[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 148
"This damned canyon!"
Verdi, the cardinal of the Holy Kingdom, gritted his teeth.
He had followed Zeke Draker into Death Valley, but as soon as they entered the canyon, they lost their way.
The narrow, winding paths, the dry sand, and the endless canyon walls disoriented those who entered.
Thinking they should regroup, they tried to return to the entrance they came through, but with their sense of direction lost, moving forward only led them deeper into the canyon.
"Your Eminence, the Luberns we brought are acting strangely."
Lewis, the captain of the paladin unit directly under the church that was dispatched to find the relic, spoke to the cardinal.
The cardinal, with an irritated expression, followed Lewis to the back of the unit.
Several young boys and girls, chained together at their hands, feet, and necks, were huddled in fear, trembling.
The cardinal grabbed the hair of the oldest-looking boy among them and shook him, saying,
"You damned heretics, what's the problem now?"
The platinum blonde boy groaned in pain as the cardinal shook his head.
Then, a girl behind him cautiously opened her mouth.
"Th-this place is strange."
At the girl's words, the cardinal let go of the boy's hair and turned his head.
"If you're trying to trick me with your heretical schemes, stop it right now."
The girl shook her head and pointed in one direction.
"I-it's really strange. The closer we get to th-that place, the more my h-heart pounds."
The cardinal's expression changed as he heard the girl's words.
He got up and called Captain Lewis.
"I think those young heretics are reacting to where the relic is."
"I agree with Your Eminence."
The cardinal, fiddling with a ring with a large jewel, pondered for a moment and then opened his mouth.
"Put that girl in front and follow the direction she reacts to. If she doesn't guide us properly, kill the youngest ones first."
"Understood."
Lewis unchained the girl and brought her to the front of the unit.
The girl, enduring her fear, pointed in the direction where she felt the strange sensation.
Every time they came to a fork in the road, the girl indicated the direction where her heart pounded the most.
Surprisingly, unlike before, when they were just going in circles in the maze-like canyon, new paths gradually began to appear.
Lewis approached the cardinal and said,
"It seems we've found the way thanks to Your Eminence's wisdom."
"Everything will be done under the guidance of the Sun God."
The cardinal, with a satisfied expression, urged the Lubern girl to find the way quickly.
After walking for a while, a huge cave appeared at the bottom of the canyon cliff.
The paladins also became tense as they saw the cave that looked like the mouth of a demon.
The cardinal pulled the chain restraining the girl and asked,
"Is it inside that cave?"
The girl nodded with a terrified expression.
The cardinal lowered his voice and whispered into the girl's ear,
"If the relic isn't there, I'll burn all those bastards and all the Lubern bloodline in the church."
The girl trembled and shed tears at the cardinal's words.
"Y-yes, it is. The closer I get to th-that place, the more my h-heart pounds."
The cardinal made a displeased expression and then gestured to the paladins.
The entire unit entered the cave.
It was unusually cold for a cave in the middle of the Death Desert.
White breath came out from the paladins' mouths.
The Lubern children, who were relatively lightly dressed, shivered in the cold.
But the paladins didn't give the children blankets or coats, only pulling the cold chains and urging them to follow quickly.
The huge stalactite cave stretched endlessly.
The girl endured the cold and fear and followed the path guided by her heart's reaction.
After walking through the cave for hours, something appeared.
"Your Eminence, a-a door!"
There was a huge door that filled the cave wall.
The cardinal, Lewis, and all the paladins were speechless, overwhelmed by the size of the giant door.
The cardinal, regaining his composure first, examined the door.
"It's an incredibly large door. How do we open this?"
The cardinal knocked on the door here and there.
The door didn't budge, like a lump of iron.
Then, Lewis approached the cardinal.
"Isn't it time to use the item that Draker sent?"
"Hmm."
The cardinal pondered Lewis's words for a moment.
Although it was sent by Abel Draker, he couldn't deny the uneasy feeling he had about the item.
'But I can't go back empty-handed...'
The cardinal gestured to Lewis to go ahead.
Lewis approached the girl who had guided them this far.
He grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her to the front of the door.
"W-why are you doing this, Sir?"
Lewis took out a vial from his pocket and held it out to the girl.
"Drink this."
"W-what is this...?"
"If you keep spouting useless words, I'll cut off the youngest one's arm."
The girl, terrified, took the vial Lewis gave her and drank it.
After drinking the unknown liquid, the girl felt her heart gradually heating up.
Then, Lewis grabbed the girl's hand and cut her wrist with a dagger.
Blood spurted from the girl's wrist like a fountain.
"Aaaak!"
The Lubern children behind her screamed and tried to run towards the girl.
But the children, bound by chains, couldn't move.
The girl stared blankly at the blood flowing from her wrist.
She was in too much shock to properly grasp what had happened to her.
Lewis sprayed the girl's blood towards the door.
The cardinal watched anxiously.
Despite the girl's blood being sprayed, the door didn't budge.
Lewis, with a cold look in his eyes, left the bleeding girl on the floor and approached the other Lubern children with a dagger.
Just as Lewis was about to take out another vial from his pocket and feed it to the oldest boy,
Rumble!
The tightly closed door slowly began to open.
The cardinal, seeing this, raised his hands.
"Light shines upon us under the care of the Sun God!"
Thud!
The door opened completely with a loud noise.
The cardinal shouted to the paladins,
"Quickly! Let's find the relic and get out of here before others arrive!"
The paladins dragged the Lubern bloodline and entered the door.
Lewis looked for the girl whose wrist he had cut before entering the door.
But the girl, who should have been dying, was nowhere to be found.
'Where did she go?'
While Lewis was wondering,
Rumble!
As one of the paladins tried to step inside the door, a strange sound echoed.
"What?!"
The two giant warrior statues standing by the wall inside the door suddenly started to move.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The paladins, seeing the warrior statues walking out of the door, raised their shields and drew their swords.
"W-what are those...!?"
Although they had faced golems summoned by mages before, those giant warrior statues felt different.
When faced with an unknown existence that they couldn't understand, people instinctively felt fear.
The warrior statues, moving naturally like humans, were such unknown beings that instilled fear.
They recited the Lord's Prayer to shake off their fear.
Thud!
But at that moment, the warrior statues, over 4 meters tall, pointed their weapons and threatened the paladins.
The cardinal shouted at the paladins,
"They're heretical monsters! Punish them immediately in the name of the Sun God!"
At the same time, the cardinal chanted a spell of the Sun Church.
The magic circles engraved on his robe emitted light.
Whoosh!
Two giant fireballs appeared as if two suns had risen.
The cardinal shot the fireballs at the statues.
Crash!
The two giant fireballs each hit a statue's body.
Taking advantage of the opening, Lewis gave the attack order to the paladins.
"Attack those heretical monsters!"
The paladins, holding up their shields, divided into two groups and charged towards the statues.
The charge of the paladins, their bodies clad in aura, possessed terrifying destructive power.
They struck the warrior statues engulfed in flames with the wall they created with their shields.
Crash!
It was then.
The flames enveloping the statues disappeared.
Surprisingly, the statues were completely unharmed by the cardinal's magic.
The cardinal, flustered, stepped back.
"H-how is this possible?"
Thud!
The statues regained their stances, holding their shields and weapons.
Then, they charged straight towards the paladins with their shield wall.
The statues' shields collided with the paladins' shield wall.
Crash!
With a loud roar, the paladins' shield wall crumbled.
"Ugh!"
The cardinal and Lewis's faces hardened as they witnessed this.
Lewis shouted at the paladins,
"Reform the wall! Block the statues' movements and attack from behind! If they're golems, they must have a core!"
At Lewis's words, the paladins regained their stances and raised their shields.
At the same time, one of the statues swung a giant axe towards the paladins.
Whoosh!
The axe, flying with a whoosh, blew away a paladin holding a shield.
"Kyaaaak!"
Although he didn't die because he had strengthened his body with aura, the paladins' shield formation crumbled from that single blow.
"Damn it! Hold on! Are you guys even knights of the Sun God?!"
Lewis roared, drew his sword, and unleashed an aura blade towards the statue.
Lewis, a strong candidate for Arch Paladin, was an excellent knight with the skills of a Red Knight.
He jumped into the air and struck down at the warrior statue with his sword.
Crash!
The warrior statue blocked Lewis's aura blade with its shield.
Crack!
Cracks appeared on the warrior statue's shield from Lewis's aura blade.
Lewis stepped back and caught his breath.
'Aura blades work.'
Lewis shouted at the paladins,
"Blue Knight level paladins, step forward and unleash your aura blades!"
Soon, aura blades surged from the swords of the Blue Knight level paladins.
They blocked the statue's attacks with their sturdy shield wall and attacked with aura blades.
Crack!
Although the aura blades were effective, it wasn't easy to land a decisive blow to bring down the statues.
The statues also changed their stances, holding up their shields and standing shoulder to shoulder, focusing on defense.
As the statues went into a full defensive stance, even with aura blade attacks, it wasn't easy to create an opening.
Seeing this, the cardinal shouted,
"Damn it! What are you guys doing! Quickly defeat those monsters!"
He became anxious as they were blocked by unidentified golems and couldn't proceed before even finding the relic.
But then, Lewis noticed something strange and looked at the cardinal with a flustered expression.
"Y-Your Eminence. I-I can't see the Luberns!"
The Lubern children they had chained up had disappeared.
The cardinal was surprised and looked back.
Then, he shouted at the paladins,
"Damn it! What are you guys doing! Quickly find the Luberns!"
At the cardinal's shout, some of the paladins who were forming a tight wall broke away from the shield wall.
Thud!
As the paladins' formation faltered, one of the warrior statues seized the opportunity and swung its spear towards Lewis, the strongest among them.
Crash!
"Haaaat!"
Lewis jumped into the air and barely managed to deflect the flying spear.
The warrior statues stood guard at the door, as if not allowing a single person to enter.
The cardinal gritted his teeth and shouted,
"Damn it! The Sun God is watching! Immediately defeat those heretical monsters!"
Lewis felt a momentary urge to kill at the cardinal's irritated voice, but he held it back.
'If only I could become an Arch Paladin...'
The cardinal was a political connection who could help him become an Arch Paladin, so he needed to succeed in this mission no matter what.
Lewis shouted to the paladins with a greedy voice,
"Reform the formation! We're breaking through!"
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]