CH 25

Evan looked carefully at the shadow looming in front of him.

In Evan’s opinion, the most important bodily organ for a person was the eye.

Eyes that see attacks.

And the eye to predict the future.

Intuition was merely a prediction based on eyes and experience, with a few corrections.

Evan’s sword shone with pure white radiance and a warm divine power enveloped Evan’s body.

“O Goddess! Grant me the power to execute your enemies!”

After reciting the Holy Knight’s prayer, Evan swung his sword at the approaching shadow.

Cling! Cling!

The swiftly moving sword repelled the shadows that rained down on him.

With each swing of Evan’s sword, which was infused with Divine Power, the shadows touched by the sword moved back, even if only a little.

However, it was only to create a slight pause.

It was impossible to completely suppress the shadows that incessantly approached.

Evan’s steps began to be gradually pushed backwards by the waves of approaching shadows.

“Are you going to keep running away?”

Left. Right.Left.Left.Left. Right.

The shadows that burst out from both at the same time moved to target Evan.

Evan’s eyes, which moved in a panic, judged the danger of the attack.

Cling-!

Blocking one of the approaching ones, Evan twisted his body .

Shuuuuu!

A shadow that had been extended at him brushed Evan’s shoulder.

Evan’s clothes, which were wrapped around his shoulder, were torn.

Evan swung his sword at the passing shadow, then looked at the remaining enemy in front of him.

The shadows prevented him from getting close at all.

There were too many shadows that Euthenia threw at him.

The moment he caught himself in Euthenia’s shadow, it would be difficult for him to even move properly.

Even if I tried to get closer, the shadows were stronger and many.

Still, in order to deal an effective blow, it was necessary.

Taking a step forward, Evan began to calculate a path to approach the enemy.

(Even if I were to create a gap, I’d only have one chance… 

The Inquisition is a position reserved for the most virtuous and strong among the Holy Knights.

Even Evan did not have the confidence to continue fighting against the Apostles for a long time.

The apostle he is facing in front of him is ridiculously strong.

It was a moment when the right choice had to be made.

After making a final decision on his move, Evan raised his divine power even higher.

The sword in Evan’s hand shone stronger than before.

“Goddess! Lead the way!”

Inhaling sharply, Evan began sprinting forward with the sword.

Evan’s eyes, which had been continuously polishing the radish, illuminated the path he was heading for.

Between countless shadows stretching out.

There existed a short gap created by the shadows’ changing lines of movement.

Finding a small gap, Evan aimed for it and drilled in.

Slash! Shash!

Several sparkling blades of light bounced off the shadows while moving forward.

With each swing of Evan’s sword, a shadow hand with a twisted trajectory struck the ground.

“-.”

The distance between the two quickly closed with his quick footwork.

Breathing roughly, Evan looked at Euthenia .

If he swung his sword, it would be within reach of his opponent.

Nevertheless, Euthenia still shows no sign of trying to respond.

It seemed now was the only time to deal an effective blow.

– Fuu.

With a short gasp, the muscles in his right arm tightened.

It was the moment when Evan’s sword, with brilliant light, was thrust forward.

“Barrier!”

CLING!

With a strong crashing sound, Evan’s sword stopped.

Evan’s hand holding the sword did not feel anything piercing it.

Evan’s frown deepened at the sight of the sword stopped still in mid-air.

In front of Euthenia’s eyes, who was spreading a book.

A huge rippling barrier had been created there.

“It failed…!”

“You look very disappointed, don’t you?”

Evan took a rough breath at the sight of the sword, which was blocked by the barrier.

It was a barrier made of enormous power.

Swinging the sword at it several times was not enough strength to break through it.

Rather, it was more likely to cause problems if he prolonged the time.

If it was impossible to slay the apostle in front of him, it was best to deal with the Warlock right next to her and retreat.

Quickly changing his target, Evan turned his head and looked at the Warlock.

He intended to deal with the Warlock instead of Euthenia.

“Liberate!”

“…?”

And what he saw was a lightning spear that was flying towards him fast.

Magic was shot from the Warlock’s dagger.

Because the sword was already pointing towards the barrier, it was difficult to even respond properly.

The lightning strike that flew at him, and to counter that, Evan raised the Divine Power to his whole body.

Hit by the lightning, Evan’s body bounced backwards with an impact that sparkled in front of his eyes.

Evan, who was pierced by the lightning spear, flew backwards more than ten meters from where he was attacked.

“Ackk…!”

Evan, who flew far away, crashed into a tree behind him once before stopping.

Dust rose from the place where Evan had crashed .

Staggering out of his feet, Evan looked ahead.

Despite raising the Divine Force to reduce damage to the maximum extent possible, he still suffered this much damage.

A few more direct hits and his body would surely be too much for the attack to bear.

Evan, coughing up blood from his mouth, looked up, and glared at the Warlock.

“You hid your artifacts… I guess there was one.”

“This is indeed the Grace of the Great One!”

Evan clicked his tongue at the Warlock’s exclamation as he lifted the dagger shrouded in darkness proudly.

It seemed that he had borrowed the power of a weapon.

The power of a weapon is, after all, temporary.

Evan thought that if he used all his power, then all that remained would be his downfall.

“Did you say Grace? that mean…”

“Apparently, time is running out.”

“What did you just say?”

Euthenia, who had been watching their conversation, closed the book that had been spread open.

The shadows around her feet also vanished before long.

Euthenia’s gray eyes stared at Evan.

A blank stare, the smile gone, swept past Evan’s figure.

“Didn’t I warn you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The words you speak come with a price.”

As soon as Euthenia had finished her words, Evan felt a torrent of enormous magic power coming from the sky.

Rumble-Rumble-!

A huge thunderbolt of magical power was taking shape in the empty sky.

It was a miracle.

It was also a miracle that was close to the name of damnation, used by a transcendent being that was beyond cognition.

“This is…!”

This was not the magic used by the Warlock in front of me.

A two-dimensional god looking down below.

Evan, who was looking up at the sky, gasped at the miracle created by gods across dimensions to interfere with the world.

Before he knew it, numerous clouds had been created in the clear blue sky.

It was not difficult to understand who that miracle was created to judge.

– You cannot be certain of life if you are hit by it.

It had to be avoided if you wanted to live.

“There is always only one price to pay for blasphemy.”

Boom-!

A thin bolt of lightning passed by Evan, who was looking at the sky.

Black soot formed in the place where the lightning bolt fell.

A faint smoke rising from the floor gently touched Evan’s cheek.

Facing a glimpse of a transcendent being, Evan’s heart began to beat violently.

Evan’s breathing was also disturbed by the tension that suddenly hit his whole body.

“Kuhh…”

Evan, whose alertness had reached the extreme, moved his sword while raising his Divine Power.

An existence beyond human beings is looking at him.

Beyond the other dimension, which cannot be seen by mere human eyes, eyes with malicious intent were staring at Evan.

An existence that cannot be compared to the apostle in front of him is located there.

Just recognizing it is frightening.

The other side was a giant with no end in sight.

The only thing lowly humans could do, in this situation was.

“Goddess-!”

Pray..!

Evan moved his bleeding lips and shouted the name of the goddess with all his might.

The Goddess of Honor was the one he had always prayed to and revered.

His shouts to the sky did not receive any meaningful response.

Yet Evan did not stop shouting to the sky.

At the very least, he could not help himself in his human body.

The only thing left to search for at this moment was the faith that could save him.

“Please guide me-!”

Lightning rained down from the dark cloud-filled sky.

At the same time, darkness hung over Evan’s face.

What visited Evan instead of the goddess’ response was an ear-piercing, thunderous roar.

Evan’s voice buried by the roar of the lightning bolt that echoed up the mountain.

Evan shouted with all his might at the surrounding landscape, which had become increasingly noisy.

“Goddess-!”

Thunder rumbles. And then, the flicker of light flashes in front of his eyes.

When he raised his head, there was a bolt of lightning in its place.

Countless divine spears positioned to pierce Evan.

How much of the divine power could be raised to prevent such a large number?

The only thing that seemed certain was that he who was surrounded by divine power, was of no match.

“Goddess…”

Even so, Evan’s gripped sword was engulfed in light.

It was proof that Evan’s faith in the Goddess still remained firm.

The brilliance at one time seemed dazzlingly bright, but now the light was more blurred than the thunderclouds hanging in the sky.

How many numbers could be prevented?

That was a question that even Evan, wielding his sword with a divinity, could not be sure of.

“Goddess, please….”

Clash-!

The lightning bolt that had been conglomerating in the sky finally began to streak towards Evan.

Evan swung his sword with all his might at the sight of the lightning bolts raining down towards him.

Boom!

The lightning bolt that collided with the ground exploded in front of Evan’s eyes.

“God…”

A deafened Evan lifted his sword again.

Boom! Boom!

One after another, a succession of lightning strikes shook the ground.

With each lightning bombardment, a brilliant white flash engulfed Evan’s vision.

One of the falling lightning bolts had pierced Evan and completely raked through his insides.

Evan, struck by a lightning bolt, bounced off into the distance, and rolled across the ground.

Directly hit by magic, Evan staggered back to his feet.

Evan’s hand on his sword was shaking violently.

“…”

No more calls to the goddess could be heard.

Only the irregular sound of thunder replaced Evan’s prayer.

Evan Alemia.

He chose to run away for the first time ever since he became a Holy Knight.