Chapter 108: Divine Command (2)
Swoosh.
The sky was filled with moisture as a storm raged on.
Aronia got up from the ground, covered in dust and rain.
Her hair, which she used to take pride in, was dirty and muddy.
She ran her wet fingers through her hair, carefully removing the clumps of dirt.
The moist soil felt unpleasant and sticky on her skin.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
Aronia looked at her muddy hands with a grimace.
She hated how her hair had turned into a mess of dirt.
The reason for this situation was the sudden storm that had hit her.
As Aronia was flying around, looking for Estasia, who was somewhere out there, the air currents twisted and threw her off balance.
She crashed into a mountain and slid down, until she managed to get up.
Aronia clenched her fists and shouted at the sky, filled with anger.
“Evil and wicked god… You are trying to interfere with the will of heaven!”
It was impossible for the air currents to twist so abruptly without a large-scale weather control magic.
And it was a strong enough current to make Aronia lose control of her flight for a moment.
It had to be the work of the evil god, who was behind this sabotage.
Aronia quickly guessed that the culprit of this incident was the wicked god.
He was trying to stop Aronia, who represented the will of heaven.
“But I, Aronia, will not stop because of such a trivial interference.”
Aronia had been working hard for days to find traces of Estasia.
And she had finally found out where Estasia was staying.
She couldn’t stop now, just because of some twisted air currents.
Aronia moved her wings, which were folded behind her back, and regained her balance.
Then she used magic to inspect the parts of her body that were covered in dirt.
She wanted to fix her appearance first, which was tarnishing the dignity of an angel.
“I will not hesitate and move on quickly.”
Aronia didn’t want to stay in this miserable state any longer.
She believed that angels should always be pure and holy.
Especially an angel of judgment, who was the most noble among angels, couldn’t afford to be covered in dust.
She hastily brushed off the dirt from her body with her hands.
Then she stretched out her hand to the air and recited a short spell.
“O Goddess, grant me a ray of light that pierces through the darkness.”
Zap!
A beam of light struck Aronia’s hand that reached out to the ground.
The dark clouds that covered the sky were pushed back by the bright and holy light.
At the end of the beam of light, there was a silver spear that shone with radiance.
Aronia grabbed the spear that landed on the ground.
Starlight, the divine spear that was only allowed to angels of judgment.
She held it in front of her and started to float in the air with her wings spread wide.
“——.”
Under her fluttering wings, countless lights flowed down.
Aronia, who was respected by all angels in heaven, revealed her full power.
In this state, no magic from the evil god could stop her anymore.
Aronia lifted Starlight and thought of the wicked servant of the evil god that she had to kill.
Estasia, the fallen angel whose name alone made her teeth chatter.
She had always been lazy and slothful, even when she was an angel. She had to be punished for sure.
“Estasia, who follows the evil god! No matter how much you try to stop me, I will definitely deal with you myself.”
Memories of Estasia came flooding into Aronia’s mind.
Estasia, who skipped work and hid in a corner to nap when it was her turn to do something in heaven.
Estasia, who ate all the strawberries that Aronia had collected and pretended not to know anything.
Estasia, who learned only defensive magic and skipped offensive magic because she was too lazy to move.
Estasia, who dozed off while offering prayers of gratitude to the Goddess and only turned on her halo.
Estasia, who always prayed for strange things like strawberries or grapes.
The more she thought about it, the more Estasia seemed like a spawn of a devil in her past memories.
“How did you not fall from heaven sooner? It’s a miracle!”
Aronia’s face turned red as she recalled Estasia.
Those who violated the rules of heaven were all enemies of the Goddess.
And she, as an angel of judgment, had to show an example and deal with those traitors.
Especially if it was Estasia, who used to be her subordinate.
It had nothing to do with the basket of strawberries that Estasia had stolen from her.
This was the justice proclaimed by the god.
His creations had to follow the will of heaven under the great principle.
“I will, I will give you the punishment you deserve.”
Aronia aimed Starlight at the front and began to gather divine power at the tip of the spear.
A faint shield spread out in front of her, blocking the wind that brushed her cheek.
Behind her, her large wings flapped and pushed away the atmosphere that weighed her down.
Aronia had reached the peak of speed and power, which were expressed by the void in heaven.
She was unmatched in her specialty of fast movement, even among the angels in heaven.
Her actions now were preparations for flying at her maximum speed.
“Hoo…”
Aronia sighed briefly and gripped the handle of Starlight tightly.
Dozens of rings of light formed behind her.
The rings gathered together in one place, adjusting their sizes, and then resonated with each other, drawing in divine power.
Aronia activated her vision and aimed herself at the sky.
At the moment when the condensed divine power exploded.
Zap!
Aronia’s body shot up to the sky in a flash of light.
A projection magic that launched herself to the extreme.
That was Aronia’s vision, as an angel of judgment.
***
Inside the carriage heading to Crossbridge.
Hus was lost in his thoughts, looking out the window.
His face, unlike before, had no eye patch on it.
He had regained his lost eye, so there was no need to wear an eye patch anymore.
But he couldn’t shake off the frustration that bound his heart.
The cause of his frustration was his brother, Evan Allemier, whom he had encountered last time.
“…”
His brother, whom he admired, had become an apostle of the evil god.
And Hus had failed to stop him.
He was pushed back in battle by Evan, who had surpassed the category of a normal mage.
No.
Not only him, but the entire expedition force had been defeated by him without a fight.
Evan had calmly resisted against all of them by himself.
He might not be able to handle them all alone, but it wouldn’t be hard for him to buy enough time as he wanted.
He had actually succeeded in doing that and took away Kueverg.
“Hus. You don’t have to be so sad.”
“…”
“You’ll have plenty of chances to stop your brother with your own hands.”
Sion, who was facing Hus, tried to comfort him with his words.
To stop his brother with his own hands.
Hus touched his eye as he heard that.
If Evan and Hus both survived, there might be a chance for that someday.
“Comfort? Call it a prediction from a great hero.”
“That’s a lame joke.”
“Is it? That apostle, Evan, was obviously very strong, right?
“Ha…”
“Then who else can stop him if not us?”
Hus shook his head at Sion’s words.
He didn’t know anything yet.
There would be no opportunity for the heroes for a while.
The elders’ council would protect and shelter the heroes who were in danger in the expedition.
There was no need to risk sending out the heroes who hadn’t finished growing yet.
It would be up to the monster in the basement of the temple to buy them time to grow.
“We won’t be able to leave the holy land for a while.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“I heard some related information from Lady Aurora.”
Hus gave Sion a small hint.
There was ‘that thing’ living in the basement of the temple.
‘That thing’, which was kept secret from outsiders, was a being created to deal with apostles like Evan.
To replace the hero who can only exist once in a generation, the holy land created the oldest hero.
The past hero who grew up through generations was a collection of all the skills that Crossbridge possessed.
The holy land would use it to suppress the evil god’s forces until the heroes’ growth stopped.
Even after fighting with it, would Evan be able to survive safely?
And if Evan did survive, would that really be a good thing for humanity?
The more I thought about it, the more complicated my head felt.
“What? Does Aurora also tell you that?”
“Yes.”
“Our Merry doesn’t tell me anything.”
Even though he didn’t know the situation well, Sion kept talking to Hus with a smile.
Hus sneered at Sion’s attitude of talking openly about his own temple.
“You’re saying something risky. She’s still a saintess of the temple, you know.”
“I’m fine because I’m close with Merry.”
Sion said confidently, as if it wasn’t just a lie.
The Merry he was talking about was the saintess of hunting from the temple of hunting.
Unlike other saintesses, she was a person who became a saintess at a relatively young age.
She was also a person who always followed Sion around without any hesitation.
Was it because of Sion’s unique personality?
Or was it because Merry was still young?
They were different from other heroes and often hung out together.
“Didn’t Merry become a saintess not long ago?”
“Don’t mock me and talk. How can there be such a thing among the same saintesses?”
“Each temple has different situations. Aurora is exceptional in terms of experience.”
“What? Does our Merry have to become a grandmother to give me a hint?”
“That might be possible.”
Hus moved his gaze from looking out the window to Sion on the opposite side.
A faint smile appeared on Hus’s lips, who had been wearing a serious expression.
Sion, who was looking at Hus, also smiled while snapping his bowstring.
I felt complicated in my head, but now it felt like my worries had flown away in an instant.
Even though I knew it was a stupid thing to do, I kept hanging out with him because of Sion’s personality.
Hus expressed his gratitude to Sion with a hollow feeling.
“It feels better to laugh like this. Thank you.”
“See? It’s better when you smile.”
“It would be better if you didn’t smile like that.”
“What can I do? My smile is my best charm.”
Sion said that and lay down on the wall of the carriage with his legs propped up.
Thud.
A light gray footprint appeared on the outer wall where Sion’s foot touched.
It was a mark made by the dust that Sion had stepped on.
The priests would have a hard time cleaning the carriage, Hus thought as he looked at Sion and added one more thing.
“Do you know? Maybe the evil god will spare me once if he sees my smiling face.”
Chapter 108: Divine Command (2)
Swoosh.
The sky was filled with moisture as a storm raged on.
Aronia got up from the ground, covered in dust and rain.
Her hair, which she used to take pride in, was dirty and muddy.
She ran her wet fingers through her hair, carefully removing the clumps of dirt.
The moist soil felt unpleasant and sticky on her skin.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
Aronia looked at her muddy hands with a grimace.
She hated how her hair had turned into a mess of dirt.
The reason for this situation was the sudden storm that had hit her.
As Aronia was flying around, looking for Estasia, who was somewhere out there, the air currents twisted and threw her off balance.
She crashed into a mountain and slid down, until she managed to get up.
Aronia clenched her fists and shouted at the sky, filled with anger.
“Evil and wicked god… You are trying to interfere with the will of heaven!”
It was impossible for the air currents to twist so abruptly without a large-scale weather control magic.
And it was a strong enough current to make Aronia lose control of her flight for a moment.
It had to be the work of the evil god, who was behind this sabotage.
Aronia quickly guessed that the culprit of this incident was the wicked god.
He was trying to stop Aronia, who represented the will of heaven.
“But I, Aronia, will not stop because of such a trivial interference.”
Aronia had been working hard for days to find traces of Estasia.
And she had finally found out where Estasia was staying.
She couldn’t stop now, just because of some twisted air currents.
Aronia moved her wings, which were folded behind her back, and regained her balance.
Then she used magic to inspect the parts of her body that were covered in dirt.
She wanted to fix her appearance first, which was tarnishing the dignity of an angel.
“I will not hesitate and move on quickly.”
Aronia didn’t want to stay in this miserable state any longer.
She believed that angels should always be pure and holy.
Especially an angel of judgment, who was the most noble among angels, couldn’t afford to be covered in dust.
She hastily brushed off the dirt from her body with her hands.
Then she stretched out her hand to the air and recited a short spell.
“O Goddess, grant me a ray of light that pierces through the darkness.”
Zap!
A beam of light struck Aronia’s hand that reached out to the ground.
The dark clouds that covered the sky were pushed back by the bright and holy light.
At the end of the beam of light, there was a silver spear that shone with radiance.
Aronia grabbed the spear that landed on the ground.
Starlight, the divine spear that was only allowed to angels of judgment.
She held it in front of her and started to float in the air with her wings spread wide.
“——.”
Under her fluttering wings, countless lights flowed down.
Aronia, who was respected by all angels in heaven, revealed her full power.
In this state, no magic from the evil god could stop her anymore.
Aronia lifted Starlight and thought of the wicked servant of the evil god that she had to kill.
Estasia, the fallen angel whose name alone made her teeth chatter.
She had always been lazy and slothful, even when she was an angel. She had to be punished for sure.
“Estasia, who follows the evil god! No matter how much you try to stop me, I will definitely deal with you myself.”
Memories of Estasia came flooding into Aronia’s mind.
Estasia, who skipped work and hid in a corner to nap when it was her turn to do something in heaven.
Estasia, who ate all the strawberries that Aronia had collected and pretended not to know anything.
Estasia, who learned only defensive magic and skipped offensive magic because she was too lazy to move.
Estasia, who dozed off while offering prayers of gratitude to the Goddess and only turned on her halo.
Estasia, who always prayed for strange things like strawberries or grapes.
The more she thought about it, the more Estasia seemed like a spawn of a devil in her past memories.
“How did you not fall from heaven sooner? It’s a miracle!”
Aronia’s face turned red as she recalled Estasia.
Those who violated the rules of heaven were all enemies of the Goddess.
And she, as an angel of judgment, had to show an example and deal with those traitors.
Especially if it was Estasia, who used to be her subordinate.
It had nothing to do with the basket of strawberries that Estasia had stolen from her.
This was the justice proclaimed by the god.
His creations had to follow the will of heaven under the great principle.
“I will, I will give you the punishment you deserve.”
Aronia aimed Starlight at the front and began to gather divine power at the tip of the spear.
A faint shield spread out in front of her, blocking the wind that brushed her cheek.
Behind her, her large wings flapped and pushed away the atmosphere that weighed her down.
Aronia had reached the peak of speed and power, which were expressed by the void in heaven.
She was unmatched in her specialty of fast movement, even among the angels in heaven.
Her actions now were preparations for flying at her maximum speed.
“Hoo…”
Aronia sighed briefly and gripped the handle of Starlight tightly.
Dozens of rings of light formed behind her.
The rings gathered together in one place, adjusting their sizes, and then resonated with each other, drawing in divine power.
Aronia activated her vision and aimed herself at the sky.
At the moment when the condensed divine power exploded.
Zap!
Aronia’s body shot up to the sky in a flash of light.
A projection magic that launched herself to the extreme.
That was Aronia’s vision, as an angel of judgment.
***
Inside the carriage heading to Crossbridge.
Hus was lost in his thoughts, looking out the window.
His face, unlike before, had no eye patch on it.
He had regained his lost eye, so there was no need to wear an eye patch anymore.
But he couldn’t shake off the frustration that bound his heart.
The cause of his frustration was his brother, Evan Allemier, whom he had encountered last time.
“…”
His brother, whom he admired, had become an apostle of the evil god.
And Hus had failed to stop him.
He was pushed back in battle by Evan, who had surpassed the category of a normal mage.
No.
Not only him, but the entire expedition force had been defeated by him without a fight.
Evan had calmly resisted against all of them by himself.
He might not be able to handle them all alone, but it wouldn’t be hard for him to buy enough time as he wanted.
He had actually succeeded in doing that and took away Kueverg.
“Hus. You don’t have to be so sad.”
“…”
“You’ll have plenty of chances to stop your brother with your own hands.”
Sion, who was facing Hus, tried to comfort him with his words.
To stop his brother with his own hands.
Hus touched his eye as he heard that.
If Evan and Hus both survived, there might be a chance for that someday.
“Comfort? Call it a prediction from a great hero.”
“That’s a lame joke.”
“Is it? That apostle, Evan, was obviously very strong, right?
“Ha…”
“Then who else can stop him if not us?”
Hus shook his head at Sion’s words.
He didn’t know anything yet.
There would be no opportunity for the heroes for a while.
The elders’ council would protect and shelter the heroes who were in danger in the expedition.
There was no need to risk sending out the heroes who hadn’t finished growing yet.
It would be up to the monster in the basement of the temple to buy them time to grow.
“We won’t be able to leave the holy land for a while.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“I heard some related information from Lady Aurora.”
Hus gave Sion a small hint.
There was ‘that thing’ living in the basement of the temple.
‘That thing’, which was kept secret from outsiders, was a being created to deal with apostles like Evan.
To replace the hero who can only exist once in a generation, the holy land created the oldest hero.
The past hero who grew up through generations was a collection of all the skills that Crossbridge possessed.
The holy land would use it to suppress the evil god’s forces until the heroes’ growth stopped.
Even after fighting with it, would Evan be able to survive safely?
And if Evan did survive, would that really be a good thing for humanity?
The more I thought about it, the more complicated my head felt.
“What? Does Aurora also tell you that?”
“Yes.”
“Our Merry doesn’t tell me anything.”
Even though he didn’t know the situation well, Sion kept talking to Hus with a smile.
Hus sneered at Sion’s attitude of talking openly about his own temple.
“You’re saying something risky. She’s still a saintess of the temple, you know.”
“I’m fine because I’m close with Merry.”
Sion said confidently, as if it wasn’t just a lie.
The Merry he was talking about was the saintess of hunting from the temple of hunting.
Unlike other saintesses, she was a person who became a saintess at a relatively young age.
She was also a person who always followed Sion around without any hesitation.
Was it because of Sion’s unique personality?
Or was it because Merry was still young?
They were different from other heroes and often hung out together.
“Didn’t Merry become a saintess not long ago?”
“Don’t mock me and talk. How can there be such a thing among the same saintesses?”
“Each temple has different situations. Aurora is exceptional in terms of experience.”
“What? Does our Merry have to become a grandmother to give me a hint?”
“That might be possible.”
Hus moved his gaze from looking out the window to Sion on the opposite side.
A faint smile appeared on Hus’s lips, who had been wearing a serious expression.
Sion, who was looking at Hus, also smiled while snapping his bowstring.
I felt complicated in my head, but now it felt like my worries had flown away in an instant.
Even though I knew it was a stupid thing to do, I kept hanging out with him because of Sion’s personality.
Hus expressed his gratitude to Sion with a hollow feeling.
“It feels better to laugh like this. Thank you.”
“See? It’s better when you smile.”
“It would be better if you didn’t smile like that.”
“What can I do? My smile is my best charm.”
Sion said that and lay down on the wall of the carriage with his legs propped up.
Thud.
A light gray footprint appeared on the outer wall where Sion’s foot touched.
It was a mark made by the dust that Sion had stepped on.
The priests would have a hard time cleaning the carriage, Hus thought as he looked at Sion and added one more thing.
“Do you know? Maybe the evil god will spare me once if he sees my smiling face.”
