Episode 159 The Aftermath of the Capital Invasion (3)
Somewhere in the vast Northern Mountains, teeming with monsters.
Someone was sitting on top of a house-sized bear-like monster, stroking its fur and frowning.
"…What's going on?"
The Revolutionary, the leader of Oath of Heaven's Defiance, who had brought down the Rohan Duchy and gone into hiding, reviewed the information he had received with a serious expression.
'A wager between the hero and the Immortal King? A three-year reprieve? That's ridiculous.'
He couldn't believe the information he had received and went through the verification process again.
Thinking that there might be a problem with his information network because he had gone into hiding after causing trouble.
But the results were the same, no matter how many times he checked…
The Immortal King wasn't focusing on covering the continent in death, but was enjoying himself for his own amusement.
And that was impossible.
'I've been suspicious since he started acting strangely, not following our expectations…'
His face crumpled.
He had thought that the Immortal King was planning something else, but judging by the current situation, it seemed like he had completely overcome the influence of the abyss.
'That's impossible. No one can overcome the abyss.'
It was a force that applied to all beings in this world, and if the person involved was a 'human', it was practically an unchangeable law.
'Don't tell me the Immortal King wasn't human in his previous life? No, no. That's not the problem. Even if he was a non-human, it wouldn't make much of a difference.'
There was one question that everyone in this world took for granted.
<Why do humans worship the Main God?>
Of course, it wasn't that he denied the Main God's existence or underestimated his authority.
It was just a literal question.
Each race had their own religion.
The Elves worshipped the 'World Tree' that stood in the middle of the Enamel Continent, and the Dwarves worshipped the 'God of Fire and Metal'.
The beastmen had indigenous religions that worshipped animal gods that symbolized them, but those were just fragments of the 'Beast God'.
Of course, it wasn't just the respective races who followed those religions.
There were even religions that had spread among humans, like the Sea God and the Earth God, although they were minor religions.
But they all originated from their respective racial gods.
But why didn't humans have a being that could be called their racial god?
It was a strange question, but not many people questioned it.
'It's just… it's always been like that… Everyone thinks that way.'
The Main God, the creator, was closer to a grand concept or law that mortals couldn't comprehend.
It meant that he shouldn't be interfering with the world like this and bestowing holy power and blessings according to faith.
He was just doing someone else's job, preventing errors from occurring in the world.
Yes, humans definitely had a god of their own.
He was completely erased from history and even causality by the Main God, leaving not even a fragment of his existence, but…
He definitely existed in this world.
"It can't be helped. I'm sorry, Baltheon, but I have to take madness. Now that death has escaped its fate, I can't just leave it to someone else."
The Revolutionary clicked his tongue, thinking of the large warrior who was probably busy working in the south.
He was practically the most competent guy in Oath of Heaven's Defiance, but it wasn't the time to be considerate of others.
He got up from the bear monster he had been sitting on and slowly walked towards a nearby scar of the abyss.
And then, the monster's eyes, which had been calm until now, blazed with red light, and it ran away into the forest with a roar.
"For the God of Humans."
He muttered softly and pushed himself into the scar.
He was the only apostle of the 'God of Humans', who no longer existed,
And a revolutionary, dedicated to restoring the god who had been banished to the abyss, the trash can of the Auterica Dimension.
____________________
The gist of what Patrick, the secretary general of the Mercenary Guild, said to Harley was simple.
'He's saying he'll take care of everything else, so I just need to focus on my reputation. And make it spread throughout the continent.'
That's what it meant, after all their conversation.
That Harley's reputation wasn't as widespread as his skills, so he needed to raise it.
Of course, he had completed several missions that were considered top-class while working as a mercenary, and he had recently gained fame for his great contributions in the monster madness incident…
But it was limited to the western part of the continent, specifically the northern region of the Tulk Kingdom.
'Well, actually, Harley's mercenary career hasn't even been a year yet.'
Time was also an important factor in spreading fame.
The other candidates for Mercenary King were all those who had built their reputation over a long time and reached their current position.
And their strength was also at the master level, enough to be called the idols of mercenaries, so objectively, the difference in experience was quite significant.
'I'm confident I can crush them all in a fight!'
But with such a brute force method, the notoriety he would gain would be as great as the public sentiment he would lose.
No matter how much strength was valued in the organization, to become the leader of the guild, which was a continental organization, not a small group, he needed a more sophisticated method.
Actually, he had been attracted to the time-honored tradition of challenging every dojo…
But fortunately for them, Harley had a better alternative.
Boom—!
A massive explosion erupted, and a black pillar of fire soared.
"Ugh!"
"T-these bastards! How dare they!"
The Beoin County, notorious for its cruel tyranny and harsh exploitation, was engulfed in flames from a sudden attack by an unknown group.
Thousands of undead were swarming the castle from all directions.
"Hehehe! Everything is according to His will! We will purify this world with death!"
Dark magic power, fueled by their life force, blazed like a wildfire from the attackers.
Their malice, without any regard for their own lives or the future, enveloped the territory.
Actually, this kind of attack wasn't just happening here.
The forces of darkness, who had been hiding for some reason, started to raise their heads one after another.
The power they had accumulated over a long time, living in the shadows of the world, wasn't to be underestimated.
And it was a time when everyone was already preoccupied with the monsters.
And in that situation, those who were actively resisting the terrorist attacks were—.
"Whew, we arrived in one go this time. It seems like we're not too late."
"You're getting better at this. It's not easy to travel such a long distance with so many people, even for an Archmage."
"That means we've been using it often, which isn't good news. It means the situation is that bad."
The four figures who appeared with a bright halo of light were them.
"Hahaha! How long are you going to chatter? I'm going first!"
"…I'll… go too."
A muscular giant with a large axe and a middle-aged man with a gloomy expression, holding a spear, charged into the enemy ranks first.
"Ugh! Kill them first!"
"M-magic doesn't work?! What kind of monster is this?!"
"Hahaha! Where are you going, come here!"
Harley, who charged first, relentlessly swung his large axe, ignoring all the opponent's attacks with his powerful magic resistance from dragon scales…
Whoosh— Whoosh—!
"Hehehe! Just die… Ugh!"
"Aaaack! Spare me… Ah? I-I'm alive?"
The gray-haired man's spear, with a chilling glint, pierced through space and rescued those in danger.
"We need to reduce the number of undead first. To think they could launch a surprise attack with this many, the Immortal King must have intervened."
Wooong—! Boom!
And an enormous amount of mana surged from Isea's body, instantly manifesting arcane art and sweeping away hundreds of undead at once.
"Ugh! Does she have precognition or something? How did they get here so quickly?!"
The dark mage, who was leading the attack, gritted his teeth as he saw hundreds of his followers and thousands of undead melting away like snow.
He had expected them to come, and he had already given up on living, but… their power was beyond his expectations, so he couldn't help but feel anxious.
'This must be my grave.'
But he couldn't just die meaninglessly.
Even if he died, he had to leave a mark on this world to show that he existed!
Goooo—
He immediately started to prepare a high-level magic that he normally couldn't use, burning his life force and forcibly overdriving the magic power in his heart.
To dye this entire area with death, at the cost of his soul.
"Hehehe— You filthy privileged bastards. Remember this! Our resistance doesn't end here. Death is the only true equality, regardless of status! We will create a world without discrimination…"
"I understand your ideology, but…"
But his words were cut off—.
Stab—
"Gah—!"
"You talk too much."
"N-no… there was a barrier…"
Heinrich, who had approached him at some point, had embedded his holy sword deep into his heart.
Of course, he had various defenses in place, as he said, but his skills weren't enough to block "Blessing: Holy Blade", the natural enemy of dark magic.
The light injected through the holy sword embedded in his heart completely burned away the evil magic power that was rampaging through his body, and he quietly turned to ashes and scattered without much resistance.
And after a while,
"Wooo—!"
"W-we're alive!"
They were only four, but it didn't take long to eliminate all the thousands of enemies.
Unfortunately, most of the lord's family had already died in the ambush that followed the initial attack, but…
"May the Main God's mercy be with them."
Heinrich, who briefly offered a silent prayer, diligently healed the injured, pretending not to see the commoners subtly looting the lord's castle.
"Oh my~ Saint, you saved us, and now you're even healing us. Thank you so much!"
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"You're welcome. Helping those in need is the duty of those who follow the Main God."
"That's the right attitude! As expected of Saint Heinrich of the Main God Church!"
"Ah, I'm embarrassed. You also worked hard, Harley."
And so, they finished imprinting their names on the locals with Harley's help, and then they gathered around Isea to move to another location.
High-level personnel like them couldn't stay in one place for a long time.
'He's quite useful. His ability and personality both pass, and… considering his situation.'
Heinrich subtly glanced at the middle-aged man with gray hair and blue eyes, holding a spear, Geos Calkin, and nodded.
Geos was a strong individual who had voluntarily come to participate in the hero party after hearing about it, and there were several reasons why he had been chosen.
First, his ability.
The fact that a pure aura user who hadn't even reached transcendence could launch an attack that transcended space meant that the secret art he had mastered was very special.
…To the point where he was envious.
Mastery was the state where one had established their own system, perfected their energy, and reached the end of that path.
They were also called Sword Masters or those who had reached the 'Transcendent Realm' in other dimensions, and their naturally activated energy supported all their abilities, and the efficiency of directly manipulating it also increased significantly.
The density of the energy they possessed was on a different level, so it couldn't be faked.
And transcendence was the state where one had grown even further, breaking through the mold and surpassing their limitations as a being.
They could cut through space with a sword, manipulate phenomena with just their will, and naturally read causality.
It couldn't be defined in a single word because the way each person transcended was different.
For example, Conwell, the captain of the Empire's Royal Knights, was able to cut through even the abyss's energy like butter with his ability to 'cut' everything.
'In that sense, that's a very tempting technique. I should try to subtly bring it up after getting close to him.'
It probably wouldn't be that difficult.
Because of the second reason why he accepted Geos, his personal history.
'His family was caught up in the sacrificial incident that happened throughout the continent… which is known to be the Immortal King's doing to open the abyss.'
He was a noble of the Lesque Kingdom, but like Isea, he had achieved that position solely through his skills.
He was a commoner and an orphan, and he was very attached to his wife and children, but they had been killed.
In other words, his motivation for joining the hero party wasn't a sense of duty, but solely revenge against the Immortal King.
And Heinrich… couldn't refuse him, who pleaded for a chance for revenge with eyes that had lost their will to live.
'…He's similar to me.'
Of course, he would definitely help him get his revenge.
Many of those he had just killed were members of Oath of Heaven's Defiance, and he wouldn't stop until he had eliminated all the masterminds behind that tragedy.
"Then, let's move. Don't resist my magic power."
Wooong—!
Isea's endlessly flowing magic power enveloped them,
And they disappeared from Beoin County in the Sharotti Kingdom.
They were incredibly busy, even though they were only personally intervening in large-scale invasions like this, as they had to give warnings for smaller attacks and prepare countermeasures, and…
But the fame of the hero Heinrich and his companions was also slowly spreading throughout the continent, proportionally to their efforts.