind of monster that had never been seen or heard before.
A red gem was embedded in the forehead of the monster in the shape of a wolf.
The difference from animal wolves was that they were much larger than wolves and had magical powers flowing from their whole body.
“calm down! Retreat calmly while maintaining the formation. Keep retreating and you’ll be able to join the others.”
Another knight encouraged his colleagues.
The knights who were encouraged clenched their teeth and hurried to retreat.
That was then.
swish!
Kwagwang!
Something totally unexpected happened.
As the red wolf swung its feet aiming at the ceiling, the ceiling collapsed, blocking its way out.
“… … !”
“Hey, damn it!”
The knights who witnessed the ceiling collapsing opened their eyes.
“Heh heh, heh heh!”
The knights shrugged their shoulders and gasped for breath.
There was nowhere else to run.
Now I had to make up my mind.
In that short time, the knights looked at each other.
Based on simple calculations, when the four knights joined forces earlier, they were able to fight without being pushed by the red wolf.
But now there was no need to run away supporting the wounded, so a total of five knights could deal with it.
Such calculations came and went just by looking at them.
The wounded knight retreated as far back as he could.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any help.”
“I have nothing to say. Because you can win anyway.”
The five knights looked at the red wolf with the wounded behind their backs.
That was then.
Behind the red wolf, in the darkness, red eyes began to rise.
First two, then four, six, eight… … .
gradually increased in number.
The knights swallowed dry saliva.
“… I guess this one isn’t all there is?”
“I know.”
It was really the worst.
However, the Knights of Steel rather burned the battlefield.
“Hey, it doesn’t matter. If it was death anyway, I was already prepared when I was under that curse. After all, life is just a spare now!”
“but. If it wasn’t for Priest Ethan, he would have already died in the basement of the fortress.”
“Let me show you why the Knights of Steel got the title of Steel!”
They were not so weak that their will was broken by this hardship.
‘If I die… … .’
The thoughts of the knights gathered at this moment.
“At that point, you’ll have at least one more companion for those guys.”
A smile filled with joy appeared on the knights’ faces.
* * *
It was a moment when the knights were resolutely determined just like the protagonists of knightly literature.
Light shone through the piles of rubble that had collapsed.
bang!
Then a roar was heard, and fragments of the destroyed stone were scattered.
“uh?”
The knights looked back with puzzled faces.
Ethan was standing there.
He had blown away the pile of stones blocking the way out.
“Priest!”
A sense of relief crossed the faces of the knights who saw the familiar faces.
On the other hand, the red wolf was wary of the appearance of a new human and retreated.
It was because the energy emanating from Ethan was unusual.
Walking towards the red wolf, Ethan glanced at the wounded knight.
“Everyone, step back.”
The knights shook their heads.
“We will help together.”
“you’re right. The four of us can barely make a whistle.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed at those words.
‘It’s only a whistle when four knights attack… … .’
Ethan looked at the vigilant red wolf’s forehead.
To be precise, he smiled at the red jewel embedded there.
‘Then that’s a clumsy bloodstone.’
Bloodstone was an object that existed even 100 years ago.
It was commonly used by the Imperial Army, but if it was embedded in a body part, its physical ability could be increased.
For this reason, when the Imperial Army soldiers sensed defeat in battle, they strengthened their bodies by inserting bloodstones into their bodies.
Then the winds of blood would rage on the battlefield.
And in the case of monsters, it was common to put them on the forehead closest to the brain in order to manipulate them according to the will of the person who worked there.
‘If you see the smell of blood, it means that the bloodstone was not properly manufactured.’
Bloodstone is difficult to manufacture.
It could only be made by continuously drawing blood from the sacrifice and condensing it in the deep darkness where there was no light.
It wasn’t just that.
Only a dark wizard with the ability to completely control his magic could create it properly.
So, it could be said that the bloodstone found in the Nord Mine was made by a clumsy dark wizard.
It was good news for Ethan.
The series of thoughts was long, but in reality it was a very short time.
After completing the calculation, Ethan shook his head.
“no. It’s easy to deal with.”
“Ha, but… … !”
“Are you saying you don’t believe me?”
Ethan looked back and looked at him with cold eyes.
The knights were speechless.
That wasn’t it.
However, the idea that Ethan alone would face several monsters that four knights had to deal with was unrealistic.
“All right. But if anything happens, we will come forward.”
“It won’t happen.”
Ethan said so and radiated divine power from his hand.
A bright light spread through the dark space.
Then something amazing happened.
Break up!
The bloodstone that had been lodged in the red wolf’s forehead had been broken.
‘This is the weakness of the clumsy bloodstone.’
The unfinished bloodstone was vulnerable to divine power.
“The divine power that I shed earlier must have been weak, but now that I am here, it will hurt a little.”
Whoops! Grrr… … .
As the bloodstone shattered, the red wolf’s body softened like a deflated ball.
Blood gushed out from the seven holes in the eyes, nose, mouth and ears.
The knights who saw the scene were astonished.
“Hey, what happened to that?”
It was simple.
I amplified the body’s abilities with bloodstone, so when the bloodstone disappears, the body that was reconstructed from the bloodstone would inevitably collapse.
He knew the truth, but Ethan looked around.
“It seems that divine power is my weakness.”
Of course, the Dark Followers probably didn’t put bloodstone into Ethan’s place without a second thought.
Even if it was an unfinished bloodstone, it was able to resist the divine power when it matured to a certain extent in the dark.
The guys are looking for it.
‘Shallow fine hair or writing.’
Ethan clicked his tongue.
In fact, objectively speaking, this was not a shallow plan at all.
Now that the Anti-Magic War was over, few people knew about bloodstone in detail.
For this reason, the Dark Followers decided that even if Ethan was a saint candidate, he was only a young priest with little experience.
Who in the world knows
The fact that this young priest was actually a dark wizard who was the devil’s henchman.
However, Ethan was not a good man enough to understand the circumstances of such a dark follower.
He scornfully mocked the Dark Followers.
‘If you want to deal with me, you should have prepared more thoroughly than this.’
In a water fight, Ethan never intended to lose.
‘Still, this time, I expected him to roll his head quite a bit.’
Ethan smirked.
After that, things went smoothly.
The red wolves were busy escaping into the darkness just by emitting divine power.
The knights who saw it were elated.
“Hey, the guy who prepared this must be an idiot! Even knowing that Priest Ethan is here, preparing a monster that is weak in divine power.”
not.
It was just that the Plaguecaster had never expected it to happen.
Another knight asked Ethan.
“Is this the reason why there was no movement in the Haup estate?”